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

Introduction to the Series and Review of Foundational Teachings

0:02 This adult Sunday school class was held on October 16, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. While others are finding their places, let me, on behalf of the entire church family, extend a very special greeting to the pastors who are with us today on the beginning of our Pastors' Conference. But we extend that greeting not only to the pastors, but any other visitors who may be among us this morning, and we trust that in our fellowship together and in our study of the Word of God, we may together know the presence of the Lord Himself in our midst. In our adult class, and this is for the sake of our visitors, we seek to conduct the class as a class and not primarily as another preaching session, and our guests...

1:04 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...

1:34 who's thinking about the Word of God is from a radically different perspective and contributions made, which put me then in the embarrassing situation of having to tolerate an off-the-wall contribution or to appear boorish and insensitive by openly exposing a visitor's remark for what it may be. And so our practice, we have found, has worked well, over the years, we've never had anyone get angry and throw stones at us because they felt they had a right, having shown up in the class, to have their say. Now, for the sake of our visitors, especially our pastor friends, let me try to capture in a maximum of ten minutes what we have been covering for the past seventeen or eighteen class sessions. We have begun a series of studies entitled Crucial Issues Facing the People of God. And the first of those crucial issues, which we are addressing, is the subject of male and female identity, roles, and functions. And we began by establishing, as the foundation of everything to follow,

2:55 using especially Genesis chapters one, two, and three, what the scriptures have to say, with respect to male and female identity and roles and functions in terms of those areas in which there is absolute equality between the sexes. Those areas in which men and women stand on equal footing before God and before one another. And that brought us, of course, such matters as their created dignity as image-bearers, their accountability to God as moral creatures, the reality of their equal involvement in the fall, though in the circumstances of the fall there are diversities that have implications for their various roles. In terms of our solidarity in Adam's sin, women are no more depraved than men, men are no more depraved than women, and then of course in terms of redemptive privilege, Galatians 3.28, there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus. And so having established these foundational perspectives,

4:21 we then turn to the Word of God to see that built upon these, and in no way removing these, the scripture does clearly teach a divinely instituted structure of hierarchy in which there is male headship and female subordination. And the key passage that we studied was 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 3, in which we are told that the head of Christ is God, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. And if we are to overturn that divinely instituted hierarchical structure, we must then intrude into the very sacred realm of the relations that exist within the Trinity. And nothing less than heretical theology with respect to the doctrine of God results from any attempt to obliterate this divinely instituted hierarchical structure. We then sought to demonstrate how this hierarchy finds its expression in three major categories. First of all, in the home, and there we considered such passages as Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3,

5:45 and the parallel passage in Colossians 3, and then in the church, and the pivotal passages there, of course, were 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 14, and then in what we call general appearance, demeanor, and bearing. And there we looked at several passages, both in the Old and the New Testaments, particularly 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in which we are informed that even general revelation teaches that males should carry themselves with distinctive maleness stamped upon their external appearance, where the focus there is upon the length of their hair. Now, having established, then, a general theology of male and female identity, roles and functions, we took up what I called major objections to this teaching that are constantly being brought forward in our day. And we saw the necessity for doing this from Acts 20 and Titus 1-9, and then we considered five major objections that come from without. We considered Paul's structure of warning to the elders. He said that after his departure there would be wolves from without

7:12 that would seek to devour the flock, and then there would be perverse men from within seeking to draw away disciples after them. And so we examined the five major arguments against this position that come from without. The evolutionary argument, the inferiority argument, the religious supremacy argument, the individual freedom argument, and the pragmatic argument. And then we considered in even more detail the three arguments and categories of opposition that come from within.

7:50 Quoting articles from Christian magazines as recently as October 19, 1988. And those arguments I collated under three headings. The one that says there is no validity to this teaching then or now. It had no validity in the first century.

8:09 It ought to have no validity now. And then the second category, validity then but not now. That this teaching simply captures a segment of movement away from the suppression of women into the full liberation of women. And then we considered thirdly the total misunderstanding argument which says that how people have understood these passages over the centuries has been all wrong.

Focusing on the Domestic Sphere: The Core Assertion

8:39 And under both a pseudo and a forced scholarship we saw that men literally wrest the scriptures with reference to this teaching. Now that basically is what we covered over a period of some 17 or 18 weeks and I did cover it in a little under 10 minutes. Now what we began to do last week and we want to pick up and continue this morning is to focus now upon several hotspots, several areas in which the application of this general theology of male and female identity roles and functions is under peculiar, or where we find peculiar attack upon the application of this teaching. And the first area that we began to focus upon last week I sought to bring into focus in terms of a statement, an assertion, and it was this. The domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God assigned role. Or more simply stated, words that provoke tack calls and shouts of derision and male chauvinist pig in our day,

10:02 a woman's place is in the home. Now in taking up this issue I sought to clear away misconceptions. We are speaking now not of widows or of single women, nor are we speaking of couples that may be childless, through no choice of their own, or under the pressure of other biblical principles, have chosen for a period of time to be childless. Those are issues that must be wrestled with in terms of a very complex combination of biblical principles.

10:40 But we are thinking particularly of women who are married and who have children, or who, if they have children, or who, if not having children, the reasons are not godly but worldly reasons, and we are seeking to see whether or not this statement is indeed an accurate expression of the teaching of Scripture, that the domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God assigned role. Now when I asked you to give the Scriptures that you thought might pertain to the subject, you came up with the four passages that I had in my notes and which I do believe are pivotal in addressing this subject, and then we tried to arrange them in order of importance. In our class we usually talk about our first-ranked soldiers, our second and our third rank, and we try to deal with them in that order. Now will someone tell me who was our first-ranked soldier? Where is he found?

Expounding Titus 2:3-5: The First-Ranked Soldier

11:52 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 may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now, as we look at the passage, what is the great issue at stake with reference to women

13:21 understanding and fulfilling their God-assigned roles? What is the issue at stake according to this passage? All right, Tom? All right, the honor of the word of God as the capstone over this specific instruction to the aged women as to how they should conduct themselves with a view to being teachers of good by example and by informal instruction.

13:58 Paul says this is an issue that has no lesser concern than the honor of God and in particular the word of God. If there is indifference to the biblical norms or if there is a negation of the biblical norms, we leave the honor and glory of God open to disrepute and the credibility and the authority of His word is undermined. It is not a matter of offending the existing culture. Now, that's the way some would write it.

14:41 Let the older women do this and that and train the younger women in order that no offense be given to the existing cultural pattern. But that is not what he says. He says it is that the word of God be not blasphemed. That word which though heaven and earth pass away shall never pass away.

15:03 That timeless word that is relevant for every age and every culture and every set of circumstances. And then as we looked at the passage we saw that the directives to the older women are relatively simple. They are to carry themselves with a demeanor befitting a sacred calling. They are to be reverent in demeanor to negatives, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine.

15:35 And then there is one word in the original translated teachers of that which is good. And it does not point to an official teaching capacity or to formal instruction. It points to a trait of character as surely as they are not to be slanderers nor enslaved to much wine. They are to be teachers of that which is good primarily in terms of the embodiment of goodness, moral goodness in their own character.

16:15 And the end in view in this instruction to the older women is that they may train. And we saw last week that the word for train sophronizo is found only here in the New Testament. And likewise it is not a standard word for teaching or exhorting or admonishing let alone preaching. But it has the idea of seeking to call someone to his senses.

16:51 To guide someone into proper mental assessment of a given thing, situation, circumstance or responsibility. To encourage, to advise and to urge to thinking that is sober. That is thinking that is in touch with reality. The reality being the revealed will of God for the younger women.

17:21 And then we looked at those matters which are to be imparted by the influence of the older women. And we saw that there were how many virtues listed in the passage? Anyone remember? Yes, Michael?

17:41 Seven virtues. And there seems to be some would say several couplets but obviously the first two are a couplet. They are to be lovers of their husbands. Lovers of their children.

17:55 Sober minded. Doesn't mean sourpussed. But again it's that same family of words sophronos which means to think prudently sensibly to be a woman of good judgment. Not of long face and a picklepuss.

18:15 Lovers of their husbands. Lovers of their children. Sensible of good judgment. Chaste, morally pure.

18:23 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.

18:38 Oikos home. Ergon work. They are to be home workers. And there's a textual variant that would render it home keepers or home guards.

18:49 But no matter how you cut it they either keep or work or guard at home. There's no question about the oikos. The sphere. There may be a textual question about the precise emphasis.

19:02 Are they the appointed keepers and guardians of the home? Or the appointed workers of the home? But that the home is to be the sphere of their primary concern is embedded in the very word the Holy Ghost has chosen. And then in the sixth place they are to be good.

19:22 And then finally the capstone. Being in submission to their own husbands. And there we have that very strong word hupotasso used just a few verses later in verse nine with regard to servants who are to be found in submission to their masters. So in the light then of passage we came to the conclusion that indeed the statement the domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God assigned role does not overstate the case at all.

20:05 Now some raised the question at the end of the class and earlier in the week. Will you be addressing the whole question of how precisely through what channels are the older women to instruct to teach sofronizo the younger women? What are the channels? What are the means?

20:37 What are the opportunities? What are the various settings in which they may do this? And I want you to think about that and we will eventually take up that question when I personally am satisfied in my own mind that I have some answers rooted in scripture. Because the passage itself does not directly address how that influence is to be exercised.

Expounding 1 Timothy 5:9-14: The Second-Ranked Soldier

21:03 There are some inferences but nothing explicit. But what we want to do is to move on to our second and third rank soldiers this morning. And can anyone remember what one of those second or third rank soldiers was? One of the passages that you brought forward last week as addressing this whole matter.

21:23 Alright, Howard? 1 Timothy 5, verses 9 through 14. Alright, 1 Timothy 5, verses 9 through 14. Let's turn together to that passage.

21:34 Now looking at the passage will someone tell me what is the general subject? I'm not going to ask you to explain what the precise details of that subject were in that setting but from the language of the text what is the subject that is taken up beginning in verse 9? Alright, Jerry? The widow's list.

22:06 Alright. The widow's list. Verse 9. Let none be enrolled as a widow under three score or sixty years old.

22:24 So he's dealing with something that Jerry has called the widow's list. And that's probably about the best way we can express it. And what this widow's list was and what was involved in being found upon it there is debate and discussion. I'm personally at this juncture convinced it has to do with what we would call the holy ecclesiastical welfare list which the church possessed.

22:54 It was an effort to identify those widows who were widows indeed and who were worthy of being subsidized by the church in order to have their basic needs met as the children of God involved in the household of God in which we find from the book of Acts all the way through the epistles was a household of faith in which concern for practical temporal needs was a vital expression of Christian life and practice. But let's pass over that matter in order to get to the heart of what the passage says to us concerning the matter that is before us namely is the domestic sphere the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God assigned role. So now he's going to describe the requirements for one to be put on the widow's list. And the first requirement is that she must have been the wife of one man. Now that does not mean that she must have been married only once.

24:10 It's a beautiful reversal of the exact requirement for an elder in 1 Timothy 3. Verse 2. The bishop therefore must be without reproach the husband of one wife. That is a one woman man.

24:28 Here Paul says she must have been a one man woman. In other words her moral purity in terms of having only one man who was legally her husband at any one time and having that one man as the only man in her eyes in her arms, in her heart and in her bed she must have been exemplary in the institution of a monogamous relationship. The wife of one man well reported of for good works. And that's the generic description.

25:06 Well reported of for good works. In other words her good works must not only have been present occasionally but the whole pattern of her life is such that she has earned a general report and reputation of being a woman who abounded in good works. Now what are the specifics of the good works? Which should characterize her life?

25:40 Now let's look at them. If and you see now you have five characteristics or activities all introduced with the little Greek particle if a if alright now notice them. If she has brought up children if she has used hospitality to strangers if she has washed the saint's feet if she has relieved the afflicted if she has diligently followed every good work. Now question.

26:22 What is the dominance here in which her well reported good works have been performed? And when you think you have the answer be prepared to prove your answer from the passage. And as I told you folk last week don't be intimidated with the preachers here. Alright?

26:52 Because they have the same Bible you do. So if you are answering accurately according to scripture you have nothing to be ashamed of. Alright? What is the primary sphere in which her good works have been manifested?

27:06 Cliff you are coming back for a second shot. Alright? The home is the primary place where she is discharged her responsibility because she has taken care of children. Alright.

27:21 She can't take care of children unless you are usually in the home with her. Alright. She has used hospitality to strangers. Hospitality has to be discharged in the context of the home.

27:33 Alright. She has washed the saints feet. Most likely that is going to be done in the home as well. She is relieved the afflicted.

27:45 Now that can be done well outside the home and certainly take her beyond the realm of the home but can also be discharged within the confines of the home. Good. Anyone think they can improve on that exegesis of the passage? Well no.

28:03 Why? Because it is on the surface of the text. And I don't think our brother knows a syllable of Greek. So if you have a good accurate English translation it is very very evident.

28:15 It doesn't say a word about her teaching leading evangelistic Bible studies. It doesn't say a thing about her heading up this committee and that committee and being a super woman who was almost an unofficial elderess. Not a word. Not one word.

28:40 You see that in the passage. The emphasis falls upon the virtues that have been manifested primarily in the church and even possibly exclusively. And Cliff has rightly said two of those things could well be manifested out of the home but obviously never to an extent that they undermined her task as one who was rearing up her children using hospitality and washing the saints feet. So if she were to relieve the afflicted outside of her home she never relieved the afflicted at the expense of fulfilling her domestic tasks. And whatever good works she did she did them in a way that did not undermine either her identity as a worker at home or her efficiency in fulfilling mandated domestic tasks. Alright? So the description then of the godly widow who is worthy to be put on the widow's list validates again our

30:09 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

31:38 the cut off point to warrant the title younger alright but the younger widows refuse for when they have waxed wanton against Christ they desire to marry having condemnation because they've rejected their first pledge in the new testament well that's sheer nonsense there's not a shred of evidence of it in the new testament and to use this passage to teach it is an exercise in a desperate cause what the apostle seems to be emphasizing is this that the widows who have made a commitment to continue to exist as widows that commitment that they have made begins to feel the pressure of their own desire to marry which in itself is legitimate but it becomes so in other words their desire

33:07 to have a husband will override their Christian convictions and perspectives and alas we see that happening again and again not only with widows but with single women who so desire to marry that they are willing to cast off what is implicit in coming to faith in Christ which is that they will marry only in the Lord furthermore he says verse 13 another problem comes they are fully subsidized enough money is given them to buy food dress the children if they have any and what happens and with but tattlers and busy bodies speaking things which they ought not so this condition leaves them peculiarly vulnerable to a lifestyle of being gossips and busy bodies and running from house to house speaking things that they ought not so what is the antidote verse 14 I desire therefore

34:35 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 master in despot so it speaks of someone who does not obliquely and occasionally touch base with her home in order to vacuum the rug and throw a few meals

36:01 in the microwave she is so enmeshed in the affairs of her home that she could be called in a rightful sense the Lord of that home now that does not negate what he previously said that the mark of a godly woman who receives the instruction of an older woman is that she is in submission to her husband but you see an expression of that submission is while he as the provider and protector that will enable him to provide for his family she takes so seriously the implementation and the outworking of the standards of the word of God which they have thrashed out together and which she has agreed to implement in his absence as a helper answering to her need that God the Holy Ghost that is what the text says and she then is to rule the household now notice what is the ultimate end in view give no occasion for the adversary

37:30 for reviling give no occasion for the adversary for reviling for some are already turned aside after 16 he speaks of the what shall I say the expedient that if a woman that believes has widows let her relieve them and let not the church be burdened that it may relieve them that are widows indeed parallel to the statement of verse 8 in the same chapter if any man provides not for his own especially his own household he is he has denied the faith he is worse than an unbeliever if at all possible allow Thou none to be put on the widow's list, so that the church is burdened. If some believer is able to provide for them, let them do so. Let them be put on the widow's list only if necessary. And then he completes, you see, his treatment of this subject of the widow's list.

38:31 But now coming back to his directive about the younger widows. Does that directive fit our assertion? The domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God-assigned role. Does that one fit?

Expounding 1 Timothy 2:15: The Third-Ranked Soldier

38:51 All right, so we've had our first rank soldier. He aims and he says it hits the mark. The second rank soldier. And then, can you remember our third rank soldier?

39:07 A third passage that you brought forward last week as relevant to this whole conversation. Sir, Mr. Davies, we'll put him number four. All right, he was brought forward and we didn't rank him, I think, so that was an unfair question.

39:28 But another passage that was mentioned. George?

39:33 Genesis 2? Yes. But we mentioned that in conjunction with another passage in the New Testament. Doug?

39:40 All right, 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15.

39:49 Here in the passage, between verses 8 and 15, if you look down through the passage, tell me in your own words, what is the general subject dealt with in verses 8 through 15? Indeed, not stated in any kind of technical language, just plain old ordinary language. What is the general subject dealt with in verses 8 through 15?

40:20 Yes, Mr. Davies?

40:23 All right, conduct in the church with specific reference to what in that conduct?

40:36 Jim?

40:41 Spiritual leadership expressed in prayer and teaching. That's taking us back to where? Now, can we fine-tune a little bit more? What other emphasis comes through quite strongly in the passage?

41:03 All right, Tony? All right, has to do with the modest apparel and dress of whom?

41:18 Ken? Perhaps we could say male and female roles. Male and female roles in the church, particularly with...

41:29 With reference to the activities of prayer, teaching, and the exercise of authority. All right? Does that pretty well fit what you see as you read down through the passage?

41:42 Anyone feel uncomfortable with that?

41:46 If you do, come up with something better now.

41:49 All right, couldn't we say that that seems to be the general thrust? I desire, therefore, that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath, and disputing in like manner that the women adorn themselves in modest or befitting apparel with modesty and sobriety, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment, but, which becomes women professing godliness, through good works. Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, and but to be in quietness.

42:32 For I am a male chauvinist pig.

42:40 For I am an imperfectly sanctified, rabbinically trained, half-converted Jew.

42:50 That's what some say. Paul wrote all of this because he was a male chauvinist pig. He was reflecting his rabbinical training, and grace had not yet flushed it out of him. Or others would say, For I am a male chauvinist pig.

43:04 I am deeply sensitive to current cultural mores, and I would not offend them.

43:11 No, that's not the rationale. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And he embeds his directive in the facts of creation as clearly given to us in Genesis chapter 2. And then he goes on to say, And Adam was not beguiled, and there's a subtle change there.

43:36 Two different Greek... Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being utterly beguiled.

43:41 It's not the same Greek word. Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being utterly beguiled, utterly deceived, has fallen into transgression. But she shall be saved through her childbearing if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety. So as we look at this passage again without going into a detail, we have a detailed exposition of the passage without putting the emphasis upon this whole matter, for we gave a careful exposition of this several years ago, and if any of you care to get it, it's available through the Trinity pulpit.

44:24 But what we want to do is to focus upon the passage in terms of what it teaches, or does not teach, to support the statement the domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God-assigned role. Now, what, if anything in this passage, supports or negates that assertion?

44:52 All right, Doug?

44:57 The whole passage, anything in the whole passage, though I said we don't want to get into details about the woman's dress, what in the passage asserts or does not back up the assertion that the domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman is. A woman fulfills her God-assigned role. Sure, her childbearing, she was pursuing a career. Likely she wouldn't be childbearing.

45:26 All right, so the emphasis upon the woman's privilege and responsibilities in conjunction with the bearing of children. All right, that's the positive. What's the negative in the preceding verses?

45:44 Complete the statement. The ecclesiastical sphere is not the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God-assigned role because, according to this passage, she is not to...

46:03 It's not on my face. It's in your Bible. Fine, but she is not to...

46:15 or to exercise authority over the man. Isn't that clear in the passage? He says that a woman is to learn in quietness with all subjection. I permit...

46:28 I permit not a woman to teach. Now, obviously, that's not a universal prohibition that she's not to teach in any realm under any circumstances. No. The rest of Scripture gives us the areas in which women are not only privileged to teach, but certain areas in which they are under obligation to teach.

46:51 But it's speaking in the context of behavior in the house of God. Never forget that. Chapter 3, verses 14, 14 and 15 clearly define the sphere of Paul's primary concern. These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly, but if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God.

47:16 So in the gathered assembly of God's people, a woman is not to find her fulfillment of God-assigned role in teaching or in ruling. I suffer not a woman to teach, but to learn in a posture of submission. She is not to exercise dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. So there is the negative.

47:45 Her fulfillment does not come in taking up equal and parallel, let alone superior or more prominent roles of teaching and ruling than men. Amen. Those functions and positions are forbidden her by the word of God. But, in a positive way, she is to find her truest usefulness in giving herself to those privileges and responsibilities connected with the bearing of children.

Reinforcing the Thesis from Creation and the Curse (Genesis 1-3)

48:26 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.

48:44 Turn back to Genesis.

48:51 You remember, those of you who are here, and I think, yes, we can just about cover this ground as we spend our last five minutes. When we were looking at Genesis 1 and 2 and seeking to see if there were any hints of distinct role assignments in the original creation, that in chapter 2 of Genesis, it is clear that God, in terms of temporal activity, made the man first. Genesis 1 simply says, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and God created them, male and female, and you might assume that there was, a concurrent activity, that we know there was some temporal order in that creation according to chapter 2. For we read in chapter 2 that the Lord God, having made the man, verse 7, having breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man became living soul, that God then took the man, verse 15, God took the man, put him into the garden to dress it and to keep it, and the Lord God The Lord God commanded the man, saying, now verse 18, And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a help meet for answering to him.

50:18 So the woman has not yet been created. And then you remember the account of how Adam, having been created, and already given his occupation, he is placed in the garden to dress it and to keep it. God now, creates the woman for what purpose? Not to have an independent and parallel occupation.

50:42 But she is made to be a helper answering to the needs of the man. And then he creates the woman, brings her to the man, and the man shows his headship and authority by naming her. And Eve then takes her place as a helper answering to Adam's need. And in the very physiology, it is evident that the mandate of chapter 1 to replenish the earth and to subdue it, the very fact that the woman was made with a womb to conceive, to carry and to bear children, and with breasts to nurse those children, it is evident from the very physiology of reproduction that in the mandate of replenishing and subduing the earth, there is an implicit role definition. And what is implicit in Genesis 1 becomes much more explicit in the details of Genesis chapter 2. That Adam's sphere of responsibility was his task, his garden. And Eve's was that of being a helper answering to his need.

51:57 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.

52:42 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.

53:18 Who but God could announce the gospel in the midst of a curse? But that's exactly what he did in verse 15. But now verse 16. Unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply the problems you will face in the office.

53:43 I will greatly multiply your pain and your conception. In pain, you shall bring forth children and your desire shall be to your husband and he shall rule over you. That even in the curse pronounced, the domestic sphere is circumscribed as the place assigned to the woman. Now in the curse upon the man and unto Adam, he said, because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.

54:21 Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken.

54:40 For dust you are and unto dust you shall be taken. So you see where the emphasis falls in the curse upon the man. It falls in terms of his primary role as provider. As the curse upon the woman falls upon her primary role and identity as mother and home maker.

55:03 So even in the curse as well as in the institution and details of the original creation, we find that our thesis holds up. It holds up to the biblical data. The domestic sphere is the primary and ordinary realm within which a woman fulfills her God assigned roles. Well, our time is gone.

Homework Assignment: Proverbs 31 and Conclusion

55:29 We've looked at our first rank soldier, our second and our third. Now, homework assignment. Study Proverbs 31 beginning with verse, I believe it's verse 6, not the whole psalm, but particularly the section, sorry, verse 10. A worthy woman who can find.

55:52 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 independent different careers and have no consciousness, let alone a conscience, that her primary sphere is the domestic. Well, you read it and see what you find to support or buttress our thesis. Our time is gone. Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us to walk in the light of his holy word.

57:04 Father, what thanks can we render to you that amidst the veritable cacophony of voices raised in our day, streaming into our ears from every quarter, telling us what the role of the man or the woman should be or should not be? We thank you for an authoritative, changeless, infallible word. Oh, how we thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. Thank you that with our Bibles upon our laps, we are able to discern your will, as we read together. Oh, Holy Spirit, have dealings with any woman in whom the leaven of the cursed teaching of this age is still at work, who may be sitting here even now, struggling, fighting, wrestling. Oh, Lord, bring such women to the place where they see that your will for them is not harsh and cruel, but is good, acceptable, and perfect. Oh, how we plead with you that we as a congregation may exemplify the glory of our assigned roles,

58:31 that as the new humanity in Christ, a confused and fractured world may look upon us and see how beautiful are the ways of our God. Hear then our prayer, as together we plead these mercies in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.