5:1
The curse of chapter divisions strikes again! What has Timothy just been told? He has been urged to be assertive. To teach and command the things of God and not to let anyone despise him. He was not to be timid. But he also needed to guard against the opposite danger, or becoming arrogant or not valuing people properly. This is what these instructions are related to. He is not to rebuke an older man harshly. This does not mean older men never need correction, but we are to be careful how we go about this. Older men are to be exhorted as if they were our fathers. We are to value them and to want to see them continue to grow in the faith. Likewise we are to treat younger men as brothers. Now Timothy was quite young, some of us are not so young, but the general principle is treating people as though they matter, and matter deeply to us. There are times when we need to correct, but we are to do it to build up, not to tear down.
5:2
Male-female relationships can be problematic. No matter how mature you are, how long you have been a Christian, sexual temptation is a danger. Sexual temptation does not just come in the form of lust, it can also spring out of what starts out of a genuine caring for someone. So men and women need to be careful. It is a good practice for, in general, men not to counsel women alone, and women not to counsel men alone. This does not mean men and women never interact, but we need to be aware of the risks, and to act wisely. Above all, we are to have the right attitude. The world teaches us to treat women as sex objects, and it encourages women (even, increasingly, young girls) to be sex objects. This is a diminution of our humanity. We are to treat older women as mothers, younger women as sisters. Ie we value and protect them, seeking their good. All this is to be done with absolute purity.
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