Modern Issues Through the Lens of 1 Timothy 5: Love and Respect

How should believers treat those of different stations in life?

How is a Christian man supposed to view the opposite sex?

What is the code for these things as we walk with Christ?

The answers are found within Paul’s first letter to Timothy in chapter 5.

We have much freedom in Christ, but not a license to be sinful in our conduct.

If there is a man in charge above you, well-advanced in years, we must treat him as we do fathers. At least like we would revere our own father, at a minimum. Would you talk back to your own father (hormonal teenagers aside)? Tell them they’re mistaken about something when they’ve got much more life experience? Didn’t think so.

Does an older gentleman know less than you? Of course not!

If there is an older woman, also well-advanced in years, we are to treat her like a mother.

Respect is needed regardless of gender. Women in older age are often sweet and caring to those younger than them, offering years of untold wisdom.

If there’s an older lady at the grocery store that can’t quite reach that pie filling can, treat her with respect by offering to grab it for her. Pay for her groceries in the checkout line as an act of kindness. Listen with an open ear.

And as far as younger women are concerned, we are to treat them as though they are sisters, with all purity.

I’ve spoken before about Jesus not meaning you can’t desire any woman, otherwise it’s adultery in Matthew 5:28.

But that doesn’t mean being a creepy weirdo and thinking it’s okay to gawk and treat women as things instead of people.

It just means, “Wow, she’s beautiful!” is not a sin. God made attractive human beings. It’s okay to realize this. The Bible speaks a lot about the beauty of women as well as their character.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having both. That’s a real blessing from heaven.

Men have a challenging time with this issue, and many women might not understand what they go through. Testosterone makes a man a man, and estrogen makes a woman a woman. Both are necessary for both genders to keep all things in balance in some quantities. But having testosterone makes the area of sexuality a battleground for men.

Paul’s admonition in Timothy’s letter is to treat women with all purity.

There’s nothing wrong with the attraction factor. “I think you’re gorgeous,” is not a horrible thing to say. Saying it to some random woman out of nowhere might be a horrible idea—but attraction doesn’t mean sinful.

Like the recent controversy online with the average male fantasy fiasco (shoeonhead’s recent video on this is hilarious), we want a woman to love and provide for, and that’s enough for most of us. If she wants us back and makes us feel like we’ve got both of those, that’s a blessing from God.

Hopefully, I’m not wrong for saying that.

When it comes to dating, the world has its way—and God has His way. Sure, you can use a dating app, but that might not be the best way to find your intended person.

Treating a woman as a sister with all purity in the dating sphere looks more like a courtship leading to marriage than going through woman after woman or man after man.
Christians should have some class about them.

I want my intended love to treat me with the same level of purity and certainly don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea from my end.

Courtship seems the best way to go. Friendship with romantic intention. No beating around the bush or try before buying mentality.
Love is one of the amazing things about this universe. We should approach it carefully.

As Paul says, with all purity.

“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation” (Psalm 68:5 [ESV]).

Back to the other areas of Paul’s instructions to Timothy. Our God is a Father to those without one, so how much more should we counsel our young men and women?

God also protects orphans and widows. Our God loves women, in stark contrast to the current male zeitgeist ruined by grifting influencers and terrible role models.

An awesome example is something like: “You took on another man’s child. That’s such beta behavior.”

What?!

No, that would provide for those without a father. As the Bible commands us to.

My belief is that anyone who compartmentalizes other people into these subgroups is a dehumanizing piece of garbage (to put it nicely).

We, as the faithful, should provide for those widows in need and those children who have no fathers.

There’s so much talk out there about not marrying single mothers. Toxic influencers and their secular beliefs based on evolution (which is not biblical) should not dictate our paths.

Maybe you don’t want someone who has slept with thirty men. Fine. That’s fine.

But the Bible says nothing about “body counts” in those who have truly regenerated their lives.

Which, I suppose, is why the ideal is to marry one woman who is a virgin, or at least chaste and pure before God and men if they’ve made mistakes or had an earlier marriage.

Chaste doesn’t mean not dressing up or looking pretty. It means being proper to the occasion and not overly sexualized to the point of degeneracy.

Taking on another child to give them provision and a powerful role model is nothing short of fulfilling our duty in the kingdom of God.

If judging a woman by her past is the standard you’re going for, that’s not a Christian value. That’s not treating them as a sister with all purity.

If thinking about raising a son from your current girlfriend from her earlier marriage makes you run away, you’re not a man by God’s standards. That’s cowardice.

There is much to glean from Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 5 that we can stretch into many modern issues.

The Bible is never irrelevant because culture has changed. If anything, it becomes more relevant as time passes, seeing as it is alive and powerful.

Most people don’t take potshots (and yes, I mean potshot because I hate their ideology and they should repent instead of defending themselves) at the manosphere when they read 1 Timothy 5, but I think much of it applies to that line of thinking.

Treat older men as fathers, the younger as brothers.

Older women as mothers.

Younger women as sisters with all purity.

It’s a simple list, really.

If you follow these tenets, I believe the Father in heaven will be most pleased.

The Bible is as important as it was back then in our time, if not more so.

Let’s take the ageless advice of Paul, one of our fathers of faith, and respect it to the point of having it be second nature.

God bless you and have a wonderful rest of the week.