WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919 All right, well, we've been working our way through First Timothy, and we are here, 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:06.520 First Timothy 2, 8 to 15 this morning. 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:10.960 And this is, of course, a famous passage about gender in the church, 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:14.040 and it's famous because it's controversial. 00:00:14.040 --> 00:00:20.059 And even as I was reading it when I finished, I looked up and saw the expressions on people's faces, 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:24.600 and immediately realized that everybody knows it's fame because of its controversy. 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:28.199 There's, of course, debate and disagreement about this passage, 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:35.679 and it's hard for a modern person who's grown up in the 20th and 21st century to read this and to hear it. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:44.000 And that's because in verse 12 and 13, it calls on women, quote, to be quiet in the church and submissive. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:49.239 And I want you to remember as we dig into it that we've got 30 minutes, right? Remember that. 00:00:49.239 --> 00:00:54.200 And we really need a semester course, actually, on this passage, 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:58.280 because this passage, Paul, very quickly, without giving any details, 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:04.840 gives you an entire theology of gender from creation to new creation in two verses. 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:08.719 And we can't do all of it today, but we'll do some of it. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.960 And so let me say today is going to be just slightly different than usual 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:15.800 because we're going to be a little bit heavier on Bible interpretation, 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:18.879 on just getting into the weeds of Scripture a little bit, 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:26.159 because we've got to do that to be able to understand, I think, very clearly what Paul is saying in 1 Timothy 2, 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:30.840 because it's very easy for a modern person to completely misunderstand for all of us. 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:31.959 And so we've got to do that. 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:37.439 And let me say, too, if you're not a Christian this morning and you're coming and exploring Christianity 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:43.000 and you're curious in the claims, and this is a passage that will be especially strange to you 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:47.280 as a modern person that's coming in to explore the claims of faith, 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:52.000 because the Bible often hits very hard against our modern intuitions 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.240 and the consciousness that we've developed over the course of the 20th and 21st century. 00:01:56.240 --> 00:01:59.599 And what Paul's going to do here is go back to the beginning of time 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:04.480 and say that there's a real reason that men and women have different roles. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:06.400 And so we've got to see that. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.120 We're going to see two things this morning. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:14.280 How to read the Bible first and secondly, the nature of men and women. 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:21.640 And then all of that, the big point is that what we do has got to correspond to what we are. 00:02:21.640 --> 00:02:23.080 Okay, so let's dive in. 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.960 First, how to read the Bible. 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:33.400 If you look down at verse 8, you will see that Paul uses in the ESV, it's the word then or therefore, 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:35.400 I desire therefore. 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:40.840 And that means what he's about to say about men and women is being connected to everything he said already. 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:46.439 So he's making an argument and he's picking up on that argument to enter into a talk about men and women. 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:50.759 But what is he already said that leads him to this? 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.680 Okay, well, verse 7 and before, I'm an apostle. 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:56.280 I've got authority. 00:02:56.280 --> 00:02:59.000 I'm talking to Timothy, a pastor. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:05.960 And the whole of 1st Timothy is really a book about the instructions of how to do life inside the church, 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:07.800 amongst the church family. 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:14.040 And even if you hop back to verse 2, which is really the thesis, the subject of the rest of this chapter, 00:03:14.040 --> 00:03:16.920 verse 1, I should say, and 2, 00:03:16.920 --> 00:03:22.439 I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everybody. 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:30.040 Meaning that the context is that Paul is saying, I'm talking about how you act within the Sunday worship service. 00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:31.960 He's talking about that context. 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:36.840 And earlier he's saying, this is how prayers are to be conducted and thanksgiving and supplications. 00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:39.640 Who do you pray for? How do you pray? Who prays? 00:03:39.640 --> 00:03:41.319 And he's picking back up with that. 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:49.240 So everything that we read here is about what goes on in the context of public worship amongst the people of God. 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:52.039 That's what this section is about. 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:56.120 And so you can see that verse 8, verse 9, how should prayers happen? 00:03:56.120 --> 00:04:01.000 Men lifting holy hands in prayer don't fight with one another. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:09.960 Women, when you come to worship and you're in prayer and you're amidst the people of God, where modest clothing will come back to that in just a moment. 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:14.120 Verse 11 and 12, women, when you come to worship, you're not permitted to teach. 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:18.439 And so all three of these commands that he gives, verse 8, verse 9, verse 12, 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.639 are all about what happens in the midst of this context. 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:26.759 Now, you come to that still and you say, well, what does it mean exactly? 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:35.159 And this is where there's a real opportunity. Now, if there's any opportunity for rehearsing what it looks like to read the Bible well, 00:04:35.159 --> 00:04:36.279 it's a passage like this. 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:41.480 And John Stott in his great commentary on this book, he does that. 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:49.000 He reminds us of two ways to always, two things, to always keep in your head as you read scripture. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:54.920 And one is this, you've always got to pay attention to the history or the context. 00:04:54.920 --> 00:05:00.520 Right? That's the first principle. And so that simply means that in every passage, 00:05:00.520 --> 00:05:05.800 there is a specific audience in the first century in the New Testament. 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:12.280 And you've got to think along the lens or the mindset of that first audience, that particular audience. 00:05:12.280 --> 00:05:17.879 Who was writing? Who were they writing to? Why would they say this in that particular time? 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:22.520 Right? So context is always incredibly important. 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:27.959 As an example, verse nine, it says to women, don't come to worship with braided hair, 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.799 with gold earrings or pearls around your neck. 00:05:31.799 --> 00:05:36.919 Okay? Now, why? Why? What you've got to do is you've got to go and say, 00:05:36.919 --> 00:05:40.599 the principle of history matters so much in understanding what he's saying. 00:05:40.599 --> 00:05:44.839 Because you can probably intuit very easily, he's not saying to every one of you, 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:48.359 do not wear pearls to church, do not braid your hair at church. 00:05:48.359 --> 00:05:49.399 No, not at all. What is he saying? 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:53.159 He's saying that in this context, in this time of the first century, 00:05:53.719 --> 00:05:59.000 to do that is to step into the worship space in the dress of extravagance. 00:05:59.719 --> 00:06:02.919 Because that's what it looked like to be wealthy in the time. 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:06.279 And there's probably even more to it than that, but I won't get into it. 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:11.000 But in that moment, he's saying, look, women, when you come to church, 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:16.120 don't dress in such a way that you're expressing your immense wealth if you have it. 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:20.199 Because there are poor women coming to worship in Ephesus. 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:26.840 And you see, it's incredibly modern. He's saying there needs to be an equality of modesty. 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:31.160 Right? Where this is about coming into the presence of God, not about extravagance. 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.199 And so be modest. And the same thing with men, he's saying, 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:37.560 the principle of context, lifting holy hands. Right? 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:40.600 If you don't pay attention, you might think, well, every time I pray, 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:41.800 my hands have to be in the air. 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.720 But that's not what he's saying, although lifting holy hands is a practice of worship 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:48.680 throughout the whole Bible, and we would do well to recover it probably. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.079 But he's not saying we have to do that every time we pray. 00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:55.400 Instead, it's a principle. He's saying, men, when you come to worship, don't fight. 00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:02.199 And the reason is because the whole first chapter was about men quarreling over theology. 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:04.360 And he's saying, when you come to the worship context, 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:08.840 this is not the space to be pointing fingers at each other and talking about these issues. 00:07:08.840 --> 00:07:10.840 Right? You're coming into the presence of God. 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:14.599 Women be modest. Men, stop fighting. Stop quarreling. Right? 00:07:14.599 --> 00:07:16.279 That's the principle of history. 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:19.319 Secondly, you also have to have the principle of harmony. 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:23.159 And the principle of harmony is that at the same time, 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:31.159 if you only focus on context and history and fail to realize you've got to read every passage 00:07:31.159 --> 00:07:38.279 in the light of the whole Bible all the time, then you might end up dismissing what Paul says, 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:42.279 because it's mere cultural. It's merely cultural. Right? 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.279 And so the principle of harmony says because God wrote the entire Bible, 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:52.279 Genesis to Revelation, every single chapter, every single verse interprets all the other ones. 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:57.239 And so every passage you read, you've also got to say, what does this mean in light of the whole Bible? 00:07:57.239 --> 00:08:02.279 Right? And so we could come back to verse eight and nine and see very clearly what's Paul saying. 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:06.279 Well, over and over again throughout scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, 00:08:06.279 --> 00:08:10.359 New Testament, men don't quarrel, don't come into worship. 00:08:10.359 --> 00:08:15.239 Matthew chapter five, Jesus says, if you are angry with your brother and you come to the altar, 00:08:15.239 --> 00:08:20.599 meaning you come into the worship space, stop right there and go and reconcile before you enter the 00:08:20.599 --> 00:08:27.159 worship, into worship. Right? It's the same idea. Women be modest. Men be modest. It's for everybody, 00:08:27.159 --> 00:08:29.959 because we see that all across the Bible. Right? 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:34.759 So the principle of history and the principle of harmony are so important, especially here. 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:40.039 You know, if you don't do that, the pitfalls in this passage alone would be on the one hand. 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:47.960 If you don't pay attention to context and history, then you might end up reading it in a literalistic 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:53.480 way, a literalism, saying, women, every time you come to worship, if there's braided hair, 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:57.639 you're in trouble. Right? And of course, that's silly. That's ridiculous. That would be to miss 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:01.559 the entire point of the passage. Men, every time you pray, if you pray without your hands in the air, 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:07.559 then you've not really prayed. And of course, that's not the point of all. That's a literalism 00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:13.799 that can happen if you miss context. But if you miss the whole Bible, the harmony, then what happens? 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:20.759 Then you start to say things like, well, look, this is Paul talking to a specific people at a 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:25.479 specific time, and we all know better now. You know, we've grown. Our ethics have changed. We've 00:09:25.479 --> 00:09:30.279 evolved. We know that now none of this is really true anymore. This was for one time and one place. 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:35.959 And the Bible won't let us do that either. And Paul won't let us do that in this passage. Instead, 00:09:36.839 --> 00:09:43.240 as we jump into the meat, point two, we've got to have a reading that is from above, you might say, 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:50.519 meaning a reading that recognizes that scriptures come down to me, that it's from God. And so all 00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:56.919 of its God's word, and so that means I've got to be willing to hear God speak to me, because this 00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:03.319 is God speaking for all time, for every century. And at the same time, God also calls me to use 00:10:03.319 --> 00:10:08.279 reason, to use Christian reason, disciplined reason to understand every single passage. 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:15.479 All right, well, let's do that. Point two, the nature of men and women, verses 12 to 15 here, 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:22.120 verses 10 to 15, I should say. Verse 12, Paul comes and he says, 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:28.440 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Now, we've already said 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:34.360 that this is in the context of the worship space. That's what he's talking about. And so this word 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:40.120 to teach here is another way to say preaching. He's talking here about what I'm doing right now, 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:46.039 the act of public preaching. And also with that, I think implicitly from other passages, 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:49.639 like 1 Corinthians, he's talking about the administration of the sacraments. Those are 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:55.559 the two things that he has in mind here. And immediately, if you don't read with a principle 00:10:55.559 --> 00:11:01.000 of harmony with the whole Bible, you might hear him saying, women, when they cross the threshold 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:06.439 of the building door, have to be silent. He says, I require a woman to be silent in church. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:10.759 And that's not at all what he's saying. He's not talking at all about absolute silence. And we 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:18.200 know that because in 1 Corinthians 11, he talks about how men and women both prophesy and pray 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:24.920 in worship. And so he talks about giving instructions when women and men prophesy and pray. And that 00:11:24.920 --> 00:11:29.560 gets us into another sticky topic, the head coverings in that passage. But in the context, 00:11:29.560 --> 00:11:34.280 he's saying men and women are both prophesying and praying. And we know, of course, all across 00:11:34.280 --> 00:11:39.960 the New Testament that women are singing and we have examples of women responding orally 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:44.360 in the midst of worship to the teaching. We have women interpreting and things like that. 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:50.279 And this is probably prophesying, by the way, in a season where speaking in tongues was normative 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:53.879 in the first century church. We've got examples from the Old Testament of Deborah 00:11:53.879 --> 00:12:00.840 and Hilda, 1 Corinthians, 1 Kings, I should say, 22, Priscilla and Lydia having huge roles 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:05.960 in the life of the early church. We have very clear examples of women being charged to go 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:11.399 preach the gospel in the public sphere as missionaries. And so we've got Philippians 4, 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:18.919 2 to 3, Eodia and Sintiqi. Paul says, these are my fellow laborers in the gospel that they came 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:25.720 alongside and proclaimed the gospel in the public square alongside of me. So this is not a command 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:32.199 for women to be silent in any absolute way. He's specifically talking here about preaching in the 00:12:32.199 --> 00:12:37.879 administration of the sacraments. He's restricting the teaching office, in other words, to men. 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:43.799 And, by the way, ordained men. So it's not saying that men can preach in administration 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:49.879 sacraments and women can't. It's saying that only called by God ordained men. And we see that very 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:57.480 clearly in the next chapter can do this. So it also restricts the office to only certain men, 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:04.759 not all men. Now, look, the principle of history. I want to say this because you'll probably come 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:09.480 across this if you want to dig into this passage more, or maybe you have in the past. There have 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:17.240 been a lot of books written. A lot of trees have been killed on 1st Timothy 2.12. And one of the 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:23.559 big movements in the literature, if you go look for it, is that many people will say, and there's 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:30.279 truth to this, Ephesus was the center of a particular temple, the temple of Diana. And Diana was a 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:37.079 goddess in the Greco-Roman pantheon. And in that center, it may be the case, although this is 00:13:37.079 --> 00:13:43.000 highly speculative, that women were exclusively in charge of all the clerical rights in the midst 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:48.519 of the temple of Diana. And so Paul knows that. And there may be women that have been converted 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:53.799 to Christ who are coming from the temple of Diana. And so he's saying it can't be like it was in the 00:13:53.799 --> 00:14:00.919 temple of Diana in the life of the church. Now, people have, and that may be true, and it's helpful. 00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:05.559 But what people have done is they've used that particular contextual mark to say, look, this is 00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:13.399 cultural, first century, Ephesus only, right? And there are truths there. But at the same time, 00:14:13.399 --> 00:14:17.879 we immediately know all you've got to do is read the next verse to know that Paul will not let you 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:23.879 do that. He won't let us do that, right? And because you come to the very next verse, verses 13 to 15, 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:30.600 and he gives us the reasons why this is the case. And what does he do? He says, to understand this, 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:35.480 you've got to have a theology of creation. You've got to go back to the doctrine of creation, 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:39.960 if you want to understand it, okay? So here it is. And we'll spend the rest of our brief time on this. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:46.919 He gives us three reasons why he's giving this command, that men are to be in the teaching office. 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:52.599 He's administering the sacraments, preaching on Sundays, okay? Three reasons. One, verse 13, 00:14:52.599 --> 00:14:58.360 because Adam was created first in Eve's second. That's the first reason. Second reason he gives, 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:06.759 verse 14, because Adam was not deceived, Eve was. Reason three, but she will be saved by childbearing. 00:15:07.319 --> 00:15:12.199 So those are his three reasons, his three claims, and of course they all come within a doctrine, 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:16.920 an idea of what happened at the beginning of time, all right? So he's pointing us all the way back, 00:15:16.920 --> 00:15:22.200 and he's saying there's a real why here. Now look, you may be here today. Many of you, I know, 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:26.840 and I know where you are. I know you're from the past, and I know that you're okay. You read this 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:34.120 passage, and you're okay. You hear Paul. But it may be that you haven't asked the why question, 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:38.920 and you actually need to, because that's where Paul goes. And it may be here today that you're 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:43.799 struggling to hear this and read this and say, I don't know what to do with this. And Paul says, 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:48.679 you need to hear an answer to the why question, because as modern people, that's what we come to. 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:53.240 We come in, we read this, and we say, look, I don't know how you can get around what Paul says. 00:15:53.240 --> 00:16:00.039 The command seems rather clear, but why? But why, Paul? Why is this the way? Why has God 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:07.079 ordained it like this? Why? And that's exactly actually what Paul does. He anticipates that. 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:13.800 And so he doesn't spell it out for you. He assumes so much, but he takes you back to a doctrine of 00:16:13.800 --> 00:16:18.920 creation. In other words, a superficial way to look at these three reasons would be something like 00:16:18.920 --> 00:16:27.000 this. You know, Adam is first, Eve is second, meaning men have authority over women in the church, 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:32.600 because men were made first, and therefore are superior to women. And that's superficial. Paul 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:38.519 says, no, that's not it. Or the second one would be Eve was deceived, not Adam. You see, a woman 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:42.600 brought sin into the world, not the man, it was her fault. Therefore, he's got to be the guy who 00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:49.080 gives her instruction. No, not what Paul is pointing to at all. Or the third would be, but she will 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:54.920 be saved by childbearing, which is a text of immense mystery. What does that mean? Well, it sounds 00:16:54.920 --> 00:17:01.960 like from a modern reading that he's saying women are made for the home and nothing else, childbearing, 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:08.440 or whatever it might be. No, that's not what Paul's doing here. Okay, instead, we've got to go for 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:13.880 the next few minutes back to the creation to hear it correctly. Okay, and here it is, claim one, 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:20.840 the creation story. Adam was made first, then Eve. What does he mean by that? Why does he say 00:17:20.840 --> 00:17:25.640 Adam was created first and then Eve? And here's why. When you go to Genesis one, 00:17:26.600 --> 00:17:31.880 you might notice very clearly, as Christians have for century after century, that the creation 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:40.040 days are in order from the lesser to the greater. So from day one to day six, you have a movement 00:17:40.040 --> 00:17:48.280 that climaxes on day six, from sky and land and darkness and light all the way to vegetation, 00:17:48.280 --> 00:17:53.960 then to animals, but then to humans, day six, climax, the image of God. Well, Genesis two, 00:17:54.760 --> 00:18:01.720 what it does is it comes down close reading on day six, and it does actually the same exact 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:06.360 thing as Genesis one. You see, when you're in a tuned reader, you start to realize that what's 00:18:06.360 --> 00:18:11.079 happening in Genesis two is different than what a modern person sees superficially on first glance 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:17.880 at Adam first, Eve second. Instead, what happened, Adam, in Genesis two, were told, was made first, 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:25.480 and he was, quote, formed from the dust. And that's a word formed that shows up in Genesis one, 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:31.880 when God said that he was going to form and fill creation. And so the first three days of creation 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:39.000 correspond to God's work of forming things, and the second three days of filling, but the climax 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:45.480 is on the second three days. And that's why in chapter two, it says Adam was formed, picking up on 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:52.680 that same idea. He was first, he corresponds to the first three days, but she, the man of dust, 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:59.320 you see, but she, what does it say? It's a different verb. She was fashioned out of a human, 00:18:59.320 --> 00:19:07.320 out of a man. And that verb, fashioned, is a verb of artistic expression. And in the same 00:19:07.320 --> 00:19:12.360 sense of Genesis one, what is it saying? It's not saying Adam came first, you know, and so he's 00:19:12.360 --> 00:19:17.720 better. No, it's saying Adam came first, and so she's better. That's actually the point. You see, 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:23.400 it's saying that whatever comes last in the creation order is the climax of creation. 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:29.720 Adam and Eve are human. They're both the image of God, male and female. They're ontologically to use 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:36.200 a philosophical term in terms of being exactly equal in dignity before God, but she is the climax. 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:44.039 She is the great point of creation. She comes second, you see. Now, what does that have to do 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:50.279 with being a pastor and preaching in the sacraments? What it has to do with this, 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:56.039 would the first and second come a role differentiation? In the beginning, Adam was made 00:19:56.039 --> 00:20:01.559 first. He was given a role. She was made as the climax, and she was given a role. And what is 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:10.359 Adam's role? It's right back in Genesis 2.15, and Adam is told to, quote, work and keep the garden of 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:14.919 Eden. Now, those verbs, and I told you we were going to get into the weeds today, so stick with me 00:20:14.919 --> 00:20:21.639 for a moment. Those verbs to work and to keep show up only a few other times in the Old Testament, 00:20:21.639 --> 00:20:26.599 and they do it in the first five books. And what are those the verbs for? Those are the verbs that 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:34.359 God gives to the priest in Leviticus. The priest's job is to work and to keep the garden, because the 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:40.199 temple looks like a garden all throughout the Old Testament. And you see, that means that Adam, 00:20:40.199 --> 00:20:46.199 made of dust, was given the job to be the priest of creation. And what is the priest's job? The 00:20:46.199 --> 00:20:54.439 priest's job is to care for, to guard, and to protect the temple of God until, until God fully 00:20:54.439 --> 00:21:00.519 comes down, and the new creation springs forth. And you see in that, that the Garden of Eden was 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:05.079 a temporary moment. If you've studied biblical theology or anything, you know that the Garden 00:21:05.079 --> 00:21:10.759 of Eden was temporary. It was all about something to come. And what was to come was the full coming 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:17.559 of the kingdom of God. And until then, Adam was made to be the priest, to guard and protect the 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:23.079 space that is the temple of God, Eden. And that's why every temple across the Bible looks like a 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:27.799 garden, and gardens look like temples, because Eden was the temple of God on earth, and Adam was the 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:33.159 priest of that temple. But she's given a role too, the climax of creation. She's given a role, Eve. 00:21:33.159 --> 00:21:40.759 She's not the priest. She's made to help the priest, yes, the helper. But you know, there's only one 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:45.480 person that that word helper is used up throughout the rest of the Bible, and that's God himself. 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:51.319 He's the only other person who takes that title. And that means that, that she symbolizes something. 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:57.879 When Eve, the climax of creation is made, she's a symbol. You see, he's a priest, and he's temporary 00:21:57.879 --> 00:22:03.159 in that role. That role is about guarding something until the fullness of the kingdom would come. 00:22:03.879 --> 00:22:11.639 But she's the second. She's the climax. You see, Eve symbolizes the fullness of the coming 00:22:11.639 --> 00:22:19.000 of the kingdom. She is new creation, symbolically. If Adam is a man of the dust, a man of creation, 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:26.680 Eve, she is the woman, the creature of new creation. She symbolizes everything that the world is meant 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:33.319 to become when God fully comes down. And you see, that's the order from the lesser to the greater. 00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:38.839 She's the climax. She's the symbol of new creation. That's why, by the way, you know, if you don't 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:43.880 have this reading, by the way, if you don't have this in your mind, it's very difficult to read 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:49.240 the gender passages in the New Testament. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul says, woman is the 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:58.520 glory of man. Why? Because Eve is the revelation of the glory of creation. She is man's climax. 00:22:58.520 --> 00:23:03.400 She is creation's climax. She is a symbol of what is to come. She is a symbol of the fullness 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:10.440 of God that is to come. Now, here's the takeaways. There's a role difference then between men and 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:16.360 women from the very beginning, as it pertains to the church or in the Old Testament, the temple. 00:23:16.360 --> 00:23:20.360 Where were they at the beginning in the temple? Where are we here? The church. It's talking about 00:23:20.360 --> 00:23:26.759 ordination and priesthood. Who can be the priest? And Adam can be a priest because he's been charged 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:34.680 with guarding, protecting, and caring for creation's glory until God should fully come. 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:41.160 And the woman is not charged with that. Why? Not because she's subordinate in some way of being, 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:47.400 but because she is the symbol of the climax of creation. So every single week when a man 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:54.759 stands here, he's meant to be like a new Adam, giving and guarding the word of God for the 00:23:54.759 --> 00:24:03.320 sake of the woman, the bride. And all of us are the bride. And you say, this sacred ordering 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:10.679 is about picturing the story of redemption in even the way we relate to one another in the midst 00:24:10.679 --> 00:24:16.919 of the worship space. That there's a sign of creation and new creation, even through man and 00:24:16.919 --> 00:24:21.319 woman, through gender. You see, gender and the theology of gender, what it means runs all the 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:27.720 way to the bottom of what we are. It points to the whole story of all of history, where to look at 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:33.079 women, in other words, and we're to see in them a symbol of the ultimate glory that is to come. 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:38.680 By the way, you can even see this, the Old Testament. I won't do any details, but if we had a 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:45.079 semester, of course, we could go through the Old Testament and see how male and female physiology 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:51.960 are also taken by the Bible to manifest these two realities. Leviticus 13 to 15 in the Song of 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:58.440 Songs, talk about a woman in such ways that point us to see her as the Garden of Eden symbolized. 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:04.519 She is like the temple. She is the glory of God's presence. Let me prove this to you one more way. 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:12.200 I have more than that, but we're running out of time. In Genesis 2, Adam is named Adam for a 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:20.840 reason. Adam is just a direct translation from a Hebrew term that is A-D-A-M. Why? Because the 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:28.519 Hebrew term for the ground is the word Adam-Mah. It's just Adam with an H on the end, meaning 00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:36.199 the first human, which is a male, is of the ground. He's closely related to the stuff. He's of creation, 00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:43.079 but when woman, the pinnacle of creation is made, the name of what a human is changes in Genesis 2. 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:49.480 Now, Adam is no longer called Adam. He's called Ish and Isha in the Hebrew. I give that to you, 00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:56.120 because that's a name change when she's made. The word Ish in Hebrew is almost identical to the word 00:25:56.120 --> 00:26:05.559 fire. Remember the context? These are Israelites being given this book by Moses thousands of 00:26:05.559 --> 00:26:11.240 years ago who knew Hebrew and who knew what all this meant, who were around sacrificing the 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:15.799 Levitical priesthood. They understood this. They could see this, that when man and woman are called 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:22.839 Ish because of the woman, it makes you think of fire. That was the point. Why? Because every 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:28.119 single time God comes down in the Old Testament and fills up the temple, how does He do it? 00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:34.599 He comes as fire. He comes in the burning bush. He comes as the great cloud of smoke. He comes 00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:40.680 into the temple and fire consumes the offering. In other words, you see, when the woman is made, 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:47.799 it's saying she is a sign of the fullness of God's presence that is to come. She is the glory of 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:56.519 Adam. Adam is, in other words, exists to serve and protect her, the temple, like he exists to serve 00:26:56.519 --> 00:27:03.480 and protect the temple itself until the full coming of God in the end. You see? Now, you come 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:09.320 to the New Testament as we start to close here. And when you look at Ephesians 5, it does this, 00:27:09.319 --> 00:27:15.319 marriage. How should men and women relate to marriage? Well, women submit to men, but men also 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:22.279 submit to women, Paul says, in Ephesians 5. How do men submit to women? They submit to women as Jesus 00:27:22.279 --> 00:27:29.159 submitted himself to the bride herself, the church. And you see, from the very beginning, 00:27:29.159 --> 00:27:36.759 the role of pastor and congregant has always meant to illustrate marriage, because marriage 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:43.400 illustrates creation, because it's all about the movement from creation to new creation. 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:52.359 And so the relationship that is between pastor and congregation is mimicking, symbolizing one 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:59.640 that is like Adam and Eve, Christ and the bride. Not that the minister is like Christ, 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:04.839 but that he's called to be a new Adam. He's called to guard and to protect and to care for 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:13.159 the bride until Jesus comes to get her. So the reason why men are called to the teaching office 00:28:13.159 --> 00:28:20.919 is not thin, it's thick. It runs all the way into the depths of creation order itself. 00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:30.199 That's why in Revelation 21 and 22, when it talks about the coming of the full glory of Jesus down 00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:36.440 to earth, there's going to be a wedding. And in that wedding, who does the great second Adam 00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:44.200 marry? He marries the church. And how is the church described? As bride and as the city of God, 00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:50.920 the new Jerusalem. And you know that bride is feminine, you know that. And the city of God 00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:57.640 is also a feminine concept in the Greek text, as is the new Jerusalem. Remember, Galatians 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:03.800 calls the new Jerusalem the mother, the mother of the church, right? These are all feminine 00:29:03.800 --> 00:29:09.480 concepts because they actually play on creation order from the very beginning. Now look, if you 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:15.800 have all that in mind, we can do claim two and three in two minutes, because they all fall into place 00:29:15.800 --> 00:29:22.920 when you understand that creation theology of gender. And claim two is this, she was deceived, 00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:28.440 not Adam. So men have to preach. Well, do you know what that's saying? It's taking you back to Genesis 00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:35.480 two, sorry, Genesis three, verse six, when it says that when the woman was deceived, he was with her. 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:42.920 And what does that mean? It means that she was deceived, not him. Meaning he knew exactly what 00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:48.840 was happening when the serpent came. He was with her. And so he let the temple of God itself, 00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:56.679 the bride, Eve, the point of creation, the climax, he let that temple be corrupted by the serpent. 00:29:56.679 --> 00:29:59.639 You see what it's saying? It's not saying that it was Eve's fault, it's saying it was Adam's fault. 00:30:00.199 --> 00:30:07.319 It's saying that the priest failed. He did not do what he was charged to do. Every time a pastor 00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:11.959 fails to protect a church from false teaching or whatever it is, or public moral failure, 00:30:11.959 --> 00:30:17.639 that is, it's akin. It's like Adam all over again, failing to stand by the bride, 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:22.840 because she was deceived, he was not. He was the one that brings sin into the world, because he 00:30:22.840 --> 00:30:27.400 knew exactly what was happening. You see? All right, claim three as we close them. 00:30:29.320 --> 00:30:35.240 Claim three, she will be saved through childbearing. Now look, again, if you've got this theology of 00:30:35.240 --> 00:30:41.640 creation in your head, then you can probably guess what this means. Eve, not woman, a couple 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:47.800 translations get this wrong, because they turn that she will be saved, to women will be saved. 00:30:47.800 --> 00:30:52.440 They make it plural, but it's not plural, it's singular. She, Eve will be saved through childbearing. 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:59.800 What does that mean? Adam was there that day. He watched the bride, the temple of God, the climax 00:30:59.800 --> 00:31:09.640 of creation fall, and he did nothing. And now she will be saved through childbearing. But not only 00:31:09.640 --> 00:31:14.840 she, did you notice at the very end in verse 15, it says, she will be saved through childbearing 00:31:14.840 --> 00:31:23.160 if they continue in faith. So it switches it. It's not only she, but they, meaning Adam and Eve, 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:31.400 both, man and woman, both will be saved through childbearing. Why? It's saying, it's trying to 00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:38.200 take you back to Genesis 3.15. And if you remember Genesis 3.15, it's that if Adam would have done 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:44.120 his job, if Adam would have stood by her and not let this happen, then the kingdom of God would 00:31:44.120 --> 00:31:49.319 have come. The covenant would have been fulfilled that we would be in a time already of new creation, 00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:56.039 of the new heavens and the new earth come down. But he failed. And now in Genesis 3.15, we're told 00:31:56.039 --> 00:32:03.640 that who is going to usher in the kingdom? She will save them how by childbearing, meaning that one 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:11.240 day the seed of the woman, the one child, will come to crush the head of the serpent. You see, 00:32:11.800 --> 00:32:17.400 it's talking about Jesus. She will save the world by the Son that she will give birth to. That's 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:24.440 what it's saying here, that she has been called to a holy task. Woman, Eve, Mary, as representative 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:30.759 woman, she is called to bring the Messiah. And so she will save the world how by childbearing, 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:39.000 they will be saved through, you see, this is the last word. When you're looking at Genesis 3, 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:45.400 and you see Adam there with Eve, the symbol of creation, the symbol of the temple, the groom 00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:49.799 and the bride, the whole story of creation, the whole story of redemption unfolds right there. 00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:54.680 And if you're a Bible reader, if you're a Christian today and you've worked through the 00:32:54.680 --> 00:33:05.240 Bible carefully, maybe you've noticed this before. When she's deceived and there's now sin, death, 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:11.080 and transgression that has entered the holy temple, the woman and the temple itself eaten, 00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:17.960 when you look at your Bible, what do you expect a true priest to do in that moment? 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:23.640 You know, when sin comes down, when Satan comes down and he deceives the bride, and he tries to 00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:31.960 steal the bride away from God, what do you expect a true priest to do? And if you've read through the 00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:35.079 Bible, you've read through the Old Testament and looked at the sacrificial system, you've read 00:33:35.079 --> 00:33:39.960 through the Gospels and read the story, what do you expect the true priest to do? You expect Adam 00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:49.400 to turn into give his life for her. He should have died, life for life, death for sin, right there 00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:56.440 to protect God, to do the role of the priest. And instead, what does he do? He says she did it. 00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:01.720 He blames her and he shifts the blame. And that means that from the very beginning, 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:08.679 very beginning, you're looking for a priest that's better than Adam. You're looking for a priest 00:34:08.679 --> 00:34:13.159 that would protect the bride all the way to the end. And that's Jesus Christ who would give himself 00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:19.319 for her. And every single time we gather in worship as modern people today, 21st century, 00:34:19.319 --> 00:34:25.719 first century, no matter where it is in history, when the pastor gives the bread and wine and he 00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:35.960 gives the word of God to the people, this is a tiny little reflection of the movement of the great 00:34:35.960 --> 00:34:43.320 groom protecting, guarding and keeping the bride until the day that the true groom should return. 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:49.159 See, the reason a pastor is a man because he's called to be a new Adam, he's called to work 00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:55.079 in ways that Adam failed and he can only do that in the light of Jesus imperfectly. And so there's 00:34:55.079 --> 00:35:03.000 a real thick reason why it's fitting here for a man to serve in this way. He's meant to do the dirty 00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:07.719 work, the work of sacrifice, the work of protection, the work of guarding. So as modern people, we're 00:35:07.719 --> 00:35:15.559 called to look and see in all of this the point of history and not to balk at it, but to submit to 00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:21.320 it and glory in it because it is the story of redemption in the way that God has ordered it. 00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:28.440 Let's pray. Father, we ask now in all our questions that you would come and meet with us. We know, 00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:35.000 Lord, that this is only dipping our toe in the water. And so we pray, Lord, in the midst of this 00:35:36.039 --> 00:35:41.639 difficult to digest both concept and biblical interpretation that you would help us. 00:35:41.639 --> 00:35:57.639 And so we ask for that in Christ's name. Amen.