1 Timothy 1

1 Timothy 1:1

I. SALUTATION (1:1, 2) 1:1 Paul first of all introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle is a sent one, so Paul is simply stating that he had been divinely appointed to missionary work. Paul’s authorship was by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. This emphasizes that Paul had not chosen the ministry by himself as a means of livelihood; neither had he been ordained to this work by men. He had a definite call from God to preach, teach, and suffer. In this verse, God the Father is called our Savior.

Usually in the NT, the Lord Jesus is spoken of as the Savior. But there is no contradiction. God is the Savior of men in the sense that He desires their salvation, He has sent His Son to accomplish the work of redemption, and He gives eternal life to all who accept the Lord Jesus by faith. Christ is the Savior in the sense that He actually went to the cross and finished the work that was necessary in order that God might righteously save ungodly sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of here as our hope. This reminds one of Col_1:27 : Christ in you, the hope of glory. Our only hope of getting to heaven is found in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. In fact, all the bright prospects which are held out before us in the Bible are ours only because of our connection with Christ Jesus. Note further Eph_2:14, where Christ is our peace, and Col_3:4, where He is our life. Christ is our peace, dealing with the problem of our sins in the past; Christ is our life, dealing with the problem of power for the present; and Christ is our hope, dealing with the problem of deliverance in the future. 1:2 The Letter is addressed to Timothy, who is described as a true son in the faith (in the realm of faith). This may indicate that Timothy was saved through the apostle, perhaps during Paul’s first visit to Lystra (Act_14:6-20). But the general impression in Acts is that Timothy was already a disciple when Paul first met him (Act_16:1-2). In that case the expression true son in the faith means that Timothy exhibited the same spiritual and moral qualities as Paul; he was a true descendant of the apostle because he manifested the same character. Stock says: Happy is the young Christian worker who has such a leader, and happy is the Christian leader who hath his quiver full of such true children.The usual salutation in NT Letters is grace and peace. In 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 2 John, this is enlarged to grace, mercy and peace. All of these latter Epistles were written to individuals rather than to churches, and this explains the addition of mercy. Grace means all the divine resources needed for Christian life and service. Mercy speaks of God’s compassionate care and protection for one who is needy and prone to fail. Peace means the inner tranquility that comes from leaning on the Lord. These three blessings come from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. The deity of Christ is implied in this verse in that Paul speaks of Him as equal with the Father. The expression Jesus Christ our Lord stresses the Lordship of Christ. Whereas the word Savior occurs twenty-four times in the NT, the word Lord occurs 522 times. We should be able to make a personal application of these important statistics.

1 Timothy 1:3

II. PAUL’S CHARGE TO TIMOTHY (1:3-20) A. Charge to Silence False Teachers (1:3-11) 1:3 It seems probable that after Paul’s first imprisonment at Rome, he visited Ephesus with Timothy. When Paul moved on to Macedonia, he instructed Timothy to stay in Ephesus for a while to teach the word of God and to warn the believers against false teachers. From Macedonia, Paul apparently traveled south to Corinth, and it was perhaps from that city that he wrote this first Letter to Timothy. In verse 3, the apostle is saying in effect: Just as I previously instructed you to stay in Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, so I am repeating those instructions now. It is not to be understood from this that Timothy was appointed pastor of the church at Ephesus. There is no such thought in the passage.

Rather, he was there on a temporary mission, charging certain men in the assembly not to teach doctrines contrary to the Christian faith or supposed additions to it. The principal false doctrines in question were legalism and Gnosticism. Just in case Timothy was tempted to run away from these problems, Paul is telling him to stay on the job. 1:4 Timothy was also exhorted to charge these men not to pay attention to fables and endless genealogies. It is impossible for us to know definitely what these fables and genealogies were. Some connect them with legends that had arisen among some Jewish teachers. Others think they refer to the myths and generations of the Gnostics. It is interesting to notice that the false cults of today are characterized by these same things. Many fanciful stories have arisen with regard to the founders of false religions, and genealogies occupy an important place in Mormonism. Such worthless subjects serve only to provoke questionings and doubts in people’s minds. They do not produce godly edification which is in faith. The whole plan of redemption is designed by God, not to stir up doubts and disputes, but rather to induce faith in the hearts of men. These men in the Ephesian assembly should not be devoting their attention to such valueless themes as fables and genealogies, but rather should devote themselves to the great truths of the Christian faith, which will prove a blessing to men and will inspire faith rather than doubt. 1:5 Perhaps the most important thing to understand in this verse is that commandment does not refer to the Law of Moses or the Ten Commandments, but to the charge of verses 3 and 4. This is brought out clearly in the NKJV: Now the purpose of the commandment is love. … Paul is saying that the goal or aim of the charge which he has just given Timothy is to produce not just orthodoxy but love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. These things always follow when the gospel of the grace of God is preached. Love doubtless includes love to God, to one’s fellow believers, and to the world in general. It must spring out of a pure heart. If one’s inner life is unclean, then true Christian love can scarcely flow from it. This love must also be the by-product of a good conscience, that is, a conscience void of offense toward God and man. Finally, this love must be the outcome of sincere (literally, unhypocritical) faith, that is, faith that does not wear a mask. False teachings could never produce these things which Paul lists, and certainly they are never the outcome of fables and endless genealogies! It is the teaching of the grace of God that produces a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith, and that therefore results in love. Verse 5 gives us the test of all true teaching, namely, does it produce these results? 1:6 There were some who had strayed from these things, that is, from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. The expression turned aside may mean either they aimed improperly or missed the mark. The former is no doubt the meaning here. It was not a question of these men having tried to reach these things; they did not even aim for them. As a result, they turned aside to idle talk. Their preaching was aimless; it led nowhere; it failed to make men holy. Paul frequently uses the word some in this Epistle. At the time he wrote 1 Timothy, these false teachers represented a minority in the church. When we come to 2 Timothy, we shall see that the word some is no longer prominent. The balance of power had changed. Departure had become much more general. The minority apparently had become the majority. 1:7 The false teachers referred to in the previous verses were Judaizers, who sought to mix Judaism and Christianity, law and grace. They maintained that faith in Christ was not sufficient for salvation. They insisted that a man must be circumcised or in other ways must keep the Law of Moses. They taught that the law was the believer’s rule of life. This false teaching has been present in every century of church history, and it is the plague which has been most successful in corrupting Christendom today. In its modern form, it states that although faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, a person must also be baptized, or join the church, or keep the law, or do penance, or tithe, or perform some other type of good works. Those who teach this present-day legalism fail to realize that salvation is by faith in Christ without the deeds of the law. They do not realize that good works are the result of salvation and not the cause. A man does not become a Christian by doing these good works, but rather he does these good works because he is a Christian. They do not see that Christ, and not the law, is the believer’s rule of life.

They fail to understand that a man cannot be under the law without being under the curse. The law condemns to death all who fail to keep its sacred precepts. Since no man is able to obey the law perfectly, then all are condemned to death. But Christ has redeemed believers from the curse of the law because He was made a curse for us. The apostle says of these self-styled teachers of the law that they did not understand what they were saying nor the things about which they were making confident affirmations. They could not speak intelligently about the law because they did not understand the purpose for which the law was given or the relationship of the believer to the law. 1:8 Paul makes it abundantly clear that there is nothing the matter with the law. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good (Rom_7:12). But the law must be used lawfully. It was never given as a means of salvation (Act_13:39; Rom_3:20; Gal_2:16, Gal_2:21; Gal_3:11). The lawful use of the law is to so employ it in preaching and teaching as to produce conviction of sin. It should not be presented as a means of salvation or as a rule of life. Guy King has pointed out that the three lessons which the law teaches are: We ought. We haven’t. We can’t. When the law has done its work in the life of a sinner, then that person is ready to cry out to God, Lord, save me by Your grace! Those who teach that the law is essential for salvation or sanctification are not consistent. They say that if a Christian breaks the law, then he need not be put to death. This is not establishing the authority of the law. Law without penalty is nothing but good advice. 1:9 The law is not made for a righteous person. If a man is righteous, he does not need a law. That is true of the Christian. When he is saved by the grace of God, he does not need to be placed under the Ten Commandments in order for him to live a holy life. It is not fear of punishment that makes a Christian live in a godly manner, but rather love for the Savior who died at Calvary. The apostle goes on to describe the type of people for whom the law was given. Many Bible commentators have pointed out that there is a close connection between this description and the Ten Commandments themselves. The Ten Commandments are divided into two sections: the first four have to do with man’s duty toward God (godliness), whereas the remaining six have to do with his duty toward his neighbor (righteousness). The following words seem to correspond to the first section of the Ten Commandments: For the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane. … The expression for man slayers is linked with the sixth commandment: You shall not murder. Here manslayers refers to murderers, and not just to a person who kills another accidentally. 1:10 The words for fornicators, for sodomites describe immoral heterosexuals and homosexuals. Here they are linked to the seventh commandment: You shall not commit adultery. The phrase for kidnappers is obviously related to the eighth commandment: You shall not steal. For liars, for perjurers (or false swearers) connects with the ninth commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.The final words and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine are not directly related to the tenth commandment, but rather seem to sweep back over all the commandments and summarize them. 1:11 It is difficult to decide how this verse is connected with what has gone before. It may mean that the sound doctrine mentioned in verse 10 is according to the … gospel. Or it may mean that all that Paul has been saying about the law in verses 8-10 is in perfect agreement with the gospel which he preach ed. Or again, it may mean that all that Paul has been saying about false teachers in verses 3-10 is in accord with the gospel message. While it is true that the gospel is glorious, the emphasis here may be on the fact that the gospel tells of the glory (the literal translation of glorious) of God in a wonderful way. It tells how the same God who is holy, righteous, and just is at the same time a God of grace, mercy, and love. His love provided what His holiness demanded; now those who receive the Lord Jesus are given eternal life. This is the gospel … which was committed to the apostle’s trust. It centers around the glorified Lord Jesus Christ and tells men that He is not only Savior but Lord as well.

1 Timothy 1:12

B. Thanksgiving for the True Grace of God (1:12-17) 1:12 In the preceding passage, Paul has been describing the false teachers who were seeking to impose the law on the believers in Ephesus. He is now reminded of his own conversion. It was not through law-keeping but by the grace of God. The apostle had not been a righteous man but the chief of sinners. Verses 12-17 seem to illustrate the lawful use of the law from Paul’s own experience. The law was not to him a way of salvation, but rather a means of conviction of sin. First of all he bursts out into thanksgiving to Christ Jesus for His enabling grace. The emphasis is not on what Saul of Tarsus did for the Lord but what the Lord did for him. The apostle could never get over the wonder that the Lord Jesus not only saved him but counted him faithful, appointing him to His service. The law could never have shown such grace. Rather, its inflexible terms would have condemned the sinner Saul to death. 1:13 That Paul had broken the Ten Commandments before his conversion is abundantly evident from this verse. He speaks of himself as formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. As a blasphemer, he spoke evil concerning the Christians and their Leader, Jesus. As a persecutor, he sought to put Christians to death because he felt that this new sect posed a threat to Judaism. In carrying out his evil plan, he took delight in committing insolent, violent, and outrageous acts against the believers. Although it is not as obvious from the English words, there is an ascending scale of wickedness in the three words blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent.

The first sin is a matter of words only. The second describes suffering inflicted on others for their religious beliefs. The third includes the idea of cruelty and abuse. But Paul obtained mercy. He did not receive the punishment he deserved because he did these things ignorantly in unbelief. In persecuting Christians, he thought he was doing God’s service. Since his parents’ religion taught the worship of the true God, he could only conclude that the Christian faith was opposed to the Jehovah of the OT. With all the zeal and energy he possessed, he sought to defend the honor of God by killing the Christians. Many insist that zeal and earnestness and sincerity are the important things with God. But Paul’s example shows that zeal is not enough. In fact, if a man is wrong, his zeal only makes the wrong more intense. The more zeal he has, the more damage he does! 1:14 Not only did Paul escape the punishment he deserved (mercy), but he also received abundant kindness which he did not deserve (grace). Where his sin had abounded, God’s grace abounded much more (Rom_5:20). The fact that the grace of the Lord was not bestowed on Paul in vain is indicated by the words with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. The grace which came to Paul was accompanied by faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. It could, of course, mean that just as grace came from the Lord, so faith and love found their origin in Him. But the meaning seems to be clearer if we understand that God’s grace was not refused by Paul, but that he responded by trusting the Lord Jesus and by loving this Blessed One whom he formerly had hated. 1:15 This is the first of five faithful sayings in the Pastoral Epistles. This is a faithful saying because it is the word of God, who can neither lie nor be mistaken. Men can afford to believe this statement with implicit trust. Indeed, to disbelieve it is unreasonable and unwise. It is worthy of all acceptance because it applies to all, tells what God has done for all, and extends the gift of salvation to all. Christ Jesus emphasizes the deity of our Lord. The One who came from heaven to earth was first of all God (Christ) and then Man (Jesus). The pre-existence of the Savior is suggested in the words He came into the world. Bethlehem was not the beginning of His existence. He had dwelt with God the Father from all eternity, but He came into the world as a Man on a specific errand. The calendar testifies to the fact that He came; we speak of this as a.d. 19, the year of our Lord 19. Why did He come? To save sinners. It was not to save good people (there were none!). Neither was it to save those who kept the law perfectly (none had done this either). Here we come to the very heart of the difference between true Christianity and all other teachings. False religions tell man that there is something he can do or be in order to win favor with God. The gospel tells man that he is a sinner, that he is lost, that he cannot save himself, and that the only way he can get to heaven is through the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. The type of law teaching which Paul described earlier in this chapter gives a place to the flesh. It tells man exactly what he wants to hear, namely, that he can somehow contribute to his own salvation. But the gospel insists that all the glory for the work of salvation must go to Christ alone, that man does nothing but the sinning, and that the Lord Jesus does all the saving. The Spirit of God brought Paul to the place where he realized he was the chief of sinners, or as some translate it: a foremost one among sinners. If he was not the chief of sinners, then certainly he was in the front rank. Notice that the title chief of sinners is not given to a man steeped in idolatry or immorality, but rather to a deeply religious man, one who had been brought up in an orthodox Jewish home! His sin was doctrinal; he did not accept the word of God concerning the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejection of the Son of God is the greatest of sins. Also, it should be noted that he says of whom I am chiefnot was but am. The godliest saints are often the most conscious of their own sinfulness. In 1Co_15:9 (written about a.d. 57), Paul called himself the least of the apostles. Then in Eph_3:8 (written about a.d. 60), he called himself less than the least of all saints. Now in 1Ti_1:15, written some years later, he calls himself the chief of sinners. Here we have an outline of Paul’s progress in Christian humility. Darby’s translation of the expression of whom I am chief is of whom I am (the) first. The thought is not so much that he was the worst sinner who ever lived but that he was first in relation to the nation of Israel. In other words, his conversion was a unique foreshadowing of the future conversion of the nation of Israel. He was one born out of due time (1Co_15:8) in the sense that he was born again prior to the rebirth of his people Israel. Just as he was saved by a direct revelation from heaven and apart from human instrumentality, so perhaps in this same way the Jewish remnant will be saved during the coming Tribulation Period. This interpretation seems to be borne out by the words first and pattern in verse 16. 1:16 This explains why Paul obtained mercy. It was so that he might be an exhibit of the longsuffering of Jesus Christ. Just as he had been the chief of sinners, so now he would be the chief display of the untiring grace of the Lord. He would be Exhibit A, a living example, as William Kelly said, of divine love rising above the most active hostility, of divine longsuffering exhausting the most varied and persistent antagonism.Paul’s case would be a pattern. In the printing trade, pattern means a first proof. It signifies a specimen or a sample. Paul’s conversion would be a pattern of what God would do with the nation of Israel when the Deliverer comes out of Zion (Rom_11:26). In a more general sense the verse means that none need despair, no matter how wicked they might be. They can console themselves that since the Lord has already saved the chief of sinners, they too can find grace and mercy by coming to Him as penitents. By believing on Him, they too can find everlasting life.1:17 As Paul thinks of God’s marvelous dealings with him in grace, he bursts out into this lovely doxology. It is difficult to know whether it is addressed to God the Father or to the Lord Jesus. The words the King eternal seem to refer to the Lord Jesus because He is called the Kings of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev_19:16). However, the word invisible seems to refer to the Father, since the Lord Jesus was obviously visible to mortal eyes. The fact that we are not able to distinguish which Person of the Godhead is intended might serve as an indication of Their absolute equality. The King eternal is spoken of, first of all, as immortal. This means incorruptible or imperishable. God in His essence is also invisible. Men have seen appearances of God in the OT, and the Lord Jesus fully revealed God to us in visible form, but the fact remains that God Himself is invisible to human eyes. Next He is spoken of as God who alone is wise. In the final analysis, all wisdom comes from God (Jam_1:5).

1 Timothy 1:18

C. Restatement of the Charge to Timothy (1:18-20) 1:18 The charge mentioned here is no doubt the charge Paul had given Timothy in verses 3 and 5 to rebuke false teachers. To encourage his son Timothy to carry out this important commission, the apostle reminds him of the circumstances which led to his call to Christian service. According to the prophecies previously made concerning you seems to mean that before Paul met Timothy, a prophet had arisen in church and announced that Timothy would be used by the Lord in His service. A prophet was a spokesman for God who received revelations of God’s will with regard to some particular course of action, and communicated these revelations to the church. Young Timothy was singled out by prophetic utterances and his future role as a servant of Jesus Christ was thus made known. If he should ever be tempted to lose heart or become discouraged in the work of the Lord, he should remember these prophecies and thus be inspired and stimulated to wage the good warfare.1:19 In this warfare, he should hold faith and a good conscience. It is not enough just to be doctrinally accurate as to the Christian faith. One might be ever so orthodox, and yet not have a good conscience. Hamilton Smith writes: Those who are gifted, and much before the public eye, have to beware, lest amid constant engagements, constant preaching, and public work before men, they neglect the secret life of godliness before God. Does not Scripture warn us that it is possible to preach with all the eloquence of men and angels, and yet be nothing? That which bears fruit for God, and will have its bright reward in the day to come, is the life of godliness from which all true service must flow. Some of those living in Paul’s day had thrust a good conscience from them and thus had suffered shipwreck as far as the faith was concerned. They have been likened to a foolish sailor who throws his compass overboard. Those who had made shipwreck of the faith were true believers, but they simply had not maintained tender consciences. Their Christian life had started out like a gallant ship putting out to sea, but instead of returning to port with banners waving and a full cargo, they had foundered on the rocks and brought shame on themselves and their testimony. 1:20 We do not know whether Hymenaeus and Alexander are the ones mentioned in 2Ti_2:17 and 2Ti_4:14. Neither do we know the nature of their blasphemy. All we are told is that they abandoned a good conscience and that they blasphemed. In the NT, blaspheme does not always mean to speak evil of God. It might also be used to describe abusive or evil speaking against one’s fellow men. It might be used to describe the lives of these men as well as the words of their lips. By making shipwreck of the faith, they had undoubtedly caused others to speak evil of the way of truth, and thus their lives were living blasphemies. Theirs is the tragedy of once bright, effective Christians being sidetracked into error through the stifling of their consciences. The apostle says that he delivered these men to Satan. Some scholars see in these words a simple reference to the act of excommunication. They understand them to mean that Paul had put these two men out of the local church and that this action was designed to bring them to repentance and to a restoration of fellowship with the Lord and with His people. The difficulty with this view is that excommunication was a function of the local church and not of an apostle. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul did not excommunicate the incestuous man but counseled the Corinthians to do so. The other major interpretation of this passage is that delivering to Satan was a power given to the apostles which is no longer in evidence today because there are no apostles. According to this view, the apostles had authority to turn a sinning person over to Satan for the infliction of physical suffering or, even in extreme cases, of death, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Act_5:1-11). The discipline here was obviously for corrective purposesthat they may learn not to blaspheme. It was not a question of damnation but of chastisement.