1 Timothy 2

Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray


PAUL CALLS US TO PRAY (1 Timothy 2:1)

Prayer is the top priority of a church, of our personal lives -- Jesus didn't call His house a House of Preaching or anything else; He call it a House of Prayer (Matthew 21:13).

Pray for Supplication
Pray to have people's needs be met according to God's will. It isn't just about fulfilling selfish needs. It is about following God's will. For example, if a person is looking for a job, pray for him, not just that he gets a job but that he finds a job that would allow him to fulfill the will of God (bringing the Word to that particular community, etc.). 

Pray for Intervention
People need saving, so save them. Christians are walking away from the Lord, pull them back. Pray for the Holy Spirit to move hearts.

Prayer of Thanks
We don't just pray because we need things from God. Prayer is communication with God. When our prayers are answered, and we are thankful, we can pray a huge thanks and praise God!

The list above is is isn't an exhaustive list. There are prayers of adoration, prayer without any agenda, etc. Pray to just enjoy God's presence, to be in God's company.


PRAY FOR EVERYONE: OUR LEADERS, FRIENDS, FOES (1 Timothy 2:2)

Pray for everyone. Friends. Enemies. Leaders of our nation.

Paul wrote this letter when Nero was the king. He was the king that burned down Jerusalem and blamed it on the Christians, who were then persecuted because of his faulty accusations.

We see that despite being under horribly corrupted leadership, Paul continued to pray for Nero, the leader of the nation. Why? Because all authorities are appointed by God (Romans 13:1). Not some. ALL. Yes, there are corrupted leaders all over the world. God did not appoint them to be corrupted leaders. God appointed them to lead well, but they did not, and they will have to answer to God on Judgment Day. And just because we have a horrible dictator above us does not mean we can get away with disrespecting them. God will hold us accountable for our submission not just to God but also the leaders He has appointed us. Besides, disrespecting our "enemies" is not a Christ-like method to solve our problems. Jesus never once disrespected the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders, or Caesar. He submitted to their authorities, although He always tried to teach them about God's way.


WE PRAY BECAUSE IT IS GOOD (1 Timothy 2:3)

Why pray? Because prayer is good. It is acceptable to God. It is pleasing to God.


THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF ALL PRAYERS IS SALVATION (1 Timothy 2:4)

As mentioned above, we don't just pray for things that we want. We pray for things accomplished that lead to salvation, to doing God's will. We pray not only that we will receive answers but that we will be closer to God.

It is God's will to save all. Some may ask, Why doesn't He just force us all to accept him then? God will not force His desires upon us at the cost of making us into robots. When God made us in His image, we received free will. And with free will, we get to CHOOSE whether or not we want to be saved.


IN GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, HE CONDEMNS SIN
IN GOD'S LOVE, HE PROVIDES SALVATION
(1 Timothy 2:5-6)

There is only one mediator: Jesus. Not Mary. Not saints. Only Jesus. Only Jesus died on the Cross for us. No one else did. And even if someone wanted to try, he wouldn't be good enough. Because only Jesus was the perfect man that was the Lamb of God. Only His blood was pure enough to cleanse our sins forever.


SUBMIT TO ONE ANOTHER OUT OF REVERENCE FOR CHRIST (EPHESIANS 5:21)

As mentioned above, we are taught to submit to all levels of authority (Romans 13:1). It has to do with STRUCTURE. Without structure, there is chaos. Paul elaborates on this point in Ephesians 5-6.

Throughout the Scriptures, we see how Jesus showed submission to the authorities. For example, when Jesus went down to the Temple with His earthly parents (Joseph and Mary) as a child, He obeyed the wishes of His parents (Luke 2:51).

Ephesians 5:21
We are to submit to one another because we submit first to God.

This is the key to understanding the rest of God's order, especially in terms of the gender roles set by God.


THERE IS ORDER IN THE CHURCH (1 Timothy 2:8-15)

Here is the gist:
1. We FIRST submit to Jesus.
2. Then, we understand how to submit to one another.

Key: Submit to one another. That is, there is no equality issue. No one is better than another. Every one of us has a role to fill, and the body functions because we all do our jobs.

Based on the above, Jesus is the head, who placed men as leaders of the Church.

Men should lead prayers (1 Timothy 2:8)

Men who lead prayers need to have holy hands. HOLY. That is, they need to lead holy lives. Their testimonies have to match with how they live. They can't get up and pray piously but go on to live their lives poisonously.

They are to lead prayers without wrath. Control anger and lead with love.

They are to lead prayers without doubting, pray faith-filled prayers. Remember what Jesus says whenever He heals someone? "Your faith has healed you." When we doubt, the truth is not in us. And if the truth is not in us, why would we expect doubtful prayers to be answered?


This passage is not saying that women can't pray. There are plenty of passages throughout the Bible that show us that women pray. We should all pray, but men are the leaders of the Church and so should lead public prayers.



We are all equal in God 

As a side note, it is so important to note that having men lead prayers but not women is not about a matter of value but order. This is the same idea that a general is in charge of the brigade, but that doesn't make him better than a captain as a human being!

Where did this order come from? When God first created man and woman -- Adam and eve! Why did they fall? There was breakdown in the structure. Adam was not acting as a spiritual head, and Eve took over.

In the fall and even now during the fall, there are many guys who refuse to lead, and women who refuse to support their men. There is contention.


Many women are offended by Biblical passages that stress women's roles as men's helpers. They think this is sexism and find it disgusting.

Well, frankly, these women clearly do not understand what submitting to God means. Let us check that pride and humble our hearts.

Christianity has liberated more women than any other movement in history. Back during Jesus's time, women were property. Their place in society was lower than slaves. Men did not talk to women in public, not even to their wives or daughters.

Jesus, however, spoke gently to women. He gave them critical roles in His ministry. Deborah was raised as the only female judge of Israel. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared first to women, even though back then women's testimonies don't mean anything! Jesus freed women, recognizing them in society as PEOPLE!

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.

Neither male nor female!

Clearly, Paul is not stressing the value between man versus woman. He is stressing the ORDER of God.

Paul has applauded women who were involved in his ministries, saying these women labored with him. He praised Priscella. He worked with women. He ministered with women!

Women should dress their inner beauty (1 Timothy 2:9-10)
Read the text with cultural considerations: This was written to church of Ephesus. Back then, the people of Ephesus worshiped a pagan goddess. One of the ways of their worship was for women to get dolled up with braided hair, dressed with gold, pearls, and expensive cloths to seduce the men to worship the idol.

Paul's bigger point here isn't to tell women what to wear and what not to wear. He is warning us all: Do not let the pagan culture influence the way we dress.

Using women as an example, we should watch how we present ourselves: Expose our inner beauty (which is eternal) as opposed to dressing up the flesh (which is ephemeral).

1. Dress honorably
Do not dress in a way that draws to physical beauty. Do Not dress to seduce.

Paul talked about braided hair and gold and pearls. Are these bad? As always, it's about the HEART. Did we braid the hair to be presentable (as opposed to looking like a slob) or to seduce? Both types of dress code have braided hair but only one has the right heart. It's not about what we wear. It's about our heart.

Matthew 5:28
Jesus taught that when men look even lustfully at women, they have committed adultery. (Again, it's the heart condition that Jesus is addressing here. Our heart condition is reflected in our behavior.) Since we are taught not to cause each other to stumble (1 Corinthians 8:9; Romans 14:13), why would godly women choose to dress in a way that would cause their fellow brothers to stumble? They wouldn't.

This is the same idea as no one would take an alcoholic friend to a bar!

2. Dress modestly
Don't dress in a way that draws ourselves to our social setting. Gold was weaves into their braids to make a statement: I have made it to the high society. I'm well to do. Look at me!

Do not dress to bring glory to ourselves. Dress to bring glory to God. (It thus goes without saying that we shouldn't dress like a slob either...)

The real beauty is inside, which shines through good works. Let our outward dress match our inward dress.

Women are just as important in a church as men
Can a woman speak at church? Can a woman teach? Can a woman have authority in a church?

1 Timothy 2:11
1 Corinthians 14:34
"A woman should learn in quietness and full submission."

Two WRONG understandings:

1. Ultra conservative misunderstanding
Women should not utter a word at church. They don't pray. They don't prophesy. They don't teach. They are given no position of responsibility in the church except with children or other women to teach women how to be better women and housewives. No woman can be ordained. They cannot be pastors or any other position of spiritual leadership.

2. Ultra liberal understanding
These passages are old school and in the past. Paul was only speaking to a particular culture during his time, and his comments no loner apply to our culture today.

Looking at the culture back then, Paul, of course, is speaking to the culture. However, these Scriptures are God-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16). Anything that God has to teach us, it's in the Bible. God's words are TIMELESS.

If we pick and choose which ones are timeless and which ones are not, where do we draw the line? If we learn anything about God, we should learn this: God's standards have no gray areas. We are either righteous or sinful. There is no maybe. If there was a maybe, WHY THE HECK DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE ON THE CROSS?!

God means what He says and says what He means. He is straightforward, and He does not bend the Truth. ALL of God's Truth matches up PERFECTLY. If we have to squint to make sense of it, it is not because God speaks gray. It's because we are missing something. This is why we never stop studying the Bible. Because there is always a gem in the Word of God that will shed light on our current understand of the Word of God.

Creating gray areas due to our own inadequate understanding of the Word is just as dangerous as selectively allegorizing the text.

Let's look at this phrase together with 1 Corinthians 14:35.
"If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."

First, addressing the cultural aspect of this passage, men and women back then sat on different sides of the synagogues. Women would shout across the room to their husbands to ask a question. This was terribly disruptive during a service, to say the least.

Paul thus isn't saying, "Shut up and don't talk, women!" He's saying, Don't be disruptive during the sermons. Save the questions for the home.

The ultra liberal misunderstanding that states the above scenario no longer applies today thus take the stance that none of the above applies to how a church should be organized today as well.

Women have gained much more status today. Yeah? To WHOM?

We need to realize that since day one, since God created Adam and Eve, God has ALWAYS seen man and woman as EQUALS. It is unfortunate that man never saw it that way. Women today are finally getting the same level of respect from men that God has bestowed upon them SINCE THE BEGINNING.

So, to those who say that women have gained much more status today, yes, to MEN. To God, women have no more or no less status.

When Jesus came to free the oppressed, to free the women, we don't hear women fighting against it. However, when we hear God, speaking through His prophets, to remind us of God's order, of God's designed roles for men and women, all of a sudden, women hate the idea of being under men and want to rebel?

Check our pride at the door. It is never about us. It's always about God and God's will. God's standards are clear cut. We don't get to just pick the ones we like and spit out the ones we don't. That is called SIN, and Jesus came to free us from that. So, be freed. Be TRULY freed.

Let's get to the meat of the discussion: What do we learn from Paul here?

The word "silence" in this passage was translated from the Greek word that means quietness that is derived from PEACEABLENESS. UNDISTRUBING quietness. There is another Greek word that means absolute silence -- That word is not used here. Look back to 1 Timothy 2:2
"... that we may live PEACEFUL and quiet lives..."

The Greek word that is translated as SILENCE in 1 Timothy 2:11 is the same word that is translated as PEACEFUL.

As I always stress, whenever we are in doubt, refer to the ORIGINAL text. Looking the at Greek, we gain a new perspective: Paul asked for silence not in the sense of no talking. Paul asked for silence in the sense of no disruption.

That is, we should not be disruptive during church services. It is not that women cannot talk. It just so happens that back then, women were the ones who were causing the disruption (men ask wives questions far less than wives ask husbands questions).

Bottom line, women can speak and testify, just as the men can. Let us all learn in peace without causing disturbance or contention.

Men are spiritual leaders of the church

1 Timothy 2:12
Women were to learn without contention. Without contention with who? With the male spiritual leaders in the church. With God's order.

The greater idea here is not that women should not speak or teach or testify but that women should not break God's order -- and this applies to men as well.

By all means, women should minister! As mentioned above, Paul ministered along sisters in Christ, clearly proving to us that here, he is not supporting the notion that women have no role in the church.

However, women should minister UNDER GOD'S ORDER. Submit to God. And then, submit to GODLY men who are also under submission of God.

Obviously, Paul's comments do not address every detail that churches run into. Hence, pray for guidance. Each church differs from another and may run into different problems. However, as long as we are all under submission of God, God will guide each church along.

1 Timothy 2:15
"But women will be saved through childbearing -- if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."

This is a difficult phrase to understand, and there is no authoritative conclusion.

Some believe this is saying that women are saved through the physical act of child birth. Well, there are plenty of godly women who died during child birth. Some believe that this is saying that women are spiritually saved by child birth. What about those who are infertile? These theories all support the concept of salvation by works!

Some do take this to mean that women are saved in THE child birth -- the birth of Jesus Christ. They believe that since the woman first sinned, the woman will also bring forth Jesus.

As I have mentioned above, there is no authoritative conclusion on just which understanding is the correct understanding. We need to be careful about falling into false doctrines (such as salvation by works) or jumping to conclusions not supported by the Scripture. The above gives us an idea of the prominent theologies about this passage, but bear in mind that there is no firm conclusion.

Bottom line is, woman should be honored in the church just as men are. We should all work together as ONE in the body of Christ. We are a team. There is no contention between men and women. Heck, there is no contention between women and women or men and men! There should be no power struggle! It is not about fulfilling our selfish desires. It is about doing the work of God!