"You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."
It is interesting when we get a bit of a glimpse into the world and culture of the earliest church. It was clearly a world where a woman's role was inside the home, and the man was one who would go out and earn for the household.
I think a lot of people get the wrong impression about what biblical passages contain. I don't think it was proscribing that those roles continue as such for the sake of God's will, as the writers, Paul here, were writing to the world they lived in. So his instructions are all addressed to people in the role he saw them performing. I don't think it occurred to him that things might change over the centuries. He was talking to a world he knew, and one based on previous centuries of the same.
But times change, and not only are women as much in the workplace as men are these days, but likewise there is a strong movement of men who have become the home nurturers. We could discuss all day long about how this came to pass, and how much more change people would like to see, but I'd like to look at the instructions themselves.
Frankly, the teaching for each of the mentioned groups is the same: Practice self-control! "Teach older men to be... self controlled." Teach older women to not do the common un-controlled actions, like slandering and drinking. They in turn should teach "younger women to ... be self-controlled..." Young men, be... self-controlled. If I were a betting man, I'd bet the theme here is actually for us to be... and this is a big guess here... self-controlled?
It's pretty clear that Paul sees self-control as the key to living a life of shining example to the rest of the world, so as not to give ammunition to those who would try to find reasons to malign Christians.
I wish we had more self-control in our world today. We aren't always the best examples to the world when we join in the popular culture trash sessions. Let's face it: this is a glorious era for the gossip mill. We love to talk smack about celebrities, friends, and groups other than our own. Political parties, religious beliefs, even cross-denominations, we often lack the integrity to keep our opinions to ourselves.
Paul, who was actually aware that he wasn't a very good speaker for reasons not revealed, makes a very big deal about being the kind of people who, when we speak, we are clear about what we are saying. He repeatedly urges us to keep on point with our message, not only with our words but with our actions too.
Lent is a time for refinement. An opportunity to reexamine ourselves and come out revised, rejuvenated, reborn and simply better than before. Practicing self-control is something I really need to work on. I hope this speaks to you as well.
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