May 12 - Purity and Respect

May 12 - Purity and Respect - 1 Timothy 5:1-2

Diane says:
Within these two short verses, Paul teaches a form of respect that many seem to miss. In fact, in many cases, even within the church, respect sometimes takes second place to zeal.

The word used in verse 1 literally means 'to strike.' So, Timothy is reminded (as we all are) to treat older men with dignity rather than trying to strike them down with a few well-placed words.

Younger men are to be treated as brothers, with a respect that comes from knowing each other well and, if having been brought up correctly, treating each other well. In this case, a more direct approach might be expected, but still done respectfully.

Older women within the church should be treated as one would treat a mother. Generally, this is the one person in a man's life that he has learned to respect above all others. Younger women should be treated with absolute purity. There is so much danger in the relationship between a respected man and a young girl. Paul was fully aware of that danger, yet expected that the leaders he trained would never cross a line. That young girl should be treated as a sister, protected and regarded as absolutely pure. If Timothy and any other leader would take these things into account in his relationship with others, he will be safe from reproach.

Rebecca says:
There are a couple of things I like about these two verses. I love it for it's simplicity and wisdom. It;s pretty good advice no matter who you are talking to, there is a certain tenderness with which we handle our families and if somehow these minds of ours could transfer that to the people around us, our workplaces and communities and nations would be a much different place. But there is another part of this verse that just tickles my fancy because it shows me a side of Paul that I really needed to see, because in general Paul has not been one of my favorite apostles.

Paul has a way of pushing my buttons, with verses like "A man ought not to cover up his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man." (1 Cor. 11:7) Or "If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church," (1 Cor 14:35) and of course my favorite "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent" ( 1 Timothy 2: 12). He has an irritating knack of saying things that make me want to tell him a thing or two, but according to him I am suppose to be silent so I don’t think that conversation would go very well.

But as I read these verses I was moved for the first time by something Paul said about women. It’s the first kind thing I can attribute to him on this subject. He encouraged Timothy to treat women with purity. And I have to say that is just absolutely delicious to me! Because in that one word it gave me hope that maybe I have been wrong and Paul did get it. He understood the gift that womanhood is to this world of ours. There is no word on earth that could better summarize how to treat such a gift other than purity. It implies tenderness, honesty, respect, and handling her with the very best parts of you. It means to keep a clear view of her sacredness, to keep your hands clean when handling her, to keep your thoughts clean when you think of her and to be true to yourself when you are with her. And when I realize that Paul thought of women in this regard, it has caused me to go back and reexamine some of those verses that I so quickly have passed a judgment on, and I think that perhaps Paul is misunderstood.

My sisters are delicate eggs to me, there is no one on earth that I would treat with more fragility than these three women. I probably treat them with the closest thing to purity that I will ever know because I adore them. And it is that adoration that has made me change my mind about Paul because I get it, or at least I think I do. I get why he spoke about women the way he did and why he said we should do some of the things we should do. It was not out of any misogynistic blood that pumped through his veins, it was only because he honored women to such a degree that that adoration sort of overtook his logic and he was a bit overprotective. When he says that women are the glory of man that is not an insult, it is his awkward way of expressing his absolute awe in the female species. His way of saying, "Look, men are the glory of God, we don’t have much to offer this world but you women, you are so much better than we will ever be and you bring light and life into our life. You are a ray of sunshine on a dark and dreary day. You make us better, and the very best parts of us are reflected in you. You are the glory of man."

And all that jazz about it being disgraceful for a woman to speak in church - I think that didn’t have much to do with him wanting us mute but more about how a husband should teach a wife. Maybe the shameful part was more along the lines of "Why does your wife have to ask a bunch of strangers and she didn’t go to you first? Why doesn’t she feel comfortable relying on you to talk to about this stuff?" Maybe the disgrace was not about women talking in church, but more about an unavailable husband that was not treating this woman with purity.

And finally my favorite, the silent verse in Timothy, I think I was most wrong about that one. I thought he was trying to duct tape our mouths shut but in actuality I think he was trying to protect us. It is my sisters who made me realize that. See anytime they go up to speak or perform or are in front of any sort of crowd, I become a little crazy and overprotective. It kills me inside to hear anyone say anything negative about them or even look at them sideways. When they put themselves out there like that they are open targets for idiotic ridicule. I would rather keep them in fuzzy little cottages and interview every person that came into contact with them so I could be sure their ears never had to hear an unkind word. It breaks my heart to see them devalued or demeaned in any way. I thought about Paul in this new light and maybe that is why he didn’t want us up there teaching. He knew that congregations would be more than likely filled with one or two humans that would either look at us or talk about us in a very impure way and he was just trying to be a good big brother and protect us from that. He was not saying we didn’t have anything worth hearing, he was just trying to limit the amount of ears that might hear it and then twist it around and cause us heartache.

Paul was familiar with snarky people, he was one. He took pleasure in devaluing humans when he was Saul. He knew what it was to be a bit cynical and as an apostle I am sure he heard every snide comment that could have been made. His life exposed him to the good and bad in humans and maybe, just maybe, he was practicing what he preached and trying to treat all of us younger women as sisters, and ensure we were handled with purity.

I love it when the Word does that - when two little verses can change everything I thought I knew. I'm sorry, Paul for being a little snarky myself with you a time or two. I misunderstood you, but you will forgive me won’t you? After all, aren’t we family now?