What is Proper (1 Timothy 2:8-15)

This week let’s give more thought to “how one ought to behave in the household of God” (1 Timothy 3:15). Our passage is 1 Timothy 2:8-15.

This one is difficult to understand. You can find a mountain of content attempting to interpret and apply it correctly, written by topnotch Bible scholars, yet many disagree with one another.

I won’t be able to untangle all the knots in this brief post. My goal here is devotional. While I do believe we all need to take a close look at passages like these and discuss them together, for now, we’ll take a simpler approach. 

First, two ground rules that I think can help us in passages like this:

1. Let’s be gracious. Let’s give one another the benefit of the doubt. Let’s not assume that people with whom we disagree want to conform to the culture, twist scripture or oppress anyone. Let’s also not assume that those with differing interpretations are dumb or lazy. 
2. Let’s be humble. We’re all susceptible to misinterpreting and misapplying scripture. At least some of us are getting passages like this wrong because our interpretations aren’t just different, they’re contradictory. 

With all that in mind, I’ll start by encouraging you to lead the men and women in your church toward holiness and propriety.

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. (1 Timothy 2:8-10)

God wants his people to conduct themselves thoughtfully. He wants them to aim for demeanor and adornment that reflects their newfound godliness in Christ. Men’s praying should be characterized by holiness rather than anger and quarreling. Women’s adornment should be characterized by respectability, modesty, and self-control rather than self-indulgence and extravagance. 

Of course, women should pray in a holy way without anger and quarrelling too. And men shouldn’t forsake good works to focus on fancy clothes either. But the Holy Spirit prompted Paul to write these things in gender-specific terms here.

Undoubtedly this is because he was addressing a specific group of people in a specific context in which these things needed attention. The men in Ephesus must have been tempted toward anger and quarreling. The women must have been tempted toward elaborate adornment. But the fact that it is canonized in scripture indicates that it remains relevant for us today as well.

The men in your church may be tempted toward anger and quarreling in a way that hinders their prayers. The women in your church may be tempted toward improper extravagance in a way that hinders their good works. We can’t cheerfully lead our weekly prayer meetings knowing that all of this is going on. As pastors, we must address it. 

Next, I want to encourage you to lead the women in your church learn quietly and submissively.

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. (1 Timothy 2:11)

Again, men should learn quietly and submissively too, but God inspired Paul to address this admonition specifically to women. Apparently, in the Ephesian church, the women were tempted to learn in a noisy, defiant manner. Both their attire and their attitude were loud.

And, again, because this is included in the Bible, it carries meaning for us today. The women in your church may be tempted to bring a problematic disposition into the sanctuary, Sunday school classroom or small group. If so, you’ll need to correct them.

Finally, we get to the hardest part of the passage.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. (1 Timothy 2:12-15)

If I follow the same hermeneutic approach that I have so far in this devotion, here’s what I should say: I want to encourage you not to permit the women in your church to teach or exercise authority over the men in your church. 

The question is, is it right to interpret and apply these verses this way?

Many say, “Yes, because Paul, in his apostolic authority, states that a woman is not to teach or have authority over a man. This still applies because he bases it on principles from creation and the fall, not the cultural norms of the day.”

Yet many others say, “No, because Paul is addressing a specific situation in a specific church. As the women of Ephesus conformed to new cultural norms, they became brash, disrupting the peace and witness of the church.”

Here’s where the floodgates burst open. Theologians continue to pour out huge amounts of content about the Greek words, historical background, and relationship between this text and the other texts that address the roles of men and women in the church. This is important work and there’s much we need to discuss. But we cannot tackle all of that in this devotion (not to mention the confusing bit about being saved through childbearing…).

For right now, let’s scan back over the passage and see what God values. 

• Holiness
• Respectability
• Modesty
• Self-control
• Propriety
• Godliness
• Quietness
• Submissiveness
• Faith
• Love

I’ll leave you with this encouragement: Lead the men and women in your church to value these qualities enough to let go of anger, quarrelling, extravagance, and any other attitudes that would hinder their prayers, good works, and learning. This is part of “how one ought to behave in the household of God” (1 Timothy 3:15).