October 9, 2022 To Spread the Kingdom 1 Timothy 2-3:13

(Sermon in two parts - After reading 1 Timothy 2:1-7)

I’ve had us pause the reading here because I think it is a good place that will help us understand what lies ahead.  I believe the ultimate goal of the author of this letter is not the formation of the church, but the effective spread of the gospel to the world.  He says that outright in 2:4, “[God] desires everyone to be saved and to know the knowledge of the truth.” 

In what we read last week there was a mention of the conversion of St. Paul.  As a young man Paul was a persecutor of Christians.  Then he had a dramatic conversion experience and became one of the biggest missionaries of the early church.  That conversion is important to the author of 1 Timothy.  It shows just how far God will go to have people – everyone - in his kingdom.  God is not looking for just the good, or those with the right religious convictions, or those who build their lives on the right priorities.  God wants everyone!

The main purpose of our lives is to witness to the love of God.  That may sound like a selfless and difficult way to live.  Why can’t we be selfish, lazy, and comfortable after all?  But we know that doing God’s work is the only truly worthwhile work there is, and it is the only thing we can do with our lives that has enduring value.

The words coming ahead will sound sexist and maybe misogynistic.  But I do not think the author has any fear of women in authority.  I’m going to point out a technicality when we get there.  I think he is trying to shape the church into an organization that will maximize its effectiveness in spreading the gospel. 

In what we read so far we were instructed to pray for everyone, including kings and all who are in authority.  It was no democracy in those days.  Most likely 1 Timothy was written to Christians living in the city of Ephesus late in the 1^st Century, or maybe early 2^nd Century.  Why pray for government leaders?  Because it puts all people in a positive light.  It reminds Christians of the value of each and every person, and the call to be loving towards all.  It also means that if any questions were to arise about the church from outside, there would be no reason for complaint.  The church should be seen in the world as a positive and constructive influence.  Christians should live quiet, peaceable lives.  The author of 1 Timothy believes this would be the best way to spread the gospel.  The author believes Christians should be seen, individually and as a group, as assets to their communities.

Christianity was a new religion.  It had some strange and radical ideas.  Strangest of them all was that the founder was executed without even the slightest fight.  And believe it or not, the ideas of a person being a divine/human mix or of being resurrected from the dead were not unique to Christianity.  But there were many teachings that sounded odd.  Christians were probably not persecuted in most places.  Although they were probably viewed with suspicion by outsiders.  So, how do you deal with those suspicions and oddities?  Let’s read on. 

(Read 1 Timothy 2:8-3:13)

These are verses that have caused harm to many many people over many many years.  What do we do with them?

Some just chuck them out.  Some say they wreak of male dominance and patriarchy; that they are just plain wrong.  Or that they show that the Bible and Christianity are misogynistic.  They say the Bible is closed minded and judgmental.

I believe we have to engage them more fully, even as we disagree with them.  Remember, the author’s goal is to spread the good news of God’s love.  That is central.  That is what must be accomplished.

And so, the author is going to be supportive of societal norms and expectations.  In those days the head of the household was the father.  He held all power and responsibility.  If something went wrong it was considered his fault.  A wife may be given charge of daily household things, but it was still under the authority of the father.

I disagree with those who say that men at that time were afraid of women gaining power; thus they wrote these texts out of fear and as an attempt to keep women forever secondary.  No, the author believes that if Christians are seen as challenging the norms of household operation they’d be seen as challenging the fundamental structure of society.  Remember earlier that the author thinks the fundamental structure of society is to be used for spreading the kingdom of God!  And so, Christians should be seen as being quiet supportive citizens.

In order to back up such a claim the author brings up the Adam and Eve story.  He blames Eve for the sin of eating the forbidden fruit.  Therefore women are secondary to men.

But here is where he makes a mistake.  I say he makes a mistake not only because I disagree with him, but because he is downright wrong in his scriptural interpretation.

Our first reading was from Romans where the real St. Paul writes about Adam and Eve.  Actually, you’ll note that he does not include Eve.  The real St. Paul places the breakdown of humanity with Adam.  Elsewhere the real St. Paul writes about the equality of races and genders.  There are also a number of references where he appears to have women in leadership positions in the church.

And that helps us.  I don’t think we get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we consider to be valid or not.  If we do that then we’ll just pick those portions which say what we want to hear!  No, we do not get to pick and choose what we consider to be valid.  But we can, with humility, point out those places which are wrong.

One of the criteria we can use to say a teaching from the Bible is wrong is when it contradicts the Bible elsewhere.  This we have today.  This is not the only place where this happens.  In December we’ll start reading Matthew’s gospel.  He’s fond of quoting Isaiah and the other prophets.  Unfortunately he interprets them in ways that are wrong.  Or at least if we’ve ever read those portions we’d find ourselves saying, “Um, Matthew, that’s not what Isaiah meant at all.”

When it comes to women’s authority the author of 1 Timothy knows neither Paul’s thoughts in Romans nor the stories of Genesis.  In the stories of Genesis Adam and Eve are indeed cursed by God.  But in the Noah’s Ark story those curses are lifted. 

This is something we need to understand about the Bible.  Some people seem to think it is a divine rulebook that has just fallen from the sky, perfect and eternal in every way.

Not so.  The Bible is God inspiring humanity’s attempt to grasp the ungraspable.  The Bible is written into a context.  It is written to real people in a real time and place.  Take it out of its context and you end up with a mess.  Understand the context and you start to see its real power.

Yes, 1 Timothy was written in a context where the father was the head of the household.  The author thought that was part of God’s divine order.  Does he do it out of anger or fear of women’s power?  I highly doubt it.  His end goal was for the love of God to be proclaimed and widely and effectively as possible.  He felt that Christians should appear to be solid, dependable, constructive citizens.  And there is a technicality in his arguments.  A literal translation would say that the wives should be modest and silent.  Our translations say, “women”.  Again, I don’t think the author is against women at all.  He does, however, think that women who are wives should follow society expectations of wives. 

His other advice for leaders follows the mold that Christians should appear to be solid, constructive citizens.  Leaders should have lives that prove they are dependable and responsible.

When we read passages like this let us not think the author is trying to create perfect little well-behaved families; each with a three-bedroom ranch house, a picket fence, a dog, and well-behaved children.  That is not the model of righteousness God has in mind.  The author just wants the followers of Christ to be authentic and constructive citizens.

I can safely say that all of this passage points to making the spread of the gospel the focus of our lives.  It makes sense.  Think about it.  If we are to have eternal life with God, what truly is of lasting importance from our lives here?  Do our houses, or clothes, or friends, or possessions, or money or any of the stuff that just about everyone worries about a lot really matter at all?  If this life is just a shadow of the wholeness that is to come, then what does really matter.  What our author told us, “[God] desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  Whether that be easy or extremely difficult, that is the only thing worth working for.