Instructions for Believers 2:8-15

1 Timothy 2:⁸ Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger and dispute. ⁹ Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive apparel, ¹⁰ but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. ¹¹ A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. ¹² But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. ¹³ For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. ¹⁴ And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a wrongdoer. ¹⁵ But women will be preserved through childbirth—if they continue in faith, love, and sanctity, with moderation.”

I decided to make this a separate blog article b/c of the current discussions about the role of women in the church today. I believe that these instructions in these verses refer to the role of the men leaders when the church gathers, which was in house churches. As Guzik says: “Makes it clear Paul assumed men would take the lead at meetings of the congregation. Since the lifting up of hands was a common posture of prayer in ancient cultures, this text speaks of men leading public prayer — men representing the congregation before God’s throne.” Prayers without anger (having no vindictive feeling against any person; harboring no unforgiving spirit) or disputes (dialogismos: Reasoning, thought, argument, debate, doubt). Regardless of one’s views on the role of women in the church, surely we can agree that God wants male leadership in the church. Often women have to step up to leadership roles just b/c the men are not leading like they should. Deborah became the only woman judge b/c no men would step up. Barak reluctantly agreed to help her figt the Midianites, but Deborah said the glory of victory would be given to a women, and not to him. That was fulfilled when the woman Jael drove a tent peg through the temple of the Midianite commander Sisera as he slept in her tent.

So what about the role of women in the church? Paul says that topic really starts with the way they dress. First of all, I don’t think these verses apply to the role of women in society. He is not talking about women principals in schools, women elected to public offices, etc. Notice the most important thing he tells the women church members about their role is the way they dress before he even discusses them being silent. Sometimes the way Christian women dress speaks more loudly than what they say verbally. 1 Timothy 2:⁹ Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive apparel, ¹⁰ but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. It is their dress: modestly (aidós: Modesty, reverence, shame, respect, i.e. dressing in a way that would honor God) and discreetly (kosmios: Orderly, respectable, well-behaved: For early Christians, adopting a “kosmios” lifestyle was a way to distinguish themselves from the surrounding pagan culture and to bear witness to the transformative power of the Gospel.) We tend to think of “modest dress” as length of skirts, but here it seems to refer more to not dressing lavishly in vanity. Of course, a woman honoring God would not wear short skirts or tops that reveal too much, but skirt lengths standards do vary. (AI) “Pilgrim women were expected to dress modestly, which meant their clothing covered their ankles completely, as showing any part of the leg was considered inappropriate according to the societal norms of the time.” Is that still modest dress today? Is a skirt length just below the knee modest today? Most would say so. So each Christian woman must decide on how she will dress. Will she dress in the latest style with dresses way above the knee? She must decide if that is still honoring God? What about length of shorts? Which brings up another issue. Moms and dads, how will you allow your daughters to dress? Will you allow them to wear really short shorts? As a teacher, we have a dress code during school hours. But away from those school hours, you see good Christian girls wearing really short shorts. Is that honoring God? Have their parents talked about that with them? Have their parents set limits?

 
Not with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel. Is this a command that all Christian women should obey? No pearls or gold jewelry? No expensive dresses? No $100/month to go to beauty parlor for your hair? No hours of doing makeup? The Church of God was known for taking these commands literally. Of course, the rest of us say we can pick and choose which commands are for us today, and which can be interpreted in some other way that the obvious. For example, Jesus commanded his disciples to wash one another’s feet in John 13:¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Most of us say that can be fulfilled by just serving one another. So the commands for women here: can we just interpret that to mean “don’t overdress with expensive jewelry and clothes; don’t be known for your outward dress”? Maybe. Instead, ladies be known by your good works (helping the poor, taking care of the sick and elderly, raising children for the Lord, being a godly submissive wife). That is what you would expect from women living for God and not for the vanity of this life. Peter says about the same thing. 1 Peter 3:Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, ² when they see your respectful and pure conduct. ³ Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴ but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. ⁵ For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, ⁶ as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” Peter focuses on the gentle and quiet spirit of a submissive godly wife, with Sarah as the chief example. He says that is the way you can convert an unbelieving husband to the Lord.

I know styles change. But ladies, don’t let the world dictate how you dress. You might not appear as attractively, worldly speaking, if you dress like an Almish woman. (AI) “mish women typically wear solid-color dresses with long sleeves and a full skirt, covered with a cape on the bodice. Some less conservative groups allow the women to wear short sleeved dresses but never sleeveless. Clothing is fastened with straight pins or snaps, stockings are black cotton and shoes are also black.” But maybe the Almish are wiser than we are (in some ways). It is a real challenge for Christian women to mix in with modern society and fashion and yet dress “modestly and discreetly”. But it gets back to “why” you dress like you do? To honor God or to be fashionable even if it draws more attention to your body that God would want? Even if it looks like your main concern is dressing lavishly with jewelry and clothes or with good works? A woman going to do the dirty work of helping a poor, elderly person would probably dress pretty modestly and simple.

Maybe the church of God had it right. No jewelry allowed. Many women have thousands of dollars in jewelry in very nice jewelry boxes. Is that a sin? I don’t think so. But it might say a lot about what a woman values. Or how many pairs of shoes can a woman need? Or how many purses can a woman need? Ok, now I am meddling and getting in trouble with women readers! But it is something to think about. We won’t talk about how many shoes a man should have or how many big boy toys he should buy to play with or how much he should spend on watching his favorite college football team! We’ll save that for another time!

I know I have given a lot of opinion in this article. You can decide on how valid my opinions are. There is a lot of talk about men being “misogynists” today. I hope I am not one of those, just trying to keep women in outdated submissive roles. I hope I am just teaching the roles for women as God laid out in scripture.

Thanks for reading.