1 Tim 2:8-15

So... this last part of 1 Timothy 2 was really hard to read.  I wondered how much of what I read was cultural.  It was enough to make me throw my hands in the air.  However, for your sake as well as my own, I will type my chaotic thoughts here and hope as I type (as is often the case) the Holy Spirit will give me a little clarity.  Already I have a pressing idea in my mind.

The pressing idea was to google ancient jewish woman: culture and clothing.  Find sources that have good authority as my online historiography class taught me.  Then read and see what I learned.  I did, and now I feel able to talk about the last half of 1 Timothy 2.

It opens with how men should behave.  They should pray for everyone, without anger or lack of faith.  This means that you should pray for those you love as well as those you might not like that much.  Every single person.  You shouldn't hold anger or grudges towards them.  The only way for some people to be able to do this is to cling close to Jesus.  Emphasis on the word "cling."

Then it goes on to something that can be more heretical.  Then we have a lot of advice for women.  Most modern women today would be highly offended, if only they would have taken the time to research what this advice meant to the women of that day and culture as well as where it originated from, that wouldn't have happened.

It starts with how women should dress.  Remember we just described men.  It continues, "in like manner," which means just like the guys... okay so just like the guys who were to be humble in praying for others and being concerned for others including those they didn't like... so the women were to be...

How?

The women needed to be adorned in modest apparel.  Moderation being the key word.  It discourages being focused on the wanting wealth and being vain.  Those are character traits that can be damaging.  It says instead to be "proper for women professing godliness, with good works."  Okay, so don't dress up in vanity.  Dress up in good works.

I think this is missed when we read the passage.  The women should dress like men, in good character.

Let us move on to verse 11.  It says women should be silent.  End of story.  The reason being because Adam was made first and also because unlike Adam, she was deceived.  Her way to salvation is to bear kids who grow up in Jesus.  Simple?  I think not.  This is packed and I want to talk about it as well.

This is where my little cultural research comes in handy.  I will place my sources at the end of the blog post.

There was equality between men and women in those times, though more so earlier than later.  Thanks to the Greco-Roman period, the society slowly became more patriarchal in the sense of unequality.  However, the rabbis didn't think that women were incapable of learning and higher thinking of spiritual matters.  They were instead worried that the women would become so spiritual that they would not be able to fulfill the roles of wife and mother to the extent needed.

In the same way, Jews were known for dressing in really nice clothes that were colorful and pretty.  It was during the Greco-Roman times that this slowly changed, as they became a more poor nation.  So dressing in drab browns was not actually a common trait in the Jewish nation until this time.

This leads to the last aspect I wish to comment on.  It says in verse 14 that Eve was deceived and that Adam was not.  In verse 15 is gives a way for her to redeem herself, but not for Adam.  Who would you be more angry with?  The person who messed up accidently?  Or the person who deliberately disobeyed you?  Parents, you would be more upset with the latter wouldn't you?  Apply this to Adam and Eve and the fall into sin.  I think in the end God had more compassion on Eve than Adam because she didn't mean to sin while he very deliberately sinned.

Those are my thoughts anyways.  Hope that wasn't too heretical.

http://www.jewfaq.org/women.htm
http://wjudaism.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wjudaism/article/view/3537/1595.
http://www.cta-usa.org/wicl/4jesusandwomen.html
http://sarabe3.tripod.com/israeliteimages.html