1 Timothy 2:13

2:8-15 Under the gospel, prayer is not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray every where. We must pray in our closets, pray in our families, pray at our meals, pray when we are on journeys, and pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private. We must pray in charity; without wrath, or malice, or anger at any person. We must pray in faith, without doubting, and without disputing. Women who profess the Christian religion, must be modest in apparel, not affecting gaudiness, gaiety, or costliness. Good works are the best ornament; these are, in the sight of God, of great price. Modesty and neatness are more to be consulted in garments than elegance and fashion. And it would be well if the professors of serious godliness were wholly free from vanity in dress. They should spend more time and money in relieving the sick and distressed, than in decorating themselves and their children. To do this in a manner unsuitable to their rank in life, and their profession of godliness, is sinful. These are not trifles, but Divine commands. The best ornaments for professors of godliness, are good works. According to St. Paul, women are not allowed to be public teachers in the church; for teaching is an office of authority. But good women may and ought to teach their children at home the principles of true religion. Also, women must not think themselves excused from learning what is necessary to salvation, though they must not usurp authority.

As woman was last in the creation, which is one reason for her subjection, so she was first in the transgression. But there is a word of comfort; that those who continue in sobriety, shall be saved in child-bearing, or with child-bearing, by the Messiah, who was born of a woman. And the especial sorrow to which the female sex is subject, should cause men to exercise their authority with much gentleness, tenderness, and affection.

1 Timothy 2:13 . Ἀδὰμ γὰρ , for Adam ) The reason which applies to the first man, holds good for all men; and that which applies to Eve, holds good for all women. Again, what is said of the salvability [safety] of the woman, 1 Timothy 2:15 , is also appropriate to be understood of the first woman.— πρῶτος ) first; so that the woman was created for him, 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 .

Verse 13. - Was formed ( ἐπλάσθη ). The word used in the LXX. in Genesis 2:7 , Ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον κ.τ.λ ., "The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground;" and in Genesis 2:19 of the beasts of the field; whence the word πρωτόπλαστος (Wisd. 7:1 Wisd. 10:1), "first made;" "first formed," A.V. So in Romans 9:20 man is called τὸ πλάσμα , "the thing made;" and God is ὁ Πλάσας , "he that made it." "Plaster," "plastic," "protoplasm," are, of course, from the same root. (For the argument, see the very similar one in 1 Corinthians 11:8, 9 .) 1 Timothy 2:13

13 . ‘The Apostle appeals to the original order and course of things. By inverting this relative position and calling—the helpmate assuming the place of the head or guide, and the head facilely yielding to her governance—was the happy constitution of Paradise overthrown.’ Fairbairn.

1 Timothy 2:13 . It would not be fair to say that St. Paul’s judgment about the relative functions of men and women in the church depended on his belief as to the historicity of the Biblical story of the Creation. He certainly uses this account in support of his conclusions; yet supposing the literal truth of the early chapters of Genesis, it would be possible to draw quite other inferences from it. The first specimen produced of a series is not always the most perfect. The point in which Adam’s superiority over Eve comes out in the narrative of the Fall is his greater strength of intellect; therefore men are better fitted for the work of public instruction. “The woman taught once, and ruined all” (Chrys.). Eve’s reasoning faculty was at once overcome by the allegation of jealousy felt by God, an allegation plausible to a nature swayed by emotion rather than by reflection. The Tempter’s statement seemed to be supported by the appearance of the fruit, as it was rendered attractive by hopes of vanity to be gratified. Adam’s better judgment was overcome by personal influence ( Genesis 3:17 , “Thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife”); he was not deceived. But the intellectual superior who sins against light may be morally inferior to him who stumbles in the dusk. Ἀδὰμ πρῶτος ἐπλάσθη : The elder should rule.

(13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve. —The Holy Spirit seems often (comp. especially Galatians 3:16 and following verses, and 4:22 and following verses, and 1Corinthians 10:1-10 ) to have moved St. Paul to weave into the tapestry of his arguments and exhortations to the different churches, facts and principles drawn from Old Testament history. His early training in the great Rabbinical schools of Jerusalem had well supplied him with a vast store of this Old Testament learning. The argument here based on priority of creation is much assisted by the additional statement of 1Corinthians 11:9, “neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.” This teaching of St. Paul’s respecting the public position of woman as regards man, in which he shows that she is to hold a subordinate place—is based upon no arbitrary human speculation, but upon God’s original order in creation—that divine order which first created man, and after man’s creation, formed woman as his helpmeet.