Today's Passage - 1 Timothy 2:11-12

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english 1 Timothy 2:11-12    A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.    Paul is again speaking out against the influence of Gnosticism of that time. Some of the women at that time were taught by the Gnostics to emphasize the importance of women prophets and to esteem Eve as the Mother of wisdom. Therefore, many sisters raised themselves up, thinking that God's words only comes from them. They looked down on the brothers and despised the other prophets.     This is why Paul sternly rebuked them and said, "I do not permit a woman to teach". Many people who read this may feel very perplexed. Even some churches today do not allow sisters to stand in the pulpit. This is really a very huge mistake. The reason is because they do not understand the background of this passage. Some churches use the literal meaning to interpret this passage. This created many contradictory situations, such as not allowing sisters to be pastors locally, but sending sisters to be missionaries in faraway places. Don't foreign missionaries need to preach as well? If we understand the background of this passage, we would not be adding unnecessary heavy restraints on the sisters.     When reading Scripture, we need to discern what is culture, what is truth? For example, "woman covering her head" or "washing each other's feet" are the cultures of the church in the past. Today we don't need to rigidly follow them, not understanding the meaning behind these practices. If we just follow outwardly the cultural traditions and not understand God's heart, then these things have no benefit to us at all. If we washed each other's feet, yet cannot truly love each other, what is the use of it? Because to wash each other's feet is cultural, but to love each other is the truth! May the Lord help us never to make culture to be the truth, just as the Jewish people at the time who want the Gentiles to receive circumcision in order to be baptized in the Lord. This is to put culture before truth. In the same way, the sisters' serving roles and positions keep changing according to the times. May the Lord help us to have a discerning heart, to understand what is truth which we need to obey and what is culture which we need to respect. May the Lord reveal his heart and will to us!                  Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, I thank you, because you are the source of truth. I ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate me to discern and understand what is culture, what is truth, so that in my everyday life I can know how to walk in obedience to the truth and be pleasing to you. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!