Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
The Apostle accuses women of learning to be idle, going about from
house to house, of being tattlers and busybodies--these young widows,
or unmarried women. What a spectacle the thousands of bread-winning
young and unmarried women of to-day, would be to Paul if he could come
here! And these young women have no time to go from house to house, or
even to fulfill social obligations. And the students in our colleges
and universities, Paul would not find them tattlers or busybodies. What
could the unmarried women of Paul's time do? They had no absorbing
mental pursuit or physical occupation. Perhaps they could not read; and
there was little for them to study. Lacking mental furnishing to noble
ends, they must of necessity deal with trivial matters. What could a
woman do who had no home to care for, no business to attend to, perhaps
nothing to read (if she could read), no social organizations in which
she had a place and part except the religious assemblies in which she
was to be "in quietness," "in silence"?
They were not worthy of condemnation if they were going from house to
house and tattling. The unmarried woman will not lack opportunity for
the dignity of self-support and the ministrations of philanthropy in
the new dispensation. Womanhood and its high possibilities of mind and
of heart are worthy attainments, even though not crowned with self-
elected motherhood. Whether married or unmarried, the highest duty of
every living soul, woman or man, is to seek truth and righteousness;
and the liberty which is of the spirit of truth does not admit of the
bondage of husband and wife,
the one to the other. Freedom to seek soul development is paramount to
all other demands.
1 Timothy i.
2 Too Timothy, my dearly beloved son: grace, mercy, and peace, from
God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grand-mother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and
I am persuaded that in thee also.
Timothy, whom Paul calls his true child in faith, and whom he placed
as overseer, or bishop of the first church at Ephesus, as all
commentators agree, was the child of mixed parentage, his father being
a Greek and his mother a Jewess. It is supposed that his father died in
Timothy's childhood, as no mention is made of him. Timothy, then, was
educated religiously by the teaching and the example of his mother and
his grandmother. Paul expresses with fervent emotion his remembrance of
his "beloved child," and of the unfeigned faith which is in him, and,
"which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account