The basic theme here is not obvious to western Christians. The first generation of churches were expected to act like synagogues. A primary feature of synagogues was to implement and enforce the Hebrew customs for extended family households; the people in your synagogue and your family were the same people. For communal Hebrews this was instinctive and generally mandatory, but not so much with Gentiles, who likely joined a church without their extended family joining them. Both Jews and Gentiles were often cut off from family for confessing Christ. Your church may well include blood kin, but what mattered is that they were spiritual kin.

Paul advises Timothy to treat everyone like family, and to set the example in filial piety. When it's necessary to pull someone up from a headlong rush into sin, do so in such a way as to make it clear you seek their best interest. This is nothing at all like the western habit of showing off how smart you are on some matter, and then pretending you are "just trying to help". That would never fly in the Ancient Near East. This is not about you; give real help when it really helps.

A primary function of a Christian synagogue was carrying the burdens of a family. In a world where the majority of females got married at about age 15 to a man 10-20 years her senior, it was common for them to outlive their husbands. All the more was this true when men were exposed to more threats to life and limb than is common today. Meanwhile, the Old Testament bore a very strong statement insisting that extended families care for these widows.

Paul mentions "a window indeed" referring to someone who is cut off from any earthly family support. Is the church truly her only family? Then she should be supported and supportive. She should be wholly devoted to the church household in order for the church to feed and house her. If she has outside commitments, then she cannot give full attention to the church to justify such support.

If she's below age 60, she's too likely to get lonely for male companionship. The image here is someone still sexually active. Paul makes it clear he's referring to putting these women on the church payroll as staff. These were something like modern nuns, though not so rigorously organized as is common today. Still, their activities were rather similar, emphasizing service and worship within the church community.

The concept of eldership was not so foreign, but Paul saw the need to advise Timothy on the uniquely Christian version of it. Again, this is family. Elders were effectively heads of households within the wider church community. Paul says they deserve support, as well, as the Greek word time refers to both honor and honorarium ("double honor"). It's a privileged position; they should not be easy to take down. By the same token, any rebuke must be in the presence of those they lead, so that the other elders learn to take their roles seriously.

It is vitally necessary to grant some men a higher privilege; there's no other way churches can exist. It's rooted in the reality of dealing with humans. But by the same token, it must be obvious to everyone involved that there's no human favoritism. It's a privilege, not a right. Men are chosen for the role because God uses them that way even without the privileges. Fit elders would not argue with a godly rebuke.

Regarding the final verses here, I wrote elsewhere: "Paul... also advised him to drink wine, because water alone was not only regarded as extreme asceticism with most people, but wine would offset the effects of questionable water quality in that part of the world. Timothy need not be embarrassed how it would look. In the real world, we all know a sinner may not be obvious at first, but eventually his evil will slip out. The same with a good man, whose actions may at first seem a little odd. Once they saw Timothy acting truly magisterial, silly questions become obviously silly."

I found this reported in a number of different places. Note the sarcasm in the title: 1 million people exited the United Methodist Church in a single day and I can't imagine why

Quote:United Methodism's largest overseas jurisdiction has voted to quit the denomination in response to the church's divorcing sex from marriage at its governing General Conference earlier this month.

The United Methodist Church in the Ivory Coast voted on May 28 to exit the denomination. In 2022, this conference reportedly had over 1.2 million members. So, its departure means over one tenth of United Methodism has in one day left the denomination.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

There is a unifying theme in this chapter: We do not accomplish a spiritual mission by worldly means. Holiness is not a quality of this world, but something beyond this level of existence that can only be indicated, symbolized, and demonstrated. The actions and symbols were not the point.

The Spirit of God had warned that men would pervert the truth by letting demons lead them astray. The greatest lies of Satan are always just a step away from the truth. It was bad enough that there were a host of pagan cults people kept trying to drag into the church. They had all kinds of silly rules about diet, sex, etc. But trying to enforce the Kosher Laws on those who were not of Israel was simply wrong, given that the Covenant of Moses died on the Cross. Those laws no longer applied to any human on earth.

Prior to Moses, God had said through Noah that all creatures were our prey, and instructed Peter in no uncertain terms that God had removed the temporary limitations of Moses, reopening all food to His children in Christ. But the silly notion that there could be some superior grade of personal holiness by avoiding certain foods or by avoiding marriage and sexual relations were already old corruptions of Moses by the time Jesus began His ministry. The whole idea of these demonic teachings was to trap people’s minds on this plane, causing them to mystify the higher plane so that it remained out of reach, subject to fables and man-made legends.

The eternal realm is our home; we belong there. The flesh must be humbled before the heart and trained to accept leadership. That's what the law codes were for -- to give an example in context of how eternal living appears. With the end of the Old Covenant, we seek only to understand what it signifies about God's character.

What God provides is a blessing. We are to receive these things gratefully; this is closer to holiness than any form of abstention on any grounds. At its most innocent, this whole thing was confusion over what God gave for our use versus what He said to avoid. God’s Word is clear on most things and His blessings were well known. We are surely bound to seek and receive them in ways that reflect our commitment to eternity, but the things themselves are gifts of grace to symbolize the vast riches of that eternal life.

There are valid reasons for avoiding some things in this world on medical grounds, of exercising a certain form of restraint and physical training based on mere practicalities, but even that is subject to the calling of God. His provisions in this world often come with limitations, but an individual call to restriction does not constitute doctrine. The highest profit is not a fit body. Spiritual health matters far more than the practicalities of physical health; we use the resources of this passing plane of existence to bring to life the higher truth. The words of Scripture mean nothing if they don’t bring us closer to the Living Word. We suffer enough from the natural results of walking in Him without making up new ways to distract ourselves with arguments arising from human intellectual speculations. Paul reminds Timothy to keep everyone focused on such teaching.

God appointed Timothy; he needed no human approval to walk in the power of the Lord. The silly human notions, about how long one had lived and how thoroughly the mind was trained and seasoned intellectually, meant nothing against a living truth which had been around before mankind. Timothy's age or academic background made no difference. If he could walk in the power of the Ancient of Days, then his teaching arose from that power, not mere human intellect. As long as Timothy bathed his conduct in studying the Scriptures, preaching and teaching from them, then every other issue could wait for Paul to come settle.

Ignoring the posturing and social jockeying of these corrupt “teachers”, Timothy was encouraged to remember and keep fresh the vivid sense of his calling, of the prophecies he received when the council laid hands on him. Those educational pedigrees and talents meant nothing in God’s Courts. Paul had better certifications than most and they meant little to him. What mattered was the simple gospel message and the Scriptures because it was by this that the Lord worked among human souls, building up His Eternal Kingdom.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

Not to steal Linda's thunder (heh) but it looks like you had some crazy weather over yonder in OK last night, Ed. Everything good?

Around the 1:09 mark here:

The Old Testament priesthood and social elders had requirements in the Law of Moses. They were expected to meet certain qualifications and to maintain standards. They were just ordinary men, but in extraordinary roles. This was carried forward into the New Testament. The labels are different, but the work is roughly the same.

As previously noted, where Timothy labored in Ephesus was already well on the way to becoming the center of New Testament faith. It stands to reason that with such a dense population of believers, Timothy could use a little guidance on church offices that don't show up in smaller congregations scattered over a wide area.

When Paul chose the Greek word episkope it was not a kind of man, but a specific role. Translated literally, Paul referred to "aspiring to oversee" -- the doing of the job. The term might point to an apostle, but it could also just be any elder or pastor tasked with an elevated concern of keeping things on track. These are men God called because they could tell when something didn't fit the clear gospel standards. The mission is sniffing out deficiencies and irregularities, to inspect and prescribe improvements. They had to first understand the gospel standards and what improvements should look like. It was both a talent and a heavy burden.

While the list of qualifications has garnered an awful lot of attention, it justifies reading between the lines. An overseer is one who cares enough to sacrifice himself for the reputation of God and His revelation. He knows that a revelation must live in humans, that the rules are not the treasure, the people are. Everything is for the sake of their growth into Christ. This is the kind of man who has no trouble meeting those qualifications.

He mentions deacons because some churches had become busy enough to warrant the elder/priest combination having extra hands for tasks carried out by more devoted people who didn't feel called to lead. The whole image here is not leadership but vesting someone with authority rather like the Temple Guard, just without the military force connotations. It was more like the messenger corps. A literal translation of diakonos is attendant.

For this reason, the New Testament uses the term "deaconess" in some places. Women can do this; it doesn't require exercising authority, only privilege. It requires access to things not always public and implies a high trust factor. Keep in mind that some of these people were paid staff of the church in these roles. This is not the same thing as the seven chosen for the first church in Jerusalem; they were elders, community leaders, not deacons.

It's not as if Timothy could not have figured this out, but Paul encouraged him to develop the organization of the body in preparation for the sudden arrival of a great many Judean believers fleeing the coming Jewish revolt.

Paul ends this chapter with a short recitation of what sounds very much like a bit of catechism, something memorized for doctrinal teaching. It indicates clearly that these roles required high qualifications because they reflected on Jesus Himself.

Nothing urgent here, but something to note. A few weeks ago I had a hearing test done, because the hearing in my left ear has gone down gradually in the last few years. It turns out I have otosclerosis, where one of the three hearing bones (the stapes) doesn't vibrate like it should. It's often inherited, but not always. I think my dad might have had it.

In a way, I'm glad it's otosclerosis because I unwisely almost never wore earplugs when playing in bands, and it would've been poor choices in my part that caused the hearing loss.

There's two options, besides doing nothing: a hearing aid or surgery. I am going to try the hearing aid first to see if I'm okay with it. Surgery works most of the time but there's a rare chance--somewhere around 1% max--I could go deaf in that one ear. 

Linda - that's one reason why I had asked you about someone accompanying me for outpatient surgery the other day on the call. I would need someone to drive me home after this surgery. It looks like surgery would have to wait until I figure that out, if I wanted the surgery.

There's a few more tests and appointments to do, so none of this is 100%. Please pray with me that the doctors and staff have the wisdom they need to help me through this. The ENT doctor and his staff that I went to for the testing were pretty good, so I am hoping that trend continues.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

Western minds do not understand the boundaries between the Spirit Realm and our fallen existence here in the flesh. They do not understand how those two realms connect.

Evangelicals will choke on this: The current chapter refers to this life in our flesh, not spiritual birth. It should be obvious from the context that Paul is talking about how to walk in this world. To his Hebrew mind, "saved" and "salvation" points to walking in the Covenant; it is the redemption of our lives here below. While his teaching here is certainly connected to spiritual birth, that is not the point. The point is that the salvation he's talking about is the Covenant life on this earth, the divine privilege of knowing and walking according to God's revelation for life in this world.

Our human minds cannot understand Election, nor can we do anything at all to change whether someone is elect. The Elect were chosen before the Creation of this world. The whole culture of the Ancient Near East in general, and Hebrews in particular, would not presume to speak directly and clinically of eternal things. So, to pray for everyone is to pray that they find the Covenant life, because Jesus died to open the Covenant to us. His death on the Cross had nothing to do with changing Election.

Praying for humanity at large is pointless; we cannot bring before the Lord something with no clear identity. Paul says pray for everyone we know about personally, including the rulers we may never encounter. We pray that they find the truth of Covenant life, a life of peace, godliness and dignity. Our Lord welcomes such prayers, since He always wanted every fallen human to find His Covenant. That's why He sent Jesus, so that the Covenant did not remain some obscure secret hidden in a corner of the world, but a message of redemption to all mankind. We want them to walk in the Covenant.

This is also why God commissioned Paul as an apostle, to share this message, to organize and implement a way to gain maximum exposure to every human. For this cause, Paul wants everyone to pray fervently, lifting up holy covenant hands to the Lord. In case it's not obvious, that phrase "holy hands" refers to a life that is committed to the Covenant in feudal obedience. He refers to letting go of anger, wrath, and contention over fleshly trifles.

Then, Paul gives an example and happens to start with what Christian women should strive to do. He's not referring to sexual modesty here; that much was already obvious, even in a Gentile world at that time. He's referring to ostentatious displays of wealth. Women should not flaunt their fancy jewelry and expensive clothes; they shouldn't show off their hair at all. In that world it meant they should wear a simple head covering, rather like a plain scarf. Instead of flaunting her wealth, she should proudly uphold her covenant covering. She should act like a woman who is under a strong spiritual authority, not an independent harlot. She avoids public attention as much as possible.

Thus, no covenant woman would ever dream of holding or exercising authority over any man. She knows that God made her to support her covering, to be a blessing, a "helpmeet" whose whole mission is her man. The reason for this is that God didn't grant women spiritual authority; it's not part of their equipment. In the Garden of Eden, she was deceived about the spiritual nature of what the Devil was saying, but Adam was not. God made males to carry spiritual authority, not women.

It's not that women simply cannot lead, but that they are not equipped to do it right. They are inherently incapable of sensing the things men can sense about the moral and spiritual context. Paul's reference to "childbearing" is symbolic; women are meant to be daughters and wives, not social leaders. A world where women lead cannot walk in the Covenant. So, we pray that women stop trying to lead, that men will stand up and take their headship role and do it right, according to the Word.