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1 Timothy 3 Expectations of Leaders in the Community and the Mystery of the Faith

Highlighted terms or phrases have notes below on translation.

1 Timothy 3: 1-13 Qualifications of Overseers and Men and Women in Serving Roles

¹ The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. ² Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, ³ not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way, ⁵ for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷ Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.

⁸ Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; ⁹ they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰ And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. ¹¹ Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. ¹² Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; ¹³ for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

When we hear the titles of bishop and deacons and we talk about their role in taking care of the church we can easily overlay modern positions, authority, structure and assumptions onto this letter. To translate the Greek word episkopos (where the Episcopal church gets its name) as bishop for most modern readers conjures men (and women depending on your tradition) in ornate vestments participating and leading large numbers of churches and leaders. Deacons (Greek diakonoi) within most modern churches would fit somewhere lower in the hierarchy than bishops and in many places this role still maintains the connection with the service ministries of the church. Yet the church at the time Paul is writing to Timothy is far different than its modern incarnation.

The early churches in Ephesus carried out many of the activities that the synagogues did for the Jewish community throughout the diaspora: They prayed (2: 1-3), read and explained scripture (4:13), and cared for widows (5:3-16) and likely other vulnerable members of the community. However, it is significant that instead of the adoption of religious titles like priest, or even high priest, of the Jewish as well as other Roman temples, they utilize episkopos and diakonoi: “overseer” and “server.” The term episkopos was commonly used for positions with oversight, particularly financial oversight, in the surrounding culture. (Bassler, 1996, p. 64)

It is important to remember that the early church met primarily in the homes of one of the community members. The household of both individuals as well as the household of God is central to the language of 1 Timothy. As James D.G. Dunn states:

Just as good order in the state (2: 1-2) led into thoughts of good order in the household (2: 9-15), so also that leads into thoughts of good order in the church (3: 1-13). (NIB XI: 804)

Men in the Greco-Roman world who were viewed as leaders were expected to manage their household well. This is a world before the separation of work and home: the management of the home (Greek oikos) is foundational to the economic outputs (Greek oikonomia literally house management) for not only the home but for the city and empire. A man with disobedient children or an unstable marriage was viewed in the ancient world as a poor home-maker, and a person unable to manage their household was unlikely to be a good manager of the household of God.

It is likely that “overseers” or “bishops” were hosting gatherings of the faithful in their homes and their hospitality. The receiving and sending off of guests in the ancient world was a central role in households throughout the Greco-Roman and Jewish world, and it is likely that the hospitality expected of the episkopos could be costly as well as the frequent presence of Christians in their home.

The virtues listed for the “overseer” or “bishop” are virtues that would be “marks of good character” (Long, 2016, p. 88) throughout the culture. Being beyond reproach introduces the list of virtues which focus more on how they embody their faith in their living than their mere knowledge of faith. “Married once” is literally “the husband of one woman” and can be understood to address a range of meanings: a man who marries once and if widowed does not remarry, or monogamous rather than polygamous, or faithful to one’s wife without a mistress, or ruling out divorce or serial matrimony, or it may be encouraging a married overseer in contrast to a celibate one. (Johnson, 2001, pp. 213-214) The list continues with temperate, self-controlled, and respectable—terms that will be expanded on in the following verse. As mentioned above, hospitality by inviting people into one’s household would be expected by an “overseer” and the only skill-based item on the list is that they are to be a good teacher.

These leaders are not to be addicted to wine, bullying, or a lovers of money. They are to be peaceable (a-machos in Greek) rather than one who engages in battle (mache), this would exclude a type of macho behavior that some mistake for leadership. As mentioned earlier, the management of one’s own household is an indicator of the possibility of being an leader in the community of the faithful. Just as women were to be submissive in the assembly (2:11) now the children of the “overseer” are also to be submissive. Finally these leaders are not to be recent converts (neophytes, Greek neophutov) so that they may not become overconfident or puffed up and be misled by the devil, but they are also to have a good witness (NRSVue well thought, Greek martupian (where our word martyr comes from) kalos). For these “overseers” there is the need for both a faithful example of a leader within the household and the public facing witness to the church’s faith and righteousness.

The requirements of “deacons” or “servers” is similar to the expectations of an “overseer.” Before drawing too great a distinction between “overseer” and “servers” it is worth noting that:

Paul, for example, describes Timothy (1 Thess 3:2), Phoebe (Rom 16:1), the civil ruler (Rom 13:4), Apollos (1 Cor 3:5), himself (2 Cor 6:4), and even Christ (Rom 15:8) as diakonoi. In Phil 1:1, the deacon is linked with the bishop or overseer, though the relationship between these two is not spelled out (cf. 1 Clem. 42. 4-5; Did. 15.1). Though Paul used this word, as he did “overseer,” to describe a role or function in 1 Timothy the noun clearly refers to a position for which one is tested. (Bassler, 1996, p. 69)

While Paul, Timothy, Apollos, and even Christ all serve, there does seem to be the beginning of a distinctive serving role in the young church. Paul here[1] and other places[2] accepts women in this role. One distinct addition to the description of the deacon is that they are not double-tongued (literally two worded). Thomas Long makes an educated guess about the possible need for this description:

If they indeed were practical helpers in the community, the ones who assisted the elders and bishops in their duties and the ones who did the legwork of running the financial support program for widows, then they would naturally be constantly in and out of homes in the community. If they were people who spike one way in one home and another way in another, if they were gossips who spread rumors and gave one version of events here and a different version there, or if they were duplicitous flatterers who spoke soothing words of comfort to a widow in need and then whispered about her to the next widow, they could easily spread the contagion of divisiveness. (Long, 2016, p. 93)

Like overseers they as men and women are to manage their household before they are entrusted to enter the household of others. They are to hold fast to the mysteries of the faith and not to spread false doctrines and practices. These “servers,” like the “overseers,” can build up the household of faith, or through unserious, deceitful talk, drunkenness, greed, or bad reputation damage the same household.

Although we do not know the details of the conflicts that Paul is writing to Timothy to help him address, the need for Paul to state to aspire to be an overseer is a good thing may continue to indicate that the struggles of the community has made good leaders cautious before assuming these roles in the community. It’s unlikely that Paul goes into this extended discussion of leadership without needing to address the absence of leaders of the proper character in these roles. For Paul the expectations of a good man (or woman) in fulfilling their roles within the household is the minimum threshold that all leaders in the household of faith should surpass.

There are many ways that our world and cultural expectations are different from the world of Paul but the need for ethical leadership remains. I have seen the damage that an unfaithful leader can do in a community and in half of the communities I have served I have had to intentionally rebuild trust between the community and their leaders. The scandals in the Catholic Church as well as Protestant churches have done great harm to the members of those communities and to the reputation of the church and its leaders in the society. New York times columnist Frank Bruni when commenting on the sex scandals in the Catholic church stated:

the evil that an entire institution can do, though it supposedly dedicates itself to good…[and by] the way that a religious organization can behave almost precisely as a corporation does, with fudged words, twisted logic and a transcendent instinct for self-protection that frequently trump the principled handing of a specific grievance or a particular victim. (Long, 2016, p. 91)

This is one of the passages that I have wrestled with personally since my divorce in 2010[3], and then my remarriage five years later. Although I have on occasion been told by another person in the church that I shouldn’t be a pastor because of my divorce I was fortunate to have a bishop as well as colleagues who prayed for me, offered counsel and guidance. I do think we underprepare people entering ministry and their families for the pressure of trying to balance their household and the demands of the household of faith.

Trying to set guidelines for leadership within the church takes wisdom and grace, but those set aside for leadership are held to a higher standard. An unfaithful leader can cause immense harm to their fellow members of the body of Christ, can destroy a congregation and damage the Church’s reputation, and unfortunately the desire to protect an institution’s reputation has often perpetuated the harm. Normally we focus on sexuality as the location of the damage, but I have also seen congregations damaged by the addiction of a leader, financial mismanagement, and bullying. Being above reproach, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, and a faithful teacher while managing one’s relationships and household is a daunting task but it is also a noble one for the one called to such a ministry of overseeing a community of faith or the service ministries of the church.

1 Timothy 3: 14-16 The Mystery at the Heart of the Gospel

¹⁴ I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, ¹⁵ if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. ¹⁶ Without any doubt, the mystery of godliness is great:
He was revealed in flesh,
vindicated in spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among gentiles,
believed in throughout the world,
taken up in glory.

Paul would be known to the community in Ephesus since, according to Acts 19, he spent two years there. As mentioned previously, Paul went to Macedonia and then sent Timothy back to Ephesus to address some of the problems reported in this letter. I know that a lot of very intelligent readers in the last two centuries have viewed this letter as written at a later date by a later author writing in Paul’s name, but there are a number of sections like this one where this later writer would have to fabricate not only these more personal addresses, but also why write a letter about two famous members of the church addressing issues at Ephesus when the people in that congregation would know Paul and Timothy, know their own situation (which is not presented in a flattering manner in this letter) likely within a generation of Paul’s death. Is it possible that someone later wrote 1 Timothy? It is possible, but to me the easier reading is that Paul is addressing his hope to return to the community at Ephesus in a world where travel is not quick or reliable. For later generations of Christians, we are the beneficiaries of Paul’s attempt to support the early Christian communities through writing letters which we continue to have.

Paul throughout his letters often talks about ‘mystery’ when referring to the revelation which led to his ministry among the Gentiles (Romans 11:25; Ephesians 3: 3-9; Colossians 1: 26-27). Here in 1 Timothy the ‘mystery of faith’ (v.9) and ‘the mystery of godliness’ (v. 16) appears to be linked to the confession of faith which concludes verse sixteen. What the NRSVue translates as ‘godliness’ is the Greek eusebia which is normally translated piety or religion, so Paul here is talking about the ‘mystery’ of the faith as it is practiced. Confessional fragments are common in Paul’s letters, the most famous examples being Philippians 2: 5-11 and Colossians 1: 15-23, and just as the later church would develop creeds as a teaching method of handing on the faith, the church of Paul’s day had these fragments which illuminate the narrative content of the faith of these followers of Jesus. Yet, as James D.G. Dunn states there is also a sense that there is a mysterious aspect to the faith, “requiring someone skilled in understanding and exposition to unveil it to initiates.” (NIB XI: 807)

The six lines in the NRSVue are short but focus on key points of the story of Jesus. Jesus was revealed ‘in the flesh’ a key Pauline term which here reflects the humanity of Jesus without Paul’s normal negative implication of the flesh’s corruption by sin. Jesus is ‘justified’ (Greek dikiao, NRSVue vindicated) in the Spirit. The NRSVue’s rendering of this term as vindicated obscures this central Pauline word of justification. The Greek angelos (NRSVue angels) can mean angels as heavenly beings but also can generically mean ‘messengers’ and that is likely the intended meaning here, that Jesus was revealed to messengers, like Paul, who would proclaim him among the gentile/nations (Greek ethnos has both meanings: Gentiles as other than Jews and the nations). To me the rendering of ethnos as the nations makes sense in the context where Jesus is believed throughout the world. Finally, Jesus is taken up into glory, echoing the story of the ascension.

[1] There is some debate over the sudden introduction of women in verse 11. Some interpreters view this as referring to the wives of deacons, but many interpreters seem to believe that this is a role open to women in Ephesus.

[2] For example, Phoebe in Romans 16:1.

[3] I try to remain transparent about my own journey through this both in my three part reflection on What I Learned About Myself, Life and God from my Divorce, as well as passages like Deuteronomy 24; Matthew 5: 21-32; and 19:1-12 where divorce are mentioned.

1 Timothy 2 Prayer for All and the Actions of Men and Women

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Woman in the orans position at the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome. www.catacombepriscilla.com

1 Timothy 2: 1-7

¹ First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. ³ This is right and acceptable before God our Savior, ⁴ who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
⁶ who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time.⁷ For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.

Among the communities that Timothy is attempting to shepherd we have already seen evidence of divisions and factions in this letter. Paul is working through Timothy to address the harmful teachings and practices which have distracted these followers of Christ from their participation in God’s mission in Ephesus and likely, as we will discuss in the next section, damaging their reputation among their neighbors. It is easy for conflict to divide the community into groups rallied around different leaders, different practices, different beliefs and beginning to view one another as enemies. Paul’s advice to this congregation begins with reshaping their prayers to be for “all.”

In my final year of seminary, twenty-two years ago, I took a course that went through Jaroslav Pelikan’s five volume treatment of the Christian Tradition where he adapts the traditional phrase lex orandi, lex credenda (literally law of prayer, law of belief). His basic point was that the way the church worshipped and prayed throughout history shaped the beliefs of the church and that many of the beliefs adopted began in local practices. Paul here is shaping their practice of prayer trusting that praying rightly will help transform some of the unhelpful beliefs. The key word in this section is the Greek word pas “all, everyone.” In contrast to praying only for my small group of believers who may look, think, act, believe and practice like me now supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings are to be made for “all” (NRSVue everyone).

Prayer for all may be the beginning of repairing the divisions in the community and transforming “us” and “them” into a “we.” It reminds the praying community that “all” are a part of the people we lift up in prayer and thanksgiving before God. Yet Paul does not stop with the wall of the community but pushes these prayers beyond the community walls into the public square. These communities of faith are not to withdraw from the community. As Thomas Long memorably states:

The Pastor knew well that being Easter people did not mean renouncing the world, donning white robes, going to the mountaintop, and singing “I’ll Fly Away.” Rather it meant the harder task of living the gospel every day in the rough and tumble world of pagan neighbors and worldly powers. (Johnson, 2001, p. 60)

The followers of Jesus will be confined to Israel where everyone will be expected to be faithful to the God of Israel and the law.[1] From the time of Jeremiah onwards, the faithful scattered throughout the world have been encouraged to “seek the welfare of the city where they have been sent.” (Jeremiah 29:7). Within Judaism the prayer for kings, other than the kings of Israel or Judah, goes back to at least Ezra.[2] Paul continues this practice and this will continue throughout early Christian writings. Followers of Christ would pray for the emperor, but they would not pray to the emperor which would be something they would be persecuted for in later times, but here as elsewhere Paul encourages them to find a way to be good citizens within the political order of the day.[3] There may have been some among the early followers of Jesus who were advocating for a more contentious position in relation to the empire, similar to the Jewish movements occurring in the time leading up to the Jewish War with Rome (66-73/74 CE) but Paul advocates for a quiet and peaceable life. Even Revelation, which advocates for withdrawing from Rome, does not view conflict with Rome as the role of Christians. Paul and most early Christians likely viewed Rome as a reality that would be replaced by the advent of the kingdom of God, but that coming kingdom was something they prayed for and did not revolt to bring about. Yet, Paul’s extension of the “all” to include the emperor and those in authority is probably less about appeasement and more about the expansive desire that the emperor and those in high positions would also be saved by the God who desires to save “all.”

This is the only time Paul uses the language of ‘mediator’ in relation to Christ. In Galatians the law came through a ‘mediator’[4] and this is a way that Paul distances to law from God. The only other place in the New Testament that uses mediator language for Christ is the Letter to the Hebrews where Christ is the mediator of a new covenant between God and the people.[5] Most translations will show verse five indented like poetry, and many believe this is quoting a pre-existing teaching or fragment that would be known in the community. It is likely that the mediator language was known in this community.

The language of ‘ransom’ where Christ presented his fully human self for is an evocative image with a long history of debate in Christianity. Paul and the early Christians deployed a wide range of vocabulary to try to describe what Christ’s life, death, and resurrection meant both for believers and the world. This word for ransom (Greek antilytron) is only utilized here in the New Testament,[6] although Paul can utilize the word apolytron (NRSVue ‘redemption) to similar effect in several places.[7] Ransom in Roman society was a rich image because it was the primary way a slave could be granted freedom. Roughly 10-15% of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves, many of them captives from Rome’s various wars. The proportion of people who were slaves was highest in Rome and in urban areas, so there would be a large slave population in Ephesus (see chapter six). A slave could be freed by someone paying a ransom on the slave’s behalf, and so in a community of slaves (and slave holders) the ransoming of a person would be well known. Later Christian thinkers would focus on who the ransom was paid to (God, the devil, etc.) but for early Christians the experience of bondage and the hope of freedom are what this image evokes. Once again the ransom is paid for “all.”

Paul is a witness and declarer of this new reality mediated and paid for by Christ for “all.” This is all occurring within God’s appointed (kairos) time which is not measured in the minutes, hours, days, weeks or years of chronological (from the Greek chronos) time. Paul’s phrase “I am not lying” (Greek ou pseudomai) occurs, as Luke Timothy Johnson notes, “with perhaps disconcerting frequency in Paul’s letters; in addition to Rom 9:1, see 2 Cor 11:31 and Gal 1:20.” (Johnson, 2001, p. 193) For Paul’s, and by extension Timothy’s, ministry his call to be a teacher of the faith to the Gentiles (or nations) is central to both his ministry and his authority in times of conflict.

In a time of community division where false teachings and practices have created problems Paul begins by correcting the prayers of the community. The practice of praying for “all” within and beyond the community. Seeking the welfare of the city, the empire, and its leaders as citizens of both Ephesus and the kingdom of heaven because all of creation is caught up in the mediation of Christ and the ransom of Christ. The prayers of the faithful for “all” reflect the saving desire of God for “all.”

2 Timothy 2: 8-15

⁸ I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument, ⁹ also that the women should dress themselves in moderate clothing with reverence and self-control, not with their hair braided or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, ¹⁰ but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. ¹¹ Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. ¹² I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve, ¹⁴ and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. ¹⁵ Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

1 Timothy has several passages that evoke passionate discussions among modern readers, none more than the current one in relation to women in the community of faith. The text in the hands of its original readers was a tool that was helping to repair the divisions in the community, but many women may have been in environments where this text was wielded like a weapon to keep women out of leadership, to maintain power arrangements the way they are constructed, and even in some cases quoted to sanction abusive treatment. Just because a passage is difficult or has been used in a harmful manner does not mean we should ignore it. Sometimes it is precisely these difficult texts which can produce the richest dialogues.

Paul begins with speaking to men in the community and beyond. Paul’s desire that men in “all” places pray with hands lifted up to God continues the expansive theme of prayer in the previous section, and may seem initially like a contrast with the limiting words that come immediately afterwards. Yet it is worth noting what Paul is desiring and not desiring. Paul desires pray with hands raised from “all” places but also indicates that this is to be done without anger or argument. As Thomas Long frames this action:

Praying with hands open and lifted is a sign of humility and dependence on God. Men who have their hands open and raised in prayer cannot close their fists in rage. (Long, 2016, p. 72)

Anger in both ancient literature and in modern society is an emotion normally associated with men. Anger (Greek orge) is not merely a feeling of passion but the feeling or passion put into action verbally or physically. (Johnson, 2001, p. 199) As Paul has done throughout this chapter, right prayer is to lead to right belief and disposition. Instead of the anger and arguments present in the Ephesian community this posture of prayer symbolically lets go of the anger, voices are turned to prayer instead of argument, and in this posture new ways can be learned and a broken community healed. The church becomes a community that prays for not only their fellow members in the body of Christ but for “all.” In a church caught up in God’s desire that “all” will be saved, prayer is lifted up for “all” and in “all” places.

For many modern readers they can cruise along with what Paul is saying through the first eight verses of this chapter, but when he begins speaking about women everything said before can be lost for many readers. The Paul who has been committed to “all” now appears to be a different Paul who is silencing a large group within the community. As we enter these verses which have been utilized to silence women and keep them from leadership in the church I’m going to slow us down and try to engage them in the time when Paul writes them and why the same person who says in Christ there is no male and female would now speak of how women dress, how they are to be silent and submissive, and not to be in a role of teaching. The final step of any interpretation of scripture should be how we utilize this scripture in our own time and where it both challenges us and may even help us articulate what we believe and why we believe it.

When one engages writing from an author in a different time and with a different worldview than our own it can be easy to dismiss them as irrelevant, uninformed, prejudiced, and unworthy of our time or consideration. It should not be surprising that views on men and women were different almost two thousand years ago than they are today. The role of women today would be unrecognizable to my grandparent’s generation which grew up in the 1930s, and continues to evolve rapidly.[8] There are limits to what we know about life two thousand years ago, and there is lively debate about the role of women in the early church and in Roman society. What we do have is the writings of people who lived in the time around Paul and how they expressed the role of women as well as historical examples of women who did not fit the pattern expressed by these writers.

Paul is not unique in asking women to dress modestly and to let her good works be her ornamentation. This type of language is common in both Greco-Roman and Jewish writings of the time. (Johnson, 2001, p. 199) The book of James can critique the wealthy man who comes in wearing gold rings and fine clothes (James 2: 2) and 1 Peter echoes many of the things Paul prohibits here: braided hair, gold ornamentation, and fancy clothes. Although there is positive the description of the woman of substance in Proverbs 31: 10-31 who dresses in fine linen and purple (22), this is not the norm.

There are two feasible interpretations of how the women’s dress is being interpreted by others in the church and the surrounding community. One possibility, highlighted by Elsa Tamez, is that the women are attempting to appear as rich. (Long, 2016, p. 74) Clothing and ornamentation have always been a way of communicating status and prosperity and that may have been the women in Ephesian community’s intention, but there is also another role that these women may be assuming. Kathleen Corley in her book Private Women Public Meals: Social Conflict in the Synoptic Tradition draws a contrast between private women and public women. Wives, daughters, and widows were private women. Public women were sometimes thought of as prostitutes, but there were also courtesans who were educated and would be present at meals with men. In contrast to the moral piety recommended by emperor Augustus (who reigned at the time of Jesus birth) the women we know from this era include names like “Cleopatra, Julia, Poppaea, Sempronia, and Messalina who were hardly known by Romans for their virtue.” (Corley, 1993, p. 43) These women who are braiding their hair, wearing fine clothing, pearls and gold, speaking up in gatherings of men were likely being viewed by their neighbors as moving into this space of courtesans/public women and impacting the reception of these communities of Christ by their neighbors.

In the ancient world family was the foundation of society, a reality reflected in most ancient religions. Marriages in the ancient world were an economic relationship which may have romantic inclinations in contrast to modern marriages which are thought of as being held together by love and economic implications are thought of as secondary. Most marriages at this time were arranged marriages and a woman who portrays herself as a public woman and speaks freely may by dress and behavior be harming their future livelihood. We also know that one of the things Paul is writing about is a false teaching forbidding marriage (1 Timothy 4:3) likely in anticipation of Christ’s return.

There is a non-canonical book known as the Acts of Paul and Thecla which is written sometime prior to 190 CE which embraces some of the ideas Paul warns against in 1 Timothy: a life of perpetual virginity, abstinence from certain food, and world renouncing ideas. For Paul life engages with God’s work in creation and “truth and grace reverberate in the mundane realities of everyday life and relationships.” (Long, 2016, p. 80) Paul’s view of marriage as a place where men are subordinate to Christ and women are subordinate to their husband, while perhaps unpopular today is consistent in his writings. (1 Corinthians 11: 2-3; Ephesians 5: 21-33; Colossians 3: 18-25) Paul also uses a similar interpretation of Genesis 3 in 1 Corinthians 11: 8-9 and 2 Corinthians 11: 2-3 and it is also a pattern utilized by the contemporary Jewish philosopher Philo. Most modern readers will come to a different reading of Genesis, but Paul’s interpretation is consistent with his time viewing Eve as the one who was the transgressor and deceived one.

The passage ends with the statement that women will be saved through childbearing provided they continue in faith, love, holiness and self-control. In our culture this is another statement that is hard to comprehend, but in the ancient world it was much easier to hear. Children in the ancient world were associated with being blessed by God and infertility was a crisis to a woman’s identity. There is a reason the barrenness of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, the unnamed mother of Samson, Hannah, the wealthy Shunammite woman, and in the New Testament Elizabeth are viewed as a crisis for the woman and her place in the family. There has been a massive swing in the view of children in the past century mainly due to the shift of work away from the household and into the workplace. For most of history having children was viewed as a source of security (children would take over the home and care for aging parents) and labor from a young age. In recent years children may still be viewed as a blessing but also as a burden due to the cost of raising and educating a child to prepare them for life in the modern world. Many modern families choose not to have children to allow both partners to pursue their careers and in most places a woman’s value is no longer associated with her bearing and raising children. Thomas Long approaches this statement by saying, “childbearing is not a means of salvation for women; it is one of the arenas in which salvation occurs.” (Long, 2016, p. 81) I believe he is right that Paul views salvation as not some escape from this world but woven together with God’s actions bringing life to women, men, and children in the mundane everyday acts of provision and nurture in God’s creation.

I am a part of a church that has ordained women for fifty-five years, and I have never known a church where women could not serve as pastors. The majority of my colleagues in seminary were women and I know many excellent women who are both pastors and lay leaders in the church. Yet it took a long time for individual churches to be open to women in pastoral and other leadership roles. There are also many churches that still do not allow women to be pastors or teachers. People of faith have always had to wrestle with what portions of scripture are unique to a specific moment in history and what aspects still apply in our time. It is inescapable, both in the bible and our own time, that the surrounding culture will impact how we practice our faith but it is worth spending the time reflecting why we practice and preach the way we do.

Throughout this chapter the goal has been for the people to live a peaceful and quiet life within their society. Paul in his ministry in the Hellenistic world is conscious of the values, dress, beliefs, and behaviors of his surrounding world. In many ways Paul models what the Jesuits will later adopt in their missionary work where he utilizes the common language and attempts to find common ground between the local traditions and the gospel he is entrusted with. Paul believed women were firmly equal with men in membership in the church and identity in Christ, but Paul also did not want the actions of women and men in the community to place additional stumbling blocks for their neighbors encountering the saving God of the gospels.

I do think this uncomfortable passage still has questions for us to wrestle with in our own culture. In our time we are highly individualistic while in Paul’s time they thought primarily in terms of family and community and this passage makes me think about where we have neglected the common good for our own individual fulfillment. Paul’s discussion of prayer for “all” including political leaders has prompted me to think about how unprayerful my language can become for political leaders who I disagree with. Prayer permeates this passage and I have often moved directly into dialogue or even confrontation without prayer. The well-known proverb that ‘clothes make the man’ in combination with Paul’s words about women’s dress here allow an opportunity for considering what message our clothing and ornamentation are sending to our neighbors. I have seen in my lifetime a phenomenal change in societal dialogue around masculinity and femininity, and I do think that we as people of faith do need to consider how we shape women and men for both the world they encounter and their relationships with one another. I know a lot of young people are hesitant to have children for economic and other reasons and I think this can give us encouragement to wonder at a world where children are viewed as blessings and potential instead of an economic burden. None of these reflections have easy answers and they touch on core portions of our lives, but for me this chapter reminds me of how God’s salvation impacts “all” of life for me, my neighbor, my nation, and my world.

[1] In fairness, Israel/Judah was always in contact with other cultures, beliefs, and values.

[2] Ezra 6:10, see also Baruch 1:10-12 which prays for King Nebuchadrezzar.

[3] Romans 13: 1-7; Titus 3: 1-2.

[4] Galatians 3: 19-20.

[5] Hebrews 8:5; 9:15; 12:24.

[6] Both Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28 utilize the Greek word lutron which has a similar meaning.

[7] Romans 3:24; 8:23; 1 Corinthians 1: 30; Colossians 1:14.

[8] Those advocating for change may not feel that it is occurring rapidly, but from a historical perspective the opportunities for education, employment, equality, participation in the political process, leadership in religious organizations, and beyond for women are a tectonic shift in only a couple of generations.

1 Timothy 1 Paul Encourages Timothy in Ephesus

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The Library of Celsus in Ephesus Photo By Benh LIEU SONG – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15578063

1 Timothy 1: 1-2

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
² To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Letters in the ancient world begin with the identification of the sender and the recipient. Paul begins by making a strong claim to authority, “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope.” When Paul begins with the title of apostle (e.g. 1 Corinthians, Galatians) he is often writing to communities dealing with crisis and where his authority is needed. In letters like Romans or Philippians where he is not addressing significant behavioral issues or where he wants to be more diplomatic he utilizes the title of servant/slave (doulos) of the Lord. Paul also immediately leans into the title of God as our Savior. God as Savior is a common theme in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures[1] and it is worth remembering at the time these letters are written the stories of the gospels are likely circulating but they have not been collected and distributed throughout these young communities of faith. The Scriptures for these early Christian are the Hebrew Scriptures.

Timothy is described as Paul’s ‘true child,’ an adjective that normally defines a child born in wedlock. A legitimate child as opposed to an illegitimate one (NIB XI: 790). Yet, when the letter continues ‘in the faith’ most readers would probably understand Timothy as Paul’s true and authentic delegate, that Timothy and Paul share the same faith and that Timothy is being empowered to speak with Paul’s authority. Paul’s also utilizes the term for ‘true’ (gnesios) in Philippians 2:20 to speak of Timothy’s true concern for the welfare of the Philippians. Timothy is Paul’s trusted representative before the Ephesians, one who is like a son to him.

Paul concludes the greeting with a blessing. Grace (charis) is a distinctive Pauline term, and the vast majority of this term’s occurrences happen in Paul’s letters. Here the term is combined with two additional terms: peace (eirene) and mercy (eleos). Peace brings forward the Hebrew idea of shalom and mercy (eleos) is the normal term used to translate in both Greek and English the Hebrew term hesed. These three rich terms are brought together to bless Timothy and his community. God is referred to here as Father, a common way of referring to God in both the teaching of Jesus and occurs frequently in Pauline benedictions, and Christ Jesus our Lord is placed in parallel usage of God the Father.

1 Timothy 1: 3-11

³ I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different teachings ⁴ and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. ⁵ But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. ⁶ Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, ⁷ desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.
⁸ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately; ⁹ this means understanding that the law is laid down not for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, ¹⁰ the sexually immoral, men who engage in illicit sex, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching ¹¹ that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

In many of Paul’s letters there would be a thanksgiving for the community, but here the letter moves immediately into instructions. Paul has done this in Galatians, so this is not unheard of, and like Galatians Paul is concerned about the continuation of the community. Verse three gives us the setting where Timothy receives the letter, Ephesus where he is instructed to remain, and Paul at some earlier time departed for Macedonia. In Acts Paul sent Timothy on to Macedonia while he stayed in Ephesus (Acts 19:22) and later proceeds to Macedonia. Later he will gather with the Ephesian elders in Miletus (Acts 20:17). This letter is likely between Paul’s departure from Ephesus and his later meeting with the elders.[2]

Among the early Christians in Ephesus there are different teachings emerging. We have glimpses into the challenges that the early churches face through letters like this 1 Timothy, the book of Acts and the book of Revelation. The Book of Acts portrays Ephesus as a city where the early Christ followers meet resistance both from within the synagogue and from the followers of the Greek gods, particularly the followers of Artemis. Revelation’s letter to the Ephesians points to a community that has learned to test those claiming to be apostles and continuing to deal with groups, like the Nicolaitans, who are viewed as harmful by the author of Revelation. Yet, in Revelation these conflicts have sapped the energy of the churches in this large city. We may not be able to identify specifically the ‘myths and genealogies’ that some are teaching but to Paul they are leading people away from the central witness of Christ. The ‘myths and genealogies’ may be focusing on the wrong things in scripture, since Paul indicates that some are desiring to be teachers of the law, but they may also be a distortion coming from outside of the scriptures. Another possibility is that these teachers who are leading people into “meaningless talk” have separated teaching from action. They may be so focused on some knowledge they are attempting to wrestle from the scriptures or from the surrounding culture that they have stopped the distinctive practices that shaped the early Christians.

Paul then focuses on the law and how it is utilized. Paul’s declaration that the law is good is similar to statements he has made in Romans[3] but also indicates that the law is not for the righteous. Perhaps Paul intends something similar to the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians where “There is no law against such things.” (Galatians 5: 32) Paul likely composes the vice list in verses nine and ten while reflecting on the ten commandments. Godless and sinful refer to someone behaving blasphemously towards God while unholy and profane likely reference the commandment on keeping the Sabbath holy and profaning the name of God. Killing of father and mother and murderers bring together the commandment to honor father and mother and murder. The commandment on adultery also references both the ‘sexually immoral’ and ‘men who engage in illicit sex.’ The Greek term pornos (NRSVue sexually immoral) is the prefix for the English word pornography. As Luke Timothy Johnson notes, “In the LXX and the NT, the term is used for the sexually immoral without specific reference to homosexuality.” (Johnson, 2001, p. 170) The Greek arsenkoitos (NRSVue men who engage in illicit sex) is literally one who has sex with a man. As James D.G. Dunn notes,

Today the most controversial of these is the putting of homosexual practice (v. 10; the term almost certainly comes from Lev 18:22; 20:13) under the prohibition of adultery; the teaching is consistent with Paul’s views expressed earlier in Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6: 9-10 (NIB XI:791)

This is the first of many times where 1 Timothy will come into conflict with elements of our culture, just as it was likely in conflict with elements of Paul’s time. Many Greek authors write about relationships between a man and an adolescent youth (pederasty) but there is some debate about how often these relationships were sexual. Paul viewed the existence of same-sex relationships as one of the many examples of how far humanity and creation had been corrupted by sin.

On a personal note, the larger church I am a part of has struggled with the question of homosexuality within the larger picture of sexuality since before I entered seminary in 2000. It has been a divisive issue within the larger church and within congregations I have served. I also have a non-gender binary child and my perspective on this issue has shifted throughout my life. When I entered seminary, I would have agreed that LGBTQ+ people have a place within the congregation but I would have been opposed to them having leadership roles whether as pastors, deacons or in positions of authority. Through experiences, wrestling with scripture, and faithful conversations I am now open to LGBTQ+ people who are trying to live faithfully serving in the leadership of the church but I also understand why others struggle to accept them into leadership, just as some do not accept women in leadership (see chapter 2).

Returning to the vice list: stealing is not simply stealing but “slave dealing.” I will talk about slavery more in chapter 6, but although slavery was an accepted part of the Roman empire “slave traders” have normally been viewed with disdain. Liars and perjures point to the commandment on bearing false witness. Paul concludes with ‘whatever is contrary to the sound teaching’ which returns us to the questions about different teaching which began this section. Paul is asking his hearers to measure the teaching they are receiving against the gospel he shared with them for its conformity to Christ and scripture in both teaching and living.

1 Timothy 1: 12-17

¹² I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to his service, ¹³ even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

For Paul his call to serve Jesus was transformational. He went from someone who, out of ignorance, was acting against God’s will to one whose life is completely committed to the gospel. One of the rhetorical effects of this narration of Paul’s transformation from a faithless one (apistis-without faith, NRSVue ‘unbelief’) to one overflowing with faith and love, from a man of violence to a man of peace, from a blasphemer to a servant of God is to provide hope that those lost to these different teachings can be reclaimed to God and Christ.

Paul talks about faith (Greek pisitis) more proportionally in 1 Timothy than in any other letter except Galatians and Romans.[4] Sometimes English translations obscure the occurrences of ‘faith’ as occurs in verse fifteen. Normally English translations render this verse similar to the NRSVue, “the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.” A literal translation of the Greek would be, “the word of faith (or faithful word) and worthy of all acceptance.” What word is faith worthy of all acceptance? That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul’s transformation becomes the model of what Christ is doing with those who were once estranged from God. Jesus is at work in Paul showing the patience of God that is for all who have faith in God.

The Greek word aionios (eon) occurs four times in the final two verses of this section. It occurs at the end of sixteen paired with life (zoe)-into life of the eon/age. Most translations render this ‘eternal life’ and while Paul, I believe, does believe that the age God is creating is eternal he is not thinking of an existence in heaven. For Paul, and the other New Testament authors, God’s kingdom and age is coming to earth. The next occurrence of eon is in the title for God, the king of the eon/age. Life in the eon/age is linked to the king of the eon/age who rules the eon of eons/age to age. God is also described as immortal/incorruptible, invisible and the only God. God being the one God goes back to the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), the central confession of faith of the Jewish people. God is also frequently referred to as unseen in both the Old and New Testament and while God being unending or incorruptible is assumed but rarely spoken throughout the scriptures. It is possible that Paul is using a title for God that is frequently utilized by the communities in Ephesus.

1 Timothy 1: 18-20

¹⁸ This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, ¹⁹ having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith; ²⁰ among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have turned over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

The chapter closes with a personal note to Timothy intended to be overheard by the community. Paul reaffirms the closeness with Timothy using the familial language of father to child but also links Timothy’s calling to prophecies made in the church. Timothy is the chosen one, chosen both by Paul and by God. The language shifts to military language. “Fight the good fight” is literally (military) service in this good campaign/battle. Dealing with church conflict is challenging. In my own story I was an officer in the U.S. Army prior to seminary and my job as a leader in the Army may have been harder physically, but leading a congregation through conflict was more emotionally draining.

Hymenaeus and Alexander were people Paul excluded from the community of the faithful. The early communities may not have a word like excommunication for this disfellowshipping of a former member of the faith but even at this early stage there is a need for boundaries. Hymenaeus will be mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17 along with Philetus as spreading a teaching that the resurrection has already occurred. Alexander the Coppersmith is listed in 2 Timothy 4: 14 as one who did Paul great harm[5] and both are people for Timothy to avoid. In Greek these individuals are handed over by Paul to ‘the satan.’ In Matthew’s gospel which also has this type of disfellowshipping (Matthew 18:17) the desire is that the person changes and they are returned to fellowship. The use of the definite article (the) with the title satan may refer to this role of the accuser in the Old Testament, particularly Job. Here ‘the satan’ is ultimately God’s agent. Martin Luther would sometimes refer to the devil as ‘God’s devil’ because even though the devil may be opposed to God’s designs, even his opposition to God was brought into God’s design.

One of the hardest things for a community to do is to remove a member, but it can also be one of the most important things for the life of a community. Whether it is false teaching, bullying, or other unsafe behavior the failure to address the person who has been corrected and refuses to change will undermine the community. Timothy, in our letter, likely dealt with a very challenging moment in the life of the community and may need the support of Paul, his spiritual father. He may need to be reminded of his calling that God has placed on him as he attempts to bring this community back to faithfulness and peace.

[1] E.g. Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 27: 1, 9; Isaiah 45:15, 21; This is also the background for this usage in Mary’s Song commonly called the Magnificat in Luke 1:47.

[2] In this reflection my assumption is that Paul wrote this letter. Many scholars believe 1 Timothy is written by a later author after Paul’s death and therefore the letter comes from a later time. I am also assuming that Acts narration of Paul’s life is generally accurate but incomplete, not capturing every detail of Paul’s ministry.

[3] Romans 7: 7, 14, 21; in Galatians Paul’s language about the law is less friendly but in Galatians 3: 21 the use of the law is in a limited manner like he utilizes here.

[4] 1 Timothy has eighteen uses of pistis in six chapters, Galatians has twenty-two in six chapters and Romans thirty-seven in sixteen chapters. (Johnson, 2001, p. 158)

[5] This may be the same Alexander mentioned in Acts 19:33.

Brief Introduction to 1 Timothy

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Statue of Saint Timothy at St. Timothy ‘s Church, The Villages, Florida Photo by Whoisjohngalt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85244772

1 Timothy is the first of a collection of letters called the Pastoral letters, and although these three letters are often treated together, each letter has its own character and reason for being written. 1 Timothy is addressed to Timothy, but it is likely intended to be read to the community that Timothy is working with rather than being a more personal letter like 2 Timothy. I am working through this reflection from the perspective that 1 Timothy is an authentic letter from Paul (see discussion in the Introduction to the Pastoral Letters) writing to Timothy at Ephesus.

Ephesus, on the western edge of modern-day Turkey, as Luke Timothy Johnson describes it,

Ephesus was “the first and greatest metropolis of Asia,” …Its population during the early empire was probably between 100,000 and 150,000, making it rank only below Rome and Alexandria in size as an urban center. (Johnson, 2001, p. 142)

Being one of the largest cities in the Roman empire, it is a place where there are already Christian disciples present before Paul’s arrival according to the book of Acts (Acts 19: 1-7). Yet, these Christian disciples are missing a critical component of the understanding of baptism. One of the reasons some readers feel this letter is not from Paul but from a later writer is that it does not precisely line up with the narration of the book of Acts where Paul sends Timothy to Macedonia, while he stays in Ephesus (Acts 19:22), but it is plausible that after Paul goes to Macedonia that he sends Timothy as his representative to address issues continuing to emerge among the communities of faithful in Ephesus.

One of the things that is clear from the letter is that the community of the faithful in Ephesus that Timothy is attempting to guide and correct is dealing with conflicts over beliefs and behaviors. There are connections between this letter and 1 Corinthians, but also between content in Ephesians. As we approach this letter to Timothy and the churches in Ephesus, it is worth remembering that Paul is writing to a community in trouble. Paul’s intention here is to correct issues that are emerging and threatening the future of these communities of faith and to strengthen Timothy’s presence among them. In Thomas Long’s memorable image, “In the Pastoral Epistles, though we see the church on the mechanic’s lift in the garage, and we are given guidance form performing an ecclesial engine overhaul.” (Long, 2016, p. 1) Yet, the work of performing an “ecclesial engine overhaul” is messy work.

In 1 Timothy there will be solutions that Paul commands that may be unpopular to many people today. Paul leans into traditional gender roles, traditional roles in societal hierarchy, and we see within these churches one of the early mentions of deacons and bishops. Paul is not a systematic theologian in this letter presenting a solution for all times and places, he is rolling up his sleeves to get his hands dirty with the overhaul needed in this community at this time. Yet, it is always dangerous to attempt to read modern values onto ancient people. There are several difficult passages to work through in this short letter, but I believe an honest conversation with these texts is fruitful even if it can be difficult.

Among many modern readers 1 Timothy has received skeptical and critical readings, but what I will be attempting is a charitable and generous reading. Ellen Davis, a writer I’ve learned a great deal from, describes a charitable reading in this way:

The difficult text is worthy of charity from its interpreters. Interpretive charity does not mean pity but rather something more like generosity and patience toward the text…Charitable reading requires considerable effort; it is easier to dispense with the difficult text. Those who regard a text as religiously authoritative are willing to sustain that effort, because they perceive it in some sense as a gift from God. (Davis, 2003, p. 178)

One of the perspectives I adopted when I was working through Deuteronomy was to wonder what type of world or community it was attempting to imagine. I look forward to the process of trying to imagine the community of faith that Paul and Timothy desire at the completion of this ecclesial engine overhaul.

Introduction to the Pastoral Letters: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus

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Icon of Saint Titus and Saint Timothy. Image from Timothy and Titus, Companions of Saint Paul – The Episcopal Church

Every pastor has portions of scripture that are central and that they know well and other portions that they are less familiar with and less likely to use in their preaching and teaching. One of my motivations within these reflections has been to expand my familiarity and comfort with portions of scripture I was less familiar with. To utilize a couple verses of 2 Timothy:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3: 16-17

Yet, there is some irony in the way 1& 2 Timothy and Titus are viewed by many modern scholars. Since the nineteenth century many scholars have questioned whether these three books were written by Paul or whether they are written after Paul’s death utilizing Paul’s reputation to give force to these letters. The letters, for many, may still be scripture but they have been relegated to a secondary, or in some cases even lower, status because they may not be viewed as ‘authentically Pauline’ and coming from a later stage in the formation of the church rather than being one of the earlier witnesses to the formation of Christianity. The New Testament professors I had in seminary handed on the consensus that Pastoral letters were not Pauline and therefore received little if any attention. Because of this the very books that claim all scripture is inspired by God and useful are among the most neglected in the New Testament.

My assumption throughout these reflections will be that 1 & 2 Timothy as well as Titus are written by Paul the Apostle. I will go into more of my reasoning below, but whether they are written by Paul or a student of Paul they remain for me, and for Christianity as a whole, a part of our scriptures. To many readers of the Bible the type of discussions that scholars have about texts can be confusing. Most readers of the bible may not spend a lot of time in 1& 2 Timothy and Titus, but they also would be wary of someone questioning the authority of these books they accept as scripture. There are some portions of these letters that modern readers find jarring, especially when talking about women in the church and the existence of slavery. Like all scripture we must wrestle with what it meant in it is specific to the time and audience it is written to and what expectations we bring to our own time. Yet, for me, I find this type of wrestling with scripture, trying to understand it on its own terms and to imagine the world it is trying to create in its original environment a fruitful and life-giving process.

For most of the history of the church the Pastoral Letters were assumed to be Pauline. The only groups that did not include these letters as a part of scripture, like the followers of Marcion[1] and perhaps Valentinius, were considered heretics and their exclusion of these books were not based on any questions of authorship. Polycarp appears to reference 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy in his Letter to the Philippians dated between 110 and 135 CE and the book is heavily utilized by early church leaders like Ireneaus, Clement, and Tertullian. The first person to challenge the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Letters was Fredrich Schleirmacher, an influential German theologian and scholar, in 1806. Schleirmacher felt there was a Pauline style that could be measured and these letters failed to meet the criteria. Many other scholars would follow Schleirmacher developing authentic Pauline themes and vocabulary to test these letters against while others would compare the events of the letters with the narration of Paul’s ministry in Acts,[2] while others simply went along with what seemed to be an emerging scholarly consensus in the nineteenth and twentieth century.[3]

The reasoning behind my engaging 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus as Pauline letters is fairly simple. First, all three letters explicitly claim to be written by Paul (1 Timothy 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1; Titus 1:1). Although writing a letter or document under the name of an established individual was a common practice in the ancient world as was viewed as honorific rather than dishonest, for me there would have to be some decisive reason to distrust what the letters claim to be. Secondly, each letter has its own character (1 Timothy is less personal and probably intended to be heard by a congregation) but in 2 Timothy 4 and Titus 3 there are some very personal moments and a lot of people, who the original recipients of the letter were likely aware of and who would raise questions for any reader with knowledge of Paul’s time in ministry if they were created to pass off the letters as authentic.

Christian scholars who do not view these letters as authentically Pauline will typically point to a handful of reasons: the letters do not reflect Paul’s theology, the letters utilize different language than the authentic Pauline letters, the conflicts and the type of organization/hierarchy in the church are presumed to come from a later time. I appreciate and have benefited from the works of those, like James D. G. Dunn, who write works like The Theology of Paul the Apostle and take the ‘authentic Pauline letters’ as the source to identify the elements of Paul’s theology. However, Paul is not a systematic theologian and writes letters to deal with concrete issues in communities and relationships that he knew. Paul may think theologically but his letters are also shaped strongly by the context they are written to. Paul’s language changes dramatically between letters as well: Romans may share similar language to Galatians, but 1 Corinthians employs very different terms. Paul does talk of people being led astray by ‘myths and endless genealogies’ (1 Timothy 1:6) which many scholars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries linked with Gnosticism[4] but we simply do not know the exact issues that these communities are dealing with. The roles of bishop and deacon outlined in these letters does not necessarily indicate a late date nor the highly institutional roles these would later become. Luke Timothy Johnson also highlights that Paul did not establish the community in Ephesus and that the letters presume the existence of these roles and only give advice about the mental and moral qualities of the people who should fill these roles. (Johnson, 2001, p. 75)

There are some difficult texts in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. We may wish for a Paul who continually lives out the vision of Galatians 3:28 where there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Yet, there are places, both in the Pastoral letters and in the other Pauline letters, where we look uncomfortably about what he may say about the role of women in communities, the assumptions of slavery and how slaves and masters are to relate to one another, sexuality, and several other issues. Paul is writing to his congregations almost two thousand years ago with very different assumptions, some of which Paul challenges and some of which Paul does not. Thomas Long is helpful when he states:

One could imagine many ways of relating to the emperor—pray for the emperor, not pray for the emperor, pray to the emperor, refuse to pray to the emperor, obey the emperor, resist the emperor, die for the emperor, die at the hands of the emperor—but a world without the emperor? Unimaginable. Therefore, the author of the Pastorals, given his context, will consistently offer advice about how to move the pieces on the chessboard. We sometimes lose patience with him because we expect him to throw out the chessboard and to change the game itself. (Long, 2016, p. 6)

The board we play on will look different than Paul’s, but it is fruitful to study the moves he makes based on his experience of God and the world he inhabits.

Dialogue Partners for these Reflections

Bassler, Jouette M. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus: Abingdon New Testament Commentaries. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996). Noted as (Bassler, 1996).

The Abingdon New Testament Commentaries are written to be accessible to those with some familiarity with the bible and are short enough that most readers can follow. Jouette Bassler taught at Perkins Theological Seminary at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She comes from the perspective that the author of these letters is not Paul, but one who appreciates the pseudonymous author’s rhetorical skill and ethical and theological perspective.

Dunn, James D. G., “First and Second Letters to Timothy” and “Letter to Titus” in New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes. Volume XI, pp. 789-880. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000). Noted as (NIB XI).

The New Interpreter’s Bible is a good resource for pastors wanting a collection that includes the entire bible (including the apocrypha) and I have been impressed by the collection of scholars they assembled for this project. James Dunn is a very highly respected New Testament scholar who taught for decades at the University of Durham in England. He has written heavily on Jesus, Paul, and the early church and is associated with the New Perspective on Paul which attempted to locate Paul within the matrix of Jewish thought in the first century. Dunn also views the Pastoral Letters as written by someone after Paul. The Theology of Paul the Apostle was an influential book for me when I was particularly focused on Pauline scholarship in 2005-2010.

Johnson, Luke Timothy. The First and Second Letters to Timothy: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentaries: The Achor Yale Bible. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2001). Noted as (Johnson, 2001).

The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries are designed to be textual commentaries with a lot of notes on the translation which I find to be helpful but are a bit clunky for a lot of readers. Luke Timothy Johnson teaches at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an excellent translator and thinker who is willing to challenge commonly held views. Johnson’s commentary is written from the perspective that Paul wrote 1& 2 Timothy as well as Titus (although his commentary is only on the first two letters). His introduction to all three letters and their reception by Christians throughout history is incredibly helpful.

Long, Thomas G. 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: Belief A Theological Commentary on the Bible. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016) noted as (Long, 2016)

Thomas Long is a very well-know instructor of preaching who taught at Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta. The Belief Commentary series intentionally brought in theologians and non-biblical study specialists to write each volume to approach the texts from a different perspective than most traditional commentaries, an approach I’ve found to be a helpful voice. He also assumes that these letters are written by a later voice claiming to be Paul.

[1] Marcion believed that the Old Testament God was distinct from the gracious God of the New Testament and constructed a scripture that included ten letters of Paul, not including the Pastorals, and a highly modified version of Luke’s gospel. Marcion’s position was declared heretical by the church and Marcion was excommunicated by the church around 144 CE. Valentinius, a contemporary of Marcion, was a one of the early Gnostic teachers who were also viewed as heretics by the emerging church.

[2] Ironically many scholars at the same time, and some of the same scholars, who viewed the Pastoral letters as inauthentic, viewed Luke’s narration in the book of Acts as unreliable as well.

[3] For those who want more detail on the historical reception of 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus see his excellent narration in his commentary. (Johnson, 2001, pp. 20-55)

[4] Gnosticism emerged both within and outside of Christianity in the Greco-Roman world and the term is broad covering a wide range of belief systems. Within Christianity we know of teachers like Valentinius in the mid-second century which does have a very elaborate ‘genealogy’.

Psalm 132 Zion and David

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King David, the King of Israel by Gerard van Honthorst

Psalm 132

A Song of Ascents.

¹ O LORD, remember in David’s favor
all the hardships he endured;
² how he swore to the LORD
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
³ “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed;
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ until I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ We heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
⁷ “Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool.”

⁸ Rise up, O LORD, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
⁹ Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your faithful shout for joy.
¹⁰ For your servant David’s sake
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

¹¹ The LORD swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body
I will set on your throne.
¹² If your sons keep my covenant
and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, forevermore,
shall sit on your throne.”

¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his habitation:
¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever;
here I will reside, for I have desired it.
¹⁵ I will abundantly bless its provisions;
I will satisfy its poor with bread.
¹⁶ Its priests I will clothe with salvation,
and its faithful will shout for joy.
¹⁷ There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
¹⁸ His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
but on him, his crown will gleam.”

This thirteenth song of ascent is significantly longer than the other fourteen songs in this collection and is the only song to link both Zion and the Davidic line together. Both the LORD and David in this psalm are given a dwelling place as the events of 2 Samuel 6-7 are reimagined in poetic form. The first half of the psalm references the return of the ark of the covenant from Kiriath-jearim to the tent David established for it in Jerusalem and David’s desire to build a permanent home for God’s presence (2 Samuel 6:1-7:3). The second half of the psalm remembers response of the LORD to David through the prophet Nathan, promising to establish a house (lineage) for David (2 Samuel 7: 4-29). This song of ascents reminds the pilgrims of how Jerusalem became Zion, the dwelling of the LORD, and the house of David.

The psalm begins by asking the LORD to remember David and the hardships he endured. Although many of the events of the psalm reflect a particular moment early in David’s reign there is also the sense that the hardships may involve the hardships that have come upon the line of David. The language of ‘remember’ and ‘hardships’ echoes the end of Psalm 89, another royal psalm that contrasts the lofty promises of the beginning of the Davidic line with the later reality of the line seeming to be a dead stump.[1] The line in verse seventeen where God causes a horn to sprout for David may also indicate that the monarchy has ceased to exist and the rising of a horn, a symbol of power and vitality, is “the restoration of something that has been destroyed” as in Ezekiel 29:21 (NIB IV: 1212). Yet, whether the pilgrim is entering the city of David where the line of David still has its throne, or a city without a Davidic king, the speaker is reminded of the original David who brought the ark of the covenant, and by extension the symbolic presence of God, into Jerusalem.

In 2 Samuel when David becomes king over all of Israel one of his first actions is to conquer Jerusalem and make it the seat of his power. Shortly after this he moves to bring the ark of the covenant from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem. Ephrathah is the region around Bethlehem where David’s family comes from and Jaar is likely Kiriath-jearim where the ark has rested since its return by the Philistines. In 1 Samuel 4 the Ark of God is captured by the Philistines, but wherever the ark rests among the Philistines it brings them affliction. The Philistines eventually return the ark to Israel at Beth-shemesh and then shortly move it to Kiriath-jearim during the early years of Samuel serving as judge of Israel.[2] David has brought the ark of the covenant to a tent in his new capital city and desires to build a house for the Mighty One of Jacob.[3] David has created a temporary space where the LORD can dwell among the people and desires to create a permanent space, a task that will fall to his son Solomon.

A continual theme of the scriptures is God’s desire to dwell among God’s people and the tabernacle, the ark, and later the temple are all dwelling places for the presence of God to rest among the people. A place where the priests and the people can orient their sacrifice, worship, and praise. Zion as a city becomes the place where the faithful ones can come to seek God’s presence and the stability provided by the kings of David’s line who are charged with providing a place of security for both the people and the house of God.

In verse eleven the LORD becomes the actor and in response to David’s actions provides a line for David. The LORD is now the one who chose Zion and chooses to dwell in the midst of the people there providing both provision and protection. Yet for the promise of a son of David remaining on the throne in Jerusalem is contingent upon their obedience to the covenant and decrees. The hope of both Jerusalem and the line of David is the presence of God among them. As the pilgrims enter the city of God, they can remember the hopes of the past and the promise of God’s presence.

In 2 Chronicles 6: 41-42 as Solomon prays over the temple he closes with verses eight through ten of this psalm. Solomon and the kings who followed after him would often fail to keep the covenant and the decrees of God and even the temple would later be polluted by practices and images to other gods, but throughout the scriptures is the image of the God who desires to dwell among the people as well as the desire for peace and security provided by a faithful ruler. Pilgrims across the generations have come to places where God’s presence was promised to dwell in order to worship, praise, and offer their gifts to God and be recalled to the way of life God calls the faithful to practice.

[1] In the imagery of Isaiah 11:1.

[2] 1 Samuel 4-6.

[3] An early epithet for the God of Israel which appears initially Genesis 49:24 during Jacob’s blessing of Joseph. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 935)

Reflections After Walking Through the Letter of James

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James the Just, 16th-century Russian icon

The message that James wants to impart to his readers is designed to be clear and practical. Yet, I always find myself amazed at what I discover in these reflections when I walk through a portion of scriptures, the connections that get made with other portions of the text, the ways in which there is depth and richness that a casual reader may miss. James, like most of the New Testament letters not attributed to Paul, were barely touched upon in my studies in seminary, nor have they been a part of my regular preaching or study. I was amazed at the ways the letter of James connects with the law, the prophets, wisdom literature, and the words of Jesus as he attempts to shape the faithful practice of his Jewish Christian audience.

Prior to coming to this reflection on James has been a series of reflections on a significant portion of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament which have nurtured a love within me for the depth and riches of law, the history, the prophetic witness, and the wisdom tradition which all attempt to speak to the experience of the people of Israel with their God. When I worked through the Gospel of Matthew and Revelation several years ago, those reflections were shaped by the wisdom accumulated through those journeys, and now the same is true of James. I am thankful for both my own heightened awareness of the language of the scripture that the early Christians read but also for the patient work of scholars who dedicate their lives to the study of specific books. I was impressed by the richness that I had previously overlooked in James’s short letter to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora. Part of the paradox of scripture is that it can be both clear and practical and at the same time deep and profound.

James is attempting to cultivate in his hearers an authentic and living faith that is demonstrated through practices of compassion and mercy. Sometimes James can appear as judgmental to a casual reader, but fundamental to the witness of James is mercy. James does have some challenging words for our context, and his language is often like that of an Old Testament prophet, but sometimes the challenging words are the ones we need to wrestle with the most. This is a short letter, but it challenged me, it was like doing a steeper climb but for a shorter duration than my experience of some other books. This may be because I am more of a New Testament scholar than a Hebrew bible scholar, but I think it is also due to the wide number of topics James covers in this short letter. I am thankful for the witness of James and the way in which his attempts to cultivate a living faith in the communities he is writing to in his time continue to challenge us to an authentic living faith two millennia later.

James 5 Harsh Words for the Rich and Encouragement for the Faithful

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Evelyn De Morgan, The Worship of Mammon (1909)

James 5: 1-6

¹ Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. ² Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure during the last days. ⁴ Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

James’s rhetoric may be harsh to many modern readers who were raised in a Christianity which has made its peace with the capitalistic and consumeristic culture of the United States. Over a century ago, Walter Rauschenbusch, one of the primary thinkers behind the social gospel movement which attempted to bring faith and action on behalf of the vulnerable together could say that James, “pronounces an invective against the rich which would seem intolerably denunciatory in the mouth of a modern socialist preacher.” (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 166) Yet, James is not speaking in a language unusual to scripture. James’s language throughout his letter has been in concert with the law, wisdom literature, the prophets, and the teachings of Jesus. That it may seem “intolerably denunciatory” should give us pause. We may not inhabit a situation similar to the early Christians who James is writing to, but the discomfort should cause an honest dialogue about the world and the values we assume. Luke Timothy Johnson asks this question in an existential way when he states:

Perhaps the most serious question for Christianity in the present circumstance is whether it is any longer in a position to exercise the kind of prophetic critique of that outlook such as enunciated by James. Is it not the case that many churches are themselves so co-opted by the logic of envy and arrogance—if not strictly monetary terms, then in terms of membership and influence—that they cannot perceive that such is the way of the wisdom from below, which is earthbound, unspiritual, and demonic? (NIB XII:218)

From the very beginning of the story of Israel they were always intended to embody a different set of values and practices than Egypt and all the following empires of the world that surrounded them. The commandments, statutes and ordinances given to the Hebrew people were to create a society where the vulnerable were cared for. Many of the laws are specifically to limit the acquisition of excessive amounts of property and wealth at the expense of the neighbor. Throughout the letter, James has often referenced topics which mirror the language of Leviticus 19. Once again James speaks in concert with Leviticus 19:

You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. Leviticus 19:13

Likewise, Deuteronomy also states:

You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. Deuteronomy 24: 14-15

James’s tone is similar to the prophets and a person familiar with the language of the prophets will quickly pick up the language of the ‘day of the LORD’ utilized by the prophets even before the ‘last days’ are mentioned in verse three. Malachi is a good example of this language and in chapter three the oppression of hired workers and the vulnerable is tied with sorcerers, adulterers, and those whose words are false:

Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:5

Yet, the strongest resonance with this passage is in the words of Jesus:

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Luke 6: 24-25

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6: 19-20

The scriptures may be speaking in the same key, but we may hear this as dissonant in our context. Many people in our time and in James’s time would look at wealth as a positive thing and there is a significant thread in scripture where God does want the people to prosper. Yet, one of the dangers to the health of the community was the acquisition of large amounts of wealth (primarily in the form of land, but also in terms of money) by a few at the expense of the rest of the community, particularly the most vulnerable members of the community. I have said before that in the United States one of our greatest idols is security, the desire to be able to ensure our own future without needing either God or the community. Wealth has become one of the most important ways of keeping score in our society and the acquisition of more wealth is often seen as a goal which surpasses all other goals. James’s counter voice is that the very wealth that we have utilized to attempt to secure our future is corroded and moth-eaten. Our bank balance sheets and acquisitive lifestyles testify against us. Those who lived in pleasure at the expense of their employees, whether landowners who failed to pay the harvester or corporations who increased their earnings while failing to pay a living wage, have now become the Pharoah and his taskmasters who the cries of the laborers testify to God against. And God hears these cries throughout the scriptures.

There has been a lively discussion on the identity of “the righteous one” James references. One common opinion is that the righteous one are the poor among the faithful who are perishing due to the injustice of their world. Another option is that the righteous one is Jesus and that the rich are somehow complicit in the crucifixion. I think it is likely that James is speaking in a manner reflected in Matthew 25: 31-46, where Jesus is met in the face of the vulnerable ones who are seen by the faithful but ignored by the unrighteous. These rich ones may feel like the world is being served to them as an all-you-can-eat banquet, but what James sees is a darker reality for those rich who live at the expense of others. They are like cattle in a feedlot being fattened for the day of slaughter. James believes, in concert with the rest of scripture, that the injustice practiced by the rich and powerful will be answered by God’s judgment.

James’s words are difficult to wrestle with in my context of an affluent suburb of Dallas, Texas but they also are important. We live in a time of increasing disparity between those at the top of the economic ladder and those at the bottom. James’s words will probably never have a hearing among those in our culture who utilize their wealth to manipulate the political or tax system to benefit their own business or bank balance, but these actions, for James, at the expense of the vulnerable in society are a form of violence and murder. For those who claim the letter of James as a part of their scriptures and a witness to faith it presents several challenges. It reminds us that our security is not to be found in laying aside silver, gold, currency or any other type of possession but in the God who hears the cries of the vulnerable. James, like the law and the prophets, sees faith as embodied throughout the entirety of life and that a faith without works on behalf of the neighbor is a dead faith. Most in my community would have been considered wealthy in James’s world, and we often underestimate the gifts we have been given to steward on behalf of the community. The scripture does has positive witnesses to wealth, for example Job mentioned in the next section, but the danger of wealth is that it becomes central to our identity and the score card by which we measure success is that it becomes possible to justify practices which may end up being legalized violence and even murder against the most vulnerable in society.

James 5: 7-12

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸ You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. ⁹ Brothers and sisters, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Indeed, we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about, for the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
¹² Above all, brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

James now returns to the brothers and sisters of his community to encourage them to stand fast and endure as they await the coming of the Lord. These final two sections are full of proverbs for the community attempting to live faithfully in the world. The world is unjust and there are rich whose actions endanger the vulnerable in the community, but James trusts that God’s judgement is near. Patience may not be the best word for the Greek makrothymia. Translators have suggested endure, persist, withstand, or stand fast as possible alternatives which capture the more active sense of the word. James utilizes two images for endurance in parallel: a farmer waiting on the growing crop and the biblical image of Job. The long wait from planting to harvest would be a part of the life of the majority of people in James’s world and there is a reason for the prevalence of this image throughout the scriptures. This is the only utilization of Job in the New Testament, and Job, like Abraham and Rahab earlier and Elijah in the following section, is utilized as a representative figure for an idea. Job may not have been passive in dealing with his situation in the narrative of Job, but he does endure and the Lord rewarded Job for his endurance.

James echoes the saying of Jesus also reflected in Matthew 5: 33-37. I think many people would long for a world where truthful speech was the norm and one of the struggles of our digitally pluralistic society is that truthful speech may be indistinguishable from partial truths, obfuscations and maliciously told lies. As I think about the issues facing society: immigration, global warming, poverty, discrimination, and many others, it is amazing the number of both conspiracy theories and misinformation that are given equal space to information that is well thought out and accepted by those working in the various fields. Perhaps reflecting on the untruth operating on his own society in the mid-1930s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer could comment in Discipleship:

There is no truth towards Jesus without truth toward other people. Lying destroys community. But truth rends false community and founds genuine fellowship. There is no following Jesus without living in the truth unveiled before God and other people. (DBWE 4: 131)

Yet even churches and communities of faith can easily become places that do not value truth but rather seek either easy accommodation or avoiding controversial topics of conversation. Even organizations that expressly claim to value truth in their mission or value statements may, by their actions demonstrate a preference for a convenient lie.

James and Jesus imagine a world where truthful speech is the norm and God has drawn near. It may take patience to see the fruit of this trust, it may involve the endurance of Job, and yet underlying the faith of Christianity is a God who values truth, who protects the vulnerable, and judges the unrighteous. James attempts to strengthen his brothers and sisters scattered throughout the world who are attempting to live truthfully and persistently awaiting the promised harvest of God’s fields.

James 5: 13-20

¹³ Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷ Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its harvest.
¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, ²⁰ you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

James continues with a set of final proverbs to encourage the community in their journey. Prayer is an overarching theme of the verses thirteen through eighteen and it is both the prayers of the individual and the community which enter James’s reflection. The suffering ones should pray, and asking God for what is necessary has appeared as a topic previously in James (1:5,6; 4: 2-3). It is likely that both the suffering and the cheerful are undergoing some struggles and it may be that in some cases the suffering are those who have not ‘taken courage’ while the cheerful have (McKnight, 2011, p. 433) but there will always be those whose suffering is more acute and those whose troubles are lighter. The individual may pray or sing songs of praise based on their circumstances, but the community also has a role in helping those in need. Those who are sick or carrying sins are to call the elders in the community. Much like the friends who carried the paralytic to Jesus (Mark 2: 1-12 and parallels) the elders carry the sick body or the sin sick soul to God that it may be healed. The fact that James can appeal to four people from the story of Israel (Abraham, Rahab, Job, and now Elijah) may be related to the Jewish nature of his community. Paul, whose primary audience was Gentile, can appeal to Abraham and Adam, universal figures, but James may have a fuller catalog of faithful figures he can reference by name and have a story associated with them. (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 195) Elijah is portrayed as a character whose faithful witness and prayer did incredible things like the three and a half years without rain or the raising of the widow’s son. Yet, Elijah is also ‘human like us.’ In prayer the incredible things of Elijah are accessible to the faithful one asking for God’s healing or forgiveness for a member of the community.

The God who James witnesses to is a God who desires the return of the wanderer. James’s letter may continue to reference Leviticus 19:

“You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. Leviticus 19:17

Or may be following Proverbs, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” (Proverbs 10:12) or simply the desire of God expressed throughout the law, the prophets, the story of Israel, the psalms, and the words of Jesus that express the desire for the prodigal people to return to their God. There is always a place for redemption among the people of God. As Jesus said after the parable of the lost sheep, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance (Luke 15:7).

James 4 Addressing the Cause of the Conflicts in the Body

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Job (oil on canvas) by Bonnat, Leon Joseph Florentin (1833-1922)

James 4:1-10

¹ Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell in us desire envy? ⁶ But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James begins this portion of his letter with a set of militaristic terms which are to be at odds with the wisdom which comes from above which is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, and without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy (3:17). Yet, it is precisely these militaristic verbs of conflicts (polemos), disputes (mache), waging war (stateuo), commit murder (phoneuo), and conflict (polemeo) which are tearing the body apart. These warlike verbs are driven by cravings (hedone), want (epithymeo), and coveting (zealoo). Earlier James had linked cravings to temptation and temptation to sin and sin to death (1:14-15) and now these cravings, wants, and desires are dealing death in the body of the community. James uses this stark language to show how those he is addressing have adopted the values of the world rather than submitting to the wisdom of God.

James’s language is full of conflict-related terms, and he criticizes those who engage in disputes and conflicts, but I do not believe that James is provoking a conflict but instead identifying the conflicts that are already present in the body. It is possible that James is speaking of the war within you in a manner similar to Paul’s description of the internal conflict of Romans 7, but I find it more likely that James’s target is a conflict emerging externally within these early Christian communities. It is possible that the polemic (from the Greek polemos translated by the NRSVue here as conflict) is merely verbal and that the murder mentioned is merely metaphorical. Yet, this time before the Jewish war[1] was a time of factions and disputes within the Jewish community in Judea and Galilee and there may have been zealots (from the Greek zealoo translated by the NRSVue as coveting) who were engaged in violence to attempt to establish their vision of justice. There is a continual struggle in the Hebrew scriptures against those who seek their own pleasure/cravings (the Greek hedone where we get our term hedonic) and advantage at the expense of others in the community. Whether verbal or physical there is something rearing its head in the conflict of the community that represents the values of the world and not of God. Those called followers of Christ may be attempting to seize their desires through disputes and conflicts, and even when they do ask they ask merely for the hedonic things that the world values rather than entrusting their desires to God.

James leans into the prophetic language of adultery to speak of the unfaithfulness of these followers of Christ to the faith of Christ. As Scot McKnight illustrates:

Hosea was the first to speak of the covenant relationship of Israel with YHWH in terms of marital intimacy and marital infidelity (Hos 1-3, 9:1). His language was then picked up like variations on a theme, by Isaiah (54: 1-6, 57:3), Jeremiah (2:2; 3: 6-14, 20) and Ezekiel (16: 23-26-38; 23:45). Both Jesus (Matt 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38) and the early Christians (1 Cor 6:15; 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:22-32; Rev 19:7; 21:9) carried on this tradition by using marital imagery for God’s people and referring to disobedience as relational, covenantal infidelity. (McKnight, 2011, p. 332)

James is not alone in placing the world (and its values) in conflict with God and God’s covenant values. 1 John uses very similar language:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world, for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God abide forever. 1 John 2: 15-17

Jesus would tell his followers that one cannot serve two masters, and although in Matthew’s gospel Jesus is placing God and wealth (mammon) in conflict (Matthew 6:24) here friendship with the word (and its values) is enmity with God. Those who James addresses are mistaking earthly things for heavenly things, worldly wisdom for divine wisdom.

Verse five and six have given interpreters a lot of struggles throughout history. Many readers have been confused because James appears to cite an unknown scripture with unclear Greek grammar. (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 145) One possible solution which I find helpful is proposed by Scot McKnight that the scripture quoted is Proverbs 3:34 which actually is quoted in verse six, and the remainder of verse five is setting the framework for James quoting Proverbs. Another option McKnight mentions is the general theme of God’s jealous love throughout the scriptures. (McKnight, 2011, p. 336) This quote contrasting the proud (scorners in NRSVue’s translation of Proverbs 3:34)[2] and the humble who God grants grace to forms a pivot between James’s identification of the conflicts in the community and the distorted worldview that causes the conflicts and the actions of those who would follow the way of Christ.

Ten imperatives occurring in a staccato manner provide the call to action in resisting the friendship of the world. James calls these Jesus followers to submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, lament, mourn, weep, allow laughter to be turned to mourning, and humble themselves. Both James and 1 Peter use Proverbs 3:34 and then turn to imperatives to shape the proper actions of the community in similar manners:

In the same way, you who are younger must be subject to the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 1 Peter 5: 5-9

Submission to God and God’s will is a common theme in the Hebrew scriptures. The call to resist (anthistemi) has the military connotation to stand one’s ground, hence Ephesians uses this term:

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm (anthistemi). Ephesians 6:13

In Genesis, in the story of Cain and Able, Cain is instructed to resist sin:

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4: 6-7

Here James is telling these followers of Christ if they stand firm (resist) the devil that it will cause him to flee. Throughout the prophets there is a call to return to God, for example:

Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Zech 1:3 (see also Malachi 3:7)

James continues to draw together themes from throughout scriptures in an echo of Psalm 24:

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false and do not swear deceitfully. Psalm 24: 3-4

The idea of being double-minded, trying to be friends with God and the world, have been present throughout this section but here James utilizes the term first used in 1:7. James would likely agree with Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything, but the conflict at work in the community demonstrates to James that it is a time for mourning. As the prophet Joel could state to his community:

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God,for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. Joel 2: 12-13

I do not believe that James is intending to form a dour community but reading the signs of the times he feels that those who are laughing now will mourn when God’s kingdom comes and those who are mourning now will laugh (Luke 6:25). The people of God are to embrace humility (tapeinosis) in a way very different than the surrounding world. As Joel Green states, “Outside biblical useage, the terminology for one who is humble (tapeinos)or humility (tapeinosis) is generally negative.” (Green, 2025, p. 122) The New Testament thinks of this term very differently as Mary’s song illustrates when it declares that God has “looked with favor on the lowly state [tapeinosis] of his servant,” and ”lifts up the lowly [tapeinos]” (Luke 1: 48, 52)

Almost two millenia after James wrote his letter to these twelve tribes in the Diaspora, we still struggle to separate the ways of the world from the ways of God. Walter Brueggemann describes our plight in this way,

We who are not the richest nation are today’s main coveters….the central problem of our lives is that we are torn apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God’s abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity—a belief that makes us greedy, mean and unneighborly. We spend our lives trying to sort out this ambiguity. (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 145) quoting Brueggemann, “The Liturgy of Abundance and the Myth of Scarcity”

In a culture that promotes cravings (hedone), want (epithymeo), and coveting (zealoo) we also are called to submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, lament, mourn, weep, allow laughter to be turned to mourning, and humble ourselves. Our faith tells us that God will provide what we need and yet the world tells us we must seize and secure our own future. James may be frustrated with his initial hearers yet I doubt his language would change much if he were able to address the followers of Christ scattered throughout the world today and divided by our own conflicts, disputes, and even wars.

James 4: 11-12

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?

James has already indicated at the beginning of chapter three that not many should be teachers because of the danger of the misuse of the tongue and the danger it can cause in the community. Now James instructs the not to speak against (Greek katalaleo, NRSVue speak evil) or judge (Greek krivo) their neighbor. James again echoes Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:1-5) when he commands his followers not to judge. The one lawgiver who can save and destroy is God (see Matthew 10:28; Deuteronomy 32:39) and followers of the way of Jesus are not to put themselves in God’s place where they are the judges of the law. The followers of Christ are to learn to be doers of the law and worry about the log in their own eye before they attempt to remove the mote from their neighbor’s eye. (Matthew 7:5).

Image from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140130190453.htm

James 4: 13-17

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” ¹⁴ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin.

In humbling oneself and submitting to God one learns the wisdom that one’s life is completely in God’s hands. The foolish person believes they are the master of their own destiny and like the rich young fool in Luke 12: 15-20 makes grandiose plans for a future that never arrives. James taps into the one of the fundamental insights of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs about the evanescent nature of life. Humanity is mist which appears for a little while and vanishes. This immediately calls to mind one of the favorite words of the writer of Ecclesiastes, the Hebrew word hebel (or hevel)[3]. This Hebrew word is where Abel’s name comes from in Genesis 4 and although most English translations render it as vanity it literally means vapor, smoke, mist. Humans for James and Ecclesiastes are hebel/hevel. Or as Proverbs can state, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” (Proverbs 27:1) and “The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.” (Proverbs 19:21)

Language is important to James because it demonstrates that one understands one’s place within God’s world. Instead of claiming that one is the master of one’s future one submits one’s life to the will of God. To boast of one’s own self-security and future is the way of the world and in opposition to God.

Language is important to James, but it is not sufficient. Knowledge is also important but insufficient. Just as faith without works is dead for James, one who knows the right thing and does not act in accordance with that knowledge commits sin. James is attempting to form communities scattered throughout the world who can resist the ways of the world and carrying a living faith which can follow the way of Jesus faithfully as they await with patience the coming of the kingdom of God.

[1] Assuming the letter is from James the Just who dies in 62 CE or someone roughly contemporary to him.

[2] Often scripture quoted in the New Testament may be subtly different than in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures and this normally is because the New Testament will quote the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) while the NRSVue and most other English translations go back to the Hebrew text. Hebrew is a very different language than Greek or English and there is often shades of meaning that are unable to be fully captured in any translation.

[3] In Hebrew the letter ‘Bet’ can be either a ‘b’ or ‘v’ sound.

James 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like in Action

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Creation: Lady Wisdom in Creation by Connor White (Cover image for Creative Words)

James: 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like In Action

¹³ Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶ For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James has been talking about wisdom throughout the letter, and just as faith requires faithful works for James, so wisdom requires works done in gentleness. Faithful behavior and speech is shaped by humble wisdom that seeks peace. The bible often uses wise and knowledgeable as a shorthand for teaching (McKnight, 2011, p. 299) and Deuteronomy, for example, begins with seeking wise and knowledgeable ones who can serve alongside of Moses and Joshua together:

Choose for each of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable, and I will make them your leaders.’ You answered me, ‘The plan you have proposed is a good one.’ So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable individuals, and installed them as leaders over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officials, throughout your tribes. Deuteronomy 1: 13-15.

James continues to have his gaze centered on those who are leaders of the community and instructs them on the type of fruit that leaders are expected to bear. Like Jesus, James believes that wisdom will be vindicated by her deeds (Matthew 11:19). Those deeds of gentleness emerge from the vine of wisdom.

For James wisdom and foolishness are not a passive way of thinking but are demonstrated by a life of goodness or wickedness. Like faith, for James, wisdom and or foolishness are about what they generate rather than some cognitive content. As in wisdom literature, wisdom is always tied to practices and actions. Foolishness bears envy and selfish ambition, wickedness and disorder. Jesus would rebuke Peter for putting his mind on earthly things instead of divine things (Matthew 16:23 and parallels) and here James shows the difference between an earthly, unspiritual, and devilish (or demonic) foolishness of envy and selfish ambition bearing the fruit of wickedness and disorder and wisdom from above. These earthly, unspiritual, and devilishly oriented people generate words and actions which distort and falsify the truth.

In contrast, the wisdom from above is described with seven ‘fruits’ of wisdom similar to Paul’s fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 19-23). Purity only occurs here in James and in 4:8 in a verbal form (to cleanse) yet James has been seeking a faith and wisdom whose life is ethically and morally completed in mercy and humility. Peace is a central idea to this section and goes back to the Hebrew concept of shalom which is more than the absence of conflict but reflects a wholeness and harmony with God’s will for the world. In contrast to the envy and self-ambition of the earthly foolishness is the gentleness and willingness of yield of the heavenly wisdom. Mercy is strongly connected for both James and Jesus with their understandings of righteousness, and here it is connected to the fruits of wisdom. The final two characteristics are in Greek adiakritos and anypokritos. When you place an ‘a’ at the front of a Greek term it negates it or turns it into its opposite. Diakritos is to judge and so it becomes without judgement and anypokritos is ‘without hypocrisy.’ While the fruit of the earthly, unspiritual, and devilish foolishness is disorder and wickedness, the fruit of wisdom is sown in peace by peacemakers.

Another inspiration for James may be the personification of wisdom and foolishness in Proverbs 7 and 8. James has frequently utilized the patterns and language of wisdom literature in his letter and although he does not explicitly allude to the adulterous woman and lady wisdom, the contrast between this earthly, unspiritual, and devilish antiwisdom in contrast with the pure, peaceable, truthful, prudent knowledgeable, orderly, just and righteous lady wisdom of Proverbs eight. Even if James does not intend to evoke this specific image he demonstrates confidence in utilizing the practical wisdom of Proverbs and other wisdom literature to help his audience shape their lives.

The brief descriptions of James in the book of Acts describe him as a peacemaker. As Martha L. Moore-Kiesh states:

The emphasis on peacemaking comports well with the image of James, the brother of the Lord, in the book of Acts. Named there as a leader of the church in Jerusalem, James offers a compromise on an important controversy about how to respond to the “Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19). In Acts 21, he also works to diminish conflict between Paul and certain Christian Jews in Jerusalem who are spreading rumors that Paul is teaching Jews living among the Gentiles to “forsake Moses” (Acts 21:21) (Moore-Keish, 2019, p. 135)

James was likely struggling with divisive forces in his society and within the rapidly evolving community of Jesus followers. If the letter of James was written in the late 50s or early 60s of the first century, the time between the crucifixion and resurrection and the Jewish War, when Paul and other apostles are doing successful if controversial ministry among the Gentiles, and the followers of Jesus are trying to navigate their place in Judea and the diaspora, he likely encountered several leadership struggles that threatened to divide the community. But the church of Christ in every age has struggled with those who mistook earthly for divine things, who distort and falsify the truth with their words and actions, who are driven by envy or selfish ambition and who bear fruits of wickedness and disorder. Jesus would tell his followers, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5: 9) and James points to a heavenly wisdom which bears the fruit of righteousness sown in peace by those who make peace. Just as a good tree is known by the fruit it produces, so wisdom is vindicated by its peaceful deeds.

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular

Tag Archives: Christianity

1 Timothy 3 Expectations of Leaders in the Community and the Mystery of the Faith

1 Timothy 3: 1-13 Qualifications of Overseers and Men and Women in Serving Roles

1 Timothy 3: 14-16 The Mystery at the Heart of the Gospel

1 Timothy 2 Prayer for All and the Actions of Men and Women

1 Timothy 2: 1-7

2 Timothy 2: 8-15

1 Timothy 1 Paul Encourages Timothy in Ephesus

1 Timothy 1: 1-2

1 Timothy 1: 3-11

1 Timothy 1: 12-17

1 Timothy 1: 18-20

Brief Introduction to 1 Timothy

Introduction to the Pastoral Letters: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus

Dialogue Partners for these Reflections

Psalm 132 Zion and David

Psalm 132

Reflections After Walking Through the Letter of James

James 5 Harsh Words for the Rich and Encouragement for the Faithful

James 5: 1-6

James 5: 7-12

James 5: 13-20

James 4 Addressing the Cause of the Conflicts in the Body

James 4:1-10

James 4: 11-12

James 4: 13-17

James 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like in Action

James: 3: 13-18 What Wisdom Looks Like In Action