1 Timothy 2:1 - Homilies By T. Croskery

The apostle gives Timothy a series of injunctions respecting the assemblies for public worship, which sprang naturally out of the solemn charge he had given him in the previous chapter.

I. THE PARAMOUNT DUTY OF PUBLIC PRAYER . "I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, supplications, thanksgivings, be made for all men."

1. The leading place given to prayer in this series of instructions respecting the administration of the Church , proves its pre-eminent importance . It is the breath of vital godliness.

2. The variety of terms in which it is here described implies the diversity of circumstances in which God ' s people are placed .

II. FOR WHOM ARE WE TO PRAY ? "For all men."

1. It would not be acceptable prayer if we were to pray only for ourselves . It is not Christ-like to look down with a sense of superiority upon the mass of men as sunk in perdition.

2. We are bound to love all men , and therefore to pray for their welfare . Much of our happiness depends upon our identifying ourselves lovingly with others.

III. PRAYERS ARE SPECIALLY TO BE MADE FOR KINGS AND ALL IN HIGH PLACE . "For kings and for all in high place."

1. Such persons pre-eminently need our prayers .

2. God has power to influence their public action .

3. Kings can do much to promote the well-being of the Church of God . "That we may pass a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity." We should pray for kings, because they can promote our outward peace and our inward tranquility, by restraining the bad and encouraging the good. Kings can thus protect us in the exercise of our religion and in the practice of godliness. Wicked kings can expose the godly to cruel risks, and expose their gravity to unseemly perils.

4. The duty of praying for kings is not affected by the consideration that they are pagans , or oppressors , or persecutors .

1 Timothy 2:3 , 1 Timothy 2:4 . — The beneficial and acceptable nature of such catholic prayer.

"For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior."

I. SUCH PRAYER FOR ALL SORTS OF MEN IS GOOD . It is good:

1. Because it springs from a good motive , a loving interest in our fellow-mere .

2. Because it is directed to a good end , the promotion of their highest welfare .

3. Because it is a divinely commanded duty .

II. SUCH PRAYER IS ACCEPTABLE BEFORE GOD OUR SAVIOR . It meets God's highest approval because it is in accordance with his own gracious designs toward the sons of men.

III. REASON OR GROUND FOR THIS UNIVERSALITY OF OUR PUBLIC PRAYERS . It is good and acceptable "before God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." He wills that all men should be saved, therefore we should pray for all men. Our prayers will thus be in conformity with his wilt.

1. Consider the nature of the salvation here described .

2. Consider the relation of the Divine will to this salvation . "Who will have all men to be saved."

(a) The apostle uses the term θέλει , not the stronger term βουλέται , which implies will with a purpose or intent.

(b) If he had used the term σῶζαι , he must have saved all; but the word is σωθῆναι , implying his will that they should be brought, through the knowledge of the truth, to salvation.

(c) If we are to interpret the will of God by his providence, we must understand it in consistency with the fact that the large majority of mankind have never heard of salvation and have no knowledge of it.

(d) It must be remembered that many must have failed to reach this salvation before Christ died at all.

(a) Christ says, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me" ( John 12:32 ); "All men shall see the salvation of the Lord" ( Luke 3:6 ). The Messiah "shall pour out his Spirit upon all flesh" ( Joel 2:28 ). Christ "died for all," and he may therefore be truly called Salvator hominum . He died for all to arrest the immediate execution of the sentence of the Law upon man for sin; to obtain for him unnumbered blessings in this life, that he might secure a proper foundation for the offer of salvation through his blood.

(b) But the design of God in the death of Christ had not the same relation to all. He is "the Savior of all, but especially of them that believe." He is the Savior of his people, of his Church, of the elect .

(c) The language of universality used in the passage was suggested by way of contrast to the restrictiveness of Gnostic teaching, which led the apostle to say to the Colossians that his aim was "to present every man perfect in Christ" ( Colossians 1:28 ); perhaps, likewise, the restrictiveness of a narrow Judaism, for he emphasizes in the context his mission as "a teacher of the Gentiles." There is deep mystery in God's counsels. But he here sets forth his good will to man, and charges it on the conscience of believers to pray that all without exception should be brought to the knowledge of the truth.—T.C.

1 Timothy 2:5-7 . — Reasons for this universality of prayer in the relation of all went to God and Christ.

"For there is one God, one Mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus." The salvation of men cannot, therefore, be to us a matter of selfish indifference.

I. THE RELATION OF ALL MEN TO GOD . The unity of God is consistent with all differences of dispensation. "There is one providence belonging to the one God." The apostle tells the Romans that, "as God is one," he is the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews ( Romans 3:30 ). There is, indeed, "one God and Father of all" ( Ephesians 4:4 , Ephesians 4:5 ). The apostle also says, "The mediator" (Moses) "is not of one"—one seed, i.e. including Jew and Gentile, for Moses had nothing, to do with the Gentile—but God is one, in relation to Jew and Gentile ( Galatians 3:20 ). In these passages the apostle sets forth the universality of the gospel offer. But in the text he infers the universality of the Divine good will from the provisions made for man's salvation.

II. THE RELATION OF ALL MEN TO THE MEDIATOR . "One Mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus."

1. There is but one Mediator . The Gnostic mediation of angels is, therefore, excluded ( Colossians 2:15 , Colossians 2:18 ). Likewise the mediation of saints and angels, as held by the Church of Rome. This idea is dishonoring to the only Mediator. There is no Scripture for the distinction made between a mediator of redemption (Christ) and mediators of intercession (saints and angels).

2. The Mediator was man as well as God .

(a) We answer that the Divine nature operated in Christ's priestly work as well as the human, for "he through the eternal Spirit" (his own Spirit) "offered himself to God" ( Hebrews 9:14 ).

(b) If he did not mediate in his Divine nature as well as his human nature, he could not have been in any sense Mediator of the Old Testament saints, because their redemption was completed before he came in the flesh. The human nature is naturally emphasized because of the work of suffering and death which is here ascribed to him.

3. The passage does not imply that Christ was not God . He is elsewhere frequently called God and true God, but here there is a necessary reference to the catholic doctrine of a subordination of office.

4. The reference to the mediatorship brings up the idea of a covenant between God and man . Christ is the Head of humanity, the new Man, the Lord from heaven, able to restore the lost relationship between God and man.

5. The mediatory agency is wrought through Christ ' s sufferings and death . "Who gave himself a Ransom for all."

III. THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE . "The testimony to be borne in its own times."

1. Thus the death of Christ is the great message to be carried to all the world . It is not his birth, or his example, or his truth, but, above all, what is the completion of them all—his death on Calvary.

2. It is to be preached in all times till the second coming of the Lord.

3. The apostle ' s own relation to this testimony . "Whereunto I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I speak the truth, I lie not); a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." Thus the universality of the remedial scheme is represented by the very mission of the apostle himself. He was "a herald" to proclaim the glad tidings here; "an apostle"—let men say what they will, he is an apostle, therefore the surpassing importance of his message—and "a teacher of the Gentiles"—to mark the world-embracing character of his gospel—"in filth and truth," to signalize respectively the subjective and the objective elements in which his apostleship was to find its appropriate sphere.—T.C.

1 Timothy 2:8 .—The conduct of public prayer by men.

The apostle now proceeds to indicate the persons by whom public prayer is to be conducted, and the spirit which is to govern this part of public worship.

I. PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES IS TO BE CONDUCTED BY MEN . "I wish then that prayer be made in every place by men."

1. It is for men to manage and direct the public services of the Church ; it is for women to take a more quiet though not less real place in worship. As woman had been emancipated by the gospel—for there were no longer "male and female" in Christ—and as she had taken such a prominent place in ministering to Christ, the apostles, and the saints, there may have been a disposition on the part of female converts to assert themselves actively in the public life of the Church at Ephesus and elsewhere. The apostle expresses not a mere wish or desire, but, what is equivalent to a solemn command, that the men alone should be responsible for the conduct of the public services. The injunction does not affect the right or duty of women to conduct prayer in private life or in meetings of their own sex.

2. Prayer is to be made in every place . This rule is to obtain in all public assemblies of the saints, wherever held. There is, perhaps, a recollection of our Lord's words that there is to be no restriction of prayer to one holy place ( John 4:21 ).

II. THE SPIRIT AND MANNER IN WHICH PUBLIC PRAYER IS TO BE CONDUCTED . "Lifting up holy hands without wrath or disputing."

1. The posture must be reverent . It was customary for the Jews to pray with uplifted hands. It was likewise the general attitude adopted by the early Christians. It was the attitude significant

2. The uplifted hands must be holy . They must be hands unstained by vice. "Cleanse your hands, purify your hearts" ( James 4:8 ). The hands must be free from any sin that would render prayer unacceptable to God. "Wash you, make you clean" ( Isaiah 1:16 ).

3. Prayer should be free from all passionate feeling . "Without wrath and disputing." Perhaps arising from religious altercation or debate. Prayer belongs to the peaceful heart. Faith and love are its two sustaining principles, and exclude the idea of passion against our fellow-men.—T.C.

1 Timothy 2:9 , 1 Timothy 2:10 .—The attire and deportment of women in the Christian assemblies.

The apostle continues his directions in relation to public prayer. "Likewise," he says, in effect, "let women when they pray be modestly adorned."

I. THEIR APPAREL AND DEPORTMENT . "Likewise also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold, and pearls, and costly raiment."

1. The injunction refers specially to the dress of women in the Christian assemblies , which ought not to be showy or conspicuous , calculated either to swell the heart of the wearer with pride, or to attract the eyes of others in forgetfulness of the solemnity of public worship.

2. While adornment is expressly allowed , according to age and station , to the exclusion of anything slovenly, there must be nothing in the attire or deportment inconsistent with modesty, self-restraint, or Christian simplicity. There must be no excessive care bestowed upon the adjustment of the hair, and no adornment with gold, or pearls, or costly array inconsistent with the attire previously recommended. Plaiting the hair may be the most convenient way of arranging it, and wearing ornaments is no more sinful in itself than wearing apparel. The injunction is that women should not seek such adornments as would either endanger piety or draw away their affections from higher things.

II. THE TRUE ADORNMENT OF WOMEN . "But (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works."

1. Religion is external as well as internal . There is the form which must be clothed with the power of godliness; religion must not be secret, but manifest to the world. Therefore women must profess the Christian name, and take part in the worship of the Church.

2. There must be a harmony between the profession of godliness and those deeds of mercy and piety which, Dorcas-like, show the true disciple of Jesus.

3. The highest distinction of women does not spring from dress or decoration , but from the luster that is thrown round their character by works of goodness. They will thus "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior" ( Titus 2:10 ).—T.C.

1 Timothy 2:11-15 .—The proper sphere and behavior of women.

The apostle is still thinking of the public services of the Church.

I. THE WOMAN IS FORBIDDEN TO TEACH OR PREACH IN THE CHURCH . "Let a woman learn in silence in all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to lord it over the man, but to be in silence." This injunction has a threefold relation—first to herself, then to her husband, then to the Church.

1. She is to learn in silence . This duty concerns herself. She is to be a learner, not a teacher. She is to give all devout attention to the public instruction, so as to learn more and more of Christ and his gospel. And if what she heard was either difficult or doubtful, she was to ask her husband at home ( 1 Corinthians 14:34 ); and, in case of his inability to meet her difficulties, she could resort privately to the authorized teachers of the Church. This learning attitude was to be "in all subjection" both to her husband and to the rulers of the Church. Yet it did not imply that she was to accept false teaching, or forego her just right to prove all things and reject what was unsound.

2. She is not to lord it over the man . As teaching or preaching is the act of those in authority, her assumption of this function would imply a lordship over her husband. Husband and wife are "heirs together of the grace of life," but the gospel has not exalted woman to a position of authority over her husband.

3. She is not to teach in the Church .

(a) It is suggestive that the words usually translated in the New Testament "to preach" ( κηρύσσω εὐαγγελίζω , καταγγέλλω ) are not used in connection with this prohibition, as if women were merely forbidden to preach, but still allowed to teach. The word used here is "to teach" ( διδάσκω ), and the word used in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 . ( λαλέω )—"to talk, chatter, babble"—is even more comprehensive. These words all include preaching as the greater includes the less; therefore preaching is also forbidden to women.

(b) Prophesying was forbidden to women as well as teaching. This was a supernatural gift enjoyed both by men and women in the primitive Church, but is not enjoyed now by either men or women. It is never in the New Testament used for preaching, or for mere speaking in meeting. But were there not women who prophesied in the Corinthian Church? ( 1 Corinthians 11:4 , 1 Corinthians 11:5 .)

( α ) The gift of prophecy being connected with the gift of tongues, and both being now obsolete, the title of women to the exercise of such a gift in this age utterly fails.

( β ) The apostle, in his discussion concerning prophecy and the gift of tongues, forbids women to speak at all in the Churches ( 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 .). It was in the very midst of his injunctions respecting the use of supernatural gifts that he says, "As in all Churches of the saints, let your women keep silence in the Churches, for it is not; permitted to them to speak... for it is a shame for women to speak in the Churches." Prophesying as well as preaching is forbidden to women.

( γ ) Much unnecessary difficulty has been caused by the passage respecting "a woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered" ( 1 Corinthians 11:5 ). The apostle seems for the time to allow the practice, while he condemns the manner of its performance; but afterwards he forbids the practice itself. In the earlier passage he rebukes merely the indecency of an existing custom, and then in the later he forbids the custom itself. Calvin says, "By condemning the one he does not commend the other." You cannot regard as of equal authority a practice and a command, both explicit and repeated, which destroys the practice.

( δ ) "But these directions were given to Greek Churches, and cannot apply to the women of our day." We answer that they apply to all Churches; for the apostle says, "As in all Churches of the saints, let your women keep silence in the Churches." The reasons given for the prohibition prove that it has nothing to do with usages, or customs, or times, or races.

II. THE REASON OR GROUND OF THE APOSTLE 'S PROHIBITION . It is to be found in the original law of the relation of woman to man.

1. Man ' s headship in creation . "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." Man's priority of creation is the first reason, but it is to be taken together with the statement in 1 Corinthians 11:8 , 1 Corinthians 11:9 , "For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man; for also the man was not made for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man." Besides, as "the Head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man" ( 1 Corinthians 11:3 ). "The husband is the head of the wife" ( Ephesians 5:23 ). The woman, therefore, stands under law to her husband, and therefore any attempt on her part to assume the part of head or guide is to overturn the primal order of creation.

2. Woman ' s priority in transgression . "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being altogether deceived fell into transgression." They both sinned; but Adam was not deceived, for he fully understood the sin he was committing when he yielded to the persuasiveness of his wife.

III. THE BLESSING UPON WOMAN STANDING WITHIN HER TRUE SPHERE . "But she shall be saved through the child-bearing, if they abide in faith and love and holiness with sobriety."

1. It is here implied if , at woman is to find her right sphere in the relations of motherhood . The change of number implies that Eve is here to be regarded as the representative of her sex. Her sphere is in the home life; her destiny lies in the faithful discharge of its duties. Eve was to be the mother of all living; it was to be through the seed thus given her that the curse was to be lifted off the world, and the head of the serpent bruised. There is an evident allusion in "the child-bearing" to the Incarnation, but it points likewise to the collective seed associated with Christ.

2. It implies that women are not saved , as Roman Catholics contend , by mere childbearing , so that a woman dying in her travail is necessarily saved, for the apostle links with it certain spiritual qualifications as necessary to salvation.