Prayers, Authority and Order | 1st Timothy: 2

Open your Bibles now to 1 Timothy 2, verse 1.

Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, for which

I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the

Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire, therefore, that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, in like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression.

Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

You may be seated. In 1

Timothy, we have Paul writing to Timothy. And this is generally accepted to have been written in the 60s

A .D. Most of the time, pretty close to the end of Paul's life.

64 is when Pastor Kaiser gives it for his timeline of when this was written.

The interaction here with the church at Ephesus is something that needs to be taken note of.

We have Timothy here. He's in Ephesus. And if this were simply a church planting exercise where Timothy were working as an evangelist to bring the gospel to a new place, you would expect that to be completed within a period of maybe a few years or some period of time, certainly not decades.

But what we find is Acts 20, which occurs in about 54

A .D., a decade earlier than 1 Timothy, we are introduced to a rather robust presbytery.

So go with me to Acts 20. Acts 20, at verse 17.

Acts 20, verse 17. From Miletus, he's sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.

In Ephesus, we are already informed there's a very large number of believers.

The believers at Ephesus are in such large number that the church at Ephesus is used normally by Presbyterians as an example of a church that must have had a presbytery because it's called the church here.

So he was sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. So there's a single church. In what sense is it a single church?

Well, in the sense that there's a covenanted union so that there's a shared court. And so we have the elders of the church being called.

So this is the presbytery at Ephesus. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner

I always lived among you. Serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the

Jews. How I kept back nothing that was helpful but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house.

Testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our

Lord Jesus Christ. And see now, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there.

Except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city saying that change and tribulations await me.

But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy.

And the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And indeed, now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more.

Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Notice in verse 27 that Paul says he's preached the whole counsel of God to them.

And he calls these men to take heed for themselves because the

Holy Spirit has made them overseers. And that word overseers is the word for bishop. Made them bishops.

They are called elders at the beginning of the chapter. He called the elders of the church. They're elders and they are bishops.

It's the same office. And they're called to shepherd the church of God. That word there for shepherd is just the verb form of pastor.

They're called to pastor. So an elder is a bishop, is a pastor. They're called to pastor the church of God.

It's actually in the majority text, the church of the Lord and God, which he purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Okay, so there's a danger of wolves, false teachers entering into the church. And also, verse 30, also from among yourselves.

So also wolves will arise from among the existing elders. So savage wolves will come in and savage wolves will come from among themselves.

Also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Therefore watch and remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

And Paul was there preaching and teaching a lot, because there were a lot of converse.

There was a lot of work to be done. There was a lot to establish there. And his work he accomplished there.

There's many elders. Verse 32. So now brethren,

I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who are with me.

I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak.

And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

And when He had said these things, He knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more.

And they accompanied him to the ship. This is 54 AD. Revelation 2.

We're looking at verses one through seven. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not.

And have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary.

Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen.

Repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which

I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

This letter shows that the

Ephesians, after this letter to Timothy there, fought the false teachers, the false prophets, the false apostles that came to them and were victorious.

They kept the faith. Timothy was not someone who was just traveling around trying to get elders into place.

Paul had been there. There was a presbytery in place at Ephesus. Timothy had taken up a work at Ephesus that was a long -lasting work.

Timothy receives a letter from the apostle Paul as regards the organizing work at Ephesus.

I believe that Timothy is the angel of the church of Ephesus. Who are the angels of the churches?

The angels of the churches are not angels. They're not spirits who are disembodied.

The angels of the churches are messengers of the churches. The messengers of the churches, the ones who are these speakers of the church, one of the jobs of a preacher, of course, is to give a message, to be a message bearer.

And in particular, the angels of these particular churches, these are people receiving letters. The apostle

John is not sending letters via heavenly post office to particular angels that are disembodied spirits or non -bodied spirits because angels aren't disembodied, they just don't have bodies.

Now this is for men who are at those churches and these are the moderators of the councils of those churches.

And at Ephesus, the church again is so large that we're talking about there being a presbytery, perhaps with multiple levels, in Ephesus because there are thousands of believers in Ephesus.

And so Timothy, as the moderator of that presbytery or synod, will be the one who receives this letter.

So these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand.

The seven stars are the churches that are being written to. Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

The lampstands are the word of God in those churches. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

Notice this is not being written to an angel. The commendation of the church is not to some spiritual angel, it's to an angel in the sense of a messenger, somebody who is a preacher in the church.

He's writing to the church itself. I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.

And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not. And have found them liars.

And you have persevered and have patience. And have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary.

So this fighting for Christ's name without growing weary.

Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first work, else

I will come to you quickly. Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place.

Quick judgment comes following the abandonment of committing with God and the removing of teaching in the public sphere that is illuminating.

Unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the

Nicolaitans, which I also hate. And so those were people who were bringing in all sorts of immorality and licentiousness.

And we saw the argument against lawlessness in 1 Timothy 1. He who has an ear to hear, he who has an ear, let him hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Okay, so that's the, I wanna give you a sense that 1 Timothy is in between those two things. It's in between Acts 20, and it's about a decade after that, and it's a couple years before Revelation chapter two is sent as a letter by the

Lord Jesus Christ through the hand of John. So Timothy in his work as an evangelist but as a moderator of this presbytery is responsible for thinking about everything being put in good order.

So again, like I talked about this morning, this is a text that shows us how to think about church life, and it kind of gives us a bird's eye view of the community of the saints and how it's supposed to be done to build up the church and to have a well -ordered society, a well -ordered city of God.

So we've looked at the need to deal with protecting

Sola Scriptura carefully, and we've looked at this idea that there was the first faithful saying in verse 15, that Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners of whom

I am chief. This is a statement that we should all be able to say, acknowledging our own sinfulness.

And then Paul was given to us as one who was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a rebel, and yet could be forgiven as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Christ for everlasting life.

And so Timothy is being called to do his work and to wage the good warfare.

So chapter one, verse 18, this charge I commit to you, son

Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.

The rejection of the prophecies results in a shipwreck of faith.

Our faith is in the word of God. We wage war with the word of God.

Verse 20, of whom are Himenaeus and Alexander, whom

I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. So these were examples. These were sort of early examples of these false teachers.

And the great apostasy that's going to hit around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, a little bit before, where there is this large portion of people falling away, there's this huge rejection of Christ by the

Old Testament church, is kind of the centerpiece of the danger here.

There's this increasing tension between the new covenant church and the old covenant church.

With the old covenant church rejecting Christ. And so only a portion of the old covenant church accepts

Christ. And so you end up with this international new covenant church displacing the parochial old covenant

Jewish church. It's not replacing in the sense of a total discontinuity, but in the sense that there's a continuing church existence, but most of the local congregations reject

Christ. And its general assembly, the Sanhedrin, rejected

Christ. So chapter two, verse one, therefore

I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

In that context, we come into this idea of this is not just about the

Jewish church anymore. It is about men from every station and every nation.

When you read this, it sounds like, and many people will emphasize, that Paul is saying, therefore

I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for every single individual man.

We just finished studying 1 John not too long ago. Do you remember that we were commanded there to not pray for every single individual man?

That we were not to pray for those who would send the sinner to death? So, if that's what

Paul is saying, it's just a contradiction. But what we have is an explanatory statement at the beginning of verse two that helps us to see for all men in what sense?

For kings and all those who are in authority. So people in every station, every level of authority, we are to pray for.

That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

So notice this, we're praying for kings and for everybody who's in authority. And what we're praying for is that they would govern in such a way that we can live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

To live a quiet and peaceable life. The people who would be most thinking about these governors would be the men who are the leaders responsible for their homes.

And there's a tendency amongst men to either be rebellious, to seek to throw off authority, even potentially legitimate authority.

And there's also a tendency amongst men to abdicate. And so the danger of either being a disturber of the peace or being one who just lets stuff go that shouldn't be let go, are both being opposed.

There's a work of prayer to be done for all of those who are in authority.

Every station. And that prayer, we're to call down from God, blessing on the church, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.

A life that's undisturbed, quiet. A life that's peaceable, where our work is not disrupted.

That we might live in godliness. A dutiful working, a pious working in reverence.

That we would be able to behave in a dignified way, to behave in a manner that is respectful and fears legitimate authority.

These are the things that we are to pray for, that would allow us to see the city of God thrive.

Verse three, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now that all men is the same all men as well going up into verse one.

Let me ask you a question. Is God all powerful? Good, I'm glad we agree.

God is all powerful. So when you're all powerful, do you get everything you want?

Or are there things that you want that you don't get? Because if there's stuff you want and you don't get it, it seems like you could be more powerful, right?

Because getting everything you want is more powerful than not getting everything you want.

Are we following the deep logic of this so far? Getting everything you want, more powerful than not getting everything you want.

Okay, so if you're all powerful, you get everything you want. The Psalms say he does all that he pleases.

Everything he pleases, that's the stuff he does. So if that's the case, if he desires the salvation of everybody, guess who's gonna get saved?

Everybody. But wait a second. Do the scriptures teach that everybody gets saved or do the scriptures teach that some people go to hell?

The scriptures teach that some people go to hell. So if we're gonna try to reconcile those two things, they can't just be flat contradictions.

So let's read this and think about the context. Therefore I exert, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

Remember, we've limited the all men there by men of every station because otherwise this would contradict 1

John, which says don't pray for all men. We keep going. For kings and all who are in authority, that's the defining of all men, that we may lead quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. It just keeps piling on, right?

Did he ransom everybody? Did he pay for every single individual? I mean, this doubles the problem, okay?

If he desires the salvation of everybody, then everybody's saved. And if he paid a ransom for every single individual human being, then guess what?

Nobody owes a debt to God. And that means if God punishes anybody and their debt's been paid,

God's unjust, right? The justice of God is supposed to be the reason for the punishment. You owe me a debt for sin,

I have to punish you. I'm going to punish you. I'm gonna show my justice. So is this text teaching that Christ gave himself as a ransom to pay for the sins of every single individual to be testified in due time?

For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the

Gentiles in faith and truth. Hey, who was Paul appointed an apostle to? Was he an apostle to the

Jews? Oh no, he was an apostle to the Gentiles. And it says that right here at the end.

He was appointed a preacher and apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles. The ransom for all is a ransom for all nations.

The earlier statement, who desires all men to be saved is desiring men from every nation.

And so what we have here is we're supposed to pray for men of every station and nation. And God desires salvation of men in every station and nation.

And Christ paid for the sins for men of every station and nation. The alternative is that the

Bible contradicts itself because Jesus paid for everybody's sins and yet God still punishes some people.

And also that the Bible says to not pray for everybody, but also pray for everybody. If that's the

Bible you wanna believe, then you believe nonsense. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible teaches us a coherent set of doctrines.

The word of God cannot be broken. It does not contradict itself. We have to interpret the Bible looking for literal meaning based upon the rules of grammar, using context to read and systematically comparing scripture with scripture.

The rules of grammar make it so that we have to interpret the all, all of what?

We have to supply a noun that the all is modifying. Talks about all men in one place and the all is not talked about in another.

And then we have all men in another. So we have all men, all men and a ransom for all. The men can either be every single individual and the grammar would allow for that.

But contextually, it talks about men of different stations and then it talks about the nations. The context supplies the meaning.

Systematically, it's necessary that we read it that way or it just contradicts other places of scripture.

When you read the Bible and you come to a hard place, that's how you always have to read.

If you don't understand how a text doesn't contradict another text, what you're looking for is how do you make this fit using the search for a literal meaning according to the rules of grammar that fits with the context and allows for the systematic wholeness of the

Bible without contradiction. If your interpretation doesn't meet all of those, your interpretation is wrong.

And so it is your duty when you read the Bible to look for meaning with that process.

If you don't understand the meaning, you're not being edified. Getting the meaning of the text is how you're edified.

And the meaning involves all of those things. So to remind you of the meaning of this text, chapter two, verse one, therefore

I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for men of every station.

This is worded like this, for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority.

That interrupter is a definer. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

If kings are converted, they're going to treat the church well. Does that make sense?

Pray for them to get converted, because when they get converted, they treat the church well. And Isaiah prophesies that kings and queens will be nursing fathers and nursing mothers of the church.

So we should pray for magistrates to be converted. Verse three, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our

Savior, who desires men of every nation to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. That argument right there, there's one

God and there's one mediator between God and men. It's the same mediator for men of every nation, the man

Christ Jesus. Verse six, who gave himself a ransom for men of every nation to be testified in due time, for which

I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying.

A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Why does he take the time to swear an oath as an interrupter there?

Like when you're just talking or when you're writing a letter, do you just randomly, randomly interpose oaths?

Where you're just like, I swear I'm telling the truth. You're just like, I'm going to send you a box of paperclips.

I swear I am telling the truth. And that box of paperclips will be real paperclips.

You don't do that. You do it on points that matter. The points that matter are the points that are the emphasis.

The emphasis is that Christ was a ransom for men of every nation.

And he is swearing to be telling you the truth. He was made. Him going and bringing the gospel to the nations is the fulfilling of the due time where the message gets taken.

Christ came at a particular time and offered himself as a sacrifice in due time. All of these things were appointed to be done at a particular point in history and they are being fulfilled.

So this text is teaching us that we're supposed to pray for men of every station and that God desires the salvation of men from every nation and that Christ paid his own blood as a ransom to save, to pay for men of every nation.

How does this fit together as a logical unit? You need to pray for kings and people in authority, in every station of authority to be converted so the church can live peaceably and that will result in nations being converted, being covenanted, being baptized because Christ came to save every nation.

The funny thing is that the way this gets read oftentimes by Arminians, they not only make it about every individual but they totally ignore the national and civil magistracy emphasis of the text.

This text is telling us that the way nations, the way nations get saved is through the ordinary means of individuals being converted, especially those who are in authority getting converted.

The way civil covenanting occurs is through magistrates covenanting with God and with the people.

And so this text is teaching us that we're to pray for men of every station because Christ desires the salvation of men from every nation and Christ gave himself a ransom for men of every nation.

And the apostle Paul is an apostle to the nations. Verse eight follows on from that as a continuing of the argument.

The argument is this. Since we're supposed to pray for everybody, sorry, we're supposed to pray for people in every station because God desires the salvation of people in every nation and Christ paid for people in every nation and I'm a preacher to the nations.

Since those things, I desire therefore that men everywhere lift up holy hands, everywhere.

This is about nations being converted. This is about magistrates being converted to lead their people in covenanting to see right worship done everywhere.

I desire therefore that men pray everywhere. This is about the catholicity of the church.

The church being universal and going out to all the nations. I desire therefore that men pray everywhere.

Lifting up holy hands and lifting up the hands is you have the form of the blessing.

You have the idea of receiving. You have the idea of lifting up hands as a part of bowing.

These are the types of the lifting up of hands that you find and the various forms that exist there for the lifting up of hands.

So men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath.

What's wrath? Wrath is hatred. Love is the seeking of the well -being of the object.

Hatred is the seeking of the not as well -being of the object.

It's the seeking of the harm of the object. Okay, so hatred is the seeking of the harm of the object.

The mal -being. So we're to lift up holy hands. Hands that are set apart to the service of God without hatred toward God or man and without doubting.

And the word there is basically dialogue. Okay, it's without self -contradiction.

We're not supposed to be praying with doubting. We don't have contradictory. We don't wanna have like James talks about the thoughts that contradict or are double speak in our mind that blow us about.

So Paul desires that therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without hatred and without an instability of faith.

What he wants to see is love and what he wants to see is solid, sturdy knowledge.

He wants to see faith where men can justify from the word of God what it is that they believe.

Verse nine, in like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel.

Okay, so the like manner is there's some way in which the behavior of the men is one thing and the behavior of the women is the feminine counterpart to the masculine behavior of the men.

The men praying in public everywhere. This is churches.

This is the worship of God publicly in every nation. And there's a lifting up of hands without wrath or doubting.

So this is especially going to be referent to the blessing, the benediction, the lifting of hands as a symbol of blessing in prayer occurring everywhere.

In other words, Paul desires to see churches in every nation.

That kind of makes sense since Paul spent all his time trying to plant churches in every nation.

So Paul, it's kind of easy to get him. He's a simple man. He just wants to take over the world for Jesus.

Simple man, simple desires. Churches everywhere. I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up hands without wrath and doubting.

In like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel.

Now the word adorn there is cosmene and the word modest apparel here is the word modest is actually cosmeo.

So the better way of writing this would be in like manner also that women beautify or order themselves in orderly apparel.

They order themselves in orderly apparel. They beautify themselves in beautiful apparel.

A lot of people want to read this as women need to wear burlap sacks with propriety and moderation, no braiding the hair, no gold, no pearls, no costly clothing.

What this is saying is to beautify yourself with beautiful apparel, with propriety and moderation there is that root word that you hear me talk about so often, the

Sophrona word, which means wisdom. This is prudence. They're supposed to, this idea of they beautify themselves with beautiful apparel with propriety and prudence or propriety and wisdom.

So they have to think about what kind of clothing is going to beautify themselves with beautiful apparel that's proper or fitting, reverent, and also is prudent or wise.

And so it talks about not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.

And here's how people often read this that are more conservative but also want to maintain the right to be beautiful. They'll go a braided hair is what's being talked about and what's being talked about is braided hair with gold in it and pearls and costly clothing and so this is not modest, it's luxuriant.

And that is one thing to be guarded against. But if the

Apostle Paul who wrote 1 Timothy also under the inspiration wrote 1

Corinthians and he taught head coverings, then the covering of hair would be part of what should be covered in the public worship.

So beautifying yourself in beautiful apparel with propriety and prudence, not showing off your glory or gold or pearls or costly clothing.

And so this making yourself glorious but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

The way a lot of people read this is that they should adorn themselves with good works and not worry about adorning themselves with any sort of external beauty.

The other thing you'll hear is from people who want to say modesty has nothing to do with covering your body.

Well that's bogus too, the modesty is here. It's not merely saying that you should avoid looking luxuriant in what you're wearing.

A part of the modesty here, the apparel word, is a word that has to do with covering of the body.

And the scriptures teach us that we should cover ourselves from the top of the breast, so basically the clavicle, to the bottom of the thigh.

In other words, this idea of covering the thighs, covering the chest, covering the stomach, the covering of that space.

And that applies to men and women. Apparel, covering, relates to that.

But the beautifying, we're supposed to have the beautifying of the self, the woman, with a beautiful covering, and that's to be done in a reverent or proprietous way with prudence, as opposed to showing off your hair, which is your glory, as opposed to showing off gold, which was used in the temple, by the way, to show glory, the glory of God, or pearls or costly clothing.

So as opposed to being luxuriant or immodest, we want to be properly covered in a beautiful way that is prudent and proprietous.

Verse 10 says, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

They want to make the good works into the thing that's being used as the beautifying.

But instead, what I think is being said here is adorn yourselves properly in a way that's fitting to women who profess godliness accompanied with good works.

So if you're a woman with a profession of godliness and you have good works as a part of your testimony, what kind of clothing would you want to have on?

You would want it to be beautiful and modest and to not be trying to distract people by glorifying yourself in the worship, but instead seeking to give all the glory to God.

Now it's funny, because I can hammer on men all day long and it's kind of like, yeah, do the thing.

Talking about women's stuff, sort of verboten. The Apostle Paul didn't get the memo.

The Apostle Paul talks about women's stuff, and he's a man, right? I mean, he didn't even get the

DEI training to realize if somebody's gonna talk about it, make sure there's a representative from that community.

So you'd think he'd be like, now the women's minister, Deborah's gonna come up now and she's gonna talk to all you ladies about how to dress.

No, what he does is he says, here's the memo about women's ministry, by the way, just real quick interrupter, while we're talking about what you women should be wearing, here's the memo about women's ministry.

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission, and I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

That's what he says. He's talking about church.

The difference between church and non -church is when you have the public assembly, when you have the public assembly.

The public assembly is the time of gathering where the saints are gathered together, where they're called to appear by the authority of the church.

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. In other words, it is inappropriate for women to get up and to speak, to lead in the public assembly.

Women are supposed to speak when the whole congregation speaks. Amens, singing together, those are the appropriate times.

Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. Now that word submission is used in Galatians 2, verse five.

Paul says when he's talking about how there were people who were trying to say, hey, you shouldn't, you shouldn't have the

Gentiles and the Jews eating together. Paul wasn't in submission to them for even an hour.

Instead, he rebuked Peter to his face in front of other people immediately when he found out that Peter was failing to tear down the wall of separation between the nations, between the

Jews and the Gentiles. In 1

Timothy 3, verse four, that same word is used in this way.

One who rules his own house, well, this is talking about the qualifications of an elder. One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence.

Same word. Verse 11, let a woman learn in silence with all submission.

Godly women who profess godliness and who do good works should beautify themselves, not steal glory to themselves, cover themselves properly, and then not seek to speak in the public assembly and not seek to rule but instead submit to godly, lawful church officers.

And in case there was any misunderstanding about verse 11, the Apostle Paul wrote verse 12.

And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but, in case you missed the first silence, but to be in silence.

This is not saying that women can't speak anywhere. This is very specifically, women should not speak in the public assembly.

They shouldn't teach, they shouldn't exercise authority, they should be silent. They should learn in silence with all submission.

And then an argument is given because the Apostle Paul thought telling women how to dress and telling them to be quiet was not sufficient.

What I'm gonna do now is telling them an argument for a why. Here's the argument for why.

For, Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, with a woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

The for is an argument word. It's because. So, women are supposed to beautify themselves in beautiful attire.

Something that covers the body with propriety and prudence.

Not showing off their glory with hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works.

So, the type of clothing that's proper for women professing godliness with good works. Now, regarding behavior in the public assembly, as opposed to lifting up holy hands and leading in prayer, the women are supposed to learn in silence with all submission.

And Paul doesn't permit, the Apostle Paul does not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

Why? Because Adam was formed first and then Eve. And the argument there is,

God symbolically made Adam first as a symbolic way of showing the authority of Adam over Eve.

If you don't agree with that, then what is the for for?

What's the for for? I mean, the Holy Spirit doesn't breathe out words out of a stutter.

The for is an argument word. The for is an argument word.

Because Adam was formed first, then Eve. The argument is that Adam was created first, symbolically to teach this doctrine of the leadership of men.

Then Eve was created. And Adam was not deceived.

Now here's another argument. There's the creation argument, and then there's the historical typology argument.

Adam wasn't deceived by the serpent. But Eve, representing womankind, was deceived and she fell into transgression.

She was deceived by the serpent. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue with faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

So he goes from all of these things that are not very popular in our time about what women are supposed to do to an argument from Adam was made first.

Also, by the way, he's a literal individual human being made by God, not coming from evolution, but actually made as a individual human being.

Adam, made first. Not a popular opinion in our time. And then

Eve was made from Adam. And that's used as an argument for Adam's authority. And Adam was not deceived by the serpent, but woman being deceived fell into transgression.

An argument for submitting to male leadership because Eve fell by being deceived.

Also, not a popular argument. Is it what the text says?

It is, isn't it? So here's the question. Do you believe that this is

God breathed? If you believe it's God breathed, let men howl.

It's God's word. Choose God's word. Rather than choosing the words of the spirit of the age.

Adam was formed first, then Eve. This is an argument from Genesis. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.

Now, this can be used and twisted to be something that is woman hating. What this text is teaching us is that women were designed in a particular way for particular roles.

Women were designed by God to be help mates for men. Not for every man, but for their particular patriarch.

The husband or father of the home. Not every man, one loving man.

In submission to that man who has duties of protection, she is to be in silent submission in the church.

Not at home. At home, the duty of the man is to speak with the wife and to discuss with the wife the things that are needful for understanding and to seek to come to agreement.

The husband's leadership is to be a leadership that involves protecting the wife from deceivers.

Adam was not deceived by the serpent. The danger for Adam is not as much the outside world.

The danger for Adam is deceiving himself and leading badly by deceiving himself and using his position in a way that's lazy to not lead properly or that's arrogant and domineering to lead him to sin.

And so Adam being formed first and then Eve being formed second, we have

Eve with the duty to follow. And what we find is that the nature of man and woman is such that they are designed for their roles.

And that design difference, besides bodily differences, involves the way the fifth commandment is written on the heart.

The fifth commandment is written on the heart in men for them to be men.

The fifth commandment is written on the heart of woman in such a way as for her to be woman.

And in order for a woman to be able to submit to her husband and to be able to deal with not speaking in the church, she has to have a desire to submit to legitimate authority.

And she has to have a sense of loyalty and zeal for authority and for the person that she's loyal to.

And if she doesn't get teaching from the person that she's supposed to get teaching from, she's going to look for someone to lead her.

In Eve's case, receiving insufficient leadership from Adam, she was deceived by the serpent.

And in Adam's case, not seeking out the knowledge of God sufficiently, he was not deceived by the serpent, but he deceived himself.

So the reason, one of the reasons that men are supposed to lead in the public sphere and women are not is because men are designed to have the fifth commandment written on their heart in such a way that they seek to engage in the exercise of public authority and to fight in a way that is not so focused on the loyalty to the particular leader.

And women, having the law of God written on their hearts for their station, have loyalty for the particular leader, in particular the patriarch, and have a desire to be led that is different from the desire of men, and therefore are able to have that desire latched onto in a way that is more dangerous.

Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

Now, we're talking about the role of speaking and teaching versus being silent.

The woman's concern for teaching needs to be in teaching other women, but especially in teaching their own children, especially in teaching their own children.

And she'll be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

Now, in the past, I'd wondered, okay, she will be saved, just talking about Eve, just talking about women generally, and then you see the they and you go, oh, the they must be talking about women generally, plural.

Eve may be being used as a type here. And I recently ran into an interpretation, this actually also came from Pastor Kaiser, that my jaw hit the floor when

I heard it. I went, I can't believe I hadn't realized this before. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they, the children, the children, continue in faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

She will receive the blessings of salvation in the midst of childbearing, something that's been dealing with all sorts of curse ever since the fall, right?

She's suffering in childbearing, and she has suffering in the raising of the children, and the idea here is that the salvation that's being given is so great that it removes curse, even in the place where curse was given.

Nevertheless, she'll be saved in childbearing if the children continue in faith, if the children continue in love, if the children continue in holiness, if the children continue in those things with self -control.

The importance, then, of the joy here. We're told by John, there is no greater love, there's no greater joy than to see your children walk in the truth.

So you want joy? You think that it requires public ministry to get joy? Public ministry is super joyful.

It's only fun all the time. I promise. But there's no greater joy than to see your children walk in the truth, and that applies to literal children that are yours in your household, as well as to those who you teach publicly.

And the importance of teaching in such a way that those children continue in faith, continue in love, continue in holiness, with self -control.

The importance of that work. Immortal souls, I mean, look, when

I preach publicly, the word goes out in a broad way that hits all of you, and I'm sure you all listen very carefully to every single individual word, but even if that happens, the amount of teaching

I can give you is so much smaller than the amount of teaching that a mother can give to her children.

And so the type of leadership, the type of enculturating, the type of nurturing that you can give to your own children to build up their faith, to cause their loves to be rightly ordered, to have their loyalties and zeal of holiness be rightly placed, and to help them to know how to govern themselves.

Women have so much power over the lives of these immortal souls from which nations come.

And our culture hates childbearing. Ending this thing with nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing is almost as offensive as telling women to be silent.

Almost as offensive as saying, well, Adam was formed first, so. It's every piece of this is offensive to our culture, because it teaches us, our culture teaches us that having children, raising children, submitting to husbands is so inferior to having a career, because then you can submit to another man and not have your children around.

That's the alternate vision. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if the children continue in faith, love, and holiness with self -control.

This gives to us a sense of, a part of the beauty of the church, of the covenant community, to exist in every nation.

We are to pray for kings and magistrates to repent, that they might bless the church.

We are to pray for every nation to be baptized. The Apostle Paul is an apostle to the nations.

All of this is so that men everywhere might pray with lifted up hands, without hatred and without double -mindedness.

This is so that woman might show the beauty of woman who had created by God being beautifully attired with propriety and prudence, not showing off the glory of the woman, but instead wearing what's proper for a woman who professes godliness with good works.

And so therefore, the behavior of the woman that's to be on display is to learn in silence with all submission, because the

Apostle Paul doesn't permit a woman to teach or to have authority in the church over a man, but to be in silence, because Adam was made first and then

Eve was made from him. And because Adam was not deceived by the serpent, but the woman was deceived by the serpent.

And in contrast to that danger, the woman is given a way of seeing curse reduced and removed in having and raising children in such a way that those children continue in faith, love and holiness with self -control.

Comments, questions, objections, and the voting members and those with speaking privileges. Mr. Nye.

So I'm not gonna go through the proofs right now, but I do wanna point you to something. If you go to the form of Presbyterian government in the

Westminster form of Presbyterian government, you will find that it provides two major lines of argument for Presbyterian government in the

New Testament church. It argues from Jerusalem and it argues from Ephesus. And when you read all the proof texts that are laid out from Ephesus, your jaw is gonna drop.

Okay. Yeah, so Timothy's the moderator of the session, or of the

Presbytery there. And there's a plurality of elders, there's an equality of elders, bishops, elders, pastors are the same office.

So yeah, it's one office, but there is the office of moderator. We see the office of moderator in the Old Testament called prince is a frequent translation, the princes of the tribes.

We see the office of clerk, often translated as scribe. We see both of those things.

And so we have princes and scribes, and those are in the Old Testament. We also have the ruler or the master of assemblies in Ecclesiastes 12 is another place we have referenced the idea of a moderator.

So the angel of the churches here, these are the moderators of those. The moderators are addressed as those who are responsible for order in those assemblies.

And so those are the, that's what I think that's being dealt with. So you're talking about prophesying, how do you do that?

Yeah, so Timothy, as an evangelist, is one who has been given a revelatory office.

And in being given a revelatory office, there is,

I'm trying to find that text, yeah. Chapter, it's 2 Timothy four, verse five says, but you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

So he has a revelatory office. And so there's other revelatory officers, because this is before the completion of the scriptures.

And during that time of the completing of the canon, there's lots of prophecy occurring at local church levels.

I mean, you read 1 Corinthians, and there's lots of revelatory work going on awaiting the completion of the canon.

So the prophecy over him, in part, would be about his calling as a prophetic officer, right?

That would, at a very minimum, that information would have to be communicated. You can't take a prophetic office to yourself.

It has to be given through revelation. So he is minimally receiving prophetic word about the fact that he has a revelatory office himself.

And so that calling to the office of evangelist is a part of it, but he's also been ordained by the presbytery, and the ordination of a presbytery exists for the ordination of presbyters, right?

So he is ordained to the office of elder, and he's also somebody who has the office of evangelist.

So his work at a local level in Ephesus is ongoing, it's continuing, it's 13 years after Paul started his work there.

I mean, so, and it's a couple years before the letter that John writes for Jesus to the messenger, right?

So that idea that, yes, he has a prophetic office, but he also has an eldership office there.

That make sense? Yes, and also, you can apply all the passages of prophecy, i .e.

the scriptures, that teach about the work of elders and evangelists. And by this point, the apostle

Paul would have already written the letter of the Ephesians, which teaches about the work of evangelists, and also teaches about the duty of pastors, right?

And so there's stuff that's general, and there's stuff that's specific, and all of that would be what needs to be applied. In that particular case, what we have retained is the apostolic deposit that we would use for prophecy about elders.

That's how that would apply now to any of the prophecies, all the teachings about eldership, that those things should be applied.

That's how you would apply this as an elder, reading this text for yourself. Great, and let's pray.

Father, we ask that you would bless the teaching of your word and cause the reading and teaching of your word to powerfully build up your church.

I pray this in Christ's name, amen. All right,

Deacon Rodriguez, if you could please read Psalm 56 for us. Please stand,

Psalm 56. To the chief musician set to the silent dove in distant lands, a victim of David when the

Philistines captured him in Gath. Be merciful to me,

O God, for man would me devour. He fights against me all day long and so oppresses me.

My enemies would surely try to swallow me up whole. O God, most high, there are many who fight against me now.

When I'm afraid, I'll trust in you. I'll praise God in his word. And God I trust,

I will not fear that which the flesh can do. Each day they arrest my words, their thoughts toward me filled with evil.

They meet, they hide, they mark my steps and wait there for my soul.

Should they affect their own escape through their great wickedness.

In your anger now, O my God, cast down all the people. All of my wonderings are kept always in mind by you.

You put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? My foes turn back when

I cry out. Therefore, God is for me. And God, I'll praise his word.

And I'll praise his word in the Lord. And God, I've put my trust and I'll not fear what man can do.

My vows are upon me, O God. I'll render praise to you. From death, you saved my soul.

So would you not prevent my fall so that I might walk before God safe in the light of life.

Be merciful to me, O God. For man, he fights against me all day long.

And so oppresses me. My enemies would surely try to swallow me.

Most high, you fight against me.

Now I'll trust in you.

I'll praise God. And God, I trust that which the flesh can do.

Each day they rest my words, their thoughts toward me fill.

They mark my steps and wait there for my soul.

Should they in effect escape through their great wickedness, my

God, cast down all the people. Things are kept always in mind by you who put my tears in your bottle.

Are they not in my foes?

Turn my cry out. Therefore, God is for me.

I'll praise his word. And I'll praise his word in the end.

God, I put my trust. And I'll not fear what man can.

My vows are upon your praise to you who saved my soul.

So would you not prevent my fall so that I might walk before God safe in the light of life.

Please remain standing for the Word of Institution. First, let me bless those of you who will not be participating in the

Lord's Supper. Grace to you and peace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now for the

Word of Institution for the Lord's Supper. 1

Corinthians 11. For I received from the

Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which

He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, take, eat.

This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the

Lord's death till He comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the

Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the

Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the

Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. If you have been examined by the council and have examined yourself to see if you're in the faith, can discern the

Lord's body, are at peace with others as far as it depends upon you, and are not holding on to a cherished sin.