Thread by @TomBuck

I keep hearing when Paul says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; she is to remain quiet," that he's only referring to role of an elder in a local church. But I believe that's untenable when one considers the surrounding context. #sbc2018
1/17

First, this is after Paul speaks of how women should learn God’s Word. Paul says she's to “learn quietly with all submissiveness." Surely Paul isn’t giving this rule for only when the whole church is gathered. This would extend into all areas of doctrinal instruction to men.
2/17

Most fail to recognize Paul’s command to let a woman “learn” was a positive command that would’ve shattered ancient conventional stereotypes. In that day, women were believed to be academically inferior. Before Paul makes ANY prohibition, he writes words of liberation.
3/17

However, Paul makes clear that spiritual equality in learning doesn’t do away with God’s designed roles in teaching. Paul explains exactly HOW a woman must learn in her God-designed role. She should learn “quietly with all submissiveness.”
4/17

The point isn’t a woman should never speak in church, but whether she’s submissive and supports the authority of men. Titus 2 makes it clear women have an important role in teaching (i.e. older women teach younger women). Even then in a way conveying submission (1 Cor 11).
5/17

If the role of women in the official teaching ministry of the church is to learn quietly and submissively, this would obviously mean they aren’t to assume the role of teaching or taking authority in the church over men.
6/17

Could Paul's words concerning roles be any clearer? This isn’t about capability, but God-given roles. The gifted and qualified men of the church are responsible before God for what is taught in the worship and Bible classes of the church where men are present.
7/17

Second, notice Paul’s reasoning in vs. 13-14 behind this prohibition. Paul grounded the ordering of authority in the church upon the order of creation. God created Adam BEFORE Eve. This had theological meaning, not some divine afterthought. It was God’s plan for humanity.
8/17

Paul doesn't arbitrarily choose roles of men & women, nor base it on human opinion, nor adapt to his culture. God created man first & gave him responsibility over the garden & moral pattern for life in the garden. THEN God created woman as his helper in this responsibility.
9/17

Therefore, Paul is teaching men should bear the responsibility for teaching and governance in the church based on the very fabric of manhood and womanhood by virtue of God’s created design. Again, not in terms of capability but design.
10/17

Pauls’ next line of reasoning is more complex. Paul says that Adam was deceived, but Eve wasn’t and she became a transgressor Simply put, Paul shows how God’s ordained design is EXEMPLIFIED in The Fall. The Fall occurred because the roles God had designed were violated.
11/17

What happened was an example of role reversal. Scripture indicates Adam was with Eve and did nothing to intervene as the leader. He followed her lead and interpretation of God’s command. The Fall is a tragic example of what happens when we rebel against God’s created order.
12/17

Adam’s failure to lead along with Eve’s unwillingness to look to his leadership in that moment by listening to the voice of the serpent led to her being deceived. Eve’s sin involved the overturning of the order of creation and teaching her husband.
13/17

Even God’s rebuke of Adam speaks to this: “because you have LISTENED to the voice of your wife…” God’s reprimand was not merely that Adam ate the forbidden fruit, but also he forsook his responsibility to be the leader and the moral guardian.
14/17

Satan’s subtlety is he knew the created order God had ordained and deliberately defied it. When God’s order of design is repudiated, it brings damage and ruin. Simply put, men are to bear primary responsibility for leadership and teaching in the church.
15/17

First, because in the order of creation God taught that men are to assume that role. Second, because The Fall of Adam and Eve exemplifies that the neglect of this divine pattern puts men and women in a more vulnerable position that leads to transgression.
16/17

All this said, why would God call for this order of teaching and governance to be followed in the home & local church and completely ignore it in a larger gathering of local churches? Paul says the created order should govern the local church, & I think the SBC as well.
17/17

ADDENDUM:

Thanks to @BibChr for pointing out an error in number 11 of my 17 tweets. Note that it should read...

“Eve was deceived and Adam wasn’t”

Hopefully the reader knew what I meant.

(Twitter, get an edit option NOW!!!)