By: Dale Weckbacher
1 Timothy 2:1
I urge you, first of
all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God's mercy
upon them, and give thanks.
NLT
At the end of last Wednesday’s posting, I said this
Wednesday’s posting would be on how to worship God. I was mistaken and instead this lesson will
be on who we should pray for and a very controversial topic in the church
today, the role of women in the church. However,
before my female readers click on another web site, I urge you to stay with me
for many misinterpret the teaching of 1 Timothy 2 because they do not take it
in context and ignore the original language of the passage.
Praying for all
people:
1 Timothy 1:18 urges us as children of God to fight well in
the Lord’s battles. No army can fight
well in battle without communicating with its commanding general. In spiritual battle, our commanding general
is God. Jesus death, burial, and
resurrection opened the lines of communication for us by forgiving us of the
sin that separates us from God. As such,
we now have the privilege of communicating with God the Father. We can pray prayers of worship and adoration
as David did in the Psalms. We can also
pray for God to meet our needs. In fact,
God says we actually have lack in our lives because we fail to ask God for what
we need (James 4:2). Therefore, never
fear asking God for what you need for he is a good Father and delights in
meeting the needs of his people.
The prayer scripture speaks of in 1 Timothy 2:1, however, is
a call for prayers of intercession for others.
This passage urges us to pray for all people, even those that hate us,
and to pray for God’s mercy upon them and not harm. This is what separates Christianity from many
other religions that call upon their followers to wish evil or even harm upon
those not adopting their beliefs.
Instead, Christianity calls for followers to intercede calling upon God
to show those not adopting their beliefs mercy and for the Holy Spirit to point
them to Jesus Christ the source of their salvation.
1 Timothy 2:2 goes on to urge us to pray for those in
authority over us. This would include
not only those in government, but also those we work for in our employment as
well as those in church leadership. The
second part of verse 2 promises us that doing this leads to a life of peace and
quiet and a life lived in godliness and dignity.
1 Timothy 2:3-5 teaches us that these prayers of
intercession please God for God wants all to be saved. In other words, praying prayers of
intercession for our leadership and for those lost in their sins brings us into
agreement with the desire of Gods heart towards the lost and thus, pleases Him. This pleases God for He paid a great price to
purchase our salvation, the life of His Son Jesus Christ and is pleased when we
have as the desire of our hearts sharing this message with others (1 Timothy2:6-7).
I recommend making a list of people for which to
intercede. Include those in authority over
you in government, at work, and in your church.
Also, include people on your list that need Salvation. I then recommend setting aside time each day,
even if it is just a few minutes, to lift these people up to God in prayer.
Women in the Church:
1 Timothy 2:8-15 is a point of contention for women in the
Church, especially in our age of liberation for women. In fact, many women may even refuse to become
part of the church believing Christianity to be a sexist anti-women religion. However, when we take this passage in the
context of who it is written to and what was occurring in their church at the
time we can begin to understand what is being taught and will realize the
passage is not anti-women but anti false teaching and anti-usurping of authority.
As we read this passage, we must remember that this letter
is a letter of instruction to Timothy as he is ministering to the troubled
church in Ephesus. As we learned in 1Timothy 1, false teaching usurping the true teachings of the Gospel was attacking
the church in Ephesus. We also must
remember that the chapter separations in scripture did not exist in the
original writings and thus this letter to Timothy would remain consistent with
what we read in chapter 1.
With this in mind we must view chapter 1 as an introduction
to the problems Timothy would encounter in the church in Ephesus and chapter 2
as beginning to offer solutions to the problems, hence 2 Timothy 2:1-7
encouraging the church to pray for all people.
With this context in mind, 2 Timothy 2:8-15 is not a blanket call for
the church to forbid women from having any position of authority in the church
but is instead instructions to Timothy about specific women in the church at
Ephesus that were attempting to usurp the authority of church leadership
through false teaching. In other words,
some women were among the false teachers and Paul is warning Timothy not to
allow them to achieve a position of authority in the church.
As evidence this is the intention of this passage, we can
look at the word translators translated as authority in 1 Timothy 2:12. The word is the Greek word auqentew, which
means to dominate or usurp authority. (1) This is the only place where this Greek word
occurs in scripture. (2) Therefore, to simply translate this word as
authority as many translations do thus mistaking it with the authority given
the church by Jesus in (Mark 16:17). In
addition, the very fact that 1 Timothy 2:11 tells women to learn submissively
implies they are called to teach for why learn something and never have an
opportunity to share what one learns with others. (3)
Therefore, taken in context, the passage in 1 Timothy 2:8-15
is not a blanket command for women to have no position of authority in the
church but is instead a call for the church to guard against false teaching
that usurps the authority of church leadership.
This instruction to the church applies to both men and women and most
likely mentions women because there were women in the church at Ephesus who
were usurping authority through false teaching.
1 Timothy 2 teaches us to pray for all people (1 Timothy2:1-7). We are then encouraged not to
draw attention to ourselves when we gather to worship but to instead devote
ourselves to God (1 Timothy 2:8-10).
Finally, we are reminded not to allow anyone, man or woman, to usurp the
Godly authority of the church by introducing false teaching (1 Timothy2:11-15).
Next Wednesday in 1 Timothy 3, we will look at the
qualifications of leaders in the church.
1. Strongs Concordance. augentew. www.godrules.net.
[Online] [Cited: June 25, 2016.] www.godrules.net/library/strongs2b/gre831.htm.
2. Blue Letter
Bible. Strongs g831. www.blueletterbible.org. [Online] [Cited: June
25, 2016.]
3. Moo, Douglas.
9. What Does it Mean Not to Teach or Have Authority Over Men (1 Timothy
2:11-15). bible.org. [Online] April 13, 2005. [Cited: June 25, 2016.]
https://bible.org/seriespage/9-what-does-it-mean-not-teach-or-have-authority-over-men-1-timothy-211-15.
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