TWISTED SCRIPTURE - June 15, 2014 Women In The Church Greg Boyd and Nikole Mitchell Woodland hills Church, St. Paul MN

Transcription

1 TWISTED SCRIPTURE - June 15, 2014 Women In The Church Greg Boyd and Nikole Mitchell Woodland hills Church, St. Paul MN This is the manuscript of a talk given by Pastor Greg Boyd and Nikole Mitchell at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN in a series entitled: Twisted Scripture. I am sharing it because of the simple, clear manner in which they address the I Timothy 2:12 passage which has been controversial among Christians for many decades. It is my prayer that it be read with a prayerful and teachable heart with a Bible open as you listen and trust God to show you even greater revelation from His transforming Word. Studying With You, Pastor Les 1 TIMOTHY 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. GREG: Good morning Woodland Hills, and good morning, or afternoon or evening podrishioners. Happy father s day. I was getting there, I was getting there. Happy Father s Day to all the fathers and grandfathers. Way to go, way to go. Wonderful. Went to the Lego Movie, I took my five year old granddaughter to see it over to the theater here, a couple of weeks ago. And, I hate this, when you go to kids shows and you end up crying, it's just I'm getting all choked up and she's like wondering you know? What's that about? This is a funny movie. But, it really has an incredible Kingdom message. There's a secret weapon involved, I'm not going to tell you what it is, go out and see it. Secret weapon, but it turns out to be a very Kingdom secret weapon that defeats all evil. Come and see it. All right, I'm Greg Boyd teaching pastor here at Woodland Hills Church. And, it's just good to be part of the worship and just the atmosphere and the spirit of God here this morning. We're in the series on Twisted Scripture, scripture that we think has gotten twisted, as it's gotten used out there, in the general populous, or in the church or whatever, or misapplied in different ways, taken out of context, And so we were looking at Romans nine, two weeks ago, and the last week we looked at Job. This morning, we're going to look at a passage that continues to be very controversial and to divide the church in significant ways. It's a passage that, we get thrown back at us almost every time we have a woman preacher, here, on Sunday morning. So, guess what the passage is. First Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12. Apostle Paul says: 1

2 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. God said it, I believe it and that settles it for me. Have a good day, women, stay quiet. (Audience laughs*) Alright, alright, we're going to delve into this thing, do some digging here, it's going to be first service, it was, it was just liberating to a lot of people, and I'm going to pray a double portion of that. Will you pray with me here? Father, You've called us to worship you, not just with all of our strength, and all of our soul and spirit, but also with all of our mind. And we take that very seriously, to use our mind as an act of worship, as we explore your word and dig deeper, sometimes things are not on the surface clear, and sometimes things on the surface aren't ---don t mean what they're intended to mean. So Father, give us wisdom here, as we explore Your word. I thank you for a context where we can be honest about stuff and ask questions and think outside the box, but we want it all to be guided by the spirit, so, Lord, would You just infuse every word that comes from this pulpit here this morning with your authority. And, most importantly God, I pray it be used, to set captives free, to free us from strongholds. To free people, men and women, to walk in their giftedness and their calling, and do all that you've called them to do in the Kingdom, in Jesus' name. And all of God's people Said: Amen. Amen, Amen. So this passage is, has traditionally been taken and in conservative churches, is still taken to mean that women are not supposed to be in any kind of leadership over a man. They're not ever to be in a position where they're teaching a man or preaching towards a man. And in many churches, it's taken to mean that they can't serve on the board. In some places, it means they can't vote, in a church, any church matters. I spoke to a lady, in the first service, who was at a church where, if they were ever talking about theology, they're not allowed to express their theological opinions if there's a man present. Girls could talk about it on their own, but they're not cause that might be convincing to a guy and God forbid that should ever happen. Yeah, so it's you can be in fact there's multitudes who are gifted at teaching and leading and preaching and maybe having a sense of calling, to teach, and to preach. And, you know, their gifts are squandered, they live in a certain amount of frustration, and the church suffers because of it. Half the population more than that is taken out of the running, from the word go. So the question is, what do we do? We hold the Bible to be God's word, and here we have this verse that seems to prohibit this. Now here's the core question: Whenever you read in the Bible, you need to remember that, there is a timeless teaching there, but it's always acculturated, it's always wrapped in cultural packaging. When God speaks to the world and comes into the world as Jesus Christ, He's a missionary, and, as all missionaries know, you have to you just can't overturn cultures with a snap of your finger. You have to work with them, 2

3 and bring your message into the culture, and accept and acquiesce parts of the culture maybe that you don't even agree with. And so, we need to make that distinction throughout the Bible. And so, the question about 1Timothy 2, is: is it part of the timeless teaching of the Bible, or is it part of the cultural packaging. Is it more like, the teachings that God created the heavens and the earth, and that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He came and died for our salvation and He rose again on the third day, which is timeless, we're always supposed to believe that. Or is it more like, for example, the teaching about slavery in the Bible? Even in the New Testament, you have two times, Paul and Peter say: 'Slaves, obey your masters.' Now everyone understands that, finally, at least today, that that's part of the culture then. It's not meant to be applied for all times. They bring as much Kingdom to that as they can, telling the masters to regard their servants as brothers and sisters in Christ, which, if you do that, you'll completely get rid of the institution of slavery. But they also acquiesced the culture, because we know that they can't overturn it right away. So, is the teaching about women in ministry, the prohibition of women in ministry, more like the teaching that Jesus Christ is Lord, timeless, or is it more like the teaching about slavery, which is a first century *bondage that we, thankfully, have outgrown? Now, when you're distinguishing between the timeless teaching and the cultural packaging, there's several questions to ask, to make that distinction. And it's not always unambiguous, all right? Sometimes, it's kind of iffy. But, the first thing to ask is this: 'Were there things going on in the culture of that time that makes sense of this teaching?' Things that we can understand, why, at that time, something would be allowed or prohibited, but wouldn't be applied today, because those things are no longer in place, so, for example, when you understand that, a kind of slavery, it wasn't the kind of slavery that we have here in America, for 400 years, but there was a kind of slavery, that went on in the Greco -- Roman world, it was more like an indentured servant, where you could usually work your way into freedom, but there were servants, and there were masters. And, there'd have been a practice, part of the culture, for hundreds and hundreds of years, and you can't over turn culture just by snapping your finger. And so, given those cultural constraints, we can understand why, Paul and Peter would say to newly converted slaves or servants, continue to obey your master, and do it in a God honoring way. There are no other options there, but then they also turned to the master and say: 'If they're converted, you treat your servant as a brother or sister in Christ.' They also have teachings in The New Testament that if applied consistently, would overturn slavery. Which tell us that, God's ideal was never slavery, in fact, sneer is it taught as something that should be done, it's simply acquiesced as part of our culture. But you find teachings like Paul, when he says, everybody should submit to one another. That's a Christ like attitude. Well, if everyone is submitting to one another, then clearly you're not going to have one person who's uniquely submitted to another just because of their 3

4 ethnicity, or because they were part of a culture where Rome conquered, and that made slaves out of them or things like that. You would be overturning that, what we have is Paul saying this, in Galatians 3, he says: So in Christ Jesus, you're all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. That's, you wear Christ. So, therefore there's now neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male nor female, That's interesting For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now what Paul is saying here is revolutionary, radical, it goes against everything people in the 1st century would naturally think about things. He's saying, when you're immersed into the body of Christ and immersed into Christ, and that's what baptism symbolizes, then you're clothed with Christ, you wear Christ, He is you identity. You're now Abraham's seed, which means you're an heir of the promises of Abraham, you're a spiritual Israelite. All right? And that is your identity. And since that's your identity now, that s why you truly are, all of the other distinctions that the world makes about our identity, and invests so much significance with, all of the distinctions that the world builds a hierarchy of power structures on, things like; whether you're male or female, whether you're Jew or Gentile, whether you're a slave or free, all of those are rendered null and void. Because, in the body of Christ, not only are we all equal, we're all one. We're part of the one body. We are immersed into Christ, and that is our identity. So whether you're male or female, a Jew or Gentile, a slave or free, it doesn't matter, those things are rendered insignificant, because who you are now is one who's clothed with Christ. One who is blameless and holy in God's sight, a child of God, heirs to the promise, a true Israelite, that's who you truly are. (Audience Applauds*) And see if, if people begin to think that out, and live that out, well guess what? You're not going to have the institution of slavery. Centuries and centuries and centuries, before western culture finally got there, but fortunately we are here now. So God acquiesces to the culture as much as necessary, but He also installs principals that work against it, to slowly move it in a direction, so far as that is possible. So ask the question: Is there something going on in the culture that makes sense of it's teaching? Why would it be allowed then, but it wouldn't apply to all time? The second thing is this: Ask the question: Is this teaching or prohibition, or whatever it might be, is it something that you find consistent throughout the whole bible? Or do you find variations on it? Different teachings on it? If you find that it's timeless, throughout the Bible, that's a good indication that you're then dealing with a timeless teaching, and if it doesn't vary, since there's a number of different cultural settings, in all the books in the Bible, if it doesn't vary in those cultures, well, that's a good indication that you're dealing with something that is timeless. However, if you find that there's different teachings on that same topic, well that's a good indication that it depends on the culture you're in, or the circumstances you're in. So, for example, the church I was first saved 4

5 in, it was a tee-- totaling church, totally against any kind of alcohol and, they always quote this verse out of Proverbs, I think it's Proverbs 8, it says: Don't ever touch or even look at the red wine. Don't at it, because it leads to debauchery. And so, they always quoted that, and I thought that was the Bibles definitive word about this. And it kind of screwed me up a little bit, about a year or so later on, when I was reading Psalms, and I found David in Psalms 104, verse 15, he says: Lets give thanks to the Lord, who gives us wine to make our hearts happy. (Audience laughs*) There you go. He apparently didn't read Proverbs, I don't know, it's he was ok with it. And then, Paul recommends, 'Timothy, have a little bit of wine.' and Jesus turns water into wine, what's up with that? And so, that's an indication, that, there are going to be circumstances where, it is wise, to have nothing to do with alcohol, but there are going to be other circumstances where it's ok to have alcohol, as long as it's in moderation, that's part of the timeless teaching, and not over indulging. And so, it depends on the context. So you can't just quote one verse, cause you like it, and make it a timeless teaching, when there are other teachings in the Bible that are against it. And so, this is what we find with slavery, as well. All right? You have it being allowed, and slaves encouraged to honor their masters, but you also find teachings, like I just quoted, that go against it. Ok, so the question then is this: Is 1Timothy 2:12 with it's prohibition about women having authority over men, is that a timeless teaching, or a cultural condition, that was allowed for the time? Now, to begin to answer this question, I thought it would be good, to illustrate where Woodland Hills stands on this by tag teaming with a female to help preach this message. Kind of gives you a clue as to what we believe around here. I've mentioned that we've had a number of very, very gifted called young people, radical revolutionaries come into the church and we're really feeling called to be pouring into them and raising them up and giving them opportunities to express a voice, so I asked Nikole Mitchell, some of you know her, she's announced several times here, I to tell a little bit about her story, cause she's been on an interesting journey about this and she's also done quite a bit of research on this, and I see a ton of wonderful Kingdom potential oozing out of this young lady, so would you give a warm Woodland Hills Welcome to Nikole. Be blessed. (Audience applauds*) NIKOLE: 5

6 Thank you. As he said, I'm Nikole Mitchell, and I'm so honored to be here. Now, when it comes to this passage, this passage is not solely an academic issue for me, but it's a highly personal one. I was raised with the theology that women are to submit to men, and women can never preach or teach theology; at least to men. And yet, over the past several years, I have felt God calling me into ministry, and just in the past year and a half, I have come to realize that my desire and my call is to be a teaching pastor. And what makes this so personal is that the community I come from, including my family, still believes a woman cannot be a preacher. And so, I risk a rift in our relationships, because I am pursuing something that is, technically, a sin in their eyes. And so, in the midst of pursuing my calling, and wrestling with different texts, like the one we are talking about today, I was always trying to figure out how to honor my family in the process. It's not easy, and it's messy and I'm scared, just as often as I'm not. And yet, through the process, I just keep reminding myself that God is with me, and He's calling me, and He loves me, and His perfect love casts out all fear. Amen. (Audience: Amen, Audience applauds*) Thank you. So, not only has this verse affected me, and limited my role in my church when I was growing up, but this verse has affected countless women over the years. Women who have been told, they cannot teach theology in any capacity, because of the fact that they are female. Or, they can teach theology, but only in very limited settings, such as only with women, or children under a certain age, or never from a pulpit, or whatever, the details vary from church to church. And so, I can't help but wonder, how many theologians that were female never got to see their potential. Were never able to impact their community and the world with their gift, because of this verse that was held against them, and so, it is my prayer, that as Greg and I teach on this, that we will be able to clarify some of the misunderstandings an d misapplications, and as a result, some of the cords that are around women and men right now would start to unravel. And that, after hearing today's message, both the men and women would be freed. We need to know though, from the beginning, that this passage and scripture is one of the most complex passages in the entire bible. And this is why you're going to find thousands of sermons and books and articles and blog posts written on this one verse. And so, whenever I enter into a passage, that is highly controversial, like this one, and has so much written on it, I enter into it with such humility. I acknowledge that, things aren't always as black and white as we try to make them out to be, and that I am on a life long journey of learning, as we all are. And so today, as we talk about this verse, I've just been praying that the holy spirit would fill this place, would help remove scales from our eyes, and open our ears and our minds to new understandings, to understand the scandalous love of Our Savior and King. For, it's when we wrestle with difficult texts, it's sometimes not just about getting the right answer. Sometimes it's about wrestling with integrity, honesty and humility and 6

7 doing it all, in the name of love. And just as Paul wrote Timothy in this letter, he wrote in chapter 1, verse 5: The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and sincere faith. And so, with this in mind, lets look at the context of Paul's letter. Paul is writing a letter to Timothy, whom he had left in the city of Ephesus, for the sake of the church that was meeting there. And one of the central issues in Paul's letter is false teaching, or false doctrine. He opens his letter with it, in chapter 1, verse 3, saying: Stay there in Ephesus, so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer... And we see the results of this false teaching, in 1st Timothy, chapter 6: Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and, in so doing, have departed from the faith... This is huge. So false teaching has become an issue in the church of Ephesus, and to understand why, we need to look at the cultural context in which the city is located. So, ancient Ephesus was the largest city in Asia Minor, during this time. And it housed the Temple of Diana also known as Artemis, the goddess of fertility. And, at one point, this temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was huge and beautiful, it took up more space than a football field, and it was gilded in silver and gold. And so, thousands of people would flock to the city and to this temple which brought prosperity to the city overall. And even Acts, in chapter 19, records the people of Ephesus yelling for two hours a chant: Greatest Artemis of the Ephesians! Greatest Artemis of the Ephesians! Which conveys the religious and economic importance of this cult, to their city. The Temple of Ephesus was a highly unique, women run temple, where men played no role at all, or if the did play a role, it was a subservient role. In this temple, the women were the high priestesses, and part of their religious duty, was to teach the Religion of Diana, as well as engage in ritualistic prostitution. And this kind of prostitution is where one would pay to have sex with a high priest or priestess, which would then raise money for the temple, but is also believed to be a reenactment of the fertility cycle of spring, when, the goddess of fertility, Diana, blessed the earth. So it was believed that it pleased Diana, as well as intensified a man s sexual virility. So this is the unique cultural context in which the church of Ephesus is situated. And in this specific time and place, Ephesian women were inevitably associated with false teaching, the religion of Diana and religious prostitution. Not only that, but these newly converted pagan women might assume that they could be teachers, that they could teach the scriptures. Because they come from a religion and a temple where women ruled. Women did this. And yet, they would be totally unequipped to do so, because they were uneducated about the things of God. And so, putting these women in leadership positions, in this local church, would not only have been unwise, but would have been detrimental to the integrity and the spreading of the gospel. 7

8 So now that we have an idea of this context, in which Paul is writing to Timothy, we can now dive into the text, and we're actually going to start with verse 11, because I find that just as controversial as verse 12. So verse 11, Paul writes: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. Some people what most people often miss here, is what Paul is doing right here, he is affirming a woman's need to learn. And the ancient woman world, and especially among the Jews, education for girls was not normal. Was not seen as important or necessary. And yet, Paul here is encouraging women to learn. The idea here though, when he says 'quietness', some translations even use the word 'silence', and that's not what Paul is saying. The idea Paul is trying to get at is with calmness and self -- control. And this is actually something Paul desires for both men and women. Because, just nine verses earlier, in chapter 2, verse 2, Paul writes: That we (both men and women) may live peaceful and quiet lives. The same word. In all godliness and holiness. So Paul here is warning these specific Ephesian women to understand what the proper position for learning was. One of calmness and teach -- ability. Now lets look at the words full submission. Some interpreters assume that means full submission as in unto a husband, but this verse is just nothing of the sort. The idea here is that Paul's trying to get at -- is that submissive as unto a teacher. And it's important to remember that the New Testament teaches that submission is to be an attribute of all believers, men and women. Just as Greg said, in Ephesians 5:21 says: Submit one to another, out of reverence for Christ. Philippians 2:4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition, or vane conceit, rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. So, why is Paul telling women this? Why is he telling them to learn in quietness and to be teachable and to be submissive as unto a teacher? Well, it's not because of the fact that they are female, but because they are in a culture where education was not an opportunity for them, like the men had. So not only have they uneducated in general, they've specifically uneducated when it comes to the gospel. And because these women came from a culture where women were the leading priests and leading teachers, it could have possibly made them a little more unruly, and not as teachable as they could be, especially if they were being taught by a man. So when Paul tells these women to submit, as unto a teacher, it's with the understanding that, he's encouraging them to learn, in a peaceful and teachable manner. So, in this light, we can now better understand verse 12. Paul writes: I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. If we know the character and life of Paul, we would understand this statement, or this command, as an anomaly for him, because Paul greatly esteemed women in leadership. So given the cultural context of that time, we can gather a few reasons why Paul is telling Timothy to not put these Ephesian women in teaching positions, or in positions of authority over men. 8

9 One is, they are not educated enough, given the cultural restraints. They just did not have the same opportunities as the men. Therefore: They'd be more inclined to give false teachings. Like the spreading of the Religion of Diana. And these women, inevitably, would be associated with the temple religion. And this makes even more sense when you understand when you look at the verses, the couple of verses just before this, and Greg will go into more detail about this, where Paul says: he encourages women to not wear fancy hair and gold and pearls and expensive clothing, not because he's against fashion, but because during that time, that associated them with the prostitutes, because that is how the temple priestesses and prostitutes dressed. So, if you look at the whole passages together, and you see these cultural restraints of this, pearls and gold and jewelry and clothing and hair, it's the same part where he says women are not to teach. And so, it only makes sense that this is a cultural restraint, not a timeless principle, but Greg will go into that more. So, in these two verses, Paul is encouraging women to learn, and explaining to them what a proper learning posture looks like. And, until they're educated in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, he doesn't want them to be in positions of authority. So, he's not making a blanket statement for all women, for all of time, we cannot teach or preach. He was dealing with women from a cult who did not know the teachings of Christ. A totally different situation from where we women in America are at today, in regards to education and access to biblical knowledge. Now remember, Paul is writing this letter to Timothy and Timothy had worked with Paul for years. So I believe, Timothy knew Paul's heart, and he had heard Paul countless times esteem women in leadership. And so, when Timothy receives this letter from Paul, that had this restriction for women to not teach, not be in positions of authority, I believe he would have understood it as a temporary restriction due to their specific situation, because he knew Paul, and he knew his love for women in the faith and women in leadership. So, for example, in Romans 16: Paul commends Pheobe the deacon to the church in Corinth. He calls Priscilla his coworker in Christ Jesus. He praises Andronicus and Junia for being outstanding among the apostles. He praises Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis for working very hard in the Lord. And these are just some of the women that he esteems, compliments and commends in chapter 16 of Romans alone. But he goes on: Paul allows women to prophesy in church in Philippians 4 Paul goes on to talk about: Euodia and Syntyche who contended at his side in the cause of the gospel. Paul consistently describes women as co laborers, making no reference to subordinate positions due to gender. 9

10 So, in light of this cultural context, of the city of Ephesus, and in light of Paul's overall treatment of women, we can understand 1st Timothy 2:12 as something specific to a time and place back then. They were dealing with a specific problem, false teaching, in a specific place, the church of Ephesus, surrounded by a pagan cult. So this is good news for us today, whether you're male or female. There's no pressure to figure out how much authority you're supposed to have, or how submissive you're supposed to be, for we are all free and equal and united in Christ Jesus, we are one (Audience applauds*) and if you are a woman and you feel called into ministry, Paul does not restrict you. And if you're like me, this means you don't have to hate Paul for the rest of your life, this is good news (Audience laughs*). Poor guy, I know he's a good man, and I can't wait to talk with him, on that side of Heaven, but his words have been used to degrade me and countless women around me. And that's why I still struggle in liking this guy, whenever I read his writings. But that's because this verse has been taken out of context, for the sake of dominating over the female gender. And here, Paul is actually renouncing the kind of attitude that seeks to dominate. So, just has Greg has been teaching the past few weeks, context is so important, when you're reading a passage or scripture. You need to see it in light of the letter or book that it's written, as well as it's historical context, but it's also important to look at scripture in light of the entire bible. And we see women in leadership throughout the Bible. So for example: Miriam was a leader of Israel alongside Moses and Aaron as well as a prophet and noted worship leader. Deborah the Judge, led the nation of Israel and spoke for God. She told men what God wanted them to do. Huldah was a prophetess consulted by both men and women. Joab summons a wise woman for help. And my most recent favorite one is this nameless woman in 2 Samuel who was in a position of authority and able to stop a war: A woman in authority stopped a war. So we look at the verse in it's immediate context, we look at the verse in the context of the entire bible, but we always bring scripture back to Christ. For he was God incarnate, and we are to view all scripture through the lens of Jesus Christ crucified. And so today, I want to share this beautiful piece, written by this woman named Kate Wallace, who has noticed this significant disconnect between the life of Jesus and widespread church practice. And it doesn't necessarily reflect Woodland Hills Church, but it is so true of so many churches around the world today. So here's what she wrote. 10

11 Jesus told a woman to spread the good news of His resurrection, but we won't let a woman preach it from the pulpit. Jesus engaged in cross gender discipleship, but we teach this as somehow dangerous or overly tempting. Jesus depended on the financial provision of women, for the welfare of His ministry, but we teach that men are to be the sole providers in Christian communities. Jesus used female examples in His teachings and spoke about women in His stories. But we teach that Christianity is supposed to have a masculine feel. A young woman carried the body and blood of Jesus in her for nine months. But we teach that a woman can't serve communion. Jesus denied that there is hierarchy in His kingdom, but we teach that there is hierarchy between men and women. And she wraps it up with this: I know that Paul wrote some things that have caused us to be overly concerned with a woman's place, but if we are teaching some thing that is inconsistent with Jesus' life, perhaps we've gotten it wrong. Isn't that true? So, always bring scripture back to Christ. So, men and women, be encouraged, be encouraged by the life of Jesus. He came to give life, and give life abundantly. He came to speak in love and truth and grace, that we might be set free. For in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. Amen. And just when we think we've grasped the beauty of Christ in His Kingdom, we read in Ephesians 3, verses 20, 21: Now to him who's able, to do immeasurably and exceedingly more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power, that is at work with in us, to him be the glory in the church, in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Audience applauds*) Thank you. GREG: Now, tell me that, she wasn't supposed to be up here teaching that. You see, it's just, a form of 1st century bondage that, it's time to outgrow. Amen. One thing that I thought of as Nikole was speaking was: Can you imagine Paul saying: 'Ok, everybody submit to one another out of reverence to Christ.' it was saying this in Philippians. Everybody esteemed the others' interests above themselves, submitting to 11

12 one another, and yet, also believed that women should be uniquely submitting to men, when it comes to teaching the gospel, or preaching the gospel in a kind of leadership. He would have had to have qualified himself, 'yeah, submit to one another in reverence to Christ, of course, women, you know where the -- you only submit, men don't submit to you.' It just doesn't make any sense. It goes against a fundamental flow of his gospel. Now, what I want to do, as we wrap this up, I want to say one word, that reiterates something that Nikole said, and then deal with one possible objection to the view, alright? Here's the thing: We always say context, context, context, put it in context. The immediate context, as Nikole mentioned, of this passage, already should strongly incline us to see his prohibition about women teaching as a culturally conditioned thing, so here's the context, two verses before this passage, Paul says: I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. Now, his concern here is that the women in Ephesus, in the 1 st century, are dressing and behaving in ways that bring honor to God, instead of dishonor. He wants them to dress modestly and discreetly. So there's a timeless principle here, about dressing in ways that are proper, to bring glory to God and not some other message. But then he mentions specifically having braided hair, braided hair and wearing gold, and having pearls, and having expensive clothing. Now, we might ask the question, what is so immodest and indiscreet about having braided hair. Are there any Jezebels here who have braided hair, who have violated the Bible? Or wearing a gold bracelet, or a gold ring, or having pearls or as long as you're being a good steward of God's resources, having a little more expensive dress, or a sweater or something like that? What's wrong with that? What's immoral about that? And whenever you find you have questions like that about a passage. That's when you need to ask the question, was there something going on then, that explains why Paul would give these specific things, and, as you just found out, there were. To wear braided hair in the 1st century, gold and pearls and costly expensive clothes, well that was one of the way the temple priests would put on advertise that they're selling sex. So Paul is saying, women, don't dress in ways that make it look like you're selling sex. That's a timeless principle, I would still advise that, by the way. (Audience laughs*) Your living epistle known and read by all people, don't be advertising a different message, dress discreetly and modestly. But today we don't think that. I don't know any guy that sees a girl with braided hair and says, Oh, I know what she wants! (Audience laughs*) 12

13 You know, it doesn't have a meaning. It doesn't have a meaning at all, and so also for the other things, it would be silly, to try to make a rule out of these particulars, when it no longer has that meaning. A rule for rules, you know, like: 'Don't wear braided hair?', 'Why?', 'I don't know, the Bible says it.' No, it's a cultural condition, and everyone recognizes this, everyone recognizes this cultural condition. But that fact that he is and what we didn't see here is that he goes on to talk about the prohibition it's the same thought, he's talking about the proper behavior of women in Ephesus in a context where there are these temple prostitutes going around. And if all of the particulars, leading up to this passage are culturally conditioned, we should be strongly inclined apart from all the considerations to say that this also is culturally conditioned. But what happens is rather arbitrary, you find logic in saying: 'You've got braided hair, that doesn't apply, that's culturally conditioned, gold, that's culturally conditioned, expensive clothing, that's culturally conditioned, pearls, yeah, that doesn't apply today, that's culturally conditioned. Women not teaching men, that's timeless, oh you've got to hang onto that one, that's the word of God' (Audience laughs*) Maybe something else is going on here besides straight acts of Jesus. I'm inclined to think that some people are a little threatened by it or something, but no, so that itself should tell us that we're dealing with a culturally conditioned thing. Now, here's the objection: Right after Paul gives his teaching, we read this, he says: For as Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. And so, some argue this, well Paul, he bases his prohibition, about women not teaching men and having authority over men, on the order of creation. Adam was created first and then Eve. And he bases it on the order of the fall, Eve fell first and not Adam. And for that reason, women can't teach or have authority over men. Ok, now, we believe in being really honest here. You have to no pretend, be real. And so, the real question is this: Does that explanation make any sense to anybody? So think about this, cause, often, if something doesn't make sense, it's because there's something we're not seeing. And so first, we've got to be honest about it not making sense. What does the order of creation have to do with the price of petunias in China on Tuesdays? Why is that relevant? Or, why is it that, because Adam was created first, and not Eve, that he has authority over Eve? And if the order of creation confers authority, the earlier you're created, the more authority you have, well, lets remember that animals are created before Adam, so are we supposed to be getting spiritual advise from zebras? And, in fact, vegetables were created before the zebras, so are we supposed to be getting spiritual advise from cabbages and carrots? I mean, what does the order have to do with anything, just, note the question. And then, this thing about, 'Eve fell first'. Are we supposed to believe? -- 13

14 Does it make any sense for someone to believe that, women are now being punished, by not being allowed to ever teach or have authority even if they're gifted to do that, which God would have to make them that way. But, they're being punished because of what a woman did, thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago. What's the system of justice in that? And, isn't there a little bit of inconsistency here, in putting these two reasons back to back? What is it Paul? Is the reason for men to have authority, because they were created first, or is it because Eve fell first? Because, if you have the first, you don't need to mention the second, and if you have the second, you don't need to mention the first. Why are these together? Now here's what you need to ask. Was there something going on then that makes sense out of this passage, that if we knew it, it would make sense to us, cause, clearly, Paul assumes that He's making sense and he assumes that his audience will know the sense that he's making. Well, it turns out, as you look into the background of this, there's something that completely sheds light on this. It was a common Rabbinic teaching that the reason Eve fell was because Adam didn't teach her well enough and warn her well enough about the danger of eating from that tree. Adam they noticed that the Lord because Adam was created first, the Lord spoke to him directly and said: 'Don't eat at that tree, you shall surely die.' And he said to Adam directly: 'Guard the garden.' Eve was never told that specifically from God, and so, she would have to rely on Adam for that teaching. And the fact Here's how the Rabbis argued the fact that Eve fell so easily, suggests that Adam didn't do his job very well. And that's why they blamed Adam far more than they blamed Eve for the fall, in fact, you find that in Paul. Paul In Romans 5 He puts the whole blame on Adam and doesn't even mention Eve. And it's because he had the responsibility to teach. She fell, because she was vulnerable, because she didn't have the opportunity to be educated enough about the danger of listening to that serpent and eating from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. 14

15 So what Paul is doing here, it makes total sense, why he mentions this. He's illustrating his point. Women shouldn't be put, in this context, in positions of leadership and teaching, because you are in the position of Eve, and you'll need to learn from those who have gotten this information, learn quietly and calmly and respect the teacher, to confer on you, all the information you need, all the education you need, because, until you get that, you're in the position of Eve, and it's the responsibility of those who have the information to confer it on to you. And far from proving, then, that this is a timeless teaching, it proves the opposite, because Paul is saying that the reason why women can't teach or have authority over men is because they're in the position of Eve, they're ignorant, they haven't had the education. Which itself implies that, as soon as they're no longer in the position of Eve, they can teach and have authority over man, cause it's not about gender, it's about the qualification, and the education that's necessary. And so, while there's many places in the world that's still the case, Pakistan, Afghanistan, other places that are against women being educated, that sadly is still part of our world, but in this cultural context, it is not, praise God. The last 150 years, increasingly, women have had the same opportunity to be educated as men, and to learn. And, Paul, as we see, even in this passage, encourages women to be learning, and growing out of their Eve, sort of, situation. And so folks our conviction here is that it's never been about gender, excuse my frankness, but genitalia doesn't qualify you for squat, all right? It doesn't make you a good teacher, or a bad teacher, or anything. That's one of the things that the world invests with significance, but, in Christ, as we've said, those kinds of things are to be null and void, for in Christ we are one, and so our conviction here is this: if you're a woman and the biblical qualifications for any place, any service, any ministry in the kingdom, is this: Are you gifted in that area? Do you have the character that's necessary for that ministry? And Has God called you to it? Those are the three things that matter. And so, women, if you feel like you maybe are gifted in teaching and in some kind of leadership capacity, or preaching, and if you've got a character, you're mature enough in Christ A character that can lead, and you feel that God is calling you, and others are confirming that calling, then we say: Go for it! Step into that! 15

16 You know, the body of Christ needs you (Audience applauds*) to be doing what God has created you to do. You know what? It took us far too long to outgrow that first century bondage of slavery, but, thankfully, we now see that that's culturally relative. This is actually just another form of slavery, it's another form of bondage, it was there in the first century, but it's not today, it's time for us to outgrow that. We need the full gifts, all the gifts, all that God has called, to be doing what God has called them to do. Praise God. I want to end this message this way: I know that there are men and women who have been put in bondage by this verse, by this kind of teaching. Women who have maybe been hesitant, or just completely squashed whatever giftedness they had. Sat on it. I've known women, who've felt Satan was tempting them, because they kept on having this aspiration to teach. Satan is tormenting me, because I keep seeing myself as a teacher. And I keep saying: That's not Satan, that's God. Satan's working on the other side that's telling you not to do it. You've been in bondage to this, and for men, I've known men who, maybe even theoretically say: 'Well, yeah, women should be in leadership,' but they have trouble listening to them. There's still a stronghold there. Ok? I want to be praying that God sets captives free, that God dispels strongholds, and I want to also, all of us here, be praying this, so would you stand, here for a moment, and I want to ask all women and men who have been wounded by this passage, had fetters on them by this passage, trampled on by this passage, whatever it may be, I would like you to step out and come down here, if there's any residue of that, any judgment about women in teaching, preaching, senior pastor leadership positions. Come on down here, right to the alter, I'm going to be praying for you, I've got some prayer teams, so gather around them, and we're all going to be praying that God sets them free. Men and women, come on down. The judgments you've had, Trouble you've had listening to a female preacher, whatever it may be. Ways that your potential has not been maximized, because of a church context that forbid that. Ways in which you, just by being female, have felt less, somehow less, because of that. Beautiful, just come on down here. It's time to get free and, coming down and making a statement. You're declaring to God, and the Angelic Host and the demonic army, that you're no longer going to be in this bondage. Step up, come on down here, get up there on the alter. 16

17 Things that hold us back. If you're to live as though we're in the first century, in the first century Ephesus, having the same bondage they had back then, No, it's time to free. Praise God. If you're gifted and called, and willing to go through whatever educational process is necessary and to step into that, then God wants you. God needs you, to step into that ministry. The church needs you to step into that ministry (Audience applauds*), you need you to step into your ministry. Otherwise you're going to be living a frustrated life. God created you for this purpose, step into it. Come on down, close in a little bit, so there's more room on the side here. This is beautiful, this is beautiful, this is beautiful. You guys ready to get free? I want if you will to have you extend your hands in this direction and lets just right now pray for these folks and folks down here at the alter. You just receive this, just receive and let it be a cleansing thing. Father, in Jesus' name, we pray for every person up here, as well as for those who listen to the podcast, who may be in the same situation, and we are praying Lord that, You would now root out any residue, any residue abuse, any residue suppression, oppression, that has come from this or any other passages that have been wrongly applied to their life. And we pray, Lord God, that your truth would invade their mind, and invade their hearts, and invade their very spirit, and flush out all lies, flush out all stronghold, break every chain, break every fetter, right now, in Jesus' name. Set the captives free in Jesus, you came to set the captives free. Let freedom reign here. Father, let reign on the truth that whom the Son has set free, is free indeed. Reign down the truth that in Christ there is no longer any significance, to being male or female, or Jew or Gentile, or slave or free, or Arab or American or any other kind of distinction, but we are one in Christ. God, reign down that truth, right now. Father, I want to pray against any voice, silence any voice in any mind here, that is fighting against this, that's resisting this, that is hesitant about this, and Lord let your voice, your liberating voice, reign loud in their hearts and in their minds. Father, give women the boldness, to stand up against whatever constraints have been put on them and boldness to step into their calling here. Help them to hear that calling as a passion and to pursue it with passion, because the church needs them to be all they can be and to use their gifts. And Father anything that's being used to trample on the self image of women, we want to come against that in Jesus' name, as though they were less in the image of God, or less capable, or have less opportunity. Father, in Jesus' name, let them see their identity is in Christ, and in Christ alone, and in Christ they are everything that you want them to be. Praise God. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Father, whom the Son has set free, is free indeed. And when we know the truth, it sets us free. You have said that, and the truth is that we are in Your image, praise God. And you have given us calls and gifts and ministries and Father, we just pray that that truth, and all of it's beauty would just shine right now; shine in their hearts, shine in their minds. Hallelujah. And they can be all that You know they can be, and need them to be in the body of Christ. And Father, any judgment that men have had because of teachings they've received in the past, anything that hinders them from being fully 17

18 ministered to by women preachers, and women leaders, and senior pastors, and preachers and Father, we come against that in Jesus' name. We pray that you just collapse that, and set them free to hear and be ministered to by those who are gifted men and women, as they preach the gospel. Thank you Lord God, for being a God who sets people free. A God who's not about oppression and hierarchies. All the Gentiles, the Pagans, they ruled over one another, but Jesus, you said it shall not be so among You. It shall not be so, and you didn't just say: 'May not be so, except for men and women' no, it shall not be so anywhere, in the Kingdom of God. This is your ideal. And we want to manifest that ideal, Lord God. Collapse the hierarchies, set people free. Praise God. Praise God. God is a God of freedom. He's a beautiful God of freedom. He loves His sons and His daughters. Calls His sons and daughters, to do His work, in every capacity. As I close here, if God's ministering to you up here, don't leave, stay. In fact, right now I think it would be good for you, in your heart and even verbally if you want, to say 'I receive it'. And make the decision I receive it. And if there's any pushing back on that in your brain, just set it aside and say: 'I receive God's word. I receive the liberation. I receive the freedom. I receive the empowering. I receive the spirit. I receive the calling. I commit to pursuing it.' Let God be true and every other voice in our head a liar. Hallelujah. And so, if God's ministering to you up here, and you're receiving that, don't leave. And I ask the prayer team to be up here and pray with these folks. Keep praying for them. If there's other needs that you have that need prayer, you can come up here as well. And as we leave this place, I pray we do it as the freed people of God, who are living for the God who sets us free. And that all strongholds from the culture, 1 st century and present, will be done away with. That we could be all that God has called us to be. Whether it's in leadership, whether it's following, whether it's holding bulletins, whatever the call is, be that; pursue that with passion. God has created you, and equipped you and called you that. And all other considerations are rendered null and void throughout Christ. Go out, be the body of Christ, be free. Amen. God bless you guys, bless you, bless you, bless you, bless you! 18