Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Timothy 2:12

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 12. Nor to usurp authority — A woman should attempt nothing, either in public or private, that belongs to man as his peculiar function. This was prohibited by the Roman laws: In multis juris nostri articulis deterior est conditio foeminarum quam masculorun,; l. 9, PAP. LIB. 31, QUAEST. Foeminoe ab omnibus officiis civilibus vel publicis remotae sunt; et ideo nec judicis esse possunt, nec magistratum gerere, nec postulare, nec pro alio invenire, nec procuratores existere; l. 2, de Reg. Juris. ULP. LIB. i. AD SAB.-Vid. POTH. Pand. Justin., vol. i. p. 13.

"In our laws the condition of women is, in many respects, worse than that of men. Women are precluded from all public offices; therefore they cannot be judges, nor execute the function of magistrates; they cannot sue, plead, nor act in any case, as proxies. They were under many other disabilities, which may be seen in different places of the Pandects.

But to be in silence. — It was lawful for men in public assemblies to ask questions, or even interrupt the speaker when there was any matter in his speech which they did not understand; but this liberty was not granted to women. See the note on 1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Corinthians 14:35.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

2:1-4:16 CHURCH LEADERSHIP AND TEACHING

Conduct in church meetings (2:1-15)

Teachers of the kind Paul has described in Chapter 1 are usually narrow in their outlook and pray only for those of their own group. Christians should avoid such selfishness. They should pray for all without distinction, for God wants all to be saved (2:1-4). This salvation comes through the death of Jesus Christ. Paul rejoices that God has appointed him an apostle and teacher to make known this good news to the Gentiles (5-7).
Paul then deals with two problems likely to arise when people participate in the public activities of the church. One concerns men, and the other concerns women. A tendency in men when leading a public gathering is to talk and act in a way that displays their abilities and so wins praise from others. A tendency in women is to dress in a way that attracts attention. Paul tells men to pray in a proper manner and to remember that the purpose of prayer is to speak to God, not to gain an advantage over others. He tells women that if they want to impress people they should do so by good deeds, not by extravagant dress (8-10).
On the subject of women’s modesty, Paul adds that they should demonstrate this modesty in a quiet readiness to learn. He does not consider it their job to instruct and lead the church (11-12). Paul gives these restrictions because he believes women are more easily persuaded than men. Consequently, there is a greater risk that they will believe and teach what is false. He refers to the example of Eve to support this statement, and to show that from the beginning God designed each of the sexes to have its own particular place in the arrangement of human affairs (13-14). This does not mean that women have an unimportant place in God’s plan. They will find their fulfilment, their ‘salvation’, their own unique honour, through having children and bringing them up in the ways of Christian faith, love and holiness (15).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

To teach … refers to public teaching in the worship. As Nute said:

This prohibition in no way contradicts Titus 2:2-3; it relates to teaching in the church in the presence of men and to the fact that authority in matters concerning the church is not committed to women. Alan G. Nute, op. cit., p. 510.

It is upon this verse that the office, either of elder, deacon, or evangelist, must, in the light of New Testament teaching, be denied to women. The wisdom of this is inherent in human nature. Satan, in many instances, has succeeded in creating the impression that Christianity is something merely for the women and children, and not for men at all; and, where such a prohibition as this is denied, the tendency would be to make Satan's lie the truth.

Nor to have dominion over a man … This rule is not unreasonable nor capricious. Every entity must have a head, and the headship of man over the family and in the church is by divine appointment. Evil men who do not believe in God, thus rejecting any thought that there even is such a thing as "divine appointment," find it difficult to accept this; but those who believe in God and his word receive it joyfully. In the next two verses, Paul spelled out the reason for God's investiture of family headship and church authority upon men, and not upon women.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

But I suffer not a woman to teach - see the notes on 1 Corinthians 14:34.

Nor to usurp authority over the man - notes, 1 Corinthians 11:3.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

12But I suffer not a woman to teach. Not that he takes from them the charge of instructing their family, but only excludes them from the office of teaching, which God has committed to men only. On this subject we have explained our views in the exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. ⁽³⁹⁾ If any one bring forward, by way of objection, Deborah (Judges 4:4) and others of the same class, of whom we read that they were at one time appointed by the command of God to govern the people, the answer is easy. Extraordinary acts done by God do not overturn the ordinary rules of government, by which he intended that we should be bound. Accordingly, if women at one time held the office of prophets and teachers, and that too when they were supernaturally called to it by the Spirit of God, He who is above all law might do this; but, being a peculiar case, ⁽⁴⁰⁾ this is not opposed to the constant and ordinary system of government.

He adds — what is closely allied to the office of teaching — and not to assume authority over the man; for the very reason, why they are forbidden to teach, is, that it is not permitted by their condition. They are subject, and to teach implies the rank of power or authority. Yet it may be thought that there is no great force in this argument; because even prophets and teachers are subject to kings and to other magistrates. I reply, there is no absurdity in the same person commanding and likewise obeying, when viewed in different relations. But this does not apply to the case of woman, who by nature (that is, by the ordinary law of God) is formed to obey; forγυναικοκρατία (the government of women) has always been regarded by all wise persons as a monstrous thing; and, therefore, so to speak, it will be a mingling of heaven and earth, if women usurp the right to teach. Accordingly, he bids them be “quiet,” that is, keep within their own rank. ⁽⁴¹⁾

(39) See Commentary on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, vol. 1, p. 467.

(40) “Pource que e’est un cas particulier et extraordinaire.” — “Because it is a peculiar and extraordinary case.”

(41) “Il commande done qu’elles demeurent en silence; c’est a dire, qu’elles se contiennent dedans leurs limites, et la condition de leur sexe.” — “He therefore commands them to remain in silence; that is, to keep within their limits and the condition of their sex.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

Now I exhort [Paul said] therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and the giving of thanks, be made for all men ( 1 Timothy 2:1 );

So we are exhorted to pray for each other, to intercede. "Supplications, intercessions, the giving of thanks." And then,

For kings, and for those that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty ( 1 Timothy 2:2 ).

I believe that it is important that we pray for our leaders in government. I believe that we should be holding our president up in prayer. What an awesome responsibility that man has. I personally cannot understand why anybody would want to be president of the United States. I mean, that has to be one thankless job. He needs prayer. We need to pray for those who sit in the House of Representatives. We need to pray for the congressmen, the senators national, statewide.

Now the purpose of the prayers is that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. The real purpose of government is not to tax people. The real purpose of government is to preserve the good. That's the purpose of government, the preservation of good. And all laws should be designed for the preservation of good because there are these evil influences and powers and government is actually ordained for the purpose of preserving the good. Keeping out the evil. And when a government no longer is fulfilling that function, the evil that they allow will ultimately destroy that government.

Study your history books and you will see it is true over and over and over again. Most governments began with the high ideal of the preservation of good, but in time, the corrupt forces moved in. The laws were liberalized to where good was no longer being preserved but evil was being allowed, being tolerated and then being protected by the laws. And the next thing was that the evil then overthrew the government.

We are at that stage here in the United States, where the evil is now being protected. It is being mandated by law; protection of the evil being mandated by our laws. And the next state is the fall of that government. So we need to pray. Pray for the kings, those that are ruling over us.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth ( 1 Timothy 2:3-4 ).

What an opposite picture many people have of God who look at Him as One who wants to damn everybody. In fact, they go around asking Him to. And so people get in their minds and associate in their minds God judging and condemning everyone. How opposite that is to the truth of God's nature, who would have everyone to be saved.

Listen to God crying unto the people through Ezekiel the prophet as he said, "Turn now, turn now, for why will ye die, saith the Lord. Behold, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" ( Ezekiel 33:11 ).

Peter said God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" ( 2 Peter 3:9 ).

Here Paul tells us that God desires that all men be saved; the God of salvation who desires that all men should be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And what is the truth?

There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ( 1 Timothy 2:5 );

When Job was having all of his afflictions: He lost his possessions. He lost his children. He lost his health, lying in the misery covered with boils, lying in the ashes; his wife looking at him in this miserable state said, Honey, why don't you just curse God and die? Get it over with. I can't stand to see you suffer like this anymore.

His friends came to comfort him, but rather than being a comfort, they became accusers, condemners. One of his friends, Eliphaz, said, Why don't you just get right with God and everything will be okay? He said, Thanks a lot, Pal. What do you mean; get right with God? Who am I that I could stand before God and justify my case? He said, I go out, I look up at the stars and I realize how vast and great God is. And here am I, just a really nothing here on this planet. God is so great and I am so small. I try to find Him, I look here, I look there; I look around. I know He's around here but I don't see Him. And how can I stand before God to declare my innocence or to justify my case? With God so vast and I so nothing, there is no daysman between us who can lay his hand on us both.

Job saw the problem of man trying to communicate with God or trying to touch God. It's the trying to bridge over the great gulf between infinity and the finite. The only way Job can see it happening is that there be a daysman between who can touch us both. And in answer to the cry of Job, Paul said, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus." Through Jesus Christ, the cry of Job is answered. He is the daysman who can touch God, and can touch man. For "He was in the beginning with God and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And he became flesh and he dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as of the only begotten Son of God," "One God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."

Now what does that mean? That means that if you want to come to God, don't come to me. I'm not a mediator between God and you. If you want to come to God, you must go to Jesus Christ. He alone is the mediator between God and man. You can't go to another man. You can't go to the saints. You can't go to Mary. There is only one mediator, the man Christ Jesus. And He is the only One that can bring you in touch with God. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: and no man comes to the Father but by me" ( John 14:6 ). A very radical, exclusive claim, "One God, one mediator, the man Christ Jesus." But thank God, there is a mediator.

Oh how thankful I am I can come to God. Jesus stands there and puts His hand upon God but He also reaches down and puts His hand upon me, and He brings me in touch with God. I touch God through Him. For he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God and yet he came in the likeness of man that he might touch me. And so God touched man through Jesus and in turn, man can touch God through Jesus; "One God, one mediator".

Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time ( 1 Timothy 2:6 ).

You see, we were all sinners. And as a sinner, I was totally unable to redeem myself. Nothing I could do to save myself. Nothing I could do to make myself righteous. There is nothing that I could do that could atone for my past guilt.

Now you might say that there are high sinners and there are low sinners. There are good sinners and there are bad sinners, but you're all sinners. And really, it doesn't matter if you're a good sinner or a bad sinner. None of us can redeem ourselves. But Jesus gave himself as the ransom; He died for us and in our place.

Whereunto [Paul said] I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (and I am telling you the truth in Christ, I wouldn't lie to you;) I am a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth ( 1 Timothy 2:7 ).

It is to proclaim this testimony of Jesus Christ that I've been called as an apostle, as a preacher. And I'm speaking the truth. I'm a teacher of these things.

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting ( 1 Timothy 2:8 ).

Now this is one posture in prayer, lifting up your hands in prayer. And there are times when I pray I lift up my hands unto God. I do that more when I am praising the Lord than I do when I am making requests. Some people find it difficult to lift their hands unto the Lord and if you do, there's no problem. God understands that you've got a hang up and He'll listen to you just as much. There are a lot of discussion about the position of the body in prayer. Which position is most effective?

You know when I was a little kid in Sunday school, they used to always say, Now everyone bow your heads, fold your hands and close your eyes. We're going to pray. So I really thought that you couldn't pray unless your eyes were closed. And a lot of times I'd peak to see who was praying. And I'd say, He didn't pray, his eyes were open. Of course, they'd always nail me and they say how did you know? But I assume that because their eyes were open, they weren't praying. But I found that I can pray with my eyes open, but I found that it's better if I close them because if my eyes are open, then I'm oftentimes distracted by what I see and my mind is taken off of my prayer. I realize now that the teachers told us to fold our hands so we wouldn't be poking the one next to us when their eyes were closed. And so I can see the wisdom in telling the children to bow your heads, close your eyes, fold your hands. And I can understand the wisdom in that. But yet you don't have to have that position to pray.

Some people say well, you got to be kneeling. Paul said, "Before whom I bow my knee" ( Ephesians 3:14 ). And kneeling is a good posture for prayer. It sort of says something. It was a position that was more popular probably during the time when the King James Bible was translated. When they would come before the king and they would kneel before the king; it was just the posture that a person would take which did signify a posture of surrender and honor to the king. And so I'm coming before the King of the universe, and so I can see where kneeling is a good posture that might express this honor and all that I wish to give to Him. But I also found that if I kneel by the side of my bed and put my hand, my face in my hands there at the bed and I start to pray, I find that quite often I can fall asleep in that comfortable position. Good position to pray in, but it's also a fairly good position to sleep in if you're tired enough.

And so I have found that it helps me many times if I walk while I pray. I find that it's good if I will pray aloud because if I just pray in my heart or in my mind, I find that my mind has a tendency to wander over on other subjects. And pretty soon, I'm back in Kauai catching that wave that I missed. I got the extra kick this time and I really got a good slide. And so in just praying in my mind, my mind has a tendency to wander from the prayer. So I find that by praying aloud, by articulating my needs, my requests, that it does keep my mind from roaming off in other subjects. And so I love to just take a walk and talk with the Lord. It's very enjoyable to me to just take a walk and just talk to the Lord and just pour out my heart and my soul to Him as we're just sort of walking together.

I have discovered that it isn't the position of my body that's important to prayer but the position of my heart. That's what God is looking at. He's not paying any attention whether or not my hands are lifted or I'm kneeling or my head is bowed and hands folded and eyes closed. What's the attitude of my heart, the position of my heart? That's what's important in prayer. So men, here's for you, "Pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

Women, [well] adorn yourselves in modest apparel ( 1 Timothy 2:9 ),

There are fashions and styles that are designed to be sexually provocative. As a Christian woman, I do not believe that you should be wearing such styles. Jesus said "if a man looks upon a woman and desires her in his mind, he has committed adultery" ( Matthew 5:28 ). And thus to wear a style of clothing that would so display your body as to create a lust or desire, you're causing some man to sin. You don't want to do that. Modest apparel.

Now I don't believe that you, you know, should go to the other extreme to wear your apparel, you know, that immediately marks you as some kind of a weirdo. You know I think that there is just a lot of modest, beautiful style and I don't think that this in any way should inhibit your shopping. You can plan, spend plenty of money on clothes that are not of the provocative nature. And stay out of Frederick's. "Women adorn themselves in modest apparel,"

with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array ( 1 Timothy 2:9 );

Now this certainly has to be read in the context of the day in which Paul was writing and of the styles in those days, and styles change from time to time. I think that the best guide is just moderation. I think that as a Christian I should not seek to be ostentatious in my dress. And I think that this goes for the men as well as the women. Now I think that there are some pretty wild hairstyles, I've seen them on TV that you know are extreme. I don't think that we ought to be spending a lot of money to remain fashionable with the latest hairstyles and --or some of them are not the latest hairstyles. They go back a ways but they're very fancy indeed and costly.

I don't believe in a lot of fancy jewelry myself. I think that there is a better way to spend our money. Met a man today who had a very beautiful Rolls Royce. No doubt he was desperate for transportation. No, he was trying to say something; gold chain with a big gold pendant with diamonds in it, gold, wide gold wristwatch with his name in diamonds on it. Of course he had his name on the license plate of his Rolls Royce. He's trying to say something. I sort of felt sorry for him to be lacking in self-confidence, to have to say it with jewelry or something else. You know, I'm successful, I've got it made. I'm in the One Million Club. It's sort of sad indeed. So moderation.

(that which becomes women who are professing godliness) ( 1 Timothy 2:10 )

That's how you ought to dress so that it doesn't take away from that beauty that glows upon a woman who is walking with Jesus Christ. You know there are times in a woman's life when she glows with beauty. I think that there is just something really about pregnancy. I think that women rarely are as beautiful as they are when they are pregnant in sort of the last stages. There seems to be just sort of a glow. There's just something beautiful about it. And when a woman is walking with the Lord, there's just that glow of beauty about their lives. There's just that special little touch of God upon them, which I'll tell you, L'Oreal or none of the rest can duplicate. I don't care how much you spend. That beauty of the countenance of a woman who is walking with the Lord is something that is to be desired. It's glorious to behold.

Now Paul brings up a very controversial issue here. [He said], Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. For I do not allow a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence ( 1 Timothy 2:11-12 ).

There are certain things that I wish Paul had not written. Paul is, notice, prohibiting the woman to teach or to usurp authority over the man, and that would be in spiritual things and in spiritual issues. Yet in writing to Titus, Paul said let the older women teach the younger women. There is a place of teaching for women, the teaching of the younger women: how to love their husbands, how to keep their homes and to talk in godliness and righteousness. And my wife has taken that as her calling here at Calvary to teach the younger women. Having raised now the family and being freed from the obligation of having the children at home, she's now free to share with the younger women those secrets that she has learned in walking with God and seeking to raise a godly family.

Paul mentions to Timothy how he have been taught in the Scriptures by his mother and his grandmother. And so the teaching of the children was largely the responsibility of the mothers. The only thing that is prohibited here is the teaching of men and usurping authority over them in spiritual things. That's the only thing that was being prohibited here by Paul. He is not prohibiting a woman sharing with men. Paul in writing to the Corinthians mentions the women praying or prophesying in a public assembly and he doesn't come down on them for that. He doesn't say that that's prohibited. And "he that prophesies speaks to the church for edification, for comfort, for exhortation" ( 1 Corinthians 14:3 ), and I see these as areas where women can minister effectively.

In fact, I think that they really are most of them tremendous exhorters, especially if they've been married. We had one little woman in Huntington Beach who had a marvelous gift of exhortation. A little grandmotherly woman, but she could stand up and say, Now you know, life isn't always easy. We face a lot of trials but the Lord is on the throne. And so often we forget that God is on the throne and we must remember that. And she could just start exhorting, and man, you'd feel like going out and conquering the world. You know, I'm not afraid of anything. God is on my side. God is ruling. And she had a beautiful gift of exhortation. Just the area of teaching or usurping authority over the man is the only thing that Paul comes against here. And so let's be careful not to broaden out from what Paul has said.

Now Paul isn't talking about a local cultural situation because he goes back to the beginning and he said,

Adam was first formed, and then Eve ( 1 Timothy 2:13 ).

The man was made first than the woman.

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was the one that was deceived. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in the faith and love and holiness with sobriety ( 1 Timothy 2:14-15 ).

Now Paul points out the fact that Satan came and deceived Eve. The suggestion is that women are more susceptible to being deceived in spiritual things than are men. That's the suggestion that is made. It is interesting that many of the cults have been headed up by women. It is interesting if you'll look in the paper at the advertisements for the religious science churches and the advertisements for the theosophy and so forth, that so often women are the ones that are teaching in these off-branch kind of cults.

In the parables of the church, the kingdom parables in Matthew's gospel, a woman hid three, or put the leaven in the three loaves. In the church that we'll be covering in the book of Revelation, the church of Thyatira, it was the woman Jezebel who the church had allowed to teach and to bring them into this idolatry. So a woman's place is not that of a teacher or the usurper of authority over men in these spiritual matters.

Now Paul said,

Notwithstanding she shall be saved ( 1 Timothy 2:15 ),

The word there is preserved in childbearing. One of the greatest fears of a woman in those days when she became pregnant is that of death during the birth of the child, for there was a very high rate of death of the mother in childbirth. And thus there was always a mixed feeling when a woman realized that she was pregnant. There was that feeling of joy and exultation; we're going to have a baby, but there was that underlying fear, I wonder if I will survive the birth of the child, because so many died in childbirth because of their limited medical knowledge and facilities.

So Paul is encouraging them that the Lord will be with them during childbirth. They will be preserved. You don't have to fear that you're going to die in childbirth. The Lord will preserve you and keep you through this experience. If you just "continue in the faith and in love, and in holiness with sobriety," you don't need to fear death during the delivery of your child.

And now may the Lord enrich your hearts in His love and in His truth, that you may walk in fellowship with Him in a way that is pleasing unto Him. That the Lord will minister to you in a very special way in your hour of need. That He will come and take you by the hand and comfort you in your time of sorrow. That you just might experience in these days a greater realization of God's love and of God's touch upon your life as He ministers to you through His abundant mercy and grace in Christ Jesus.

May God be with you, watch over you, and keep you in His love. In Jesus' name. "

Contending for the Faith

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

It would be erroneous to suggest that the apostle is telling Timothy that a woman cannot teach in any capacity, anywhere, anytime, on any subject. The elder women, in fact, are instructed to teach the younger women to perform the womanly role as a wife, mother, and homemaker (Titus 2:3-5). Further, in Acts 18:26, Aquila and Priscilla take Apollos unto themselves and teach him "the way of God more perfectly." That teaching, too, was in a private capacity. Certainly, the scriptures leave no room for dispute as to whether she can teach; we should bear in mind, however, that anywhere a woman can teach she can teach man, woman, or child, and where she is forbidden to teach she can teach none.

The woman’s role in public worship is that of a quiet, mannerly, and orderly one in all that she does. The man (masculine gender), not the woman, was appointed of God to do the teaching (2 Timothy 2:2). This principle was designed by the Lord.

But I suffer not a woman to teach: As to when and where she cannot teach, Paul says to the church at Corinth, "Let your women keep silence in the church: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church" (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). The apostle explains here that the woman is to be modest, sober, silent, and submissive. Her teaching is always to be in a private setting. Under that condition, she may teach anyone. But public teaching is outside of her sphere.

nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence: The word "nor" in this verse separates the two things that Paul forbids a woman to do. "I suffer not a woman to teach," he says, and "I suffer not a woman to usurp authority over the man." The words "nor" and "neither" are disjunctive conjunctions and separate the two infinitives: "to teach" and "to usurp authority." That separation of the two actions forbidden of a woman does away with the idea sometimes advanced that the apostle is saying "I suffer not a woman to teach over the man."

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

B. The primary responsibilities of the men and the women in church meetings 2:8-15

"In this paragraph Paul continues his instructions on ’prayers’ begun in 1 Timothy 2:1. But now the concern is for proper demeanor on the part of the ’pray-ers.’ But why these concerns, and why in this way? And why the inordinate amount of time devoted to the women in comparison with the men? Again, the solution lies with the false teachers. The word to the men is an obvious response to their controversies and strife. The word to the women, therefore, may be assumed also to respond to this conflict." [Note: Fee, p. 70. Cf. 5:3-16; 2 Timothy 3:5-9.]

"In descriptions of Corinth and Ephesus, which were closely linked in Paul’s ministry, flutters of emancipation can sometimes be detected behind the apostles’ discourse." [Note: Towner, The Letters . . ., p. 192.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Regarding their participation in the meetings of the church (1 Timothy 3:15), Paul taught that the women were to let the men provide the public instruction and leadership. [Note: See Michael F. Stitzinger, "Cultural Confusion and the Role of Women in the Church: A Study of 1 Timothy 2:8-14," Calvary Baptist Theological Journal 4:2 (Fall 1988):24-42.] He did not mean that women should surrender their minds and consciences to men, but that they should voluntarily take the position of learners in church meetings.

"This was a radical and liberating departure from the Jewish view that women were not to learn the law." [Note: The NET Bible note on 2:11.]

". . . ancient society rarely allowed teaching roles to women." [Note: Craig Keener, "Women’s Education and Public Speech in Antiquity," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:4 (December 2007):759.]

Typically the women should not accept the role of teacher of the congregation or of leader of the whole church. [Note: See Towner, The Letters . . ., p. 217; and Harold W. Hoehner, "Can a Woman Be a Pastor-Teacher?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:4 (December 2007):761-71.] The verbs "teach" and "exercise authority" are in the present tense in the Greek text, which implies a continuing ministry rather than a single instance of ministry.

"Teach and have authority over a man (1 Timothy 2:12) may be references to separate activities that Paul restricted to men. Or the first term might represent a specific example of activity that falls under the general rule that follows: women’s teaching in the public assembly would violate the given authority structure. In either case, we should notice that Paul did not employ his usual term for ’the normal exercise of authority’ (exousia). He chose an unusual word (authenteo) that could carry negative connotations such as ’to usurp or misappropriate authority’ or ’to domineer.’ The unusual term probably signifies an unusual situation. In the Ephesian context at least, women had misappropriated authority by taking upon themselves the role of teacher." [Note: Towner, 1-2 Timothy . . ., p. 77.]

Some people see red when they read "submissiveness" (1 Timothy 2:11; cf. Ephesians 5:21-22; Colossians 3:18). The Greek word (hypotage) means to rank under. It is clear in military life that a private, for example, who ranks under a colonel is not necessarily of less value or possesses less ability than his or her superior officer. Rank has to do with order and authority, not personal superiority and inferiority. Another illustration of willing submission is Jesus Christ, who is superior to every other human being yet submitted to other human beings (Luke 2:51; Philippians 2:5-11). God will reward His submission to the Father, and He will reward women who submit to His will as unto the Lord (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Paul seems to have been speaking here of the whole local congregation. I do not think he would have objected to women teaching or leading some groups within the church that we commonly recognize as sub-groups provided they do so with the approval of the male leadership of the church (cf. Acts 18:26; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; Titus 2:3). Furthermore we should bear in mind that Paul was describing a typical church situation in which there were men who could provide teaching and leadership. If these were absent, exceptions might be necessary to achieve the higher goals of the church, namely, the building up of the saints to do the work of ministry. In some countries today there are few males who can or care to take leadership in churches. In these situations I think female leadership is better than none, at least until males can and will lead.

Exactly what did Paul prohibit women from doing in 1 Timothy 2:12? He did not want them to teach a man or to exercise authority over a man in the local church meetings (1 Timothy 3:15). [Note: See David P. Kuske, "An Exegetical Brief on 1 Timothy 2:12: (oude authentein andros)," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 88:1 (Winter 1991):64-67; and Mounce, p. 130.] Teaching the Scriptures is in view. This is more appropriate to the male’s function in the church as a mediator between God and people (cf. Genesis 2) because it involves interpreting God’s Word to the church as an authoritative figure (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Timothy 2:8). Paul forbade women from regularly teaching men in local church corporate worship (1 Timothy 3:15).

"In my opinion, whatever the specific application of ’teaching’ it is the kind of ’teaching’ that gives women a position of authority over men. [Note: Robert L. Saucy, "Women’s Prohibition to Teach Men: An Investigation into Its Meaning and Contemporary Application," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37:1 (March 1994):91.]

Paul approved of women teaching women and children (Titus 2:3-5; 2 Timothy 1:5) and instructing men privately (Acts 18:26). Reading a book that a woman has written is one example of private instruction.

"Paul in 1 Timothy 2:12, does not forbid a woman all teaching. Paul is only prohibiting the headship of women in the Christian community." [Note: Steven B. Clark, Man and Woman in Christ, p. 305.]

The Greek word translated "exercise authority" (NASB), "have authority" (NIV), or "usurp authority" (AV) is authenteo. It means to act on one’s own authority or to act in an autocratic manner. [Note: A Greek-English Lexicon . . ., s.v. "authenteo," p. 84.] To exercise authority in this way would be to submit to no higher authority in the church. If a woman exercised some authority in the church (e.g., as the leader of a ministry) and she did it in submission to the male leadership, she would not be sinning. It is taking inappropriate authority on herself that Paul prohibited. A woman can have authority over others in the church provided she is under the authority of the male leadership of the church.

"It is noteworthy . . . that Paul does not use ’office’ terminology here (bishop/presbyter) but functional terminology (teach/exercise authority). It is thus the activity that he prohibits, not just the office (cf. again 1 Corinthians 14:34-35)." [Note: Knight, p. 142.]

How can we resolve the apparent contradiction in Paul’s teaching that he presented here and what he taught in 1 Corinthians? There are two problems. First, in 1 Corinthians 14:34 Paul told the women to remain absolutely silent in the church. He used a different Greek word (sigatosan) than what we have here (hesychia), translated "quiet" (1 Timothy 2:12; cf. 1 Timothy 2:2). Hesychia does not mean absolutely silent but settled down, not unruly. Paul wanted the women to express appropriate deference to the teacher or leader.

Perhaps Paul imposed a stricter standard on the Corinthian church than was normal because of the turmoil there, and his instructions in 1 Timothy reflect the normal situation. [Note: J. N. Andrews, "May Women Speak in Meeting?" Review and Herald (January 2, 1879), reprinted in Adventist Review 165:5 (February 4, 1988):17.] I think probably Paul meant that women should not take part in the judging of the prophets (1 Corinthians 14:29), which was an exercise in ecclesiastical authority. The context of 1 Corinthians 14:34 seems to favor this view. [Note: See James B. Hurley, Man and Woman in Biblical Perspective, p. 188-94, which is, in my opinion, one of the best books on the subject of the biblical teaching on the relationships of men and women. See Appendix 1 in these notes, "Women and Ministry," for a brief summary of this book. Other fine books on this subject are by Susan Foh, Women and the Word of God; Clark; and George W. Knight III, The New Testament Teaching on the Role Relationship of Men and Women. For an evaluation of six views on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, see Anne B. Blampied, "Paul and Silence for ’The Women’ in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35," Studia Biblica et Theologica 13:2 (October 1983):143-65. Stanley J. Grenz, "Anticipating God’s New Community: Theological Foundations for Women in Ministry," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38:4 (December 1995):595-611, advocated female participation in church leadership.]

"Paul does not mean that women are to be absolutely silent during the service (compare 1 Corinthians 11:5). Rather, he instructs them to exhibit quietness (in spirit) instead of taking the lead, or to ’be silent’ in the sense of not teaching." [Note: Towner, 1-2 Timothy . . ., p. 77.]

This silence is a concrete expression of the principle of submission that Paul advocated. [Note: Knight, p. 139.]

Second, in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 Paul permitted women to pray and prophesy in church but insisted that they have their heads covered when doing so. This concession seems to contradict both 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34.

One way to resolve this difficulty is to say that in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 the women in view were single women or married women whose husbands were not present. In 1 Corinthians 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 those in view seem to have been married women whose husbands were present. [Note: See David Lowery, "1 Corinthians," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, pp. 528-30, 540-41.] However there is nothing in the text or context that justifies these assumptions.

Another solution that I prefer is this. Paul permitted women to pray and prophesy in Corinth and elsewhere because these activities did not involve exercising as much authority in the church as teaching and ruling did. Teaching involved providing normative instruction from Scripture whereas prophesying in New Testament times involved only sharing something God had brought to mind. In some cases this was new revelation, but usually it was not. [Note: See Wayne Grudem, "Prophecy-Yes, But Teaching-No; Paul’s Consistent Advocacy of Women’s Participation Without Governing Authority," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 30:1 (March 1987):11-23. Cf. Ryrie, pp. 39-40; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. "prophetes . . .," by Gerhard Friedrich, 6 (1968):854; Harold W. Hoehner, "The Purpose of Tongues in 1 Corinthians 14:20-25," in Walvood: A Tribute, pp. 56-57; and H. Wayne House, "Should a Woman Prophesy or Preach Before Men?" Bibliotheca Sacra 145:578 (April-June 1988):149-54. See also "Women in the Church: Biblical Data Report" that I have included in these notes as Appendix 2.] In every case the prophet was to subject his or her prophecy to what God had inspired previously (1 Corinthians 14:29).

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 2

THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE GOSPEL ( 1 Timothy 2:1-7 )

2:1-7 So then the first thing I urge you to do is to offer your requests, your prayers, your petitions, your thanksgivings for all men. Pray for kings and for all who are in authority, that they may enjoy a life that is tranquil and undisturbed, and that they may act in all godliness and reverence. That is the fine way to live, the way which meets with the approval of God, our Saviour, who wishes all men to be saved, and to come to a full knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator, between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself a ransom for all. It was thus he bore his witness to God in his own good times, a witness to which I have been appointed a herald and an envoy (I am speaking the truth: I do not lie), a teacher to the Gentiles, a teacher whose message is based on faith and truth.

Before we study this passage in detail we must note one thing which shines out from it in a way that no one can fail to see. Few passages in the New Testament so stress the universality of the gospel. Prayer is to be made for all men; God is the Saviour who wishes all men to be saved; Jesus gave his life a ransom for all. As Walter Lock writes: "God's will to save is as wide as his will to create."

This is a note which sounds in the New Testament again and again. Through Christ God was reconciling the world to himself ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-19). God so loved the world that he gave his Son ( John 3:16). It was Jesus' confidence that, if he was lifted up on his Cross, soon or late he would draw all men to him ( John 12:32).

E. F. Brown calls this passage "the charter of missionary work." He says that it is the proof that all men are capax dei, capable of receiving God. They may be lost, but they can be found; they may be ignorant, but they can be enlightened; they may be sinners, but they can be saved. George Wishart, the forerunner of John Knox, writes in his translation of the First Swiss Confession: "The end and intent of the Scripture is to declare that God is benevolent and friendly-minded to mankind; and that he hath declared that kindness in and through Jesus Christ, his only Son; the which kindness is received by faith." That is why prayer must be made for all. God wants all men, and so, therefore, must his Church.

(i) The gospel includes high and low. Both the Emperor in his power and the slave in his helplessness were included in the sweep of the gospel. Both the philosopher in his wisdom and the simple man in his ignorance need the grace and truth that the gospel can bring. Within the gospel there are no class distinctions. King and commoner, rich and poor, aristocrat and peasant, master and man are all included in its limitless embrace.

(ii) The gospel includes good and bad. A strange malady has sometimes afflicted the Church in modern times, causing it to insist that a man be respectable before he is allowed in, and to took askance at sinners who seek entry to its doors. But the New Testament is clear that the Church exists, not only to edify the good, but to welcome and save the sinner. C. T. Studd used to repeat four lines of doggerel:

"Some want to live within the sound

Of Church or Chapel bell;

I want to run a rescue shop

Within a yard of hell."

One of the great saints of modern times, and indeed of all time, was Toyohiko Kagawa. It was to Shinkawa that he went to find men and women for Christ and he lived there in the filthiest and most depraved slums in the world. W. J. Smart describes the situation: "His neighbours were unregistered prostitutes, thieves who boasted of their power to outwit all the police in the city, and murderers who were not only proud of their murder record but always ready to add to their local prestige by committing another. All the people, whether sick, or feeble-minded or criminal, lived in conditions of abysmal misery, in streets slippery with filth, where rats crawled out of open sewers to die. The air was always filled with stench. An idiot girl who lived next door to Kagawa had vile pictures painted on her back to decoy lustful men to her den. Everywhere human bodies rotted with syphilis." Kagawa wanted people like that, and so does Jesus Christ, for he wants all men, good and bad alike.

(iii) The gospel embraces Christian and non-Christian. Prayer is to be made for all men. The Emperors and rulers for whom this letter bids us pray were not Christians; they were in fact hostile to the Church; and yet they were to be borne to the throne of grace by the prayers of the Church. For the true Christian there is no such thing as an enemy in all this world. None is outside his prayers, for none is outside the love of Christ, and none is outside the purpose of God, who wishes all men to be saved.

THE WAY OF PRAYER ( 1 Timothy 2:1-7 continued)

Four different words for prayer are grouped together. It is true that they are not to be sharply distinguished; nevertheless each has something to tell us of the way of prayer.

(i) The first is deesis ( G1162) , which we have translated request. It is not exclusively a religious word; it can be used of a request made either to a fellow-man or to God. But its fundamental idea is a sense of need. No one will make a request unless a sense of need has already wakened a desire. Prayer begins with a sense of need. It begins with the conviction that we cannot deal with life ourselves. That sense of human weakness is the basis of all approach to God.

"Let not conscience make you linger,

Nor of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness he requireth

Is to feel your need of him."

(ii) The second is proseuche ( G4335) , which we have translated prayer. The basic difference between deesis ( G1162) and proseuche ( G4335) is that deesis ( G1162) may be addressed either to man or God, but proseuche ( G4335) is never used of anything else but approach to God. There are certain needs which only God can satisfy. There is a strength which he alone can give; a forgiveness which he alone can grant; a certainty which he alone can bestow. It may well be that our weakness haunts us because we so often take our needs to the wrong place.

(iii) The third is enteuxis ( G1783) , which we have translated petition. Of the three words this is the most interesting. It has a most interesting history. It is the noun from the verb entugchanein ( G1793) . This originally meant simply to meet, or to fall in with a person; it went on to mean to hold intimate conversation with a person; then it acquired a special meaning and meant to enter into a king's presence and to submit a petition to him. That tells us much about prayer. It tells us that the way to God stands open and that we have the right to bring our petitions to one who is a king.

"Thou art coming to a King;

Large petitions with thee bring;

For his grace and power are such,

None can ever ask too much."

It is impossible to ask too great a boon from this King.

(iv) The fourth is eucharistia ( G2169) , which we have translated thanksgiving. Prayer does not mean only asking God for things; it also means thanking God for things. For too many of us prayer is an exercise in complaint, when it should be an exercise in thanksgiving. Epictetus, not a Christian but a Stoic philosopher, used to say: "What can I, who am a little old lame man, do, except give praise to God?" We have the right to bring our needs to God; but we have also the duty of bringing our thanksgivings to him.

PRAYER FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY ( 1 Timothy 2:1-7 continued)

This passage distinctly commands prayer for kings and emperors and all who are set in authority. This was a cardinal principle of communal Christian prayer. Emperors might be persecutors and those in authority might be determined to stamp out Christianity. But the Christian Church never, even in the times of bitterest persecution, ceased to pray for them.

It is extraordinary to trace how all through its early days, those days of bitter persecution, the Church regarded it as an absolute duty to pray for the Emperor and his subordinate kings and governors. "Fear God," said Peter. "Honour the Emperor" ( 1 Peter 2:17), and we must remember that that Emperor was none other than Nero, that monster of cruelty. Tertullian insists that for the Emperor the Christian pray for "long life, secure dominion, a safe home, a faithful senate, a righteous people, and a world at peace" (Apology 30). "We pray for our rulers," he wrote, "for the state of the world, for the peace of all things and for the postponement of the end" (Apology 39). He writes: "The Christian is the enemy of no man, least of all of the Emperor, for we know that, since he has been appointed by God, it is necessary that we should love him, and reverence him, and honour him, and desire his safety, together with that of the whole Roman Empire. Therefore we sacrifice for the safety of the Emperor" (Ad Scapulam 2). Cyprian, writing to Demetrianus, speaks of the Christian Church as "sacrificing and placating God night and day for your peace and safety" (Ad Demetrianum 20). In A.D. 311 the Emperor Galerius actually asked for the prayers of the Christians, and promised them mercy and indulgence if they prayed for the state. Tatian writes: "Does the Emperor order us to pay tribute? We willingly offer it. Does the ruler order us to render service or servitude? We acknowledge our servitude. But a man must be honoured as befits a man but only God is to be reverenced" (Apology 4). Theophilus of Antioch writes: "The honour that I will give the Emperor is all the greater, because I will not worship him, but I will pray for him. I will worship no one but the true and real God, for I know that the Emperor was appointed by him.... Those give real honour to the Emperor who are well-disposed to him, who obey him, and who pray for him" (Apology 1: 11). Justin Martyr writes: "We worship God alone, but in all other things we gladly serve you, acknowledging kings and rulers of men, and praying that they may be found to have pure reason with kingly power" (Apology 1: 14,17).

The greatest of all the prayers for the Emperor is in Clement of Rome's First Letter to the Church at Corinth which was written about A.D. 90 when the savagery of Domitian was still fresh in men's minds: "Thou, Lord and Master, hast given our rulers and governors the power of sovereignty through thine excellent and unspeakable might, that we, knowing the glory and honour which thou hast given them, may submit ourselves unto them, in nothing resisting thy will. Grant unto them, therefore, O Lord, health, peace, concord, stability, that they may administer the government which thou hast given them without failure. For thou, O heavenly Master, King of the Ages, givest to the sons of men glory and honour and power over all things that are upon the earth. Do thou, Lord, direct their counsel according to that which is good and well-pleasing in thy sight, that, administering the power which thou hast given them in peace and gentleness with godliness, they may obtain thy favour. O thou, who alone art able to do these things, and things far more exceeding good than these for us, we praise thee through the High Priest and Guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ, through whom be the glory and the majesty unto thee both now and for all generations, and for ever and ever. Amen" (1 Clement 61).

The Church always regarded it as a bounden duty to pray for those set in authority over the kingdoms of the earth; and brought even its persecutors before the throne of grace.

THE GIFTS OF GOD ( 1 Timothy 2:1-7 continued)

The Church prayed for certain things for those in authority.

(i) It prayed for "a life that is tranquil and undisturbed." That was the prayer for freedom from war, from rebellion and from anything which would disturb the peace of the realm. That is the good citizen's prayer for his country.

(ii) But the Church prayed for much more than that. It prayed for "a life that is lived in godliness and reverence." Here we are confronted with two great words which are keynotes of the Pastoral Epistles and describe qualities which not only the ruler but every Christian must covet.

First, there is godliness, eusebeia ( G2150) . This is one of the great and almost untranslatable Greek words. It describes reverence both towards God and man. It describes that attitude of mind which respects man and honours God. Eusebius defined it as "reverence towards the one and only God, and the kind of life that he would wish us to lead." To the Greek, the great example of eusebeia ( G2150) was Socrates whom Xenophon describes in the following terms: "So pious and devoutly religious that he would take no step apart from the will of heaven; so just and upright that he never did even a trifling injury to any living soul; so self-controlled, so temperate, that he never at any time chose the sweeter in place of the bitter; so sensible and wise and prudent that in distinguishing the better from the worse he never erred" (Xenophon: Memorabilia, 4, 8, 11). Eusebeia ( G2150) comes very near to that great Latin word pietas, which Warde Fowler describes thus: "The quality known to the Romans as pietas rises, in spite of trial and danger, superior to the enticements of individual passion and selfish ease. Aeneas' pietas became a sense of duty to the will of the gods, as well as to his father, his son and his people; and this duty never leaves him." Clearly eusebeia ( G2150) is a tremendous thing. It never forgets the reverence due to God; it never forgets the rights due to men; it never forgets the respect due to self. It describes the character of the man who never fails God, man or himself.

Second, there is reverence, semnotes ( G4587) . Here again we are in the realm of the untranslatable. The corresponding adjective semnos ( G4586) is constantly applied to the gods. R. C. Trench says that the man who is semnos ( G4586) "has on him a grace and a dignity, not lent by earth." He says that he is one who "without demanding it challenges and inspires reverence." Aristotle was the great ethical teacher of the Greeks. He had a way of describing every virtue as the mean between two extremes. On the one side there was an extreme of excess and on the other an extreme of defect, and in between there was the mean, the happy medium, in which virtue lay. Aristotle says that semnotes ( G4587) is the mean between areskeia ( G699) , subservience, and authadeia ( G829) , arrogance. It may be said that for the man who is semnos ( G4586) all life is one act of worship; all life is lived in the presence of God; he moves through the world, as it has been put, as if it was the temple of the living God. He never forgets the holiness of God or the dignity of man.

These two great qualities are regal qualities which every man must covet and for which every man must pray.

ONE GOD AND ONE SAVIOUR ( 1 Timothy 2:1-7 continued)

Paul concludes with a statement of the greatest truths of the Christian faith.

(i) There is one God. We are not living in a world such as the Gnostics produced with their theories of two gods, hostile to each other. We are not living in a world such as the heathen produced with their horde of gods, often in competition with one another. Missionaries tell us that one of the greatest reliefs which Christianity brings to the heathen is the conviction that there is only one God. They live for ever terrified of the gods and it is an emancipation to discover that there is one God only whose name is Father and whose nature is Love.

(ii) There is one Mediator. Even the Jews would have said that there are many mediators between God and man. A mediator is one who stands between two parties and acts as go-between. To the Jews the angels were mediators. The Testament of Dan ( Daniel 6:2) has it: "Draw near unto God, and unto the angel who intercedes for you, for he is a mediator between God and man." To the Greeks there were all kinds of mediators. Plutarch said it was an insult to God to conceive that he was in any way directly involved in the world; he was involved in the world only through angels and demons and demigods who were, so to speak, his liaison officers.

Neither in Jewish nor in Greek thought had a man direct access to God. But, through Jesus Christ, the Christian has direct that access, with nothing to bar the way between. Further, there is only one Mediator. E. F. Brown tells us that that is, for instance, what the Hindus find so hard to believe. They say: "Your religion is good for you, and ours for us." But unless there is one God and one Mediator there can be no such thing as the brotherhood of man. If there are many gods and many mediators competing for their allegiance and their love, religion becomes something which divides men instead of uniting them. It is because there is one God and one Mediator that men are brethren one of another.

Paul goes on to call Jesus the one who gave his life a ransom for all. That simply means that it cost God the life and death of his Son to bring men back to himself. There was a man who lost a son in the war. He had lived a most careless and even a godless life; but his son's death brought him face to face with God as never before. He became a changed man. One day he was standing before the local war memorial, looking at his son's name upon it. And very gently he said: "I guess he had to go down to lift me up." That is what Jesus did; it cost his life and death to tell men of the love of God and to bring men home to him.

Then Paul claims to himself four offices.

(i) He is a herald of the story of Jesus Christ. A herald is a man who makes a statement and who says: "This is true." He is a man who brings a proclamation that is not his own, but which comes from the king.

(ii) He is a witness to the story of Christ. A witness is a man who says: "This is true, and I know it" and says also "It works." He is a man who tells, not only the story of Christ, but also the story of what Christ has done for him.

(iii) He is an envoy. An envoy is one whose duty is to commend his country in a foreign land. An envoy in the Christian sense is therefore one who commends the story of Christ to others. He wishes to communicate that story to others, so that it will mean as much to them as it does to him.

(iv) He is a teacher. The herald is the person who proclaims the facts; the witness is the person who proclaims the power of the facts; the envoy is the person who commends the facts; the teacher is the person who leads men into the meaning of the facts. It is not enough to know that Christ lived and died; we must think out what that meant. A man must not only feel the wonder of the story of Christ; he must think out its meaning for himself and for the world.

BARRIERS TO PRAYER ( 1 Timothy 2:8-15 )

2:8-15 So, then, it is my wish that men should pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, with no anger in their hearts and no doubts in their minds. Even so it is my wish that women should modestly and wisely adorn themselves in seemly dress. This adornment should not consist in braided hair, and ornaments of gold, and pearls, but--as befits women who profess to reverence God--they should adorn themselves with good works. Let a woman learn in silence and with all submission. I do not allow a woman to teach or to dictate to a man. Rather, it is my advice that she should be silent. For Adam was formed first, and then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived, and so became guilty of transgression. But women will be saved through child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love, and if they wisely walk the road that leads to holiness.

The early Church took over the Jewish attitude of prayer, which was to pray standing, with hands outstretched and the palms upwards. Later Tertullian was to say that this depicted the attitude of Jesus upon the Cross.

The Jews had always known about the barriers which kept a man's prayers from God. Isaiah heard God say to the people: "When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood" ( Isaiah 1:15). Here, too, certain things are demanded.

(i) He who prays must stretch forth holy hands. He must hold up to God hands which do not touch the forbidden things. This does not mean for one moment that the sinner is debarred from God; but it does mean that there is no reality in the prayers of the man who then goes out to soil his hands with forbidden things, as if he had never prayed. It is not thinking of the man who is helplessly in the grip of some passion and desperately fighting against it, bitterly conscious of his failure. It is thinking of the man whose prayers are a sheer formality.

(ii) He who prays must have no anger in his heart. It has been said that "forgiveness is indivisible." Human and divine forgiveness go hand in hand. Again and again Jesus stresses the fact that we cannot hope to receive the forgiveness of God so long as we are at enmity with our fellow-men. "So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" ( Matthew 5:23-24). "If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" ( Matthew 6:15). Jesus tells how the unforgiving servant himself found no forgiveness, and ends: "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart" ( Matthew 18:35). To be forgiven, we must be forgiving. The Didache (compare G1322) , the earliest Christian book on public worship, which dates from about A.D. 100, has it: "Let no one who has a quarrel with his neighbour come to us, until they are reconciled." The bitterness in a man's heart is a barrier which hinders his prayers from reaching God.

(iii) He who prays must have no doubts in his mind. This phrase can mean two things. The word used is dialogismos ( G1261) , which can mean both an argument and a doubt. If we take it in the sense of argument, it simply repeats what has gone before and restates the fact that bitterness and quarrels and venomous debates are a hindrance to prayer. It is better to take it in the sense of doubt. Before prayer is answered there must be belief that God will answer. If a man prays pessimistically and with no real belief that it is any use, his prayer falls wingless to the ground. Before a man can be cured, he must believe that he can be cured; before a man can lay hold on the grace of God, he must believe in that grace. We must take our prayers to God in the complete confidence that he hears and answers prayer.

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH ( 1 Timothy 2:8-15 continued)

The second part of this passage deals with the place of women in the Church. It cannot be read out of its historical context, for it springs entirely from the situation in which it was written.

(i) It was written against a Jewish background. No nation ever gave a bigger place to women in home and in family things than the Jews did; but officially the position of a woman was very low. In Jewish law she was not a person but a thing; she was entirely at the disposal of her father or of her husband. She was forbidden to learn the law; to instruct a woman in the law was to cast pearls before swine. Women had no part in the synagogue service; they were shut apart in a section of the synagogue, or in a gallery, where they could not be seen. A man came to the synagogue to learn; but, at the most, a woman came to hear. In the synagogue the lesson from Scripture was read by members of the congregation; but not by women, for that would have been to lessen "the honour of the congregation." It was absolutely forbidden for a woman to teach in a school; she might not even teach the youngest children. A woman was exempt from the stated demands of the Law. It was not obligatory on her to attend the sacred feasts and festivals. Women, slaves and children were classed together. In the Jewish morning prayer a man thanked God that God had not made him "a Gentile, a slave or a woman." In the Sayings of the Fathers Rabbi Jose ben Johanan is quoted as saying: "'Let thy house be opened wide, and let the poor be thy household, and talk not much with a woman.' Hence the wise have said: 'Everyone that talketh much with a woman causes evil to himself, and desists from the works of the Law, and his end is that he inherits Gehenna.'" A strict Rabbi would never greet a woman on the street, not even his own wife or daughter or mother or sister. It was said of woman: "Her work is to send her children to the synagogue; to attend to domestic concerns; to leave her husband free to study in the schools; to keep house for him until he returns."

(ii) It was written against a Greek background. The Greek background made things doubly difficult. The place of women in Greek religion was low. The Temple of Aphrodite in Corinth had a thousand priestesses who were sacred prostitutes and every evening plied their trade on the city streets. The Temple of Diana in Ephesus had its hundreds of priestesses called the Melissae, which means the bees, whose function was the same. The respectable Greek woman led a very confined life. She lived in her own quarters into which no one but her husband came. She did not even appear at meals. She never at any time appeared on the street alone; she never went to any public assembly. The fact is that if in a Greek town Christian women had taken an active and a speaking part in its work, the Church would inevitably have gained the reputation of being the resort of loose women.

Further, in Greek society there were women whose whole life consisted in elaborate dressing and braiding of the hair. In Rome, Pliny tells us of a bride, Lollia Paulina, whose bridal dress cost the equivalent of 432,000 British pounds. Even the Greeks and the Romans were shocked at the love of dress and of adornment which characterized some of their women. The great Greek religions were called the Mystery religions, and they had precisely the same regulations about dress as Paul has here. There is an inscription which reads: "A consecrated woman shall not have gold ornaments, nor rouge, nor face-whitening, nor a head-band, nor braided hair, nor shoes, except those made of felt or of the skins of sacrificed animals. "The early Church did not lay down these regulations as in any sense permanent, but as things which were necessary in the situation in which it found itself.

In any event there is much on the other side. In the old story it was the woman who was created second and who fell to the seduction of the serpent tempter; but it was Mary of Nazareth who bore and who trained the child Jesus; it was Mary of Magdala who was first to see the risen Lord; it was four women who of all the disciples stood by the Cross. Priscilla with her husband Aquila was a valued teacher in the early Church, who led Apollos to a knowledge of the truth ( Acts 18:26). Euodia and Syntyche, in spite of their quarrel, were women who laboured in the gospel ( Php_4:2-3 ). Philip, the evangelist, had four daughters who were prophetesses ( Acts 21:9). The aged women were to teach ( Titus 2:3). Paul held Lois and Eunice in the highest honour ( 2 Timothy 1:5), and there is many a woman's name held in honour in Romans 16:1-27.

All the things in this chapter are mere temporary regulations to meet a given situation. If we want Paul's permanent view on this matter, we get it in Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." In Christ the differences of place and honour and function within the Church are all wiped out.

And yet this passage ends with a real truth. Women, it says, will be saved in child-bearing. There are two possible meanings here. It is just possible that this is a reference to the fact that Mary, a woman, was the mother of Jesus and that it means that women will be saved--as all others will--by that supreme act of child-bearing. But it is much more likely that the meaning is much simpler; and that it means that women will find salvation, not in addressing meetings, but in motherhood, which is their crown. Whatever else is true, a woman is queen within her home.

We must not read this passage as a barrier to all women's service within the Church, but in the light of its Jewish and its Greek background. And we must look for Paul's permanent views in the passage where he tells us that the differences are wiped out, and that men and women, slaves and freemen, Jews and Gentiles, are all eligible to serve Christ.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

1 Timothy 2:12

2:12 permit -- When the NT uses this word, it always refers to what a figure in authority allows (or prohibits). As an apostle (see 1 Timothy 2:7), Paul fits this description. The first-person form (“I do not”) makes sense as Paul pens these personal reminders to Timothy.

Teach -- Acts 11:26; Titus 2:3-4; (cf. Philip’s four virgin daughters who prophesied, or taught by inspiration, Acts 21:8-9)

2:12 teach or to exercise authority over a man -- The closest parallel to this instruction appears in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. The context there is the church’s public gatherings.

    (1) Women are not permitted to publicly teach Scripture and/or Christian doctrine to men in church (the context implies these topics), and (2) women are not permitted to exercise authority over men in church. (The reference for both “teaching” and “exercise authority” here is within the context of the assembled church.)

    Women teaching other women, and women teaching children, are not in view here, and both are encouraged elsewhere (on women teaching women, cf. Titus 2:4; on women teaching children, cf. 2 Timothy 1:5). Nor does this passage have in view the role of women in leadership situations outside the church (e.g., business or government).

    The presence of the word or (Gk. oude) between “to teach” and “to exercise authority” indicates that two different activities are in view, not a single activity of “authoritative teaching.”

Usurp authority -- ASV "to have dominion" the role of one who is master.

“Exercise authority” represents Greek authenteo, found only here in the NT. Over 80 examples of this word exist outside the NT, however, clearly establishing that the meaning is “exercise authority” (not “usurp authority” or “abuse authority,” etc., as sometimes has been argued).

    Since the role of pastor/elder/overseer is rooted in the task of teaching and exercising authority over the church, this verse would also exclude women from serving in this office (cf. 1 Timothy 3:2).

Silence -- quietness, cf note on v. 11 (1 Timothy 2:11

When Paul calls for the women to be quiet, he means “quiet” with respect to the teaching.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

But I suffer not a woman to teach, c,] They may teach in private, in their own houses and families they are to be teachers of good things, Titus 2:3. They are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; nor is the law or doctrine of a mother to be forsaken, any more than the instruction of a father; see Proverbs 1:8. Timothy, no doubt, received much advantage, from the private teachings and instructions of his mother Eunice, and grandmother Lois; but then women are not to teach in the church; for that is an act of power and authority, and supposes the persons that teach to be of a superior degree, and in a superior office, and to have superior abilities to those who are taught by them:

nor to usurp authority over the man; as not in civil and political things, or in things relating to civil government; and in things domestic, or the affairs of the family; so not in things ecclesiastical, or what relate to the church and government of it; for one part of rule is to feed the church with knowledge and understanding; and for a woman to take upon her to do this, is to usurp an authority over the man: this therefore she ought not to do,

but to be in silence; to sit and hear quietly and silently, and learn, and not teach, as in 1 Timothy 2:11.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;   10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.   11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.   12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.   13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.   14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.   15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

      I. Here is a charge, that women who profess the Christian religion should be modest, sober, silent, and submissive, as becomes their place. 1. They must be very modest in their apparel, not affecting gaudiness, gaiety, or costliness (you may read the vanity of a person's mind in the gaiety and gaudiness of his habit), because they have better ornaments with which they should adorn themselves, with good works. Note, Good works are the best ornament; these are, in the sight of God, of great price. Those that profess godliness should, in their dress, as well as other things, act as becomes their profession; instead of laying out their money on fine clothes, they must lay it out in works of piety and charity, which are properly called good works. 2. Women must learn the principles of their religion, learn Christ, learn the scriptures; they must not think that their sex excuses them from that learning which is necessary to salvation. 3. They must be silent, submissive, and subject, and not usurp authority. The reason given is because Adam was first formed, then Eve out of him, to denote her subordination to him and dependence upon him; and that she was made for him, to be a help-meet for him. And as she was last in the creation, which is one reason for her subjection, so she was first in the transgression, and that is another reason. Adam was not deceived, that is, not first; the serpent did not immediately set upon him, but the woman was first in the transgression (2 Corinthians 11:3), and it was part of the sentence, Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee,Genesis 3:16. But it is a word of comfort (1 Timothy 2:15; 1 Timothy 2:15) that those who continue in sobriety shall be saved in child-bearing, or with child-bearing--the Messiah, who was born of a woman, should break the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15); or the sentence which they are under for sin shall be no bar to their acceptance with Christ, if they continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety.

      II. Here observe, 1. The extensiveness of the rules of Christianity; they reach not only to men, but to women, not only to their persons, but also to their dress, which must be modest, like their sex; and to their outward deportment and behaviour, it must be in silence, with all subjection. 2. Women are to profess godliness as well as men; for they are baptized, and thereby stand engaged to exercise themselves to godliness; and, to their honour be it spoken, many of them were eminent professors of Christianity in the days of the apostles, as the book of Acts will inform us. 3. Women being more in danger of exceeding in their apparel, it was more necessary to caution them in this respect. 4. The best ornaments for professors of godliness are good works. 5. According to Paul, women must be learners, and are not allowed to be public teachers in the church; for teaching is an office of authority, and the woman must not usurp authority over the man, but is to be in silence. But, notwithstanding this prohibition, good women may and ought to teach their children at home the principles of religion. Timothy from a child had known the holy scriptures; and who should teach him but his mother and grandmother? 2 Timothy 3:15. Aquila and his wife Priscilla expounded unto Apollos the way of God more perfectly; but then they did it privately, for they took him unto them,Acts 18:26. 6. Here are two very good reasons given for the man's authority over the woman, and her subjection to the man, 1 Timothy 2:13; 1 Timothy 2:14. Adam was first formed, then Eve; she was created for the man, and not the man for the woman (1 Corinthians 11:9); then she was deceived, and brought the man into the transgression. 7. Though the difficulties and dangers of childbearing are many and great, as they are part of the punishment inflicted on the sex for Eve's transgression, yet here is much for her support and encouragement: Notwithstanding she shall be saved, c. Though in sorrow, yet she shall bring forth, and be a living mother of living children with this proviso, that they continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety: and women, under the circumstance of child-bearing should by faith lay hold of this promise for their support in the needful time.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

1 Timothy 1:1-20. We enter now on the confidential communications of the apostle to some of his fellow-labourers, and tonight on the epistles to Timothy. The two have much in common, but they have also not a little that is distinct. The first epistle is characterized by laying down the order which becomes both individuals and the church of God viewed as His house. We shall find, I trust, how remarkably His care for godly moral order, which descends into the family, into the relations of children and parents, of servants and masters, of man and woman, is also bound up with some of the main doctrines of the epistle. At the same time, while this pertains more particularly to the first epistle, there is a striking expression which meets us on the very threshold, and belongs not merely to these two epistles, but also to that addressed to Titus. God is not here regarded as our Father, but as our Saviour God. We have in harmony with this none of the special privileges of the family of God. The relationships before us wear another character. Thus, we have nothing at all about the body of Christ; we hear nowhere again of the bride of the Lamb; but what tallies with God as a Saviour. It is not Christ our Saviour, though, of course, He is so; but there is broader truth pressed even of God our Saviour, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This prepares for much that we shall find. God, as a Saviour God, is certainly in contrast with His dealings under law, or in government. Nevertheless it takes in also His preserving care, which extends far beyond believers, though very especially toward believers. It embraces also that which is much deeper than presidential care, even the salvation which is in course of accomplishment through Christ. I do not say accomplished; because salvation here, as elsewhere, must not be limited simply to redemption, but goes out into the results of that mighty work on the cross, whereby the soul is kept all the way through the wilderness, and the body of humiliation changed into the likeness of the Lord's glorious body.

Accordingly, Paul introduces himself as the "apostle of Jesus Christ by commandment of God." Authority has a large place in these epistles; thence the apostle shows it was not his writing to his child Timothy in this respect without the Lord. It was not merely love, it was not simply that the Spirit of God empowered him to meet need, but he styles himself in it the "apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Christ Jesus, our hope; to Timothy, my true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace," etc.

Another feature of these epistles meets us in the place which is given to mercy. I do not merely now refer to what has been often observed the introduction; but we shall find that mercy is wrought into the tissues and substance of the epistle. Mercy supposes the need, the constant wants, the difficulties, the dangers, of the saints of God. It supposes also that God is acting in love, and in full view of these difficulties. Hence we find that, while there is jealous care, there is also a remarkable tenderness, which appears every now and then, in these epistles; and this is just and beautiful in its season. The apostle was drawing toward the close of his career, and (although all be inspired, and he was a rare jewel even among the apostles) there is, I am persuaded, an evidence of a tone more suitable to the growing trials and necessities of the saints of God; a tenderness towards those that were faithful and tried, that is far more manifest here than in the earlier epistles. I do not say that all was not in its due time and measure, but we can well understand it. As a faithful servant, he had been for many years not only leading on, but sharing too the hardest of the fight, and had gone through perils such as had left many of his companions behind. Shame, afflictions, persecutions, the enticements of Satan too, had drawn away some that had been in the foremost ranks of old. He was now left with comparatively few of the familiar faces of those he had loved and laboured with so long.

We can easily understand, then, how calculated such circumstances were to draw out the expression of a love that was always there, but that would be in a more comely and suitable manner expressed at such a conjuncture of circumstances. This we shall find in these epistles. He writes to Timothy as his genuine child; it is not at all the usual way in the earlier epistles. It was his Bethany, Here and now was the opening of that long pent-up heart. At the same time he was also laying an important commission on one that was raised up of God for the purpose, who was comparatively young, who would soon have to fight his way without the sympathy and the countenance of one that had been so blest to him. Hence he says here," Grace, mercy, and peace." He felt his need, but certainly the mercy was not lacking in God, but rich and ready to flow. "Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when. I went into Macedonia." We see the love that even an apostle adopts towards his child in faith. It was not at all a peremptory word, though full of earnest desire for the work of the Lord. He wishes Timothy to stay, "that thou mightest charge some not to be teachers of other doctrine, nor to give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than God's administration* which is in faith."

*The true reading, represented by (Cod. Sin.) and all other uncials save the Clermont, and almost if not all the cursive manuscripts, is οἰκονομίαν , dispensation, in the sense of administration, or stewardship. Even Matthaei joins the rest of the critics, with the Complutensian Polyglott, against the received οἰκοδομίαν , which he considers a mere blunder of δ for ν by Erasmus's printers. But this does not account for the Latin, Syriac (save later), Gothic, etc.; even supposing δ was the slip of the scribe. It is evident that "edification" is not the point in question, but the right order of the house of God, and this in faith. Internal evidence is thus as strong as external as to the true reading.

Then he explains what the nature of this charge was. Often, I fear, "commandment" gives the English reader a wrong impression. I do not say that "commandment" is not correct, but that so naturally do people in Christendom turn to what we call the Ten Commandments, or ten words of the law, that whenever the word "commandment" occurs, you may expect many, even children of God, who might and ought to know better, at once unconsciously turning back to the law. But so far was this from being the writer's thought here, that we shall find him in a moment deprecating most strongly that whole system of idea as a misuse of the law. What the apostle means by the commandment is the charge that he was laying on his child in the faith and fellow-labourer Timothy. The end of the charge or commandment "is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." It was, in point of fact, not merely that charge that he was giving him, but the charge touched the truth of the gospel; it was the care of the faith, jealousy for the revelation of God Himself, our Saviour God in Christ. The end of all this was "love, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." And so then, as remarked already, far from leaving the smallest reason for any perversely to confound this with the law, the apostle instantly turns to that perverting of the law, which is so natural to the heart of man. "From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be law-teachers; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm;" and thereupon he parenthetically, as disposing of this matter, shows what the lawful use of the law is. They were not to suppose that he meant that God could make anything without a real use. As there is no creature of God that has not its value, so certainly the law of God has its right field of application, and its own proper use. Thus he vindicates God in what He has given, as well as afterwards in what He has made, and nowhere so much as in this epistle do we find this.

At the same time it is evident that he consigns the law to what we may call a comparatively negative use. The use of the law is to condemn, to kill, to deal with evil. This never could be the full expression of God. It does keep up a witness to God's hatred of evil no doubt; those that are presumptuous it leaves without excuse. But a Christian, who takes up the law as the rule of his own life, must in the very first instance give up his place as being in Christ, and abandon that righteousness of God which he is made in Him. The law was not enacted for the Christian. It is not, of course, that any Christian deliberately intends such folly; but this is really what the error implies. The very principle of taking the law for himself is the abandonment (without knowing or intending it) of all his blessing in Christ. To apply it thus is ignorance of the mind of God It was never designed for such a purpose. But there remains the lawful use of the law. It was made not for the righteous, but for an unrighteous man. Clearly what Satan here aimed at was to put the saints under the law. But the apostle will not hear of it, treating it as simply condemnatory of the bad, and in no way either the power or the rule of what is good for the believer. "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for lawless and disobedient, for ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for smiters of fathers and smiters of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine."

A weighty sentence, and eminently characteristic also of these epistles. The time was appropriate for it. The saints (at Ephesus especially) had heard a great deal of heavenly truth. There was also an effort, as we see, to correct what was supposed to be a defect, in those that were living on heavenly fare, by supplementing their truth with the law. But this is all wrong, cries the apostle. It is an unwitting denial not only of Christians, but even of your place as righteous men. Very different from this is the true and divine principle. But "sound doctrine" is brought in here; and we shall see how very beautifully this is applied in the epistle at a later point. For a moment he just touches on the wholesome thought, then turns to a higher one. There is in Christ that which lifts entirely out of nature, and puts one before God according to all that is in his heart his counsels of glory for us in Christ. In fact, immediately after this he calls what he preached the "gospel of the glory" ("the glorious gospel," as it is styled in our version,) "of the blessed God." "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." He takes great pains to show that no glory that is revealed in Christ, no blessedness in our total clearance from flesh, no setting of the believer free before God in Christ Jesus, impairs, but, on the contrary, gives importance to "sound doctrine."

By "sound doctrine" we shall find that he brings in the nicest care for the least relations of this life, as flowing from the grace and truth of God. This is the true guard against an abuse of heavenly truth; not putting persons under law, which is inevitable bondage and condemnation, that brings no glory to God, nor power or holiness to the man. But at the same time heavenly truth, so far from being inconsistent, never shines so much as when it is seen in the smallest details of walk in the home, in the family, in the ordinary occupation, in the bearing and tone of a man in his life day by day. It is not merely in the assembly; neither is it in worship only; it is not certainly in ministerial work alone, but in the quiet home. The relationship of a servant to his master gives a blessed opportunity in its place for showing out what the truth of the glory is to faith, and what the strength of the grace which is come to man in Christ the Lord. This is what we shall find in these epistles to Timothy that the apostle combines in his own wonderful way his reference to ordinary duty, and even enters into the smallest matters of this life, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. He refers to his own case; for he was so much the better a preacher of the gospel, because he so deeply felt himself an object of the grace of God, who revealed it in Christ to him. What can be conceived more remarkably characteristic of the man? The bearing of the passage is therefore intensely personal and practical. "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me unto ministry." He does not forget this, but he takes care to assert another and a far nearer and more immediate want "who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and insolent: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."

This accordingly brings out a statement of the gospel: "Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy." It is always mercy, as may be observed. It is not so much a question of righteousness; justification is not here prominent, as in other epistles. "I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." This draws out his ascription of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord; and then he repeats the words of the fifth verse: "This charge I commit unto thee." It is not the law, nor any supposed adaptation of it, to direct the path of those who receive the gospel. "This charge," he maintains, is the commandment of our Saviour God. It is that which He is sending out now, and nothing else. "This charge I commit to thee, child Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou mightest war the good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning, faith have made shipwreck."

There again we find the same mingling of the faith and good conscience as we had earlier. Some having put away, not the faith, but a good conscience, made shipwreck of the faith. Thus, no matter what you may hold or appear to delight in, abandoning jealousy over your ways, giving up self-judgment in the great or small matters which each day brings before us, is fatal. It may be a very little sin that is allowed, but this, where it is unjudged in God's sight, becomes the beginning of a very great evil. Having put away a good conscience, their ship no longer answers the helm, and as to faith they make shipwreck: "of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may be instructed not to blaspheme." Satan's power is regarded and really is in the outside world. The apostle had delivered these men to him. The power to torment and harass the soul with fears does not belong to the house of God, where, as we shall find, His presence is known, and this is incompatible with fear, with doubt, with question of acceptance and of blessing in His sight. The apostle had given up to the enemy these men, who had abandoned all that was holy, not only in practice, but also afterwards, as a consequence, in faith. They were consigned to Satan, not necessarily to be lost surely not; but that they might be so troubled, by proving what the power of Satan is by the flesh, and in the world, that they might be thus brought back broken in all their bones, and glad to find a refuge again in the house of God. Better surely not to need such discipline; but, if we do need it, how precious to know that God turns it to account in His grace, that they might be thoroughly dealt with and exercised in the conscience!

In the next chapter (1 Timothy 2:1-15) the apostle carries on his care as to what was becoming. This, you will find, is a main topic of the epistle. It is not merely instruction for saints, or conversion of sinners, but also the comeliness that belongs to the saints of God their right attitude toward those without as well as those within. In it we begin with what is toward those in authority, that are without. "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in eminence; that we may pass a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and gravity." May it not be a question whether we are sufficiently careful and exercised in heart, as to that which becomes us in this respect? Do we really enter on our due place of intercession, and exercise that which becomes us before God, as having so blessed a function the mind of God in this world, and care for those that seem to be outside our reach? But in truth to stand in this world in known and near relationship with a Saviour God, with One that we know, at once brings before us also those that are outside. Christianity fosters no spirit of harsh: unruly independence. And what then becomes us in respect of them? Prayer, intercession, even for the highest, let them be kings or in eminence; they need it most. Nothing but the strong sense of the infinite blessing of the place that grace has given us could lead to or keep up such prayer. But sometimes we are apt to settle down in the enjoyment of the grace, without reflecting on that which becomes us as to those outside it. From pre-occupation within, how often we forget those without!

But the reason goes deeper. "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who desires that all men should be saved:" speaking now of His gracious willingness. Not His counsels but His nature rises before us. We must be blind if we fail to see that a great point in these epistles is the good and loving nature of God, that would have us look at all men without exception. It is another thine, how far the counsels of God work, how far the effectual work of His grace is applied; but nothing alters God's nature. And this is true both in the spirit of grace that becomes the saints, and also in their zealous care for the glory of God. Hence he says: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men." This is always the ground and character of the First and Second of Timothy. It is not the Father and His family; it is God and man. And it is not merely God as He once dealt with Israel, for then this Mediator was not. There was a promise, but the Mediator of grace was not come. But now, apart from the heavenly relations that are ours, and much that we know and enjoy by the Holy Ghost in our hearts here below, there is this that needs to be looked after and maintained, that is, the public character if we may so speak of the Christian, and that which belongs to him thus broadly before men. It is the testimony of God as a Saviour God, of a God that has to do with men. Accordingly He has revealed Himself in a Mediator. Thus he speaks of Him: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony in its own season. Whereunto I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not), a teacher of Gentiles in faith and truth."

His general exhortation is pursued, but still in view of the due and decent outward order, of that which met the eye even of an unconverted person. "I will therefore that the men" that is, not women "that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing." There are occasions and places where it would be wholly unsuitable for women to speak, but as to men they pray everywhere. There is no place where it is not in season, but let it be "without wrath and disputing." or "reasoning." Either would be altogether opposed to the spirit of prayer. Prayer is the expression of dependence on God; and wrangling on the one hand, and all angry feeling on the other, even supposing it might have some righteousness about it, still are unsuitable to prayer. Thus, what may have its place may really be uncomely in drawing near to God. A spirit of reasoning would be quite as out of place.

But with regard to woman he says, "In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in orderly guise, with modesty and sobriety; not with plaits and gold, or pearls, or costly array." It does not matter what may be the particular taste and habits of the day or of the country, the Christian woman, as much as the Christian man, ought to be above the age, and unlike the world. And indeed it is this very want that he here takes occasion to connect with Christianity itself in its outward order before man; so that we may truly desire that our Saviour God should not lose, as it were, His character in and by His people; for this is the great point that the apostle is so full of in these epistles. Such is the way in which a woman can contribute to a right and godly testimony as well as a man.

But he pursues it a little more. He says, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man." In truth he really goes somewhat beyond this. A woman might say, "I do not usurp authority; I only exercise it." But this precisely is what is wrong. It is forbidden to be exercised. Nothing therefore can be more exclusive. It does not matter, if the man may be weak and the woman strong; it would have been better they had thought of this before they became husband and wife. But even thus no excuse avails; the woman is not to exercise authority over the man; nor (need I add?) in any other relationship. For this he traces things to their roots. "Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being quite deceived was in transgression." That is, he decides things with that marvellous power which God gave him beyond any of the other apostles of tracking the stream to its source, both in man and to God; and this ruling of the case he deduces from the unquestionable facts of the beginning of divine history as to the man and woman. The man was not deceived, in a certain sense: so much the worse; he was a bold sinner. The woman was weak and misled by the serpent; the man deliberately did what he did with his eyes open. Adam sinned against God knowingly. Of course it was dreadful and ruinous; nevertheless this shows the difference in their character from the outset. Men as a class are not so liable to be deceived as woman She is more open to be taken in by appearance. The man may be ruder and worse bolder in his sin, but still the Lord remembers this even to the last. At the same time the apostle mingles this with that which is the lot of women here below: "But she shall be preserved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." It is not merely if "she," but if "they" continue. How serious is the word for both man and woman! In the government of God He mingles the most solemn things with that which is the most thoroughly personal, showing how He would have the conscience exercised, and jealous care even on such a matter as this. I do not agree with those who refer the childbearing to the Incarnation.

And now he comes (1 Timothy 3:1-16), not so much to comely order as to the outside, or as to the relation of man and woman, but to the ordinary governments and helps of the saints. He takes up what was of a graver kind, and touching more on spiritual things, namely, bishops (or elders); then deacons; and this leads him naturally to the house of God. "Faithful is the word, If any one aspireth to oversight, he desireth a good work. The overseer then must be blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." It is plain that this is not at all a question of spiritual gift. One might be endowed with a good gift and yet not have a well-regulated house. Perhaps the wife might not behave properly, or the children be unruly: no matter what his gift, if the wife, or the family were a dishonour, he could not be an overseer (for this is the simple and true meaning of bishop").

In early days persons were brought in to the confession of Christ who had been Pagans, and trained up in its habits. Some of these had more than one wife. A true and gifted Christian one might be; but if such were his unhappy position, he was precluded from exercising formal oversight. The evil of polygamy could not be corrected at that time by strong measures. (Since then in Christendom it is dealt with as criminal.) To dismiss his wives would be wrong. But the Holy Spirit by such an injunction applied a principle which was destined to undermine, as in fact it did undermine, polygamy in every form. There was a manifest censure conveyed in the fact, that a man with two or more wives could not be set in the charge of elder or deacon. A man was not refused as a confessor of Christ, nor was he forbidden to preach the gospel, because such might have been his sad circumstances at home. If the Lord called him by His grace, or gave him as a gift to the church, the church bowed, But an elder or bishop was to be one that not only had a suitable gift for his work, but also in the family or in his circumstances must be free from all appearance of scandal on the name of the Lord. He must have a good report, and be morally irreproachable in himself and his household. There might be trial or sorrow, few families were without both; but what is spoken of here is something that damaged the public repute of the. assembly. For this very reason the grand point for local oversight was moral weight. It was not only the ability to inform, counsel, or rebuke, but in order to do all this efficiently a certain godly influence proved at home and abroad. In the practical difficulties with which an elder or bishop would be called to interfere continually in an assembly, there should never be room for those whose conduct might be in question to point to flaws in his own home, or in his own open life and spirit. Thus wisely and holily did the Spirit demand that he should be a person of good report himself, that neither past ways nor present habits should in the least degree compromise the office; and again, with a stainless reputation as well as a man of some spiritual experience in his family "one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil." These things would not apply to a man's ministry in the word. A Christian may begin to preach almost as soon as he believed the word of truth, the gospel of salvation; but for one to be clothed with a public and responsible place as elder in an assembly is another thing altogether.

As a rule the apostle never appointed persons elders directly after they were converted. A certain time was needful for the Spirit of God to work in the soul, and discipline them in the midst of their brethren. They would then and thus manifest certain capabilities and moral qualities, and acquire weight, which would make them respected and valued, besides gaining experience in godly care for the well-being of the saints of God. All these things, where there were circumstantial requisites, relative and personal suitability, would mark out a person for this office.

Besides, though this is not said here, in order to be an overseer, one must be appointed by a valid authority; and the only one recognised by Scripture is an apostle or an apostolic delegate. Thus the Christians that a superficial. observer of the present day might tax with inattention to godly order in these respects are in truth those alone who are really adhering to it. For manifestly to set up men in such a position of charge without a proper validating authority is really to vitiate all in its very springs. Those who refuse to exceed their powers are clearly in the right, not those who imitate the apostles without warrant from the Lord. I am perfectly satisfied therefore that those now gathered to His name have been mercifully and truly led of God in not presuming to appoint elders or bishops. They do not possess the needful authority more than others; and there they stop, using, and blessing God for, such things as they have. Appointment must always raise the question, who they are that appoint. And it is impossible for an honest man of intelligence to find a scriptural answer, so as to sanction those who pretend to ordain, or those who claim to be duly ordained, in Christendom. There was no difficulty in primitive days. Here indeed (if we except a debatable allusion in another place) the apostle does not touch the subject of appointment as he does to Titus. He merely puts before Timothy the qualities requisite for both the local charges.

After the overseers he turns to the deacons. "Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved." The modern deacon in the larger and national bodies has no resemblance to this, and is indeed an unmeaning form. It is a mere noviciate for the so-called presbyters who compose the body of the clergy. Of old no inexperienced man ought to have been in such a position. Even though it was a function about outward things, still they were to be first proved. "Then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave." It is plain on the face of it that this is more particularly insisted on for the deacons than for the elders. The reason was, that as the deacons had to do more with externals, there was greater danger of their wives making mischief and heart-burning. They might interfere with these matters, which we know are apt to gender strife, as they cast a gloom over the Pentecostal Church at an early day. There was not the same temptation for the wives of the elders or overseers. Hence it is written here, "Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife." In this we find the same thing as was said of the elders: both must rule their children and their own houses well. "For they that have served well purchase to themselves a good degree, and much boldness in faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Then the apostle sums up these regulations, and says, These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God," (may we, too, profit by his words, beloved brethren!) "which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." The church is the guardian of the truth, its sole responsible witness on the earth. The church owes all in the grace of our Lord Jesus to the truth. It may not be competent to define the truth: inspired men have done so. At the same time it is bound to hold forth God's word as the truth, and to allow nothing inconsistent with it in the doctrine or ways of the assembly. For we are called to be a manifestation of the truth before the world, even of that which goes beyond that of which the church is the embodiment. The acts done should always be an expression of the truth. It is a most important duty, therefore, and one requiring continual watchfulness. God alone can vouchsafe or keep it good.

Truly, there are often difficulties that arise in the church of God, and prudence might suggest many plans to meet the difficulty; but then it is the house of God, not merely the house of the prudent or the good. It is a divine institution. It has nothing in common with well-intentioned men doing their best. Let the matter be ever so simple, whether it be a question of discipline or order, it should express the truth of God applied to the case. This shows the exceeding solemnity of either advising or resisting any course that might be the will of God in any particular matter. Excellent desires, zeal, honesty, are in no way sufficient for the purpose. God can employ the most feeble member of the assembly; but still ordinarily one looks for better guides. One might expect that while God would give no allowance to a man presuming on gift or experience, because the moment you begin to assume to yourself or to others, there is danger, but nevertheless, surely one might expect that God would, by suitable means, bring out that which is wholesome, and true, and godly in short, what would express His own mind on any given subject.

These are among the reasons why the apostle maintains it here. We have it viewed in its outward comely order in this world, but the principle of the maintenance of this, and nothing less than this, always remains true. No renewed state gives any reason for abandoning it. The great thing is never to let details swamp the principle. There is always a way for those who, consciously weak, distrust themselves; and this is to wait, to refuse to act until God shows His way. Faith waits till it gets a distinct word from God. No doubt it is hard to be at one's wits' end, but it is a good thing for the soul. So here: he bids Timothy to take heed to these things, in case he himself tarried.

And what is that truth especially which characterizes the church? This is another instance of the tone of the epistle. "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness." Mark the expression "mystery of godliness," or piety. It is not simply the mystery of Christ in the church, but the "mystery of godliness." "God* was manifested in flesh, was justified in Spirit, was seen of angels, was preached among Gentiles, was believed on in [the] world, was received up in glory." It is not God reigning over a people here below. This was no mystery, but the wonted expectation of all Israel, indeed, of saints before Israel. They expected the Messiah, the Redeemer to come, the One that would make good the promises of God. But now "God was manifested in flesh, was justified in Spirit." The power of the Holy Ghost had shown itself all through His life, had been proved to the uttermost in His death, and now marked Him out as Son of God in resurrection. He was "seen of angels," not of man alone; He was "preached among Gentiles," instead of being found on a throne amongst the Jews; He was "believed on in the world," instead of manifestly governing it by power. Another state of things altogether is present: it is Christianity; but Christianity viewed in the person of Christ Himself, in the grand bearings of His own person and His work; not as forming a heavenly body, nor even pursuing the special privileges of the habitation of God through the Spirit; but laying the foundation for the house of God, as the scene and support of His truth and moral order before the world. The whole matter is closed by Jesus, not only "believed on in the world," but "received up in glory."

* Cod. Sin. () agrees with the great authorities which give ὅς , "who" (or others, ὅ , "which") instead of Θεός , "God."

Now what is the reason why this is brought in here? It seems to be set in contrast with the speculations of men (1 Timothy 4:1-16) who wanted to interweave with Christianity certain dreams of a fancied spirituality above the gospel. What was this scheme? They fancied that the gospel would be a still better system if the converts would eat no meat; if they would not marry, and so on. This was their notion of bringing in some "higher life," superior to anything that the apostles had taught How does he meet them? He shows here the "mystery of godliness;" but along with this, and immediately after it, he brings in the most necessary fundamental truth. This is the point that has much struck my mind in speaking of 1 Timothy at this time.

That is to say, there is a combination of God's revelation in Christ, in most essential and even lofty features, with the plainest and simplest truth of God as to creation. Now, you will find that the way in which false doctrine enters habitually is in contrast with this. Men thus break down, who despise common duties; they are far too good or too great for occupying themselves with the homely things that become a Christian man or woman. They may perhaps weave the love of Christ (we will suppose) into some high-flown speculations; but they set aside that which connects itself every day with moral propriety. Oh, how often this has been the case! how one could easily recount one name after another, if it would become any so to do! Such then is the way in which error is prone to show itself. The man who most of all brings out what is heavenly and divine is he who should be devoted and obedient in the simplest duties of every day. This very epistle is the witness of it. Whereas the moment one sanctions the principle of making little of the family relations, setting aside duty, neglecting it personally, and making it even a boast to do so, as if jealousy for the Lord's glory were mere legalism, the result will be that, while they set aside the common claims of every day's duty, the conscience is ruined, and shipwreck of the faith is inevitable. They first cast aside a good conscience, and then the faith itself comes to nothing.

Thus the apostle brings the reader into close juxtaposition with the mystery of godliness, or, as it is emphatically called, the mystery of piety. The glorious person of Christ is traced through from His manifestation in flesh, or incarnation, until He is beheld "received up in glory." The work of God proceeds in the church on earth founded on this. In contrast with it 1 Timothy 4:1-16 follows up: "But the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons; in hypocrisy of liars, cauterised in their own conscience, forbidding to marry, [bidding] to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving of those that are faithful and know the truth." Some necessary changes are here made, so as to convey what seems to me the meaning. Then he proceeds: "For every creature of God is good," etc. We can hardly descend to anything lowlier than this.

But these airy speculators had completely forgotten God. They despised the simple self-evident truth that every creature of God is good. So, too, we see that they put a disparagement on the basis of family life, and the social system marriage. Not to marry through devotedness to God's work may be right and most blessed; but here it was a pretension to superior sanctity. As a principle and practice, Christian people were urged not to marry at all. Now the moment that this ground is taken, the same apostle who tells us what he believed to be the best thing. (namely, to be free from fresh ties, so as to care only for the Lord), defends resolutely the sanctity of marriage, and resents the blow struck at the creatures of God. It was really a slight of His outward love, and of His providential arrangements. Danger threatens wherever there is a virtual setting aside of God's rights, no matter what the plea. Oriental philosophy, which tinctured some of the Greeks, fostered these high soarings of men. As usual, Paul brings in God, and the dream is dissipated. The moment you use anything so as to set aside the plain duty of every day, you prove yourself to be losing the faith, to have slipped from a good conscience, to have fallen a victim to the enemy's deceits; and what will be the end of it?

The apostle then gives personal counsel to Timothy, of a very salutary character. As he also desires that none should despise his youth, so he urges that he should be a model of the believers, in word, conversation, love, faith, and purity. He was to give himself to reading, to exhortation, to teaching, and not to neglect his gift, given him through prophecy, in the imposition of the hands of the presbytery or elderhood. Nothing simpler, nor more wholesome. It might have been thought that one so specially endowed as Timothy was not called to occupy himself thus, and be wholly in them, that his profiting should appear to all. But no; grace and gift create a corresponding responsibility, instead of absolving from it. Timothy must give heed to himself, as well as to the teaching; and he must continue in them, instead of relaxing after a rigorous beginning. Depend upon it that those who seek to give out had better take care that they take in; that both labourers and those laboured amongst may ever grow in the truth. Doing thus, Timothy would save both himself and those that heard him.

In 1 Timothy 5:1-25 the apostle gives needful directions to Timothy as regards an elder. He was not to be rebuked sharply, but to be entreated as a father. Undoubtedly Timothy stood in a prominent place of trust and service; but this gave no exemption from the comeliness that becomes every one especially a young man. The apostle had maintained his post of honour in the preceding chapter; now he will not let him forget the due consideration of others. How often does over-frankness drop words which rankle in the memory of an elder, easily floated over when love flows freely, but when it ebbs, an occasion of shipwreck! Again, "younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity." Nothing more beautiful, more tender, more holy; nothing more calculated to edify and cement the saints to the glory of God, whilst His wisdom enters into all circumstances with an easy elasticity which is characteristic of His grace.

So too we find divinely-furnished regulations as to those who ought to be chargeable to the assembly what was right in the case of the younger widows what was desirable as to younger women in general; and then again the obligations toward elders, not now when faulty, but in their ordinary functions and service. "Let the elders that preside well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." But what if they were charged with wrong? "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." Prejudice and partiality must be eschewed at all cost. Finally, care, must be taken to avoid any compromise of the name of the Lord. Thus the well-known sign of blessing in the outward act of laying on hands was to be done circumspectly. "Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure."

There is condescension even to so small a point seemingly as to tell him not to be a water-drinker. It would seem that Timothy's scrupulous conscience felt the dreadful habits of those times and lands so as to bring him into bondage but the apostle, not in a mere private note, but in the body of the inspired letter itself, sets aside his scruples, and bids him "use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." I am aware that men have cavilled at this, yielding to their own thoughts of what they deem fit subjects for the pen of inspiration; but if we exclude anything whatever from the range of the Spirit of God, we make it to be merely a question of the will of man. And what must issue from this? There is nothing either too great or too little for the Holy Spirit. Is there anything that may not, that ought not, to be a question of doing God's will? Thus, if a person takes wine, or anything else, except to please God, and is not in danger on the score of morality, certainly he has lost all adequate sense of his own place as a witness of the glory of God. How happy ought we to be that God gives us perfect liberty! only let us see to it that we use it solely for His praise.

In the last chapter (1 Timothy 6:1-21) comes the question of servants and their masters, which also it was important to regulate; for we all know that a servant might turn to a selfish account that his master and himself were brethren in Christ. It is all very well for the master to say so; and certainly he should never act without bearing in mind his own spiritual relationship to his servant; but I do not think it becomes a servant to say "brother" to his master. My business is to know him as my master. No doubt it would be grace on his part to own me as his brother. Everything therefore where grace is at work will be found to have its blessed place. Whoever thought differently (and such have never been wanting) was puffed up, and could only suggest evil.

Then he touches on the value of piety with a contented mind in contrast with the love of money, and its various snares in this age as in all that are past. These things will be found dealt with successively, until at last the apostle calls on the man of God to flee these things himself, and to pursue the path of righteousness, etc., as well as strive in the good combat of faith; otherwise a man of God was in no degree free from danger. He was to lay hold of eternal life, to which he had been called, and had confessed the good confession before many witnesses, and this in view of the great event which will display our fidelity or the lack of it the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in its own time the blessed and only Potentate shall show. At the same time he calls on him to charge them that are rich neither to be high-minded nor rely on aught so uncertain. What would give weight to the charge? That he was above such desires himself, trusting in the living God, who affords us all things richly for enjoyment. Let them be rich in good works, liberal in distributing, ready to communicate, laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold of what is really life. "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of false-named knowledge, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee."