Order in the church: Paul the Sexist? [1 Timothy 2](Part 1)
The family is continually under assault in today's contemporary Western society. Even defining a family can be tricky today with as many "blended", "mixed", "multi-layered" and "modern" family units and styles as there are. We all know that "Yo Mama" jokes are a great way to alienate. But nowadays culture considers any sort of defined role within a family unit or structure as offensive, abusive, and evil, it's tough to put any concrete reason as to why "Yo Mama" jokes are offensive. If there are no mothers or fathers and we're supposedly all fluid anyway, these jokes would not be offensive. When the most basic unit of the human experience is cast away, the society doing the casting is not long for this world.
To read Part 2 of this series - click here
Determining the Main Point of the Passage
I'm currently preparing to preach through the New Testament book of 1st Timothy. Whenever preparing to preach through a passage, it is essential to bring out the main point of the passage. When communicating the main point of a passage to a congregation, there are always questions that arise along the way.
Why was X the main point of the passage? How does the main point apply to the church in the present? What are the cautions, or benefits regarding the main point?
These are questions that the preacher must often wrestle with themselves during sermon preparation. If the preacher does not receive first what he must deliver, then the preacher may be speaking publicly, but the preacher is not preaching a faithful sermon from the Word of God.
Depending on the passage at hand there may be some questions that are more secondary in nature, and some that are more essential to the main point of the passage. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3, Paul's main point is to remind the Corinthian church of the essential, salvific, foundational truths of the gospel. These first few verses then provide the introduction to the bulk of the foundational truths Paul wanted his audience to be reminded of, detailed in 15:4-8.
There are many secondary questions that may arise about the passage, such as:
What year in history did Paul visit and preach the gospel to the Corinthians?
Is it possible to believe the gospel in vain?
How does a person "hold firmly" to the gospel?
These are all wonderful questions that can and should be answered in response to the passage. Yet, they are not the main point of the passage. The main point of Paul's reminder (15:1) is the absolute necessity of belief (15:2, 3) in historical truths about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection (15:3-8) as the fulfillment of the promises of God in sacred scripture (15:3). If we miss out on the main point, we may have a variety of nice answers to important questions, but we will have missed the main intended purpose of the passage.
Dominant Themes in 1st Timothy
I say all this as a preamble because in 1st Timothy there is a central point in the book. Dominant themes prevail throughout each of the instructions and doctrines. In the midst of that dominant theme (instructions on worship, community life, and family roles), there are many applications of the instructions that today are absolutely antithetical to the dominant voices in Western political ideology and religious preference.
One Christian theme that is antithetical to current culture emerges as a statement of thesis within the first few sentences of the letter. Paul wrote:
"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Tim 1:3-5
Paul draws a firm line in the sand that stands against pluralism, and syncretism. In this instruction to Timothy, Paul reminds his young "true son in the faith" (1:2) of the incompatibility of God's work by faith and alternative spiritual views. That's hardly popular or welcome in today's Western contemporary setting.
Besides the exclusive claims of the gospel, 1st Timothy is sometimes neglected by contemporary preachers due to the Holy Spirit-inspired words regarding:
the ordering of worship,
the ordering of church community life,
and the ordering of family life.
Worship
Many would say that preference is the primary individual rule of law governing worship in today’s churches. This rule of law is displayed by a consumerist mindset among many. There is something of a religious buffet available in much of the West. Religion is seen as just another expression of capitalist ideology, as though the broad landscape speaks the loud suggestion "Don't favor the worship of one community? Don't worry, you'll find a place you prefer just down the road or on another streaming platform". If anyone, anywhere, says, does, or hints at something you don't prefer, that is cause, justification, and a valid reason to worship elsewhere. The self is the most important part of Western religious systematic theology. God's preferences may be cast to the wayside as long as an individual's personal preferences are met.
As Bible-believing Christians we do believe that preference is the primary individual rule of law governing worship - specifically, God's preference. What God has said, revealing His preference for worship, as communicated through the divinely inspired sacred Word of the Old and New Testaments, we as believers come to know and experience true worship that is pleasing, and preferred by the Only True God. That’s a really long winded way of saying - God’s preferences are what order worship. We come to know God’s preferences by submitting to God’s instructions in His sacred word. 1st Timothy takes nearly the whole of the book to speak about worship, and life as Christians as an ongoing expression of worship. This is a perspective that plays out logically something like this - 1. God has authority in worship. 2. All of life is worship. 3. God has authority over all of life.
Church Community Life
The ordering of church life today often takes cues from Freud than from God the Father. Freud’s ideas are easily on display in the practices within the church through the leadership structures, staffing policies, programs, and service opportunities. They are oriented in such a way that makes a community function more like a corporation than a body. The vast majority of the time that committees and staffers are established and deployed in the Western church, it is a result of abandoning the roles and work of either God-sanctioned church leadership (elders & deacons see 1 Timothy 3:1-12 & 5:17-22) or the very ministry of the people of God (the congregation/assembly).
The church today doesn't need another book on leadership or another seminar on how a CEO has applied business strategies to "church growth models". The church needs to hear, study, consider, and implement the sanctioned methods God has apportioned for the life of the body of believers. 1st Timothy majors on the means and mechanisms (the gifting and empowering of people within the community of faith) by which God has established His people for the life of faith. Part of the reason why so many are enthralled by worldly wisdom regarding church growth models is because of this abandonment of God’s good revelation that informs, directs, and renews God’s people.
Family Life
The family is continually under assault in today's contemporary Western society. Even defining a family can be tricky today with as many "blended", "mixed", "multi-layered" and "modern" family units and styles as there are. We all know that "Yo Mama" jokes are a great way to alienate. But nowadays culture considers any sort of defined role within a family unit or structure as offensive, abusive, and evil, it's tough to put any concrete reason as to why "Yo Mama" jokes are offensive. If there are no mothers or fathers and we're supposedly all fluid anyway, these jokes would not be offensive. When the most basic unit of the human experience is cast away, the society doing the casting is not long for this world. The only hope for such a society is that it would throw itself on the mercy of God in repentance and humility.
1st Timothy says with love, affection, and beneficial instruction what the family of God is to look like, and how the individual family unit is to be shaped. Paul writes to Timothy with clarity and precision about age (5:1-2). About younger and older women who are widows (5:3-16). About fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and children. These are not offensive statements or instructions to the believer who is trusting the Lord Jesus. That trusts that His instructions through His messenger Paul are good and beneficial. To the skeptical unbeliever, these helpful instructions are as vile as Mein Kampf.
Is Paul a Sexist?
All these areas have the potential for cultural voices shouting loud disapproval of God's Word. I offer this reminder by way of challenge and question. Do we believe that 1st Timothy is just as much the Word of God as say...Genesis? Or the Gospels when Jesus was speaking? Do we classify 1st Timothy as something else? Do we somehow negate or mitigate what Paul writes to Timothy categorically because....well for lack of another phrase, it isn't REALLY God's Word, it's just Paul's opinion? These are serious questions that we must answer for ourselves. Any further conversation will always be shaped by our answer to these questions above. If 1st Timothy is truly God's sacred revealed Word, then we will approach things very differently than if we consider 1st Timothy of different origin.
‘There is no clearer spot in today's culture; this issue of authority and origin is more apparent than in 1st Timothy 2. In 1 Timothy 2, the Apostle Paul makes it clear there are distinctions of notable substance between men and women. Those distinctions then are to be respected and observed through certain attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors within the community of faith. There are things Scripture reveals that women are called to do, that men are not called to do. There are things that scripture reveals men are called to do, that women are not called to do. Further, when men and women disregard and defy this Godly order, there is a loss of benefit and a very real consequence experienced in the community.
Here is the question that will drive the next couple of conversations in this series - Was the Apostle Paul in writing to Timothy a Sexist by today's standards? And...more importantly, whose standards are more authoritative, the standards of today, or God's standards?
Join us next time as we examine 1st Timothy 2. I invite you to read 1st Timothy as a whole, and ask yourself: Is 1st Timothy the very Word of God? Or just the opinion of another person?
To read Part 2 of this series - click here
