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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

P1 - God's vision for godly people: godly manhood & womanhood


1 Timothy 2:9-10 "Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,10 but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness."

Introduction:
Today's post begins a series of studies on what God has to say about being a woman of God in the scriptures. 1 Timothy 2:9-15 is one of the most difficult to interpret and yet richest texts on God's vision for godly womanhood in the Bible. In exploring this very profound passage, we will follow the true and tested method of using clearer scriptures to shed light on passages that are harder to understand (called by theologians the "analogy of faith" or "comparing scripture with scripture). Today's post begins with the the goal of offering an overall outline of 1 Timothy 2 and a specific outline of 1 Timothy 2:9-15. If we are going to grasp what God is saying about women of God, we need to understand the larger context 1 Timothy 2. The next couple of posts will then be devoted to unfolding the wealth of truth found within 1 Timothy 2:9-15. 

God has designed the church to be a place to grow a people of God empowered by Him
Whenever you read 1 Timothy 2:1-7, you discover that God has ordained the church to be a place to develop the people of God. Paul is articulating what it means to have God empowered living. He lays out in In 1 Timothy 2:1-7 the vision for such a reality in general, with specific application of that vision focused on Biblical manhood (1 Timothy 2:8) and womanhood (1 Timothy 2:9-15). We can outline 1 Timothy 2 in the following fashion:

God-Empowered Living
1. Biblical defining God-empowered living. 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Such living leads to the following outcomes....

a. Pleasing God. 1 Timothy 2:3-4
b. Powerful Testimony. 1 Tim 2:3-4
c. Profound church life. 1 Tim 2:7-8

2. Biblical specifying God-empowered living. 1 Timothy 2:8-15

a. God's vision for godly manhood. 1 Tim 2:8

b. God's vision for godly womanhood. 1 Tim 2:9-15

The design and intention of God for His church is that it would be a place where sinners are born-anew to be saints by the scriptures in faith and repentance. As the saints of God express their faith publically by believer's baptism, partaking of the Lord's supper, fellowship around the preaching and teaching of the Word and evangelism, the world gets to witness men of God and women of God in action.  As we noted at the beginning of this post, we want to understand specifically what it means to be a woman of God according to the scriptures. Below we offer the following outline of 1 Timothy 2:9-15

God's vision for biblical womanhood

1. Richness of the godly woman. 1 Timothy 2:9-10

2. Role of a godly woman. 1 Tim 2:11-15
In this particular set of verses, Paul will lay out the distinctions that a woman has from men, while communicating the equality of redemptive value men and women have before God. Again, other scriptures can aid in illuminating these truths.

3. Redemptive purpose of godly women. 1 Timothy 2:15

More tomorrow....