1 Timothy 2

In Chapter 1, Paul gave Timothy his charge as the pastor of the church at Ephesus: To produce love from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. Chapter 1 is foundational- it states the goal of our ministry. In fact, this is one very simple way we could evaluate our ministries- are the believers in our flock becoming more and more loving people because their heart is pure, their consciences are good and their faith is sincere?

2:1 "First of all" - What is the 1st thing Paul talks about after the foundation of Chapter 1? PRAYER!

1First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

2for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Paul gives four different names to prayer:

1. Entreaties: An entreaty is an earnest or urgent request. (supplication)
   
2. Prayers: Communicating with a deity
   
3. Petitions: Formal message submitted to an authority
   
4. Thanksgivings

And in these modes of prayer, we are to pray "on behalf of all men" (v1) and "for kings and all who are in authority" (v2). In v2, we can infer that the early Christians were persecuted and Paul's instruction is to ask the Lord that the authorities would not persecute them. If Paul stopped here, we could conclude that he's the purpose of the prayers are so that Christian can have an easy life- "tranquil and quite" - to live out our faith.

Yes! God sees this as "good and acceptable"- but the purpose is not for our own comfort and easy living. Rather it is to the heart of God, "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." It always keeps on coming back to God's redemptive plan- that none should be lost. So when our prayers is the beginning of our ministry; the beginning of our part in God' redemptive work.

How are we to pray for "all men" and "authorities?" We pray earnestly, making urgent requests. Do you have a loved one, or friend, or co-worker, or acquaintance that for whom you are praying for their salvation? Is it not easy to lose that sense of urgency? It is not uncommon to be praying for years before we see God changing one's heart to accept Jesus as Savior. So we should continue praying earnestly and urgently to the Lord.

We are to remember we are praying to God- who is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, infinitely wise, full of grace and mercy. Reading the O.T., we see that the Israelites had a complete reverence for God when they were faithful to Him. Consider that no unclean person could enter God's presence without facing certain death! Through Christ, we may approach the Father in prayer directly, but let us now lose our reverence for Him when we pray. We are in fact communicating with the supreme being of the universe!

We are to pray formally- petitions. Similar to having reverence, we are to pray formally. Or to formally pray. Sometimes, I rationalize that our all knowing God already knows my prayer before I even pray, so I merely need to think the request and that's a prayer to him. You may laugh, but perhaps you too have rationalizations for a weak prayer life! It is good to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), yet we sometimes take that to mean that we do not have to stop everything and spend time with the Father in prayer and Jesus did.

Finally, we are to give thanks in our prayers!

If we go back and read v3, 4, continuing on through v5-6:

3This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

Verses 5-6 are a direct follow on from verses 3-4. God desires all me to be saved (v4)- for(v5) or "because"- and Paul again launches into the gospel message for the 2nd time in the first two chapters! There is one God and Christ is the one mediator between God and us and it is Christ who paid for our sins.

Verse 7, Paul re-emphasizes his own calling as a preacher and an apostle. Like in 1:1, Paul reiterates his being an apostle. Remember that some in the early church doubted Paul's apostleship. Finally, Paul is appointed as the teacher to the Gentiles "in faith and truth." A Jew appointed to be the teacher of the Gentiles, writing to a Gentile pastor, at a Gentile church in a predominantly Gentile city!

Verse 8- "Therefore"- here's the bottom line:

8Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, ifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Note that Paul says that he wants all the men in every place to pray. Not just the leader, or the mature Christians, but every man!

Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. This is a hard one to live up to. Notably, prayer meetings are usually not well attended. And in fact, prayer seems to often times get brushed to the side because there are so many things to take care of at church.

In summary of 1 Timothy 2:1-8, the first thing we must do in ministry, before anything else, is to pray. Our prayers are to be earnest and urgent, formal and in reverence to our God, and full of thanksgiving. Prayer is the first step of our evangelical disciple-making mission- whoever and wherever we are. But here, Paul instructs all men everywhere to pray in holiness and peace and unity with each other! Men, step up, kneel, and pray!

2:9 begins "Likewise, I want women..." So we see that the 1st part of this 1st step of ministry focused on the call for men to pray. Continuing on, still in the context of prayer, Paul instructs the women.
In verse 9, Paul instructs them to dress properly and modestly and discreetly. Rather, he encourages women to adorn themselves "by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness." Perhaps one's initial reaction is that Paul is a sexist! He's playing up the stereotype of women being concerned with vanity, some may say. Yet, we do see this being played out in modern societies where fashion and cosmetic vanity products are overwhelmingly targeted towards women. So the women today are not unlike the women of Paul's time, or the women at the Ephesian church.

Now, in 1 Timothy 2:11-15,

11A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

I believe that Paul's whole point of this controversial passage is that of headship. The keyword here is "for" in v13, just as it was in v5. Why is Paul saying this? The question here is not primarily of women teaching, but of headship. Who is the head of the marriage? head of the house? head of the church? head of the man? head of Christ?

Paul cites the creation order- Adam was created first, and Eve to be a helper. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul writes about the same topic:

1Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
2Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.
3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
4Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
5But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
6For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
8For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;
9for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. 10Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Here, we clearly see the issue of headship. In 1 Corinthians 11:3- Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. Now, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul presumes that women would be teaching(prophesying), but the woman having her head covered recognizes that the man is her "head." Prophesying is

Back in 1 Timothy 2:14, Paul points out that it was not Adam that was deceived, but the woman, Eve. Note that Paul is not putting Eve down because she was deceived! In Genesis 3:13, Eve herself said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." I ate is equivalent to, "I sinned." Paul said, "fell into transgression."

But Paul points out the "salvation" (presevered/saved) of women in v15 "through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint." The latter part of this verse must sound so familiar, for in Chapter 1 Paul charged Timothy that the goal of their teaching was love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Here, Paul says virtually the same thing! Women are to continue growing in love, as instructed in Chapter 1, and raise their children likewise. The bottom line here is that Paul is instructing women to disciple their children with the same goal as Timothy- love.

In Chapter 3, Paul lays out the structure and qualifications of leadership of the church. In Chapter 2, he points out the most important thing. "First things first," so to speak, and that is prayer. Further, Paul is clearly defines the order of men and women in the church for he will next teach about the leaders of the church.