Which Women Was Paul Talking About? (Walk Thru the Bible Week 51)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there. In two of Paul's final letters, he advises a young leader named Timothy how

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to handle certain situations in the church under his care. Only when we understand what

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was happening in Ephesus and the small church there do we understand why Paul said what

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he did, especially about not allowing women to teach. Too many times these verses have

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been applied to all women at all times. But this week, we're going to explain which women

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Paul was talking about.

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So first, let me just say we are nearing the end of our year-long walk through the Bible.

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And if you have enjoyed your time with me, if you've learned, if you've been enriched,

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would you pray about paying it forward? We have provided all of this content free of

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charge, but we need your help to be able to reach a broader audience and to bring this

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type of biblical foundation to others. So your donation today would be a great helping

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support and a blessing and help us to do that. Also, stick with us, even though we're soon

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coming to the end of the walk through the Bible, we have other exciting series planned.

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So we will continue with weekly broadcasts. Stick with us, but we are now, we've got two

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or three really exciting weeks to wrap up our walk through the New Testament. So let's

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take a review now last week. The apostle Paul, we discussed how he was handpicked by Christ

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to pioneer and to take this Jewish gospel to the Roman pagan world. I mean, could anything

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have been any harder? We also discussed how the New Testament story has begun to leave

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its hebraic context and enter into more of a Roman context. So the issues that Paul has

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been writing about in his epistles are largely either about the Mosaic law, which affects

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Jews, and how does it affect Gentiles? And then secondly, behavior and lifestyle, which

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does reflect the pagan society that these Gentiles were coming out of. So knowing the

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hebraic context helps a little, but it doesn't help a whole lot. When Paul is addressing

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the residents of the Roman Empire, he's using their culture as the context. Now, this week

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we come to the end of the apostle Paul's writings and his story. So once we finish his final

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letters, which are to Timothy and Titus, we will then also read the writings of Peter

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and James and Jude. I'm going to focus in my comments on Paul's last letter to Timothy,

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to Timothy, particularly the first Timothy. Both to Timothy and Titus, they were fatherly

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letters of guidance, how to lead, how to keep order in the church. As I mentioned last week,

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the Book of Acts does not tell us about the end of Paul's life. Tradition tells us that

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he was beheaded in Rome under the emperor Nero, more than likely. And so the Book of

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Acts kind of cuts off right before the end of his life. But we do know that the Book of

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Timothy, first and second Timothy and Titus were probably his last letters. And it's

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kind of sad kind of reading the last words of this amazing man of God, Paul the apostle.

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So as I explained last week, he's dealt a lot with the issue of the law between Jews

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and Gentiles. And he deals with the issue a lot of lifestyle and conduct. What you have

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to understand about these letters, no matter who's writing, for the most part, you're

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reading one side of a conversation. So the letters have been written in order to address

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questions or complaints or information that has been carried to Paul or whoever the writer

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may be. But let's, we'll stick with Paul for the sake of the conversation. So we're

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reading what he's answering. So to really understand what he's saying and how to apply

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it, we have to understand what the question is that he is answering. What's the question

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or what is the need. And this week, we're going to talk about the problem that he was

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addressing in first Timothy. That way we can really rightly understand why he said what

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he said about women. What exactly do we think he really said and what did he mean? And then

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how do we apply that today? So, you know, if you are a woman, you are probably reading

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some of Paul's writings and scratching your head. Like, I don't understand why he said

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that. We read one verse last week in First Corinthians. This week we're reading an even

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more troublesome one in First Timothy. So I want to focus on these verses in First Timothy.

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I am, you know, it's painfully obvious that there have been many preachers and man preachers,

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male preachers that haven't really stopped to ask these questions. But as a woman, when

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I read these verses, I'm like, why did he feel the need to say that? What is it he's

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really saying? Because it doesn't add up to me. And so that's why I want to discuss us.

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Now, we've got to ask ourselves, what were the women saying? If Paul says that these

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women shouldn't be allowed to teach and shouldn't be able to teach men and should be quiet,

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what were they teaching? And was Paul talking about that they shouldn't teach or they shouldn't

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teach a certain teaching? And so our quest today is to understand what Paul was talking

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about and then how to apply it. So I'm going to share with you some background that will

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make it all make sense. You will not be scratching your head by the end of our time together.

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I ask you to please stick with me to the end, because at the very end, I'm going to give

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you some real meat about what was Paul really saying. But first the background. So Timothy

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was serving in Ephesus. You read about Ephesus in Acts 18 through 20. Ephesus was the fourth

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largest city in the Roman Empire. It was on the western coast of what today is modern

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Turkey. The civilization was Greek, but it was a ruling city in the Roman Empire. There

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was a long history of female deity worship there back to ancient times. But at the time

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of the New Testament, there was a very large temple to the female goddess Artemis, which

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the Romans called Diana. This temple was so magnificent. It was one of the seven wonders

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of the world. People came from all over to see this temple. And what would they see?

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A female goddess surrounded by female priestesses and prophetesses serving in the cult worship

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of Artemis and being her mouthpiece. The prophetess was the mouthpiece of this female god to the

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people. Now the cult of Diana was filled with magic. There was a lot of mysticism about

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this and a lot of magic. Therefore, you're going to read, if you go back and read Acts

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18-20 about the city of Ephesus, you're going to read that a lot of the early Christians

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from that city burned their books about magic. That's how much magic was a part of the city,

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of the life of the city, and of the worship of the city. Now in Ephesus, there was also

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a large Jewish community. There were as many as 75,000 Jews living in Ephesus. So unfortunately,

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some of them were involved in the whole magic cult. I mean, it's the same anywhere. Some

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of us assimilate, we get caught up in the society, and so some of the Jews even were

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part of the magic. And because they were such a large community and a lot of interaction

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with the society, Jewish stories and Jewish elements of Judaism had been incorporated

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into the larger society. And I will say twisted. Now I'm going to come back to this in a minute,

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explain what I'm talking about. But this means there was a lot of confusion in Ephesus.

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The people with inadequate doctrine were teaching. Aquila and Priscilla had to pull aside the

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guy and correct him. Paul had to pull aside someone and correct their doctrine. As I said,

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in chapter 19 we see where the new believers are burning their magic books. And in chapter

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20 we read about a riot of the silversmiths because the silversmiths had a very big business

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in Ephesus. They made all the silver idols that people came and bought and took home

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with them of Artemis. They made a lot of money. And all of a sudden they see this Paul coming

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to town preaching against Artemis, turning people to a different religion where they're

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burning their books. It threatened their business. So there was a riot. You can read all of this

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in Acts. Now in 1st Timothy Paul mentions a lot of the problems that this was bringing

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into the church. Then he addresses the conduct of the people in the church, the different

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groups, men, women, widows, elders, etc. etc. But let's start first with the problems. If

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you just read through 1st Timothy, through the whole book, I'm just going to pull out

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some of the problems that he lists. He talks about people that are teaching false doctrines,

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myths, endless genealogies. They are promoting controversial speculations. There's meaningless

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talk. There are teachers of the law who actually don't know what they're talking about. That

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means the Jewish law. People were trying to teach the Jewish law, like I said, the elements

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of Judaism that they were familiar with, but they actually didn't know what they were talking

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about. And he mentions those that actually rejected the true faith and ended up in a

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shipwreck of faith. He talks about deceiving spirits, things taught by demons, through

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hypocritical liars. He said they forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain

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foods. Godless myths and old wives tales. And in the very last verse of the book of 1st

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Timothy, he says this, that Timothy should oppose the ideas of what is falsely called

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knowledge, which some have professed and departed from the faith. So what is this knowledge?

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Some people have professed knowledge and departed from the faith. What does that mean? Well,

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the word knowledge in Greek is gnosis, spelled with a G, G-N-O-S-I-S. And gnosis, the word

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knowledge, became a whole religious system called Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a religious

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system that was kind of based on secret mystical knowledge. It held in contempt the God of

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the Hebrew scriptures, and it glorified Satan. Gnosticism became a huge influence that many

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of the Church Fathers later had to fight. Here in the New Testament, it is in its formative

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stage. The purveyors of this Gnosticism, this knowledge, claim to have secret knowledge.

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But nonsense was actually one of the hallmarks of Gnosticism, and babbling nonsense. And

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I'm saying this literally. When Paul talks about their babbling nonsense, he meant literally

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there was some kind of babbling. The long genealogies is because they taught that if

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something bad was happening in your life, it was probably because of something in your

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family background. So they had these long genealogies that they would go through to

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determine where the problem was. Gnosticism believed that the material world was evil.

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So some believed that having children just furthered evil. Children are material things,

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right? And so you shouldn't marry so that you don't have children and you don't further

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evil in the world. They believed that one's body was evil, and our soul was trapped inside

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our body. Our soul was the holy part, the right part, and it was trapped in an unclean

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body. Gnosticism was known as a religion of rebellion, and it literally turned upside

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down some of the scriptures, what is taught in the scriptures. It just reversed it. It

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was crazy. And especially the part out of Genesis, the first few chapters of Genesis

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that talk about the creation of the world and the creation of man and woman and the

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serpent and the fall into sin. Because this is foundational for Judaism and Christianity.

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So Gnosticism came along and had a completely different take on this story. So Gnosticism

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taught that the God of the Hebrew Bible was evil because he had made the material world

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which is evil. The serpent was the beneficent in helping Adam and Eve to shake off the deception

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perpetrated on them by this evil God, the Creator. And Eve was the mediator who brought

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true knowledge to the human race. Now this theory fits in very well in a city where the

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cult is the worship of a female goddess and where women are mediators, their priestesses,

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their prophetesses in this cult of Artemis or Diana. When you went to the temple you

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would see this huge statue of Diana and in her dress was all kinds of mystic symbols

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and dancing around her were all of these women, these priestesses. And sometimes they just

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entirely disrobed during the dancing. Sometimes they just raised their skirts up because it

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was about fertility. Fertility was more important than modesty. And they adorned themselves

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with expensive jewelry and all, not for showing off wealth or anything but for sensuality

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in this very sensual worship of this female goddess. Now the worship of Diana may have

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differed just a little bit from the ideology of Gnosticism but I am showing how that the

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whole atmosphere in Ephesus allowed an intersection between the two but for the two to develop.

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And now regarding men, this Gnosticism in this atmosphere in Ephesus where women dominated

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religiously, men could only learn knowledge from a woman. So now that you have got this

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context for what was going on in Ephesus and the city around them, let's look again

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at 1 Timothy and I am going to show you a few places where it seems like the women in

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the church were teaching wrong things. So starting with 1 Timothy 5 verses 11-15, Paul

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is talking here about young widows, not the elderly but the young widows, who says they

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are going from house to house babbling nonsense, workers of magic, speaking what they ought

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not to. So this group of troublesome women were carried destructive doctrine and practice.

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They were teaching the wrong things. Now since in the ancient world women were always kind

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of the purveyors of magic anyway. Magic had to do with incantations and potions and this

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was kind of the women's world. And so here we have women that are workers of magic, speaking

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nonsense and speaking what they ought not to. So they might have been the ones teaching

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doctrines of demons. They might have been pronouncing magic incantations. Paul is saying

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they are saying things they shouldn't be saying. In 2 Timothy, the second book he writes

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to Timothy chapter 3, he also mentions women going into private homes and taking other

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women captive and leading them into sin. So the problem here in the Church of Ephesus

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is both the context of the city of Ephesus and then what was happening inside the church.

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So let me summarize. Ephesus was a leading city in the Roman Empire of a female cult,

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of a female goddess with female priests and prophetesses. The women taught it was Eve

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who gave knowledge to man so women dominated everything. Women had to be the teacher of

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men. Women, some believed the women should not have children because within Gnosticism

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it perpetuated the material world which was evil. Now in the Church that Timothy is over,

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it is interesting that in 1 Timothy, in 2 Timothy and in the book of Titus Paul uses several

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times the phrase that they should teach the knowledge of the truth. So the gnosis, not

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of Gnosticism, but the gnosis of truth. Knowledge is good but not knowledge of the wrong things.

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The knowledge of the truth is what we are after in the Church. So let's start reading

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here in 1 Timothy chapter 2.

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I urge then first of all that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all

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people, for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives

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in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior who wants all people

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to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator

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between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ versus the woman Diana and all of her women

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mediators. Verse 6, who gave himself, this is the man Christ, who gave himself as a ransom

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for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time and for this purpose

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I was appointed a herald and an apostle. I am telling the truth. I am not lying and

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a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

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Now here is the heart of the matter, verse 8. Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray,

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resting up holy hands without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, no

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running around pulling your skirts up, right? Or adorning yourself with all these sensual

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ornaments. Get it?

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So I want the women to dress modestly with decency and propriety, adorning themselves

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not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good

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deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

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A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach

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or to assume authority over a man. She must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then

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deceived. And Adam was not the one deceived, it was the woman who was deceived and became

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a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love,

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and holiness with propriety.

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Now you are still scratching your head, I am sure. I want to help you out here. Let's

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review what he just said. Men have a role. I want men to pray, lifting up holy hands.

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Women, I want you to be modest and decency. Don't bring any of that pagan stuff into

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the church.

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Women, you need to be taught. You are not all the teachers. You are not the mediator

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here. Christ is the mediator. You need to learn and not try to overpower and dominate.

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Men don't need you to learn, basically.

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Paul set the record straight then about Adam and Eve because Gnosticism had so twisted

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the story. Then Paul upheld womanhood and childbearing. Now the translation here is

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the problem. I have alternate translations for three of these verses that are going

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to make it so much more clear for you what Paul was really saying. And at the end today

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I am going to tell you the book to get if you want to study this from the scholars.

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They are the Greek experts. They are the ones that have worked out these better translations.

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I actually don't know Greek so I am not telling you this from my experience but from an excellent

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book that was published about 30 years ago by a man and wife theologians.

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And so this is what they said, better translations of the Greek in these verses. So verse 11 we

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read. He said, a woman should learn in quietness and full submission. Well everyone should

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learn, right, whether you are a woman or a man and everyone should learn in quietness

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and in submission to the teaching. So that is not even an issue. That is not even a woman

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issue. We all should do that. But the key here is Paul wanted the women to learn. And

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that is a big yay. Women aren't supposed to just stay home and not study or be prepared

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for any kind of teaching or leadership. Paul wanted the women to learn. But they are not

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necessarily the giver of knowledge and they need to realize that they need to learn and

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to learn knowledge of the truth, not Gnosticism. The next verse is even bigger trouble in the

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translation. In the NIV it says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority

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over a man. She must be quiet. Well there are many churches and many male pastors that

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take this translation, all the translations, most of the translations I should say, and

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say that Paul is saying a woman should not teach, period. And she should not have any

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authority over a man. She must be quiet. But these scholars said there are other ways of

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translating these Greek words and some of the conjunctions lead to a different connotation

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than just some of these translations. So the word order is very unusual and there is one

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word that appears in this verse that does not appear anywhere else in the New Testament.

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So it has got like twelve different definitions. You don't know which one was used in the New

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Testament language. You don't know exactly which one. And so these scholars picked the

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translation that fit more into the context of this Ephesus cult and the pervasion of

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Gnosticism into the early church. And this is their translation. I do not allow a woman

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to teach or proclaim herself as the author of man. So this Gnostic teaching that woman

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was the one that was to give knowledge to the man, Paul is saying, I don't allow that

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to be taught in the church. So is he saying the woman can't teach or is he saying the

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woman can't teach this and proclaim herself as that's what I believe the better translation

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is. And then he goes in and he sets the record straight about Adam and Eve because of Gnosticism.

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Then verse 15, this is a very, very hard one to even translate. But women will be saved

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through childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. A better

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translation is saying that the woman can be saved and still be a childbearer. So in other

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words, childbearing is not evil. So evidently there may have been a teaching that if a woman

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in the church is pregnant, she can't be saved because this pregnancy is a part of childbearing

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which is evil, perpetrating evil. And here he's saying women can be saved in the process

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of childbearing, meaning while childbearing even as a childbearer. And so Paul is saying

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childbearing is not evil. It in no way interferes with the woman's relationship with God and

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her salvation. And he upholds womanhood and one of the primary functions of womanhood

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which is childbearing. Now I promise to tell you the resource if you, a lot of you women,

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you probably want to get the book and really read more because I only have so many minutes

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to share with you and I'm already out of minutes. The name of the book is I Suffer Not

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a Woman. You can get it on Amazon. Very few copies of it are still left but you can get

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some used copies. We'll put a link to it in today's show notes. And with that I want to

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leave you one last nugget of gold. When you are reading in the New Testament the scriptures

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and let's talk about the epistles, talking about men and women and wives and husbands,

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you need to continually remind yourself that the same word for woman is wife and the same

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word for man is husband. And the only way the translators knew whether to translate the

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word as woman or wife was by looking at the context. So always look at the context and

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see is Paul talking about all women at all times everywhere or was he talking about a

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situation between husbands and wives? And there you'll know the better way to translate

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those words. So translation is really, really key. And translation is just a subjective

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science. You know, so grateful for all the translations. We have all the work that's

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gone into the translations. But there are some instances where we need a better translation

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to really understand who were these women that Paul was trying to silence. Well, it

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wasn't you and me. It wasn't those of us that are quietly learning the word of God,

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getting educated, being trained so that we can teach others. He was not talking to us.

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He was talking about women that had come from the pagan world trying to dominate the men,

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thought they were the only ones that could teach and that they were teaching false doctrine

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and wrong things. So be at peace. If God is called you to teach like he's called me to

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teach, then prepare yourself, educate yourself and go through every door of opportunity that

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he opens for you. So that's it for this week. Enjoy your reading. No more scratching of

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your head. And I'll see you back here until then. God bless.

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Well, hey there. I hope you've enjoyed the teaching so far during our walk through the

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Bible. We would like to ask for your help. If you've enjoyed it, if you've received

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from it, if you've learned something and you would like to bless others with the opportunity

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to be a part of these teachings, would you please go down below in today's show notes,

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follow the link there to make a donation. It costs a lot of money for us to provide this

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teaching to you free of charge, but we've done so just wanting to bless you. I'd like

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to ask you now, would you bless others, make a donation so that we can get this teaching

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out to more people? We would appreciate it. We just appreciate your partnership with us

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in that way. God bless you.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael. Be sure to subscribe

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to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube, or wherever you like to listen and

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learn. Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA All Rights Reserved.