1 Timothy 2
Instructions on Worship
1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone–
2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time.
7And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle–I am telling the truth, I am not lying–and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
9 I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
10but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
13For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
15But women will be saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
I guess the purple parts are of particular interest to us girls. Long long ago, one of friends asked my church leader innocently, “Huh? Woman are saved through having children? Then what about those who cannot have children.” Yah… what about them?
Now, now, let us take a closer look at the Passage in its context.
Who wrote this? the apostle Paul.
To whom? To Timothy, who is in charge of taking care of the church at Ephesus.
For what? Addressing Ephesus church, which is in a mess and some members in that church had even embraced false doctrines. So…Paul addressed issues like worship procedures, control of unruly women, leadership standards, policies about widows etc etc in that letter to Timothy. |
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erm, there’s a lot to study here… so I guess it’d be good if we can meet up to find out more… 
Meanwhile, it addresses issues on women dressing modestly so as to not be distracting during worship, and that women should be submissive (interesting interesting… haha. we’ll learn more eh?)… errr… yah. I’ll go read up more. Meanwhile, you all read up more too k! Then we’ll come together and look at it! 
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yes.i think the purple parts are really interesting..it is as if saying the we women are second class citizens just cos we’re born of this sex, which was never within our control in the first place…isn’t that a sexist statement?
Even Solomon says something like I found one upright man among a thousand and not one upright woman among them all.
Any time I am seeing statements in scripture about the failings of women I try to be wise like solomomn and learn from what they say. Maybe it is a good warning that we women should take to heart whenever we think we know more than a man or better than him.
Honestly sometimes when I get dressed up and look good I act differently and it’s not all a good change-I tend to become more vain and start thinking about and liking the fact that men and women alike are noticing my beauty. In other words I am easily influenced by outside forces-of course this is just me and doesn’t mean that every woman has the same tendencies but it is good for me to be concious of the fact that I have weaknesses.
None of us will better ourselves or conform to the will of the Spirit if we refuse to acknowlledge our failures and needs for improvement.
In our hearts we set apart Christ as Lord and pray for his help as we serve him and immitate his humility and endure the sufferrings he suffered.
Believing in Father Son and Holy SPirit as the one God some people might interpret as sexist. Yet not all references in scripture describe the female in a negative light-such as when Wisdom is described in picture language as being female and being with God as he creates the world and many women do heroic and wise things:
Deborah, Abigail,Rehab, Ruth and Esther the Queen of Sheba,
and Huldah the woman of God who was consulted by Josiah about what to do when they found the book of the law in the temple and didn’t know what to do.
Notice that the king sent people out to find her and ask her she did not demand a place as priestess or some such thing.
In fact when we think about it, in some ways we women get to be the most like Christ because we are called to do some of the lowliest jobs and the menial tasks in a traditional family yet in the end we get to be the ones through whom God brings new lives into this world.
Childbirth iitself has to be in some respects one of the most humiliating things a woman goes through if it were not for the wonderful outcome after the physical struggle.
If we women are ever tempted to take on roles that GOd has not meant for us let us pray to our Heavenly Father as Jesus did when he said if it is not possible for this cup to pass from me then thy will be done. He was sruggling mightily with this last and final obedience its not fun to sacrifice yourself to obey someone else but if it is God will then you do it anyway knowing GOd is faithful to all his promises.. If we keep control of ourselves and don’t let selfish ambition or sinful pride overcome our dedication to Christ -who knows, we may one day be called on by our men to lead them. Having women be asked to be the church leaders is not something we should savor or rejoice in-I would much rather hear a man preach-yet if at some point the men are down and out and there are no willing and capable men to preach then let them ask the women. I have never been asked so I will simply blog.
The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.
Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him her master you are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.