(Tap footnote to read it. Old Testament quotations are underlined. "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.1"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love". However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings – agapé centers on choice and behavior. It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings. (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".) Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé". Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing. It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. )
Pray for all
- First of all therefore, I urge intercessions, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings to be made on behalf of all men;
- for kings and all the men being in authority so we might lead a tranquil and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity.
- This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior,
- who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men; the man Jesus the Anointed,
- the One who gave Himself as a full repurchase price1“full repurchase price” is one word in Greek, typically translated ransom. The root refers to the price paid to free a slave. for all; the testimony given in their own fitting times.
- To which I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I speak the truth; I don’t lie – a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.
- Therefore, I long for the men in every place to pray; raising holy hands without anger and dissension.
Concerning Women
- Likewise also, women are to adorn themselves in respectable apparel with reserve2“reserve” is literally “shamefacedness” in the sense of turning from what is unbecoming because it’s shameful. and self-control; not in braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or expensive clothing;
- but in what is proper for women professing fear of God through good works.
- A woman must learn in tranquil silence,3“tranquil silence” is one word in Greek. It denotes an inner calm and reserve which is expressed by outward action. It’s used four times in the Bible: this verse, the following verse, in Acts 22:2 (denoting “silence”), and in 2 Thessalonians 3:12 referring to leading a “tranquil life”. in all submission.
- But I don’t permit a woman to teach nor to have authority over a man but to be in tranquil silence.4“tranquil silence” see note on previous verse
- For Adam was formed first, and then Eve.
- And Adam wasn’t deceived; but having been thoroughly deceived, the woman has come into transgression.
- Yet she will be saved through childbearing,5“she will be saved through childbearing” This almost certainly does not indicate that women somehow attain salvation through giving birth to children. It is likely Paul dealing with Gnosticism, which was a huge problem as early as Paul’s day. The Gnostics believed in an physical vs spiritual dualism, elevating the spiritual and deriding the physical. As a consequence, some Gnostics forbade marriage (as in 1 Timothy 4:3). They also had some strange ideas about the creation, with some believing that Eve was created first or that Adam, not Eve, was deceived (which Paul corrected in verses 13 and 14 respectively). Some of the more extreme Gnostics believed that since the earthly/fleshly was wicked, having children was wicked/sinful, some even to the point of saying it endangered salvation. It’s likely Paul was correcting this error, saying that women will be saved “through childbearing”, in the sense of “you can be saved while bearing children” because it’s not a sin, not that childbearing itself would save them. if they6“they” the switch here from singular (“she”) in the first half of the verse to plural (“they”) is accurate to the Greek. remain in faith, and ^love, and holiness with self-control.
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