Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Honor Thy Elders (and the rest)

1 Timothy 5:1-2
Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.

The word 'exhort' in my dictionary basically means 'motivation'. So this passage means that we shouldn't tear down people around us, but motivate them to be like a family.

We sometimes just leave the motivation part alone, deciding to let them worry about motivating themselves. But we have to make people want to fellowship with us and spend time/energy with us.

But we also can't force the matter (of course).

I'm a little confused by the last few words, 'with all purity'. Anybody want to give that a shot?

Have a great day in the world God created for us.

In His Service,
Joyce

4 comments:

Joyce said...

Anybody know what the words 'with all purity' mean in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 2?

Anonymous said...

the notes in my bible suggest that relationships with men and women of one's own age are like that of a brother or sister,familial is the term used. the notes go on to say that such relationships should not be ruined by improper sexual overtones, but typified by mutual respect. Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

to me the passage is talking about "respecting" those around us. I should have included that in my first post. Would have been a bit more understandable.

Joyce said...

Anonymous:
That makes sense, thank you so much!
Sorry about the lag time for how long it took to post. I have to 'approve' them or something, and I hadn't logged on yesterday to check.
Joyce