Is a Woman's Place in the Home? Part 2

The point: Limit contributions in class to church members to maintain order and avoid awkward situations with visitors.

Explains the practice of limiting contributions to church members to maintain order and avoid embarrassing situations with visitors holding radically different views, demonstrating a pastoral approach to managing discussion.

The general practice is that when I ask for questions or contributions, the members of the church raise their hands and I acknowledge them, and we generally limit the contribution to the members for two reasons. Number one, I can then call upon them by name rather than just saying, you, you, or you. And then secondly, we are reasonably sure that we will not be put in the embarrassing situation of having perhaps a visitor who...

1:04 - 1:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Older women are to be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers or enslaved to wine, but teachers of good by example and informal instruction.

Compares Titus 2:3-5 to a 'first-ranked soldier' in an army, indicating its primary importance and direct relevance to the sermon's thesis, making the argument more vivid.

All right, Cliff? Titus 2.5 All right, Titus chapter 2 and verses 3 through 5, to be more accurate, you cut the soldier in about a third, Cliff. All right, Titus chapter 3, I'm sorry, Titus chapter 2, Paul exhorts Titus, Speak the things which befit the sound or healthy doctrine or healthy teaching, and then he starts with specifics, that the aged men be temperate, grave, sober-minded, sound in the faith, in love, in patience, and now here is our passage, that the aged women likewise be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good, that they ma...

11:52 - 13:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Younger women are to be lovers of their husbands and children, sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, and in subjection to their own husbands.

Refers to 'workers at home' (oikourgous) as 'the killer' word, emphasizing its direct and undeniable implication for a woman's primary sphere, highlighting the force of the biblical text.

And here's the killer. Workers home. And again we have one Greek word made up of the word for home and for work. Oikos and ergon.

18:23 - 18:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Whatever good works a woman does outside the home, she must do them in a way that does not undermine her identity as a worker at home or her efficiency in fulfilling domestic tasks.

Uses the phrase 'semi-Sarah' to humorously describe a woman who might be considered 'younger' at 60, illustrating the cultural context of the passage and the age distinction for widows.

assertion that the domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman with a wife or a husband has the right to live in her own home and to live in her own home and to live in her own home. You women who are in your fifties to think God calls you younger. According to the passage the younger widows although I'm of course tongue in cheek unless you're an unusual woman sort of a semi Sarah it must be younger than that because it is interesting isn't it that sixty years was

30:09 - 31:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Younger widows should marry, bear children, and 'rule the household,' taking seriously the implementation of God's Word in the home as a helper to their husbands.

Explains that the Greek word for 'rule' in 'rule the household' (oikodespotein) is related to 'despot,' emphasizing the strong, authoritative, and immersive nature of a woman's management of her home, clarifying the depth of her responsibility.

that the young widows marry follow a separate and parallel career with their husbands establish an egalitarian marriage which will then demonstrate to the world the total liberation of men and women in Jesus Christ now that's the way many so called evangelicals would write the passage in our day but that's not what the Holy Ghost said to the Apostle I desire therefore that the younger widows marry bear children and then a very interesting statement rule the household and that's a strong word in the original we get our English word despot from it yes we do Christ is called our despot our only m...

34:35 - 36:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Women are to adorn themselves in modest and befitting apparel, with modesty and sobriety, through good works, rather than with excessive outward ornamentation.

Quotes common criticisms of Paul's teaching ('For I am a male chauvinist pig,' 'imperfectly sanctified, rabbinically trained, half-converted Jew') to set up and then refute the false rationales for his directives, highlighting the cultural opposition to biblical truth.

For I am a male chauvinist pig.

42:32 - 42:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon revisits Genesis 1-3, showing how the creation order (Adam first, Eve as helper) and the specific curses pronounced upon the man and woman after the Fall underscore…

Relates a story of a sister who was too embarrassed to raise her hand to suggest a point from Genesis, but whose insight was excellent, serving to introduce the next section and validate the contribution.

Now, it's interesting, and one of the sisters came up to me after, after Sunday school last week and said, Pastor, I think I'd be too embarrassed to raise my hand and suggest this next week. But, she said, look at this. And when I looked at it, I said, that's an excellent point. So on her behalf, I pass it on to you.

48:26 - 48:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon revisits Genesis 1-3, showing how the creation order (Adam first, Eve as helper) and the specific curses pronounced upon the man and woman after the Fall underscore…

Uses the example of an agrarian situation to illustrate how Adam's task and Eve's role as mother would naturally lead to distinct spheres of responsibility, making the implicit role definition in Genesis more tangible.

Now put all the facts together and what do you have? If in obedience to God, they multiply and replenish the earth, Adam must go forth to his task while Eve remains to care at least for the infants in their infancy until they are big enough to go out and help Adam in the garden. And of course, in any agrarian situation, you have a much more desirable situation where the family is not separated radically from even seeing one another for hours every day. But still, there was a difference and there was a distinct sphere which Eve's role as mother automatically marked out for her.

51:57 - 52:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon revisits Genesis 1-3, showing how the creation order (Adam first, Eve as helper) and the specific curses pronounced upon the man and woman after the Fall underscore…

Highlights the 'marvelous display of grace' in God announcing the first gospel promise (Genesis 3:15) in the midst of the curse, demonstrating God's character and the redemptive thread in Scripture.

Now, what this sister pointed out was that when God brings his curse upon Satan, the serpent, then upon the woman and the man, it is interesting that he underscores their distinct spheres assigned to them in the very curse. Chapter 3 and verse 16. He's already crowned the curse upon the serpent and embedded in the curse is that first gospel promise. Marvelous, marvelous display of grace.

52:42 - 53:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Study Proverbs 31:10ff to discern whether the virtuous woman described supports the thesis that the domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm for a woman's God-assigned roles.

Poses the question of whether the Proverbs 31 woman is a 'superwoman' who can juggle multiple independent careers, challenging listeners to examine the text for themselves and apply it to the sermon's thesis.

And at least read it through a couple of times and come prepared to see whether or not this celebration of the virtuous woman fits our thesis. The domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which woman fulfills her God assigned roles. More simply stated, a woman's place is in the home, or whether this teaches the superwoman who can have kids, have her independent business, run around the country, fly here and there, touch base occasionally at home. Some have said that this is in a sense, this is the paradigm of a modern, liberated, godly woman who can carry on two or three indepe...

55:52 - 57:04 Read in full sermon