Many “Complementarians” are Disobeying Titus 2:3-5
Written By Pastor Joel Webbon, Right Response Ministries
Let me to begin by saying this: “ALL of Scripture has relevant application for ALL of life.” That being said, allow me to flesh out that statement a bit: 1 Peter 3:1-6 and 1 Timothy 2:9-15 are two biblical texts that explicitly speak to women. So a woman could certainly exposit these texts and apply them accordingly. This, of course, assumes that the audience being taught does not have men present (“older women should teach younger women”).
Now back to my original statement: “ALL of Scripture has relevant application for ALL of life.” RC Sproul once said, “Each biblical text has only one faithful INTERPRETATION, but virtually limitless faithful APPLICATION.” In other words, I believe a qualified woman could teach multiple other biblical texts that do NOT explicitly address only women, so long as the primary purpose of such teaching is to specifically apply these texts in relevant ways to women (that is, application for what God has specifically called women to be and to do). Again, no men should be present in these teaching contexts.
My reasoning is simple: “All of the Scripture has relevant application for ALL of life.” Therefore, we could rightly say, “ALL of Scripture is written for ALL people.” In other words, it is not as though one portion of the Bible was written for men, and another portion was written for women. Take the book of Proverbs for example: The vast majority of the book of Proverbs was written to young men, but the entirety of the book of Proverbs has application for women. Therefore, we could rightly say, “Not all of Scripture was written TO all people, but all of Scripture was written FOR all people.”
So when a pastor faithfully teaches a text like 1 Peter 3:1-6 to the whole congregation on the Lord’s Day (men, women, and children), there will still be relevant application for the men in the room (even though this particular text explicitly addresses women). Likewise, when a pastor faithfully teaches a text such as 1 Peter 3:7 to the whole congregation on the Lord’s Day (men, women, and children), there will still be relevant application for the women in the room (even though this particular text explicitly addresses men).
SO WHAT KIND OF “WOMEN TEACHING WOMEN” IS UNBIBLICAL?
What I think is “unbiblical” is when a woman teaches a particular doctrine or topic without specific application to women (even if her audience is exclusively made up of other women). For example, if a woman teaches on the divine essence of the Trinity (taking a relevant biblical text and expositing it), but the teaching is not specifically relevant to women in the specific things that God has called them to be and to do (“submitting to their husbands, loving their children, not slandering or gossiping, remaining pure, being keepers at home, etc.”) SOMETHING SEEMS OFF. This is because this kind of teaching appears to go against the specific guidelines laid out for older women teaching younger women found in Titus 2:3-5. With a teaching such as the one I previously described, why not simply reserve it for when the whole congregation is gathered together on the Lord’s Day, and allow the ordained (and biblically qualified) male elders to teach on such topics from the Scripture?
In short, my concern is that many evangelical churches are creating “EXTRA-BIBLICAL CONTEXTS” merely to accommodate a “PSEUDO-PASTORAL POSITION” for women who are dissatisfied with their God-ordained role in the home and secretly wish they could be preachers. And all this, while still attempting to be “CARD-CARRYING COMPLEMENTARIANS.” The result is that in the subconscious minds of many church members, the women have one pastor (e.g. Jen Wilkin) and the men have another (e.g. Matt Chandler).
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.
Titus 2:3-5
***My two cents. When I mentored groups of women in the teachings of Biblical Womanhood, I was only teaching women. No men were present. With my online ministry, this is impossible. But I do receive numerous emails and private, personal messages asking me for counsel. This is all done in private. Any man who comes to my social media sites can immediately tell that I am only teaching women, since I stick to Biblical Womanhood. I try very hard not to veer from these teachings, since I agree with Pastor Joel. I do know men learn from me. They learn what kind of wife they want. They learn what they want their daughters to know. Many wish their wives would read what I write.
7 thoughts on “Many “Complementarians” are Disobeying Titus 2:3-5”
There are tens of millions of women and children in America that desperately need to be taught Gods word, yet, thousands of women insist on leaving Gods design, and with their homes frequently out of control, they teach men.
Anytime a church allows women to publicly teach with men present, it is a direct attempt to emasculate the men.
Women frequently lack long term vision, and are designed by God to be fiercely territorial and pragmatic. They are frequently dedicated to their husbands, children, homes, and material wealth, and rarely do their decisions involving other men not involve these factors.
Men on the other hand are much more likely to make good short and long term decisions, which will continue to produce good long after the man has died.
Was raised in a church begun by a woman teacher, and the effect on boys was to emasculate them, and the effect on girls was to masculinize them.
The blame ultimately cannot rest on women teachers though. It lies with the men who allowed this.
God tasked men with upholding his standards, and when they do not, as Adam failed to do with Eve, the men are responsible for the women’s inevitable rebellion.
Ryan, I would challenge your assertion that women lack long term vision in the context that they do more so than men. I would say any person who submits to God’s will has an eternal vision. There are Godly women in scripture such as Abigail who had a long term vision while her foolish husband Nabal had no vision at all.
On another note, I’ve seen you comment on many of the posts here for several years. May I suggest you join in the fight for our future and look to marry soon and produce many arrows? “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.” Proverbs 18:22. I know you say you have seen where it is difficult to find a Godly wife but I’ve met quite a few young women over the years that long for a Godly husband. Perhaps you can look to help out at a church camp or something of the sort?
I can confirm that in my past communications with Lori, if I asked a question that may have crossed the line, that should be asked to a brother in Christ, she would refer me to ask her husband Ken. She will not take on those questions.
And yes, I’m one of those husband’s that wishes my wife would read what Lori writes.
Thank you, M.
God does give all who obey him the ability to comprehend truth, short and long term, however, women were created to be helpmeets, not to be visionary leaders, as Adam was from the beginning.
We can even ignore the Bible and Christianity and find this truth through all of human history.
Pharaoh, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Homer, Pericles, Solon, Themistocles, Leonidas, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Alcibiades, Nicias, Marius, Sulla, Cicero, Cato, Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Augustus, Mark Anthony, Brutus, Cassius, Marcus Aurelius, Trajan, Titus, Vespasian, Plutarch, Constantine, Muhammad, Confucius,Lao Tzu, Genghis Khan, William Wallace, Saladin, Martin Luther, Shakespeare, Christopher Columbus, Magellan, Francis Drake, Marco Polo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Goethe, Schiller, Francis Bacon, Washington, Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Noah Webster, Jefferson, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, Alexander Dumas, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lincoln, Lee, Grant, Sherman, Jackson, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, John Calhoun, Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Sumner, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, Oloudah Equiano, John Newton, William Wilberforce, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Tsar Alexander 2, Peter the Great, Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, (not going to name Wilson, Rockefeller, Morgan, and many other prominent men in the period who led America into income tax slavery),
(Also not going to name celebrities, athletes, and actors in the last century, who are all controlled puppets who have sold their souls), are just a few examples, among tens of thousands of others of men who have shaped the course of history.
The Bible is clear, women were created for the man, the man was not created for the woman. My middle name is Paul, and it was the Apostle Paul, (who along with Christ were both virgins at their deaths and are the foremost teachers on marriage, and children in the New Testament), who said in 1 Cor 11:9 “Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”.
Certainly you are correct about Abigail, but even she, is a model for women on how to teach imperfect men who want to obey God. It was her wise, humble, and prudent counsel that not only averted a tragedy, as David and his men were ready to slaughter Nabal and his whole household, but eventually led to her becoming David’s wife. Her first interaction with David was the subject of a sermon I heard by a brilliant preacher named Stuart Russell (some of the best preachers are nowhere to be found on the internet or YouTube), titled “How to teach a King”. He noted her approach and care with her words, and how her approach was so powerful because it honored David while correcting him. She likely did the same thing with Nabal, right up until God destroyed him, though how she ended up with a churlish man like Nabal in the first place, is quite astonishing. Kind of like many of today’s women who end up with bad men.
I appreciate your recommendation to marry, and it’s been one I’ve been warily considering for over 20 years. For, I’m already hugely controversial, and will likely be arrested for the fourth time in my life tomorrow evening at five, (all in the past 2 years and the prior three for not wearing a mask), in Killdeer, North Dakota, because the City Council in the town of 750 will not allow public comments. Tens of thousands of legal eagles (they are advised by the City of Killdeer attorney) and minor bureaucrats have been waging war on the First Amendment, by not allowing citizens to speak because “it’s not related to city business”. ? That’s rubbish, since this virus hoax affects every citizen in America. If every Christian man in America got up and started speaking at City Council and School Board meetings in America, this plandemic hoax, the biggest in human history, would be over tomorrow. Our silence enables our tyrannical and diabolical oppressors. And it is women like you and many others on here who are often instrumental, like Esther, at hearing from those who know, like she listened to Mordechai, and ultimately saving their homes and nations from complete destruction. Mordechai was hated by Haman because Mordechai had no respect for Haman’s pretensions, and because Mordechai was virtuous, pursued virtue, and respected God above man. That is why the current ruling elites hate millions of us.
Since millions of us are banned on social media, on the internet, and algorithms hide our content on Google and DuckDuckGo Siberia banishments, dozens if not hundreds of search pages deep, the last places we have to speak in public are City Council Meetings and School Board meetings. And there is an urgency, as there is a war on Christianity, particularly white Christians, going on right now. Can’t say who is behind it, because to explain it fully would take a book, and without a full explanation, the average person thinks these legitimate allegations are “anti-semitism”. Besides, too many are apathetic, (God hates apathy, as he says he prefers die hard passionate sinners to the lukewarm, as at least the sinners are passionate) and rather than being enlightened and grateful to hear the truth, they are offended and angered by the truth.
Let me return to the point after my digression. Since I’m already hugely controversial, I have to choose a wife carefully, because the last thing I need to be dealing with is a rebellious and defiant wife when I go
Home, who is a constant threat, on one of her fits of fury, to leave with half my money and my children. It’s depressing at times to think that I’ve always been single, but, there are two considerations that make it a blessing. One, there are definitely areas I can improve to be a better husband, and two, less than 5% of the marriageable women in this nation are even fit to marry, who are virtuous, believe in having children, will love me and our children, will stay home, believe in marriage forever, and remarriage only for being widowed or adultery, and who are attractive.
100 years ago a man could approach an attractive woman and pursue a marriage that would last forever. Not anymore. I’ve actually had attractive women I approached to speak to turn out to be males. It’s a very sick society we live in. I’m a trucker, and not being experienced in such matters, discovered to my horror, that the two prettiest women I saw in trucking, were actually born boys. Just disgusting and abhorrent.
I’ve been ready and willing to start a large family since I was 18, but when 90% of your society does not value large families, and marriage forever, it affects everyone, though God is in charge. I can’t tell you how many dozens of women immediately shut off all discussions of marriage when they hear about having as many children as possible, and I’m a reasonably attractive man with a very healthy salary. I don’t want to waste time and resources trying to woo and win a woman for marriage, when she isn’t likely to even stick around, much less to value, cherish, and adore having all the children she can have. The vast majority of women today are hypergamous, where they will try to marry a higher status (richer) guy when married. I learned from Jacob, and Esau in the Bible, along with thousands of other examples, do not marry a woman if she does not agree with the vision God has given you. You will save her and you a lot of misery and heartbreak.
All that said, I’m not complaining about women, because there are still powers I’m perfecting in myself that will make me the wise, loving, dedicated, selfless husband I need to be to an adoring, devoted, virtuous, and meek wife.
Ryan – why do you refuse to wear a mask?
Surely a small sacrifice such as wearing a mask to protect others, is the ultimate example of “loving your neighbour”?
I know some people claim that masks don’t work. But let me share the explanation that a microbiologist here on TV gave (it is crude, but it’s a really good analogy):
Imagine two young boys standing, facing each other. They both try to pee on each other. One of them pees on the other one. If neither of them are wearing pants, the boy will be covered in someone else’s pee.
If just the boy facing the peeing boy is wearing pants, his pants will get wet but he will likely mostly stay dry.
If both of them are wearing pants, only the boy who pees will get wet.
Yes we know the virus particles are tiny, but they’re always attached to bigger particles, usually water particles, and masks are very effective at catching 85% of these.
Refusing to wear a mask (unless you have a legitimate health reason not to) is really only arrogance, and against Christianity. Showing kindness to others (in this case, protecting them by wearing a mask) is literally what Jesus taught.
When did “my rights” and “my freedom” become part of what it means to be Christian?
KAK,
Loving our neighbor is NOT obeying a tyrannical government. Love is defined by God in 1 Cor. 13:4-8. We are meant to breathe in fresh oxygen, not our own breath. Respiratory illnesses have skyrocketed from using masks. Florida and countries that aren’t using masks have far lower cases of Covid than those who are. Please read this article of 150 articles explaining the danger of wearing masks.
https://brownstone.org/articles/more-than-150-comparative-studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/
Thank you, Lori, cannot add much to your well thought out response to KAK, except to add that the television is completely unreliable. Everything on there is controlled by a handful of men, who lie to the entire world constantly to try to manipulate us into being their slaves.
I’d say who these men are, but I cannot even do that, because they have used their control of the worlds information and money to make the average person think that any legitimate criticism of these elites is “anti-Semitic”.