December 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

1 Timothy 2:

¹I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
²For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
⁴Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
⁵For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
⁶Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
⁷Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
⁸I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
⁹In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
¹⁰But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
¹¹Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
¹²But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
¹³For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
¹⁴And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
¹⁵Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Devotional:

Here Paul is giving Timothy something of the same advice he gave the Corinthians with reference to the appropriate behavior of women. What do we say about these apparently chauvinistic comments?

First, we say that a consistent view of the divine inspiration of Scripture rules out our considering these viewpoints as coming solely from Paul. They come from God Himself. If we have complaints, they must be made against the divine Author.

We are, then, faced with the task of understanding just what God is saying to us here, so that we do not dishonor Him in our lack of perception of His character. What is said about the position of women is very clear. But do we understand the reasoning in verses 13 to 15?

First of all, Paul reminds us that the man was made first. Eve was actually taken out of him and made to be his helper. Woman's position is rooted in creation itself.

Second, the circumstances of the entrance of sin instruct us in the position of women. Eve, designed to be a follower, became leader. She was the one who had direct contact with Satan and who was deceived by him. And even as she capitulated to Satan she led Adam in the way of sin.

William Hendriksen in his Commentary on this chapter succinctly analyzes the position of woman today in the light of the fall: 'And now that which before was an unmixed blessing—namely, that Eve, by virtue of her creation, constantly followed Adam—is an unmixed blessing no longer; for now she who, by her sinful example, chose to rule him who at that moment was still her sinless husband, must obey the creature of her own designing, namely, her sinful husband.'

But what does verse 15 mean? Hendriksen explains this curious phrase 'saved in child-bearing' in a way which ties in with the context beautifully. He points out that in the bearing and nurture of children the woman finds her greatest happiness. Here, not in the church, she exerts her influence. The woman as a daughter of Eve (whose name means 'the mother of all living') has been equipped by God physically and spiritually to be a mother. As she trusts in God's covenant promise she finds joy in bringing forth children and rearing them in His truth. In the role of homemaker, helper, mother, she exercises her faith and works out her salvation.

This is her sphere! The sphere of the man includes leadership in the church and state as well as the home. But the sphere of the woman is, in general, the home. This concept accords with the picture of the ideal woman of God that greets us in this chapter as well as elsewhere in Scripture: one who is modest and unobtrusive, submissive, one whose good works are the quiet performance of loving deeds, for the immediate family first of all and for the larger family as the need arises.

O God, help women today to give You thanks for their role! Help them to be beautiful in their submission and in their mothering, as You planned for them to be.