Look Out - The Danger of Picking and Choosing Scripture to Fit Our Opinions!

1 Timothy 1; 1 Timothy 2; 1 Timothy 3; 1 Timothy 4
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Scripture

1 Timothy 2

8 In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

9 And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. 10 For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.

11 Women should learn quietly and submissively. 12 I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. 13 For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.

Observation

I think it is interesting how some folks can take verses 11 – 15 of this passage to insist that a woman should not speak in church, or teach men, but never mention that the same passage instructs women how to dress and how to fix their hair. In other places Paul instructs that women should worship with their heads covered and men should not have their heads covered when they come to worship etc. but we tend to not talk about that.

Wouldn’t most American women violate what Paul is saying in verses 9 & 10 every Sunday when they come to church? They don’t usually take off their gold jewelry and their pearls before they come in the door of the church. And the dresses that they are wearing are very expensive by world standards. So if we are going to insist on our women conforming to what Paul says in verses 11 – 15 we need to at least be consistent and insist that they obey verses 9 & 10 too!

Just to let you know where I stand on this issue I believe that women in our church should always be under the spiritual leadership of a man. I believe that the senior pastor of a church should be a man. Women can lead in our church and serve with freedom in any area that the Holy Spirit leads them to serve. I believe that not only women should dress modestly, but also I believe that men should dress modestly and not draw attention to themselves by how they dress.

Application

I will try to apply scripture in context and not let minor differences of opinion become areas of division between others and me.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to know the scriptures. Give me wisdom in how to lead our people. I pray for open doors to share the Gospel during this Christmas season. Thank you for a wonderful week last week and I look forward to all that You are going to do in my life this week. Amen.


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