Prayers and Order in the Church- 1 Timothy 2

We are addressing two important subjects in the life of the church: prayer and women. Any time a pastor addresses the subject of prayer, everyone, including the pastor, feels some guilt. Any time a pastor addresses the subject of women, his wife gently corrects him in private.

I kid, but honestly these two subjects are not the most enjoyable to discuss. For prayer, we find ourselves guilty of failing to pray as we ought. For women, the cultural issues surrounding this topic make is nearly impossible to address without some feelings of disagreement.

What I would like for us all to do is to assume the posture of a learner, to sit, as it were, at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and listen as He teaches us through His apostle Paul. What I would like to do, rather than discourage you, is to hold the wonders of prayer out to you and I, and to be encouraged to pray more, not out of guilt, but out of sheer delight.

I would also like to hold out God’s Word on women as a godly ideal, a goal, rather than an impediment on women’s progress.

My prayer is that we will be a praying and proper Church. That starts with you, as an individual, and spreads throughout our congregation.

I. The Necessity and Privilege of Prayer- 2:1-8

We start with prayer for that is where the apostle starts. Although all of us know what prayer is, I think it will be helpful to offer a brief definition to keep in mind as we work through this portion. A simple definition of prayer is

“Prayer is simply communicating with God.”

While it is much more than this, it is certainly not less than this. Paul expands upon the subject of prayer by describing its necessity and its privilege.

A. The Command to Pray—its forms and its focus- 2:1-2, 8

“First of all,” Paul says, prayer should be made for all men. He expands prayer to more than simple communication, he offers very specific forms we are to pray. He says entreaties, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered on behalf of all men.

Forms of Prayer

While there are different emphases with each word, they all convey the idea of asking God or praying to God for things or for people. A helpful book for this is Matthew Henry’s A Way to Pray.

The forms of our prayers, specifically in the church, should include entreaties, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving for all people. We should not only pray for physical deliverance. We should not only prayer for financial well-being. We should pray for spiritual things, too.

Imagine if you, as a parent, had a child that only asked you for physical things. Would it not cause you to feel used? Imagine how our Lord feels when He hears us pray. Let us pray for more than physical things, not less!

Focus of Prayer

Paul expands our focus of prayer for “all men.” Now, this does not mean every single human alive. We could easily render this “all kinds of men,” and as we see Paul does this by offering these additional descriptions: kings and all who are in authority. We pray for the church, certainly, but we should also pray for our leaders. Paul was writing in the first century, and the Romans were in power.

B. The Specifics of Prayer—including leaders in authority- 2:1-2

While wide-spread persecution had not taken place yet, it was not uncommon. Tacitus, a Roman historian who lived around the time Paul did, wrote this,

“Nero charged and tortured some people hated for their evil practices—the group popularly known as ‘Christians’…In their deaths they were made a mockery. They were covered in skins of wild animals, torn to death by dogs, crucified or set on fire—so that when darkness fell they burned like torches in the night.”

These are the people Paul commanded, under the Holy Spirit, to pray for. But these prayers were purposeful.

C. The Purpose of Prayer—to lead a life of godliness- 2:2-3

We pray for our leaders in order to live godly lives. We pray for peace, but typically we focus more on the absence of war. Paul encourages us by redirecting our goals to godliness.

D. The Encouragement to Prayer—God saves sinners- 2:5-7

Then Paul makes a remarkable statement: God saves sinners, all kinds of sinners. Kings and leaders, peasants and pions. God loves all kinds of people, of which we see the ultimate expression of this in Galatians 3:28-29- Jew, Greek, slave or free, male or female

E. The Failure of Most Churches—men are called to pray- 2:8

The failure, as we see in the life of the church, is that the majority of church servants are the ladies. Men are called to take the lead in the home and in the church. Let these Scriptures, men, encourage you to pray more. Listen to Charnock,

“A holy soul doth so delight in this duty, that if there were no command to engage him, no promise to encourage him, he would be stepping into God’s courts; he thinks it not a good day that passeth without some intercourse with God.”—Stephen Charnock

II. The Model and Mission of Women- 2:9-15

Paul continues to offer instruction on how one should conduct themselves in the house of God (i.e., the church), and elaborates on the role of women (we will see a few more in the second half of this letter).

A. The Model of Modesty- 2:9-10

Paul offers the model for modesty. Looking nice and presentable is not wrong, it is when we seek to draw undue attention to ourselves that we become immodest. Your style of dress will match your goals. If you, ladies, are wanting to be godly, you will be adorned with “proper clothing, modestly and discreetly…by means of good works.”

B. The Mission of Submission- 2:11-14

Paul then commands the women to quietly receive instruction with all submission. This is unpopular today, but that is okay. Most of the teachings of Scripture are. Now, there is much that needs to be said about this. First, Paul is dealing with order in the church (what I call “direction for the church”). In this setting, the pastors/elders lead the church in worship to the Lord. It is in this specific setting that women are forbidden to exercise authority over men. It is in this specific setting that women are to listen. We will see in the coming weeks, Lord willing, what women can do in the church (of which there is much).

As a side note, let me just say that, though this is sad to admit, if it were not for women the church would not be what it is.

Second, this does not mean that women cannot speak in church. It is a particular period, the pastor/elder lead instruction in the Word of God. This is when, as Paul instructs, the woman is to learn in silence. It follows that men should keep silence as well (cf. 1 Cor. 14 for more treatment of this idea within a different situation).

Paul’s reasoning is built on the events of the Fall in Genesis 3:1-19. The serpent, Satan, approaches Eve and lies to her. He deceives Eve and Eve falls into the trap. She is the first human to sin.

C. The Mercy of the Mediator- 2:5, 15

This passage is confusing, so we will spend a few minutes breaking it down.

To begin with, Christ is the only mediator between God and man (man being a comprehensive term including women). God, as you may also remember from verse 4, desires all kinds of people to be saved (and will save). Kings and peasants, men and women.

The punishment inflicted upon women for their sin in Genesis 3:6. Her punishment is found in Genesis 3:16 “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.””

The punishment is found in pain in childbirth. Having witnessed the births of four human beings (and Lord willing a fifth), I can attest that it is painful. It is a reminder, every time a woman gives birth, of the curse of God for the sin of cosmic treason (as R. C. Sproul calls it).

Stephen Charnock offers these helpful statements that clarify Paul’s words.

“God intended not in the acceptance of Christ’s mediation to remove in this life all the punishments denounced after the fall.” (403)

In other words, men still work by the sweat of our brows, the earth still stubbornly yields produce for our sustenance, and women, though saved, still endure pain in child birth.

Yet, the punishment is taken away. We are no longer judged, we are disciplined, and Charnock tells us this:

“The cord that binds the malefactor and a patient may be made of the same hemp, and a knife only go between; but it binds the malefactor to execution, the other to a cure.” (405)

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Men, this is a call for you to lead in prayer. Our church should be a church of balanced, God-glorifying focused, prayer.

Ladies, your mission is to glorify God with your lives, to follow the Scriptures teaching, and to remember that though you may experience (or, have experienced) the pain in childbearing, if God has saved you you are saved!