Unity and Order

I don't know if you've ever opened maybe a letter that wasn't yours, or maybe you've opened an email or a text message that wasn't actually written to you and you've kind of read it. Hopefully it wasn't a particularly bad experience for you and they weren't talking about you. That would've been awful, right? Maybe you learned something about the writer, but it's not exactly that way when we read First Timothy, but sort of. We're reading Paul's letter to Timothy. Now, it got read in the church there in Ephesus, but we're reading someone else's letter. And it's kind of an interesting scenario, because Paul, even when he's talking to Timothy in chapter one, as he kind of launches out saying, "I need you to correct the false teaching that's going on in Ephesus," but then he starts talking very personally. And in chapter one, you hear Paul about how he used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, right? And then he talks about how his life was transformed. Even says it this way. He says, "Here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy. So that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe and receive eternal life. Now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be glory and honor forever and ever." This is a part of what Paul's talking about. He's sharing some things personally with Timothy, and then he's charging Timothy to not only walk in good faith and in good conscience and with a pure heart, but he's also telling him to do that in light of the false teachers, which he names, that are among them in Ephesus. And then right after giving Timothy that charge, the next two chapters, chapter two and chapter three are chapters of instruction. Now, ultimately, when you see this instruction in chapter two, in chapter three, here's what is said. It's really talking about unity and order. And what he's doing is he's dealing with false teachers and he's talking to them also about how they are to conduct themselves in the household of God. That you see in chapter number three. We talked about that last week. In chapter one, he launches right out talking about a correction of false teachers. And then in chapter number three, he says this is how you're supposed to conduct yourself in the household of God. And so, Paul is asking Timothy to stabilize what was really coming apart at the seams at the church at Ephesus. He's saying, "Timothy, I'm sending you there and I want you to stay there and I want you to help stabilize what's going on there." And what does in his teaching method is he uses the idea of the household of God as the metaphor for what kind of stability he wants to see in the context of Ephesus. Now, the household actually has a bunch of different relationships and he uses this in a big way, right? And it's interesting, because when you read Paul and Timothy's through the New Testament, there's an extraordinarily consistent batch of teaching around relational aspects. So, for instance, if you read Paul and Peter on marriage, you'll see in Ephesians five, and here in First Timothy, and in First Peter three, really consistent teaching around marriage. If you're reading about how men and women are to conduct themselves, even in worship, you can read about that here, you can read about that in First Corinthians 14, you can read about that in Titus two. And it's very consistent. If you're reading about how slaves and masters are supposed to interact, remember it was a little different, not talking about chattel slavery like we understood in the United States. Very different than that. But nonetheless, it's talked about significantly in the New Testament, Ephesians, Colossians three, First Timothy six, Titus two, First Peter two, all consistent teaching around these ideas. And with the relationship of the church to the state, that relationship very consistent as well, Romans 13, Titus three, First Peter two. So, when you see all of this in the New Testament, professors like Philip Towner and many others call this the household old codes of the New Testament, because what it is, it's a consistent body of teaching in the New Testament around relationships, whether that's marriage or parenting or friendships or employment relationships, or church-state relationships, there's remarkable consistency in the New Testament, particularly with Paul and Peter, when you see them writing. And these are called the household codes. So, what Paul does is he uses this kind of idea of household codes to help Timothy stabilize the church. Now, we know that there was some false teaching that was going on here, and we don't know every aspect of that false teaching, but we do know some. And one particular aspect of that false teaching we see show up in Paul's second letter to Timothy. Remember he wrote two, right? And in the second letter to Timothy, notice what he says. He says in Second Timothy chapter two, "Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will come more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some." So, we know that part of the false teaching that was going on was a false teaching around this idea of a spiritual resurrection that has already occurred. They weren't talking about the resurrection of Jesus. They were talking about the resurrection of the saints, so to speak, at that time. Now, where did this idea even come from? Well, it came from this mixture that was present in Ephesus, and it was a mixture of what we would call gnosticism that wasn't called gnosticism then. You're going, "Okay, I don't know what that means." Well, G-N-O-S-I-S, gnosis is the Greek word that means knowledge. And so, there was this kind of beginning that was starting then and coming into the early centuries of what is called gnosticism. And the idea behind it is that you could get special knowledge from God, kind of secret knowledge from God. You got the ring in the cracker jacks box or whatever, and you could decode all of this stuff. And you got special knowledge and other people didn't get it. What was a especially prominent, however, in Ephesus and in gnosticism is that they worshiped in Ephesus, a goddess named Artemis. Now, Artemis, the goddess that was there was kind of baked into this idea of gnosticism. And within this idea of special knowledge was also the preeminence of women. Artemis was representative of that, that there was in a sense, a superiority of women in terms of their special knowledge that was then given to other people, in particular men. We'll see that in just a few moments as we continue forward in our text, but that's a bit what was going on here. And it's no wonder that later on, that Paul is addressing with Timothy, why the behavior of some is beginning to act like they're acting. They're abandoning marriage, because why? Well, if the resurrection has occurred, if we have special knowledge and this has already happened, and it's this over-realized kind of idea, well, we don't really need to be married. They're throwing off the chains and being emancipated from being under any leadership, whether that's spiritual leadership or whether that's government leadership. And so, that's kind of the situation that Paul has sent Timothy into. And what we know is that the false teachers in Ephesus, what we know for sure is that the false teachers that are named they're men, right? We've got Hymenaeus and Alexander and Hymenaeus and Philetus, that are talked about in both letters that are men. But what they're doing is they're influencing women and these women are parroting this false teaching in Ephesus. And so, what Paul does is he appeals for unity and order. That's what Paul is doing in chapter two and chapter three. He's appealing to unity and to order. I'm gonna take each of those in turn, and I'm gonna just unpack this as we walk kind of verse-by-verse through this entire chapter. Chapter two, it's only 15 verses, but we're gonna walk through it. So, stay with me. I've got a lot to say and not enough time to say it all. And I also know this. There's no way I'll cover every thing that could be covered. There's no way I'll say everything that I could say. So, just to understand that, that I'm approaching this with a degree of humility and grace, because there's no way to cover everything that could possibly be covered in the time that we have together. Okay? But let's start with the idea of unity. The first thing that I would point out is there is a unity of prayer for all. That Paul is calling Timothy to this. When he begins this level of instruction in chapter two, he's calling him to a unity of prayer for all. Look again in chapter two versus one and two. And I hope you have a Bible in front of you because you're gonna need to look at that plenty of times today. He says, "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." And so, what Paul does here from the beginning is he starts talking about the priority of prayer in the context of the people of God. When Paul begins, he says, "I urge." And when he says, "I urge," he means let's get down to business. Now, I'm gonna start the process of instructing Timothy what I'm looking for. And he says, "I urge, then, first of all." That idea, first of all, talks about prominence. It talks about a priority given to. And he says, "I want to see petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for," notice what he says, "all people." You'll see that phrase repeated a number of times in these verses, all people. That means every kind of person everywhere. And then Paul says, "Let me give you a specific example. For kings and all those in authority." Now, some of you're going, okay, I know we're supposed to pray for government leaders, even if we don't like the government leaders that we have. You are. You are supposed to pray for government leaders, even if you don't like the government leaders that you have. This was Nero that Paul was talking about. You heard about him. The guy that burned Christians in the streets. Nero was the emperor at that time. The king, the one that was in authority, Nero. And Paul is saying to Timothy, "What I want to see is I wanna see prayers and petitions made for all people." And he says, "And for kings and those in authority, from the top, all the way down, that you should be praying for them." Because in fact, even if they were enemies of the gospel, even if they were enemies of Christians, do you know what you do when you're praying for them? You are demonstrating what it looks like for Jesus to teach to love our enemies, to bless those who persecute us. That's exactly what you're doing when you do that. And Paul is saying embrace that heart because you are to pray for everyone, every kind of person, even those who you may disagree with, who are leading you at a governmental level, all kinds of people everywhere. There should be a unity of prayer for all. For what purpose? That we can lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. In other words, that shalom may exist so that the gospel can actually run free. That's the direction that we're praying, and there should be a unity of prayer for all. Secondly, he says that there should be a unity around the mission of God. A unity around the mission of God. As you're maybe jotting that down, for those of you that take notes, I want you to look in verse three and four. It says this, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." Now, listen very carefully to those words, because what you hear in them is you hear God's mission put on display. That what we're doing is we are praying for all kinds of people everywhere. And in unity, we are praying in that direction. And when we do, when we pray for all people everywhere, we are participating with God in his mission because this pleases God. Because what's his desire? What's his heart? What's his will? That all people would be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. This is what God's mission is. This is why we say that the mission of the church is that every man, woman, and child have a repeated opportunity to hear and see the gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is God's heartbeat. It is God's desire that that's the case. You can know that you're living in the will of God when you are walking in the mission of God. And this is what God is calling us to a unity around prayer for all and a unity around the mission of God. But he's also talking about the unity of God himself. This is the third aspect here of unity. It's talking about the unity of God himself. Listen to how Paul phrases this next sentence in verse five and six. He says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people." I find that interesting because he talks about one God, one mediator for all people, right? One God, one mediator for all the people. In other words, this is actually talking about the unity of God himself. That God is the one who has made provision for everyone everywhere, whether you're Jew or Gentile, whatever your background is, whatever your socio-economic status is, there is only one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. In other words, there aren't anybody. Paul's probably helping correct some wrong ideas here. There's nobody that's standing in the place with a special knowledge that all of a sudden that you can look to like Artemis, for instance. Not a God. There's no one else. There is one God. And there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. Listen carefully. Paul's establishing there are not many ways to God. He's also establishing there are not many gods. There is only one God, and there is one mediator and his name is Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father, except through him. There is an exclusivity to the reality of truth. That's why it's truth because it separates itself from falsehood. Truth is truth. And it is always true. It's not your truth or my truth. It is simply true. It doesn't matter what you think or what I think. Truth is truth all by itself. It doesn't need my permission. It doesn't need me to affirm it. Truth is truth no matter what. And God says that there is one God. He alone is God. And there is one mediator between God and man, that is the man Christ Jesus. All roads don't lead to God. One narrow way leads to God. And that is the man Christ Jesus, who is the mediator of salvation for all people everywhere. This group of people doesn't get this particular special deal with special knowledge. This group of people doesn't get their particular deal with this special knowledge. No, no, no. Paul's correcting all of that. And he's saying one God, one mediator for all the people in the world. Now, Paul has a lot to say here. He also says that he gave himself as a ransom. That word ransom means in place of, as a substitute for. In other words, everyone who had sinned in the world, it was impossible for them to be able to save themselves. And so, God is the one who actually initiated salvation through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself in our place as a substitute so that he, the sinless one, would stand in our place on a cross for all of us, sinful people, and take upon himself, the wrath, the just wrath of a God who is holy and who must judge sin. And Jesus stood in our place, took that upon himself, died for our sins, rose from the grave, demonstrating the satisfaction of his sacrifice. And now we who believe in him can be reconciled to the Father because he has stood in our place. This is the beauty that Paul is unpacking. He's really unpacking the reality of the truth of the gospel. He's talking about unity. Unity in prayer for all, unity around the mission of God, unity of God himself. And then the last is that I think he's talking about the unity of holiness. The unity of holiness. Look in versus eight through 10. He says, "Therefore, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God." See, what Paul is saying here, he's actually addressing both the men and the women in Ephesus. To the men, he actually gives two charges. The first one is that they pray, and they do so, he says, with holy hands that they lift up. Now, holy hands is really an Old Testament picture because what you had to do when you were coming before God in the Old Testament, is your hands had to be ceremonially clean. They had to be purified. This was a part of the deal. But in the New Testament, when we hear the idea of holy hands, it's actually talking about the heart. It's going beyond just the idea of kind of something external. It's actually talking about the heart. And so, what Paul is saying to the men is that when you come to God, you come with a pure heart. And in coming with a pure heart, what I want to make sure of is that you have a pure heart, such that you are in harmony with your brothers and sisters. He says, "You come lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing." In other words, holy hands before God and harmony with your brothers and sisters. This is what he says to the men. This is how you are to approach God in prayer, that you are doing so from a pure heart with pure hands and you are doing so with pure relationships that are around you. But he also talks with the women. And he says to the women that I want them to put something else on, rather than what they're talking about putting on all the time. I want them to put on a right heart that leads to good deeds and holiness, and not think as much about all the things that they adorned themselves with. When Paul talks about kind of modesty and propriety here, he's actually, we read that now in Western culture and we think, "Oh, he's talking about the women dressing sexy. They better not do that." It's actually not what he's talking about. What Paul's talking about is less about, is less sexual and more societal. More economic. You see, in that context, you can actually read some of the history around this. Many of the women in that culture in Ephesus were being influenced by the Empress of Rome who would have all the stuff, man. She had all the newest fashion. She had the braided hair, had the jewels in the hair, had all the deal, right? And it basically was kind of a flaunting of her wealth. Paul is saying to the women in Ephesus, you need to be less concerned about your outward adornment. And you need to be more concerned about putting on a holy heart that leads you to good deeds. And so, part of the reason he's saying this, he's saying it doesn't serve anybody any purpose for you to just show up and flaunt your wealth in the church. Because what that does, is basically does not give the witness to Christ that we desire and also marginalizes the poor that are among you. So, Paul's talking less about something sexual here and talking more maybe about something that's economic that starts to say in the church, we've got the haves and the have-nots. Paul says that's what we want. We want to see unity, not division. So, he wants to see from the women, hearts that lead to good deeds, not adornment that leads to good looks. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying just show up. Like roll out of the bed and don't take a shower and don't brush your teeth. That's not what Paul's saying. All right? For all of our sake, feel free. Clean up, do whatever, right? That's great. And dudes I'd recommend it for you as well. Like brush your teeth before you come to church. He's not saying that. So, don't take this in a weird way. But he is saying that there should be modesty and propriety, particularly when it comes not the flaunting of wealth, which is divisive in the body of Christ, but instead, this is about hearts that are holy, that lead to good deeds. That's what he's calling them too. So, Paul talks about unity, right? Here in the first set of instruction. But then in the next set of verses, I think Paul is talking about order. In verses 11 through 15, he's talking about order. And the first aspect that he talks about is an order for learning. Now, let me say this. As I walk into these verses, and I hope you have a Bible that's in front of you, because I'm gonna show you some things here, I want you to understand a couple of things. First of all, I won't be able to cover every nuance of the text in the time allotted. I've already told you that. I'm also coming at this, particularly in these verses, which are some of the thorniest in the New Testament for us to be able to work through. I'm coming at that with a great deal of humility. What I would ask all of us is that we understand that what we do when we come to passages that are a little challenging, maybe, or maybe even feel like they're counter-cultural, when we look at them, here's what we need to understand. What we're dealing with is the Word of God. We don't run from it. We don't manipulate it. We don't abuse it. We let it say what it says. And we try before God as best we understand by the leadership of his Spirit to understand what's being said. And in the parts that maybe we're not sure of, preachers and teachers have a responsibility to hold that with a little bit of openhandedness and humility. And so, I hope that you know that that's my heart as we walk through this together. But I think that it helps us to see it from the framework of what Paul is doing is that there is a whole mess that's going on. And he's telling Timothy, "Timothy there needs to be unity and there needs to be order." And the first aspect of order that he talks about is an order for learning. An order for learning. Look what he says in verse number 11. He says, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man. She must be quiet." Some of you read that kind of when we read it in the English language and we go, okay, so what exactly is being said here? I saw this cartoon one time. It was a bunch of women that were chanting and yelling, "We don't like Paul. We hate Paul." Right? They're all chanting and yelling that. And Paul walks up and he says, "Oh, I see you got my letter." That's not what's actually going on here. In fact, when we begin to look at this passage of Scripture, the first thing that I would note is this, and I'm not gonna press this point throughout. I'm just gonna help put this in your mind. Is that what you see when it's talking about women and men could also be talking about wives and husbands. See, in the Greek language, the word for women is the same word for wife and the word for man is the same word for husband. And you have to understand based on the context, who's being talked about, men generally, women generally, or husbands and or wives in this context. And if you look in the New Testament, all the times that that term is used in kind of right next to one another, in specific ways, there's like 11 different contexts in the New Testament. And in each of those times, it's translated husband and wife, except for here in First Timothy two. The argument is, is that this very well could be translated husband and wife here. So, you might hear me saying women wife, and you might hear me saying men husband, because to be honest with you, I'm not 100% positive. I know my way around the Greek a little bit. I will not consider myself a formal Greek scholar. So, I will just kind of leave that with a degree of openness when we talk through it. But nonetheless, what's interesting about this instruction is that it's incredibly countercultural for the time that they're living in. Incredibly countercultural. You're going, "Wait, what?" Yes, because here's what the command is. Let the women learn. That's the command of that text. Let them learn. Now, you say, huh, I was too busy looking at the rest of it and getting uptight about that and I kinda missed that front part. Let them learn. That's the command of this passage of Scripture. Why is that so countercultural? Because in that context, like in a Judaism context back in the day, that didn't carry over. The women weren't encouraged to learn. There are still today in the world that we live in, in various religions and various parts of the world, women are not encouraged to learn. But in fact, Paul here in the ancient world is saying something very countercultural when he says let the women learn. Well, why is he saying that? Well, it should be obvious to us at this point, as we've read through First Timothy one and two, there's a ton of false teaching that's going on. They need to be instructed in the truth, so that they are buttressed against the false teaching that could lure them away. This is imperative. So, Paul is encouraging the learning of the women or wives in this context. And he says that that should be done in quietness and full submission. Now, there's no direct object to that phrase, quietness and full submission. That word quietness does not mean silence. It doesn't mean you can't talk. Same phrase, by the way, that we just read back in the very beginning of chapter two, we're praying for kings and those authorities that we may lead what? Quiet lives, right? Doesn't mean we're not allowed to talk. It doesn't mean any of those things. It means that we have a posture of receptivity, of willingness, of tranquility, of peace, right? That that's the posture that we're taking. And when Paul talks about quietness and full submission, there's no direct object. In other words, it may be that he's talking about quietness and full submission in reference to a proper teacher and that instruction being able to receive it that way. It could be that he's talking about that this should be the heart posture before the Lord, that there should be a quietness and a receptivity to what God wants to be able to show them. Or it could mean both of those at the same time. That that could be what Paul is talking about right there. But what you have to understand that it's not saying, it's not saying that all women have to be submissive to all men. That is an abuse of this text. That is not what's being said here. So, please don't walk out thinking that that's what Paul is saying. He's not. He is not. He is also not saying when he talks about it here, he's not saying that women, because he says I do not permit them to teach or to have authority over a man, but that they should learn in quietness and full submission. Paul is also not saying that women can't teach at all. He's not saying that at all. All you have to do is read Titus chapter two and you figure out that that's not what he's saying because he talks about them teaching at that point. What he's doing here, his prohibition against what they're doing is obvious. Uninstructed deceived women who are among them should not be teaching anyone at all. By the way, he's also going to be correcting these false teachers who are men, who should not be instructing anyone at all either, right? But he's saying something very specific here. And the specificity of what he's saying is because there is this influence underneath all of this in the false teaching that somehow women have special knowledge and have a superiority in this gnostic kind of worldview, this Artemis style worldview. And Paul is actually pushing back against that idea, as we'll see more clearly in just a few moments. But he's doing this so that he can help them to understand the truth as opposed to falsehood. And he's helping them to learn when he says the word shall not have authority over a man or maybe it's a wife over a husband. This is the only time that this verb is used in the New Testament, authentein. It's the only time in a New Testament it's used. And in generally speaking, what it's referring to here has something to do with spiritual authority or governance. Here's what I do know what's clear in this text is that Paul is making it clear that he's commanding Timothy to command the church at Ephesus that the women that are there are not to teach or have authority over the men in this context of Ephesus, in terms of spiritual authority or governance. Paul's made that very clear that's what he is saying to the church in Ephesus. What's not clear, and there are godly people that see differently, what's not clear is whether or not that's limited to Ephesus or whether it's transcendent. That's not as clear. And there are good godly people who take seriously the Word of God that see that slightly differently than the others. It should not be a cause for division in the body of Christ, but instead, we should be able to go, okay, we do our best with our hands wide open in humility, saying, this is what we know he was saying to Ephesus. Is it limited to Ephesus or is this transcendent? And there are fair arguments in both directions coming straight from the Word of God. So, there's an order for learning. He was encouraging learning, but he said there should be order in it. In other words, women should not be trying to take over the worship that was going on at that time, by promoting things that they were getting from false teachers and now in their uninstructed behavior, they're passing those things on. Paul says, nope, that should not be happening in this context. But there's also, he argues, order from creation. So, Paul continues on in his argument here in the context, not only talking about an order for learning, but now an order from creation. Look at what he says beginning in 13. After saying all of this, he says, "For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived, it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." So, now what Paul does, when he's talking about what he's telling Timothy to do to bring order in the context of the local church that is a mess of division and chaos because of all the false teaching, he actually bases his argument going all the way back to the divine design. So, Paul actually reaches all the way back. It's not cultural at this point. Paul is reaching all the way back into the story of Adam and Eve. Now, here's what's interesting. It makes perfect sense once we understand kind of the context of what's going on culturally, it makes perfect sense what Paul is doing, reaching back to the Adam and Eve's story. If you remember last week in the message, if you weren't here you should go back and listen to it, but what we talked about is we talked about this false teaching and we talked about the variety of things that were a part of that. They devoted themselves to myths and endless genealogies and promoted controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work. That's in chapter one versus four and five. When that was being said, I told you that were reaching back into the Old Testament and they were misappropriating the narratives of the Old Testament. And one of those narratives in particular was the creation narrative that was being misappropriated. Remember I told you that last week. This is why I believe Paul is reaching back for the story of Adam and Eve, because what's happening in Ephesus is there's this mix. There's this mix of having been influenced by worship of Artemis, which puts as kind of a superior, the idea of womanhood over manhood, which gnosticism, that is beginning, it may not be named that yet, but very soon would be named that, which kind of talks about this special knowledge that's been appropriated to women instead of men. And so, now you've got all of this in the mix. And Paul's having to address it. So, what I did, here's what I did. Forgive me for just nerding out for just a second. I went back and I looked at some of the ancient gnostic documents. I know you're thinking, "Why didn't you call me?" Right? So, you're thinking that, right? I went back and looked at some of the ancient gnostic documents to kind of find out things related to that. And so, there's one that's called "The Apocalypse of Adam." And this was found in the Nag Hammadi Codex Number Five, in case you were wanting to look that up. But it was between 50 and 150 AD. That's what it was chronicling thoughts around what was happening between 50 and 150 AD. Now, keep in mind, First Timothy is written in the 60s AD. So, you may be talking about chronicling thought that was around during this time that's captured in this gnostic document. Here's what's interesting in that gnostic document, it actually communicates that Adam tells his son, Seth, remember Seth is the one that they had after Abel's murder by Cain, right? That Adam tells his son, Seth, that Eve taught him a word of knowledge of the eternal God. This is from gnostic document. You can already see very early on that it's taking the story of Adam and Eve and beginning to turn it upside down. That it was Eve who instructed Adam, according to the gnostic document. And in fact, if you look a little bit later, like in "The Hypostasis of the Archons," which was from 200 to 300 AD and you see the full-blown gnostic thought at that point, you actually see in that document where it states unequivocally, that Eve gave life to Adam. So, now what you see is you see the full-blown, turning completely upside down the story, the true story of the origins of humanity and God's divine design. You see that actually turned complete upside down. So, what Paul is doing when he's making this argument from Adam and Eve is he's actually rejecting the idea, a couple of ideas. One, he's rejecting the idea that Eve created Adam, because what does he say? Look at your text. Adam was formed first, right? He makes that very clear. So, he's rejecting the idea that Eve created Adam. He's also rejecting the idea that women are superior to men inherently. He's rejecting that idea, not by saying men are superior to women, he's simply rejecting the idea that women are superior to men. Why? Because in their minds, Eve is the one who had special knowledge. And Paul says to Timothy, "Nope, here's what you gotta make sure that they understand, she was deceived." That's what he says very clearly. He's arguing against the special knowledge and the superiority of women by saying Eve was actually deceived. Now, when you read this, this is not a statement that says, oh, finally, now I know women are always gullible. That's not what's being said here. Do not abuse the text in that way. That's a stupid thing to say. It's not, hey, women are inherently more gullible. That is not what's being communicated here. What Paul is doing is very specific. He's undoing lies. That's what he's doing. And as he's undoing these lies, he's helping to see the truth. Because remember, the goal is, is that the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth. That we're holding up the truth on display for everybody to be able to see it. So, when Paul says that Adam was formed first, he's talking about this idea of order, that Adam didn't come from Eve, right? Eve actually came from Adam's side. But when he's arguing that Adam was formed first, this is not an argument about superiority and inferiority. This is not an argument about inequality. That's not at all what this is. When you read, go back into Genesis and you read chapter one and chapter two, here's what you find out about out man and woman or husband and wife as you can see it. You find out that they are both fully image bearers of God, completely equal in value and dignity before God. Male and female, he created them in his image. There is no one above the other in terms of value or dignity. But when Paul argues that Adam was formed first, he's actually giving us the seed bed for what would become, from Genesis, what would become throughout the Old Testament, the law of primogeniture. Here's what that means. It was the law of the firstborn. When you read through the Old Testament context, you find over and over and over and over again, the idea of the firstborn. And this firstborn is not more valuable than the ones that come after. The firstborn has different responsibilities. Jesus is called the first born from among the dead, right? So, this is being carried through. So, Paul here is making an argument from creation. He's not talking about inequality. He's not talking about subjugation or domineering. He's not talking about any of that. He's actually talking about order in the context of the church, by undoing the lies that they had been telling about upending the narrative of where everything actually began and how it began. And you know why this is so important? It's because if we don't understand that Eve was deceived and sinned and Adam rebelled and sinned, see, Adam knew what he was supposed to do and knew what he was supposed to communicate to Eve. And he fell down on his job. That's why throughout the whole entire New Testament, you know who always gets held to account for the sin of humanity? Adam does. Everywhere you read it, it's in Adam. It's we've fallen in Adam. It's always about Adam. But Eve sinned in her deception. She was deceived. Adam sinned in his rebellion. Both have sinned and both need to be restored and saved. And what did we read just a few moments before, that God's heart is that all are saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Paul's just forwarding an argument here, helping us to understand unity and order in the context of the church. But there's a third area of order I wanna capture real quick. It's this, order from the gospel. Stay with me here for just a moment, because we're gonna read verse 15 and you're gonna be like, "What?" Here's verse 15. "But women will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety." Now, you read that and you go, what is that even doing here? This seems to not even be connected at all. Leave this up, if you would. This seems to not even be connected at all to what we're actually reading, right? You kinda read it and go did this just get thrown in out of nowhere? And by the way, if women can only be saved through childbearing, what does that mean for women who can't bear children? They can it be saved? What does this mean? I know. I know. Let's pause for just a second. First of all, women, that's actually singular. She. Those of you that are reading the NIV, you can actually see it as note down below. It will show you that this is actually in the Greek language, it is singular. But she. Who is she? Well, if we're continuing along the same illustration and keep everything in context, it's Eve, right? This is what he's talking about. He's actually talking about Adam and Eve. So, we're not making this something that it's not, right? We're just leaving it in context. But she, Eve, will be saved. What does that mean? Some translations wanted to use the word preserved because they were struggling with what this meant. She'll be preserved. She'll be taken care of through childbirth. But here's the problem. That when Paul uses this term saved, and by the way, he uses it four times in First Timothy. Four times. And every single time he's talking about spiritual salvation every single time. And then Paul incorporates it, he uses it seven times. And in every single time he's talking about spiritual salvation. So, we would be making it say something that Paul's not normally making it say if we tried to change it. So, this is actually talking about spiritual salvation and it's like, whoa, wait, what? So, Eve will be spiritually saved through childbearing. Ah, see what we don't see in the English language because it's not translated, and this is a normal kind of translation move, but what we don't see when we read in the Greek language is the definitive article is in place here. Eve will be saved through the childbirth or the childbearing. Wait, do you think that that might be referring to what was happening in the Book of Genesis when the promise was made about after their fall, what God was going to do? Genesis chapter three, verse number 15 says this, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head, Satan, and you will strike his heel." You know what he was talking about? The birth of the one to come, the Messiah. You see what I believe we're seeing here, and again, my hands are reasonably open. I'm speaking in humility. But what I see in this passage of Scripture is a continuation of the same illustration that Paul is making here when he's talking about Adam and Eve. It's interesting because this is not a stretch, by the way. Professor Jared August actually pointed out that Adam's name, his actual name is used in four different context outside of First Timothy. It's used in four different contexts, Luke three, Romans five, First Corinthians 15, and Jude 14. And in every single one of those contexts, it points to his sin and then points to Christ's salvation. So, this interpretation that we're talking about here is not outside the bounds of orthodoxy. There's plenty of scholars who hold to this. This is not something new. I'm not trying to make something up. This is just the continuation in my view of the argument that Pau is making relative to Adam and Eve. If you'll put that passage back, First Timothy chapter two, verse 15, if you could put that back up for me, I would appreciate it. Here's what he says. "But women, Eve, she, will be saved, spiritually saved through the childbirth." Through the Lord Jesus coming. He's the only one that can ultimately save. Then it changes, if they, and that's plural. Well, who's they? Adam and Eve. We're staying right with the same idea that we have stayed with as the illustration continues. If they, Adam and Eve, continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety. In other words, the idea I think that Paul is arguing is this. "Hey, Timothy, it's a big mess. I get it. Total mess. But here's what you need to understand. Do not let the false teachers turn upside down the narrative of Genesis because it makes everything completely and totally messed up." Because what people need to understand is that all have sinned and all need a Savior. And here's the deal. She, Eve, actually gets to be a part of this salvation line, even though she was this saved by the enemy, she gets to be saved by the grace of God through the childbirth that will come. The one that ultimately will crush the head of the enemy who seeds all of these lies. That ultimately that's going to come, not to Eve specifically, but through her line. And Jesus will be born as the Savior and mediator of the one God who wants all people to be saved everywhere. And if we turn this story upside down, all of that begins to go away and it promotes a special knowledge to special people and regards women as superior to men. And Paul saying, no, no, we cannot allow that to stand. We need to make sure that there is order and ultimately, the gospel shine through. So, write this down, unity and order in God's household will enable the church to move forward in mission. This is what Paul, I think, from a big idea is saying. That unity and order in God's household will enable the church to move forward in mission. Now, that said, how do we apply this? Well, I mean, obviously you can't, if division and false teaching and chaos is involved in local churches, that's going to inhibit the ability of the church to be engaged in the mission of God, which means it's incumbent upon there to be clear teaching of the Word of God, with pure hearts and good conscience and proper interpretation as unto God best we can in our frailty, in our humanity. All of that must be in place. But we also must embrace that what Paul has said to both men and what women or husbands and wives. So, here's what I'd like to do. If you're a man, let's call it, if you're in high school or older, and you're a man and you can stand to your feet, I want you to do it. Every campus everywhere, every man stand to your feet. Men, I wanna ask you some questions. Have you demonstrated over this timeframe or even recently in your life, anger at all things political and that's fueled your life and relationships and homes, as opposed to prayer for those who are in authority? Because Paul tells us that's what we should be doing as men. Men, do you have any relationships that need to be paired so that you can pray with a pure heart before God and in harmony with your brothers or sisters? And if you do, I charge you to repair those relationships. If you're married, do you encourage your wife to be a learner of the Word of God? Is your life aimed in the direction of the mission of God? Those are all things that you should be charged with and think about, based on the text that we're talking about. Ladies, I'm gonna ask you to join me as we pray for these men. Father, in the name of Jesus I pray for every man under the sound of my voice on this campus at Lockport, at Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, watching online, wherever people may be, that you would allow us to be men, husbands, those of us that are married, of holiness. That when we lift up hands to praise, to pray, to worship, that that would be done with a pure heart. And that we'd be in harmony with our brothers and sisters, not with anger or disputing. That we would be encouraging and sacrificial in love, if we're married, to the wives that you have given to us and that we would encourage them to grow in the grace and knowledge of you, Jesus, through your Word. I ask this in Christ's name. Amen.

- [Congregant] Amen.

- Men, as you're being seated, women, I'm gonna ask you to stand. All those that can. So, women, I graciously charge you with what Paul was charging Timothy to tell the church at Ephesus. Are you allowing holiness of heart to be your priority above all? That what you wanna put on more than the newest style is you wanna put on holiness that leads to good deeds in the name of Jesus. Are you learning the Word of God? Receiving it. Are you teaching as you learn? Your kids, other women in a community group, whatever that looks like. And is your spirit peaceful to receive from God what God wants to give to you? Men, I'm gonna ask if you would join me as we pray for these women. Father, thank you for our sisters. And I pray in the name of Jesus that you would grow each of them in holiness. That you would grow each of them, that above of all things, that they would put on the garments of righteousness and would have a heart of holiness that leads to good deeds. Father, I pray that they would deeply seek you through your word and would know you and that you would shape their lives in such a way that they would be a blessing to all that are around them. That they would be able to provide grace and instruction and counsel and prayer and love to those that they are around and that they have the privilege of being able to minister to. I pray for each of them, that you grow them in godliness for your name's sake, so that you Lord Jesus, your life may be seen in and through them for your glory. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Ladies, you can be seated. Thank you. Let me just say this as we dismiss. All of this matters to the mission. What we just talked about, it matters to the mission. Because division and false teaching and chaos inhibits the mission. Unity and order in God's household will help us to fulfill the mission of God. And do you know why that's so important? Because God's heart, God's desire, God's will is that all should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl. And our job as the church is to hold up the truth of the gospel in such a way that people can see the beauty of the truth and respond to the savior that they so desperately need.