A note from our Pastor:

”The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.”

1 Timothy 5:2

In the prior verse, the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy in his conduct towards men, both older and younger, in the congregation. These verses, including our study verse this week, recognize that Timothy had to maintain his interpersonal relationships with his congregation to fulfill his duty to instruct and lead the congregation.

In our study verse this week, the Apostle moves from the men of the congregation to the women. Timothy’s interaction with the women in the congregation was to have as much dedicated time and respect as his interaction with the men in the congregation. As such, the Apostle provides guidelines for his interactions.

First, with the older women in the congregation, he was to show them as much deference as he was to the older men. The Apostle’s way of phrasing this instruction is to treat them as mothers. In other words, Timothy was not to be commanding with them and certainly not demeaning. Rather, he was to reason with them and have all patience as they came to understanding and acceptance. Furthermore, he was to avoid being demeaning when their behavior change was slower than Timothy would have liked.

Second, the Apostle instructs Timothy to interact with the younger sisters with all purity. The Apostle was reminding Timothy to avoid any appearances of impropriety in how he interacted with the younger females in the congregation, but this was not an instruction to avoid pastorly duties. Timothy was to provide the same instruction, guidance, and correction he would to any other member with the same knowledge of scripture.

While these verses are quite simple to interrupt the importance of them is great.

Our Prayers are with you daily,

Brother Jeremiah