What Does The Word All Mean In 1 Timothy 2

His belief that people should and can “be perfect... as your heavenly father is perfect” (NOAB Matt 5:48) helps explains what he means when saying “…the kingdom of heaven has come near” (NOAB Matt 4:17, Matt 10:7); heaven will not come literally to earth as in the day of judgement, as Paul seems to believe will happen imminently (NOAB Rom 13:11, NOAB 1 Cor 7:26), but Jesus will bring the perfection that heaven symbolizes to mankind to hopefully accept.

Philippians 2:5-7 ~ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.

As in the interpretation of any passage of Scripture, the correct interpretation of Philippians 2:1-11 rests upon a careful examination of its context. Paul is writing the letter to the Philippians in order to thank them for their gift which they sent by Epaphroditus to him in prison. Although some scholars have argued that the current Epistle to the Philippians was originally several separate letters, based upon the sharp change of tone in 3:1, the “therefore, then, accordingly” in 2:1 clearly connects chapter two with chapter one. The immediate context of 2:1-11 is the exhortation to unity in 1:27-30. In this section, Paul urges the Philippians “to live as

Paul explains that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10) and goes on to say that no matter who knows the law, they are all condemned (Romans 2:12). In those days the Jews were higher up than the Gentiles and Paul was trying to let them know that they too were condemned no matter how high up they were believed to be. Today, people do not believe in just doing good deeds, they can achieve entrance into heaven. People have strayed from God and think that they are the ultimate being. Atheists are a prime example. They do not believe that God is in existence. They only believe in things they can see and scientific explanations. Some people today identify themselves as the ultimate being. They do not believe in the creator which is

Paul expresses an equality of human beings as those he equally owes a duty and a debt to preach the gospel. As mentioned before, some cultures of mankind arose from the refusal to glorify and acknowledge God with purity and righteousness. As a result, they developed cultures of darkness, shamefulness, and foolishness. Furthermore, such cultures of humanity caused their people to lose moral attributes and to grow wicked, selfish, and cruel (Romans 1).

As with any interpretation of a passage of Scripture, the proper interpretation of Philippians 2:2-11is relied on accurate examination of its context. Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians to thank them for the gift, in which was sent to him by Epaphroditus while in prison. Although most scholars have argued that the current Epistle to the Philippians was basically several separate letters, based on different tones throughout the chapters, in 2:2 it clearly associates the first chapter of the Philippians with the second. The direct context of Philippians 2:2-11 is the sermon to unity found in Philippians 1:27-30. With this, we see Paul urging the Philippians to essentially live as citizens who are worthy of the gospel. He then continued this theme into chapter two where he continued to advise the Philippians to humility.

Believers have been unified in salvation by grace and are called to live like Christ.

“In order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson, that, in the view of infinite purity, we are sinners, all alike.”

The genre of Ephesians 2:1-10 is an Epistle. The Epistles were letters teaching specific churches or groups of people; often inspired by God. They are split into two categories: Pauline Epistles, written by Paul and traditionally Paul was the first word of the book in Greek, and General Epistles, often referred to as the Catholic epistles and were written to the universal Church. The Pauline Epistles consist of: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The General Epistles consist of: Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. The interpretive principles of this genre are that it is meant to be read as a whole and in one sitting in order to get the main idea of the passage, one must view the paragraphs as the main unit of thought in the passage, one must know the structure to understand the letter, and one must do background reading to fully comprehend the main concept and the history and culture of the setting.

1 Corinthians 9:22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some (New International Version). This scripture stated by the Apostle Paul was used to declare his commitment, not only to God, but to mankind. His statement created a model not only for ministry but for healthcare. In a culturally diverse society it is important that each provider attempt to put the needs of the patient before their own in order to provide the best possible care. This is also true in a spiritually divers culture. Where there is not a need to completely understand the foundations of religious beliefs but the willingness to be all things by all possible means so that some may receive

•“When you pray, you should say: Father, your name be revered. Your empire be established. Provide us with the bread we need day by day. Forgive our sins, since we too forgive everyone in debt to us. And don’t make us face the test.” (Luke 11:2-4)

Timothy is one the twelve disciples. His name means “honoring God” or “precious to God”. He was born in 17 AD, Lystra, Turkey and died in 97 AD, Macedonia. He came from a mixed cultural family where his father was a Greek and his mother was faithful to God. So he got to experience so many things and was able to view the world differently from others when he grew up. He put his faith in God when he was young. Timothy’s grandmother was named Lois, his mother Eunice. They taught Timothy the Old Testament when he was little and this boy loved it so much. Later on when he met Paul, Paul greatly gave his mother and grandmother a very good comment. He wrote to Timothy: “I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without

42 And thou didst devour my son for naught, because he committed no violence, and didst thereby render me culpable on his account, therefore God will require him that is persecuted.

What did Paul mean by the word “all”? If he meant every person, than he was probably a universalist, if not, what did he mean? Talbott uses a sports reference which supports this line of enquiry, “When the Portland Trailblazers passed over the chance to draft Michael Jordan, they disappointed all of Oregon”. The word all is commonly used when not literally meaning all. This does not prove that Paul did not mean all, however it does cast doubt on whether he did. Boettner casts further doubt by scouring the New Testament for use of the word, “In some fifty places throughout the New Testament the words ‘all’ and ‘every’ are used in a limited sense”. This is an excellent approach to understanding what Paul meant. However it is fatally flawed. Talbott observes “Boettner fails to cite a single example from one of these [Paul’s theological arguments] contexts”. While there are some examples of hyperbole in the New Testament, Paul’s use of the word ‘all’ is not certainly one of them. This leaves us where we started, not sure whether the word was used in a deliberate statement of universalist belief. Weddeburn perspective is that Romans is written with a specific intention and a specific “divided” audience in mind. He argues Paul intends to “form” a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. Because of this audience and the conflict between them, Paul uses the word all to mean that salvation is no longer limited to

2 Timothy 2:1-4, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. “