Timothy Timothy traveled with Paul for much of his missionary career and was one of Paul’s best-loved and most trusted assistants. Two of Paul’s last letters were written to Timothy at a time when Timothy was providing leadership for the church in Ephesus, near the end of Paul’s life. Timothy had a devout mother and grandmother (2 Tim 1:5), and he was highly respected by the Christians in his hometown, Lystra, and in nearby Iconium. He joined Paul’s missionary team on Paul’s second missionary journey. Paul speaks of prophetic words that confirmed Timothy’s selection. Timothy also received a special gifting for service through the laying on of the hands of the elders and of Paul (1 Tim 1:18; 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6). Out of deference to the Jews in the area, Paul had Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:1-3). Over the next fifteen years, Paul sent Timothy on special assignments to several different churches (Acts 19:22; 1 Cor 4:17; 16:10-11; Phil 2:19-23; 1 Thes 3:1-6; 1 Tim 1:3; see also Acts 17:14-15; 18:5). Paul included Timothy’s name as coauthor of several of his letters (2 Cor 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:1; Phlm 1:1). It is clear that Paul had a close relationship wi...

The Household The household was the basic unit of Greco-Roman society; it was believed that the stability of the state rested upon the stability of the household. Roles and responsibilities were well defined and deeply ingrained. The central concern was to maintain the “natural” ordering of authority and subordination, the violation of which would lead to degradation and corruption. In this framework, the husband-father-master was over all. The public space of society and government belonged to men, the private space of the home belonged to women. It was not uncommon for Greco-Roman orators to accuse new foreign cults (as Christianity was perceived) of corrupting and destabilizing society, precisely by threatening the structure of the household. The New Testament household codes (see Eph 5:21–6:9; Col 3:18–4:1; 1 Tim 2:8-15; 5:1-2; 6:1-2; Titus 2:1–3:8; 1 Pet 2:18–3:7) were therefore not innovations, even if these catalogs were adapted by the apostles to fit the Christian faith and to address particular needs. In practice, the Christian faith would result in the significant modification of cultural norms. Yet wisdom and loving restraint were needed, because heedlessly violati...

Women’s Roles in the New Testament Church Paul’s words in 1 Timothy regarding women’s roles in the church were intended to correct what was happening in Ephesus, but the extent to which this passage applies to other situations is a subject of discussion. The possible understandings include the following three: Universal Interpretation. Galatians 3:28 (“There is no longer . . . male and female”) does not negate creational gender distinctions and roles. Even if Galatians 3:28 represents the ideal of equality in God’s eternal Kingdom, gender roles should still be ordered as outlined in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 for as long as this creation continues. By way of comparison, Matthew 22:30 discusses the status of marriage in the new creation—it differs from the structure of this creation outlined in Genesis 2:23-24, and it applies to the present life only in a special and limited sense (see 1 Tim 4:3-5; Matt 19:11-12; 1 Cor 7:29-35). The structure of the new creation will be fully realized in the coming age, and it is not the ideal for the present time. Therefore, Christian women in all times and places must recognize their role in the created order of God. They must not teach men or exerci...