The Role of Women In the Church

# 71 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 2:11-13, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. (1 Tim 2:11-13) Oh boy, the can of worms that we have opened up just got a little nastier. As I have said before, there are very strong feelings on the interpretation of these passages concerning the role of women in the church. My hope is that you will prayerfully search the Scriptures and submit to them, and work it out between you and the Lord. My role here is simply intended to provide some food for thought. For starters here, I think v13 is vital to the point that Paul is trying to make. The word “for” gives us the first reason that Paul is passing this teaching on to Timothy and the church and it is related to the very creation of Adam and Eve. He says, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” This mention of Adam and Eve should cause us to consider another time that the Holy Spirit has drawn us back to the way things were in the beginning of God's created order. It happened when Jesus was discussing God's plan for marriage. He said in Mt 19:4 “And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'” (Often times, when wrestling with doctrine it is wise to see what was happening “at the beginning,”) Jer 6:16 speaks to that point, “Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' So to properly understand the role of women in the church, we should first of all get an understanding of the role of Eve in her relationship with Adam. Why did God create Eve? Ge 2:18 says, “And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." So Eve was created to “aid” Adam. She was beautifully biologically designed to complement him physically and thereby propagate the human race. And she was also designed to complete him in marriage. (The two becoming one.) Together they form a team that complements each other, becoming a unit that can be all that God intended them to be. It is the same for men and women in the church. They are a complementary team, but this team is always to keep God's created order in mind. (One might want to take note of how the men and women worked together during the time of Jesus' ministry on earth.) More on this next time.