A Beautiful Household (pt. 2): Brothers Who Lead, Sisters Who Labor, and a Heavenly Father Who Knows Best (Sermon Audio)

Who do you say you are? And what importance does your family play in defining your answer?

On Sunday we completed part 2 of a message looking at the household of God in 1 Timothy 2:8–15. We also considered just how much our culture’s individualism works against our understanding of the Bible, especially this passage.

Throughout Scripture, God’s work of salvation is always aimed at creating a people, not just saving individuals. Jesus said he came not to bring peace, but a sword and to separate people from their families in order to make them part of his family. His words in Matthew 10:34–39 are unsettling, but they are also saving. He concludes, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

If we take Jesus seriously, he calls us to radically redefine our lives by his words and his family. In this sermon, I applied this concept of being adopted into Christ’s family to understand the challenging words of 1 Timothy 2:11–15. You can listen to the sermon online. Response questions and additional resources can be found below.

Response Questions

1. First Timothy 2:8–15 is a difficult passage. Why does God inspire hard texts? How do you handle them when you find them in Scripture?
2. What is the book of 1 Timothy about (see 3:14–16)? Why does keeping this in mind matter for 1 Timothy 2?
3. How do chapters 2 and 3 work together in the book? How does looking at men’s and women’s role help get a sense of the passage? (Are all men allowed to teach in the church? Why or why not? How might this fact reframe our reading/teaching of 1 Timothy 2?)
4. What goes wrong when we jump into verses 11–12 without paying attention to context? How does using these verses as a prooftext distort them?
5. What is the main point of these verses? How has this main point been emphasized or missed in the church?
6. Does 1 Timothy 2:12 mean that women cannot teach in the church? Read Titus 2:3–5. What is the specific restriction?
7. Do all women need to submit to all men? Who are women called to submit to? Is this any different from other men in the congregation?
8. Why does Paul make a difference between men and women? What is Paul’s reasoning for having men teach and lead in the church?
9. How do you read 1 Timothy 2:15? How does the background of 1 Timothy 2:8–15 in Genesis 2–3 help you assess this passage?
10. What other questions do you have? What else has helped you / hindered you in embracing this passage?

Additional Resources

On Individualism

• The Air That We Breathe: Expressive Individualism, I, and Me
• Transgenderism: But One Fruit on Individualism’s Pernicious Vine
• When the Church was a Family by Joseph Hellerman

On Biblical Complementarity

• Nine Reasons for Biblical Complementarity
• Women in the Church: An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9–15 edited by Thomas Schreiner and Andreas Köstenberger
• God’s Design for Men and Women: A Biblical Theological Survey by Andreas and Margaret Köstenberger
• Good’s God Design by Claire Smith
• Women’s Ministry in the Church by Susan Hunt and Ligon Duncan

On Understanding Paul’s Words to Women

• Rightly Dividing the Cultural Background to 1 Corinthians 11
• Honoring Our Creator With Our Prayer, Hair, and Care (1 Corinthians 11:2–16)
• A Well-Ordered House: Paul’s Spiritual Policies For Speaking in Church (1 Corinthians 14:26–40)
• The Drama of Marriage: What Christ and the Church Teaches Husbands and Wives (Ephesians 5:22–33)
• Say What, Paul? Six Things 1 Timothy 2:8–15 Does Not Mean
• Say What, Paul? Six *More* Things That 1 Timothy 2:8–15 Does Not Mean

Soli Deo Gloria, ds