With this post we will be skipping ahead a few chapters. Remember we are just hitting on a few things as we read through these letters over the next couple weeks. Please take time to look as the passages further to glean from them all you can. Below is a look at chapter 5 of first 1st tim. We will have one more 1st tim post then on to 2nd tim. Feel free to leave your thoughts here as a comment because if something connects to you it’s always worth sharing.

1 Timothy 5:1-16

TAKING CARE OF FAMILY

The church is a family.  Each true church member is a child of God, having been born again. John 1:12-13

Just as it is important that we take of our families at home, it is also important that we take care of our church families as well.

1 Timothy 5:1-16 talks about the way we should treat each other as church family members, and how we should treat a very important segment of the church family, widows.

RESPECT – Vss. 1-2

Timothy, Paul’s protégé, was probably between thirty and forty years old.  He was told to treat everyone with respect, especially those whom he needed to correct.  When someone does something to anger or disturb us, this is when it is most difficult to deal with the problem and to show respect.

Elders, older men, were to be appealed to as fathers.

Younger men were to be appealed to as brothers.

Older women were to be appealed to as mothers.

Younger women were to be appealed to as sisters, in all purity.

RESPONSIBILITY – Vss. 3,4,8,16

Vs. 3 – In the church the needs of widows were attended to from the very beginning. In fact, the first church dispute on record was about the care of widows. Acts 6

God is concerned for the widow. Deuteronomy 10:18, Isaiah 1:17

Vs. 4 – When a widow can not take care of herself, the first line of help is the family.  The

word ”nephews” actually refers to grandchildren.

Vs. 8 – A person who does not care of his own family is worse than an unbeliever.

Vs. 16 – The church has a responsibility to meet the needs of widows. But, the primary

responsibility of the church is to care for “widows indeed”. Widows indeed have

no one else to care for them.

REQUIREMENTS – Vss. 5-7, 9-10

There are certain requirements for being “widows indeed”.

• She has no means of taking care of herself. Vs. 5
• She is a believer, trusting in God. Vs. 5
• She is a lady who continues in prayer. Vs. 5
• She needed to be at least 60 years old and only married once. Vs. 9
• She was to have a good reputation. Vs. 10
• She was to be a doer of good works. Vs. 10

RESTRICTIONS – Vss. 11-15

Vss. 11-12 – Younger widows were not ready for the full time service to Christ that a Godly widow was to perform.  Eventually they would marry, and bring judgment upon themselves.

Vs. 13 – Younger women would also have a tendency to get lazy and become “tattlers” and busybodies”.

Vs. 14 – Younger women were to remarry.

The point of focus in this post may be the clear idea of the passage but at times we will focus on a verse or two. Please explore the chapter as a whole and if you wish try reading both books daily. Three people were timed reading both and it’s about 10 to 15 minutes. Thats less time then the total length of commercials in an hour long T.V. show. Or the time many of you will stand in line at starbucks or chipotle today. I hope if your reading this that you will give me feed back on how the readings have affected you and your day.

1 Timothy 2:8-15

ORDER IN THE CHURCH

1 Corinthians 14:33 - For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

The context of 1Timothy 2:8-15 is public worship.  In verses 1-7 Paul had given a challenge to prayer. Now, he gives some behavioral instructions, for the sake of order, to men and women for behavior during the church services.

ACTION – Vs. 8

The specific challenge is to the men in the congregation, but this does not excuse women from praying as well. I think that the words, In like manner also in verse 9 show us there is a place for women to pray in the church.

This word everywhere means in every place. That is, wherever the church is gathered men should be praying.

Concerning public prayer, we need to see happen what happened in the first century church. Acts 4:31

This action of prayer is to by men who lift up holy hands.

I want to emphasize that our hands are to be spiritually clean when we pray.

The word holy here means unpolluted.

This means that the person who prays should have no unjudged sin in the life.

He should not be professing one thing on Sunday, and living in ungodliness the rest of the week. Psalm 66:18

The action of public prayer is also to practiced without wrath.

When we pray there should be no anger. James 1:20

The action of prayer is also to be without doubting.

The word doubting here means “disputations, reasonings, skeptical questions or criticisms.”

ACTION

ADORNMENT

Vs. 9 – The word “adorn” means “to order or arrange”. The women were to order or arrange their clothes in a modest way. The word “modest” means decent or orderly.

“Shamefacedness” means modest, ” the avoiding of extremes”.

The Christian woman is not to go to extremes of wearing sensual or suggestive clothes. Nor is she to go the extreme of trying to look artificially glamorous. Nor is she to go to the extreme of purposely trying to look drab or dull.

Sobriety simply means to have good sense. Thus the Christian woman is to dress sensibly.

This next phrase not with broided hair, or gold or pearls, or costly array: is not outlawing hair-styles, or jewelry or expensive clothes. He is simply saying that the effort a woman makes should not be towards these things.

A Christian woman should strive to look modestly attractive for the glory of God, but she should not go to extremes in hairstyle, clothes or jewelry.

Vs. 10 – Here, Paul is telling the ladies what the major emphasis should be in their lives concerning adornment.  Instead of concentrating on clothes, and jewelry and hairdo, they are to concentrate on that which is becoming of a woman who is a professing Christian.

Your life is to be adorned with good works! Examples: Martha, Dorcas, Phoebe, Lydia

ATTITUDE – Vs. 11

These next verses will not throw you if you understand the context.

The context is not the superiority of men and the inferiority of women. Galatians 3:27-28

In Jewish and Greek culture of Paul’s day women had few rights. They were often mistreated.  And yet God has always wanted women to have positions of honor within the family and church. Proverbs 31:30, 1 Peter 3:7, 1 Timothy 5:3

The context of this passage is order. There are certain things God prescribes for the sake of order.

The woman is to learn quietly. She is not to cause a “stir”.  She is not to be leaning over, whispering, asking questions of her husband. She is not be leaning over, talking, taking issue with what the preacher is saying. When participation is asked for by the speaker in a public meeting, I feel that the ladies have just as much right to participate as the men.

The woman is to learn in subjection. It is the same word used for a woman’s subjection to her husband in Ephesians 5:22.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

This word is a military word that means to “rank under”.

A woman learns submissively in church and follows the leadership of her husband, not because she is inferior, but because God has decided for the sake of order, she is outranked.

AUTHORITY – Vss. 12-14

Vs. 12 – God has ordained that in the church the men are to practice leadership.

Therefore the ladies are not to teach men in the public meetings of the church.  Remember public meetings are the context.

Should women teach?

Why, of course!

Ladies can teach children fellow ladies certain practical truths better than any man can. Titus 2:3-5

And, on a one to one basis, a woman can instruct a man in Bible truths, and yes I believe that a woman can instruct her husband in the private of their own home. Acts 18:24-26

Vss. 13-14 – We have two reasons for the order that God has established.

First, there is the reason of order. Man was formed before woman. Therefore, woman is to naturally follow man’s leadership.

Second, Eve was fooled by Satan. Adam was not, but sinned in the garden anyway.

By taking leadership over the man, she ate first and then gave to her husband to eat.”

ADVANTAGE – Vs. 15

This is a very difficult verse with many possible interpretations.

I do not believe that Paul is talking about salvation of the soul here.

But I do believe he is telling us something about the results of a woman’s ministry at home.

If a woman accepts her role in the church and leads a life of faith, love, holiness, and self-restraint, she will raise godly children. There is no greater privilege in the whole world than to bring up the next generation to the glory of God.

If the teachings in these verses are followed there will certainly be ORDER IN THE CHURCH.