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So, we left off last week with Paul writing:
1st Timothy 2.1-end
September 13th 2020
Meat
1st Timothy 2:1 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 Savior;
Now, speaking of God as Savior, he adds:
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.
So let’s stop here and cover these verses before we hit what comes next – which is a hit.
And as I said, we left off after covering verses 1-3 where Paul told Timothy that they ought to be praying and supporting all men and those put in authority over them because this was the will of God our Savior and then he adds at verse four:
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Now it’s important to understand what this passage means relative to the Greek and the term for, “who will,” as in “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
There are a few words that are translated to will from the Greek – one is
hahee-reh’-om-ahee which means “a choice” as in, I choose red over green.
Another is thelema which means, “I prefer, wish or desire,” and is close to a choice but appears to be a little more emphatic. And a third is boo lama-hee and that means, “I expressedly want or will have or will not have my wishes met.”
The Greek word here is Thelema, and so it does not mean that God chooses that all would be saved at His coming nor from afterlife loss, nor does it mean that he demands that all would be saved from such, meaning it is not his expressed will,
but simply that this is the desire of his heart. His hope, we might say.
So, we cannot say that God will make sure all would be saved, but we can say that he would prefer it.
This automatically implies human will in the event – automatically. So toss that Calvin jargon out the window – there is a two way street between Man and God.
However, and this is significant, in 2nd Peter 3:9 we read the following:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
What is the Greek word used here for not willing?
hahee-reh’-om-ahee (“I choose that not any should perish?”)
thelema (“I prefer that none would perish?”)
boo lama-hee (“I will not have any perish?”) Yes – the latter – he expressedly will not have any perish but all will come to repentance.
Isn’t that amazing? So, in this passage and the sense of it, God will not force any to be saved, but he will not allow any to perish either.
I have a friend who was once a pastor but stepped away from American Evangelicalism because of its overt messages to the world. And one of those messages is that all people are going to hell forevermore without receiving Jesus.
Which is not good news or victory over this world, folks.
This friends, Darrall Scott, had a daughter at who attended Colombine High School and she was the first student shot (and shot multiple times) by Eric Harris.
He tells me that when certain Christians challenge his position on God not having ANY perish, people will say, “well, you haven’t had anyone do anything horrible to you yet.”
He will say, “I think I have.”
God our Savior gives us free will and choice to receive and believe on Him and His Son, but in accordance with his nature, his demanded will, He will have all be saved from complete ruin.
In the same vein I think we can say that God wills (thelema – desires) that his creations would have joy, and health, and safety, and goodness in their lives, but he will not, he cannot being Good, demand it.
So back to His permissive will here (that all would be saved) and what he says hereafter is Paul giving some proofs of this desire as he now says:
5 “For” (meaning, as proof that God desires all to be saved, Paul adds) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
In other words, God supplied the means by which all men may be saved, in and through his only begotten Son, who serves as the one mediator between the One God and Man.
This is a proof that all would be saved as Christ gave himself up as a ransom for the world and its sin – and that ransom was provided to all.
But we note that men are to blame if they are not saved to the Kingdom of God.
God has done his part. He has reconciled the world to himself in and through His Son the One Mediator, and this is a tremendous proof that he desires that all would be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
But being a good God, and allowing all people to choose His Son and to come to a knowledge of the Truth – which is what Christians are doing – he can only desire that all would approach him in this way, not force it.
However, we do see that God will have none perish and that all of them will come to repentance.
There is a huge difference folks between the two – being saved (and coming to a knowledge of the truth) and not perishing and coming to repentance.
I want to make that vividly clear.
1st Timothy 2:4
2nd Peter 3:9
WILL: Thelema
desires/wants
WILL: Boo-lama-he
will have, his expressed will
Desires that all would be saved
Will have none perish but all come to repentance
His children hear his voice from the heart
Every knee will bow and tongue confess
Free will act of the individual
The result of God working on souls
Sons and Daughters
The repentant who will not perish
Saved
From destruction to Kingdom
Not saved
(from ruin or even to kingdom?)
Just not ruined and
Repentful.
So, the first proof that God desires that all would be saved is found in verse 5 where he says
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
We note that Paul does not say that Yeshua is the mediator between God and believers, but between men.
We remember that Paul tells then in the first three verses:
1st Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
This is a far cry from there being only a few selected and picked out for salvation.
Instead all men.
The passage is interesting in the way it is phrased and gives us insight into the plan and order of the plan of God for the redemption of the human race:
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
“ONE GOD”
One Mediator between (the one God)
AND MAN
Who is it? (the Man Jesus Christ)
(ON BOARD) So we have . . .
GOD
GOD/MAN
MAN
I am of the opinion that Yeshua the God Man, when we come to the end of all things, will truly be the GODMAN on the throne in heaven, and in seeing him we will truly (and also) see the Father.
And speaking of Christ, Paul adds at verse 6
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
This all dovetails nicely into Paul’s admonition for Timothy to pray for all (in verse 1) because Christ died for all, paying the ransom for all.
The limited atonement BS of Calvinism is wholly overcome here. Then Paul adds:
“to be testified in due time.”
In other words, the testimony of this will be manifest or furnished in due time.
Paul adds his own personal witness here to all of this in verses 7-8 and says:
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.
The word ordained means called out to be, and does not necessarily mean set apart by the laying on of hands, as some insists.
Here Paul says he was called and separated out to be a preacher and an apostle – (and then he says he speaks the truth in Christ and does not lie) and then adds again, “a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity,” or “a teacher in faith and truth.”
And he adds that in this capacity as a preacher/teacher sent forth
8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Remember we learned that the term, “will” (as in I will) can mean a few things depending on the Greek?
Here the word is boo-lama-he and it means I expressly want men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
This was Paul’s expressed will to the believers at Ephesus over whom Timothy oversees.
And he gives four specific instructions to him for the believers there.
that men pray every where,
lifting up holy hands,
without wrath
and doubting.
These words in English are not exactly what they are in Greek because in the Greek Paul is saying
1Ti 2:8 (ASV) I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, (meaning, people were often accustomed to praying only in temples and synogogues only but no matter where they are to pray) “lifting up holy hands,” (meaning, the custom among Jews was to lift their hands when praying and that they ought to life up hands that were sanctified by God and without sin and shame) without wrath (meaning without there being any anger present in the prayers) and disputing (or arguing.
Many in the early church were prone to arguments and such and so Paul was constantly counseling them to be at peace with each other and to maintain this among themselves when they would pray.
Now notice the first four words of verse 9 because they are important:
9 In like manner also,
Meaning, “similarly, I have this to now say to the females in the bride.” I point this out to show that Paul first gave advice, his expressed will actually, to the men, but now he is going to speak frankly (in like manner, his will) to the women. And what he says can be a hard pill to swallow for people in this day and age.
But let’s hear him out and see if these words have application still.
“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
So, remember, this letter is to Timothy who is over the church at Ephesus since Paul has been driven away to Macedonia.
He is giving instructions to Timothy on how to run the church then relative to the problems that the bride faced.
In the next chapter he will speak to those who are to be called into leadership, and what their qualifications should be. And here he inserts seven passages to who?
All women? No.
The whole church everywhere?
No.
To the women in that day who were from, or in, Ephesus.
That is the context. He was the apostle called to preach and teach to the Gentiles or converts in these churches and he had the superabundance of the Holy Spirit to so do.
What he writes here SHOULD have been heard and followed by believers then nd in Ephesus – no question.
But all of these conditions do not necessarily pour over to all churches then or to all women today for the simple reason that:
It was not written to them.
It is a different day and age.
There are no apostles guiding the church today.
The bride has been taken and that age of her being pure and without spot or wrinkle is complete.
But let’s cover what he says to them then.
9 In like manner also, (as I have given direct instruction to the man) that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
The phrase, “in like manner” could, may, might be also in reference to public worship.
Paul began this part of the letter by saying that his “expressed will” would be that men would pray everywhere.
If we use this as our lead, and as what Paul is speaking to relative to women, it could be said that he is saying:
Also, relative to public prayer, this is what I want for women. It is possible that he was speaking to women’s behaviors and ways in general and having applicable to them at all times, but there is the possibility that he is just directing them on how to be when in public.
And he says for them to:
“adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) (to array themselves with good works.
The argument is, however, that if Paul happens to be speaking of how women are to appear in public worship here, the principles he lays down would be applicable everywhere.
And here we come to an issue, don’t we?
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with advice for women to adorn themselves modestly. But there is also no indication that adornment is to be considered bad.
God has adorned nature with beauty and grace through and through. But Paul suggests adornment that is modest.
I think his advice comes down to the duty of all believers to not stumble others – not for men to stumble others nor women to do the same.
From the onset these instructions can sound pretty legalistic and are certainly focused on the outward appearance – but remember Paul had the duty to prepare and protect the bride of Christ and in that day it was important for all Christians to be seen as not part of the world – hence the advice.
“With shame-facedness,” does not mean a face that is ashamed but with a countenance that is bashful or non-forward.
It’s a pretty universal rule that when a woman is what we call “forward” there are assumptions made – right or wrong. In that day the case was also true. So Paul is describing a reserved temperament.
“And sobriety,” which best means with sanity and sober-mindedness rather than wild behaviors or passions.
I see nothing more insulting in this advice that he gives then when he tells men not to be brawlers.
But here he speaks culturally, and delivers insights that cannot possibly be taken literally today, including:
“Not with broidered (or plaited hair).
All the way back in Isaiah the prophet gave some real prophetic descriptions of what women in the day of the Lord would be like, saying
Isaiah 3:16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,
19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
20 The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
21 The rings, and nose jewels,
22 The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
Context is important here. Paul could see that in that day the women of paganism were reflecting some or all of these fashions, as were daughters of Israel, and he was stepping in and telling the female believers in the bride to not do the same.
So again, his advice cannot be taken as him saying that believing women cannot braid their hair or, as Paul adds:
not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; (verse 10)
But (which is becoming of women professing godliness – to array themselves) with good works.
IOW, if you are going to be noticed for anything let it be your good Christian works, is what he says. Again, not bad advice, is it?
But we begin to dig ourselves a little deeper here and I am not really sure how to teach this other than by what he writes – to them/then: Verse 11
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Okay, the only way to teach through these passages honestly and fairly relative to the whole of biblical context is to examine a few facts that must be taken into consideration.
The first fact is both genders have a history. Males date all the way back to Adam, who was made of the clay in God’s image. God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul.
That is the beginning history of males. There are facts that come with that history that cannot be ignored – which we will discuss in a minute.
Females have a history too. And their history begins with Eve who was taken from the side of Adam and formed.
On the one hand, we could say that where Adam was the product out of mud, we could also say that he was the direct product of God’s breath; on the other hand, where we could say Eve was made of already refined materials (Adams side and not the mud) she was also second generational in terms of the production line and did not come through a direct engagement from God’s breath but was instead formed from the side of man.
Don’t know if any of that holds water but just saying. If we are going to take the biblical account as valid, these are facts.
The results of these fact appear to be that
Adam was materially of a cruder origin but spiritually of a more heavenly origin, and women were materially of a more refined origin, but spiritually the direct product of Man himself.
With this comes some realities that are not fun to swallow.
Men are crude (physically) women are more refined, and men are more inclined spiritually, where women are more inclined to need direction from their origins – man.
Can I say this? Of course this is not the rule. And the thought has nothing to do with value – it all has to do with facts of creation and nature.
This is of course not to say that women are not MORE inclined toward superior things than men by nature – they are. Nor is it to say men are superior in every way to women – they are not.
To me its all like comparing components of two cars – a Mercedes Benz with a four cylinder engine compared to a Hundai with an six.
They are merely creative realities. Or like trying to compare what’s more valuable in constructing a water pipe-line – the male end of a pipe or the female end? Both are needed to make a waterline.
So, we are talking about creational realities here – if these trouble you then you have your argument with God.
That’s the first fact.
The second fact is that as a result of this order, in the garden, Satan came to Eve for a reason. The way Paul writes it is:
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
The order of these lines support what I was saying about creational realities and the results of them:
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Adam was first formed (by God and His pneuma) and was not deceived (by Satan) but Eve was formed second by God bearing the spirit of Man and the was the one deceived.
We might suggest that Adam, if approached by Satan with the same arguments that he came to Eve with, would have remained unaffected – after all, men and women are created differently.
What did Satan tempt Eve with?
Genesis chapter 3
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, (STOP! He was more subtle than any beast of the field and who did he speak to? The woman. Why? Perhaps she was more trusting by nature? Perhaps she was willing to hear all side where Adam would not? Whatever it was Satan did go to her, right? As the most subtle of all the beasts of the field? And what did he say?) Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (this was a lie Satan told to the woman. It seems like she believed it)
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Then verse six:
6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
These things seem almost practical in nature, right? She heard the promise that she would not die if she ate the fruit, and then when she saw VALUE in the fruit – that it was good for food, and pleasant to look at and it was from a tree that would make her wise and full of knowledge, she transgressed.
I’m not sure that Adam would have fallen for the same things NOT because he was superior but because of how he was created.
Eve was a creation from the side of Adam and these things naturally appealed to how she was constructed.
How was Adam constructed? To be spiritually in tune (God created Him with his breath) but materially from the mud.
So what would get him to eat that fruit. Not the lies of Satan, but the woman made for him.
How much more proverbial can you get? Some of the smartest men in the world who can’t be fooled or tricked in business dealings fall for the wiles of a single woman?
Why? It is how we are made.
And for these reasons, Paul instructs Timothy to teach the believers at Ephesus not to let women speak or teach men in public settings.
This brings us to a third point. Why does Paul want this to be the case? Is it just because of Adam and Eve?
I don’t think so. Remember two things about the cultural setting in that day relative to women.
First, the Jewish women were still under great bondage due to their culture – and so Jewish men had very strong opinions about their place in the world of religion, and secondly, the pagans often had women in places of power but in a way that was demeaning to their gender.
It was a lose lose double edged sword for women and Paul wanted Christian women to avoid all of that riff-raff and to simply stay out of the public eye relative to teaching.
Paul was actually favorable to women in some of his letters and told believers at Rome, for instance, relative to a woman named Phebe:
(Romans 16:2) That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you . . .
Women were also deacons in the church in that day.
So this had nothing to do with leadership or serving, it had to do with the public perception AND Paul uses the creation story of the genders to fortify his stance.
Finally, we must note that it was Paul who wrote in Galatians 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
What we are reading here are cultural appropriations FOR THAT DAY AND AGE as a means to protect the bride until the coming of Christ to take her, and today, they have little bearing on what males or females do in the body of believers.
We can say this because of a sound and reasonable eschatology,
Because God writes his laws on the hearts and minds of individuals (male and female)
Because culture no longer dictates how women relate to the world,
And because the Spirit goes where it wants and can, will and does speak through both genders, through prophetic utterances and teachings, and does not restrict itself to males.
Paul ends with:
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Because Paul appealed to the Genesis account, and the punishment for Eve’s transgression was pain in childbearing but not death, he includes this promise here but adds a caveat to the believers of the bride in that day, saying
If they continue in faith and love and holiness with sobriety.
Because Paul is an apostle to the Bride in that age I think he speaks directly to an apostolic promise to women in that time that takes the curse upon women found in Genesis 3 and combines it with a promise to the women in the church that they would be okay if they continued in the faith with love (there are those two commandments again) along with holiness with a sound mind.
We will stop here.
Comments/Questions/Prayer
