Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Timothy 2:6

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 1 Timothy 2:6. Who gave himself a ransom — The word λυτρον signifies a ransom paid for the redemption of a captive; and αντιλυτρον, the word used here, and applied to the death of Christ, signifies that ransom which consists in the exchange of one person for another, or the redemption of life by life; or, as Schleusner has expressed it in his translation of these words, Qui morte sua omnes liberavit a vitiositatis vi et poenis, a servitute quassi et miseria peccatorum. "He who by his death has redeemed all from the power and punishment of vice, from the slavery and misery of sinners." As God is the God and father of all, (for there is but one God, 1 Timothy 2:5), and Jesus Christ the mediator of all, so he gave himself a ransom for all; i.e., for all that God made, consequently for every human soul; unless we could suppose that there are human souls of which God is not the Creator; for the argument of the apostle is plainly this: 1. There is one God; 2. This God is the Creator of all; 3. He has made a revelation of his kindness to all; 4. He will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth; and 5. He has provided a mediator for all, who has given himself a ransom for all. As surely as God has created all men, so surely has Jesus Christ died for all men. This is a truth which the nature and revelation of God unequivocally proclaim.

To be testified in due time. — The original words, το μαρτυριον καιροις ιδιοις, are not very clear, and have been understood variously. The most authentic copies of the printed Vulgate have simply, Testimonium temporibus suis; which CALMET translates: Rendant ainsi temoignage au tems marqué; "Thus rendering testimony at the appointed time." Dr. MACKNIGHT thus: Of which the testimony is in its proper season. WAKEFIELD thus: "That testimony reserved to its proper time" ROSENMULLEN: Haec est doctrina, temporibus suis reservata. "This is the doctrine which is reserved for its own times;" that is, adds he, quoe suo tempore in omni terrarum orbe tradetur, "the doctrine which in its own time shall be delivered to all the inhabitants of the earth." Here he translates μαρτυριον, doctrine; and contends that this, not testimony, is its meaning, not only in this passage, but in 1 Corinthians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 2:1, c. Instead of μαρτυριον, testimony, one MS., Cod. Kk., vi. 4, in the public library, Cambridge, has, μυστηριον, mystery but this is not acknowledged by any other MS., nor by any version. In D*FG the whole clause is read thus: οὑ το μαρτυριον καιροις ιδιοις εδοθη· The testimony of which was given in its own times. This is nearly the reading which was adopted in the first printed copies of the Vulgate. One of them now before me reads the passage thus: Cujus testimonium temporibus suis confirmatum est. "The testimony of which is confirmed in its own times." This reading was adopted by Pope Sixtus V., in the famous edition published by him; but was corrected to the reading above, by Pope Clement VIII. And this was rendered literally by our first translator: Whos witnessinge is confermyd in his timis. This appears to be the apostle's meaning: Christ gave himself a ransom for all. This, in the times which seemed best to the Divine wisdom, was to be testified to every nation, and people, and tongue. The apostles had begun this testimony; and, in the course of the Divine economy, it has ever since been gradually promulgated; and at present runs with a more rapid course than ever.

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

who gave himself a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times;

The actual meaning of this somewhat obscure passage has been often disputed, but it would appear that the timeliness of the testimony is what Paul emphasized, calling to mind the words of Titus 1:2. It was in the mind of God "before the world was" to redeem humanity; and as Paul said in another place, "When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4). Thus, "the testimony" of Christ to the fact of God's willingness to save all people was borne by the coming of Christ "in the fullness of time." The "fullness of time" also marked the testimony of the apostles themselves, as indicated in verse 7.

Who gave himself a ransom for all … This ranks with Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 among the great "ransom" passages of the New Testament. Our Lord literally gave himself, in that no one took his life away from him, but he laid it down of his own accord (John 10:17-18). There are no less than seven centers of initiative which are discernible in the crucifixion of Christ; and thus it is proper to say that: (1) God crucified Christ; (2) Christ crucified himself (gave himself willingly); (3) the Jews crucified him; (4) the Romans crucified him; (5) all mankind crucified him; (6) Satan crucified him; and (7) every man crucified him. A study of these is very rewarding. See in my Commentary on Romans, pp. 137ff.

The inestimable worth of our Lord Jesus Christ is apparent in that a ransom must have equivalent value to that which is ransomed or redeemed; and that Christ's death was a sacrifice equivalent to the value of the entire race of mankind is inherent in the comparison.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Who gave himself a ransom for all - This also is stated as a reason why prayer should be offered for all, and a proof that God desires the salvation of all. The argument is, that as Christ died for all, it is proper to pray for all, and that the fact that he died for all is proof that God desired the salvation of all. Whatever proof of his desire for their salvation can be derived from this in relation to any of the race, is proof in relation to all. On the meaning of the phrase “he gave himself a ransom,” see the Matthew 20:28 note; Romans 3:25 note; on the fact that it was for “all,” see the notes on 2 Corinthians 5:14.

See also the Supp. note on the same passage.

To be testified in due time - Margin, “a testimony.” The Greek is, “the testimony in its own times,” or in proper times - τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις to marturion kairois idiois. There have been very different explanations of this phrase. The common interpretation, and that which seems to me to be correct, is, that “the testimony of this will be furnished in the proper time; that is, in the proper time it shall be made known through all the world;” see Rosenmuller. Paul affirms it as a great and important truth that Christ gave himself a ransom for all mankind - for Jews and Gentiles; for all classes and conditions of people alike. This truth had not always been understood. The Jews had supposed that salvation was designed exclusively for their nation, and denied that it could be extended to others, unless they became Jews. According to them, salvation was not provided for, or offered to pagans as such, but only on condition that they became Jews. In opposition to this, Paul says that it was a doctrine of revelation that redemption was to be provided for all people, and that it was intended that the testimony to this should be afforded at the proper time. It was not fully made known under the ancient dispensation, but now the period had come when it should be communicated to all; compare Romans 5:6 note, and Galatians 4:4 note.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

6Who gave himself a ransom for all ⁽³⁴⁾ The mention of redemption in this passage is not superfluous; for there is a necessary connection between the two things, the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and his continual intercession. (Romans 8:34.) These are the two parts of his priesthood; for, when Christ is called our priest, it is in this sense, that he once made atonement for our sins by his death, that he might reconcile us to God; and now having entered into the sanctuary of heaven, he appears in presence of the Father, in order to obtain grace for us, that we may be heard in his name. (Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:17.) So much the more does he expose the wicked sacrilege of the Papists, who, by making dead saints to be companions of Christ in this affair, transfer to them likewise the glory of the priesthood. Read the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, towards the conclusion, and the beginning of the fifth chapter, [Hebrews 4:14,] and you will find what I maintain, that the intercession by which God is reconciled to us is founded on the sacrifice; which, indeed, is demonstrated by the whole system of the ancient priesthood. It follows, therefore, that it is impossible to take from Christ any part of the office of intercession, and bestow it on others, without stripping him of the title of priesthood.

Besides, when the Apostle calls himἀντίλυτρον, “ a ransom,” ⁽³⁵⁾ he overthrows all other satisfactions. Yet I am not ignorant of the injurious devices of the Papists, who pretend that the price of redemption, which Christ paid by his death, is applied to us in baptism, so that original sin is effaced, and that afterwards we are reconciled to God by satisfactions. In this way they limit to a small period of time, and to a single class, that benefit which was universal and perpetual. But a full illustration of this subject will be found in the Institutes.

That there might be a testimony in due time; that is, in order that this grace might be revealed at the appointed time. The phrase, for all, which the Apostle had used, might have given rise to the question, “Why then had God chosen a peculiar people, if he revealed himself as a reconciled Father to all without distinction, and if the one redemption through Christ was common to all?” He cuts off all ground for that question, by referring to the purpose of God the season ⁽³⁶⁾ for revealing his grace. For if we are not astonished that in winter, the trees are stripped of their foliage, the fields are covered with snow, and the meadows are stiff with frost, and that, by the genial warmth of spring, what appeared for a time to be dead, begins to revive, because God appointed the seasons to follow in succession; why should we not allow the same authority to his providence in other matters? Shall we accuse God of instability, because he brings forward, at the proper time, what he had always determined, and settled in his own mind?

Accordingly, although it came upon the world suddenly and was altogether unexpected, that Christ was revealed as a Redeemer to Jews and Gentiles, without distinction; let us not think that it was sudden with respect to God but, on the contrary, let us learn to subject all our sense to his wonderful providence. The consequence will be, that there will be nothing that comes from him which shall not appear to us to be highly seasonable. On that account this admonition frequently occurs in the writings of Paul and especially when he treats of the calling of the Gentiles, by which, at that time, on account of its novelty, many persons were startled and almost confounded. They who are not satisfied with this solution, that God, by his hidden wisdom, arranged the succession of the seasons, will one day feel, that, at the time when they think that he was idle, he was framing a hell for inquisitive persons.

(34) “He gave himself ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ, ‘a ransom for’ all. If this does not imply the notion of Vicarious, I very much question whether language can express it. Λύτρον is a Ransom; which conveys a vicarious sense, in its most common and authorized acceptation. Ἁντὶ, which is equivalent to Instead, still more fully ascertains and strengthens the idea. (Ἁντὶ, Matthew 2:22.) By this word the LXX. translated the word תהת, (tabhdth.) And that תהת denotes the substitution of one instead of another, no student of the sacred language will venture to deny. (See Genesis 22:13; 2 Samuel 18:33; 2 Kings 10:24.) ὑπὲρ, which is translated For, and denotes a substitution of one in the place of another; this, added to all, renders the expression as determinate and emphatical for the purpose as words can possibly be. Thus writes Clemens Romanus, Τὸ αἷυα αὐτοῦ ἔδωχεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, χαὶ τὴν σάρχα ὑπερ τὢς εάρχος ἡμῶν, χαὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν. “Jesus Christ our Lord gave his blood for us, and his flesh for our flesh, and his soul for our souls.” (Ephesians 1:0 ad Corinth.) Exactly to the same purpose Justin the Martyr expresses himself: ‘He gave his own Son a ransom (ὑπὲρ) for us, the holy for transgressors, the sinless for the sinful, the righteous for the unrighteous, the immortal for the mortal.’ (Ephesians 1:0 ad Diogn.)” — Hervey’s Theron and Aspasqo

(35) “Quand il l’appelle Rancon, ou, Pris de redemption.” — “When he calls him the Ransom or Price of our redemption.” — “Christ came to give up his life as a λύτρον. Now λύτρον properly denotes the ransom paid, in order to deliver any one from death, or its equivalent, captivity, or from punishment in general. It has been satisfactorily proved that, among both the Jews and the Gentiles, peculiar victims were accepted as a ransom for the life of an offender, and to atone for his offense. — The ἀντίλυτρον of this passage is a stronger term than the λύτρον of Matthew 20:28, and is well explained by Hesych., ἀντίδοτον, implying the substitution, in suffering punishment, of one person for another. See 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18.” — Bloomfield.

(36) “Le temps propre et la droite saison.” — “The fit time and proper season.”

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

Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Who gave himself a ransom for all: Paul does not say that He gave himself for the Jewish nation or for any one race of people but, rather, that He paid the price by giving himself as a ransom for "all." Thayer defines "ransom" (Antilutron) as "what is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption" (Thayer 50), suggesting a substitute ransom was paid to set men free: a life for a life. His life for our life, His death that we might live (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). By that death He was able to reconcile man to God, setting him free from the sins which had separated him from his maker.

It was by the sin of man that death entered the human race. As Paul says in his Roman letter, it was "death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for they all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). With the sentence of death passed upon all men, Jesus took our place as a substitute and died for us. He paid the price of death for us. He was the ransom! Although that price was sufficient to make a way for our freedom from death’s sentence, it is effective only to those who will submit their lives and will to the Lord.

to be testified in due time: The Revised Version renders this "the testimony to be born in its own time." This due time (season) seems to refer to the period beginning with Jesus’ death, marking the end of the Mosaic period and lasting through the Christian age until time shall be declared no more. Thus, the substance of the gospel message is that Christ gave himself as a ransom. It is that message, proclaimed by the apostles, that preachers are to affirm during the Christian Age.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A. The priority of prayer for peoples’ salvation 2:1-7

The apostle’s first positive instruction to Timothy regarding his leadership of the Ephesian church was that believers should offer prayer for all people. He gave this directive to emphasize its importance, defend its value, and clarify its practice.

"The ministry of prayer is the most important service that the Church of Christ can engage in.

"It [prayer] is the most dynamic work which God has entrusted to His saints, but it is also the most neglected ministry open to the believer." [Note: D. Edmond Hiebert, Working With God: Scriptural Studies in Intercession, pp. 44, 19.]

"The most essential part of public worship is prayer." [Note: Earle, p. 357.]

Every aspect of this prayer touches the church’s evangelistic mission. Prayer is not the subject of this section but the context for that subject, which is the salvation of all people. [Note: Mounce, pp. 76-78.]

"The one clear concern that runs through the whole paragraph has to do with the gospel as for everyone (’all people,’ 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Timothy 2:4-7). . . . The best explanation for this emphasis lies with the false teachers, who either through the esoteric, highly speculative nature of their teaching (1 Timothy 1:4-6) or through its ’Jewishness’ (1 Timothy 1:7) or ascetic character (1 Timothy 4:3) are promoting an elitist or exclusivist mentality among their followers. The whole paragraph attacks that narrowness." [Note: Fee, p. 62.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Many commentators believed Paul was citing another common creedal statement in these verses. Another possibility is that God inspired him to form this statement himself as he wrote this epistle. In either case we have here a succinct affirmation of the person and work of Christ. The whole statement supports what Paul just said in 1 Timothy 2:3-4.

The God-man is the only mediator of the New Covenant between God and man, providing salvation man-ward and facilitating prayer God-ward. This is something that people have found hard to accept throughout history. In Paul’s day the Jews looked to Moses (Galatians 3:19) or angels (Hebrews 2:5) as mediators, and the Gnostics looked to intermediary deities (aeons). In our own day Roman Catholics and others look to dead "saints" for mediatorial benefits, and Buddhists look to their ancestors. Nevertheless the teaching of 1 Timothy 2:5 is clear: the only mediator between God and people is Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:6).

"This is one of the most significant verses of the NT." [Note: Earle, p. 358.]

In the "fullness of time" Jesus was born and died giving His life as payment to free the human race ("all") from slavery to sin. Jesus’ death made all people savable. [Note: See Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 3:184-85.] Limited redemptionists interpret "all men" to be all the elect. Universalists interpret "all men" to be every human individual. Other passages of Scripture that speak of Christ’s death as providing a basis for the salvation of everyone contradict the limited redemptionists (e.g., John 3:16, 1 John 2:2; et al.). Passages that indicate that not everyone will be saved refute the universalists (e.g., Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:15; et al.).

A "ransom" (Gr. antilutron, used only here in the New Testament) is a ransom price. This word and this verse clearly set forth the idea that Jesus Christ died as the substitute for all people (cf. Mark 10:45; Galatians 1:4; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2; Titus 2:14). Some benefits of Christ’s death do not belong to the elect exclusively. He paid the debt "for all." This is proof that He desires all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).

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 2:6

Ransom for all -- payment exchange; this speaks of the worth of Christ.

2:6 Ransom -- (Gk. antilytron) refers to purchasing someone’s release and describes a common Pauline and NT understanding of Christ’s work as redemptive (cf. Galatians 1:4; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2; and related NT concepts of “redemption” [Luke 1:68; Luke 2:38; Luke 24:21; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18] and “ransom” [Matthew 20:28; cf. Revelation 5:9]).

This language also reflects Jesus’ words, “the Son of Man came … to give his life as a ransom [Gk. lytron] for many” (Mark 10:45). Since Jesus gave himself as this “ransom,” the idea of substitution (dying on behalf of sinners) is also included.

Testified -- the truth mentioned in v. 1 Timothy 2:5 & 6.

Due time -- when the fulness of time was come, Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 1:1-2; Titus 1:3.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Who gave himself a ransom for all,.... What the Mediator gave as a ransom for men is "himself", his body and his soul, which were both made an offering for sin; and his life, which is the result of union between soul and body; his whole human nature as in union with his divine person, and so might be truly said to be himself: this he gave into the hands of men, of justice and of death; and that voluntarily, which shows his great love to his people; and also as a "ransom", or a ransom price for them,

αντιλυτρον, in their room and stead; to ransom them from the slavery of sin, and damnation by it, from the captivity of Satan, and the bondage of the law, and from the grave, death, hell, ruin, and destruction: and this ransom was given for "all"; not for every individual of mankind, for then all would be delivered, freed, and saved, whereas they are not; or else the ransom price is paid in vain, or God is unjust to receive a sufficient ransom price from Christ, and yet not free the captive, but punish the person for whom he has received satisfaction; neither of which can be said. But the meaning is, either that he gave himself a ransom for many, as in

Matthew 20:28 for the Hebrew word כל, to which this answers, signifies sometimes many, a multitude, and sometimes only a part of a multitude, as Kimchi observes y: or rather it intends that Christ gave himself a ransom for all sorts of men, for men of every rank and quality, of every state and condition, of every age and sex, and for all sorts of sinners, and for some out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, for both Jews and Gentiles; which latter may more especially be designed by all, as they are sometimes by the world, and the whole world; and so contains another argument why all sorts of men are to be prayed for, since the same ransom price is given for them; as that for the children of Israel was the same, for the rich as for the poor. We z read, that when the people of Israel comforted the high priest upon the death of his wife, or any relation, they used to say to him, אנו כפרתך, "we are thy atonement", expiation, or ransom; that is, as the commentators a explain it, by us thou shalt be atoned, for we will be in thy room and stead, with respect to all things that shall come upon thee; but here the High priest and Mediator is the atonement and ransom for the people:

to be testified in due time; or "a testimony in his own times"; that is, the sum and substance of what is before said is the Gospel, which is a testimony concerning the person, office, and grace of Christ, exhibited in the times of the Messiah, or the Gospel dispensation. Some copies read, "the mystery", which is another word often used for the Gospel; for that that is intended, appears by what follows.

y Sepher Shorash. rad. כלל z Misna Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 1. a Jarchi & Bartenona in ib.

Light of Israel Bible Commentary

ONE MEDIATOR

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5

This is a passage that thoroughly irritates our postmodern, pluralistic, and "politically correct" world. The firmly held and oft repeated philosophy of this present evil age is that one person's truth is just as good as another's truth. Thus the pagan's truth is just as true as the Christian's truth. If there is a sin in this postmodern age it is the sin of questioning some other person's "truth." Thus all religions are equally valid. It is a terrible offense in this age to think that our religion is better than the religion of others, or that our religion is in any way exclusive, and the only one that is true.<footnote>Dennis McCallum, The Death of Truth (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1996), p. 200.</footnote>

The world is thus aghast at Paul's statement here, that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. Of course, the world is also aghast at some other of Jesus' statements like the one found in John 14:6, where he says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." It is at just this point that the postmodern sacred concept of "tolerance" breaks down. Charles Colson quips here, "Tolerance has become so important that no exception is tolerated."<footnote>Charles Colson & Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live?(Grand Rapids, MI: Tyndale, 1999), p. 23.</footnote> Quite simply, the postmodern philosophies will never in this age tolerate real Christianity.

We realize that with the words "one Mediator," Paul was actually dealing the final blow to the Gnostic heresy that was invading Ephesus. The Gnostics were insistent that there were many mediators, many aeons or angelic beings between man and God, as we have said.

The word "mediator (Gk. mesites) used here is an important word (cf. Hebrews 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). Most of us know that we need a mediator to stand between us and God. Long ago Job cried out, "If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more" (Job 9:33-34).

Over the centuries people have looked to angels, to priests, to saints (even dead ones), to Mary, and to preachers or teachers to be their mediators. Unfortunately, none of these will really do. To be a mediator with God in the truest sense one needs to share both the human and divine natures. The church father, Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350 – 428) says, "The fact that Jesus shares a common humanity with us is the whole key to salvation."<footnote>Gorday, ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, pp. 158-159.</footnote> Of course, the fact that Jesus shares the divine nature as well as the human, supremely qualifies him to be our Mediator. Hebrews 7:25 assures us that Jesus is presently in heaven and is there mediating or interceding for us with the Father.

It was Jesus, our Mediator, "who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time" (2:6). In God's great and mysterious order of things the Mediator is also our Great High Priest and he himself is even our offering. Paul calls it a ransom because in some unknown way Jesus paid the price, or the offering, for our deliverance from sin. The Greek word used here is antilytron. The anti added to lytron emphasizes that it is a substitutionary ransom. Jesus paid the price that we could not pay (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1Pet. 1:18-19).<footnote>Peter Pett, Commentary on Paul's First Letter To Timothy, vs. 2:5-6. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/1-timothy-1. Utley adds in speaking of a ransom for all, "This reflects the great truth of Isaiah 53 …The term 'ransom' came from the slave market and was used for purchasing a friend or relative out of slavery or military captivity." (Utley, v. 2:6).</footnote> He paid the price by substituting his own life.

The idea of a testimony in due time may well be a reflection on the critical area of time when the gospel was given. It was the close of one period in history and the beginning of another. No doubt, also reflected here were some of the conditions in the first century Roman world. At last, the known world was connected by Roman roads and by relatively safe sea lanes. There was the common language of Koinē Greek and the blessings of the Roman peace over the whole area (pax romana).

There is another thing that certainly figures in here. People had become desperate in their need of salvation and sorely needed such a testimony. They were sick and tired of useless pagan worship and were really hopeless. At this precise point the good news came that the God of heaven had sent his Son to ransom and to save them.

Barclay tells the story of a man who lost his son in World War II. He had lived a careless and godless life but he was shocked into reality with his son's death. His life was changed because of it. "One day, he was standing in front of the local war memorial, looking at his son's name on 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 us of the love of God and to bring us home to him."<footnote>Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, pp. 70-71.</footnote>

Related to the testimony mentioned, Paul says, "And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I am telling the truth, I am not lying – and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles" (2:7). In ancient times when the king or ruler wished to make a public proclamation he sent his message by imperial heralds. They would go to each village or city and make a formal, public proclamation of the Emperor's message.<footnote>Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies, The Pastoral Epistles In The Greek New Testament, p. 44.</footnote> Paul was such a herald, but he was heralding the good news of the gospel. No doubt the false teachers had questioned and even discounted Paul's credentials as a herald and an apostle. Here Paul sets the record straight.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;   2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.   3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;   4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.   5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;   6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.   7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.   8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

      Here is, I. A charge given to Christians to pray for all men in general, and particularly for all in authority. Timothy must take care that this be done. Paul does not send him any prescribed form of prayer, as we have reason to think he would if he had intended that ministers should be tied to that way of praying; but, in general, that they should make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks: supplications for the averting of evil, prayers for the obtaining of good, intercessions for others, and thanksgivings for mercies already received. Paul thought it enough to give them general heads; they, having the scripture to direct them in prayer and the Spirit of prayer poured out upon them, needed not any further directions. Observe, The design of the Christian religion is to promote prayer; and the disciples of Christ must be praying people. Pray always with all prayer,Ephesians 6:18. There must be prayers for ourselves in the first place; this is implied here. We must also pray for all men, for the world of mankind in general, for particular persons who need or desire our prayers. See how far the Christian religion was from being a sect, when it taught men this diffusive charity, to pray, not only for those of their own way, but for all men. Pray for kings (1 Timothy 2:2; 1 Timothy 2:2); though the kings at this time were heathens, enemies to Christianity, and persecutors of Christians, yet they must pray for them, because it is for the public good that there should be civil government, and proper persons entrusted with the administration of it, for whom therefore we ought to pray, yea, though we ourselves suffer under them. For kings, and all that are in authority, that is, inferior magistrates: we must pray for them, and we must give thanks for them, pray for their welfare and for the welfare of their kingdoms, and therefore must not plot against them, that in the peace thereof we may have peace, and give thanks for them and for the benefit we have under their government, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Here see what we must desire for kings, that God will so turn their hearts, and direct them and make use of them, that we under them may lead a quiet and peaceable life. He does not say, "that we may get preferments under them, grow rich, and be in honour and power under them;" no, the summit of the ambition of a good Christian is to lead a quiet and peaceable life, to get through the world unmolested in a low private station. We should desire that we and others may lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, implying that we cannot expect to be kept quiet and peaceable unless we keep in all godliness and honesty. Let us mind our duty, and then we may expect to be taken under the protection both of God and the government. In all godliness and honesty. Here we have our duty as Christians summed up in two words: godliness, that is, the right worshipping of God; and honesty, that is, a good conduct towards all men. These two must go together; we are not truly honest if we are not godly, and do not render to God his due; and we are not truly godly if we are not honest, for God hates robbery for burnt-offering. Here we may observe, 1. Christians are to be men much given to prayer: they ought to abound herein, and should use themselves to prayers, supplications, c. 2. In our prayers we are to have a generous concern for others as well as for ourselves we are to pray for all men, and to give thanks for all men; and must not confine our prayers nor thanksgiving to our own persons or families. 3. Prayer consists of various parts, of supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings; for we must pray for the mercies we want, as well as be thankful for mercies already received; and we are to deprecate the judgments which our own sins or the sins of others have deserved. 4. All men, yea, kings themselves, and those who are in authority, are to be prayed for. They want our prayers, for they have many difficulties to encounter, many snares to which their exalted stations expose them. 5. In praying for our governors, we take the most likely course to lead a peaceable and quiet life. The Jews at Babylon were commanded to seek the peace of the city whither the Lord had caused them to be carried captives, and to pray to the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof they should have peace, Jeremiah 29:7. 6. If we would lead a peaceable and quiet life, we must live in all godliness and honesty; we must do our duty to God and man. He that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile; let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and pursue it,1 Peter 3:10; 1 Peter 3:11. Now the reason he gives for this is because this is good in the sight of God our Saviour; that is, the gospel of Christ requires this. That which is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour we should do, and should abound in.

      II. As a reason why we should in our prayers concern ourselves for all men, he shows God's love to mankind in general, 1 Timothy 2:4; 1 Timothy 2:4.

      1. One reason why all men are to be prayed for is because there is one God, and that God bears a good will to all mankind. There is one God (1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 2:5), and one only, there is no other, there can be no other, for there can be but one infinite. This one God will have all men to be saved; he desires not the death and destruction of any (Ezekiel 33:11), but the welfare and salvation of all. Not that he has decreed the salvation of all, for then all men would be saved; but he has a good will to the salvation of all, and none perish but by their own fault, Matthew 23:37. He will have all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, to be saved in the way that he has appointed and not otherwise. It concerns us to get the knowledge of the truth, because that is the way to be saved; Christ is the way and the truth, and so he is the life.

      2. There is one Mediator, and that mediator gave himself a ransom for all. As the mercy of God extends itself to all his works, so the mediation of Christ extends itself thus far to all the children of men that he paid a price sufficient for the salvation of all mankind; he brought mankind to stand upon new terms with God, so that they are not now under the law as a covenant of works, but as a rule of life. They are under grace; not under the covenant of innocence, but under a new covenant: He gave himself a ransom. Observe, The death of Christ was a ransom, a counter-price. We deserved to have died. Christ died for us, to save us from death and hell; he gave himself a ransom voluntarily, a ransom for all; so that all mankind are put in a better condition than that of devils. He died to work out a common salvation: in order hereunto, he put himself into the office of Mediator between God and man. A mediator supposes a controversy. Sin had made a quarrel between us and God; Jesus Christ is a Mediator who undertakes to make peace, to bring God and man together, in the nature of an umpire or arbitrator, a days-man who lays his hand upon u both, Job 9:33. He is a ransom that was to be testified in due time; that is, in the Old-Testament times, his sufferings and the glory that should follow were spoken of as things to be revealed in the last times, 1 Peter 1:10; 1 Peter 1:11. And they are accordingly revealed, Paul himself having been ordained a preacher and an apostle, to publish to the Gentiles the glad tidings of redemption and salvation by Jesus Christ. This doctrine of Christ's mediation Paul was entrusted to preach to every creature, Mark 16:15. He was appointed to be a teacher of the Gentiles; besides his general call to the apostleship, he was commissioned particularly to preach to the Gentiles, in faith and truth, or faithfully and truly. Note, (1.) It is good and acceptable in the sight of God and our Saviour that we pray for kings and for all men, and also that we lead a peaceable and quiet life; and this is a very good reason why we should do the one as well as the other. (2.) God has a good will to the salvation of all; so that it is not so much the want of a will in God to save them as it is a want of will in themselves to be saved in God's way. Here our blessed Lord charges the fault: You will not come unto me that you may have life,John 5:40. I would have gathered you, and you would not. (3.) Those who are saved must come to the knowledge of the truth, for this is God's appointed way to save sinners. Without knowledge the heart cannot be good; if we do not know the truth, we cannot be ruled by it. (4.) It is observable that the unity of God is asserted, and joined with the unity of the Mediator; and the church of Rome might as well maintain a plurality of gods as a plurality of mediators. (5.) He that is a Mediator in the New-Testament sense, gave himself a ransom. Vain then is the pretence of the Romanists that there is but one Mediator of satisfaction, but many of intercession; for, according to Paul, Christ's giving himself a ransom was a necessary part of the Mediator's office; and indeed this lays the foundation for his intercession. (6.) Paul was ordained a minister, to declare this to the Gentiles, that Christ is the one Mediator between God and men, who gave himself a ransom for all. This is the substance of which all ministers are to preach, to the end of the world; and Paul magnified his office, as he was the apostle of the Gentiles, Romans 11:13. (7.) Ministers must preach the truth, what they apprehend to be so, and they must believe it themselves; they are, like our apostle, to preach in faith and verity, and they must also be faithful and trusty.

      III. A direction how to pray, 1 Timothy 2:8; 1 Timothy 2:8. 1. Now, under the gospel, prayer is not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray every where: no place is amiss for prayer, no place more acceptable to God than another, John 4:21. Pray every where. We must pray in our closets, pray in our families, pray at our meals, pray when we are on journeys, and pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private. 2. It is the will of God that in prayer we should lift up holy hands: Lifting up holy hands, or pure hands, pure from the pollution of sin, washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. I will wash my hands, &c., Psalms 26:6. 3. We must pray in charity: Without wrath, or malice, or anger at any person. 4. We must pray in faith without doubting (James 1:6), or, as some read it, without disputing, and then it falls under the head of charity.

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."