Well, let us turn to God's Word.
Over these last number of weeks now we've considered something
of the content of the second chapter in Paul's first epistle
to Timothy, this pastoral letter in which he's giving instructions,
we said, to a young man with regards to that work to which
he had been called and appointed and in the second chapter we've
seen how at the beginning he instructs with regards to the
importance of prayer and prayer for the powers that be and then
he reminds Timothy that this is the responsibility of the
man when he comes to the assemblies of the Lord's people and he goes
on to speak of the duties of the man and of the woman So let's
turn again to this second chapter. I want to conclude what I have
to say on the chapter tonight as we consider the final verses,
verses 13, 14, and 15. But to see the connection, I'll
read again from verse 11. 1 Timothy 2, verse 11, he says,
let the woman learn in silence with all subjection
but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the
man but to be in silence for Adam was first formed then Eve
and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was
in the transgression notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing
if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety
And so last time we were looking more particularly here at the
verses 11 and 12 where he speaks of the woman being silent in
the sense that they're not to teach, they're not to preach
in the church, nor are they to pray audibly. As I said, he very
much emphasizes the fact that that is the duty of the men when
it comes to the assembling of the saints. In verse 8, I will
therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without
wrath and doubting. And it's that generic word, it
means the man in distinction from the woman. And the definite
article is also there he literally says I will therefore that the
men pray everywhere he speaks then of the the men and then
he goes on as I say to say a great deal with regards to the women
their adornment and so forth and he's not the only portion
where Paul speaks of the of the women. Remember how we see it
also when he addresses the church at Corinth which was a rather
disorderly church in many ways and there in chapter 14 of 1st
Corinthians he He says at verse 34, Let your
women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto
them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also
saith the law. And if they will learn anything,
let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women
to speak in the church. So Paul's instruction is quite
definite and specific. not just to Timothy but also
as he addresses that particular church at Corinth. As I say there were certainly
irregularities in that church. It does seem that there were
some of the women who were prophesying because he speaks in chapter
11 of the importance of the woman's head covering and he even mentions
some prophesying with their heads uncovered and so dishonoring
their heads, he says. Irregularities, disorder, seem
to be very much apparent in that church. But what does Paul say?
He addresses the matter and says that God is not the author of
confusion but of peace in all the churches of the saints. And
then at the end of that 14th chapter he again exhorts that
all things are to be done decently and in order. In fact previously
in chapter 11 where he has to deal with certain disorders that
had arisen even in their observance of the Lord's Supper At the end
of that 11th chapter he tells them that the rest he will set
in order when he comes to them. He has every intention of visiting
that church at Corinth and seeking to address these various matters
that had arisen, this disorder that was in the church. And so amongst other things he
emphasizes there again the particular role of the women, how they are
to be silent. I would say this, that the woman
certainly could speak when invited to speak in a church meeting
or to give some account of her experience of the grace of God.
And certainly when it comes to the matter of decisions that
are made in the church, surely the women also would have a voice
and a vote in those cases, because they are part of the gathered
church. When God saves sinners, He calls them out of the world,
He gathers them into local congregations, and the women are as much members
of the church as are the men. In fact, when he writes in the
fifth chapter of that first letter, and he's dealing with a matter
of church discipline, he speaks how it is the duty of the church
to address that matter when they are gathered together. In 1 Corinthians
5 and verse 4, He says, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with
the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such and one unto
Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. He's dealing with one
who was guilty of the most vile fornication. and the matter must
be dealt with. How is it to be dealt with? Well,
ultimately, the discipline is in the hands of the assembly
of the church, as he says in that verse, when we are gathered
together and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is there, he is the head of the church and he is there
when the church is gathered together and the church is not just made
up of the men, it is also made up of the women. So the women
have to share in that act of discipline. So whilst we recognize
that Paul speaks quite clearly with regards to the distinctive
roles of the men and the women, yet the women are as much members
in the church as are the men, because in salvation there is
neither male nor female. But tonight, having Spoken last
time concerning those verses 11 and 12, as I said I want to
conclude by considering what he says in the following verses
from verse 13, where he really explains, he gives the reasons
for this teaching. There's a reason why God himself
as ordained that the women should
not usurp authority, but should be in silence. And what does
he say, verse 13, for Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression, notwithstanding
she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety. And three things I want to deal
with as we consider this passage and this subject. First of all,
to observe that what we have here is the precept of the gospel,
or the law of the gospel. Paul is not just expressing his
own opinions when he writes to Timothy, nor of course is he
expressing simply his his own understanding of things when
he writes to the church at Corinth. But what we have here is the
word of God. And he uses very strong language. We've observed it in the former
part of the chapter when he writes in verse 4 that God our Savior
will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth. Now, When we looked at that passage,
of course, we observed that that doesn't mean that God is wanting
to save all men. But the reference is to all sorts,
all characters, all classes, as we see from the context in
the previous verses. But the particular verb that
he uses there in verse 4, the verb to will, who will, have
all men, all sorts of men to be saved. It's a very strong
verb. It's the stronger of two verbs
that he could have used. And it literally has the idea
of a set purpose. This is a revelation, in a sense,
of the divine mind. It's what God has purposed. the will of God is that all sorts,
all classes, all types of men and women should be saved because
there of course the word men is not the generic word it's
the word that really means all sorts of men and women from all
of mankind that's what he is saying but it's the verb that
he uses which indicates that this isn't just the the thoughts
of the Apostle. This is the Apostle writing under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and declaring the truth of God. And, as I say, it's gospel precept. Remember what we have back in
that 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and there in verse 34, concerning women, he says at
the end of that verse, as also saith the law, that your women
keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto
them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also
saith the Lord, the commandment of God. And then at verse 37,
of that chapter, if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you
are the commandments of the Lord. It's God's commandments that
he is clearly dealing with. And Dr. Gill remarks here, subjection
which God in law requires of the woman to the man. And the
appeal, of course, is to those words that we read in Genesis
chapter 3, when God addresses the woman
there at verse 16, Thy desire shall be to thy husband, he shall
rule over them. There's a law there in the sense
that the first five books of Scripture the Torah, that's the
law of Moses, not just in terms of the law of the Ten Commandments,
but the first five books are generally referred to as the
law, that's how the Jews divided the Old Testament. They spoke
of the law, of the prophets, and of the writings. And so,
Paul here, himself of course, very much a Jew, he'd been schooled
at the feet of Gamaliel, he was well aware of these things, and
he is plainly here setting forth how that law still applies under
the gospel. It's gospel precept that we have
there. But it's interesting to see how
God's commandments are rooted in creation. God is the one who
has made us, God knows us better than we know ourselves, and God
gives us laws that are suitable to the way in which he has made
us. And so here we see, with regards
to what he is saying concerning the women, he immediately appeals
to the order that we have in creation. Verse 13, Adam was
first formed, then Eve. Adam was first formed. That's
the basic truth there in Genesis chapter 2 on the sixth day. God creates the animals, God
creates man and woman also on that day. We have the six days
of creation there in the opening chapter of Genesis, and then,
when we come to the second chapter, of course, we have a detailed
explanation, really, with regards to the work that God performed
on that sixth day, the way in which man and woman were created. And we're told in Genesis 2,
7, how the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became
a living soul. And then after God has created
the man, He subsequently creates the woman. As we have it here
in verse 13, Adam was first formed, then Eve. And we have the account
again towards the end of that second chapter in Genesis, how
God caused a deep sleep, a fall upon Adam, and he slept, And
God took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof.
And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made he
a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This
is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall
be called woman, because she was taken from man. This is the
order that we have then in creation. And There's a reason then for
the fact that the woman is to be silent and to be in that place
of submission to the man. And it's not just because of
the order that we have there, that the man was created first
and then the woman. Because we see quite clearly
that the animals were created before the man. And yet even
these animals then are subject to the man. In Genesis 2, verses
19 and 20, God brings all these animals to Adam, and Adam names
all the animals. And this is man, of course, in
his pristine condition, as he's just come from the hand of his
great Creator. And he's able to find names that
are suitable to describe all the various creatures that the
Lord God brings to him. What a remarkable creature man
was when he comes from God's hand and he's made in God's image,
he's created after God's likeness. What a mind must this man have
had before sin entered into the world. And then when the woman
is made, she's very much made for the man. We see that quite clearly again
there in Genesis chapter 2. The man is not of the woman,
but the woman of the man, neither was the man created for the woman,
but the woman for the man. That's the observation that Paul
makes on the order that we have in creation when he writes again
there in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and there of course he's dealing
with the whole business of headship and the head covering but those
are the words that we find in that 11th chapter at verse 7
following the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man
neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the
man. And nevertheless, although that
is the truth of creation, we know that there is a mutual dependence
of one on the other. Neither is the man without the
woman, neither is the woman without the man in the Lord, says Paul
there in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 11. But creation, and the
manner in which God creates, is the reason why God gives the
commandments and the precepts that he gives. There's precept
then, there's the order that we have in creation, and then
also here, he speaks of the fall and the entrance of sin, verse
14. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Here is
the consequence, you see, when there is the reversal of that
divine order that God had established in creation. It was the woman
who first took of the fruits of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, and did eat, and then she gave to her husband,
we're told. She gave to her husband with
her, and he did eat. And so we have the reason really
why the woman is not to take that lead with regards to instruction
and teaching but to be in silence. Here is the argument for that
silence. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the
man but to be in silence. Adam was not deceived but the
woman being deceived. was in the transgression how
the serpent beguiled Eve and beguiled her through his subtlety
and she sees that the tree and the fruit of that tree of the
knowledge of good and evil is something to be desired and so
she partakes and she gives to the man The woman, of course,
by Peter is spoken of as the weaker vessel. But the man, the
man is so willful. When he offers the fruit to Adam,
he takes it so willingly, so readily. And that's all against
light and knowledge. Had not the Lord God spoken clearly,
definitely to the man, before ever the woman was created? He
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat thereof. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die. Now obviously Adam had conveyed
that teaching to Eve, because she repeats that to the serpent. Adam knew he'd have the commandment
direct from God and yet he is so willful in the fall. He's ahead of the race, And when
he sinned, we all sinned. His transgression is imputed
to all those who were in his loins. And we have received,
of course, from our first parents a sinful nature with those who
were conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity. But here, in these
verses at the end of the chapter, Paul is explaining the reason
for the teaching that he has given in those previous verses. And it's principally these two
things. It's the order of creation, and it's what happens when sin
entered into that creation in the fall of Adam and Eve. But then, we come to the 15th
verse, And how encouraging is that opening
word, notwithstanding. He said, much to say with regards
to the women, notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing,
if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. She shall be saved in childbearing. Of course when we read there
in Genesis chapter 3 we saw how the curse comes upon the woman
in terms of the travail of childbirth. I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children
says the Lord God and thy desire shall be unto thy husband and
he shall rule over them and of course every birth of a child
is a reminder of sin in that sense and every child born into
this world is born dead in trespasses and in sins that's true of everyone bar the
Lord Jesus Christ David He was spoken of in Scripture as the
man after God's own heart, but he was a sinful man. And he was
guilty of some awful, gross sins. And David even confesses, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. All sin is so much associated
with with childbirth and of course here is the reason why when God
sends his only begotten son in the fullness of the time he must
be preserved from every taint of that original sin and so we
have the miracle of the of the virgin birth in the great mystery
of the incarnation Now that the Holy Ghost so overshadows the
womb of the Virgin Mary, that sinful woman brings forth that
holy thing, that sinless human nature, that holy body, that
holy soul, the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall be called the Son of
God, says the angel. and so salvation is also associated
with childbirth. In childbirth there's the reminder
of sin and the entrance of sin, but in childbirth there's also
this association with salvation, notwithstanding she shall be
saved, it says, in childbearing. Now, here, The definite article
stands before the word childbearing. She shall be saved, literally,
in the childbearing. And is there not some allusion
here to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ? He is that one,
of course, who is promised there in Genesis 3.15, the seed of
the woman. I shall put enmity between thee
and the woman says God to the serpent and between thy seed
and her seed it shall bruise thy head thou shalt bruise his
heel the seeds of the woman and the Lord Jesus Christ is
very much the seed of the woman he was without a human father
and that human nature that he bore he derived from his virgin
mother And as I said, by the gracious ministry of the Holy
Ghost, what was brought forth, though she was sinful in her
nature, what was brought forth, that holy thing, was without
any sin at all. Oh, He is very much the seed
of the woman, and then He is the seed of Abraham, and He is
the seed of David. And remember, I mean, Galatians
3.16, we see the apostle referring to Abram's seed very much as
being the Lord Jesus Christ and to thy seed, the true seed of
Abram, the Lord Jesus Christ, but he is the seed of the woman.
And it's interesting because we have that promise there in
Genesis 3.15 concerning the seed of the woman And, of course,
Adam and Eve, though they are sinners, they are saved sinners,
they are justified sinners, the Lord God clothes them in robes
of righteousness in that sense. And Adam and Eve are then spiritual
people. And Eve, it seems, is looking
and waiting and wanting the birth of this child they are seeking.
And in the very opening verse of Genesis 4 As soon as Cain
is born, she says, I have gotten a man from the Lord. I've gotten
a man from the Lord. He's this, the promised seed,
on the very birth of Cain. Of course, it wasn't the case. In the fullness of the time,
God would send forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
law, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, says the prophet Isaiah. And the government upon
his shoulders and his name, wonderful counsel of the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Oh, the childbearing,
she shall be saved in the childbearing. But then it says, if they continue
in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Speaking again,
in particular here it would seem of the women. These women must
be women of faith, they must be those who are the true daughters
of Sarah. They continue in faith and charity,
in love, in holiness, in sobriety, all those things that we've considered
concerning the women. they are to adorn themselves
in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided
hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly apparel, but which becometh
women professing godliness with good works. All that are to be
gracious women, godly women. They have faith, a continuing
faith, but there must always be that fruit of faith. It's
faith which worketh by love. and as they have faith so they
delight in the word of God. Not just in the promises of God
but also in the precepts and the commandments of God. Doesn't
John say this is the love of God that we keep his commandments
and his commandments are not grievous? All what God gives
us in the way of commandment is that that suits us. He is
the one who made us. he's the one who knows each of
us better than ever we could know ourselves and so this is
the amazing thing with the word of God the grace of God even
when he comes and gives commands and precepts there's an explanation
there's a reason oh God grant that we might be those then who
acknowledge his wisdom and submit to his authority For Adam was
first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be
saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity
and holiness with sobriety." May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us.