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1 Timothy 2:9-15 Godly Submission

1 Timothy 2:9-15 Godly Submission

Last updated on: February 9, 2015 at 7:00 pm by Jim Erwin

1 Timothy 2:9-15 Godly Submission 2015-02-09T19:00:17-05:00 Jim Erwin

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1 Timothy 2:9-15 Godly Submission

Paul instructs Timothy to teach the church about submission. Prayer and submission go hand-in-hand. Prayer is personal devotion to God. I submit to God in prayer. Submission can also happen in public. The reason I need to submit myself is because of the witness that I bring to the public by the way I act in the church. In Ephesus, there were temple prostitutes who were becoming Christians. With the change in their spiritual identify, came the need to change in their public behavior. Before, they were involved in very public displays for another faith, drawing people away because of their looks, their words, and their actions. To help the Christian witness of the church, Paul tells Timothy to instruct these women how to properly behave with other people.

While the exact customs are not the same as in the days of Paul, the principles of submission still apply to every Christian today. This message is not just for women, but also men.

Godly fashion (2:9)

“Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel,” (1 Timothy 2:9, HCSB)

Women became liberated when they became a Christian. As women received their liberation in Christ from the old Hebrew and Greek suppressions, we have to believe that some of them went beyond the boundaries of common sense in expressing their new-found freedom and power. And one of the ways they announced their new-found status could well have been in the way they dressed and fixed their hair. A young adult who has been loosed from their parents’ authority will show that new-found freedom by the way dress. That’s still a way that women work off some of their frustrations. Going out to buy a new outfit and stopping at the hairdresser on the way home is sometimes good therapy. However, this can affect their Christian witness. If a woman, or a man for that matter, starts measuring personal worth by the clothing worn and the outward appearance, it becomes a case of misplaced values.1

It may well have been that the Christian women in Ephesus were looking more like prostitutes than like newly redeemed children of God. Could it be that in many of our churches on Sunday mornings we look more like commercials for the American image of success than like people concerned with the hungry and naked of the world?2

Godly works (2:10)

“but with good works, as is proper for women who affirm that they worship God.”

(1 Timothy 2:10, HCSB)

Paul did not exclude women from the work of the churches and from influential roles, as seen in his mention of several by name in his epistles—Lydia, Dorcas, Priscilla, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, Euodia, and Syntyche.3

Godly learning (2:11)

“A woman should learn in silence with full submission.” (1 Timothy 2:11, HCSB)

“Silence” is an unfortunate translation because it gives the impression that believing women were never to open their mouths in the assembly. This is the same word that is translated “peaceable” in 1 Timothy 2:2. Some of the women abused their newfound freedom in Christ and created disturbances in the services by interrupting.4

Silence is not addressed to every woman. There were women, like widows and others who were expected to empower others with their wisdom. Still, there are some women who need to learn silently in church.

Godly authority (2:12-14)

Authority in the church

“I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to be silent.”

(1 Timothy 2:12, HCSB)

Paul is clearly referring to his personal practice. It seems to me that this practice is to be limited rather than universal in the church. This is indicated by the use of the first person singular. It is Paul’s opinion about this matter. Like he does in 1 Corinthians, he gives a personal opinion.5

Women can teach men. They just can’t have authority over men in the church. This verse (along with the qualifications for elders being for men) confirms that senior pastors can only be men. Some churches go to the extreme of not allowing women to teach adults. Others go so far to isolate men from women.

The Bible says that women should not set up to teach the men authoritatively (1 Timothy 2:12), but this is a very different thing than men learning from women (Acts 18:26). How on earth would it be possible for a man to live with his wife with understanding (1 Peter 3:7) without learning anything from her?6

In Titus 2:3–4 older women are told to teach the younger ones. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul reminds him who first taught him the Scriptures: his mother and grandmother. So Paul cannot be saying that every kind of teaching is forbidden to women. Rather, he is saying that women should not be allowed to teach God’s Word in the public worship of the local church.7

Therefore, this instruction either relates to a specific situation in Ephesus, or is possibly related to the qualities of people who can teach in the next chapter. Paul’s statements about women being prohibited from teaching probably connect to the “special office” context of 1 Tim 3:1–7.8

Authority in creation

“For Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.” (1 Timothy 2:13–14, HCSB)

Man was created first. Genesis states that Adam was created first in Genesis 2. Throughout the Bible, this is the reason that the firstborn male child received the greater responsibilities and rewards.

Man is also given the moral responsibility. One of the responsibilities that came with being there first was the primary responsibility (not the only, but the primary responsibility) to receive and teach and be accountable for the moral pattern of life in the garden of Eden9.

Godly character (2:15)

“But she will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with good judgment.” (1 Timothy 2:15, HCSB)

Although there are exceptions, although there are women who are uniquely called to separate themselves for service to the Lord, the rule of thumb for the church is that women are to pour themselves into their kids, for there they will find their greatest blessing10.

CONCLUSION

The often heated debate over 1 Tim 2:11–15 can be distracting from the overall message of this passage of Scripture. The moral principle behind all of Paul’s instructions here is proper Christian conduct in public. Our attitudes toward each other and interactions with believers and nonbelievers should not leave people with a negative impression. The instructions for women may seem especially restrictive to our modern sensibilities, but they were intended to inspire behavior that honored God and drew others to follow Christ.

Ironically, this passage that pleas subtly for unity and social decorum when believers are in the public view has engendered a great deal of internal dissent among groups identifying as Christian. The narrowly focused debate over the application of 1 Tim 2:11–12 in particular has created deep divisions within the church. Throughout it all, the passage’s call for propriety, modesty, and self-control to promote God-honoring behavior is too often lost.11

It is important to study this text to get a proper understanding. Many churches look at this passage with a magnifying glass. That can help in understanding the original meaning as well as its impact to the chapter. However, when we step back and look at the entire picture from a distance, the picture true focus is on the unity of the church. Men submit by taking their responsibilities as leaders in the church seriously. Women submit by not misusing their new-found freedom in Christ. Both men and women learn to be better witnesses to the world when they work together for the Gospel.

1 Gary W. Demarest and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, 1, 2 Thessalonians / 1, 2 Timothy / Titus, vol. 32, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1984), 181.

2 Gary W. Demarest and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, 182.

3 W. C. Fields, “1 Timothy,” in The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, ed. H. Franklin Paschall and Herschel H. Hobbs (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1972), 764.

4 Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 218.

5 Gary W. Demarest and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, 183.

6 Daniel L. Akin et al., Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2013).

7 Simon J. Robinson, Opening up 1 Timothy, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2004), 48–49.

8 Douglas Mangum and E. Tod Twist, 1 Timothy, ed. Douglas Mangum and Derek R. Brown, Lexham Bible Guide (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013), 1 Ti 2:11–15.

9 John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007) “Manhood and Womanhood Before Sin, May 28, 1989 Genesis 2:18–25”.

10 Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1377.

11 Douglas Mangum and E. Tod Twist, 1 Timothy, ed. Douglas Mangum and Derek R. Brown, Lexham Bible Guide (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013), 1 Ti 2:11.

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