What God Wants for the Women Part 3

So it's very good to see. All of you here today on this first day of March, it's hard to believe we're In March already. let me invite you to turn your Bibles to First Timothy chapter. 2 First Timothy Chapter 2 for our time of study in the word.

this morning, we are, doing a verse by verse study through the book of First Timothy. And as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 12. And my goal this morning is to try to do justice to verses 12 through 14. And we're going to bump into verse 15, the very front end of it.

And then I believe Lord willing, next week I want to speak to the ladies a message entitled The Gospel Inheritance of Women. And we'll culminate that message next week in verse 15. but the title of the message this morning is What God Wants from the Women, Part 3. What God Wants from the Women, Part 3, and as we have been working through this section, we've been titling the message What God Wants from the Women, and this week I, felt a growing uneasiness with that title.

It's accurate enough. But the word from can maybe convey an unfortunate meaning. This isn't, this text is not so much what God wants from you ladies, like God wants to take something from you. As much as this text, reveals the heart of God for you.

And so as we work our way through this passage, even by way of review, I want you to feel the heartbeat of God, for you, in this passage., when you look at this passage, especially verse 12, that we're going to be getting into today, I just want to remind you of what we said two weeks ago that this passage is very countercultural. It is politically about as incorrect as anything you're ever going to find in the Bible. And this is not just a passage that people, disagree with.

but it actually makes people angry.

And as a result of that, there are people who embrace this text, but they just don't ever talk about it. There are churches that like, yeah, we believe this, but they're embarrassed about it. And it's like, well, let's just try to practice it quietly, but we're never going to preach on this. And there are some churches that would never do a verse by verse study through the Book of First Timothy, absolutely never for the simple reason that they would have to cover verse 12.

And then there are others as we're going to see this morning that make various attempts when they do interact with this text to get around what we here at Cornerstone believe is a straightforward meaning of this passage. But just to set the stage for us guys and gals, we should not be surprised that God says things to us in His word that are countercultural. God and the culture have never gotten along. and so we shouldn't be surprised at this.

And, and when we come across the passage in the Bible that contradicts us, or that contradicts the cultural norms of our society, Today, it is the Bible that we must follow, not our culture. Amen. We get our cues from Scripture, not so much from our culture. And if we truly say and believe that God is the most important person in our life, then it behooves us to cherish every word that falls from the lips of this God.

And we cannot honestly say, God, I love you. You're number one in my life, and then ignore words that this God speaks to us. If I told my wife yesterday, honey, I want you to know that I love you. You're the most important person in my life.

And then today she begins to speak to me. And I ignore her. would she feel Very loved by that. No.

And if she challenged me on it, what if I said, honey, I love you, I, you're the most important person in my life. And I told you yesterday that I loved you and that you're the most important person in my life. But I was saying that about you, not about your words. You misunderstood.

You think she would comprehend that? No. If we love somebody, we value what they say. If we love God, we value what he says.

And there's a reason God puts passages like this in his word, because it is a gift from him. To us, even if it might contradict what we wish to be true or what our culture wishes to be true, this text is a part of our gospel inheritance, and words are going to fall from the lips of our God as he speaks to women and expresses his desires with regard to women, and we want to have open hearts to receive. these words from God. And again, this is not what God wants from you ladies as much as what God wants for you.

In fact, the very last verse of this section, we find the words, the woman shall be saved. The woman shall be saved. That's the heartbeat of God for, women in the church of Jesus Christ. And so this heartbeat of God, this passion of God, God's very passionate, ladies about you being saved and experiencing the absolute fullness of his saving heart towards you.

And with that being revealed as you go back to verse 9 and work your way back all the way to verse 15, just realize that everything this God is saying to you. is an expression of this infinitely passionate heart for your ultimate good and your ultimate salvation. Now let's try to review real quickly, in this passage, and in the ones that follow, Paul is teaching us, God is teaching us how we ought to conduct ourselves in the household of God, beginning in verse 9. Paul, the apostle begins to speak to women, and in verses 9 through 15, there are ultimately 9 things that the apostle, and hence that God speaking through the apostle wants with regard to women.

And we've already looked at 7 of those 9 things. God wants women to adorn themselves. He wants women to adorn themselves in a way that is motivated and shaped by the gospel, to adorn themselves with modesty, to adorn themselves with self-restraint, and to adorn, or in other words, to beautify themselves with good works. And with godliness.

What God is affirming, ladies, is that He wants for you to be beautiful. He wants the church to be a place of fantastic feminine beauty, and he's saying, I want you to beautify yourself, and here's how I want you to go about beautifying yourself so that the Church of Jesus Christ could be a place where my glory is displayed through the beauty. Of the women that I have saved and brought into the church. There's a 6th thing that God wants for the women in the church, and that is that God wants Christian women to learn.

He wants them to learn. If you look at verse 11, The grammatically speaking, the kernel statement is a woman should receive instruction. That's a no-brainer in our culture today, but this would have been a, a pretty amazing thing to hear Paul speak in the first century. during the first century, the education of women was not a priority.

boys and girls, girls could go to school with boys up until the age of 11, but then after the age of 11 it was boys only that received an education and that advanced in learning and receiving instruction. And, but, but in the church, by way of contrast, God wants the church to be a learning center for women. He affirms a woman's desire to learn and to grow in knowledge of God and what God has called her to be. And God is saying, I want the church to be a place where energy is devoted to the learning of women.

God is saying, I want the church, amongst other things, to be a place that is full of many learned women. He's affirming the right of women to learn. Came across this quote from the Jerusalem Talmud this week that says it would be better for the words of the law to be burned than that they should ever be entrusted to a woman. Isn't that terrible?

That was the mentality that some people had about the learning of women, even instructing them in the law that, these are the words of God, they're precious. You don't entrust them over to a woman. You don't take the time to instruct a woman. it'd be better off to burn the Book of the law, to burn the words of God than to entrust them to a woman.

Paul would be a sworn enemy of that mentality. He says the church. is to be a place where women learn. Right along with the men.

They learn as we saw two weeks ago from their husbands, from godly men who are serving as overseers, preaching and teaching in the church, and they learn from other women who might be older or in a further stage of life than they are, or who have known the Lord for a longer time and they are further along in their walk with the Lord and have much to offer to, to them. But God says these types of instruction and learning should take place for the spiritual benefit of women in the church.

God affirms a woman's right to learn in verse 11, but the seventh thing that he expresses that he wants with regard to women. He wants women to learn, but he wants them to make sure that they learn in a certain way.

And that is that God wants Christian women to learn with quietness and with submission. It says in verse 11, a woman must quietly receive instruction. With entire submissiveness. Quietness speaks of peace and gentleness as opposed to anger and disrespect against those that are providing the instruction.

Submission speaks of arranging oneself underneath the authority of those that are providing the instruction. A woman should be authority conscious and, and wants to make sure that in her pursuit of learning, and personal spiritual growth that that she is doing so in a way that reflects a mindfulness of her position in God's economy and a, and a respect for the authorities that are in her life by God's design. And she learns in a peaceful and gentle and humble and respectful way.

By the way, if Paul were here today, I think he would also say, men, I want you to be receiving instruction quietly.

And with entire submissiveness. It is incumbent upon both men and women to be aware of the authorities that are in their life and to be learners and to do so in a peaceful, gentle, humble and respectful fashion. And that we as men should be conscious of the authorities in our life and arrange ourselves in submission under them. Women are not the only ones who need to submit.

Amen. We as men. Need to submit as well. A couple of weeks ago, I did not come to a complete stop at a stop sign.

And there was an authority figure that God had placed. nearby who was waiting for me, I am convinced, and He pulled me over and instructed me, and gave me some paperwork. And as my 13-year-old son sat in the vehicle with me, it was an opportunity for me to model to him that Dad needs to be respectful of the authority figures that God has placed in his life. So this is something I think that could be spoken to all believers.

But in this passage, God is speaking to women, and this is what he calls upon them to do. Well, we come this morning to verse 12 to an 8th thing that God wants for women, and that is that God wants Christian women not to teach or exercise authority over men. In the church. God wants Christian women not to teach or exercise authority over men in the church.

Look at verse 12. Paul says, but I do not allow, I, an apostle, do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain. Quiet, literally to teach, I do not allow a woman to do, nor to exercise authority over a man. There are two activities here, ladies, that, that the apostle Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, being inspired as he writes this, is saying, That I do not, as an apostle, as a representative of Christ, I do not allow a woman to do these two things over a man.

So it's left to us to figure out well what are these two activities and what precisely does Paul mean by them. The two activities are teach and exercise authority over a man. Let's look at what it means to teach. I think we have literally in our day a weakened idea.

of teaching. Sometimes teaching in our day, even in the church can just speak of, the sharing of enlightening information amongst equals. That's not really what the biblical concept of teaching signified to teach in the New Testament was an act of spiritual authority, wherein somebody instructed, another person in doctrine or in practice, it was somebody in spiritual authority exerting that authority and directing someone in doctrine and in practice. It's not just the sharing of truth.

Hey, here's something God has shown me. I would like to share this with you for your benefit and your edification. That's not teaching. Teaching is someone in a position of being.

or being in a position of authority over another person and they're telling that person what to believe, telling that person what to do. They're instructing and directing that person in doctrine and in practice. I like what George Knight says. He says teaching in the first century involved more than just the conveyance of information.

The teacher gave direction and exercised authority over the learner. Is that clear? this is why in chapter 3, verse 2, when Paul is talking about elders in the church who are overseers, one of the qualifications that we find is at the end of verse 2 where he says they must be able to teach. this responsibility to teach is not in the list of qualifications for deacons and deaconesses, but it is for elders because one of the ways that elders display or exert or exercise the authority that God has given to them is by teaching, by directing people in doctrine and in practice.

In fact, if you go to chapter 5, verse 17, You see ruling or governing by elders connected to preaching and teaching. He says in verse 17 of First Timothy 5. The elders who rule well, this is the word that means to govern or to lead. The elders who lead well, who govern well, who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those in the category of those elders who govern or rule well, are those that work hard at preaching and teaching.

Part of what is involved in governing in ruling, and shepherding and being an over. seer and leading and being a spiritual authority and exercising that in the church is part of what that entails is preaching and teaching where you're not just sharing information. Hey, look what I learned this week. I want to share it with you for your benefit.

No, it's, it's an authoritative directing of people and doctrine. And in practice Paul is saying, I do not allow a woman. To direct a man in doctrine and practice. Ladies, does this mean you can never share truth with a man?

Does this mean a woman can never stand on this platform and speak truth for the benefit and edification of the body? No, it doesn't mean that at all. That is affirmed in scripture, as we're going to see both today and next week. But can a woman As an authority figure, direct men in doctrine and practice in the church.

Paul would say, no, I don't allow that. There's another activity that is tied to this teaching. That Paul disallows women to do over men, and that is to exercise authority. Paul says, I, as an apostle, do not allow a woman to exercise authority over a man.

Now the Greek word here is authenta. Authentae, which is the word we get our English word authentic from and even our word authority from. And this is the only time this word occurs in the New Testament, so unfortunately we're not able to look at, 10 different passages where this word occurs and have a good idea of what it means, but this word does show up in extrabiblical ancient Greek writings over 80 times. And the root idea of this term is that it simply means to rule or to govern or to exercise authority over another.

This is not a bad word. This word is used in a variety of good contexts. and sometimes when it is intended to mean something bad, an adverb like the adverb wrongly would be attached to it, and the only reason ancient writers would have to put the adverb wrongly attached to this verb is because they know that the readers aren't going to think this is a bad thing unless you put some descriptive adverb and attach it to it to make people think that in this particular context authority is being wielded wrongly.

So the basic idea of this term is to rule or to exercise authority over and again one of the primary functions, what does a person in authority do they direct right and in the church they direct people and doctrine.

And in practice, and so Paul is saying as an apostle, I do not allow a woman to be in a position where she has spiritual authority over a man in the church and where she is directing a man in doctrine and in practice. At the very least this means that women are not allowed to be elders over the congregation to where they're in a position of spiritual authority over men. It also would mean beyond that, that a woman needs to be very careful in how she communicates truth to the body and to other men to make sure that she is not coming across in a way where she is exercising authority and directing.

A man in doctrine and in practice.

Now, This is the passage where when we preach through it we always lose some people and that's OK. there's plenty of other churches that could handle this passage in a way that might be suitable to some who don't like the way that we're handling this text here, but it is what it is, right? this is, this is the basic meaning of the passage and I don't really know any other way around it, and I have no desire to try to get around it. I do want to alert you guys to the fact that there are people who hate what this passage says, and they have figured out some ways around it.

Can I just share some of that with you so that you're aware? There's different things that people will do with this passage to get around the straightforward meaning of it. Some will actually change the meaning of the word teach. And of the word authenta, which the new American Standard translators translate as to exercise authority, and they'll say, Well, Paul's not saying a woman can't teach or exercise good authority over a man.

The real problem going on here is there were bad women in the Ephesian church who were deceived by heretical doctrine, and the spirit of what Paul is saying is, I do not permit a deceived woman to teach. A man. So there are people who read that and go, Well, I think that's really what he's trying to say. I'm not deceived, so I'm going to do this.

others, and by the way, these are actual quotes from people giving their suggested understanding of the passage. Some understand Paul to be saying, I do not permit a woman to teach a man wrong doctrine. which I can just see Timothy, imagine Paul is saying, as an apostle, Timothy, I want to tell you my policy with regard to men and women in the church. And, and here it goes, I don't allow deceived women to teach men.

I don't allow women to teach wrong doctrine to a man. Why would Paul have to say that? Timothy wouldn't need that clarification, and we know Paul wouldn't want men who are deceived to be teaching women wrong doctrine either. Another understanding of this is that has been suggested is, I do not allow a woman to teach error or to wrongfully domineer.

So you can domineer, but just not wrongfully. You can be an authority, but you can't wrongfully be an authority. Some take the word authentane, and they, they, they say, Well, what this word probably means is to instigate violence because there actually is an occasion where authentane is used in the 10th century AD, 1000 years later, and it means murder in a particular context, and they're OK. All right, so Paul is saying, women, you can't kill men.

You can't instigate violence against a man. And another writer suggests that Paul's meaning is, I do not allow a woman to teach Gnostic heresy or to lure men into sex, and that that's probably what he means by authenta. But guys, again, I'm not trying to hide anything from you. You guys are welcome to do the studies of these words.

Teach means teach. Authenta means to exercise. Authority and Paul is simply saying I don't allow a woman to do this, but some uncomfortable with this will change the meaning of the terms in order to preserve that a woman can actually teach a man or a woman can actually exercise authority over a man in the church. Others, the biggest indictment to these attempts.

That I can give you is the fact that there are people in exactly the same camp who hate what this passage says. They've done the same word studies. And they say, yeah, we got to admit teach means teach, authentate means exercise authority. There's no way around it.

That's what Paul says. And then we say, well, how do you deal with that then they say, we simply disagree with Paul. And there are people who actually say that Paul in the following verses is going to argue from Genesis chapter 2 and 3. He's going to argue from creation realities, and there are actual commentators who look at Paul's teaching in verse 12 and his rationales that he gives in verses 13 and 14, and they simply say, This is Paul's rabbinic training speaking, and we just disagree with his reasoning here.

One writer says Paul is assuming the traditional rabbinic understanding of Genesis 2:18 to 23. Is this rabbinic understanding of Genesis 2:18 and following correct? We do not think that it is. How arrogant.

How arrogant. The difficulty is that Paul, who was an inspired apostle, appears to teach such female subordination in certain passages. To resolve this difficulty, one must recognize the human as well as divine quality of Scripture. Yes, we affirm Paul was inspired.

He was an inspired apostle, but this does not mean everything he said was right. And so we as scholars are here to tell you what he said that was right and what he said that was wrong. So some leave the words alone and say the passage means what it says, but we just disagree with Paul. And then probably the most common approach to this passage are those brothers and sisters who look at verse 12 and say, no, Paul wrote these words.

Paul was right in what he said, and he did mean teach and he did mean exercise authority. However, this is not a universal prohibition that is binding upon the church of every age. Paul must have been dealing with a specific situation. In the Ephesian congregation.

We don't know exactly what it was. Maybe women were creating problems, in the church, And or and some have said, well, maybe during this day women were just uneducated, and Paul is saying because women right now are not very educated, I presently don't allow women to do this. Or some say that Paul's real motive is that given the culture in which we live, where women are not, it's scandalous for a woman to do this. Because of the culture in which we find ourselves here in first century Roman culture, I don't want ladies to do this because it would scandalize the culture.

And so people who would hold this view, I've, I've directly interacted with brothers and sisters who hold that view. The thinking is that Paul rightly spoke this prohibition out of cultural considerations in the first century, but if Paul were alive today, and he could walk around in our culture, He would be so blessed and amazed by how different our culture is from 1st century Roman culture that Paul would observe our modern day culture where a woman doing this is not scandalous, and Paul would speak differently today than what he spoke in verse 12.

so that is the reasoning. Of some individuals.

And, and folks, what I really want to challenge you to do, With stuff like this, is that when Paul is a, he's an adult and he's a good communicator, right? And he's inspired. When Paul gives a command, don't speculate about what he might be thinking. actually read what he is thinking.

And if Paul had said in verse 12, I don't presently allow a woman to do this because in our culture that's scandalous, and I don't want us needlessly to offend the sensibilities of our culture, well then we would have good reason to say, hmm, it seems like Paul is being is trying to consider the culture here and that, that is the motive behind his command. And if our culture today is different, maybe Paul would speak differently. But When Paul does explain his rationale for his instruction in verse 12, what arguments does he use?

If Paul says in verse 12, I don't allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

And then he begins to actually say, I will tell you why I'm thinking this. I'll tell you why as an apostle this is my policy. Look at verse 13, for it was Adam. Oh my goodness, Paul's going back thousands of years to creation.

He's going back to Genesis 2. Clearly. Paul's, teaching in verse 12 transcends culture. Because his argumentation transcends culture.

He goes all the way back to a pre-fall world. And he says, for it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. Now you might hear that argumentation and go, what in the world does that mean?

We'll look at that. But at the very least, let's just establish that Paul is giving the rationale that he has in his mind for why he is an apostle does not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man in the church, and his rationale goes all the way back to Genesis 2. And back to Genesis 3. And so let's let him speak and explain.

Really why he delivers the prohibition he does in verse 12. Let's break this down into two arguments. Actually, we're going to break it down as two arguments when technically, it's actually one argument. his first rationale that he gives is because Adam was created first, and then Eve.

Now, whether you agree with that reason, or you like that reasoning, or whether you even understand that reasoning, The important thing to do is to realize Paul, an inspired writer of scripture, delivers this reasoning. So it's a divine reason that is given. And so it's up to me to just try to understand this, he says, for it was Adam who was first created and then, Eve, did that modern day feminists, evangelical feminists who don't like this passage, they actually, many of them disagree with Paul and they say, no, no, Adam was not created first, and then Eve.

They were both created at the same time.

There are actually people who say that because they know how critical that is, but what, when Look at the creation account. You don't find God forming Adam and Eve out of the dust of the ground at the same time, and then they both woke up and looked at each other. If God had done that, we would have never thought anything about it. That would have been, well, that makes sense, but that's not the way God did it.

God created Adam from the dust of the ground, and Adam, therefore, was the firstborn of the human race. then God looked at Adam, and ladies love this passage. Then the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. Even in a pre-fallen world, God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone.

So clearly Adam was in existence, but he was by himself. God said, I will make him a helper suitable for him. So what we observe here, and Paul affirms this in 1 Corinthians 11, Not only was Eve created after Adam, but she was created for Adam. OK.

Verse 21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept. And men have been sleeping ever since. Then he took one of his ribs and fashioned it into a woman and brought her to the man, and the man said, This is now bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh.

She shall be called woman, which is Isha in the Hebrew text because she was taken out of ish. I will call her Esha because she was taken out of ish, which is the Hebrew word for man. So we observe in the creation account that Adam was created first. Eve was created second.

Eve was created out of Adam. She was created for Adam. And after Adam woke up, God brought Eve to Adam. Adam said, This is bone from my bone, flesh from my flesh.

And then he named her. That's, think about what that means. Adam had named all of the animals that God had given him dominion over. folks in scripture to name somebody was an act of authority.

Adam was extending his dominion over her as her head, and he named her, and the text doesn't say, and then Eve looked at Adam and gave him a name. She did not name him, he named her. Just like parents nowadays., you have children, you name your children. No one else has the right to do that.

I can't come to you and say, I see that your son has been born. I hereby name him Milton Junior. I can't do that. I don't think you'd want me to do that.

Because I don't have dominion. I don't, I'm not the head. of that child. I can't go naming other people's children.

But you as the parents who are the authority, the head in that situation, you have the right to name that child and for Adam to name Eve was extending his dominion over her. And then the writer of Genesis. says now this is not just a reality that happened a long time ago. The writer of Genesis says, I want you to realize that this means something for all time.

For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they'll become one flesh. This reality means something about all marriages through all of time. Paul, in our passage today, goes back to creation realities, and he says, these creation realities also means something else for all time. And that is that in the church, the pre-fall structure of relationships.

that God established that will be honored in the church of Jesus Christ. And Paul says, because Adam was created first and then Eve, and Eve was created for Adam and from Adam, and was under Adam's headship, because of that fundamental reality about male and female. that God established. I, as an apostle, reasoning from that, do not allow a woman to teach.

To direct a man in doctrine and in practice and to be in a position of exerting spiritual authority over that man. I think you're getting the sense we're a far cry from culture. That, well, what were they doing in the Roman culture of the day? Actually, it's irrelevant what they were doing in the culture of the day.

Paul, and even thinking about that, he's thinking about Genesis chapter 2, and he's reasoning from these fundamental creation realities. There's a second argument that he gives. And that is that Adam was not the one who was deceived. Eve was.

And we've got to be real careful with this. He's Paul is not saying, ladies, you can't do this because you messed up at the fall. You can't, you can't go there. Paul has already given his reason, and that is because of the pre-fall structure of relationships and God's economy.

And that's why I say that this isn't so much two arguments as much as one argument seamlessly intertwined. think about it. Go back to verse 11. Paul says a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.

I don't allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. I'll tell you my reasoning for these instructions, and that is because Adam was created. At first and then Eve and also not just, I'm not just reasoning from what existed before the fall, but even when you look at the fall, part of Paul's point is that in the fall itself, part of the dynamic of the fall itself was that there was a violation. That occurred in the structure of relationships that God established.

Eve was not the learner that she should have been. She was not in submission as she should have been. In fact, she ended up usurping Adam's authority and directing him. Let me just read to you Genesis 3 of the account of the fall.

We know that God would have created Adam, and in the creation account, God told Adam, you can gorge yourself on every tree that's in the garden. You may freely eat, but of this tree in the middle of the garden, you, you shall not eat, and the day you eat of this, you're going to begin to die. All right. God communicated that to Adam.

As far as we know, he didn't directly communicate that to Eve. God then after that in the narrative created Eve, and then Adam would have told Eve, Hey, look at this garden that we're going to be living in. God has created this. He said we can eat all of this.

but of this tree, Eve, God says don't eat this. And as your husband, I'm telling you not to eat this. All right? And so this would have been communicated to Eve.

We know because Eve herself somewhat quotes, What God had said to Adam. So we know Adam, as her husband would have passed that on to her. Look at the account of the fall in Genesis 3. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, Indeed, as God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden.

And the woman said to the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it, nor touch it, or you will die. The serpent said to the woman, You surely shall not die, for God knows that in the day that you eat from it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So Eve hears that, and we know from what Paul says here in First Timothy that she got deceived.

She actually believed the lie.

She didn't say, what, I'm going to die, but I'm going to eat this fruit anyway. No, she was like, Wow, you're right. And what I heard from my husband was wrong. What my husband told me that God said, that's wrong.

And what you're saying to me is right. And so now she looks at the tree in a whole different light. The woman saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes. The tree was desirable to make one wise she took from its fruit and ate.

And then not only did she partake of the fruit, In violation of the will of God, in violation of the will of her husband, who was her head, who had communicated God's will to her. Not only had she failed to remember what had been said to her by her husband, but instead, she set it aside and believed a lie. And not only did she partake of the fruit, but look at this, and she gave it also to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Now, in the narrative, it's that simple.

She gave it to him, and he ate. But what happened there? And that exchange? Did she just take a bite and do this?

No, we know from Genesis chapter 3 verse 17 that she spoke to Adam. And that she told him to eat it. Because God said to Adam, it says to Adam, God said, because you literally in the Hebrew, because you have obeyed the voice of your wife. Eve was not a learner.

She was not in submission. She partook of the fruit. She then took that fruit. And she told her husband to partake of the fruit.

Paul says, ladies, this the, the scariest thing to you in verse 14 should be the words Adam was not deceived. Adam was not deceived. Eve came to Adam and said, Adam, I got great news, man, if we eat this, we're going to be like God, God's been holding us back. And I know what you told me a while ago.

And, but, but, but I heard from the serpent and you were wrong. And God is wrong. And I partook of this and, and I'm telling you to eat it also. And, and, and when we both eat it, great things are going to happen.

And Adam looked at his wife, and he looked at the fruit, and he was not deceived. He knew. If she has done a wrong thing, she has believed a lie. And if I partake of this fruit, as she's instructing me to, bad things are going to happen.

We're going to begin to die and death is going to come into the world. Adam with his eyes wide open, looked at the fruit, looked at his wife, and he thought to himself, I know bad things will come, but I would rather live in a dying existence. In a broken and fallen world with this woman. than to live in a perfect paradise without her.

Ladies, that's power. That Adam, not deceived at all, knowing full well what he was walking into. He said I will walk into a broken, dying existence with this woman because I don't want to lose her. See, in the Bible, God doesn't say, ladies, you have no power, no, the message is you have enormous power.

Paul is saying in the pre-fall world, God established it, that it was Adam who was first created, so he's the first born and then Eve and she was created after Adam and for Adam and from Adam and Adam named her, he was her head. But in the dynamic of the fall, what happened was a variety of breakdowns. Eve followed the serpent's leadership rather than her husband's leadership. She learned from the serpent rather than learning from her husband as he spoke God's revelation to her.

we also see that Adam was more passive than he should have been. We also see Eve not only sitting but then assertively leading Adam, contrary to the leadership. That he and God had provided her, and we see a man, Adam, following his wife's lead, rather than God's lead and choosing a woman over God. Paul is saying, I, as an apostle, I don't allow a woman to Teach.

To direct a man and doctrine and practice. I don't allow a woman in the church to be in a position of exercising authority over a man. And I'll tell you why. Because in God's created order, It was Adam who was first created.

And then Eve And while I'm on that subject, when the fall occurred, Part of what happened in the dynamic of the fall. Was that that order was not respected. It got fouled up. In the church, Paul says, as an apostle, I'm not going to let that order get turned over on its head.

In the church, we love God, we see the way he has structured the world, and we affirm that. We affirm that. Now, we're out of time, ladies, I, I, if we had time, we would deal with the issue. Does this mean that women cannot speak truth to men?

And there's a lot, we're going to deal with this next week. So if a woman can't teach, exercise authority over men in the church, what can a woman do? What is Paul saying? What is he not saying?

We'll deal with that next week. but let me just take you to the last, slide. Highway. Took a bigger chunk than I should have.

just get that down on your notes, kids, that the last thing that God wants with regard to women in this passage is that God wants women to be saved. To experience salvation. God is a gracious God. God has every reason to be ticked with mankind.

He has every reason to be ticked with men because of what Adam did. He has every reason to be ticked with women because of what Eve did. And yet God is a God of grace, a God of grace. Who on the other side of Eve's sin and Adam's sin, has a desire for the woman specifically, including the man, to experience salvation.

We'll look at that more next week. Let me ask you to bow your heads. We're going to be taking up an offering in just a moment and would encourage you to give as the Lord. Leads you to give, OK.

And, You're welcome to put any prayer requests or praise items on the comment card that's in your bulletin, and we'll pray over those as a staff on Tuesday. And put those on our church family prayer sheet if you would like for us to do so. Let's, Look to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we, even as I preach this morning, I don't, I don't understand.

All of this. And I feel like I'm on a journey, we as a congregation are on a journey and And you're teaching us and help us even regarding this issue, Lord, I know that this is tough for some people who who genuinely love you. And I know that texts like this have also been abused by people. Just help us to speak to one another regarding these things as fellow travelers on a journey towards understanding.

And Obedience to you. And Let us, let us interact as fellow travelers, Lord, in our, our speech. And our ears would be seasoned with grace as we learn together in community with one another. I have much to learn, much to learn, even on this very subject.

So I don't speak this morning from a position of arrival, but as a traveler. May we all Speak and listen from this vantage point. But continue to teach us, Lord, as we discuss these things in our care groups and And continue working our way through this passage. We thank you for the privilege of giving of our offerings to you.

And we ask that you would accept the offerings we give this morning as an act of worship to you, that you would be pleased with our gifts and that you would multiply these gifts for the furtherance of the glory of Jesus Christ. And the precious gospel. that we hold dear. We just commit ourselves to you, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.