A STUDY OF GENDER ROLES IN “THE ASSEMBLY”

BACKGROUND Previous study Recently ~4 years ago the elders studied the role of women in “the assembly” Presented the results here in the auditorium to you Found that the Bible does not say women everywhere should be silent in the assembly Recently Youth takeover I stood here and told you that they were doing it with the approval of the elders Some of our young ladies testified as to what God has done in their lives Some have taken issue with both the findings of 4 years ago as well as that women spoke in “the assembly”  First, it was the elders that allowed the young ladies to speak. In other words, they did so with our approval. So if you have issues with that, please address them to us instead of the youth. Second, there is a right way and a wrong way to handle concerns within the body, especially over biblical teaching.  The example within the NT has the elders taking the lead on guarding the flock against doctrinal errors.  Concerns should be taken to the elders rather than discussed behind closed doors in ways that have a tendency to lead to gossip and division. 

As A Result New Study Results Jim & I, with Russell’s help, have studied the subject anew Lots of time, study, and prayer Ensure our convictions are Biblically sound and have integrity Results Shared the findings with the Deacons Share findings with you now – at a high level Give you passages to study and guidelines with which to do that Start an in-depth study in the adult class as of next week Discuss what it means to us, this family, at the end of the in- depth class

HOW WE WILL TREAT EACH OTHER In any study there will be differences of opinion: Some will agree with the findings and want to fully implement them Some will agree with the findings but be reluctant/uncomfortable to implement them Some won’t agree with the findings How We Treat Each Other Is The Key: Regardless of the category in which we find ourselves, we are all brothers and sisters, and we will treat each other with love There will be no gossip, as that is a sin

GUIDELINES FOR BIBLE STUDY No Contradictions: Scripture doesn’t contradict itself If our understanding of a passage appears to be in conflict with another, we don’t understand it or them correctly Context & Consistency Understand the context of the passage Treat everything in the context consistently – don’t pick and choose It has to fit with the rest of the chapter, book, testament, and bible No Blinders: Don’t read the Bible through our “traditional” lenses Read to understand how God intended for us to live our lives When we set out to study the Bible we need to have some guidelines. Here are ours: No Contradictions: As we study the Bible we need to keep in mind that the Scriptures are God-breathed. Yes, in some cases man has altered the text, but we usually have other manuscripts that show us what was originally written. And, what we read has been translated by man, so sometimes we have to dig deeper in order to fully understand. So, if we think a passage we are reading is in conflict with another passage then our understand of one or the other passage, or perhaps both, is wrong and we need to study to reconcile the differences. Context & Consistency: We need to understand the context of a passage And treat things within a given context consistently. In other words, we cannot pick things out of context and disregard others. What is said in a given passage has to square with the rest of the chapter, the rest of the book, the rest of the testament, and the rest of the Bible. Blinders: Too often we read the Bible through the lens of our previous, or traditional, understanding. In other words, we come to a study thinking we already know what it says, so we read it yet-again and come away with the same old thing. But the real way to study is w/o our traditions. Read to understand how God intended for us to live on a day-in and day-out basis.

ISSUES WE FOUND - Assembly Church of Christ code for “in the auditorium” or “worship” Nothing in the Scriptures differentiates between our gatherings, such as those in the auditorium, those in classes, or those at camp Our lives are to be worship Matthew 18:20 says “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” We must be consistent in the way we treat gender differences in our “gatherings” As we got into the study we realized that there are some issues with our standard understanding of some things: Assembly: When we say “assembly” we are really saying “in the auditorium”, which we then seem to think is “worship” But there’s nothing in the Scriptures that supports this terminology In fact, it is our lives that are supposed to be “worship” As for assemblies, Jesus said that he’s with us if there are only two gathered in His name. And he didn’t say that we have to be in a great big room, or outside, or in a small room. So, we have realized that we need to be consistent with the way we apply any differences between the roles either gender has. In fact, some say that’s why “classes” were created, and they’ve pushed back and don’t have classes. Ditto camp. And, that would include small groups such as the “Thursday Night” gathering.

ISSUES WE FOUND - Singing In Colossians 3: 16 Paul says “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Singing is teaching But in 1st Timothy 2:12 he says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” We can’t have it both ways – if women can’t teach & must be quiet then they can’t sing. But, if they can sing then we can’t take 1st Timothy at face value. Singing: Another “issue” is singing Paul tells us in his letter to the church at Colossae that when we sing we are teaching and admonishing each other. So, singing is teaching as well as admonishing. Does that beg the question of who can write our songs? What about who can sing them? In what setting? With whom present? But, 1st Timothy says that women cannot teach – if we read it at face value So, how can we let women sing if they can’t teach? Recently someone told us that it is ok for women to teach and admonish via singing because they are not usurping authority.  But where does scripture say it is ok for women to teach as long as they don’t usurp authority?  In 1st Timothy Paul is actually dividing teaching and usurping authority into two different categories which means they are two separate items.  To say that women can teach via singing goes against what Paul said in 1st Timothy - if we take that passage at face value.

WOMEN IN THE BIBLE - OT Old Testament I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. (Micah 6:4) Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. (Judges 4:4) Huldah: 2nd Kings 22 explains that she was a prophet that the high priest of Israel sought out to discover what God had in store for the country Perhaps by studying how God used women in the Bible we can get some understanding of his view of women overall. So here are just a few: Old Testament: Miriam, the sister of Moses, was one of the leaders of the Israelites Deborah was a prophet Huldah: The good king Josiah said “Go and inquire of the Lord for me” and sent Hilkiah, the high priest, to “the prophet Huldah”.

WOMEN IN THE BIBLE - NT New Testament Junia: In Rom. 16:7 Paul wrote that Junia was “outstanding among the apostles” Phoebe: In Romans 16:1 Paul said “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.” Priscilla: In Acts 18:26 Luke wrote “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” New Testament: Junia: ”. Note that depending on what version of the Bible you are reading you may find the name “Junias”. Men changed the name to a masculine form in the 3rd century, but we have earlier manuscripts that tell us that Junia was a woman. In any event, we do not know what kind of “apostle” she was, but the same term was used with Barnabus. Phoebe: Yep, she’s called a “deacon” Priscilla: It is pretty obvious that both Priscilla and Aquila taught Apollos. In fact, given Luke’s habit of naming the more significant of a pair first, it looks like she had the lead in this. In any event, they taught a man.

DIFFICULT TEXTS – 1st Corinthians In 11:1-16 we read that women are praying and teaching (prophesying) – without condemnation And in 14: 26 through 40, with the exception of verses 35 & 36, Paul said that everyone, both men and women, were singing, had a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation But in 14: 34 & 35 Paul says “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.  If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” Ok, so all through the Old and New testaments we see women taking prominent roles, as well as singing, teaching, and praying. But we have two passages that appear to contradict all of those others: 1st Corinthians: We can see that there is conflict between these passages in the same book, as well as with other books, if we just take things at face value. So Guideline #1 (No Contradictions) comes into play and we have to dig deeper to understand. And, while doing that we need to keep Guideline #4 (No Blinders) in mind as our traditional understandings can easily cause us to miss what was intended. 1st Timothy: And here, if we use proper study practices and remember Guideline #2 (Context & Consistency), we have a list of seven things that need to be treated consistently. In addition, Guideline #3 (No Blinders) kicks in as our traditional views would have us try to pick and choose which of those things we want to accept.

DIFFICULT TEXTS – 1st Timothy 1st Timothy 2: 8-12 gives us a list of seven commands: Men should pray with their hands lifted up. 2:8 Men should pray without anger or disputing. 2:8 Women should dress modestly. 2:9 Women should not have elaborate hairstyles, wear gold, pearls or expensive clothing. 2:9 Women should have good deeds. 2:10 Women should be silent and quiet. 2:11 & 12 Women should not teach or have assume authority over man. 2:12

   × × × ×  POSSIBLE APPROACHES  × Guideline 1 No Contradictions Guideline 2 Context & Consistency Guideline 3 No Blinders SPECIFIC ISSUES: The two difficult passages are dealing with specifics in the two churches – Ephesus & Corinth PICK & CHOOSE: Out of a list of 7 things in only 5 verses we could choose to accept only 2 of them – the ones about women being silent & teaching FACE VALUE: The difficult passages mean exactly what they appear to say, & women cannot speak or teach in any fashion in any assembly, men must pray with their hands raised, and women cannot wear gold, pearls, or expensive clothing There are three possible approaches to getting our heads around these passages:    × × × Ok, given what we found, how can we map our way through it? Basically, there are only 3 approaches that seem to work: SPECIFIC ISSUES: In this approach we assume that there is something about the 1st Timothy and 1st Corinthians passages that isn’t obvious and which, if understood, would take away the apparent conflict with the preponderance of texts with regard to women in the Bible. In other words, this approach fits with rules #1, 2, & 3.. PICK & CHOOSE: In this scenario we could decide that out of 7 things in a list that is all of 5 verses long we want to only accept the two about women being quiet or teaching. And we would be in very good company as many churches take this approach. But this flies in the face of all three rules: we still have conflicts with the rest of Scripture, so it fails #1; it doesn’t work with #2 (Context & Consistency) since we are picking and choosing out of a list, and it certainly doesn’t fit with #3 (No Blinders) as we’ve kept our blinders on. FACE VALUE: Last in our three scenarios, we could say that the 1st Timothy and 1st Corinthians passages mean exactly what they appear to say. However, that is disregarding Rule #1 (No Contradictions) since that means that we accept that there is conflict in the Scriptures. But, it agrees with Rule #2 (Context & Consistency), at least as far as 1st Timothy is concerned, and though it isn’t consistent with other texts in the NT. But, treating the list consistently means: Women cannot speak or teach in any fashion in any assembly Men must pray with their hands raised Women cannot wear gold, pearls, or expensive clothing ×  × 

CONCLUSION The only answer that is consistent with the ground rules of studying Scripture is that Paul’s statements in 1st Corinthians and 1st Timothy are to be understood as addressing issues specific to those churches – Corinth and Ephesus. In other words, Paul did not tell us that women everywhere must remain silent and cannot teach. We realize that this doesn’t fit with our traditions. In fact, it doesn’t fit with what we, Jim and I, have been taught for decades. But our aim as leaders of this church is to apply teachings in a way that is consistent, regardless of tradition. We are sure you will have questions. So please study the passages in this lesson, which is out on the website, and any other passages or writings you can find. And then come prepared to participate in the study starting next week. Then, at the end of the class, we will have a discussion of what this means to us, the church here in Skiatook. In other words, what do we want our assemblies, all of them, to look like?