I Timothy 5:1-2

“Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.”

Paul writes young Pastor Timothy about his personal relationships with the varied members of his church congregation and it’s ‘all about the family’. 

Older men – fathers.  

Younger men – brothers. 

Older women – mothers. 

Younger women – sisters. 

He takes special care to elaborate to Timothy about his relationships with older men and younger women. For the single man, these may be the relationships that require some extra reinforcement that the church community is a ‘family’. 

Older men. A younger man may be prone to be critical of older men who no longer have the speed and the strength they had when they were younger and may be critical and dismissive of these men. This is less likely if the older man is your dad. 

Younger women. A younger man may become attracted to a younger woman and the instruction here is with regard to a physical attraction:

– all purity. (NASB,ESV,NLT)

– absolute purity. (NIV)

– all propriety. (HCSB)

 The instruction though is really clarified when Paul writes – ‘as you would your own sister’. There is no man of God and follower of Jesus Christ that would not treat his ‘own sister’ with all purity. This ‘all in the family’ reminder is critical for the younger man. 

Prayer. 

Heavenly Father, thank You that the ‘family of believers’ is Your idea. Give me grace today to embrace and to execute Your idea with my words and with my actions.  In Jesus Name. Amen