Conversations at Midnight #19: Don't Pull on that Thread!

Jack's grandmother is turning ninety. Months ago, she knitted matching sweaters for him and your three-year-old son, Jack Junior. Knowing that every stitch contained a prayer for her treasured grandson and great-grandson, you decide to honour her by having them wear them to her birthday party, to which all the extended family is invited.

The morning of the party, Jack pulls on his sweater and notices a tiny loose thread.

"Hmm..." He reaches for it. "Don't you dare," you warn. "If you pull on a loose thread, you might end up wearing it around your knees!"

Being the wise husband that he is, he tucks the thread inside the sweater and mumbles an acknowledgement. You make a mental note to fix it later and... problem solved.

You barely manage to slip little Jack Jr. into his matching sweater as he trembles with excitement; today he gets to see his GG and all the cousins. You scrutinize him carefully: curls are tamed, face is washed, teeth are brushed, and you don't observe any hanging threads from his sweater. Huge sigh of relief.

Jack Sr. left hours ago to help set up the tables and chairs, while you buckle your little fellow into his car seat for the hour-long drive. You grab the cake, potato salad, and the gift basket you made for GG.... and off you go.

As you pull out of the driveway, you put on Ms. Rachel songs for Jack Jr. Boy, is he ever quiet!. She is, hands down, his favourite, you don't worry too much. But as you pull off the freeway 45 minutes later, you start to worry...

You glance in the rearview mirror for the 100th time to make sure he's breathing. He meets your eyes and then hums, "The Wheels On The Bus," with Rachel. Another sigh of relief. Aww... his sweet soprano melts you every time.

Busy little fingers are working away at something, but you can't quite determine what."He must be really enjoying those new toy cars we bought for the trip," you think, mentally congratulating yourself for that wise, last-minute purchase.

You pull into GG's driveway, open the back door, and cheerfully sing out, "Come on, Buddy! GG's waiting!" Freeze! Your son is sitting in his birthday suit with a mile-long grin. "Where's your sweater, honey? Did you take it off? It's cool outside!" You shiver as if to convince him.

He proudly reaches for what appears to be several kilometers of brightly coloured wool, wrapped around his knees, his elbows, the cup holder, and even the seatbelts.

The sweater has completely vanished.

"Mommy! I fixed it."

Sometimes I think that's how we approach difficult passages in scripture. We find one loose thread that doesn't seem to belong and start pulling. Or worse yet, we cut it off! But separating a few verses from their context is like trying to clothe ourselves with a single thread.

What if, instead of pulling, we trace the thread back to where it became loose and start the darning process? Rather than unraveling the garment, it helps us hold the original shape so that it hangs as it was intended, and clothes what it was meant to clothe.

That's the approach I'd like us to take with one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament. Paul writes:

A woman is to learn quietly with full submission. I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. Instead, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed. But she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with good sense.(1 Timothy 2:11–15)

Whew. Those are some seriously loose and tangled up threads.

My first temptation is to want to tug on every end, maybe with a word study on what "teach" means, or perhaps authority. I have to ask, why is Adam brought into it? And what about Eve? What does deception have to do with any of it, and what does saved through childbearing even mean? Aren't we saved by grace?

I'd prefer to snip these verses out entirely, pretending they aren't there. But neither of these approaches treats the sweater or its maker with the honour they deserve. Even if his epistles are more difficult to understand than the other biblical authors, Paul, as we have seen over and over again, is definitely worth our respect as a teacher and apostle.

To better decipher this passage, perhaps the leading question shouldn't be, "What does Paul mean?" but, "Why did Paul write this?"

When a church manifested loose threads (confusion on issues of theology or morality), Paul often took them on a walk back in time to understand the original context of why an instruction was given. He had a habit of tracing loose threads to where they first entered the pattern. For example, when the Corinthians struggled with the resurrection, Paul went back to Adam, who, at the Fall of Man in the book of Genesis, introduced death; when he wrote about marriage, he also went back to Genesis to recount the first marriage; when he explained the gospel, he went back to Abraham—you guessed it, in Genesis—the man known as the father of the faith.

Before we try to untangle 1 Timothy 2, let's resist the urge to pull too hard on a single thread or verse. Rather, let's take that walk with Paul back to the beginning, so that we can understand where the thread of a verse belongs, and why.

For the first thread, let's meet Timothy.

Who was Timothy anyway?

When we first meet him in Scripture, Timothy doesn't come across as an obvious superhero. He's young, timid, and somewhat delicate. He is exhorted not to let anyone look down on him because of his age. He's told to stop drinking only water and have a little wine because of his frequent stomach ailments (another thread we could pull on!). Let's face it: Timothy doesn't strike us as the soldier who would kick down the church doors and charge into theological battles with a sword in one hand and commentaries in the other.

And yet...

When Paul needed someone he could trust, he called Timothy. Someone to strengthen a struggling church? Send Timothy. How about someone to carry a potentially explosive letter? Send Timothy. Is there anyone who can encourage believers in the face of persecution? Timothy.

And, finally, need someone to settle in one of the most challenging cities in the Roman world to pastor a congregation steeped in false teaching?

Send Timothy!

Over the years, Timothy became far more than Paul's travelling companion. He is called his most trusted co-worker, one of the few people Paul could rely on completely. He became an adopted son, if not on paper, at least in spirit. Near the end of Paul's life, when others had left him for various reasons, Paul pleaded with him, "Do your best to come to me quickly."

There is something about Paul and Timothy's relationship that reminds me of Naomi and Ruth, or David and Jonathan. These friendships were forged in the furnace of shared suffering, common values and a long history. With Tim, Paul knew he wasn't simply training a ministry assistant. He was pouring into a successor with great potential, in whom he had every confidence.

In the middle of Paul reminding Timothy about the false teaching in Ephesus, or how to identify up-and-coming leaders, deal with argumentative men and gossiping women, before any of the issues that make 1 and 2 Timothy such a hotbed of controversy, he reminds Timothy of where his faith came from.

Ready? Drum roll, please... Timmi's wonderful ma and grandma. Ladies, take your bow!

Paul writes:

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5

Ironically, the letter that contains one of the Bible's most difficult and misunderstood passages, especially in regards to women, begins with honouring the two most important ladies in Tim's life. After all, before Timothy ever preached a sermon or corrected a false teacher. he was a little boy growing in the faith and under the influence of these two women God had entrusted to raise him. Paul celebrates their legacy in Tim—and is careful not to let Timothy forget it!

So if the problem with women that Paul was needing to correct wasn't linked to Timothy's upbringing, perhaps it could be found in the place he was being asked to serve? I want to tuck that thread gently into this sweater before we start pulling anything apart.

The Assignment

So what was the heavy lifting that Paul was asking Timothy to do in Ephesus, that could only be entrusted to him? Maybe it's also worth pausing for a moment to ponder that while Paul's instructions were written to entire churches, these two letters were written explicitly to one person, as a private letter. Why?

Paul was giving Timothy one of the toughest assignments to date. He had left Timothy in Ephesus to strengthen the new church, appoint good leaders, confront false teaching, and warn these new believers against ideas and theologies that were slowly pulling the Church apart... just like Jack Jr.'s sweater. This would be no small task.

Eventually, Timothy would grow into the shoes of what the early Church would later call an overseer or bishop—a shepherd responsible for the spiritual health for multiple congregations in the region.

According to early Christian tradition, Timothy remained faithful to that calling until the end of his life. Several early writers record that he would confront participants in one of Ephesus's pagan festivals, passionately urging them to turn from the worship of Artemis to follow Jesus. Becoming incensed, the crowd would turn on him just as they had turned on his spiritual dad (Paul) years earlier; they reportedly beat him so severely that he died from his injuries.

This traditional recounting of history reveals Timothy in a different light than when he was first introduced to us. Here we see him as having grown into those big shoes; a man with remarkable passion, boldness, courage and determination.

This leads us to the next question: What was happening in Ephesus that required such an extraordinary leader with not one, but two personal letters from the early church giant, the Apostle Paul?

To answer that, we'll have to step into one of the most fascinating—and spiritually complicated—cities in the Roman Empire.

Let's begin there next time.