A Closer Look at 1 Timothy 2:1-15
Pastor David Platt prayed for President Trump. The result, some people were upset by Platt's interaction with Trump. Platt then explained his position. Some saw Platt as back peddling and got upset. Still others took the opportunity to vent frustration with Platt's leadership style and even questioned his integrity. I posted about this on social media and got lots of comments - around 30 which for me is crushing it on social media. This got me thinking. There are a lot of opinions out there, but Scripture does offer the Christian insight to a proper response to Platt, Prayer, and a President.
Pastor Platt referenced the Apostle Paul's writing in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 which ironically is part of this Sunday's selected Biblical text for the Southern Baptist quarterly curriculum published by Lifeway. This means this text will be studied and taught in small groups and Sunday Schools of many Southern Baptist Churches. An accident, I think not. Whether you will be jumping into a Southern Baptist Sunday school class or not, the following are a couple helpful observations regarding, Paul, the Presidents, and Pastors.
The Apostle Paul
In 1 Timothy Paul is writing his protege, Timothy. Timothy was a young pastor who lived in one of the preeminent cities of the ancient world, Ephesus. In parallel, Platt is a young pastor who lives right outside of Washington D.C. Paul opens his letter in chapter 1 encouraging Timothy to retain sound doctrine and to "fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscious." Paul shifts in chapter 2 and instructs Timothy in what are 3 helpful impulses for the follower of Jesus: prayer, unity, and godliness.
Prayer is a wonderful first impulse. I hope it would be my first impulse in any situation of importance that catches me off guard. Prayer speaks to our dependency on God. Prayer is also a forcing mechanism that over time aligns our heart with God's will. It is a challenge to pray for someone and not grow to love them - even the unloveable, the least, and the undeserving. As Christians we are called to love like Christ. Loving like Christ requires prayer.
Prayer is called for throughout the entire Bible, but in 1 Timothy 2 there is a specific object in view, rulers and authorities. The aged apostle tells Timothy to pray "on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority . . ." If it is hard for you or I to pray for Presidents Trump, Obama, Clinton, or Bush then Paul is calling Timothy to do even heavier lifting. The undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire was a megalomaniac named Nero. Most historians believe Nero had mental instabilities. One of the Caesars, Nero reigned from 37-68 A.D. Google Nero and read about some of his antics and you will be mortified - he was a depraved, evil man. Church history holds that Nero would martyr Paul. The irony is rich. Paul is telling Timothy to pray for the guy who would eventually sign his own death warrant. Scripture calls the believer to pray.
No matter who holds office or promotes policy, we as followers of Christ need to realize that power and authority flow from God. This is an important and often overlooked theology. A right understanding of power should inform our response to the world around us. As Christians we know and affirm that power flows from God, but we struggle to apply this reality to our everyday lives. We feel insecure because of the power of others, or we become defensive when we feel our values are threatened by powerful voices in the culture. As followers of Christ we need to remind ourselves in moments of fear and insecurity that we bow the knee to the One from whom
all power and authority flows. Our security, our identity, is safe in Christ and therefore we should not need to be threatened or feel the need to be inflammatory toward the person or the position of the leader who has been given authority.
God gave power to Pharaoh, Saul, David, Solomon, a host of good and bad kings throughout history including Cyrus, Alexander the Great, and even Nero. It is with this security that we are called to pray. The opposite of faith born through prayer is fear. Fear is not the currency of Christianity. Fear is a poor guide. C.H. Spurgeon liked to quip that there are 365 "fear-nots" scattered throughout the Bible, one for each day. Solomon declared, "The fear of man brings a snare, but He who trusts in the Lord will be exalted" (Proverbs 29:25). As the culture around dims, Christ followers are to not fear but shine brighter. The first impulse of the Christian - pray to the ultimate power for the powers that be.
The Presidents
We should not be surprised when Presidents in our current political climate cause polarization. Imagine if President Obama or Hillary Clinton (not a President, I know) had shown up and Platt had prayed over them? The opposite end of the spectrum would have felt uncomfortable. I think there would have been rumblings. Consider another scenario. What if Platt had declined to pray for President Trump, and it was later publicized that Pastor Platt had passed on the opportunity. Cue the rumblings. Apart from aligning himself with the Apostle Paul and 1 Timothy 2, Pastor Platt really didn't have a great option as a leader. President Trump's presence created a catch twenty-two.
The question I keep asking myself is what would I have done if I was in Platt's shoes? What would you have done? These questions make me pause and want to put down my stones.
Since his prayer, Platt has continued to take a lot of heat. He took heat because as a pastor he didn't take the opportunity to chide Trump for "standing in solidarity with" the LGBTQ+ movement which is celebrating it's 50th year this week. Some have taken the opportunity to take shots at Platt's social justice position or a perceived embracing of the WOKE movement. Others have called into question his character as a leader of a large megachurch. Christian leaders have even tweeted crude remarks which were thankfully removed.
Out of all of these responses, perhaps the most interesting is Platt's own response which appears to align pretty well with the apostle Paul. It is informative that after telling Timothy to pray for leaders, Paul in verse 8 makes mention of "lifting up of holy hands." This phrase lifting up of holy hands is perhaps the most cryptic part of the text to the modern day reader. The context and Paul's emphasis in the verses prior are on unity. Unity is one of Paul's greatest pleas throughout his writings in the New Testament. Paul was a man familiar with division and its negative impact: Jew vs. Gentile, Pharisee vs. Sadducee, Paul and Peter, Paul and Barnabas with John Mark, the list goes on.
In 1 Timothy 2 Paul stakes his argument for unity in the very nature of God. Often the parts of the Biblical text that are the most challenging and the least understood hold the key to unlock a passage. This is the case of lifting up holy hands. Often this phrase is glossed over, but it carried weight in the Jewish mind. The idea of lifting up holy hands speaks of prayer offered at the temple and harkens back to the worship of the Psalter - the Jewish book of worship (Psalms). As an observant Jew, you would never dream of coming to the temple to pray to
God gave power to Pharaoh, Saul, David, Solomon, a host of good and bad kings throughout history including Cyrus, Alexander the Great, and even Nero. It is with this security that we are called to pray. The opposite of faith born through prayer is fear. Fear is not the currency of Christianity. Fear is a poor guide. C.H. Spurgeon liked to quip that there are 365 "fear-nots" scattered throughout the Bible, one for each day. Solomon declared, "The fear of man brings a snare, but He who trusts in the Lord will be exalted" (Proverbs 29:25). As the culture around dims, Christ followers are to not fear but shine brighter. The first impulse of the Christian - pray to the ultimate power for the powers that be.
The Presidents
We should not be surprised when Presidents in our current political climate cause polarization. Imagine if President Obama or Hillary Clinton (not a President, I know) had shown up and Platt had prayed over them? The opposite end of the spectrum would have felt uncomfortable. I think there would have been rumblings. Consider another scenario. What if Platt had declined to pray for President Trump, and it was later publicized that Pastor Platt had passed on the opportunity. Cue the rumblings. Apart from aligning himself with the Apostle Paul and 1 Timothy 2, Pastor Platt really didn't have a great option as a leader. President Trump's presence created a catch twenty-two.
The question I keep asking myself is what would I have done if I was in Platt's shoes? What would you have done? These questions make me pause and want to put down my stones.
Since his prayer, Platt has continued to take a lot of heat. He took heat because as a pastor he didn't take the opportunity to chide Trump for "standing in solidarity with" the LGBTQ+ movement which is celebrating it's 50th year this week. Some have taken the opportunity to take shots at Platt's social justice position or a perceived embracing of the WOKE movement. Others have called into question his character as a leader of a large megachurch. Christian leaders have even tweeted crude remarks which were thankfully removed.
Out of all of these responses, perhaps the most interesting is Platt's own response which appears to align pretty well with the apostle Paul. It is informative that after telling Timothy to pray for leaders, Paul in verse 8 makes mention of "lifting up of holy hands." This phrase lifting up of holy hands is perhaps the most cryptic part of the text to the modern day reader. The context and Paul's emphasis in the verses prior are on unity. Unity is one of Paul's greatest pleas throughout his writings in the New Testament. Paul was a man familiar with division and its negative impact: Jew vs. Gentile, Pharisee vs. Sadducee, Paul and Peter, Paul and Barnabas with John Mark, the list goes on.
In 1 Timothy 2 Paul stakes his argument for unity in the very nature of God. Often the parts of the Biblical text that are the most challenging and the least understood hold the key to unlock a passage. This is the case of lifting up holy hands. Often this phrase is glossed over, but it carried weight in the Jewish mind. The idea of lifting up holy hands speaks of prayer offered at the temple and harkens back to the worship of the Psalter - the Jewish book of worship (Psalms). As an observant Jew, you would never dream of coming to the temple to pray to
Yahweh without ritually clean hands and just as importantly a clean heart. God sifts the human heart; and repercussions of not approaching Him properly were dire (Nadab and Abihu, Uzzah). Notice that Paul links prayer and lifting up holy hands, with unity by saying "without wrath and dissension." Paul's second helpful impulse is an impulse toward unity.
Sadly wrath and dissension are often an easy impulse for us. Yet, Pastor Platt in his very gracious response seems to avoid these two pitfalls and instead moves toward Paul's impulse toward unity. Unity for the sake of the church that God has called Pastor Platt to lead. He also has refrained from defending himself on social media beyond his explanation to the church. Pastor Platt seems to be one of those rare leaders who do the right thing despite the loss of personal leadership capital. Interestingly enough or perhaps in a moment of divine sovereignty, President Trump showed up at Platt's church. Maybe, Pastor Platt was the man for the occasion. At least, Platt checked off on Paul's first two impulses: prayer and unity. Presidents should be prayed for and pastors should seek biblical unity.
Pastors
The back half of chapter 2 Paul's writing gets even more difficult. Paul shifts from addressing men to address the women. If men struggle when they feel that their positional authority has been "disrespected" resulting in wrath and dissension, then women can struggle when it comes to the priority of their physical beauty versus inner beauty or godliness.
At first glance this passage may appear to be a rabbit trail which either feels really uncomfortable to our Western ears, or just leaves us confused. It is helpful to remember that Roman and Jewish cultures were both patriarchal. Yet, the apostle's greatest concern or his hashtag for the back half of chapter 2 is a call to godliness and order that flows out of Genesis. Paul's third encouragement, or helpful impulse, is godliness and respect of order that makes Christ look good. Followers of Jesus are to reflect godliness and order into a dark world. There is no better way to achieve this than our witness and especially our words. We are to live for an audience of one. We are to reflect Him to all.
The expectation to reflect Christ is understandably an expectation for the pastor. The world is watching and so is their flock. As a pastor, I always cringe when I hear believers taking shots at big named pastors. I cringe because I know that I am no different than the critiqued pastor. I am deeply flawed; we all are. Again, I find myself wanting to put down my stones. Apart from Christ, I know that I am incapable of godliness.
The proper response to any situation is always godliness. Godliness in our social media posts (and replies too). Godliness in sounding off with our opinions to our friends. Godliness in how we protect and treat our God-given spiritual shepherds. Godliness toward our God-given civic leaders. There are no perfect leaders but neither are their any perfect followers. Do we really want to be the one to throw the first stone? No, we want to be godly.
Prayer, unity, and godliness. These three characteristics are tough to come by, they require Christ in us. They reflect Jesus. The world is watching and so is Jesus. May the first impulse of our hearts, mouths, and social media posts, all bow their knee to Jesus.
Sadly wrath and dissension are often an easy impulse for us. Yet, Pastor Platt in his very gracious response seems to avoid these two pitfalls and instead moves toward Paul's impulse toward unity. Unity for the sake of the church that God has called Pastor Platt to lead. He also has refrained from defending himself on social media beyond his explanation to the church. Pastor Platt seems to be one of those rare leaders who do the right thing despite the loss of personal leadership capital. Interestingly enough or perhaps in a moment of divine sovereignty, President Trump showed up at Platt's church. Maybe, Pastor Platt was the man for the occasion. At least, Platt checked off on Paul's first two impulses: prayer and unity. Presidents should be prayed for and pastors should seek biblical unity.
Pastors
The back half of chapter 2 Paul's writing gets even more difficult. Paul shifts from addressing men to address the women. If men struggle when they feel that their positional authority has been "disrespected" resulting in wrath and dissension, then women can struggle when it comes to the priority of their physical beauty versus inner beauty or godliness.
At first glance this passage may appear to be a rabbit trail which either feels really uncomfortable to our Western ears, or just leaves us confused. It is helpful to remember that Roman and Jewish cultures were both patriarchal. Yet, the apostle's greatest concern or his hashtag for the back half of chapter 2 is a call to godliness and order that flows out of Genesis. Paul's third encouragement, or helpful impulse, is godliness and respect of order that makes Christ look good. Followers of Jesus are to reflect godliness and order into a dark world. There is no better way to achieve this than our witness and especially our words. We are to live for an audience of one. We are to reflect Him to all.
The expectation to reflect Christ is understandably an expectation for the pastor. The world is watching and so is their flock. As a pastor, I always cringe when I hear believers taking shots at big named pastors. I cringe because I know that I am no different than the critiqued pastor. I am deeply flawed; we all are. Again, I find myself wanting to put down my stones. Apart from Christ, I know that I am incapable of godliness.
The proper response to any situation is always godliness. Godliness in our social media posts (and replies too). Godliness in sounding off with our opinions to our friends. Godliness in how we protect and treat our God-given spiritual shepherds. Godliness toward our God-given civic leaders. There are no perfect leaders but neither are their any perfect followers. Do we really want to be the one to throw the first stone? No, we want to be godly.
Prayer, unity, and godliness. These three characteristics are tough to come by, they require Christ in us. They reflect Jesus. The world is watching and so is Jesus. May the first impulse of our hearts, mouths, and social media posts, all bow their knee to Jesus.
