I. Introduction
II. Gender in the Church: General Principles
- Scripture not just allows, but expects men and women to participate in the vast majority of the church’s ministry and practices. (1 Cor 12:4-11)
- Men and women are called to serve the church in all capacities, except for leading and teaching the church, which God’s Word assigns to men.
- However you serve, you do so as a man or a woman.
III. Various Ways Men and Women Build Up the Body of Christ
- Participating in the Public Gatherings (Eph 3:10)
- Reading, Praying, & Prophesying (1 Cor 11:4-5)
- Exercising Governance with the Congregation (Matt 18, 1 Cor 5)
- Serving as Deacons and Deaconesses (1 Tim 3:11)
- Women: Teaching and Leading Other Women (Titus 2:3-5)
- Ministering to Children (2 Tim 3:14, 1:5)
- Countless Others (Discipling, Hospitality, Evangelism, Missions, Ministry to Sick and Elderly…)
IV. The Masculine Nature of Elder Leadership
A. 1 Timothy 3:1-7: Qualifications of elders
B. The elder’s “job description:”
- To provide for the church through biblical teaching (Titus 1:9, 1 Tim 4:13)
- To protect the church from falsehood (2 Tim 4:2-3, Titus 1:9)
- To lead the church by a godly example (1 Pet 5:3, Heb 13:7)
- To bear responsibility before God for the church’s well-being (James 3:1, Heb 13:17)
V. 1 Timothy 2:8-15
- The context: false teaching in Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3-7, 18-20; 4:1-3)
2. A call to learn quietly with submissiveness (2:11)
- A trustful, humble posture to Biblical teaching
- Women learning as disciples
3. Two restrictions:
- Teaching men in the assembled congregation (v. 12)
- Having authority over men (v. 1-2)
- Two reasons for these restrictions:
- The creation order (v. 13)
- Satan’s strategy to undermine the creation order (v. 14)
- Note: God’s instructions, even when counter-cultural, are always good.
VI. 1 Corinthians 11:3-16
- God expects women to serve publicly in the church by praying and prophesying (v. 5).
- What about 1 Cor 14:34-35?
- Complementary, not contradictory passages (see context in 1 Cor 14:29 – “speaking” here refers to the authoritative evaluation of prophecies
- God calls women to serve in the church in a way that clearly showcases their feminine identity (vv. 6-7, 14-15).
- Male teaching authority in the church doesn’t invalidate the equality of interdependence (vv. 8-10, 11-12).