Paul's Pastoral Letters (2)

1 Timothy 2

Old Testament lesson Proverbs 3:1–7 “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”

1 Timothy 2 .1-8“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

Paul begins this chapter by saying that prayers should be made for all people. He lists four different types of prayer.

1. Petitions or supplications, these might be based on a particular need or problem that is being faced by the church or a particular person.

2. General prayers that might be approaching God for something needed or wanted.

3. Prayer as in an intimate conversation, a prayer of confession or a prayer that is personal and not wanted to be shared.

4. Prayers of thanksgiving.

For all people; There are some who would argue and say that only those who are predestined to salvation, that our prayers should be only for believers, but Paul definitely says all. Two scriptures that would verify this would be;

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” and

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

For kings and those in authority. When Paul was writing this his readers would have been ruled by kings and Caesar. Today in our country we have elected officials. His readers would have hesitated to pray for them and we would often hesitate to pray for our elected leaders. But Paul gives reasons for praying for our leaders.

1. So that we might have a quiet life.

2. So that there is preservation of godliness. The ability to worship God which could be taken away.

3. That there might be peace in the land as opposed to constant war.

4. So that law might prevail. Without law there can be no peace.

There are two quotes that I will share to illustrate this;

Justin Martyr: We worship God alone, but in all other things we gladly serve you, acknowledging kings and rulers of men, and praying that they may be found to have pure reason with kingly power.

Theophilus of Antioch: The honor that I will give the Emperor is all the greater because I will not worship him, but I will pray for him. I will worship no one but the true and real God, for I know that the emperor was appointed by him.

These two have a good handle on how we should pray for our leaders, but worship God alone. When we pray and honor God it is an act of worship.

All people might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth that there is one God and one mediator between God and man. Jesus died on the cross giving of himself to pay the price for our sin. One mediator, we don’t need to pray to saints or any other. Jesus is the one. If we pray to anyone else we reduce Jesus as our priest.

Hebrews 4:14–15 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

Paul claims four offices;

1. Herald; to proclaim the truth, not his own message but from Jesus.

2. Witness; what Christ did for Paul personally by revealing himself to Paul on the Damascus Road changing his life from persecutor to proclaimer.

3. Envoy; take the good news to the Gentile nations.

4. Teacher; leading men to the understanding of facts.

Paul addresses men in verse 8. He desires for men to pray in every place, in the home, in the church, when traveling. I think that this applies to women as well.

One way of praying is to stand with out stretched arms with the palms lifted upward. Tertullian one of the early church fathers said that this was to remember Christ on the cross.

2. Lifting holy hands, this looks back to the law, hands that have not touched forbidden things, still a good thing to do.

3. Without anger There are several scriptures that speak to this; they make it clear that we need to forgiven if we expect to be forgiven.

Matthew 5:24 “leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Matthew 18:35 ““This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.””

One of the earliest Christian books on public worship is the “Didache” written about AD 100. It has the following statement; “Let no one who has a quarrel with his neighbor come to us, until they are reconciled.” Bitterness in a man’s heart is a hindrance to prayer.

4. Don’t doubt; We need to believe that God answers prayer. If we don’t believe that God hears and answers our prayers. Then prayer is an exercise in futility.

In verse 9 Paul turns his attention to women. He states that he wants them to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with elaborate hairstyles and gold or pearls or expensive clothes. In his commentary, William Barclay, quotes the Roman historian, Pliny, who tells of a bride, “Lollia Paulina”, whose wedding dress cost approximately $500,000 in today’s money. Paul suggests that they adorn themselves with good deeds appropriate for women who profess faith in Christ.

Women in that time in history did not have a very good place in society. In Jewish law a woman was considered to be property, first of her father and then of her husband. An unmarried woman whose father died would be under the care of a brother. Women were forbidden to learn the law as the men did. In worship they were segregated. they were expected to have children, raise them and send the males to synagogue school. They were expected to attend to domestic concerns and leave their husbands free to study in the Jewish schools. I read about some of these schools where the Rabbis and followers would debate the meaning of words, sometimes spending weeks on one word so that they were satisfied that they were correct in their interpretation. The wife would be keeping the house for him until he returned.

According to the Jewish law a strict Rabbi would not greet a woman in public, not even his wife.

Greek women were confined to their house, even to a separate apartment within the house that only her husband could enter.

Paul states that a woman should learn in quietness and full submission. He does not permit a woman to teach or assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. That is the second time he has said quiet. Let us recall that one of the places that Paul spent much time was Ephesus. This was where the temple of Diana or Artemis was located. There were 1000 priestesses that served in the temple. Part of the worship involved sexual relations with these women. sometimes they would even go out into the city to recruit men to engage in their form of worship. When we think of their influence in the city we can understand why Paul wanted women to be quiet and dress modestly. There needs to be a difference between women who worship God and those who worship human creations. Had the women engaged in public teaching there could have been some confusion. Paul justifies his teaching by saying that Adam was formed first and was not the one deceived. Blaming Eve for being the one who introduced sin. I cannot argue the idea, however Adam was there. As the head of the family he should have helped Eve not to give in to the serpent and he certainly didn’t need to eat of the fruit himself. I won’t give him a pass on this. I would say that he is just as guilty as Eve. In Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—” Paul lays the sin on Adam.

Verse 15; women will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. This verse is one that has more questions and commentators don’t give a clear answer. Does it mean that bearing children will save a woman? Does this refer to her spiritually? Mary bore Jesus and in her bearing Jesus the whole world is affected. Does it mean that if she continues in faith, love, and holiness she will be saved physically or spiritually when she gives birth? I can’t answer those questions. I do think that Paul wants women to be faithful to God in their actions. To show the love of God in all of their actions , to live a holy life. This reminds me of the hymn; “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”

I want to look more closely at verse 12. Paul says that he does not permit women to teach or assume authority over a man. Some churches put emphasis on this verse and forbid women to be elders or pastors. There are other places in Paul’s writing that seem to be different. Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” No difference between male or female. Women have held leadership positions recorded in scripture. Think of Deborah who was one of the judges and a prophetess. She led the Israelites into battle. Mary the mother of Jesus, she certainly had a key position in scripture. remember that there were four women at the cross when Jesus was crucified, the only disciple there was John. The other disciples were in hiding, fearful for their lives. Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. Priscilla is mentioned as helping to train Apollos helping him to be a better leader.

Acts 18:26 “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.”

Paul mentions Euodia and Syntyche as being leaders in the church. He credits Timothy's mother and grandmother Lois and Eunice for training him Timothy to be the man that he became.

William Barclay says that we should not use this verse as a barrier to women’s service in the church in light of the Jewish and Greek background at the time of Paul’s writing.

Our denomination ECO recognizes God’s calling on women to serve in leadership positions in the church and I agree with that position.

God can certainly use anyone that he calls to serve him and it can be in many different ways. Is God calling or impressing you that he has something for you to do, a type of service that you have not yet begun? If so don’t put it off answer his call today.