1 Timothy 2

General context

The writer exhorts that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, and specifically for kings and all that are in authority, so that believers may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. This, he says, is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth, since there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. He states his own place in this, ordained a preacher, and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles, breaking off to insist he speaks the truth and lies not. Instructions follow for two groups. Men are to pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. Women are to adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but with good works. The woman is to learn in silence with all subjection, and the writer says in the first person that he suffers not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. The ground he gives is the order and the deception in Eden: Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. The chapter ends with a sentence about being saved in childbearing, conditioned on continuing in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Cited passages: 1 Timothy 2:1, 1 Timothy 2:2, 1 Timothy 2:3, 1 Timothy 2:4, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 Timothy 2:6, 1 Timothy 2:7, 1 Timothy 2:8, 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Timothy 2:10, 1 Timothy 2:11, 1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Timothy 2:13, 1 Timothy 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:15

1 Timothy 2 (KJV)

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Historical context

The instruction to pray for kings, and for all that are in authority establishes that the readers live under rulers, but no ruler, city or government is named, and the stated aim is a quiet and peaceable life rather than any political outcome. The restrictions on women are given in the writer's own first person, I suffer not a woman to teach, and the reason offered is the Eden account, referred to by name and order without quotation. No woman in the congregation is named, no incident is described, and no exception or time limit is stated. The closing sentence is left unexplained in the text itself: it begins with a singular subject, she shall be saved in childbearing, and continues with a plural, if they continue in faith, and the letter does not say who the plural refers to or what being saved in childbearing means.

Cited passages: 1 Timothy 2:2, 1 Timothy 2:8, 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Timothy 2:11, 1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Timothy 2:13, 1 Timothy 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:15

Literary context

Command and reason alternate through the chapter, with each instruction followed by a clause beginning For. The opening argument is held together by one repeated word: prayer for all men, kings and all that are in authority, God who will have all men to be saved, and a ransom for all. The two sets of instructions are joined by a matching phrase, I will therefore that men pray every where and In like manner also, that women adorn themselves, so the second is presented as parallel to the first. The reasons given shift from a statement about God to a retelling of a story, Adam was first formed, then Eve, which is the chapter's only appeal to an earlier narrative. Two parentheses interrupt the argument, one asserting the writer's truthfulness, one qualifying what becomes women professing godliness.

Cited passages: 1 Timothy 2:1, 1 Timothy 2:2, 1 Timothy 2:4, 1 Timothy 2:6, 1 Timothy 2:7, 1 Timothy 2:8, 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Timothy 2:10, 1 Timothy 2:13

Key moments

1. Pray for all men (1 Timothy 2:1). Supplications and thanks are asked for everyone.
2. Prayer for rulers (1 Timothy 2:2). Kings and those in authority are named as subjects of prayer.
3. One mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). The writer states one God and one mediator between God and men.
4. Holy hands lifted (1 Timothy 2:8). Men are told to pray everywhere without wrath and doubting.
5. Modest apparel (1 Timothy 2:9). Women are told to dress plainly and adorn themselves with good works.
6. A restriction stated (1 Timothy 2:12). The writer says he does not permit a woman to teach or take authority.
7. Adam and Eve named (1 Timothy 2:13). The order of forming is given as the reason.

For reflection

The chapter opens by asking prayer for all men and closes with a restriction on some. How does the letter hold those two movements together?

People in this chapter

• Adam
• Eve
• Jesus Christ