A FIRST-CENTURY CHRISTIAN WOMAN’S DRESS AND DEEDS
I Tim. 2:9-10
INTRODUCTION:
OVERVIEW OF I TIMOTHY 1:1-20 to 2:15
1:1-2 – Overview of Christian Faith based on names for God and the blessings He bestows on His people.
1:3-4a False teaching in Ephesian Church and how humanistic philosophy effects us today.
1:4b-6 – The goal of the command is love. (Loving God, fellow Christians, the non-Christian world)
1:7-8 – The law is good if used properly. (The law’s deterrent, punitive and educative purposes)
1:8-11 – “Whatever else …” The Gospel Ethic. (Law-Philia University)
1:11 – “The Blessed God” and our Relationship with Him. (We can fill God’s heart with pain or joy and
happiness)
1:12-16 Why Paul considered himself the worst of sinners.
1:12-16 Conversion of the apostle Paul.
1:12-16 Paul’s call to ministry.
1:17 Paul’s doxology of praise for his conversion.
1:18-20 How to avoid shipwrecking our faith.
2:1-3 The Christian is to pray for all men.
2:4,6 Comparison of Calvinism & Armenianism.
2:5-6 The man, Christ Jesus, the only mediator.
2:1-7 The vision, the message, the means.
2:8-15 Treatment of women in the ancient world, the early church and the Bible.
2:8-15 Three key principles of hermeneutics to keep in mind when studying the Bible.
2:8 Praying Men with Peaceful Hearts
2:9-10 A First-Century Christian Woman’s Dress and Deeds
I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. 9I ALSO WANT WOMEN TO DRESS MODESTLY, WITH DECENCY AND PROPRIETY, NOT WITH BRAIDED HAIR OR GOLD OR PEARLS OR EXPENSIVE CLOTHES, 10BUT WITH GOOD DEEDS, APPROPRIATE FOR WOMEN WHO PROFESS TO WORSHIP GOD. 11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15But women [she] will be saved [restored] through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. (I Tim. 2:15-18).
3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (I Peter 3:3-4).
INTRODUCTION:
Five Hermeneutical Principles:
(1) The Principle of Original Intent
(2) The Principle of Precedent
(3) The Principle of Context
(4) The Principle of Harmony
(5) The Principle of History
The “Principle of History” Applied to I Cor. 11:3-6.
(1) Literal interpretation of a text
(2) Liberal interpretation of a text
(3) Cultural Transposition of a text (What is eternal and what is cultural?)
3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head–it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a DISGRACE for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head (I Cor. 11:3-6).
What would a literal interpretation of this text demand?
What would a liberal interpretation of this text lose?
What is eternal in the text?
What appears to be temporal in the text?
Is it a “DISGRACE” for a woman to have her hair cut off? Is it a “DISGRACE” if a woman does not wear a hat to church, or when she prays or prophesies?
REVIEW OF THE FIVE HERMENUTIC PRINCIPLES
IN THE STUDY OF I TIM. 2:9-10
[When they pray] I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
1. THE PRINCIPLE OF ORGINAL INTENT
1.1. Before the Fall no need for clothing; After the Fall God clothed the couple. At the very least we could say that God intended them to be clothed and He was the dress designer.
2. THE PRINCIPLE OF PRECEDENT
53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother (Gen. 24:53).
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple (Proverbs 31:22).
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
11 We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver (Song of Solomon 1:10-11).
9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace (Song of Solomon 4:9).
18 In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses 23 and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls (Isa. 3:18-23).
* So based on the “The Principle of Precedent” you could not say that God is totally against a woman wearing nice clothes, jewelry.
3. PRINCIPLE OF CONTEXT
“It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture,
If thou Mark
Not only what is spoken or written,
But of whom,
And to whom,
With what words,
At what time,
Where,
To what intent,
With what circumstances,
Considering what goeth before
And what followeth. (John Wycliffe 1324-84)
3.1. What was the situation in Ephesus that would cause Paul to be concerned about the way a woman dressed when involved in public worship?
QUESTION: Based on the following verses what might have been one of the reasons Paul was concerned about the way women dressed?
I Tim. 3:2
I Tim 5:2, 6, 11-15, 22
II Tim. 3:6
“There is a large body of evidence, both Hellenistic and Jewish, which equated “dressing up” on the part of women with both sexual wantonness (lewdness, sensuality, bawdiness) and wifely insubordination. Indeed, for a married woman so to dress in public as tantamount to marital unfaithfulness” (Fee, pg 71).
“Flashy dressing in public was seen as a sign of marital unfaithfulness in Greek and Roman culture” (Griffiths, 53).
“The possibility that sexual liaison may also be involved would make further sense of such texts as I Tim. 2:9-10, and the concern that for chastity; 3:2, that the overseer be ‘faithful to his own wife’; 5:2, that Timothy treat ‘younger women as sisters, with absolute purity’; 5:6, 11-15, that the younger widows were giving themselves to pleasure and ‘becoming wanton’ and 5:22, in the context of judgment on straying elders, that Timothy ‘not join in others’ sins but keep himself pure.’ Nonetheless, it must be admitted that there is a degree of speculation involved in this suggestion” (Fee, pg. 274).
“A woman who likes adornment is not faithful” (Sextus, a Greek Philosopher).
“There is nothing that a woman will not permit herself to do, nothing that she deems shameful, when she encircles her neck with green emeralds and fastens huge pearls to her elongated ears …so important is the business of beautification; so numerous are the piles and stories piled upon one another on her head – meanwhile she pays no attention to her husband” (Juvenal, a Roman satirist).
Paul … advised modest dress precisely because the society he and the Ephesians lived in was notoriously permissive. That permissiveness easily invades the church so that our standards imitate those of the pagan world outside. In the extremely permissive Roman society a woman could show she was chaste and faithful by modesty of dress.” (Griffiths, 53).
4. THE PRINCIPLE OF HARMONY
4.1. The Bible contains an underlying consistency. If we find some verses that seem to go against the flow of the general stream of Scripture we will try to see how they harmonize with the whole.
4.2. We have seen that the Bible speaks highly of a woman adorning herself or dressing up and yet at the same time warns against improper dressing.
I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God (I Tim. 3:9-10).
3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (I Peter 3:3-4).
4.3. What descriptors are to be a guide for how women dress according to these texts?
ANSWER: Modestly, decently, properly and inexpensively.
Propriety: Conformity to what is socially acceptable in conduct or speech; appropriateness.
4.4. What statements might be made by a woman when describing a woman who did not dress modestly, decently and properly?…
* The way she dresses is insane.
* She looks nice but it is not appropriate.
* She has no restraint in the way she dresses.
* She sure doesn’t show any restraint in the way she dresses.
* I wonder who she is dressing for?
* Who is she trying to impress?
4.5. A Free Translation: “Dress with a restraint on inner passions and a desire to impress others, thus wearing clothes that are appropriate, sane and reasonable.
4.6 “And what then is modest apparel? Such as covers them completely and decently, and not with superfluous ornaments; for the one is decent and the other is not. What? Do you approach God to pray with broidered hair and ornaments of gold? Are you come to a ball? To a marriage-feast? To a carnival? There such costly things might have been seasonable: here not one of them is wanted. You are come to pray, to ask pardon for your sins, to plead for your offences, beseeching the Lord, and hoping to rend him propitious to you. Away with such hypocrisy!” (Chrysostom as quoted by McArthur, pg. 80).
4.7 Costly / expensive dress? “The expensive dresses worn by wealthy women could cost up to 7,000 denarii … Dresses of the common women could cost as much as 500-800 denarii. To put that into perspective, the average daily wage of a common laborer was one denarius. (John MacArthur, pg 80).
5. THE PRINCIPLE OF HISTORY
5.1. No word of God was spoken in a cultural vacuum; every word was spoken in a cultural context. … Scripture is an amalgam of … eternal truth which transcends culture and its transient cultural presentation. The former is universal and normative; the latter is local and changeable. (John Stott on I Timothy, pg. 74-5).
5.2. Three options in interpreting cultural expressions in Scripture.
5.2.1. Enthrone the cultural form with a rigid literalism equating it with eternal truth.
5.2.2. Dismiss the cultural form entirely thus downgrading the eternal truth included in the text to the level of cultural expression.
5.2.3. Separate the eternal from the cultural – Cultural Transposition: Discerning between God’s essential revelation (which is changeless) and its cultural expression (which is changeable).
5.3. Looking at the three options of interpreting cultural expressions in the light of I Tim. 2:9-10.
“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God ” (I Tim. 2:9-10).
5.3.1. If we enthrone the cultural form of this text with rigid literalism, what do we get?
WOMEN MUST NEVER BRAID THEIR HAIR OR WEAR ANY GOLD OR PEARL OR EXPENSIVE CLOTHES AND WE WOULD HAVE TO DETERMINE WHAT IS EXPENSIVE AND WHAT IS NOT EXPENSIVE.
5.3.2. If we dismiss the whole passage as cultural expression only relevant in the Palestinian Judaism of the Gospels, what do we lose?
WE LOSE THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN DRESSING WITH DECENCY AND MODESTY, WEARING WHAT IS APPROPRIATE AND WE LOSE THE FOCUS ON “GOOD DEEDS.”
5.3.3. If we separate the eternal from the cultural (Cultural Transposition) what do we preserve as eternal and what do we accept as cultural expression?
WE AGREE THAT IT IS ALRIGHT FOR WOMEN TO DRESS WELL, INCLUDING WEARING GOLD AND PEARL JEWELRY AND BRAIDING THEIR HAIR, WITHIN THE GUIDELINES OF MODESTY, DECENCY AND APPROPRIATENESS.
5.4. Christian women needed to dress in such a way to set themselves apart from the pagan culture of Ephesus.
READ FROM JOHN STOTT’S COMMENTARY:
“Christian women in Ephesus, for example, would need to make sure that their attire in no way resemble that of the hundreds of prostitutes who were employed in the great goddess Diana’s temple. Chrysostom grasped this. ‘Imitate not therefore the courtesans’, he cried, ‘for by such a dress they allure their many lovers.’ … The courtesans wore their hair in numerous small pendant braids with gold droplets or pearls or gems every inch or so, making a shimmering screen of their locks. … Such hair-do’s were inappropriate for Christian women in first-century Asia Minor. But the same could not be said about some African tribes today. Their Christian women have preserved traditional hairstyles, which involve the most intricate plaiting, but are neither expensive, nor ostentatious, nor sexually significant. What Paul is emphasizing is that Christian women would adorn themselves with clothing, hairstyles and jewelry which in their culture are inexpensive not extravagant, modes not vain, chaste not suggestive.” (Stott, 84).
6. GOOD DEEDS AND THE FIRST-CENTURY WOMAN
“I also want women to dress … with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God ” (I Tim. 2:9-10).
6.1. She is to “Dress … with good deeds.”
QUESTION: What “good deeds” would you feel should be done, would be appropriate for a woman who worshipped God?
6.2. Look at the context:
9No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she …is well known for her good deeds, SUCH AS bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. … 14… I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander (I Tim. 5:9,14).
SO WHAT?
1. By neglecting these basic principles of hermeneutics, (The Principle of Original Intent, The Principle of Historic Precedent, The Principle of Context, The Principle of Harmony, The Principle of History) we distort the teaching of Scripture.
2. Without following these principles women are restricted from wearing jewelry, braiding their hair and are required to wear hats in church.
3. We need to consistently follow these principles when studying all ofScripture, just not when it satisfies our whims. Consistency is key!
4. Good Deeds are engendered upon Christian women and those good deeds include the raising of children.
Five Hermeneutical Principles:
(1) The Principle of Original Intent
(2) The Principle of Precedent
(3) The Principle of Context
(4) The Principle of Harmony
(5) The Principle of History
The “Principle of History” Applied to I Cor. 11:3-6.
(1) Literal interpretation of a text
(2) Liberal interpretation of a text
(3) Cultural Transposition of a text (What is eternal and what is
cultural?)
3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head–it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a DISGRACE for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head (I Cor. 11:3-6).
What would a literal interpretation of this text demand?
What would a liberal interpretation of this text lose?
What is eternal in the text?
What appears to be temporal in the text?
Is it a “DISGRACE” for a woman to for a woman to have her hair
cut off? Is it a “DISGRACE” if a woman does not wear a hat to
church, or when she prays or prophesies?
REVIEW OF THE FIVE HERMENUTIC PRINCIPLES
IN THE STUDY OF I TIM. 2:9-10
[When they pray] I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
1. THE PRINCIPLE OF ORGINAL INTENT
1.1. Before the Fall no need for clothing; After the Fall God
clothed the couple. At the very least we could say that God
intended them to be clothed and He was the dress designer.
2. THE PRINCIPLE OF PRECEDENT
53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother (Gen. 24:53).
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple (Proverbs 31:22).
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
11 We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver (Song of Solomon 1:10-11).
9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace (Song of Solomon 4:9).
18 In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses 23 and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls (Isa. 3:18-23).
* So based on the “The Principle of Precedent” you could not say that God is totally against a woman wearing nice clothes, jewelry.
3. PRINCIPLE OF CONTEXT
“It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture,
If thou Mark
Not only what is spoken or written,
But of whom,
And to whom,
With what words,
At what time,
Where,
To what intent,
With what circumstances,
Considering what goeth before
And what followeth. (John Wycliffe 1324-84)
3.1. What was the situation in Ephesus that would cause Paul to be concerned about the way a woman dressed when involved in public worship?
QUESTION: Based on the following verses what might have been one of the reasons Paul was concerned about the way women dressed?
I Tim. 3:2
I Tim 5:2, 6, 11-15, 22
II Tim. 3:6
“There is a large body of evidence, both Hellenistic and Jewish, which equated “dressing up” on the part of women with both sexual wantonness (lewdness, sensuality, bawdiness) and wifely insubordination. Indeed, for a married woman so to dress in public as tantamount to marital unfaithfulness” (Fee, pg 71).
“Flashy dressing in public was seen as a sign of marital unfaithfulness in Greek and Roman culture” (Griffiths, 53).
“The possibility that sexual liaison may also be involved would make further sense of such texts as I Tim. 2:9-10, and the concern that for chastity; 3:2, that the overseer be ‘faithful to his own wife’; 5:2, that Timothy treat ‘younger women as sisters, with absolute purity’; 5:6, 11-15, that the younger widows were giving themselves to pleasure and ‘becoming wanton’ and 5:22, in the context of judgment on straying elders, that Timothy ‘not join in others’ sins but keep himself pure.’ Nonetheless, it must be admitted that there is a degree of speculation involved in this suggestion” (Fee, pg. 274).
“A woman who likes adornment is not faithful” (Sextus, a Greek Philosopher).
“There is nothing that a woman will not permit herself to do, nothing that she deems shameful, when she encircles her neck with green emeralds and fastens huge pearls to her elongated ears …so important is the business of beautification; so numerous are the piles and stories piled upon one another on her head – meanwhile she pays no attention to her husband” (Juvenal, a Roman satirist).
Paul … advised modest dress precisely because the society he and the Ephesians lived in was notoriously permissive. That permissiveness easily invades the church so that our standards imitate those of the pagan world outside. In the extremely permissive Roman society a woman could show she was chaste and faithful by modesty of dress.” (Griffiths, 53).
4. THE PRINCIPLE OF HARMONY
4.1. The Bible contains an underlying consistency. If we find some verses that seem to go against the flow of the general stream of Scripture we will try to see how they harmonize with the whole.
4.2. We have seen that the Bible speaks highly of a woman adorning herself or dressing up and yet at the same time warns against improper dressing.
I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God (I Tim. 3:9-10).
3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (I Peter 3:3-4).
4.3. What descriptors are to be a guide for how women dress according to these texts?
ANS: Modestly, decently, properly, inexpensively.
Propriety: Conformity to what is socially acceptable in conduct or speech; appropriateness.
4.4. What statements might be made by a woman when describing a woman who did not dress modestly, decently, properly …
* The way she dresses is insane.
* She looks nice but it is not appropriate.
* She has no restraint in the way she dresses.
* She sure doesn’t show any restraint in the way she dresses.
* I wonder who she is dressing for?
* Who is she trying to impress?
4.5. A Free Translation: “Dress with a restraint on inner passions and a desire to impress others, thus wearing clothes that are appropriate, sane, reasonable.
4.6 “And what then is modest apparel? Such as covers them completely and decently, and not with superfluous ornaments; for the one is decent and the other is not. What? Do you approach God to pray with broidered hair and ornaments of gold? Are you come to a ball? To a marriage-feast? To a carnival? There such costly things might have been seasonable: here not one of them is wanted. You are come to pray, to ask pardon for your sins, to plead for your offences, beseeching the Lord, and hoping to rend him propitious to you. Away with such hypocrisy!” (Chrysostom as quoted by McArthur, pg. 80).
4.7 Costly / expensive dress? “The expensive dresses worn by wealthy women could cost up to 7,000 denarii … Dresses of the common women could cost as much as 500-800 denarii. To put that into perspective, the average daily wage of a common laborer was one denarius. (John MacArthur, pg 80).
5. THE PRINCIPLE OF HISTORY
5.1. No word of God was spoken in a cultural vacuum; every word was spoken in a cultural context. … Scripture is an amalgam of … eternal truth which transcends culture and its transient cultural presentation. The former is universal and normative; the latter is local and changeable. (John Stott on I Timothy, pg. 74-5).
5.2. Three options in interpreting cultural expressions in Scripture.
5.2.1. Enthrone the cultural form with a rigid literalism
equating it with eternal truth.
5.2.1. Dismiss the cultural form entirely thus downgrading the
eternal truth included in the text to the level of cultural
expression.
5.2.3. Separate the eternal from the cultural – Cultural
Transposition: Discerning between God’s essential
revelation (which is changeless) and its cultural
expression (which is changeable).
5.3. Looking at the three options of interpreting cultural expressions in the light of I Tim. 2:9-10.
“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God ” (I Tim. 2:9-10).
5.3.1. If we enthrone the cultural form of this text with rigid
literalism, what do we get?
WOMEN MUST NEVER BRAID THEIR HAIR OR WEAR ANY GOLD OR PEARL OR EXPENSIVE CLOTHES AND WE WOULD HAVE TO DETERMINE WHAT IS EXPENSIVE AND WHAT IS NOT EXPENSIVE.
5.3.2. If we dismiss the whole passage as cultural expression
only relevant in the Palestinian Judaism of the Gospels,
what do we lose?
WE LOSE THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN DRESSING WITH DECENCY AND MODESTY, WEARING WHAT IS APPROPRIATE AND WE LOSE THE FOCUS ON “GOOD DEEDS.”
5.3.3. If we separate the eternal from the cultural (Cultural
Transposition) what do we preserve as eternal and what
do we accept as cultural expression?
WE AGREE THAT IT IS ALRIGHT FOR WOMEN TO DRESS WELL, INCLUDING WEARING GOLD AND PEARL JEWELRY AND BRAIDING THEIR HAIR, WITHIN THE GUIDELINES OF MODESTY, DECENCY AND APPROPRIATENESS.
5.4. Christian women needed to dress in such a way to set themselves apart from the pagan culture of Ephesus.
READ FROM JOHN STOTT’S COMMENTARY:
“Christian women in Ephesus, for example, would need to make
sure that their attire in no way resemble that of the hundreds of prostitutes who were employed in the great goddess Diana’s temple. Chrysostom grasped this. ‘Imitate not therefore the courtesans’, he cried, ‘for by such a dress they allure their many lovers.’ … The courtesans wore their hair in numerous small pendant braids with gold droplets or pearls or gems every inch or so, making a shimmering screen of their locks. … Such hair-do’s were inappropriate for Christian women in first-century Asia Minor. But the same could not be said about some African tribes today. Their Christian women have preserved traditional hairstyles, which involve the most intricate plaiting, but are neither expensive, nor ostentatious, nor sexually significant. What Paul is emphasizing is that Christian women would adorn themselves with clothing, hairstyles and jewelry which in their culture are inexpensive not extravagant, modes not vain, chaste not suggestive.” (Stott, 84).
6. GOOD DEEDS AND THE FIRST-CENTURY WOMAN
“I also want women to dress … with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God ” (I Tim. 2:9-10).
6.1. She is to “Dress … with good deeds.”
QUESTION: What “good deeds” would you feel should be done,
would be appropriate for a woman who worshipped God?
6.2. Look at the context:
9No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she …is well known for her good deeds, SUCH AS bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. … 14… I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander (I Tim. 5:9,14).
SO WHAT?
1. By neglecting these basic principles of hermeneutics, (The Principle of
Original Intent, The Principle of Historic Precedent, The Principle of
Context, The Principle of Harmony, The Principle of History) we distort
the teaching of Scripture.
2. Without following these principles women are restricted from wearing
jewelry, braiding their hair and are required to wear hats in church.
3. We need to consistently follow these principles when studying all of
Scripture, just not when it satisfies our whims. Consistency is key!
4. Good Deeds are engendered upon Christian women and those good
deeds include the raising of children.