May 6 - Worship

May 6 - Worship - 1 Timothy 2:8-15

Diane says:
Paul continues with his teaching on worship. Lifting hands while praying and worshiping was a common Old Testament practice (1 Kings 8:22; 2 Chron. 6:13; Ezra 9:5; Pss. 28:2; 141:2; Lam. 2:19). Paul knew, though, that if your heart wasn't in it because you were dealing with anger or other disputes, you weren't worshipping.

If possible, I'd like to not have to deal with the next few verses. Many of you have heard me speak over and over of Paul's incessant blathering about a woman's place. The man needed a good woman in his life to teach him more respect! But, I digress (and am probably not showing the proper respect for the apostle, eh?)

The words 'quietness' and 'silent' in 1 Timothy 2:11-12 come from the same Greek word which does not mean silence as we know it. It does mean that the person should refrain from being unruly. Much of this passages obviously deals with women who tend to speak over the top of everyone else. Any woman who is worth her salt knows that a word spoken in quiet confidence will be heard louder than the same word screamed over and over.

As for a woman being deceived and not Adam, Paul said in Romans 5:12 that sin entered the world through one man and again in 1 Corinthians 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." (I'm just saying, folks, the man needs to check his records!)

Good luck to any man who wants to keep me safe through childbirth. There is actually some disagreement about the translation of this verse. It seems to be very specific, speaking of 'the' childbirth in reference to the birth of Jesus. It could also mean that a woman, by maintaining a family stays out of the troubles of society.

Rebecca Says:
My 13 year old son calls me a feminist - he believes I could be bunkmates with Gloria Steinem. When I was tripping over these verses he came in and asked me why I was holed up in my room with the door shut. I read the verses to him and by the time I got to the part of quietness and submission he was laughing hysterically. These verses to me are some of the same kind that Paul spoke of in 1 Timothy 1:4 when he talked of “endless controversies rather than God’s work. ” I went back and reread that verse ... and what followed after and was reminded that love is the ultimate goal here, so I set out a new challenge to find some aspect of love in this particular section. Surprisingly, God changed my view in a pretty dramatic way!

I want to begin first though with 1 Timothy 2:8 because this is one of my favorite verses ever... the phrase “lift up holy hands in prayer” is beautiful to me because it paints such a picture of worship. I wasn’t always a fan of lifting hands. I grew up Mormon and the only reason you lifted your hand in a Mormon church was to go to the bathroom, so I was not sure about any of it. Then I came across this verse in Job:

"Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear”

Before Christ I was paralyzed by fears. I was borderline agoraphobic, an insomniac because I feared dying in my sleep and paranoid beyond measure. To stand firm and without fear was something I was hungry for. When I read that verse in Job I got a visual in my mind of a woman falling, clutching something in her hands. There were arms reaching out to save her but she had to decide if she was willing to release what was in her hands and be saved or cling to it and continue falling. As soon as I willingly opened up my hands and let all that junk fall, I found hands reaching for me that clamped around my once shaky arms. In His embrace I finally tasted what it was like to stand firm and without fear... and that is Divine!

That part about the braided hair and the necklaces and all that jazz - yeah I am not a fan of that because I like me some accessories. Then I thought about little children in beauty pageants, how crazy they look with their fake hair and tans and sequins. There is nothing cuter than a little girl just being herself. I think that this verse is really saying, "Hey women, you are beautiful! Don’t cover it up, expose the most beautiful parts of you. You were created with an innate ability to love and because of that love you have a heart for service and good deeds." There is nothing wrong with a necklace or two but when it becomes your nametag, it’s time to reevaluate.

This teaching thing is a bit harder because I love to teach. I get very defensive about this particular passage, but one thing to point out is that Paul is very clear that this is his opinion and not necessarily God's. Teaching and authority involve a level of intimacy that may not be appropriate for a man and woman to share - there is a connection and transparency may head dangerous territory, so I can see the wisdom in it from that angle.

Now, as far as the whole Adam was not decieved I am not touching that with a ten foot pole because Adam and Eve and the apple are a whole lot of “which came first - the chicken or the egg” debate to me and it’s fruitless really. But I do like the part about women being saved through childbearing, because for obvious reasons that is a questionable verse. There are millions of women that will never give birth so will they remain unsaved? Of course not. I believe this is talking more about the whole metaphor of childbirth, it kind of goes along with the verse in Isaiah 54:1:

"Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the LORD."

When I looked up the word for childbearing in Strongs it took me to the root where it said that often it is referred to as a metaphor for pupils. I think that is what Paul was talking about here. Women have a natural gift for nurturing and developing others. We become mentors of sorts to many in our lives and there are countless spiritual children that spring from our life experiences. Diane is a perfect example of that. Though she may physically have no children, spiritually speaking her nursery is full!