Yesterday morning I preached the next sermon in my series on 1 Timothy and was focussing on 2:8-15 where Paul addresses the different roles men and women play in the context of public worship. One of the great advantages of systematic expository preaching is that you can’t dodge ‘awkward’ passages like this, nor can you be accused of getting on some sort of personal hobby horse.

What struck me most about the reaction – which was entirely positive bar one person – was that people said they had never heard teaching on this subject before, and I was even told of a preacher who had simply avoided the text altogether. I didn’t use this title yesterday, by the way, but I think it is quite appropriate.