Mr. D's Notes on I Timothy
Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.
Copyright 2000

CHAPTER 12

While living in Cheyenne, WY we attended a little Baptist church a few times over the months. They had special music from time to time which wasn't of our taste, but tolerable. One morning a young thin blonde stepped to the platform. The usual beat ridden loud music began. The gal started swinging and swaying and was almost to swallow her microphone. As the song progressed, she started slapping her thigh with her hand and was really getting with it.

At one point in the performance she attempted to stir the congregation up a little as she thought we were too stayed in our demeanor.

Finally, as she finished, she allowed her total frustration to vent and stomped off the platform and down the center aisle telling us we were the deadest bunch she had ever seen.

Obvious it was to the most casual observer that she was there for someone's glory, but I'm not convinced it was the Lord's.

Public worship is of utmost importance and Paul is in the middle of showing Timothy what ought and what ought not!

2:8 "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

There are a number of questions that come to my mind when I read this passage. I don't know that I have the complete answer to any of them, but will share my thoughts and you can see if you think I do.

Are we to lift holy hands in our worship services today?
Are we to lift holy hands in our daily prayer life?
Are we to lift holy hands in prayer at all?
Why did Paul link men praying with their hands in the air, with women dressing modestly? Did he see the men had one problem and the women another and just lump these together to show he is an equal opportunity rebuker?

I would suggest that the obvious is that men are to pray while the women do all the work in the church, but I doubt that I would get away with it.

The context of this passage is that God wants all men saved, that He has made provision for all men to be saved, that He wants us praying for all men to be saved, and now Paul gives added emphasis to further prayer and good works (proper dress).

Verse eight probably fits best with 2.1-7. The paragraph break at the end of eight seems quite obvious. Paul ends the section on prayer with prayer. This is the answer to one of our questions. He does not directly tie men praying with women dressing. The "women dressing" relates to the whole text concerning women, while men praying relates to the praying for all men.

Paul has stated clearly that we are to pray, and now he adds some specifics. He tells the men to pray.

I. PROPER PRAYER

"I will therefore" - Because of what I've said please do the following.

"Men" This is a term that is normally translated man or husband, but can refer to mankind though seldom. You might note the plural, indicating more than one or two - all are to be involved in this function of the church.

The thought of pray everywhere indicates to me that this a general call to all male Christians to be involved in the labor of prayer anytime and anywhere. Adam Clarke suspects Paul is speaking to the Jewish concept of prayer. "This may refer to a Jewish superstition. They thought, at first, that no prayer could be acceptable that was not offered at the temple at Jerusalem; afterward this was extended to the Holy Land; but, when they became dispersed among the nations, they built oratories or places of prayer, principally by rivers and by the seaside; and in these they were obliged to allow that public prayer might be legally offered, but nowhere else. In opposition to this, the apostle, by the authority of Christ, commands men to pray everywhere; that all places belong to God's dominions; and, as he fills every place, in every place he may be worshiped and glorified."

Linski suggests that the construction of the verse indicates men as opposed to women. "The men only and no women whatever are to do the praying in the public worship of the congregations." THE INTERPRETATION OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, TO THE THESSALONIANS, TO TIMOTHY, TO TITUS AND TO PHILEMON; R. C. H. Lenski; Augsburg Publishing House; Minneapolis; 1937; P 554.

This seemingly was related to the culture of the time - the Jewish temple was not a place for the women to attempt to be vocal. Paul is setting the standard for the local churches at Ephesus.

Kent agrees with this thought however, mentions that I Cor. 11.5 indicates under proper circumstances a woman could pray publicly. He suggests, and I think he is correct that the men are to be the leaders and within the guidelines set forth, women can pray as long as they do not usurp the authority of the men of the church.

Another side note to this passage is the fact that Paul specifically mentions all men praying - there is no limitation on which of the men can pray, there is no limitation on which offices can pray, and there is no limitation on which classes of men can pray. ALL ARE TO PRAY!

"lifting up holy hands" We might note but not belabor the point that "men" are to pray with uplifted hands not "women." I don't know that this was a specific limitation to the point, but Paul certainly indicates it to me. This flies in the face of the practice of many groups and denominations today.

Thayer speaks of holy: "undefiled by sin, free from wickedness, religiously observing every moral obligation, pure holy, pious"

Clarke mentions the possibility of Paul referring to the Jewish practice of washing their hands before prayer to signify their separation of themselves from sin.

The qualifier "holy" is attached to the hands. The term demands personal purity on the part of every man praying. Not "seemingly holy," but holy! If you aren't holy then your prayer should be silent until you are! You should be caring for your sin before approaching the Lord with requests.

The term translated “hand” is always translated hand, but does not mean the appendage at the end of your arm literally. It relates to the grasping of a hand or the seeking of the hand outstretched.

Clarke mentions his belief that this relates back to the thought of the Old Testament saint that was to lay his hand on the sacrifice as it was killed. He believed that Paul was relating the whole thought to us placing our hands on the Lamb of God and praying. After all we can only approach God via the sacrifice that Christ made for each of us.

This would be a palm down position of the hand - much as pastors do when they have a benediction.

I am not convinced that Paul is telling us that raising hands is a thing to do in prayer. It may be done, but is it something that needs to be done - I think not.

Lifting hands

Luke 24.50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

This seems to be a possible reason to lift hands while praying.

Holy hands

Ps 34.3-4 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

James 4.8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

It seems to me Paul's emphasis is on holiness in prayer and prayer. Lifting of hands seems secondary to me.

To make this a defining part of prayer seems to be an over emphasis on the physical. We are to worship in spirit not physically. Prayer is talking with God, not a ritual of set actions.

It needs to be a movement of the heard - not moved by pride. I have seen so many in churches and on television that close their eyes and raise their hands during a song and start swaying back and forth only to open an eye to peek to see who is watching. This isn't praying, this is pride.

This passage may indicate that prayer has many faces. Christ lifted up His eyes, some in the Old Testament prostrated themselves, others knelt. There is no right or wrong position to pray, but as the heart leads, the position should follow.

Linski rightly notes that today we fold our hands to pray. We do this to keep our hands from distracting our minds from things of the Lord.

"lifting" without wrath and doubting. Lifting of the hands was common in Jewish life. Some think it was part of the early church prayers.

This is not to say that we can't lift holy hands today, but do not forget to do a good word study on the idea of lifting hands before the Lord and see what you find before you do it in a worship service. It was cultural and it is not a command to ONLY pray with lifted hands.

I might add it is hands not arms!

Holy kiss is found four times in the New Testament: Ro. 16:16; I Cor. 16:20; II Cor. 13:12; I Thess. 5:26. This is not the practice of the majority of churches today - even though we have four clear verses on it in the New Testament, so why do some practice lifting of hands which is only in one verse in the New Testament if it is such a clear command?

I think there is one verse in the Old Testament that has the idea of totally awesome - excitement plus. Lunging your hands into the air to emphasize excitement over what God has done is the thought I have of raising holy hands.

Actually we should understand that the early church met as they did in the book of Acts - in homes, fasting, praying, fellow-shipping and teaching. They did not have the 11:00 service we have! The gatherings were less formal than ours and probably less structured.

One final passage that may relate to the thought of lifting holy hands. Acts 17.25 speaks of idol worshipers. Acts 17:25 (KJS) "Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;"

Without wrath seems self-explanatory, but I would like to share the thoughts of Barnes on this phrase. "That is, without the intermingling of any evil passion; with a calm, peaceful, benevolent mind. There should be nothing of the spirit of contention; there should be no anger towards others; the suppliant should be at peace with all men. It is impossible for a man to pray with comfort, or to suppose that his prayers will be heard, if he cherishes anger."

The term doubting to our mind smacks of lack of faith, however this is not the case. The term has the thought of reasoning or argumentation. Now, understanding this, lack of faith might be a possible outworking of this. If a man is reasoning about faith and whether God is going to answer or not, then our idea of doubting would apply, but primarily Paul is saying, don't come from the debates and try to pray.

Barnes continues in relation to "without doubting, "They were not to approach God in prayer in the midst of clamorous disputings and angry contentions. They were not to come when the mind was heated with debate, and irritated by strife for victory. Prayer was to be offered in a calm, serious, sober state of mind..."

It seems to me that Ephesus may have had a real problem of proper worship - evidently there was a lot of arguing and disputes. The following context on women and silence in the church and position in the family may have been the subjects of the disputings.

I can kind of in-vision the chaos called worship that may have been going on in Ephesian churches.

Paul tells them to do two things: Men pray, and women dress properly. Not too much different than most of the days in which I have lived my life - men lacking in prayer and women lacking in modest dress - hasn't changed much since Paul's day.

One might ask, what is modest apparel? Hopefully we can add some understanding to this in this study.

II. PROPER PRETTIES

Ray Stedman related that he understands that a famous personality spent three hours in a beauty shop - and that was just for the estimate.

When a woman dresses as a man it is fashionable, yet when a man dresses as a woman, he is a pervert. There has to be something illogical in that. What is the matter with our thinking in this generation?

Paul requests that the women dress conservatively, yet we have preachers’ wives on television that look like they should be in a different profession.

I would like to introduce this section with a quote from MacArthur. His comments relate to the entire text of verses 9-15 concerning women.

"The role of women in the church is a topic that is hotly debated today. Unfortunately, the debate has left the pages of Scripture to find its resolution. The traditional doctrines are being swept away by the flood tides of evangelical feminism. Churches, schools, and seminaries are rapidly abandoning truths they have held since their inceptions. Dozens of books are being written defending the new "truth" regarding the role of women. Ironically, some of the authors of those books formerly held to the traditional, biblical view. But under the pressure of feminism they have abandoned biblical accuracy in favor of the culture. The biblical passages on women's roles are being culturally reinterpreted, ignored because of the alleged anti-female bias of the biblical authors...." THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY I TIMOTHY; John MacArthur; Moody Press; Chicago; 1995; Pages 77-78

Verse 9 "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

The term "women" is a term that relates only to women in general, not mankind. It can relate to married or single women or women of any age.

The term “adorn” is of interest. It is closely related to the Greek word kosmos which relates to the world and world order. It has the thought of order or preparation for completeness. Making up or making ready would be a good line of current thought to me. No, I won't say that make up is worldly though that might be a possible indication.

The word translated "modest" is also related to kosmos - the thought being set in proper order. Thayer says "well arranged, seemly, modest." It is translated "good behavior" in I Timothy 3.2. Actually the term used is the word we gain the word cosmetics from.

Lenski tells us that there is a play on words in the original which gives the thought in the verse of "in adorning attire - adorn themselves." THE INTERPRETATION OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, TO THE THESSALONIANS, TO TIMOTHY, TO TITUS AND TO PHILEMON; R. C. H. Lenski; Augsburg Publishing House; Minneapolis; 1937; P 558.

We won't take time to look at it, but for further study check out Isa. 3.18-24 for further on women's adornment.

I would like to speak of modest apparel for a moment, if I may meddle. This hasn't been a real big issue since the miniskirt days, but it is becoming more and more of a problem again due to the fashions.

There are two areas of modest apparel:

1. There is the area before other believers: In the church most certainly modesty should be the hallmark, however it isn't necessarily so. There are times I have to be very careful where I look when on a platform in a church.

Years ago in the miniskirt crazy days, the churches in Denver, CO were in a turmoil over the short skirts in the sanctuary. There were many that said that they were okay and others that thought it was not a show of modesty. I took it upon myself several times to mention a few points. Actually Titus two covers this. Older women should be teaching younger women!

a.) The woman is certainly going to draw attention to herself, rather than to her Lord. This can not be okay. We are in worship service to cast attention to God.

b.) She is going to cause men to stumble into sin. Thought life is where she may cause much unknown sin for men.

c.) Her husband should have put a stop to it before they left home.

2. The other area is before the world: What is the neighbor or anyone else going to think if they see a "Christian woman" in immodest clothing? It is going to be a testimony problem at best.

A lost woman seeing her husbands "Christian" secretary running around immodestly is not going to be easy to witness to!

Some years ago I heard a preacher illustrate the problem that we face in the church. I will give you the shortened version for the sake of time.

He mentioned a true story of an old woman that had shown him a picture of her graduating class. The woman asked the missionary if he noticed anything a little risque. He looked at the picture and it was full of men in white shirts and ties with a number of women in long full dresses. He replied that he did not see anything risque. She pointed to herself in the picture and pointed out that she had raised her skirt high enough to expose her shoe. She mentioned that this was a no no in her day.

The speaker went on to expand on this line of thinking. The old woman came to the place that she accepted showing her shoe, indeed her sock, indeed her dark stocking and even lighter stockings and her leg, though only the lower portion.

The process is so easy from generation to generation. One generation accepts something a bit shorter, and the next accepts something a bit thinner, and the next something a bit skimpier, and the next is accepting something less, until there will be nothing modest about the ladies! We see women's blouses today that would not have been shown as night-wear in Sears catalogs some years back.

I might add that the men need to follow this admonishment as well! In days past, this was not a problem, but in our present day it certainly is becoming one. Men dress immodestly, they wear jewelry and care for their hair more than some women. Some of the clothes, to me, are becoming very inappropriate.

I would like to share a quote from the mini skirt days that might be of interest to us.

"The house of God is no place for a showy display of fashion and finery (verse 9). A woman's dress is often the mirror of her mind. You can often read vanity or immorality in the gaudiness or the skimpiness of her attire. Regardless of what anyone may tell you, Christian morality shows itself up for what it really is in personal attire (verse 10b). In dress we are guided by necessity, comfort, and national custom but preeminently by godliness. A truly Christian woman will feel embarrassed and ashamed to stir up base instincts in any man by what she wears--or doesn't wear." (Keeping the Faith; Baptist Pub.; Denver; 1971; Adult SS Quarterly, p 10)

Shame facedness - do it with Godly fear - fear of God's chastening hand. Some of the terms that relate to this are bashfulness and modesty. There is a thought within the word of having respect for others. This may well relate to men, your husband as well as other women - and we might throw in children.

Along with modesty and shame facedness Paul adds "sobriety." "`The well-balanced state of mind resulting from habitual self-restraint.'" (First Timothy; D. Edmond Hiebert; Moody Press; Chicago; 1957, p 58) This can relate to both under control as well as the opposite of drunk.

"braided hair" - may have related to idol worship. Thayer mentions "what is woven, plaited, or twisted together." He adds that it is used in other literature, of the basket Moses was placed in.

NOT adorned with Gold - Pearls - costly array.

Gold seems to relate to the thought of articles made of gold. Some relate the term to gold that is carved or molded into an idol. This later idea may be what Paul had in mind, but it isn't clear. This is seen in Acts and the idol makers.

Costly array would relate to expensive clothing. We are really in trouble on this one in the church today! Wow, are we in trouble. Consider the millions of dollars that women AND men spend on clothing in our current world system. Where would Burlington, Levi, Calvin Klein, J. C. Penney, and Sears and all the other clothing stores of the world be without us buying their products? If Christians lived by this verse the retailers would be shattered financially.

BUT with good works which becomes a Godly woman.

I might move back to the miniskirt days for an illustration from the life of one woman. She was the picture of Godliness. She was the picture of what Paul wants in this verse. She was not an old woman either. She was a fairly young mother that was slim and attractive. She was always dressed very nicely. She never seemed out of place in the area of dress. When you saw her and talked with her you were never drawn to the fact that she was wearing skirts that were above her knees. The inner woman was the evident part.

I might say that this is only one of the few examples I can think of where a short skirted woman depicted outwardly enough godliness to draw attention to the godliness rather than the length of her skirt. (I do not know if all the men around her felt that way or not.) You might also like to study 1 Pet 3:1-6 in relation to this as well.

Let's look at some areas where dress can be an issue:

Dress can put social pressure on Christians that want to take a stand. If they don’t, they are falling into the Devil's trap. If they do, they are left out quite often.

This can relate to style of dress as well as the costliness of dress.

Dress ought not to be a division in the church. All should be welcome, however this seems to be getting out of hand. I've seen pastors in tan pants and sports shirts to "make people comfortable."

Can you imagine the priest of the Old Testament showing up to the temple or tabernacle in tan pants and a sport shirt?

I think God deserves some respect when we come to publicly worship Him.

Some might say, "But I enjoy dressing a particular way." To this I reply, I listened to rock music for about a year even though I knew I shouldn't. My rationalization was, "I like the music." It crossed my mind one day that an adulterer probably likes his sin too - I stopped listening to rock music. NEVER does enjoyment of an activity make it into a sanctified activity. God's Word makes it sin.

The person dressing improperly is in the wrong - it is sin. (Here we have a command of God to dress modestly. If you don’t, you are disobeying God.) You are also making brethren stumble.

Husbands and/or parents need to set the standards for their homes and the dress of those within the home.

Men should not be allowing themselves to be carried into sin. Their eyes are theirs to control!

A woman's indiscretions are a blaspheming of the Word of God according to Titus 2:5.

Along with modest dress there are to be good works.

III. PROPER PERSPERATIONS

10. "But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works."

Good works are that which Paul encourages the women to adorn themselves with. They are to work for their Lord!

In short, if you profess it - dress it!

The overall thought concerning women seems to me to be that the woman dresses so as not to detract anyone's attention away from the Lord in worship. That she not be the focus of anyone's attention, might be another way to put it.

Her adornment should be her good works!

I would like to conclude with some thoughts from Matthew Henry.

"Under the gospel, prayer is not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray every where. We must pray in our closets, pray in our families, pray at our meals, pray when we are on journeys, and pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private. We must pray in charity; without wrath, or malice, or anger at any person. We must pray in faith, without doubting, and without disputing. Women who profess the Christian religion, must be modest in apparel, not affecting gaudiness, gaiety, or costliness. Good works are the best ornament; these are, in the sight of God, of great price. Modesty and neatness are more to be consulted in garments than elegance and fashion. And it would be well if the professors of serious godliness were wholly free from vanity in dress. They should spend more time and money in relieving the sick and distressed, than in decorating themselves and their children. To do this in a manner unsuitable to their rank in life, and their profession of godliness, is sinful. These are not trifles, but Divine commands. The best ornaments for professors of godliness, are good works...."

I trust as we leave we have two clear items to meditate on. Men are to pray - and women are to be reflecting godliness.