Skip to main content

1 Timothy 2:9&10 - Men and women in prayer - Day 297

Good morning beloved,

Some wise men have said that context matters.  The passage for today certainly proves that point.

Blessings,

Jeff

So what does the way women dress have to do with prayer?  This chapter is about all Christians (men and women) praying for all people.  So this is not a male chauvinist giving his opinion of women's fashions.  It really is a remarkable statement about complementary role of the sexes in prayer.  Many sceptics point to passages like this and accuse Christians of oppressing women.  But nothing could be further from the truth.

Context

Contrast between Church and pagan culture.

In Roman world, women were generally no better than slaves.  But Paul sees women as having a vital part in the spiritual discipline of prayer.  We know that this is the case because v8 looks at men's role and v9 at women's role.  If Paul thought that only men were to pray, he would not say anything about women.

Prayer in a pagan world is essentially trying to get the gods to provide health and wealth.  Prayer for the church is for an orderly society so that all might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.  

Complement each other not equal.  V8 and V9 complement or complete each other.  They are dependent on the other, neither by itself fulfills v1-4.

Roman world was all about power in every relationship.  For men, holy hands without anger or quarreling would be a sign of weakness.  Not unlike our world, women were primarily objects of sexual conquest.  Only beautiful women had any influence over a man.  Style of dress to capitalize on this.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more