THE WORD ANER (MAN)

1. Have you ever wondered why Jesus did not come to the earth as a woman?

2. At first this may sound like a silly question.

3. Someone might say, “How could He have been a female since He was the Son of God.”

4. The Lord assumed human flesh.

5. To carry out His mission He had to clothe Himself in a human body.

6. The Lord chose a male body.

7. Why did He do that?

ONE REASON WOULD SEEM TO BE BASED UPON AUTHORITY.

A. Tonight we want to take a look at some passages that relate to men and women.

B. This study is really based upon a single word – aner.

C. This word is used about 150 times in the New Testament.

D. In many passages this word is not very significant.

E. In other places it makes a very important point.

2. This word is a specific term for the male race.

3. In English we can say “man” and the term may describe a male or female.

4. It can be a generic term.

5. The Greek language also had a generic term for the human race.

6. The Greeks also had, just like the English language, a specific word for the male race.

7. If someone is a male they are not a female.

8. To describe a male the Greeks used the word aner.

9. I want to share with you some of the places where this word is found.

A. The first time this word occurs in the New Testament is Mt. 1:16.

B. Here it is translated “husband.”

C. Joseph was Mary’s husband.

D. The first time this word is used in the New Testament it definitely describes a male.

10. A little later in Matthew (chapter 14) this word again clearly describes the male race.

11. Jesus fed some people with five loaves and two fishes.

12. The people that fed are described in Matthew 14:21 – READ.

13. In Mark’s account we find that this word is associated with divorce.

14. The Pharisees (Mk. 10:2) asked if a man (aner) could put away his wife.

15. This passage definitely refers to a male.

16. In Lk. 1:34 Mary said she had “not known” a man (same word).

A. Most surely remember the story of the woman at the well in Jn. 4.

B. Jesus told the Samaritan woman to “call her husband” (aner).

17. WE COULD GO THROUGH ALL THE PLACES WHERE THIS TERM IS USED AND REPEATEDLY SHOW THAT THIS TERM DESCRIBES THE MALE RACE.

A. Since I have given enough references to demonstrate this, I want to turn our attention elsewhere.

B. I want us to look at the book of Acts.

C. We will start with Acts 1.

D. One of the places where we find this term in Acts 1 is verse 21.

E. Judas was dead.

F. It was determined that someone needed to replace him.

G. As consideration of this matter was underway, and here is what was said – verse 21 – READ.

18. The word “men” is aner (males).

19. This is an instructive reference.

20. Jesus came to earth as a man.

21. He selected 12 apostles who were all men.

22. The last apostle that was picked (Paul) was a male.

23. When consideration was given to a replacement for Judas, the first qualification was: find a male.

24. Remember that there were 120 people who seem to have been quite committed (Acts 1:15) —READ.

25. Some of these people were women (verse 14) — READ.

26. In spite of having godly women close by, only males were in the pool of candidates.

27. This is a striking fact when we compare it to our day and time.

A. We live in a period when people say that women are cheated.

B. If we do not have women preachers and church leaders, we are not being fair.

C. The use of the word in Acts 1 shows that women were not even considered for this position.

28. Let’s take this fact and skip ahead to Acts 6.

29. In Acts 6 we have another passage that is familiar.

30. As things progressed things in the first century church things became a little more complicated.

31. The apostles were being called away from their work to do things that could be done by others.

32. There were some widows that needed attention so other Christians were selected to help them.

33. Let’s look at Acts 6:3 – READ.

34. Would you like to make a guess about the word translated men? It is aner.

A. Here we have a situation where women needed help.

B. The widows needed attention.

C. Some Christians were needed to take leadership in helping these ladies.

D. Inspired men said that the people needed to select Christians who were males.

E. Today some tell us that gender in the church does not matter.

F. This was not what the people described in Acts 1 and Acts 6 were told.

G. Gender did matter.

35. The word we are looking at is found in other sections of Acts.

36. It is found in Acts 11:20. This passage joins it with preaching.

37. While this passage may not have much significance by itself,

38. It does show that in this text only men were doing the preaching — READ Acts 11:20.

39. If you want to see a passage that might make you sit up and take notice move with me to Acts 20.

A. This is another chapter that many are familiar with.

B. Paul had a meeting with the elders at Ephesus.

C. He warned them how a time would come when fellow Christians would teach false doctrine.

D. He warned these Christians about future difficulties.

E. He also said that the problems would arise from inside the congregation.

F. If you have found Acts 20:30 let’s look at it together – READ.

40. Paul said that “men” would arise.

41. This word is the specific term for a male.

42. Paul could have used the general word for man, a word that described males and females.

43. In other places he used this general word.

44. Here he specifically described males.

45. Why did he do that?

46. By the time we get done I believe we will have the answer.

47. This word shows that when it comes to job of leadership, God has given this responsibility to males.

48. All the apostles were males. The men in Acts 6 were males.

49. Males are associated with teaching in Acts 11 and bring in destructive teaching in Acts 20.

50. This material is consistent with the information in 1 Tim. 2:8.

A. Here is another well known passage. In 1 Tim. 2 Paul spoke of praying.

B. In the opening verses he spoke about a variety of prayers.

C. In verse 2 he spoke of praying for “kings” and all that are in high places.

D. He then said this in verse 8 – READ.

51. The word that Paul used is aner.

52. This word shows that there are times and places where males are to pray.

53. The remainder of the chapter indicates Paul described some kind of public event.

54. In verse 11 there is a reference to women “learning in quietness.”

55. In verse 12 a statement is made about women teaching.

56. This kind of teaching is associated with her having “dominion over a man.”

A. The word “man” in verse 12 is the word for male (aner).

B. The word that Paul used would seem to answer a question that plagues some congregations.

C. When is a woman no longer entitled to teach a male in a Bible class?

D. I know this much.

E. When Paul spoke about a woman teaching men he used the word aner.

F. There is not a single passage in the New Testament where this word describes a child.

G. This word is actually distinct from a child.

H. Of the 150 or so time this word is used, it always describes someone who is old enough to be married.

I. The word describes a male, and a male who is of marriageable age.

J. From what I can tell, this word has some bearing on the question about woman and Bible classes.

K. When someone is old enough to be married, a woman has no right to teach him in Bible class.

57. This word occurs in the next chapter of 1 Timothy.

58. The use of the term in 1 Tim. 3 is also helpful.

59. Paul said that elders “rule” in a local congregation (verse 5).

60. Elders “take care” of the church.

61. Notice a qualification for those who “take care of the church” (verse 1) – READ.

62. Those who are caretakers of the church are “men” (same word, aner).

63. God has given the role of pastoral care to men.

64. This word shows that God’s plan for church leadership rests with males.

65. The pictures that we have of first century congregations associates the leadership role with males.

66. This should not surprise us.

A. When we look at the Godhead we find that the members had different roles.

B. The Father and the Spirit did not die on the cross.

C. Each had a different function and these different jobs were all essential.

67. This is the way that it is in life.

68. We all have different purposes.

69. If we are going to fulfill God’s will, we must know our role and fulfill it.

70. Some men would rather turn the leadership over to women. This is wrong.

71. Some women want a leadership role in the local congregation. This too is wrong.

72. Women and men should be working side by side. There is equality in Christ.

73. With equality comes different responsibilities.

74. We show our love and respect for God by following what we find in the New Testament.]

75. Are we committed to living by God’s word? Have we become a Christian?