1 Timothy 4:6-6:2: Order in the Church

Introduction

This first letter to Timothy continues in almost a similar manner to how it began. Paul will address Timothy personally and encourage him to continue in godliness as a leader in the Church. And then he will once again address various groups in the church. In the previous section Paul was concerned with how people were to act in the church. In this passage he’s concerned with how they should treat each other - particularly from a leadership and pastoral perspective.

Once again, the dominant theme behind all these passages is that Paul wants Christian and Church behavior to reflect positively to the outside world. No matter the time or culture, the Church should never be brought into disrepute by the actions of its members and leaders.

1 Timothy 4:6-16

Paul personally addresses Timothy here and in particular encourages him. The section can be summed up in the phrase, “Train yourself for godliness”. If Timothy (and everyone) can keep that up, the rest will follow.

The first thing Paul says is, “If you put these things before the brothers [and sisters]...” this implies a gentle way of teaching. Some of the things Paul has just given Timothy to teach might be “tough pills to swallow” for people in the church. The answer is to “put it before them” not “force it down their throats”.

In doing so, Timothy will be a good servant of Christ Jesus - humble, gentle, and kind. It’ll be clear that he also knows what he’s talking about.

Paul then warns Timothy not to get caught up in “irreverent, silly myths”. We learned in the first chapter that this was becoming a real problem in the church at Ephesus. People were caring, and arguing, about pointless stuff. Paul wants Timothy to be different, a better “example”.

Instead of wasting time, Timothy is encouraged to “train yourself for godliness”, a command that should resonate with all believers.

Paul contrasts this with bodily training. Exercising and treating our bodies well is a good thing and important (remember, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit!). But it is ultimately temporary. Spiritual training, or godliness, even better because it’s valuable in “every way”.

As Paul says elsewhere, “Outwardly we are wasting away, but inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” If we’re getting a “physical workout” in every day, but not a “spiritual workout”, we’re doing ourselves a disservice.

Why is godliness important? Because it is ultimately the whole point of our faith. It is our “confession” as Paul says in the previous chapter. It is why we “toil and strive” through life.

Following the ways of the flesh and sin is easy. Fighting it is difficult. But we do it - because we have our hope in the living God who is transforming us into his image.

Timothy is told to “command and teach these things”. But for the Church leader, Paul is far more concerned with their conduct. Because conduct often teaches more than words do.

We aren’t sure how “young” Timothy was. In the ancient world this could be applied to someone as old as 40! Nonetheless he was obviously young enough for some people to look at him with suspicion. Just as Paul encourages Timothy not to let that hinder him, it should be a good reminder for the church not to totally discount “young” people in the church.

Timothy is to set an example in “speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity”

Speech - love it or hate it, church leaders have to watch their tongues and be a good example to the flock. This goes beyond more than just ‘cussing’. How can we tell people not to gossip, lie, make crude jokes, if their leaders can’t do it themselves?

Conduct - Similar to speech. Christians will learn how they ought to behave from their leaders. If leaders aren’t living godly lives, why should the flock? Or how can they even learn to be godly themselves?

Love - This is “agape” or “God-level love”. This is the highest form of love because it is a service love. No matter how other treat us, we treat them with the utmost love and respect.

Faith - this is loyalty to Christ at all times and situations. Christian leaders have to guide the church through hard times. They can’t abandon the post. If the captain abandons ship, what hope do the passengers have?

Purity - abiding the highest standards of Christ. Living a life so good that the world has to notice. The Roman Governor Pliny wrote in a letter to the Emperor describing Christians living in his territory like this: “They are accustomed to bind themselves by an oath to commit neither theft, nor robbery, nor adultery; never to break their word; never to deny a pledge that has been made when summoned to answer for it.”

When our leaders live out these things they are not just setting a “good example”, they are also eliminating room for criticism - both themselves and the Church.

Paul also wants Timothy to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” No matter what a pastor does for a church, it’s hard to go wrong with those three things. They should also be a regular part of all Christian gatherings.

With all of this in mind, Paul wants Timothy to continue “practicing and immersing” himself in them. Why? Not just personal benefit: “that all may see your progress”.

And with that comes a warning: watch yourself and your teaching. Every Christian leader, especially those who teach, need to be humble that they don’t fall into the camp of those who think they “know” everything and stop growing. And when we stop growing, we start dying. Which is why Timothy (and us) are told to “Persist in this”.

The bottom line is this: Ministry is hard, and being a leader in the Church is difficult. It takes a lot of wisdom, perseverance, and humility. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen.

We’ll see that for this reason Paul gives extra consideration to leaders who do this well

While also warning Timothy to not be hasty in appointing leaders

1 Timothy 5:1-6:2

Now that Paul has instructed Timothy personally, he now wants to turn to the treatment of various groups within the church. Many of these are culturally specific, but the guiding principals are timeless: Treat and care for each other with love and in ways that won’t make the church look bad or suspicious.

The first command deals with men and women of all ages

Older Men: One of the hardest things to do is to confront an older man. It is even more so if it’s coming from a younger man. It’s important that older men stay humble in this, but it is more important that that they be treated with respect. Paul even says that instead of rebuke, encourage. Treat them like a father.

In the same way, treat everyone else as mothers, brothers, and sisters - since in Christ that is what we are. Our treatment of one another should be “in all purity” - or as we saw earlier, the highest form of integrity.

Notice that we’ll probably behave differently with each group - I talk to my sister different than I talk to my mother! But nonetheless, they are both family and I ought to treat them well.

The majority of this section deals with widows

In the early church widowhood was clearly a problem that needed to be addressed, and so Paul attempts to establish a system within the church that helps those most in need, while also encouraging the more “fortunate” widows to play their own roles, and also to rely on their families, rather than the church, as much as possible

This is a good template that churches can use to help a myriad of “less fortunate” groups that may be common in their particular context.

In this case “true widows” (those who had nobody else) were to be especially honored and taken care of.

Paul commends these women who were “left all alone” as those who in turn “has set her hope on God” and continues in supplications and prayers. The people who seem most destitute in this world are often the ones who have a closer relationship with God, because they must rely on Him more!

Paul’s chief concern for these women however is that they might become “self-indulgent” - focusing more on what they could get from the Church rather than what they could give to the Church.

Interestingly, at one point this led to a time in the early church when at least 2 of these widows would be appointed to be in continuous prayer for the church, and at least 1 widow would be tasked with keeping tabs on the needs of the community - communicating to the elders when they arose.

Age was also a guiding factor here: they had to be at least 60. In that culture, like in many, they didn’t believe that someone could be worthy of handling spiritual matters until they were 60 (hence why Timothy was probably looked down upon in his own role). This was also the age Paul probably knew most widows would be unlikely to remarry.

These women, like anyone cared for by the church, must have demonstrated good Christian character:

Wife of one husband, like elders and deacons

Reputation for good works

Brought up children: biologically or adoptively. The point stands that how they’ve raised those in the community should be outstanding.

Hospitality: opened their homes to those in need

Washed the feet of the saints: literally and figuratively, how have they served the body?

Cared for the afflicted and devoted to good work: demonstrated godly behavior to those most in need

In contrast to “true widows”, Paul also addresses other widows who may be in ‘better” spots and probably shouldn’t be the focus of the churches time and finances.

The first are those who have children and grandchildren who can take care of them. They should focus on training their families in the ways of godliness while be cared for by them.

The other group is younger widows. Paul is just matter of fact here: Many of these widows may ‘swear’ to lifelong widowhood in the aftermath of their husband’s death.....but usually they found themselves wanting to get remarried again. Breaking this “vow to Christ” was one of the worst things they could do. So following Christ’s command “not to take vows”, he simply tells these women they should probably remarry.

This has several outcomes, all of which will help keep women from becoming busybodies and therefore vulnerable to certain sins - all of which would “give the adversary occasion for slander” and cause some to “stray after Satan”, both things Paul wants to avoid.

Culturally this exact situation may not totally resonate with us, but the truth of the text is this: if we don’t keep ourselves focused on godly activities, the devil will take advantage. Temptation is strongest when we let our guard down.

An overarching principal is found in the last two verses of this section: women should take care of their relatives who are widows, allowing the Church to focus its care on those who are really in need.

The church isn’t meant to be able to financially care for ever single person. It’s just not possible. The church must prioritize the people within its community and with wisdom and prayer decide who should be taken care of. It’s the responsibility of each believer to take care of those whom they can - particularly if they are related to them. And finally, anyone who is taken care of my the church is expected serve the church in return.

The next group Paul draws attention to is the elders again. In this case, he wants the elders who do a really good job to be “doubly honored” - particularly if they are the pastors dedicated to preaching and teaching.

John Chrystostom, a legendary church preacher, once said, “Preaching really entails hard work. This fact Paul made plain when he said, “Let the presbyters who rule well be held worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.” But you are responsible for making this toil light or heavy. If you despise my words or, though you do not despise them, do not embody them in your deeds, my toil will be heavy, because I am laboring fruitlessly and in vain. But if you pay attention and make my words manifest in your deeds, I shall not even be aware of the perspiration, for the fruit produced by my work will not permit me to feel the laboriousness of the toil.”

The implication of this “honor” is also monetary. A pastor has a right to get paid for his work - however, like Paul, a pastor may choose to serve “for free”, as much as he is able to.

Charges against elders (and deacons, and church leaders in general) should be taken seriously, but they also should be backed up by the testimony of multiple witnesses (this is straight out of the OT).

Those who are caught in sin should, in most cases, be publicly rebuked. Leaders are held to higher standards, and if their sins aren’t publicly dealt with, nobody will take sin seriously (nor will people trust the Church). A godly leader will repent of his sins publicly before this needs to be done.

With this in mind, Paul strongly emphasizes (notices he charges Timothy in the presence of God, Christ, and Angels!) that all of this must be done with impartiality and without judging. God is impartial in judgement, and we must be, too. Emotions make this difficult - but it has to be pursued at all costs for the Church and its leaders to hold onto its credibility.

Some final miscellaneous commands for Timothy:

Don’t be hasty in the laying on of hands. This likely refers to ordination and placing people in leadership. The wrong people in leadership can wreak havoc in the church - it’s important to be wise and patient and select the right leaders.

The personal note of drinking wine for ailments - a personal plea by Paul for Timothy to keep himself physically strong. Too many pastors experience burnout and stretched too thin. They can’t be effective leaders if they are sick and haven’t slept in a week.

Don’t grow frustrated: it’s easy to feel like some people are getting “away” with their sin, while those who are doing good works are often overlooked. But all things will be manifested either now or at the last judgement.

The last group of people Paul talks about here are slaves. While slavery was different than the kind we think of, it was nonetheless not a good thing. But it was extremely common. If Paul had outright called for an abolition of slavery, the empire would have crushed the church in a moment.

And so he encourages Christian slaves to to treat their masters well - be the best slaves possible. This makes our God look good, and possibly may even convince them to become Christians, too.

On the other hand, if both slave and master are Christians, they should treat each other as brothers (see, Philemon). This theology would ultimately lead to the death of slavery in the Roman Empire (and pretty much everywhere Christianity has gone).

As it was, Paul didn’t want Christian slaves to “slack off” simply because their masters were also Christians. Instead, in true servant fashion, they should work their hardest for their “brothers”. This is all sound advice for Christian workers even today (even though thankfully we are not treated like slaves).

Conclusion

Whatever your position in the church, whether a leader or a layperson, the goal is still the same: godliness. This is going to look different in every cultural context, but it is what we “strive and toil” for. It should impact how we treat each other, above all with love and purity, just as Christ treats us. And the outcome of our behavior should always be a positive one - not giving outsiders, or the devil, a foothold to criticize or attack the Church.