Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Timothy 1-4.

One thing that has often taken my attention, and that of many other commentators, is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to command certain people to not devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies.”  I have seen several different interpretations of what sort of genealogies Paul meant.  However, today it struck me that it does not matter, because in his next sentence Paul tells us what the problem with them was.  They promoted controversial speculations which distracted from advancing God’s work.  So, any debate which does not promote the love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith should be avoided.  If we look for a reading of Scripture, for a loophole, to find how what we want to do does not violate God'[s law, we have missed the point.  If we do not see how what we want to do advances God’s work, we should do something else.

Paul goes on to give instructions for how we should behave and the qualifications for Church leaders.  He gives somewhat different instructions for men and women and we can debate whether what he writes means that Church leadership roles should only be filled by men.  However, I want to note that ALL of the things he describes can apply to all Believers.  Paul starts this section by requesting that we pray for, intercede for, petition God for, and offer thanksgiving to God for all people, but especially for those in positions of government authority.  Then he writes that men should pray and women should dress modestly, but really both men and women should pray and dress modestly.  We should adorn ourselves with good deeds rather than with fancy hairstyles, attention grabbing jewelry, or high fashion clothes.  Paul goes on to describe the attributes we should look for in elders (overseers as translated here) and deacons in the Church.  Even in the context it is clear that all of the qualifications he gives are so that those holding these positions of authority in the Church can be held up as examples for other Believers, especially new Believers, to follow.  We should be faithful to our spouse, self-controlled, respectable, and hospitable. We should be gentle rather than violent or quarrelsome.  We should not be lovers of money nor drink to excess.  We should strive to be worthy of respect and not talk maliciously about others.  Even the one qualification for the position of Church elder which not everyone should have is one at which we should all seek.  That one is the ability to teach.  We may not all be called upon to teach, but we should seek to be able to do so in case the occasion arises where we need to do so.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.