3 Paul's Charge Concerning Public Worship

Paul’s Charge Concerning Public Worship Letters to Timothy #3 –1 Timothy 2:1-15: Paul’s Charge Concerning Public Worship

• Prayer in public worship (1 Timothy 2:1-7)

  • Kinds of prayers (1 Timothy 2:1)

    • Supplication: to beg for one’s needs

    • Prayers: to worship, to wish toward

    • Intercessions: to petition (on behalf of another?) to a ruler

    • Thanksgivings: there is always something to be thankful for

    • A healthy Christian prayer life includes all of these!

  • Beneficiaries of prayers (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

    • All people—not only Jews, but also Gentiles; not only Christians, but also non-Christians

    • People in authority—even if corrupt and godless (Jeremiah 29:7)

  • Some goals of prayer (1 Timothy 2:2-4)

    • Pleasing God—the most important reason of all!

    • Quiet and peaceful lives—that our influence and the spread of the gospel may not be hindered (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

    • Bringing souls to the truth—because this is God’s desire

  • Jesus mediates our salvation, and our prayers (1 Timothy 2:5-7)

    • Therefore we pray through Jesus’ name (John 14:13-14)

    • Prayer is personal, but we do not set the terms—God does

• Men & women in the assembly (1 Timothy 2:8-15)

  • How do we know this addresses the public assembly?

    • Parallel teaching on women’s roles in 1 Corinthians 14:34 is clearly defined as “in the church”, i.e. assembly

    • “In every place” (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2)—if not the public assemblies, would prohibit women from praying anywhere!

    • A popular argument today is that “all of life is worship”, so no distinction between worship assembly and rest of life

    • These passages make no sense without some distinction between public worship and private life

  • The leader of public prayer (1 Timothy 2:8)

    • Specified as male: Greek aner (“husband, man”), not anthropos which could mean “people” (males and females)

    • Paul uses these terms deliberately in this chapter: anthropos in 1 Timothy 2:1, 1 Timothy 2:4-5, (referring to “mankind”) but aner in 1 Timothy 2:8

    • “Holy” hands, “without anger or quarreling”, puts emphasis on attitude and character, not posture

    • Prayer leader represents the congregation’s thoughts to God; some men should not lead public prayer

    • Public prayer is no place for airing grievances, political campaigning, or pushing personal agendas

    • Modest apparel (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

  • Just as the men were to pray for quiet, peaceful lives, the women were to worship with modesty and decorum

    • Modest (or “respectable”) attire certainly includes covering up, but also not drawing attention in the wrong way

    • A Christian woman’s true and lasting adornment must be inward, not outward, beautification (cf. 1 Peter 3:3-4)

    • Paul and Peter prohibit a misplaced emphasis, not specific fashions (otherwise Peter forbids wearing of clothes!)

    • Men can (and do) fall prey to the same error

    • Women and public teaching (1 Timothy 2:11-12)

  • “Quiet” is the same word as in 1 Timothy 2:2—a sense of agreeable submission to established authority

    • 1 Corinthians 14:34 clearly prohibits women from speaking to the assembly (“they are not permitted to speak”)

    • Paul is clear here as well that women are not to teach men in the church or “exercise authority” over them

    • Obviously they can teach other women (Titus 2:3-4), and Timothy himself was evidence of the powerful influence women have in teaching children (2 Timothy 1:5)

    • We need to honor these teachers just as much as preachers!

    • The origin of male/female roles (2 Timothy 2:13-15)

  • Many today want to treat the preceding passages as the prejudices of Paul himself or of his culture...

    • ...but Paul instead points out the fundamental nature of men and women in God’s creation

    • It is significant that Adam was created first, and Eve created from Adam; even before the Fall, their origins and roles were different (1 Corinthians 11:8-9)

    • Their disobedience to this order (Eve’s convincing Adam to sin) led to the downfall of humanity (Genesis 3:17-19)

    • After the Fall, God clearly states that Eve must be in submission to Adam (Genesis 3:16)

    • What about Galatians 3:28 “there is neither male nor female”?

  • Galatians 3:23-28 teaches that all people have equal access to being born again, regardless of race, class, or gender

    • But being born again does not change these attributes; the slave is still a slave, though free in Christ (1 Corinthians 7:20-21)

    • The slave (an unnatural condition) may seek freedom, but roles of men and women are natural states ordained by God

    • The puzzle of 1 Timothy 2:15 Childbearing not a condition of salvation—or Paul would not have counseled some not to marry (1 Corinthians 7:25-38)

    • Some never marry, some are unable to conceive; does God ask what we cannot do?

    • It may be that some women discounted (as some do today) the value of motherhood and childraising

    • Some desired to make their mark by taking roles of leadership in the church instead

    • Paul may simply be re-emphasizing motherhood as an honorable and vitally important Christian work

    • An alternate view: “saved through childbearing” may refer to our Savior’s arrival on this earth by means of a mother

    • Submission & roles of leadership

  • Submission is not inferiority (Php 2:5-8)

    • All Christians are called upon to submit to others in various situations (Ephesians 5:21, Ephesians 5:24; James 4:7)

    • Not all men are able to serve in leadership roles in the assembly

    • Not all men are allowed by Scripture to serve as deacons or elders

    • We too often glorify a few positions of service, and do not appreciate the value of what the “ordinary Christian” does