Tuesday, April 8, 2014

"Notwithstanding..."


                The theme of the book of I Timothy is summarized in its third chapter, verses 14-15.  There Paul writes this to his spiritual son, Timothy: “These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
This instruction for the church begins in chapter one with a warning not to give heed to false teachers.  It continues in the second chapter, first with an exhortation that God’s people pray for all kinds of men, especially for rulers and those in authority.  Then Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, addresses the conduct of men and women in the church.  He notes that we must be more concerned with the inward adorning of our hearts than the outward adorning of our bodies (see also I Pet. 3:3-6).   He points out that God created Adam to lead; therefore, women are called to learn in silence.  He draws attention to the fact that it was when Eve assumed the authority that was her husband’s, answering Satan instead of referring him to her God-given head, that she fell.
I know that this teaching of the Bible is not popular today, even in the church world.  It’s a view that’s politically incorrect and largely regarded as anti-feminist.  Nevertheless, it’s God’s Word.  It’s a truth that’s asserted from the first chapters of Genesis, where Eve is created to be Adam’s help, to the final chapters of Revelation, in which the marriage of Jesus Christ the Lamb and His bride, the Church, is finally and fully realized.  (For texts closely related to 1 Tim. 2, see I Cor. 11:3-12, I Cor. 14:34-35, and Eph. 5:22-33.)  It’s part of our sinful nature, dear sisters, that we desire the role given to men.  It’s not the fact that Adam would rule over Eve that was a part of her curse, it was the reality that now she would chafe under that rule. 
I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: Christianity does not promote equality.  Certainly, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  And God calls His people from both genders and from all classes (Gal. 3:28).  He is our Father; we are sisters and brothers, heirs together of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7).  And yet, though He views each of us in Christ as a beloved child, He calls us to occupy different places here on earth.  I Timothy 2 and 3 agree with all of Scripture in affirming that men are called to be the office bearers in the church – and that includes pastors, elders, and deacons. 
“Nothwithstanding,” begins verse 15 of chapter two, meaning, “but,” “nevertheless” or, “in spite of.”  The inspired apostle begins with that conjunction to emphasize that though women are not called to lead, God has given them a place, a place which they alone are able to occupy.  “Nothwithstanding,” he writes, “she shall be saved in childbearing.”
Already you can hear the snickers and the scoffs, can you not?  Perhaps objections rise up in your own heart – they certainly do in mine.  “Keep the woman barefoot and pregnant right?  Don’t allow her any time to socialize or to develop her own gifts.”  It’s our tendency to think that way, isn’t it?  But God has given us women a calling – a high calling – and He has equipped us for that task.
What is comprised in the term “childbearing”?  First, that expression does not refer simply to conceiving a child and carrying that child to term.  “Childbearing” includes the rearing of and caring for children as well.  This is evident later in I Timothy where the younger women are instructed to “marry, bear children, guide the house” and where the true widow is described as one who has “brought up children.”  What about single women?  What about the unmarried woman without children?  For them, “childbearing” includes the rest of those of those qualifications that define the true widow: “if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work” (I Tim. 4:10).

…To be continued…

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