We returned to I Timothy on Easter Day, April 12, for a closer look.
Chapter 1: Paul and Timothy
Paul's opponents teach the (Jewish) law, and are also obsessed with "myths and genaologies". This corresponds with no organized group that we know of, and may have been peculiar to Ephesus.
We were puzzled by Paul's reference to "slavetraders" (Ch 1:10 NIV) in his list of evil people whom the law exists to regulate. As we saw with the letter to Philemon, Paul seemed to have no particular objection to slavery as an institution. the word -- andrapodistes -- does not occur elsewhere in the NT, and seems to mean something like "menstealers". John cited the case of those in the US Civil War who captured ex-slaves to return them to slavery, and suggested the rendering "kidnappers".
Did Paul excommunicate Hymnenaeus and Alexander, and how can "delivering them to satan" teach them not to blaspheme? We shall meet Hymenaeus, at least, again in II Timothy.
Chapter 2: Worship and Order
Paul calls for prayers for those in authority, which seems to indicate that the letter was written either before the Neronian persecutions or much later.
We read Paul's strictures against particularly flamboyant female dress, and noted that some commentators have suggested this was to avoid the customs of some mystery cults, such as that of Cybele, who used distinctive headdress.
How can women be saved "by chidbirth"? Ronal Knox suggested that the reference was to the curse on Womanhood, which was redeemed by the bearing of the Christ Child by the archtypal Woman, the Virgin Mary.
Chapter 3: Discipline
The technical term in verse 1 - episkopos -- is translated as "bishop" in the KJV, and "overseer" in NIV. "Overseer" appeals to those who see I Timothy as written in an early stage of church development, and "bishop" to those who see the letter as written in the Second Century,when church organization had reached a more formal stage.
Cerainly the writer's emphasis on the married state of church officials contrasts with Paul's early letters, where marriage is seen as irrelevant in view of the imminence of the Second Coming.