1 Timothy 2 Discussion

Your prayers might be more political than your votes, and 1 Timothy 2 makes that uncomfortable in the best way. We sit down as pastors and work line by line through a chapter that starts with an urgent command: pray first, and pray specifically for kings and everyone in high positions. Not because leaders deserve it, but because God uses authority, laws, and public examples to either hinder or help the spread of the gospel and the peace of everyday life.

From there, we talk about order in corporate worship and why Paul insists that prayer leadership must be free from anger and quarreling. We also dig into what modesty actually means in church life, including the part people forget: modesty can be about wealth, attention, and making others feel small, not only about skin. Then we address the most debated section in 1 Timothy 2, where Paul speaks about women learning, teaching, and exercising authority, including how complementarian and egalitarian readings try to make sense of the text.

We close with a careful look at “saved through childbearing,” why it cannot mean justification by works, and how sanctification can happen through the demanding, beautiful vocation of motherhood and spiritual nurture. And we keep coming back to the anchor of Christian prayer and Christian confidence: there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

If this conversation helped you think more clearly about prayer, church leadership, and biblical manhood and womanhood, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome And Chapter Overview

Pastor Plek 0:10

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Plek. This is Pastor Holland. We're talking First Timothy chapter two. We're going to outline it, observe it, interpret it, and then apply it so you can go today with Jesus wherever you live, work, or play. So

Why Prayer Comes First

Pastor Plek 0:25

1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 through 8, really get us into the practice of prayer. And then he's going to take the second half of that chapter and really delve into instructions for women in verses 9 through 15. All right, what do you see here in this chapter that sticks out to you, Pastor Holland?

Pastor Holland 0:41

All right. He starts off chapter two with first of all. So he had a chapter one was all his introduction. And now the here is the uh, you know, is really getting into the content that he wants to teach here. And he starts off with prayer. I think there's something to learn from that. Um, and not only prayer, but he's urging prayer and urging prayer specifically for rulers, kings, people who are in high positions. So I find that really interesting. That's this is a an urgent command in scripture is to pray for rulers. Okay.

Pastor Plek 1:12

Yeah, I also think moving on from that to the second half, like uh don't pray with anger without hey, men. I want the men to pray without anger or quarreling. Now, I know this might be like when you're praying, is it possible to be angry? Was this like the bat the prayer wars? Like, you know, like, you know, like instead of praying about people who weren't there, you're praying about people who were there. And it's like, God, thank you for Holland. Just please help him get his life together. He's such a train wreck. Or what was that? What do you think that was?

Pastor Holland 1:46

Yeah, or well, so he's he's talking about kind of um corporate worship. So you're getting into order for corporate worship here. Um, and he he says, I want the men to be the ones who are leading corporate prayer. Right. Um, but then he gets into how they're leading corporate prayer, right? And is and so maybe it would be, yeah, lifting holy hands um without anger or quarreling. Maybe there's like some jockeying or something between different men in the church for who gets to lead the prayer or what we're gonna pray. I don't know uh exactly what it is, but we know as men that we can be very competitive and aggressive. And he's saying corporate worship is not the time for that.

Pastor Plek 2:26

I did have one moment like this in prison ministry. Uh I was speaking in prison. There were we were with a bunch of people going to the prison before we went in. We all were gonna pray. And so I said, Hey who wants to lead us in prayer? And the guy goes, Well, I'm a pastor, I'll lead us. And the other guys, Well, I'm a pastor too. And they all both looked at each other and it was weird, and I just started praying right there. Uh, I was like, it was the weirdest thing that's probably exactly what he's talking about. It's like right there. I was like, that's wild that they had that issue, and I just went

Leading Prayer Without Rivalry

Pastor Plek 2:51

for it. Okay. Nice. Um, all right, so uh okay, let's get into the women. Women, what women should wear, adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. Interesting to me that costly attire, like how much is too much so that it's costly.

Pastor Holland 3:15

Yeah. Doesn't say it seems to be communicating a, you know, um what look at what he contrasts it to. Yeah. He doesn't say, um, instead, wear, you know, this specific type of clothing. He contrasts it

Modesty As Good Works

Pastor Holland 3:29

with good works. Um, and so he says, you know, where's the they should adorn themselves. Your adorning is like the thing that stands out the most about you. You know, like a Christmas tree, it comes to mind, like is adorned with a, you know, like a big star on top is like, oh, that's the most, you know, bright and special thing about it. Um, your adorning is what stands out the most. And so it he's saying to the women, what should really stand out about you is not your outward appearance, but your good works.

Pastor Plek 4:01

So your good works should be the thing that they notice, not what you're wearing. Yeah.

Women Teaching And Authority

Pastor Plek 4:07

Okay. Now, this next part gets controversial. Here we go. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. What? First off, is a woman saved only through childbearing?

Pastor Holland 4:41

Yes. What do you mean by saved though? So a few interpretations of this. Some people think this is referring to Jesus, right? Meaning like Eve's uh sin. Uh there will be redemption through the Son of God and Savior coming through.

Pastor Plek 4:59

Women, women are the one that brought the Savior into the world. Yeah.

Pastor Holland 5:03

And that's how that's how some people, some uh theologians and commentators take this. So I I think what he's doing here is something different, actually. Um and there's a lot of theologians who go this route as well. But when when he says saved, we know saved can mean there's like I was saved in terms of I'm justified. And we know that that's not through childbearing, that's through faith in Jesus Christ. Um, saved can also mean sanctified. We are being saved. Like we I have been saved and I am being saved. I mean, I am I am being sanctified and made more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. And then one day I will be finally saved, right? So you have like three tenses of salvation. I was saved, I am being saved, and one day I will be finally saved in uh the the resurrection when I receive a glorified body. Right.

Pastor Plek 5:55

And it can't be it can't be justified.

Pastor Holland 5:58

We know that happens through faith in Jesus.

Pastor Plek 6:00

Right, because then it would go against what everything else Paul teaches about salvation. Did Paul just lose his mind on this one part of the letter and be like, you know what? Don't worry about any of the theology I just wrote. I want you to take this, what it says is what it means. No, what it's what it means is uh sanctification or maybe a fulfillment of their role or something like that. Yeah.

Pastor Holland 6:20

So my take is he's referring to being sanctified uh through childbearing, childbearing meaning not just having a baby, but um the everything that goes along with that essentially like motherhood, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. A synecdoche. Um, it stands for motherhood, the vocation of women to be nurturers, life givers. Um, and Paul brings this up because he's saying, hey, women, the role of women in the church is not to be the authoritative teachers. He says, I don't permit that. Don't permit women to teach or exercise authority over a man. That's a that's a task that God has entrusted to men as the protectors, the guardians, the um uh the ones who are to have authoritative leadership as the elders of the church. Um, and then he says, but here's what's been given to women. It's this equally important and admirable calling of motherhood and um to raise up children to know and love the Lord Jesus that and through the fulfillment of that duty, um, women are sanctified.

Pastor Plek 7:19

So, and and I think this is really, really powerful. Like, what is the one thing that a woman can do that a man can't do? I think there's more than one thing, but the main one would be give birth to a child. Right, give birth to a child, right? So, like that's their physically, it's okay. What is impossible, right? It is impossible uh for a woman, for a man to give birth. And and so that means that there's a specific role in the nurturing of a child that is unique to a woman that's very special. And uh one of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes, do you remember this one? It's like uh the homemaker has the ultimate career. Yes, all other careers exist for one purpose only, and that is to support the ultimate careers. Like all trains, all commerce, all wars are fought so that a woman can raise her child in peace, like essentially like that, right?

Pastor Holland 8:11

Yeah, so that we can be safe and well fed and enjoy the blessings of our family at home. Like every other job exists for that. For that. And so what Paul's doing here is he's actually saying, hey, there's this really noble and necessary vocation of women, of childbearing. Um, and again, he's speaking in generalities here. This doesn't mean that all women will be biological mothers, but all women are created to be nurturers, and in the same way that Paul himself was not a biological father, but he was a spiritual father to Timothy and Titus. All women are called to spiritual motherhood, um, called to mothering, or, you know, the maternal duties of nurturing and uh yeah, being being a mother is something that is needed and it is a blessing in the church, in the home, and society. And so Paul's saying, hey, God has these roles for men and women. The role he's given to men is to be the leaders and to be the authoritative teachers in the church. And for women, he's given this equally essential, admirable, noble calling of motherhood.

Pastor Plek 9:15

All right.

Childbearing And Sanctification Explained

Pastor Plek 9:16

So, what about like, because there's a lot of egalitarians out there that would say, hey, listen, here's here Ephesus was a city known for false teaching and the religious confusion, probably because a lot of women were influenced by the air. And and so the Paul restricts teaching, it's basically for this church, he's correcting the untrained, misled individuals, and the concern is the bad teaching, not the gender itself. He's like, Hey, I want women to learn, uh, but because in this culture they were not formally educated. Uh so Paul is encouraging their learning, which was counter-cultural and a positive thing. And then um, the quietness is not that they should shut up, but rather have a posture of peaceful receptivity, not total silence. And then the I do not permit is was a temporary thing. Uh and then when they say that, well, what you know, because you go, what about Adam and Eve? They would say, like, listen, um, Eve was deceived, the parallel to women in Ephesus being misled. And so he's using a biblical example to kind of tap into a contemporary moment. Therefore, don't let the deceived teach until properly instructed, is where egalitarians go.

Pastor Holland 10:26

Yeah. It's the to me, that argument is like if you didn't, if all you had was that argument and you're trying to figure something out philosophically, you'd be like, okay, I can maybe see where you're coming from. Yeah, but when you look in the text, you go, well, Paul doesn't make that argument. Just straight up, that's not he when he names false teachers, for instance, he never names any women. Paul names like five false teachers, some of them we saw in the last chapter, Alexander, Himenaeus. He never names any women who are false teachers. There's no evidence of that whatsoever. Um the idea of uh, well, women were untrained. You remember in Acts chapter five when um people see Peter and John preaching and they go, These are ordinary, untrained men and they're turning the world upside down, right? Peter and John were untrained men. I think it was that was it five? I thought it was four. Ordinary Yeah, double fact check me live.

Pastor Plek 11:25

You know, listen, I just gotta make sure. Yeah, 413.

Pastor Holland 11:28

413. Uh okay, Acts 413. Peter and John are untrained, ordinary men. Yep. So there's like this theory, there's no evidence for it whatsoever that it was like, oh, there were these false teachers that were women, or it's because they're untrained. That is not how Paul makes his argument. His argument is rooted in Adam was formed first, then Eve, before he even gets to the deceived part. He says Adam was formed first, meaning God had a purpose in the order of Adam, then Eve. He didn't make them at the same time. Right. Adam first, then Eve. And God was establishing an order for the home, for the church, an order between male and female, that the male would be, the male sex would have the role of authoritative teaching and leadership in in kind of all spheres of life. And Paul, Paul goes to that for his defense and says nothing about anything cultural.

Pastor Plek 12:23

Yeah. And why do you think this even came up? Do you think there were women who were trying to teach? I mean, because like why did this become an issue? Because I think Paul really was addressing issues at the time. So maybe women were trying to teach.

Pastor Holland 12:35

I think so, yeah, perhaps. And um, when you think about the garden, so again, he does reference Eve being deceived. Yeah. So you have Adam and Eve there. Adam was he's created to be to work and to keep in the garden. To keep is to be a guardian. Um, shamar is the Hebrew word. It's to guard, it's like a warrior guardian type kind of word. He was the guardian of the garden. Had the serpent gone directly to Adam, Adam, his guardian, you know, kind of nature probably would have confronted um the serpent, right? So, what does the serpent do? Um, he goes to Eve, who has a nurturing nature, not an aggressive, combative nature, but a nurturing nature and less aggressive, um, and he's able to deceive Eve. And now you have Adam versus Eve instead of Adam versus the serpent. And Adam, who loves his wife and um, you know, wants to please her, Adam is more easily won over by Eve than by the serpent. So I think the reason Paul brings that up is to say if you can get women into a position of leadership and teaching in a church who are more nurturing and therefore tend to be more open about doctrine, open and affirming about um, let's say, homosexuality or universalism, or, you know, hell is mean. I don't want to believe that. Just I think everyone goes to heaven. That tends to be where a lot of like the feminine tendencies um lean toward. And then you have men who don't want to confront those women because it's not in our nature to confront women. We want to love and protect women. And so one of Satan's strategies, I think, is to try and um take the nurturing nature of women, put it into a position of teaching and leadership so that it can become uh a gateway for false doctrines to enter a church.

Pastor Plek 14:25

Yeah, I think you nailed nature of man really well with all that. Let's jump to character of God. I think God wants us to pray and activate his will because rulers are important to God. Yes. Uh, and godly and there is an institute, there's three institutions. We man, there's this chapter is chock full of stuff. It is. There's there's three institutions that God has established, uh, subsidiary institutions. One is the family, one is the church, and one is uh government, the state. And so I I think what God's saying is like pray urgently and first off, uh pray for uh all people, obviously, but like especially kings, those in high authority, because that results in churches and families being able to be uh able to flourish.

Pastor Holland 15:13

Yeah, absolutely. It's um the church is is able to persevere persecution, like we know that when the church is the gates of hell can't stand against the church of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Plek 15:23

So sorry, and God wants all to be saved. Yeah, so there's something about praying specifically for the leadership and government that leads to salvation for people, uh, which I thought was sort of a fascinating reality. Yeah, that they the kings

Egalitarian Case And Text-Based Reply

Pastor Plek 15:36

get saved and then they have laws that introduce God in some way that you are effectually breaking the law. I I I was trying to figure out what that meant.

Pastor Holland 15:46

Well, yeah, the the laws being made. Again, Paul already said in chapter one that the law can point you to what's right and good. And so when you have godly laws, that points you to good things, and the king of a land essentially is the supreme leader of a land and example to others. And if they're a godly person, their example is now public to the entire nation, um, and their testimony is now public to the entire nation. Right. As well as them giving protections to preaching the gospel and gathering for churches is going to help the spread of the gospel rather than hinder it. So having godly rulers helps. Um, even though wicked rulers can't stop the church, a godly ruler is going to help the spread of the church and the gospel. Okay.

Pastor Plek 16:29

So then what about what how about God has an order for the family here and the church? Men. So it's kind of interesting. The government aspect where we're pray for the leaders and kings, uh, and then men, you're to you should be leading prayer at church and leading the church, and women are to have a submissive role in that. He's kind of hammering or hammering, he's kind of like really kind of marking out three different areas all at the same time. Yeah, when he's one chapter.

Pastor Holland 16:54

When he talks about childbearing, he brings in the home. So he hits the state, the rulers, and then the church, who's in charge of uh, you know, the church, and then the home, women have this incredible opportunity in raising essentially raising up everyone who's going to be the next generation. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. I think it's the old proverb.

Pastor Plek 17:12

I I feel like that's important to remember. And I think sometimes we uh in our world where sex and male and female get so confused that God had an order for that, and it was for a reason because when it does get confusing, there's a lot of chaos that ensues.

Pastor Holland 17:29

Yeah, this is one Matthew Henry says this um uh according to Paul, women must be learners, are not allowed to be the public teachers in the church, for teaching is an office of authority, and the woman must not usurp authority over the man, but is to be in silence. But notwithstanding this prohibition, good women may and ought to teach their children at home the principles of religion. Timothy, from a child, had known the holy scriptures, and who should teach him but his mother and grandmother. Right. Right? We that's where Timothy became a Christian was his mother and grandmother. Um, and so he even as Paul's writing this to Timothy, Timothy knows the importance of

Applying Prayer Order And The One Mediator

Pastor Holland 18:05

mothers teaching the scriptures and the gospel to their children. Right. That's great.

Pastor Plek 18:10

Um, okay, let's get into some application. Sind to avoid, promise, claim, example, follow, command, obey, knowledge to believe.

Pastor Holland 18:17

Pray for everyone, uh, and that includes rulers. Pray for the president, pray for the house, the senate, your mayor, your governor, uh your school board. Yeah. Pray, pray for them and pray that God would convert them and pray that they would lead with wisdom and um grace and justice and be good examples. Yeah.

Pastor Plek 18:37

Um, how about command to obey? Uh, men lead the church. Amen. And uh, that's if you're a man and you're like, what am I what's my role? Well, you're you're a leader, and so step up. And it might be time for you to to stop hiding behind I don't want my my wife doesn't want me to, or I don't have enough time to uh a I'm gonna lead as God has called me to.

Pastor Holland 19:00

Yeah. And as we're gonna see in the next chapter, the prerequisite for leading in the church is that you lead your home well. Right. Um, and so that applies to men and women, knowledge to believe of you know, she will be saved through childbearing. Just knowing that raising children is sanctifying work. It is important work. Um, it is the most, I would say, like the most blessed work that there is.

Pastor Plek 19:22

Yeah. Um, yeah. Uh one of my favorite pastor quotes is uh the most important, the most important thing that you do isn't something you do, but someone you raise. And I and I thought that was just a powerful like reality. Isn't something you do but someone you raise.

Pastor Holland 19:41

Yeah.

Pastor Plek 19:42

Um, okay. What about other application?

Pastor Holland 19:45

Um uh four mothers raising their children. He says uh to continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control. And so those um virtues and fruits of the spirit, you know, to pray for those maybe today if you're struggling with that.

Pastor Plek 19:58

Yeah. How about ladies dress modestly?

Pastor Holland 20:00

Yeah. Um, what about and modestly modest modesty includes not only like um, you know, not showing off a bunch of skin, but also he talks about uh wealth. Wealth, yeah, that you're not dressing in a way that's gonna make someone who's not wealthy feel embarrassed. Right, right. Um I think that's kind of the bunch of attention to you.

Pastor Plek 20:24

The emphasis isn't really skin, uh, especially in this this context, because I don't think women were, you know, trying to show some leg. I think it was more in the sense of women were um uh wearing pearls and all the things. So, or jewels and expensive jewelry.

Pastor Holland 20:40

Yeah, dress in a way that's gonna give honor and glory to Jesus Christ and not draw a bunch of attention to your body.

Pastor Plek 20:45

Okay. Uh anything else before we land the plane here? I think that covers it.

Pastor Holland 20:50

Knowledge to believe, there's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

Pastor Plek 20:56

Love that. Believe in him, believe in him. He is the one mediator between God and man. Oh man, I feel like we go on forever about that. Like, can I say, how about don't pray to anyone but Jesus? Yeah. He's the one interest and man. I feel like this is the one of the most powerful chapters in that it has got so much. Um, so yeah, I think there are a lot of people who do go and they pray to other saints, and he's saying, do not go to anyone other than Jesus because he is the one intermediary stand between you and God. Uh, that doesn't mean you can't ask other people to pray for you. But what it does mean is like when you when you go to God, don't ask another saint to go to God on your behalf. You go to God on your own. All right. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.