February 19, 2012 | John Bayles | The Faithful and Righteous Prayer (1 Timothy 2:8-15)

This is perhaps one of the most difficult texts in all of the scriptures. The difficulty is not because the message is not clear. The difficulty lies in the method of coming to the inspired meaning of the text and that so many conclusions about current behavior have been based upon this text.

In our current day the first response to the meaning of the text drudges up responses like "It has to do with the authority of women in the church" or "It shows us that women cannot be pastors" or "It teaches us that women cannot hold teaching positions in the church except as it pertains to teaching younger women" or "It clearly shows us that women cannot have authority over their husbands, that they must be submissive."

Curiously, no one thinks this text teaches us that the means of women be saved is by having a baby, or that women cannot teach or have authority over any males, including their own male sons, or that women, not men, were deceived in the Garden of Eden and became sinners, or that women cannot wear jewelry or get their hair styled (thought some do take it that far).

With all these "obvious" meanings, what has become of the one the Apostle Paul outlined in the first chapter? Has his previous intention been abandoned? That is: to instruct Timothy how to correct the false teachers and those they are falsely teaching in Ephesus? Just asking these kinds of questions makes the temperature and tempers rise in the kingdom.

So how do we proceed? In this multi-part mini-series we will attempt to discover the intention of of what the apostle was writing to Timothy in this chapter. We will mostly try discover what he is saying and leave what he is not saying to another day. There may be more at play here than what we have historically believed, and there may be less at stake here than what we have historically
believed.

As has been said so many times before, "The Bible has it's own message for us to hear." The goal of these sermons is to listen, hear and obey what the Holy Spirit reveals to us from the Word of God. My we be humble, receptive, and faithful to that end.

Click to listen, right-click to download:

February 19, 2012 | John Bayles | The Faithful and Righteous Prayer (1 Timothy 2:8-15)