Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #13 of Genesis, chapter 3 and we are looking at Genesis 3:10-13:

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And JEHOVAH God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

In our last study we started to look at a New Testament commentary on Genesis , chapter 3 in 1Timothy, chapter 2. In 1Timothy, chapter 2 God lays down a Law for the woman in the New Testament churches, but it would actually have had application all through history, but He is very specifically laying down this Law. We looked at 1Corinthians, chapter 14 in our last study where God very directly said that a woman is to be silent in the churches. If she wanted to learn anything, she was to ask her husband at home. This is very powerful language indicating that a woman is not to teach in the churches.

Not only that, but God is establishing a principal that is in effect everywhere when He says that a woman is not to teach or usurp authority over the man. It applies everywhere men and women come together; that is, it is not only in the churches that a woman is not to usurp authority over a man, but it would apply to a home Bible study that is not part of a church. The same Law of God would apply. In our day of modern technology, it would also apply to teaching (the Bible) on the internet on Facebook or in groups, whether it is audio or text. This is a very serious Law of God and God desires for His people that are women to follow the Law and the Law says that when you come together and there are men present, they are not to teach. They are not to take the lead and arrange or orchestrate the meeting. They are not to say, “Let us pray,” or lead the prayer. They are not to give any appearance of having authority over men or of teaching men.

We should say that it is fine for a woman to each other women or to teach children. A woman can do a lot of teaching in that regard with other women and children. That is a good thing for a woman who has the desire and ability to teach. Some women do have that ability and some of them may understand the Bible better than some men and they would love to share it. That may be all they want to do is to share the truth and information they have learned from the Bible. This is a good desire to want others to come to a right understanding in regard to Scriptures or doctrine and, yet, that right desire can be perverted and it can become an evil thing if it is not contained within the proper boundaries of the Lord’s guidelines, according to His Word. A woman can meet with a few other women and have a ladies’ Bible study. A wife can meet with three other wives and a woman can say, “Let us look at this verse or that verse.” She can teach all she wants in depth and she can teach for years in the role of teaching her own children. From the time her child is young, a woman can start teaching her young children the Word of God, the Bible. She can drill it home, again, and again, and she can make sure the children understand. It is a wonderful opportunity for a mother to teach her children the Bible at any time of the day or night.

But, again, God has said, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” This Law is God’s commandment that governs how the Word of God was to be proclaimed and how it was to be taught.

Even in regard to men during the church age, God gave qualifications for pastors, elders and deacons. The next chapter addresses those desiring the office of a bishop and these men were the ones that would primarily teach in their congregations and they had to meet certain criteria set by certain Laws of God. For example, if a man was not married, he was not qualified to be an elder or deacon. Primarily, it was the elders, deacons or pastors that taught in the congregations, so a man that was not qualified to be in these positions because he was unmarried or divorced was not to teach. A single man could gather a mixed group of men and women at their home and he could teach there, but as far as the church was concerned, unqualified men were not to each and the qualifications were pretty strict. He had to be the husband of one wife and he had to be raising his children well, plus all the qualifications listed in the next chapter. Not all men could teach, but some men have done what some women have done. God has said that an elder was to be married, the husband of one wife, but some single men step forward and they say, “That does not apply to me.” The churches have made “adjustments” and done some tinkering to the Word of God to fit it to their own desires and to fit what they think is right or wrong.

I remember a fairly well-known pastor who was well respected. In discussing qualifications for deacons and elders, he felt single men should be included. He said, “If you do not allow a single man to be an elder or deacon, you ruin the man!” He was full of passion about it. “You have to let these young men start out as deacons.” However, the Bible says differently. He had his ideas and understanding of what he thought was a proper approach and reasonable. He thought if young single men started out as deacons it got them involved in the church, but the Bible says that an elder or deacon is to be the husband of one wife and raising his children well. If you are not married, then you are not qualified. God’s Law is God’s Law. When God makes these kinds of Laws to govern the New Testament churches, it kept order. God is a God of order and He is not the author of confusion. This is the way God wanted things to be done and this was the way the Gospel was to function within the churches.

There were Laws regarding what men could teach and there were Laws for women to remain silent for spiritual reasons and this is what we want to look at in 1Timothy 2:9-14:

In 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; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Here is where God lays down the Law concerning teaching. In this case, He says that it is not for the woman to teach or to usurp authority over the man. He then refers back to Eve’s sin the Garden of Eden as the reason why women are not to teach and usurp authority over men.

Let us take a closer look beginning with 1Timothy 2:9:

In 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;

We have all heard that women ought to dress modestly and it comes from a verse like this. You know, today women are dressing very immodestly and they are doing everything they can to draw attention to themselves and highlight their physical beauty. They do the opposite of this. They braid their hair and they wear gold and pearls and costly array. This is the nature of the world and the women of the world. They want to be beautiful in their outward adornment with dress that is very alluring to make them beautiful and desirous, and so forth. God is speaking to all women, but the only women that will follow this are women who have become born again.

The word “adorn” is found in a few places. We are going to look at Titus 2:9-10:

Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Here, the Lord is speaking to people of God in general and He says, “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,” and the doctrine of God or doctrine of Christ is the teaching of the Bible. It is the true and right teaching of the Bible. God gives us His Word. For instance, when we read in 1Timothy, chapter 2 that the woman is to be silent, the doctrine is in regard to how the woman is to conduct herself by not teaching the Bible when men are present. Doctrine is derived from the Scriptures. When we read the Book of Jeremiah, we read about God’s judgment on Judah and we relate it to the judgment on the churches at the end of time and we have the doctrine of the end of the church age. It is truth that is rightly understood from the Scriptures and in the Book of Titus it says that we should be “adorned” with doctrine.

It says in 1Peter 3:1-3:

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

This matches with some of the things that God said in 1Timothy, chapter 2, where He said, “not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” This is not going to “win” a husband for the sake of Christ. Of course, this would have been in the day of salvation when God could use the witness of the wife to lead her husband to the Word of God and he would be hearing and seeing how she lived her life; he could go to the Word of God and if he was one of the elect, he could be won by the conduct of his wife and how she lived her life.

Then God says concerning this godly woman (a saved woman) in 1Peter 3:3:

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

God first describes what is not her “adorning.” Then in the next verse He will tell us of her adorning. It says in 1Peter 3:4:

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

The word “price” is the same word translated as “costly” where it said “costly array.” Then it says in 1Peter 3:5:

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

We saw in Titus that God said to be adorned with the doctrine of God and here it is being adorned with “the hidden man of the heart” which would also involve a “meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” The “hidden man of the heart” is a reference to Jesus who indwells everyone He has saved. He is indwelling this wife because He has saved her and she now possesses “the hidden man of the heart.” That is to be the “adorning” and the “ornament.” It is a meek and quiet spirit. Christ within her is to be seen by the husband and that is what was pointed out in a previous verse: “While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.” The only way a wife is going to have that kind of conversation is through salvation or through the spirit of God within her. Then God’s Spirit makes Himself seen through the change in her conduct. Maybe she used to yell at her husband or nag him or attack him when things were not going right, but in the day of salvation God saved her and there has been a change in her heart – she has a new heart and a new spirit. She has the “hidden man of the heart” and in this new hidden man she is being taught by the Spirit of God as she reads the Bible and God’s Spirit mysteriously works within her. Day by day the inward man is renewed and she is more and more conforming her body to her spirit and, therefore, she is beginning to show forth the characteristics of a godly wife in regard to the many things God has instructed in the Bible.

For example, in Ephesians, chapter 5 God has told her to be in submission to her husband and now she is beginning to recognize when a situation becomes heated and she starts to argue, so she stops and corrects herself: “God does not want me to argue and force my will over my husband. I can let my husband know I disagree, but I have to leave it at that and I am not going to argue with him because I just cannot do that any longer. I have to please God and I have to do things God’s way. I have to do the will of God.” That is the ongoing desire that would be in the woman’s heart, as she learns more and more from the Bible and as God’s Spirit teaches and guides her. Over the course of time, she finds joy in serving God and being obedient to God in her marriage, and so forth.

It says in Titus 2:3-5:

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

The older woman have been learning through the Spirit of God as the “hidden man of the heart” would have chastened them oftentimes. Over the course of time the “hidden man of the heart” is showing Himself more and more in the way He is seen in the life of a woman that is elect of God through her “meek and quiet spirit.” She is in submission to her husband. It may appear to the people of the world that all she does is listen to her husband and she has no mind of her own, but she knows the truth. She knows what she is like naturally and she knows the change God has made in her and she also knows the joy and peace and the wonderful blessing that comes through obedience to God. It is through her desire to obey God that she obeys her husband. She is obeying her husband secondarily. In the first instance, she is obeying the Word of God.

Again, the Bible says that a woman is to adorn herself in modest apparel, but we have also seen that we can be adorned in doctrine. The wife is adorned with the “hidden man of the heart.” These are not outward things like clothing. It is not even modest clothing that God speaks of here, but they are spiritual things, but what about 1Timothy 2, verse 9? It said, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.” That would be clothing, would it not? It would be dressing in a long dress and not something too tight, would it not? Of course, godly women will dress modestly, but this verse is actually not teaching this directly because the word translated as “modest apparel” should not be translated that way.