Text -- 1 Timothy 1:15 (NET)

1:15 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”– and I am the worst of them!

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 1Ti 1:15

Faithful is the saying ( pistos ho logos ).

Five times in the Pastorals (1Ti 1:15; 1Ti 3:1; 1Ti 4:9; Tit 3:8; 2Ti 2:11). It will pay to note carefully pistis , pisteuō , pistos . Same use of pistos (trustworthy) applied to logos in Tit 1:9; Rev 21:5; Rev 22:6. Here and probably in 2Ti 2:11 a definite saying seems to be referred to, possibly a quotation (hoti ) of a current saying quite like the Johannine type of teaching. This very phrase (Christ coming into the world) occurs in Joh 9:37; Joh 11:27; Joh 16:28; Joh 18:37. Paul, of course, had no access to the Johannine writings, but such "sayings"were current among the disciples. There is no formal quotation, but "the whole phrase implies a knowledge of Synoptic and Johannine language"(Lock) as in Luk 5:32; Joh 12:47.

Robertson: 1Ti 1:15

Acceptation ( apodochēs ).

Genitive case with axios (worthy of). Late word (Polybius, Diod., Jos.) in N.T. only here and 1Ti 4:9.

Robertson: 1Ti 1:15

Chief ( prōtos ).

Not ēn (I was), but eimi (I am). "It is not easy to think of any one but St. Paul as penning these words"(White). In 1Co 15:9 he had called himself "the least of the apostles"(elachistos tōn apostolōn ). In Eph 3:8 he refers to himself as "the less than the least of all saints"(tōi elachistoterōi pantōn hagiōn ). On occasion Paul would defend himself as on a par with the twelve apostles (Gal 2:6-10) and superior to the Judaizers (2Co 11:5.; 2Co 12:11). It is not mock humility here, but sincere appreciation of the sins of his life (cf. Rom 7:24) as a persecutor of the church of God (Gal 1:13), of men and even women (Act 22:4.; Act 26:11). He had sad memories of those days.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:15

This is a faithful saying ( πιστὸς ὁ λόγος )

Better, faithful is the saying . A favorite phrase in these Epistles. o P. See 1Ti 3:1; 1Ti 4:9; 2Ti 2:11; Tit 3:8.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:15

Worthy of all acceptation ( πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος )

The phrase only here and 1Ti 4:9. Ἁποδοχή Pasto o lxx. Comp. Act 2:41, ἀποδεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον received his word. Πάσης all or every describes the reception of which the saying is worthy as complete and excluding all doubt.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:15

Came into the world ( ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον )

The phrase is unique in the Pastorals, and does not appear in Paul. It is Johannine. See Joh 1:9; Joh 3:19; Joh 11:27; Joh 12:46.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:15

To save sinners ( ἁναρτωλοὺς σῶσαι )

The thought is Pauline, but not the phrase. See Luk 9:56; Luk 19:10.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:15

Chief ( πρῶτος )

Or foremost . Comp. 1Co 15:9, and Eph 3:8. This expression is an advance on those.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:15

A most solemn preface.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:15

Well deserving to be accepted, received, embraced, with all the faculties of our whole soul.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:15

Promised.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:15

Exhibited.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:15

All sinners, without exception.

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

Worthy of credit, because "God" who says it "is faithful" to His word (1Co 1:9; 1Th 5:24; 2Th 3:3; Rev 21:5; Rev 22:6). This seems to have become an axiomatic saying among Christians the phrase, "faithful saying," is peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles (1Ti 2:11; 1Ti 4:9; Tit 3:8). Translate as Greek, "Faithful is the saying."

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

All possible; full; to be received by all, and with all the faculties of the soul, mind, and heart. Paul, unlike the false teachers (1Ti 1:7), understands what he is saying, and whereof he affirms; and by his simplicity of style and subject, setting forth the grand fundamental truth of salvation through Christ, confutes the false teachers' abstruse and unpractical speculations (1Co 1:18-28; Tit 2:1).

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

Reception (as of a boon) into the heart, as well as the understanding, with all gladness; this is faith acting on the Gospel offer, and welcoming and appropriating it (Act 2:41).

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

As promised.

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

As manifested [BENGEL].

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

Which was full of sin (Joh 1:29; Rom 5:12; 1Jo 2:2). This implies His pre-existence. Joh 1:9, Greek, "the true Light that, coming into the world, lighteth every man."

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

Even notable sinners like Saul of Tarsus. His instance was without a rival since the ascension, in point of the greatness of the sin and the greatness of the mercy: that the consenter to Stephen, the proto-martyr's death, should be the successor of the same!

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

Not merely, "I was chief" (1Co 15:9; Eph 3:8; compare Luk 18:13). To each believer his own sins must always appear, as long as he lives, greater than those of others, which he never can know as he can know his own.

JFB: 1Ti 1:15

The same Greek as in 1Ti 1:16, "first," which alludes to this fifteenth verse, Translate in both verses, "foremost." Well might he infer where there was mercy for him, there is mercy for all who will come to Christ (Mat 18:11; Luk 19:10).

Clarke: 1Ti 1:15

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - This is one of the most glorious truths in the book of God; the most important that ever reached the human ear, or can be entertained by the heart of man. All men are sinners; and as such condemned, justly condemned, to eternal death. Christ Jesus became incarnate, suffered, and died to redeem them; and, by his grace and Spirit, saves them from their sins. This saying or doctrine he calls, first, a faithful or true saying; πιστος ὁ λογος, it is a doctrine that may be credited, without the slightest doubt or hesitation; God himself has spoken it; and the death of Christ and the mission of the Holy Ghost, sealing pardon on the souls of all who believe, have confirmed and established the truth

Secondly, it is worthy of all acceptation; as all need it, it is worthy of being received by all. It is designed for the whole human race, for all that are sinners is applicable to all, because all are sinners; and may be received by all, being put within every man’ s reach, and brought to every man’ s ear and bosom, either by the letter of the word, or, where that revelation is not yet come, by the power of the Divine Spirit, the true light from Christ that lightens every man that cometh into the world. From this also it is evident that the death of Christ, and all its eternally saving effects, were designed for every man

Clarke: 1Ti 1:15

Of whom I am chief - Ὡν πρωτος ειμι εγω . Confounding Paul the apostle, in the fullness of his faith and love, with Saul of Tarsus, in his ignorance, unbelief, and persecuting rage, we are in the habit of saying: "This is a hyperbolical expression, arguing the height of the apostle’ s modesty and humility and must not be taken according to the letter."I see it not in this light; I take it not with abatement; it is strictly and literally true: take the whole of the apostle’ s conduct, previously to his conversion, into consideration, and was there a greater sinner converted to God from the incarnation to his own time? Not one; he was the chief; and, keeping his blasphemy, persecution, and contumely in view, he asserts: Of all that the Lord Jesus came into the world to save, and of all that he had saved to that time, I am chief. And who, however humble now, and however flagitious before, could have contested the points with him? He was what he has said, and as he has said it. And it is very probable that the apostle refers to those in whom the grace and mercy of God were, at the first promulgation of the Gospel, manifested: and comparing himself with all these he could with propriety say, ὡν πρωτος ειμι, of whom I am the first; the first who, from a blasphemer, persecutor (and might we not add murderer? see the part he took in the martyrdom of Stephen), became a preacher of that Gospel which I had persecuted. And hence, keeping this idea strictly in view, he immediately adds: Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy; that in me First, πρωτῳ, Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern To Them which should Hereafter, των μελλοντων believe on him to life everlasting. And this great display of the pardoning mercy of God, granted in so singular a manner, at the very first promulgation of the Gospel, was most proper to be produced as a pattern for the encouragement of all penitent sinners to the end of time. If Jesus Christ, with whom there can be no respect of persons, saved Saul of Tarsus, no sinner need despair.

Calvin: 1Ti 1:15

15.It is a faithful saying After having defended his ministry from slander and unjust accusations, not satisfied with this, he turns to his own advantage what might have been brought against him by his adversaries as a reproach. He shews that it was profitable to the Church that he had been such a person as he actually was before he was called to the apostleship, because Christ, by giving him as a pledge, invited all sinners to the sure hope of obtaining pardon. For when he, who had been a fierce and savage beast, was changed into a Pastor, Christ gave a remarkable display of his grace, from which all might be led to entertain a firm belief that no sinner; how heinous and aggravated so ever might have been his transgressions, had the gate of salvation shut against him.

That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners He first brings forward this general statement, and adorns it with a preface, as he is wont to do in matters of vast importance. In the doctrine of religion, indeed, the main point is, to come to Christ, that, being lost in ourselves, we may obtain salvation from him. Let this preface be to our ears like the sound of a trumpet to proclaim the praises of the grace of Christ, in order that we may believe it with a stronger faith. Let it be to us as a seal to impress on our hearts a firm belief of the forgiveness of sins, which otherwise with difficulty finds entrance into the hearts of men.

A faithful saying What was the reason why Paul aroused attention by these words, but because men are always disputing with themselves ²³ about their salvation? For, although God the Father a thousand times offer to us salvation, and although Christ himself preach about his own office, yet we do not on that account cease to tremble, or at least to debate with ourselves if it be actually so. Wherefore, whenever any doubt shall arise in our mind about the forgiveness of sins, let us learn to repel it courageously with this shield, that it is an undoubted truth, and deserves to be received without controversy.

To save sinners The word sinners is emphatic; for they who acknowledge that it is the office of Christ to save, have difficulty in admitting this thought, that such a salvation belongs to “sinners.” Our mind is always impelled to look at our worthiness; and as soon as our unworthiness is seen, our confidence sinks. Accordingly, the more any one is oppressed by his sins, let him the more courageously betake himself to Christ, relying on this doctrine, that he came to bring salvation not to the righteous, but to “sinners.” It deserves attention, also, that Paul draws an argument from the general office of Christ, in order that what he had lately testified about his own person might not appear to be on account of its novelty.

Of whom, I am the first Beware of thinking that the Apostle, under a presence of modesty, spoke falsely, ²⁴ for he intended to make a confession not less true than humble, and drawn from the very bottom of his heart.

But some will ask, “Why does he, who only erred through ignorance of sound doctrine, and whose whole life, in even other respect, was blameless before men, pronounce himself to be the chief of sinners?” I reply, these words inform us how heinous and dreadful a crime unbelief is before God, especially when it is attended by obstinacy and a rage for persecution. (Phi 3:6.) With men, indeed, it is easy to extenuate, under the presence of heedless zeal, all that Paul has acknowledged about himself; but God values more highly the obedience of faith than to reckon unbelief, accompanied by obstinacy, to be a small crime. ²⁵

We ought carefully to observe this passage, which teaches us, that a man who, before the world, is not only innocent, but eminent for distinguished virtues, and most praiseworthy for his life, yet because he is opposed to the doctrine of the gospel, and on account of the obstinacy of his unbelief, is reckoned one of the most heinous sinners; for hence we may easily conclude of what value before God are all the pompous displays of hypocrites, while they obstinately resist Christ.

Defender: 1Ti 1:15

There are three other "faithful saying" noted by the apostle Paul (1Ti 4:9; 2Ti 2:11; Tit 3:8), all in the pastoral epistles.

Defender: 1Ti 1:15

Right near the end of a uniquely fruitful Christian life, Paul still considered himself chief of sinners. Earlier he had called himself "least of the apostles" (1Co 15:9), then later "less than the least of all saints" (Eph 3:8)."

TSK: 1Ti 1:15

a faithful : 1Ti 1:19, 1Ti 3:1, 1Ti 4:9; 2Ti 2:11; Tit 3:8; Rev 21:5, Rev 22:6

worthy : Joh 1:12, Joh 3:16, Joh 3:17, Joh 3:36; Act 11:1, Act 11:18; 1Jo 5:11

that : Mat 1:21, Mat 9:13, Mat 18:11, Mat 20:28; Mar 2:17; Luk 5:32, Luk 19:10; Joh 1:29, Joh 12:47; Act 3:26; Rom 3:24-26, Rom 5:6, Rom 5:8-10; Heb 7:25; 1Jo 3:5, 1Jo 3:8, 1Jo 4:9, 1Jo 4:10; Rev 5:9

of whom : 1Ti 1:13; Job 42:6; Eze 16:63, Eze 36:31, Eze 36:32; 1Co 15:9; Eph 3:8

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Ti 1:15

This is a faithful saying - Greek, "Faithful is the word,"or doctrine - ὁ λογος ho logos . This verse has somewhat the character of a parenthesis, and seems to have been thrown into the midst of the narrative because the mind of the apostle was full of the subject. He had said that he, a great sinner, had obtained mercy. This naturally led him to think of the purpose for which Christ came into the world - to save sinners - and to think how strikingly that truth had been illustrated in his own case, and how that case had shown that it was worthy the attention of all. The word rendered "saying,"means in this place doctrine, position, or declaration. The word "faithful,"means assuredly true; it was that which might be depended on, or on which reliance might be placed. The meaning is, that the doctrine that Christ came to save sinners might be depended on as certainly true; compare 2Ti 2:11; Tit 3:8.

And worthy of all acceptation - Worthy to be embraced or believed by all. This is so, because:

\caps1 (1) a\caps0 ll are sinners and need a Saviour. All, therefore ought to welcome a doctrine which shows them how they may be saved.

\caps1 (2) b\caps0 ecause Christ died for all. If he had died for only a part of the race, and could save only a part, it could not be said with any propriety that the doctrine was worthy of the acceptance of all. If that were so, what had it to do with all? How could all be interested in it or benefited by it If medicine had been provided for only a part of the patients in a hospital, it could not be said that the announcement of such a fact was worthy the attention of all. It would be highly worthy the attention of those for whom it was designed, but there would be a part who would have nothing to do with it; and why should they concern themselves about it? But if it was provided for each one, then each one would have the highest interest in it. So, if salvation has been provided for me, it is a matter claiming my profoundest attention; and the same is true of every human being. If not provided for me, I have nothing to do with it. It does not concern me at all.

See this subject discussed at length in the supplementary note on 2Co 5:14.

\caps1 (3) t\caps0 he manner in which the provision of salvation has been made in the gospel is such as to make it worthy of universal acceptation. It provides for the complete pardon of sin, and the restoration of the soul to God. This is done in a way that is honorable to God - maintaining his law and his justice; and, at the same time, it is in a way that is honorable to man. He is treated afterward as a friend of God and an heir of life. He is raised up from his degradation, and restored to the favor of his Maker. If man were himself to suggest a way of salvation, he could think of none that would be more honorable to God and to himself; none that would do so much to maintain the law and to elevate him from all that now degrades him. What higher honor can be conferred on man than to have his salvation sought as an object of intense and earnest desire by one so great and glorious as the Son of God?

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 t is worthy of all acceptance, from the nature of the salvation itself. Heaven is offered, with all its everlasting glories, through the blood of Christ - and is not this worthy of universal acceptation? People would accept of a coronet or crown; a splendid mansion, or a rich estate; a present of jewels and gold, if freely tendered to them - but what trifles are these compared with heaven! If there is anything that is worthy of universal acceptation, it is heaven - for all will be miserable unless they enter there.

That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - The great and unique doctrine of the gospel. He "came into the world."He therefore had a previous existence. He came. He had, therefore, an object in coming. It makes his gospel more worthy of acceptation that he had an intention, a plan, a wish, in thus coming into the world. He came when he was under no necessity of coming; he came to save, not to destroy; to reveal mercy, not to denounce judgment; to save sinners - the poor, the lost, the wandering, not to condemn them; he came to restore them to the favor of God, to raise them up from their degradation, and to bring them to heaven.

Of whom I am chief - Greek, "first."The word is used to denote eminence - and it means that he occupied the first rank among sinners. There were none who surpassed him. This does not mean that he had been the greatest of sinners in all respects, but that in some respects he had been so great a sinner, that on the whole there were none who had surpassed him. That to which he particularly refers was doubtless the part which he had taken in putting the saints to death; but in connection with this, he felt, undoubtedly, that he had by nature a heart eminently prone to sin; see Rom. 7. Except in the matter of persecuting the saints, the youthful Saul of Tarsus appears to have been eminently moral, and his outward conduct was framed in accordance with the strictest rules of the law; Phi 3:6; Act 26:4-5. After his conversion, he never attempted to extenuate his conduct, or excuse himself. He was always ready, in all circles, and in all places, to admit to its fullest extent the fact that he was a sinner. So deeply convinced was he of the truth of this, that he bore about with him the constant impression that he was eminently unworthy; and hence he does not say merely that he had been a sinner of most aggravated character, but he speaks of it as something that always pertained to him - "of whom I am chief."We may remark:

(1)\caps1     t\caps0 hat a true Christian will always be ready to admit that his past life has been evil;

(2)\caps1     t\caps0 hat this will become the abiding and steady conviction of the soul; and,

(3)\caps1     t\caps0 hat an acknowledgment that we are sinners is not inconsistent with evidence of piety, and with high attainments in it. The most eminent Christian has the deepest sense of the depravity of his own heart and of the evil of his past life.

Poole: 1Ti 1:15

This is a faithful saying the following saying, which is the great proposition of the gospel, is a saying that is in itself true, and wherein God hath declared his truth.

And worthy of all acceptation and worthy to be with all thankfulness received, believed, and accepted.

That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners that Jesus Christ, being sent of the Father, in the fulness of time, was incarnate, lived, and died in the world; not only to set sinners an example of a better life, nor only to make God placable towards men, that if they would they might be saved; but to purchase a certain salvation for sinners, satisfying Divine justice, and meriting all grace necessary to bring them to salvation, to carry the lost sheep home upon his shoulders; yea, though they had been great wanderers, amartwlouv .

Of whom I am chief and I was as great a one as any other, yea, the chief. Paul, though converted, had his former sin of persecution before his eyes. Persecutors are some of the chief sinners. Some will have the relative of whom to refer to the saving mentioned: of which sinners brought to salvation I am the great president, having been so great a sinner as I have been and yet received to mercy.

Haydock: 1Ti 1:15

Christ Jesus, the true Son of God, came into the world to save sinners, of whom (says St. Paul) I am the chief, the first, the greatest. (Witham)

Gill: 1Ti 1:15

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,.... This is said, lest it should be thought strange, or scarcely credible, that so great a sinner should be saved; as well as to give a summary of the glorious Gospel the apostle was intrusted with; and in opposition to fables, endless genealogies, and vain jangling, and contentions about the law. The doctrine of Christ's coming into the world, and of salvation by him, as it is the sum and substance of the Gospel, so it is a "faithful saying"; in which the faithfulness of God is displayed to himself, and the perfections of his nature, his holiness, justice, love, grace, and mercy; to his law, which is magnified, and made honourable; to his word of promise hereby fulfilled; and to his Son in carrying him through the work: and the faithfulness of Christ is discovered herein, both to his Father with whom, and to his friends for whom, he engaged to obtain salvation; and the faithfulness of ministers is shown in preaching it, and of other saints in professing it, and abiding by it: it is a true saying, and not to be disputed or doubted of, but to be believed most firmly; it is certain that God the Father sent his Son into the world for this purpose; and Christ himself assures us, that he came for this end; his carriage to sinners, and his actions, testified the same; his works and miracles confirm it; and the numberless instances of sinners saved by him evince the truth of it: and it is "worthy of all acceptation"; or to be received by all sorts of persons, learned, or unlearned, rich or poor, greater or lesser sinners; and to be received in all ways, and in the best manner, as the word of God, and not man; with heartiness and readiness, and with love, joy, and gladness, and with meekness, faith, and fear, and by all means; for it is entirely true, absolutely necessary, and suitable to the case of all, and is to be highly valued and esteemed by those who do approve and accept of it. It is the Christian Cabala, or the evangelical tradition, delivered by the Father to Christ, by him to his apostles, and by them to the saints, by whom it is cordially received. The apostle seems to allude to the Cabala of the Jews, their oral law, which they say ^m was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, and by him to Joshua; and by Joshua to the elders; and by the elders to the prophets; and so from one to another to his times: but here he suggests, that if they would have a Cabala, here is one, that is firm, and true, and certain, and worthy to be received, whereas the Jewish one was precarious, yea, false and untrue. Indeed, sometimes the words of the prophets are so called by them; so that passage in Joe 2:13 is called קבלה, "Cabala" ⁿ, some thing delivered and received; upon which one of their commentators ^o has these words,

"whatever a prophet commands the Israelites, makes known unto them, or exhorts them to, is a Cabala.

And if a prophetic command or admonition, then surely: such an evangelical doctrine, as follows, is entitled to this character,

that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; Christ came into the world, being sent by his Father, but not against his will, but with his free consent: he came voluntarily in the fulness of time into this sinful world, where he was ill treated; and this was not by local motion, or change of place, but by assumption of nature; and the end of it was, that he might be the Saviour of lost sinners, as all men are, both by Adam's sin, and their own transgressions; though he came not to save all, for then all would be saved, whereas they are not; and if he came to save them, he must have then so far lost his end; but he came to save sinners, of all sorts, even notorious sinners, the worst and chief of sinners: and the apostle instances in himself,

of whom I am chief; or "first"; not that he was the first in time; Adam was the first man that sinned, though Eve was before him in the transgression: it is a most stupid notion, that some gave into from this passage, as if the soul of Adam passed from one body to another, till it came to Paul, and therefore he calls himself the first of sinners: but his meaning is, that he was the first in quality, or the greatest and chiefest of sinners, not only of those that are saved, but of all men, Jews or Gentiles; and this he said not hyperbolically, nor out of modesty, but from a real sense or apprehension he had of himself, and his sins, which were made exceeding sinful to him; or he was the chief of sinners, and exceeded all others in his way of sinning, in blaspheming the name of Christ, and persecuting his saints, otherwise his conversation was externally moral, and in his own, and in the opinion of others, blameless: he was no fornicator, adulterer, thief, extortioner, &c. but in the above things he went beyond all others, and was a ringleader in them; and the remembrance of these sins abode with him, and kept him humble all his days; he was always ready to acknowledge them, and express his vileness and unworthiness on account of them: hence he here says, not "of whom I was", but "of whom I am chief". Now such sinners, and all sorts of sinners, Christ came to save from all their sins, original and actual; from the law, its curse and condemnation; from the bondage of Satan, the evil of the world, and wrath to come, and from every enemy; and that, by his obedience, sufferings, and death, by fulfilling the law, bearing its penalty, offering himself a sacrifice for sin, thereby finishing it, making reconciliation for it, and bringing in an everlasting righteousness: and a great Saviour he is, and an only one; a full, suitable, able, and willing Saviour; a Saviour of the soul, as well as of the body, and of both with an everlasting salvation,

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ti 1:15

¹ tn Grk “the saying,” referring to the following citation (see 1 Tim 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; Titus 3:8 for other occurrences of this phrase).

² tn Grk “of whom I am the first.”

Geneva Bible: 1Ti 1:15

^{( 13 )} This [is] a ^{( i )} faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

^{( 13 )} He turns the reproach of the adversaries upon their own head, showing that this singular example of the goodness of God, contributes greatly to the benefit of the whole Church.

^{( i )} Worthy to be believed.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Ti 1:1-20

1 Timothy is put in mind of the charge which was given unto him by Paul at his going to Macedonia.

5 Of the right use and end of the law.

11 Of Saint Paul's calling to be an apostle;

20 and Hymenaeus and Alexander.

Maclaren: 1Ti 1:15

The Gospel In Small

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! --1 Tim. 1:15.

CONDENSATION is a difficult art. There are few things drier and more unsatisfactory than small books on great subjects, abbreviated statements of large systems. Error lurks in summaries, and yet here the whole fulness of God's communication to men is gathered into a sentence; tiny as a diamond, and flashing like it. My text is the one precious drop of essence, distilled from gardens full of fragrant flowers. There is an old legend of a magic tent, which could be expanded to shelter an army, and contracted to cover a single man. That great Gospel which fills the Bible and overflows on the shelves of crowded libraries is here, without harm to its power, folded up into one saying, which the simplest can understand sufficiently to partake of the salvation which it offers.

There are five of these faithful sayings' in the letters of Paul, usually called the pastoral epistles.' It seems to have been a manner with him, at that time of his life, to underscore anything which he felt to be especially important by attaching to it this label. They are all, with one exception, references to the largest truths of the Gospel. I turn to this one the first of them now, for the sake of gathering some lessons from it.

I. Note, Then, First, Here The Gospel In A Nutshell.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' Now, every word there is weighty, and might be, not beaten out, but opened out into volumes. Mark who it is that comes--the solemn double name of that great Lord, Christ Jesus.' The former tells of His divine appointment and preparation, inasmuch as the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Him, anointing Him to proclaim good tidings to the poor, and to open the prison doors to all the captives, and asserts that it is He to whom prophets and ritual witnessed, and for whose coming prophets and kings looked wearily through the ages, and died rejoicing even to see afar off the glimmer of His day. The name of Jesus tells of the child born in Bethlehem, who knows the experience of our lives by His own, and not only bends over our griefs with the pity and omniscience of a God, but with the experience and sympathy of a man.

Christ Jesus came.' Then He was before He came. His own will impelled His feet, and brought Him to earth.

Christ Jesus came to save.' Then there is disease, for saving is healing; and there is danger, for saving is making secure.

Christ Jesus came to save sinners '--the universal condition, co-extensive with the world' into which, and for which, He came. And so the essence of the Gospel, as it lay in Paul's mind, and had been verified in his experience, was this--that a divine person had left a life of glory, and in wonderful fashion had taken upon Himself manhood in order to deliver men from the universal danger and disease. That is the Gospel which Paul believed, and which he commends to us as a faithful saying.'

Well, then, if that be so, there are two or three things very important for us to lay to heart. The first is the universality of sin. That is the thing in which we are all alike, dear friends. That is the one thing about which any man is safe in his estimate of another. We differ profoundly. The members of this congregation, gathered accidentally together, and perhaps never to be all together again, may be at the antipodes of culture, of condition, of circumstances, of modes of life; but, just as really below all the diversities there lies the common possession of the one human heart, so really and universally below all diversities there lies the black drop in the heart, and' we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' It is that truth which I want to lay on your hearts as the first condition to understanding anything about the power, the meaning, the blessedness of the Gospel which we say we believe.

And what does Paul mean by this universal indictment? If you take the vivid autobiographical sketch in the midst of which it is embedded, you will understand. He goes on to say,' of whom I am chief.' It was the same man that said, without supposing that he was contradicting this utterance at all, touching the righteousness which is in the law' I was blameless.' And yet, I am chief.' So all true men who have ever shown us their heart, in telling their Christian faith, have repeated Paul's statement; from Augustine in his wonderful Confessions, to John Bunyan in his Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. And then prosaic men have said, What profligates they must have been, or what exaggerators they are now!' No. Sewer gas of the worst sort has no smell; and the most poisonous exhalations are only perceptible by their effects. What made Paul think himself the chief of sinners was not that he had broken the commandments, for he might have said, and in effect did say, All these have I kept from my youth up,' but that, through all the respectability and morality of his early life there ran this streak--an alienation of heart, in the pride of self-confidence, from God, and an ignorance of his own wretchedness and need. Ah! brethren, I do not need to exaggerate, nor to talk about splendid vices,' in the untrue language of one of the old saints, but this I seek to press on you: that the deep, universal sin does not lie in the indulgence of passions, or the breach of moralities, but it lies here--thou hast left Me, the fountain of living water.' That is what I charge on myself, and on every one of you, and I beseech you to recognise the existence of this sinfulness beneath all the surface of reputable and pure lives. Beautiful they may be; God forbid that I should deny it: beautiful with many a strenuous effort after goodness, and charming in many respects, but yet vitiated by this, The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified.' That is enough to make a man brush away all the respectabilities and proprieties and graces, and look at the black reality beneath, and wail out of whom I am chief.'

But, further, Paul's condensed summary of the Gospel implies the fatal character of this universal sin. He comes to save,' says he. Now what answers to save' is either disease or danger. The word is employed in the original in antithesis to both conditions. To save is to heal and to make safe.

And I need not remind you, I suppose, of how truly the alienation from God, and the substitution for Him of self or of creature, is the sickness of the whole man. But the end of sickness uncured is death. We have no healing medicine,' and the wound is incurable' by the skill of any earthly chirurgeon. The notion of sickness passes, therefore, at once into that of danger: for unhealed sickness can only end in death. Oh! that my words could have the waking power that would startle some of my complacent hearers into the recognition of the bare facts of their lives and character, and of the position in which they stand on a slippery inclined plane that goes straight down into darkness!

You do not hear much about the danger of sin from some modern pulpits. God forbid that it should be the staple of any; but God forbid that it should be excluded from any! Whilst fear is a low motive, self-preservation is not a low one; and it is to that that I now appeal. Brethren, the danger of every sin is, first, its rapid growth; second, its power of separating from God; third, the certainty of a future--ay! and present--retribution.

To me, the proof of the fatal effect of sin is what God had to do in order to stop it. Do you think that it would be a small, superficial cut which could be stanched by nothing else but the pierced hand of Jesus Christy Measure the intensity of danger by the cost of deliverance, and judge how grave are the wounds for the healing of which stripes had to be laid on Him. Ah! if you and I had not been in danger of death, Jesus Christ would not have died. And if it true that the Son of God laid aside His glory, and came into the world and died on the Cross for men, out of the very greatness of the gift, and the marvellousness of the mercy, there comes solemn teaching as to the intensity of the misery and the reality and awfulness of the retribution from which we were delivered by such a death. Sin, the universal condition, brings with it no slight disease and no small danger.

Further, we may gather from this condensed summary where the true heart and essence of the Christian revelation is. You will never understand it until you are contented to take the point of view which the New Testament takes, and give all weight and gravity to the fact of man's transgression and the consequences thereof. We shall never know what the power and the glory of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is until we recognise that, first and foremost, it is the mighty means by which man's ruin is repaired, man's down rush is stopped, sin is forgiven and capable of being cleansed. Only when we think of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as being, first and foremost, the redemption of the world by the great act of incarnation and sacrifice, do we come to be in a position in any measure to estimate its superlative worth.

And, for my part, I believe that almost all the mistakes and errors and evaporations of Christianity into a mere dead nothing which have characterised the various ages of the Church come mainly from this, that men fail to see how deep and how fatal are the wounds of sin, and so fall to apprehend the Gospel as being mainly and primarily a system of redemption. There are many other most beautiful aspects about it, much else in it, that is lovely and of good report, and fitted to draw men's hearts and admiration; but all is rooted in this, the life and death of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice by whom we are forgiven, and in whom we are healed.

And if you strike that out, you have a dead nothing left--an eviscerated Gospel.

I believe that we all need to be reminded of that to-day, as we always do, but mainly to-day, when we hear from so many lips estimates, favourable or unfavourable to Christianity and its mission in the world, which leave out of sight, or minimise into undue insignificance, or shove into a backward place, its essential characteristic, that it is the power of God through Christ, His Son Incarnate, dying and rising again for the salvation of individual souls from the penalty, the guilt, the habit, and the love of their sins, and only secondarily is it a morality, a philosophy, a social lever. I take for mine the quaint saying of one of the old Puritans, When so many brethren are preaching to the times, it may be allowed one poor brother to preach for eternity.'

This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.'

II. Now, Secondly, Note The Reliableness Of This Condensed Gospel.

When a man in the middle of some slight plank, thrown across a stream, tests it with a stamp of his foot, and calls to his comrades, It is quite firm,' there is reason for their venturing upon it too. That is exactly what Paul is doing here. How does he know that it is a faithful saying'? Because he has proved it in his own experience, and found that in his case the salvation which Jesus Christ was said to effect has been effected. Now there are many other grounds of certitude besides this, but, after all, it is worth men's while to consider how many millions there have been from the beginning who would be ready to join chorus with the Apostle here, and to gay, One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.' My experience cannot be your certitude; but if you and I are suffering from precisely the same disease, and I have tested a cure, my experiences should have some weight with you. And so, brethren, I point you to all the thousands who are ready to say, This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him.' Are there any who give counter-evidence; that say, We have tried it. It is all a sham and imagination. We have asked this Christ of yours to forgive us, and He has not. We have asked Him to cleanse us, and He has not. We have tried Him, and He is an impostor, and we will have no more to do with Him.' There are people, alas! who have gone back to their wallowing in the mire, but it was not because Christ had failed in His promises, but because they did not care to have them fulfilled any more. Jesus Christ does not promise that His salvation shall work against the will of men who submit themselves to it.

But it is not only because of that consentient chorus of many voices--the testimony of which wise men will not reject--that the word is a faithful saying.' This is no place or time to enter upon anything like a condensation of the Christian evidence; but, in lieu of everything else, I point to one proof. There is no fact in the history of the world better attested, and the unbelief of which is more unreasonable, than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if Christ rose from the dead--and you cannot understand the history of the world unless He did, nor the existence of the Church either--if Jesus Christ rose from the dead, it seems to me that almost all the rest follows of necessity: the influx of the supernatural, the unique character of His career, the correspondence of the end with the beginning, the broad seal of the divine confirmation stamped upon His claims to be the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world. All these things seem to me to come necessarily from that fact. And I say, given the consentient witness of nineteen centuries, given the existence of the Church, given the effects of Christianity in the world, given that upon which they repose--the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead--the conclusion is sound, This is a faithful saying … that He came into the world to save sinners.'

Men talk, nowadays, very often as if the progress of science and new views as to the evolution of creatures or of mankind had effected the certitude of the Gospel. It does not seem to me that they have in the smallest degree. The foundation of God standeth sure,' whatever may become of some of the superstructures which men have built upon it. They may very probably be blown away. So much the better if we get the rock to build upon once more. A great deal is going, but not the Gospel. Do not let us be afraid, or suppose that it will suffer. Do not let us dread every new speculation as if it was going to finish Christianity, but recognise this--that the fact of man's sin and, blessed be God! the fact of man's redemption stands untouched by them all; and to-day, as of old, Jesus Christ is, and is firmly manifested to be, the world's Saviour. Whatsoever refuge may be swept away by any storms, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried corner-stone, a sure foundation: He that believeth shall not be confounded.'

III. Lastly, Notice The Consequent Wisdom And Duty Of Acceptance.

Worthy of all acceptation,' says Paul. Yes, of course, if it is reliable. That word of the Lord which is sure, making wise the simple,' deserves to be received. Now this phrase, all acceptation,' may mean either of two things: it may either mean worthy of being welcomed by all men, or by the whole of each man.

This Gospel deserves to be welcomed by every man, for it is fitted for every man, since it deals with the primary human characteristic of transgression. Brethren! we need different kinds of intellectual nutriment, according to education and culture. We need different kinds of treatment, according to condition and circumstance. The morality of one age is not the morality of another, Much, even of right and wrong, is local and temporary; but black man and white, savage and civilised, philosopher and fool, king and clown, all need the same air to breathe, the same water to drink, the same sun for light and warmth, and all need the same Christ for redemption from the same sin, for safety from the same danger, for snatching from the same death. This Gospel is a Gospel for the world, and for every man in it. Have you taken it for yours? If it is worthy of all acceptation,' it is worthy of your acceptation. If you have not, you are treating Him and it with indignity, as if it was a worthless letter left in the post-office for you, which you knew was there, but which you did not think valuable enough to take the trouble to go for. The gift lies at your side. It is less than truth to say that it is worthy of being accepted.' Oh! it is infinitely more than that.

It is, also, worthy of all acceptation' in the sense of worthy of being accepted into all a man's nature, because it will fit it all and bless it all. Some of us give it a half welcome. We take it into our heads, and then we put a partition between them and our hearts, and keep our religion on the other side, so that it does not influence us at all. It is worthy of being received by the understanding, to which it will bring truth absolute; of being received by the will, to which it will bring the freedom of submission; of being received by the conscience, to which it will bring quickening; of being received by the affections, to which it will bring pure and perfect love. For hope, it will bring a certainty to gaze upon; for passions, a curb; for effort, a spur and a power; for desires, satisfaction; for the whole man, healing and light.

Brother! take it. And, if you do, begin where it begins, with your sins; and be contented to be saved as a sinner in danger and sickness, who can neither defend nor heal yourself. And thus coming, you will test the rope and find it hold; you will take the medicine and know that it cures; and, by your own experience, you will be able to say, This is a faithful saying, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.'

The Chief Of Sinners

Of whom I am chief.'--1 Tim. 1:15.

THE less teachers of religion talk about themselves the better; and yet there is a kind of personal reference, far removed from egotism and offensiveness. Few such men have ever spoken more of themselves than Paul did, and yet none have been truer to his motto: We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus.' For the scope of almost all his personal references is the depreciation of self, and the magnifying of the wonderful mercy which drew him to Jesus Christ. Whenever he speaks of his conversion it is with deep emotion and with burning cheeks. Here, for instance, he adduces himself as the typical example of God's long-suffering If he were saved none need despair.

I take it that this saying of the Apostle's,' Of whom I am chief,' paradoxical and exaggerated as it seems to many men, is in spirit that which all who know themselves ought to re-echo; and without which there is little strength in Christian life.

I. And So I Ask You To Note, First, What This Man Thinks Of Himself.

Of whom I am chief.' Now, if we set what we know of the character of Saul of Tarsus before he was a Christian by the side of that of many who have won a bad supremacy in wickedness, the words seem entirely strange and exaggerated. But, as I have often had to say, the principle of the Apostle's estimate is to be found in his belief that, not the outward manifestation of evil in specific acts of immorality, or flagrant breaches of commandment, but the inward principle from which the deeds flowed, is the measure of a man's criminality, and that, according to the uniform teaching of Scripture, the very root of sin, and that which is common to all the things that the world's conscience and ordinary morality designate as wrong, is to be found here, that self has become the centre, the aim, and the law instead of God. This is the condemnation, said Paul's Master--not that men have done so-and-so and so-and-so, but--that light is come into the world, and men love darkness.' That is the root of evil. s When the Comforter is come.' said Paul's Master, He will convince the world of sin.' Because they have broken the commandments? Because they have been lustful, ambitious, passionate, murderous, profligate, and so on? No I Because they believe not in Me.'

The common root of all sin is alienation of heart and will from God. And it is by the root, and not by the black clusters of poisonous berries that have come from it, that men are to be judged. Here is the mother-tincture. You may colour it in different ways, and you may flavour it with different essences, and you will get a whole pharmacopoeia of poisons out of it. But the mother-poison of them all is this, that men turn away from the light, which is God; and for you and me is God in Christ.

So this man, looking back from the to-day of his present devotion and love to the yesterdays of his hostility, avails himself indeed of the palliation,' I did it ignorantly, in unbelief,' but yet is smitten with the consciousness that whilst as touching the righteousness that is of the law he was blameless, his attitude to that incarnate love was such as now, he thinks, stamps him as the worst of men.

Brethren, there is the standard by which we have to try ourselves. If we get down below the mere surface of acts, and think, not of what we do, but of what we are, we shall then, at any rate, have in our hands the means by which we can truly estimate ourselves.

But what have we to say about that word chief'? Is not that exaggeration? Well, yes and no. For every man ought to know the weak and evil places of his own heart better than he does those of any besides. And if he does so know them, he will understand that the ordinary classification of sin, according to the apparent blackness of the deed. is very superficial and misleading. Obviously, the worst of acts need not be done by the worst of men, and it does not at all follow that the man who does the awful deed stands out from his fellows in the same bad pre-eminence in which his deed stands out from theirs.

Take a concrete case. Go into the slums of Manchester, and take some of the people there, battered almost out of the semblance of humanity, and all crusted over and leprous with foul-smelling evils that you and I never come within a thousand miles of thinking it possible that we should do. Did you ever think that it is quite possible that the worst harlot, thief, drunkard, profligate in your back streets may be more innocent in their profligacy than you are in your respectability; and that we may even come to this paradox, that the worse the act, as a rule, the less guilty the doer? It is not such a paradox as it looks, because, on the one hand, the presence of temptation, and, on the other hand, the absence of light, make all the difference. And these people, who could not have been anything else, are innocent in degradation as compared with you, With all your education and culture, and opportunities of going straight, and knowledge of Christ and His love. The little transgressions that you do are far greater than the gross ones that they do. But for the grace of God, there goes John Bradford,' said the old preacher, when he saw a man going to the scaffold. And you and I, if we know ourselves, will not think that we have an instance of exaggeration, but only of the object nearest seeming the largest, when Paul said Of whom I am chief.'

Only go and look for your sin in the way they look for Guy Fawkes at the House of Commons before the session, Take a dark lantern, and go down into the cellars. And if you do not find something there that will take all the conceit out of you, it must be because you are very short-sighted, or phenomenally self-complacent.

What does it matter though there be vineyards on the slopes of Vesuvius, and bright houses nestling at its base, and beauty lying all around like the dream of a god, if, when a man cranes his neck over the top of the crater, he sees that that cone, so graceful on the outside, is seething with fire and sulphur? Let us look down into the crater of our own hearts, and what we see there may well make us feel as Paul did when he said,' Of whom I am chief."

Now, such an estimate is perfectly consistent with a clear recognition of any good that may be in the character and manifest in life. For the same Paul who says, Of whom I am chief,' says, in the almost contemporaneous letter sent to the same person, I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith'; and he is the same man who asserted, In nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.' The true Christian estimate of one's own evil and sin does not in the least interfere with the recognition of what God strengthens one to do, or of the progress which, by God's grace, may have been made in holiness and righteousness. The two things may lie side by side with perfect harmony, and ought to do so, in every Christian heart.

But notice one more point. The Apostle does not say I was; but I am chief.' What! A man who could say, in another connection, If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are passed away'--the man who could say, in another connection, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God'--does he also say,' I am chief'? Is he speaking about his present? Are old sins bound round a man's neck for evermore? If they he, what is the meaning of the Gospel that Jesus Christ redeems us from our sins? Well, he means this. No lapse of time, nor any gift of divine pardon, nor any subsequent advancement in holiness and righteousness, can alter the fact that I, the very same I that am now rejoicing, in God's salvation, am the man that did all these things; and, in a very profound sense, they remain mine through all eternity. I may be a forgiven sinner, and a cleansed sinner, and a sanctified sinner, but I am a sinner--not I was. The imperishable connection between a man and his past, which may be so tragical, and, thank God, may be so blessed, even in the case of remembered and confessed sin, is solemnly hinted at in the words before us. We carry with us ever the fact of past transgression, and no forgiveness, nor any future perfecting of holiness in the fear' and by the grace of the Lord' can alter that fact. Therefore, let us beware lest we bring upon our souls any more of the stains which, though they be in a blessed and sufficient sense blotted out, do yet leave the marks where they have fallen for ever.

II. Note How This Man Comes To Such An Estimate Of Himself.

He did not think so deeply and penitently of his past at the beginning of his career, true and deep as his repentance, and valid and genuine as his conversion were. But as he advanced in the love of Jesus Christ, his former active hostility became more monstrous to him, and the higher he rose, the clearer wag his vision of the depth from which he had struggled; for growth in Christian holiness deepens the conviction of prior imperfection.

If God has forgiven my sin the more need for me to remember it. Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy transgressions, when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done.' If you, my brother, have any real and genuine hold of God's pardoning mercy, it will bow you down the more completely on your knees in the recognition of your own sin. The man who, as soon as the pressure of guilt and danger which is laid upon him seems to him to be lifted off, springs up like some elastic figure of India rubber, and goes on his way in jaunty forgetfulness of his past evil, needs to ask himself whether he has ever passed from death unto life. Not to remember the old sin is to be blind. The surest sign that we are pardoned is the depth of our habitual penitence. Try yourselves, you Christian people who are so sure of your forgiveness, try yourselves by that test, and if you find that you are thinking less of your past evil, be doubtful whether you have ever entered into the genuine possession of the forgiving mercy of your God.

And then, still further, this penitent retrospect is the direct result of advancement in Christian characteristics. We are drawn to begin some study or enterprise by the illusion that there is but a little way to go. Alps upon alps arise' when once we have climbed a short distance up the hill, and it has become as difficult to go back as to go .forward.

So it is in the Christian life--the sign of growing perfection is the growing consciousness of imperfection. A spot upon a clean palm is more conspicuous than a diffuse griminess over all the hand. One stain upon a white robe spoils it which would not be noticed upon one less lustrously clean. And so the more we grow towards God in Christ, and the more we appropriate and make our own His righteousness, the more we shall be conscious of our deficiencies, and the less we shall be prepared to assert virtues for ourselves.

Thus it comes to pass that conscience is least sensitive when it is most needed, and most swift to act when it has least to do. So it comes to pass, too, that no man's acquittal of himself can be accepted as sufficient; and that he is a fool in self-knowledge who says, I am not conscious of guilt, therefore I am innocent.' I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord.' The more you become like Christ the more you will find out your unlikeness to Him.

III. Lastly, Note What This Judgment Of Himself Did For This Man.

I said in the beginning of my remarks that it seemed to me that without the reproduction of this estimate of ourselves there would be little strong Christian life in us. It seems to me that that continual remembrance which Paul carried with him of what he had been, and of Christ's marvellous love in drawing him to Himself, was the very spring of all that was noble and conspicuously Christian in his career. And I venture to say, in two or three words, what I think you and I will never have unless we have this lowly self-estimate.

Without it there will be no intensity of cleaving to Jesus Christ. If you do not know that you are ill, you will not take the medicine. If you do not believe that the house is on fire, you will not mind the escape. "The life-buoy lies unnoticed on the shelf above the berth as long as the sea is calm and everything goes well. Unless you have been down into the depths of your own heart, and seen the evil that is there, you will not care for the redeeming Christ, nor will you grasp Him as a man does who knows that there is nothing between him and ruin except that strong hand. We must be driven to the Saviour as well as drawn to Him if there is to be any reality or tightness in the clutch with which we hold Him. And if you do not hold Him with a firm clutch you do not hold Him at all.

Further, without this lowly estimate there will be no fervour of grateful love. That is the reason why so much both of orthodox and heterodox religion amongst us to-day is such a tepid thing as it is. It is because men have never felt either that they need a Redeemer, or that Jesus Christ has redeemed them. I believe that there is only one power that will strike the rock of a human heart, and make the water of grateful devotion flow out, and that is the belief in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of mankind, and as my Saviour. Unless that be your faith, which it will not be except you have this conviction of my text in its spirit and essence, there will not be in your hearts the love which will glow there, an all-transforming power.

And is there anything in the world more obnoxious, more insipid, than lukewarm religion? If, with marks of quotation, I might use the coarse, strong expression of John Milton--It gives a vomit to God Himself.' Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth,' And without it there will be little pity of, and love for, our fellows. Unless we feel the common evil, and estimate by the intensity of its working in ourselves how sad are its ravages in others, our charity to men will be as tepid as our love to God. Did you ever notice that, historically, the widest benevolence to men goes along with what some people call the narrowest' theology? People tell us, for instance, to mark the contrast between the theology which is usually called evangelical and the wide benevolence usually accompanying it, and ask how the two things agree. The wide' benevolence comes directly from the narrow' theology. He that knows the plague of his own heart, and how Christ has redeemed him, will go, with the pity of Christ in his heart, to help to redeem others.

So, dear friends, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.' If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'

MHCC: 1Ti 1:12-17

The apostle knew that he would justly have perished, if the Lord had been extreme to mark what was amiss; and also if his grace and mercy had not been abundant to him when dead in sin, working faith and love to Christ in his heart. This is a faithful saying; these are true and faithful words, which may be depended on, That the Son of God came into the world, willingly and purposely to save sinners. No man, with Paul's example before him, can question the love and power of Christ to save him, if he really desires to trust in him as the Son of God, who once died on the cross, and now reigns upon the throne of glory, to save all that come to God through him. Let us then admire and praise the grace of God our Saviour; and ascribe to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons in the unity of the Godhead, the glory of all done in, by, and for us.

Matthew Henry: 1Ti 1:12-17

Here the apostle, I. Returns thanks to Jesus Christ for putting him into the ministry. Observe, 1. It is Christ's work to put men into the ministry, Act 26:16, Act 26:17. God condemned the false prophets among the Jews in these words, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied, Jer 23:21. Ministers, properly speaking, cannot make themselves ministers; for it is Christ's work, as king and head, prophet and teacher, of his church. 2. Those whom he puts into the ministry he fits for it; whom he calls he qualifies. Those ministers who are no way fit for their work, nor have ability for it, are not of Christ's putting into the ministry, though there are different qualifications as to gifts and graces. 3. Christ gives not only ability, but fidelity, to those whom he puts into the ministry: He counted me faithful; and none are counted faithful but those whom he makes so. Christ's ministers are trusty servants, and they ought to be so, having so great a trust committed to them. 4. A call to the ministry is a great favour, for which those who are so called ought to give thanks to Jesus Christ: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath put me into the ministry.

II. The more to magnify the grace of Christ in putting him into the ministry, he gives an account of his conversion.

1. What he was before his conversion: A blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. Saul breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, Act 9:1. He made havoc of the church, Act 8:3. He was a blasphemer of God, a persecutor of the saints, and injurious to both. Frequently those who are designed for great and eminent services are left to themselves before their conversion, to fall into great wickedness, that the mercy of God may be the more glorified in their remission, and the grace of God in their regeneration. The greatness of sin is no bar to our acceptance with God, no, nor to our being employed for him, if it be truly repented of. Observe here, (1.) Blasphemy, persecution, and injuriousness, are very great and heinous sins, and those who are guilty of them are sinners before God exceedingly. To blaspheme God is immediately and directly to strike at God; to persecute his people is to endeavour to wound him through their sides; and to be injurious is to be like Ishmael, whose hand was against every one, and every one was against him; for such invade God's prerogative, and encroach upon the liberties of their fellow-creatures. (2.) True penitents, to serve a good purpose, will not be backward to own their former condition before they were brought home to God: this good apostle often confessed what his former life had been, as Act 22:4; Act 26:10, Act 26:11.

2. The great favour of God to him: But I obtained mercy. This was a blessed but indeed, a great favour, that so notorious a rebel should find mercy with his prince.

(1.) If Paul had persecuted the Christians wilfully, knowing them to be the people of God, for aught I know he had been guilty of the unpardonable sin; but, because he did it ignorantly and in unbelief, he obtained mercy. Note, [1.] What we do ignorantly is a less crime than what we do knowingly; yet a sin of ignorance is a sin, for he that knew not his Master's will, but did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes, Luk 12:48. Ignorance in some cases will extenuate a crime, though it do not take it away. [2.] Unbelief is at the bottom of what sinners do ignorantly; they do not believe God's threatenings, otherwise they could not do as they do. [3.] For these reasons Paul obtained mercy: But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief. [4.] Here was mercy for a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an injurious person: " But I obtained mercy, I a blasphemer,"etc.

(2.) Here he takes notice of the abundant grace of Jesus Christ, 1Ti 1:14. The conversion and salvation of great sinners are owing to the grace of Christ, his exceedingly abundant grace, even that grace of Christ which appears in his glorious gospel (1Ti 1:15): This is a faithful saying, etc. Here we have the sum of the whole gospel, that Jesus Christ came into the world. The Son of God took upon him our nature, was made flesh, and dwelt among us, Joh 1:14. He came into the world, not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, Mat 9:13. His errand into the world was to seek and find, and so save, those that were lost, Luk 19:10. The ratification of this is that it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. It is good news, worthy of all acceptation; and yet not too good to be true, for it is a faithful saying. It is a faithful saying, and therefore worthy to be embraced in the arms of faith: it is worthy of all acceptation, and therefore to be received with holy love, which refers to the foregoing verse, where the grace of Christ is said to abound in faith and love. In the close of the verse Paul applies it to himself: Of whom I am chief. Paul was a sinner of the first rank; so he acknowledges himself to have been, for he breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, etc., Act 9:1, Act 9:2. Persecutors are some of the worst of sinners: such a one Paul had been. Or, of whom I am chief, that is, of pardoned sinners I am chief. It is an expression of his great humility; he that elsewhere calls himself the least of all saints (Eph 3:8) here calls himself the chief of sinners. Observe, [1.] Christ Jesus has come into the world; the prophecies concerning his coming are now fulfilled. [2.] He came to save sinners; he came to save those who could not save and help themselves. [3.] Blasphemers and persecutors are the chief of sinners, so Paul reckoned them. [4.] The chief of sinners may become the chief of saints; so this apostle was, for he was not a whit behind the very chief apostles (2Co 11:5), for Christ came to save the chief of sinners. [5.] This is a very great truth, it is a faithful saying; these are true and faithful words, which may be depended on. [6.] It deserves to be received, to be believed by us all, for our comfort and encouragement.

(3.) The mercy which Paul found with God, notwithstanding his great wickedness before his conversion, he speaks of,

[1.] For the encouragement of others to repent and believe (1Ti 1:16): For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter believe. It was an instance of the long-suffering of Christ that he would bear so much with one who had been so very provoking; and it was designed for a pattern to all others, that the greatest sinners might not despair of mercy with God. Note here, First, Our apostle was one of the first great sinners converted to Christianity. Secondly, He was converted, and obtained mercy, for the sake of others as well as of himself; he was a pattern to others. Thirdly, The Lord Jesus Christ shows great long-suffering in the conversion of great sinners. Fourthly, Those who obtain mercy believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; for without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb 11:6. Fifthly, Those who believe on Christ believe on him to life everlasting; they believe to the saving of the soul, Heb 10:39.

[2.] He mentions it to the glory of God having spoken of the mercy he had found with God, he could not go on with his letter without inserting a thankful acknowledgment of God's goodness to him: Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Observe, First, That grace which we have the comfort of God must have the glory of. Those who are sensible of their obligations to the mercy and grace of God will have their hearts enlarged in his praise. Here is praise ascribed to him, as the King eternal, immortal, invisible. Secondly, When we have found God good we must not forget to pronounce him great; and his kind thoughts of us must not at all abate our high thoughts of him, but rather increase them. God had taken particular cognizance of Paul, and shown him mercy, and taken him into communion with himself, and yet he calls him the King eternal, etc. God's gracious dealings with us should fill us with admiration of his glorious attributes. He is eternal, without beginning of days, or end of life, or change of time. He is the Ancient of days, Dan 7:9. He is immortal, and the original of immortality; he only has immortality (1Ti 6:16), for he cannot die. He is invisible, for he cannot be seen with mortal eyes, dwelling in the light to which no man can approach, whom no man hath seen nor can see, 1Ti 6:16. He is the only wise God (Jud 1:25); he only is infinitely wise, and the fountain of all wisdom. " To him be glory for ever and ever, "or, "Let me be for ever employed in giving honour and glory to him, as the thousands of thousands do,"Rev 5:12, Rev 5:13.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:12-17

This passage begins with a very paean of thanksgiving. There were four tremendous things for which Paul wished to thank Jesus Christ.

(i) He thanked him because he chose him. Paul never had the feeling that he had chosen Christ, but always that Christ had chosen him. It was as if, when he was heading straight for destruction, Jesus Christ had laid his hand upon his shoulder and arrested him in the way. It was as if, when he was busy throwing away his life, Jesus Christ had suddenly brought him to his senses. In the days of the war I knew a Polish airman. He had crowded more thrilling hairbreadth escapes from death and from worse into a few years than the vast majority of men do into a lifetime. Sometimes he would tell the story of escape from occupied Europe, of parachute descents from the air, of rescue from the sea, and at the end of this amazing odyssey, he would always say, with a look of wonder in his eyes: "And now I am God's man." That is how Paul felt; he was Christ's man for Christ had chosen him.

(ii) He thanked him because he trusted him. It was to Paul an amazing thing, that he, the arch-persecutor, had been chosen as the missionary of Christ. It was not only that Jesus Christ had forgiven him; it was that Christ trusted him. Sometimes we forgive a man who has committed some mistake or been guilty of some sin, but we make it very clear that his past makes it impossible for us to trust him again with any responsibility. But Christ had not only forgiven Paul; he entrusted him with work to do. The man who had been Christ's persecutor had been made his ambassador.

(iii) He thanked him because he had appointed him. We must be very careful to note that to which Paul felt himself appointed. He was appointed to service. Paul never thought of himself as appointed to honour, or to leadership within the Church. He was saved to serve. Plutarch tells that when a Spartan won a victory in the games, his reward was that he might stand beside his king in battle. A Spartan wrestler at the Olympic games was offered a very considerable bribe to abandon the struggle; but he refused. Finally, after a terrific effort, he won his victory. Someone said to him: "Well, Spartan, what have you got out of this costly victory you have won?" He answered: "I have won the privilege of standing in front of my king in battle." His reward was to serve and, if need be, to die for his king. It was for service, not honour, that Paul knew himself to be chosen.

(iv) He thanked him because he had empowered him. Paul had long since discovered that Jesus Christ never gives a man a task to do without also giving him the power to do it. Paul would never have said, "See what I have done," but always, "See what Jesus Christ has enabled me to do." No man is good enough, or strong enough, or pure enough, or wise enough to be the servant of Christ. But if he will give himself to Christ, he will go, not in his own strength, but in the strength of his Lord.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:12-17

There are two further interesting things in this passage.

Paul's Jewish background comes out. He says that Jesus Christ had mercy on him because he committed his sins against Christ and his Church in the days of his ignorance. We often think that the Jewish viewpoint was that sacrifice atoned for sin; a man sinned, his sin broke his relationship with God, then sacrifice was made and God's anger was appeased and the relationship restored.

It may well have been that that was in fact the popular, debased view of sacrifice. But the highest Jewish thought insisted on two things. First, it insisted that sacrifice could never atone for deliberate sin, but only for the sins a man committed in ignorance or when swept away in a moment of passion. Second, the highest Jewish thought insisted that no sacrifice could atone for any sin unless there was contrition in the heart of the man who brought it. Here Paul is speaking out of his Jewish background. His heart had been broken by the mercy of Christ; his sins had been committed in the days before he knew Christ and his love. And for these reasons he felt that there was mercy for him.

There is a still more interesting matter, which is pointed out by E. F. Brown. 1Ti 1:14is difficult. In the Revised Standard Version it runs: "The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." The first part is not difficult; it simply means that the grace of God rose higher than Paul's sin. But what exactly is the meaning of the phrase "with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus"? E. F. Brown suggests that it is that the work of the grace of Christ in Paul's heart was helped by the faith and the love he found in the members of the Christian Church, things like the sympathy and the understanding and the kindness he received from men like Ananias, who opened his eyes and called him brother (Act 9:10-19), and Barnabas, who stood by him when the rest of the Church regarded him with bleak suspicion (Act 9:26-28). That is a very lovely idea. And if it be correct, we can see that there are three factors which cooperate in the conversion of any man.

(i) First, there is God. It was the prayer of Jeremiah: "Restore us to thyself, O Lord" (Lam 5:21). As Augustine had it, we would never even have begun to seek for God unless he had already found us. The prime mover is God; at the back of a man's first desire for goodness there is his seeking love.

(ii) There is a man's own self. The King James Version renders Mat 18:3entirely passively: "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." The Revised Standard Version gives a much more active rendering: "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." There must be human response to divine appeal. God gave men free will and they can use it either to accept or to refuse his offer.

(iii) There is the agency of some Christian person. It is Paul's conviction that he is sent "to open the eyes of the Gentiles, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins" (Act 26:18). It is James' belief that any man who converts the sinner from the error of his way "will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (Jam 5:19-20). So then there is a double duty laid upon us. It has been said that a saint is someone who makes it easier to believe in God, and that a saint is someone in whom Christ lives again. We must give thanks for those who showed us Christ, whose words and example brought us to him; and we must strive to be the influence which brings others to him.

In this matter of conversion the initiative of God, the response of man, and the influence of the Christian all combine.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:12-17

The thing which stands out in this passage is Paul's insistence upon remembering his own sin. He heaps up a very climax of words to show what he did to Christ and the Church. He was an insulter of the Church; he had flung hot and angry words at the Christians, accusing them of crimes against God. He was a persecutor; he had taken every means open to him under the Jewish law to annihilate the Christian Church. Then comes a terrible word; he had been a man of insolent and brutal violence. The word in Greek is hubristes (5197). It indicates a kind of arrogant sadism; it describes the man who is out to inflict pain for the sheer joy of inflicting it. The corresponding abstract noun is hubris (5196) which Aristotle defines: "Hubris (5196) means to hurt and to grieve people, in such a way that shame comes to the man who is hurt and grieved, and that not that the person who inflicts the hurt and injury may gain anything else in addition to what he already possesses, but simply that he may find delight in his own cruelty and in the suffering of the other person."

That is what Paul was once like in regard to the Christian Church. Not content with words of insult, he went to the limit of legal persecution. Not content with legal persecution, he went to the limit of sadistic brutality in his attempt to stamp out the Christian faith. He remembered that; and to the end of the day he regarded himself as the chief of sinners. It is not that he was the chief of sinners; he still is. True, he could never forget that he was a forgiven sinner; but neither could he ever forget that he was a sinner. Why should he remember his sin with such vividness?

(i) The memory of his sin was the surest way to keep him from pride. There could be no such thing as spiritual pride for a man who had done the things that he had done. John Newton was one of the great preachers and the supreme hymn-writers of the Church; but he had sunk to the lowest depths to which a man can sink, in the days when he sailed the seas in a slave-trader's ship. So when he became a converted man and a preacher of the gospel, he wrote a text in great letters, and fastened it above the mantlepiece of his study where he could not fail to see it: "Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee." He also composed his own epitaph: "John Newton, Clerk, once an Infidel and Libertine, a Servant of Slaves in Africa, was by the Mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Preserved, Restored, Pardoned, and Appointed to Preach the Faith he had so long laboured to destroy." John Newton never forgot that he was a forgiven sinner; neither did Paul. Neither must we. It does a man good to remember his sins; it saves him from spiritual pride.

(ii) The memory of his sin was the surest way to keep his gratitude aflame. To remember what we have been forgiven is the surest way to keep awake our love to Jesus Christ. F. W. Boreham tells of a letter which the old Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, wrote to his son. "When I was threatening to become cold in my ministry, and when I felt Sabbath morning coming and my heart not filled with amazement at the grace of God, or when I was making ready to dispense the Lord's Supper, do you know what I used to do? I used to take a turn up and down among the sins of my past life, and I always came down again with a broken and a contrite heart, ready to preach, as it was preached in the beginning, the forgiveness of sins." "I do not think," he said, "I ever went up the pulpit stair that I did not stop for a moment at the foot of it and take a turn up and down among the sins of my past years. I do not think that I ever planned a sermon that I did not take a turn round my study table and look back at the sins of my youth and of all my life down to the present; and many a Sabbath morning, when my soul had been cold and dry, for the lack of prayer during the week, a turn up and down in my past life before I went into the pulpit always broke my hard heart and made me close with the gospel for my own soul before I began to preach." When we remember how we have hurt God and hurt those who love us and hurt our fellow-men and when we remember how God and men have forgiven us, that memory must awake the flame of gratitude within our hearts.

(iii) The memory of his sin was the constant urge to greater effort. It is quite true that a man can never earn the approval of God, or deserve his love; but it is also true that he can never stop trying to do something to show how much he appreciates the love and the mercy which have made him what he is. Whenever we love anyone we cannot help trying always to demonstrate our love. When we remember how much God loves us and how little we deserve it, when we remember that it was for us that Jesus Christ hung and suffered on Calvary, it must compel us to effort that will tell God we realize what he has done for us and will show Jesus Christ that his sacrifice was not in vain..

(iv) The memory of his sin was bound to be a constant encouragement to others. Paul uses a vivid picture. He says that what happened to him was a kind of outline-sketch of what was going to happen to those who would accept Christ in the days to come. The word he uses is hupotuposis (5296) which means an outline, a sketch-plan, a first draft, a preliminary model. It is as if Paul were saying, "Look what Christ has done for me! If someone like me can be saved, there is hope for everyone." Suppose a man was seriously ill and had to go through a dangerous operation, it would be the greatest encouragement to him if he met and talked with someone who had undergone the same operation and had emerged completely cured. Paul did not shrinkingly conceal his record; he blazoned it abroad, that others might take courage and be filled with hope that the grace which had changed him could change them too.

Greatheart said to Christian's boys: "You must know that Forgetful Green is the most dangerous place in all these parts." Paul's sin was something which he refused to forget, for every time he remembered the greatness of his sin, he remembered the still greater greatness of Jesus Christ. It was not that he brooded unhealthily over his sin; it was that he remembered it to rejoice in the wonder of the grace of Jesus Christ.

Constable: 1Ti 1:3-20

II. TIMOTHY'S MISSION IN EPHESUS 1:3-20

In chapter 1 Paul charged Timothy to remain faithful to the task with which Paul had entrusted him in Ephesus. He began by reminding Timothy what that task was and how he should carry out his chief duty. Then he exhorted Timothy to be faithful. He reminded his young protégé of God's power to transform lives and warned him of the danger of acting contrary to his own spiritually sensitive conscience.

"The absence of . . . [a thanksgiving] here supports the observation . . . that 1 Timothy is really for the sake of the church as much as, or more than, for Timothy himself; what is taking place in the church gives no cause for thanksgiving."¹⁴

Constable: 1Ti 1:12-17

1. A positive encouragement 1:12-17

Paul thanked God for changing him to enable Timothy to appreciate the fact that God can transform even the worst of sinners and enable His saints to accomplish supernatural feats. What precipitated Paul's testimony here was the difficult situation Timothy faced in Ephesus made even harder by Timothy's personal tendency toward timidity. The evidence that Timothy tended to be timid, perhaps partly because of the strong opposition he faced, comes out more clearly later in this epistle.

"V. 11 with its assertion that the gospel was entrusted to Paul provides the setting for vv. 12-17. Paul demonstrates how this entrusting and his own reception of mercy and grace in Jesus Christ provides an illustration that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for any sinner, because it has been that to him, a terrible sinner."⁴⁰

1:12-14 Did God save Paul because He foresaw that Paul would be faithful (v. 12)? No, but God entrusted him with the ministry he had received at least in part for that reason.

"Not skill or knowledge but faithfulness is the first qualification for a minister of Christ (I Cor. 4:2)."⁴¹

Paul had not opposed Jesus Christ and His church because he wanted to dishonor God. Paul believed he was serving God by persecuting Christians. He was mistaken about who Jesus Christ is. For this reason God had mercy on him.⁴² The Greek word translated "violent aggressor" ("violent man," NIV; hubristes) means a proud, haughty man. Such a person heaps insulting language on others and or does some shameful act of wrong against them.

God poured out grace, trust, and love on Paul even though Paul had poured out blasphemy, persecution, and violence on God.

"Jesus recognized this principle when He prayed on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). Their ignorance did not save them, nor did Christ's prayer save them; but the combination of the two postponed God's judgment, giving them an opportunity to be saved."⁴³

1:15 Seven times in the Pastorals Paul evidently alluded to statements that had become proverbial in the early church. They may have been parts of early Christian hymns or catechisms (manuals for the training of new Christians; cf. 2:5-6; 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:9-10; 2:8-13; Titus 2:11-14; 3:3-7).⁴⁴ They may be restatements of what Jesus said about Himself (cf. Matt. 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32; 19:10; John 12:46-47; 16:28; 18:37).⁴⁵ Paul probably alluded to one of these classic statements here, as seems likely from his use of the introductory, "It is a trustworthy statement." Here the great truth affirmed is that the purpose of Christ's incarnation was the salvation of sinners.

"The repeated formula is always attached to a maxim (relating either to doctrine or practice) on which full reliance can be placed."⁴⁶

Was Paul really the worst sinner of all time (cf. 1 Cor. 15:9; Eph. 3:8)? Obviously many people have lived longer in a more depraved condition than Paul did. He became a Christian relatively early in his adult life. Perhaps the apostle meant that he was the "foremost" sinner in the sense that his sin of aggressively tearing down the work that God was building up was the worst kind of sin. It was much worse than simply ignoring God and going one's own way.

Note, too, that Paul still regarded himself as a sinner though a forgiven one: ". . . I am foremost."

"The fact is that it is always the characteristic of a true saint to feel himself a real sinner. The air in a room seems to be clear, but when it is penetrated by the sunlight it is seen to be full of dust and other impurities: and so as men draw nearer to God, and are penetrated by the light of God (1 John i. 5), they see more clearly their own infirmities, and begin to feel for sin something of the hatred which God feels for it."⁴⁷

1:16 God was unusually merciful to Paul because He desired to make the apostle an example of how God can change the worst of sinners into the best of saints. His greatest enemy became His greatest servant. In the light of Paul's conversion no one should conclude that his or her sin is too great for God to forgive. God may be patient with anyone since He was patient with Paul.

1:17 Such grace prompted Paul to glorify God in this brief doxology. God is the King of the ages (sovereign), immortal (eternal), invisible (spiritual), and the only God (unique). To Him belong all honor and glory eternally. "Amen" means, "So be it." The Christians often uttered this word out loud in their meetings as did the Jews in their synagogues.

The reason Paul referred to his conversion in this section (1:12-17) was to encourage Timothy to be faithful in the ministry with which God had entrusted him (1:3-11). In his ministry at Ephesus Timothy would never encounter a more difficult case than Saul of Tarsus had been. The fact that God had completely transformed Paul shows that He can do the same to anyone. This gives hope to everyone who seeks to win people to Christ and to help them grow in Christ.

College: 1Ti 1:1-20

1 TIMOTHY 1

I. THE SALUTATION (1:1-2)

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, ² To Timothy my true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus

Paul follows the normal pattern of the Hellenistic letter by first introducing himself as the author and then moving to address his audience. In 1 Timothy Paul calls himself an "apostle," a designation that is common in letters where his authority is in question or where he wishes to give added weight to his exhortations (1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians). On other occasions he will indicate his work as "servant" (Philippians) or "prisoner" (Philemon). It may on the surface seem strange that Paul will use such a designation to write to his "true son in the faith." That designation takes on special meaning, however, when one remembers that 1 Timothy was written to be read not only by Timothy but also by the entire church at Ephesus, a church facing false teachers who would likely have emphasized their authority.

by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

Paul notes that his authority was not self-acquired but rather came "by the command of God." Ordinarily Paul will indicate that he is an apostle "by the will of God" (2 Tim 1:1). One cannot help but wonder whether Paul is preparing Timothy for the charge or command to instruct the church to live as Christians ought by indicating that he himself has been issued a command by God.

The source of this command is "God our Savior and Christ." God is frequently referred to as "Savior" in the OT, indicating that he is the powerful deliverer. In the Roman world the term "savior" (swthvr , sôtçr ) was applied to the emperor in the emperor cult, in particular to Nero. Outside the Pastoral Epistles Paul never uses the term "savior" to refer to God the Father, rather reserving the term to describe the work of Jesus. In the Pastoral Epistles both God the Father (1 Tim 1:1; 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4) and Jesus Christ the Son (Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Tim 1:10) are designated "savior." Although Paul does not use the word savior to describe the Father in his other epistles, he still does designate the work of the Father as providing salvation for believers (1 Cor 1:21; 1 Thess 5:9).

Jesus is the source of the Christian's hope. Hope is not merely wishful thinking but indicates the desire of one who is earnestly expecting something. Here there is an eschatological note of the completion of the salvation that is offered through Jesus when he returns.

1:2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:

Paul both indicates the closeness of his relationship with Timothy and points to Timothy's authority by declaring him to be his "true son in the faith." He is Paul's "true," i.e., "legitimate" son. Knight has suggested three options for understanding the father-son relationship between Paul and Timothy: (1) Timothy may well have received the gospel through the preaching of Paul; (2) Paul may be describing his nurturing relationship with Timothy; he is an adopted son; or (3) Paul is simply indicating that he is older than Timothy both in physical years and in the faith. Knight is probably correct in concluding that Paul's primary emphasis is (1), but (2) and (3) may be included as well.

Not only is Paul encouraging Timothy with these words but perhaps also ensuring his positive reception by the church at Ephesus. Note that Timothy is Paul's son "in the faith." Is Paul referring to Timothy's faith in Christ which has produced this unique relationship, to his faithfulness to Christ as the sphere in which the relationship exists, or to the cause or belief system for which he and Paul labor? The middle option seems best to describe Paul's intent.

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

The threefold salutation of Paul, "grace, mercy and peace," is used by Paul only here and in 2 Tim 1:2 (cf. 2 John 3; Jude 2). Paul's normal greeting is simply "grace and peace." "Grace" (cavri" , charis ) represents the noun form of the Greek verb normally used in a greeting. It indicates the unmerited goodness of God. "Mercy" (e[leo" , eleos ) is God's help to the discouraged, the down-and-out. The verb form appears in 1 Tim 1:13, 16 where the plight of sinners and their need for divine favor is the focus. "Peace" (eijrhvnh , eirçnç ) represents the normal greeting among Jews, mlv ( shalom ) in Hebrew. The term refers not to absence of warfare, but to the wholeness of the relationship between a person and God.

II. PAUL'S CHARGE TO TIMOTHY (1:3-20)

A. THE CHARGE AND THE FALSE TEACHERS (1:3-7)

³ As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer ⁴ nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith. ⁵ The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

⁶ Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. ⁷ They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

Paul's primary concern in the remainder of this section is that "certain men" be instructed "not to teach false doctrines." He reminds Timothy of the real message of the gospel and warns against these false teachers' abuse of the law. Timothy must fight on and not follow the bad example of Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul will mention in v. 20.

1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia,

The NIV translation of vv. 3-4 conceals the fact that the Greek text is a bit awkward. The text begins with "as," with no conclusion to the sentence: "As I urged you, journeying into Macedonia to stay . . . to command certain people not to teach. . . ." The KJV completes Paul's thought with "so do." Paul had previously warned the Ephesian elders about the coming of false teachers (Acts 20:29-30). That heresy has now arisen, and Paul instructs Timothy how he is to deal with it.

stay there in Ephesus

Paul's apparent ministry at Ephesus after being released from imprisonment at the end of Acts provides an interesting postscript to his telling the Ephesian elders that he would not see them again in Acts 20. It would seem that he does indeed see them and work with them. Timothy has stayed on at Ephesus at Paul's urging. This may indicate some reluctance on Timothy's part to stay on rather than travel with Paul. It may also be Paul's way of indicating to the Ephesian church that Timothy is acting on his behalf with his authority.

so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer

The word "command" is a very strong word. When followed by the word "not" and an infinitive, it carries the idea "forbid." Timothy is thus to forbid these people from teaching falsehood and devoting themselves to "myths and endless genealogies." The false teachers are spreading their falsehoods and spending their time in speculations that are both irrelevant and contrary to the gospel.

1:4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.

Many scholars have argued that the "endless genealogies" refer to the second century gnostic emanations that proceed like a progression of ripples from the one true God. One need not propose such a drastic solution. Such speculative exploration of genealogies and myths can clearly be seen in Judaism. The occurrence of the same word "myths" (muvqoi , mythoi ) in Titus 1:14 with the clarifying adjective "Jewish" supports this conclusion. The term "myths" also appears in 1 Tim 4:7 where Paul terms them "old wives' tales." Myths are seen as enticing and attractive snares which would lure hearers from the truth. In Titus 3:9 Paul reflects on genealogies that are "unprofitable and useless."

These promote controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith.

All of this speculation was bound to promote "controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith." The phrase "God's work" (oijkonomiva , oikonomia ) refers to the stewardship of another's property, here God's. The work of God which had been entrusted to believers, his plan for redeeming his people, was being perverted by this heresy. In a manner that is characteristic of Paul, he informs his readers that God's work is accomplished through faith.

1:5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

The goal of Timothy's "command" (paraggeliva , parangelia ) is love, a quality which is not likely to be found among the false teachers. This love issues from (1) a pure heart, (2) a good conscience, and (3) a sincere faith. From a biblical perspective the heart is the seat of the will. A "pure heart" is then the conscience which wills to do what is right and noble. For Paul the "conscience" is the inner awareness of moral right and wrong (Rom 13:5; 1 Cor 8:10). Since the conscience can become calloused and marred (1 Tim 4:2; Titus 1:15), the Christian must so live within the will of God that his conscience is trained (1 Cor 8:7-12). "Sincere faith" refers to a genuine faith. In fact the Greek word behind "sincere" (ajnupovkrito" , anypokritos ) could well be rendered "unhypocritical."

1:6 Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk.

The "some" of v. 6 were the same persons as the "certain men" of v. 3. The false teachers have wandered away from the pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith of v. 5. "Wandered away" comes from a Greek word (ajstocevw , astocheô ) which means "to miss the mark" or "to go beyond the goal." The false teachers have missed the mark set for them by a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Instead they have turned to meaningless talk. "Meaningless talk" represents a single word in the original which could literally be rendered "empty or useless discourse." All of the talk of the false teachers leads nowhere. It may draw some followers, but it does not produce the godly life.

1:7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

These false teachers want to be known as "teachers of the law." Like many of the Jewish rabbis of the day, they suggest extravagant interpretations of the Old Testament stories and laws pretending to be scholars. These men have no real grasp of the intent of the sacred Scriptures and little concern with regard to the gospel's implications for Christian living. Here one can see the Jewish character of the false teaching at Ephesus. Like some modern day preachers these men may hide the gospel with senseless minutiae.

B. THE LAWFUL USE OF THE LAW (1:8-11)

⁸ We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ⁹ We also know that law ^a is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers - and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine ¹¹ that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

^a 9 Or that the law

1:8 We know that the law is good

Paul does not want his readers to misunderstand his last statement about the false teachers and their relationship with the law. The law is "good" because it reflects the will of God. The difficulty is not in the law but in the false teachers' ignorance of its intent and their misuse of it. "Ignorance" and "mindlessness" are recurring descriptions of the false teachers in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 6:4, 20; Titus 1:15; 3:9; 2 Tim 2:23). The law (Paul is here using that term in a much broader sense than the Ten Commandments or law of Moses) is itself an honorable and valuable resource for the Christian. Paul himself uses adjectives like "holy," "spiritual," "just," and "good" to describe it (Rom 7:12-14; cf. Gal 3:23-26 for Paul's understanding of its value).

if one uses it properly.

Proper use of the law was to make it clear that actions or sins like those in vv. 9-10 were wrong. The adverb "properly" (nomivmw" , nomimôs , sometimes literally rendered "lawfully") appears only here and in 2 Tim 2:5. God intended that the law bring human beings to a consciousness of sin (Rom 5:12; 6:23; 7:11, 13).

1:9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious;

The purpose of law is the restraint of evil-doing. The purpose of the law is to be seen not in what it does to or for the "righteous," but rather in relation to those who practice evil. Paul begins his vice list by using three pairs of adjectives which describe these sinful people in terms of their relationship with God and may well be seen as paralleling the earlier section of the Decalogue: "lawbreakers and rebels" (those who willfully break the law and rebel against it); "the ungodly and sinful" (those whose disobedient lifestyle indicates that God has no place in their lives); and "the unholy and irreligious" (those who have no sense of the sacred).

for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 1:10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers

As Fee has noted, Paul's catalogue of vices bears a striking resemblance to the Ten Commandments (the fifth commandment through the ninth). These lawless people are "those who kill their fathers or mothers," a very gruesome way to break the fifth commandment (Exod 20:12; cf. Exod 21:15); "murderers" (literally "man-slayers," i.e., those who break the sixth commandment; cf. Exod 21:13); "adulterers" (literally "the sexually immoral") and "perverts" ("homosexuals"), both groups would break commandment seven (Exod 21:14); "slave traders" (literally "those who catch a man by the foot"), perhaps not too far a stretch to be seen as breakers of the eighth commandment (Exod 21:15); and "liars and perjurers," those who bear false witness and break the ninth commandment (Exod 21:16). The order of these vices is hardly accidental. Paul is demonstrating that God gave the law, not for idle speculation and meaningless talk, but to prohibit sin.

- and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine

Paul completes his list with a phrase designed to cover all the bases: "and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine." A final summation of this sort is quite common for Paul (Rom 13:9; Gal 5:21). The term "sound doctrine" will appear regularly in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 1:10; 6:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:2, 8). Literally, the phrase (uJgiainouvsh/ didaskaliva/ , hygiainousç didaskalia ; cf. the English word "hygiene") might be translated "healthy teaching." This metaphor provides a clear contrast with the sick, "unhealthy interest" or craving of the false teachers in 6:4 and the teaching of these folks which "will spread like gangrene" in 2 Tim 2:17. Knight suggests that his metaphorical use of medical language may be the result of Paul's association with Luke the physician. While this may be true, it is also possible that Paul is simply using a common figure of speech.

1:11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God,

This sound doctrine is teaching which "conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God." The original reads literally "to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God," providing the translator with two alternatives: 1) a descriptive genitive, "the glorious gospel"; or 2) a genitive of content, "the gospel which is the manifestation of God's glory." The differences between the two choices are minimal. The gospel is glorious because it manifests the glory of God. "Blessed" (makavrio" , makarios ) is used of God only here and in 6:15 although it is frequently used in such a fashion by Philo. Paul probably intends to indicate that "blessedness" rests in and comes from God.

which he entrusted to me.

Paul concludes this section by noting that God had "entrusted" (pisteuvw , pisteuô ) him with the gospel and the doctrine. His use of this verb indicates that God had faith in him and that the gospel was a trust given to his care (cf. Rom 3:2; 1 Cor 9:17; Gal 2:4; 1 Thess 2:4; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1:11; 2:9; Titus 1:3).

C. PAUL'S OWN MINISTRY, A POSITIVE EXAMPLE (1:12-17)

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. ¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.

Paul now expands on the personal reference of the last phrase of verse 11, expressing his gratitude to Jesus who empowered him ("given strength," ejnduvnamai , endynamai ), deeming him trustworthy ("faithful," pistov" , pistos ) and "appointing [him] to his service" ("ministry," diakoniva , diakonia ).

1:13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man,

Paul notes that God could well have looked at his former life and denied him such a privilege. After all he was "once a blasphemer" (having denied what God had done and said in Jesus) and "a persecutor" (Acts 22:4, 7; 26:11) and a "violent man" (one who acted as an insolent bully, a thoroughly objectionable fellow with outrageous disregard of other men's rights, cf. Acts 9:1, 2; 22:4, 5, 19, 20; 26:10, 11; Gal 1:13).

I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

But God had shown him mercy. Paul sees the reason for this mercy in the fact that he "acted in ignorance and unbelief," not that he merits the mercy, but that he was not acting in defiance. Here Paul is not minimizing the significance of his sin, but rather indicating something of its nature. His sin was not one that was "presumptuous" or "defiant" (Num 15:22-31).

1:14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

While many would question the authorship of this book, the theology of this passage is thoroughly Pauline. Grace had been "poured out abundantly" upon Paul; that grace then stimulated his own faith and love. God's actions are always prior to man's. It is noteworthy that faith and love are located "in Christ Jesus."

1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:

In verse 15 Paul elaborates upon the grace God had shown him in Christ Jesus. This passage is the first of five sections in the Pastoral Epistles that contain the term "trustworthy saying" (1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; Titus 3:8; 2 Tim 2:11). Two of the passages contain the additional affirmation that the saying "deserves full acceptance" (this verse and 1 Tim 4:9). Three issues arise when the formula appears: 1) Does the formula follow or precede the trustworthy saying? Here the formula obviously precedes the saying; in 4:9 it follows the saying; scholars debate the order in 3:1. 2) What portion of the verse or verses in question contain the trustworthy saying? 3) Just what is the meaning of the formula?

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

The saying which appears here - "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" - emphasizes both the incarnation and the redemptive work of Christ; Christ came and he came to save. The origin of the saying has been much debated. It seems likely that Paul is simply citing something that these Christians have frequently heard preached and perhaps have themselves recited or sung.

- of whom I am the worst.

The simple mention of the word "sinners" causes Paul once again to reflect upon his own life. The term "worst" is literally "first" (prw'to" , prôtos ). The term refers not to the sequence of Paul's sin or conversion but to its magnitude. This may well seem to be an exaggeration to the reader, but for Paul it is no exaggeration (1 Cor 15:9, 10; Gal 1:13; Eph 3:8). As Lea and Griffin put it, "[Paul] never got beyond a response of wonder and gratitude to God's act of saving him 'warts and all.' We must never move beyond the excitement and joy our conversion generates in us."

1:16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

In v. 16 Paul repeats the fact that he "was shown mercy" (v. 13) and his evaluation of his own sinfulness as "worst of sinners" (v. 15), but this time he gives reason that God had "shown mercy" on terrible sinner Paul. Christ Jesus was clearly demonstrating "his unlimited patience" (literally "the all longsuffering," thΙn a{pasan makroqumivan , tçn hapasan makrothymian ) to Paul which serves as an "example" of that patience for all believers. Paul is contending that, if God can be patient with him and show mercy to him, any believer should have confidence that he too can be forgiven and "receive eternal life."

1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The fact that God has shown mercy on him and that same mercy is available to all "those who would believe in him" leads Paul to break into a doxology. Such a reflection on the grace of God is not unusual in Paul's letters (cf. Rom 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; Gal 1:5; Eph 3:21; Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 6:17).

He begins by designating God as "the King eternal." This phrase (oJ basileuΙ" tw'n aijwvnwn , ho basileus tôn aiônôn ) may mean either "eternal king" (NASB, NIV) or "king of the ages" (RSV, NEB, NRSV). Perhaps one should not be too concerned about the difference since the king over all ages differs little from the eternal king.

Paul continues by describing God as "immortal" (literally "incorruptible"), "invisible" (cf. Rom 1:20; Col 1:15), and "the only God" (cf. this theme throughout the OT, especially Deut 6:4). On account of God's nature all "honor and glory" are due him "for ever and ever." The "amen," common as the sign of assent to a prayer or proclamation in the synagogue and in the early church, serves as the conclusion of this doxology (cf. Rom 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 16:27; Gal 3:21; Eph 3:21; Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 6:17).

The doxology concludes the digression on Paul's ministry and God's grace begun at v. 12. Paul is now ready to return to instructions for Timothy regarding the false teachers and his ministry.

D. THE NEGATIVE EXAMPLE OF HYMENAEUS AND ALEXANDER (1:18-20)

¹⁸ Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, ¹⁹ holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. ²⁰ Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

1:18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction

Vv. 18-20 return to the discussion of vv. 3-7. This is even clearer in Greek than in English. The word translated "instruction" (paraggeliva , parangelia ) in v. 18 also appeared in vv. 3 and 5 where it was translated "command" in the NIV. The material in this section is not mere repetition. Paul is concerned that Timothy endure whatever hardship may come his way and thus fulfill his ministry. Paul uses examples of two failed ministers and their ministries to drive home his message.

in keeping with the prophecies once made about you,

Paul's instructions to Timothy are not merely his whim; they are "in keeping with the prophecies once made" about him. Paul will later refer to Timothy's "spiritual gift" (likely his ministry, 4:14) which was accompanied by a "prophetic message" from the elders and by the laying on of hands. It seems likely that Timothy's Spirit-bestowed gift was his ministry, something recognized through some prophecy when Timothy was originally designated to assist Paul in his missionary work. This is consistent with the Spirit's designation of Barnabas and Saul in Acts 13:1-3.

so that by following them you may fight the good fight,

By means of these prophecies Timothy is to "fight the good fight." The battle against Satan and heterodoxy is a genuine one. Paul's description of the "fight" (strateiva , strateia ) is a term filled with the military imagery of strategy, tactics, and preparation for an all-out battle.

1:19 holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

In fighting the good fight Timothy must hold on to or keep faith and a good conscience - two of the three qualities that accompanied Paul's charge in v. 5. "Conscience" becomes the compass of one's life. Rejecting or repudiating it results in spiritual shipwreck. Although conscience can be mistaught or defiled, one who refuses to be sensitive to his conscience will lose his faith. In 1 Timothy Paul places special emphasis on both "good conscience" and "sound doctrine." One should note Paul's change in metaphor from the soldier ("fight the good fight") to the sailor ("shipwrecked their faith").

1:20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander,

Hymenaeus and Alexander, along with certain others, provide Paul with examples of those who have rejected conscience and made shipwreck of their faith. Hymenaeus will be mentioned again later with Philetus in 2 Tim 2:17. Other than these two brief references and his occurrence in the second-century apocryphal work Acts of Paul and Thecla , he is unknown. There are two other references to an Alexander who is connected to Ephesus: Acts 19:33-34 where a Jew by that name was hindered from speaking by a rowdy crowd and 2 Tim 4:14-15 where Paul warns Timothy about a metal worker bearing that name. Although many will link the Alexander of this passage with the Alexanders in one or both of the other texts, it is impossible to demonstrate that this is the case with any certainty. Fee is likely correct in suggesting that this Alexander may well be the one of 2 Tim 4:14-15.

whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Paul states that he has handed these men "over to Satan" in order that they might be "taught not to blaspheme." The serious state of these men and the threat they offered to the church had led Paul to place an anathema on them. There has been much debate about the phrase and the parallel in 1 Cor 5:5 "hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature" (literally "that his body") "may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." There are at least two primary interpretations for the phrase to "hand over to Satan": some would suggest that Paul was allowing Satan to inflict the evil doers with physical illness, and others that the term is a semi-technical reference to disfellowshipping. The latter interpretation for this text and 1 Cor 5:5 seems most likely. Paul is turning the sinner back over to Satan's sphere of influence and removing offenders from the fellowship of believers. The point of such action for Paul is always the redemption of the sinner. Here the discipline is clearly that they might learn "not to blaspheme." Discipline is to teach, not to punish. Here Paul hopes that turning the offenders over to the influence of Satan will teach them not to insult the Lord with their words and deeds.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

First Timothy

Probably a.d. 65 From Macedonia

By Way of Introduction

Assuming the Pauline authorship the facts shape up after this fashion. Paul had been in Ephesus (1Ti_1:3) after his arrival from Rome, which was certainly before the burning of Rome in a.d. 64. He had left Timothy in charge of the work in Ephesus and has gone on into Macedonia (1Ti_1:3), possibly to Philippi as he had hoped (Phi_2:24). He wishes to help Timothy meet the problems of doctrine (against the Gnostics), discipline, and church training which are increasingly urgent. There are personal touches of a natural kind about Timothy’s own growth and leadership. There are wise words here from the greatest of all preachers to a young minister whom Paul loved.

JFB: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

GENUINENESS.--The ancient Church never doubted of their being canonical and written by Paul. They are in the Peschito Syriac version of the second century. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture, at the close of the second century, acknowledges them as such. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 1; 3.3.3; 4.16.3; 2.14.8; 3.11.1; 1.16.3], quotes 1Ti 1:4, 1Ti 1:9; 1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 4:9-11; Tit 3:10. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 2, p. 457; 3, pp. 534, 536; 1, p. 350], quotes 1Ti 6:1, 1Ti 6:20; Second Timothy, as to deaconesses; Tit 1:12. TERTULLIAN [The Prescription against Heretics, 25; 6], quotes 1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 1:14; 1Ti 1:18; 1Ti 6:13, &c.; 2Ti 2:2; Tit 3:10-11. EUSEBIUS includes the three in the "universally acknowledged" Scriptures. Also THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH [To Autolychus, 3.14], quotes 1Ti 2:1-2; Tit 3:1, and CAIUS (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 6.20]) recognizes their authenticity. CLEMENT OF ROME, in the end of the first century, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians [29], quotes 1Ti 2:8. IGNATIUS, in the beginning of the second century, in Epistle to Polycarp, [6], alludes to 2Ti 2:4. POLYCARP, in the beginning of the second century [Epistle to the Philippians, 4], alludes to 2Ti 2:4; and in the ninth chapter to 2Ti 4:10. Hegisippus, in the end of the second century, in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.32], alludes to 1Ti 6:3, 1Ti 6:20. ATHENAGORAS, in the end of the second century, alludes to 1Ti 6:16. JUSTIN MARTYR, in the middle of the second century [Dialogue with Trypho, 47], alludes to Tit 3:4. The Gnostic MARCION alone rejected these Epistles.

The HERESIES OPPOSED in them form the transition stage from Judaism, in its ascetic form, to Gnosticism, as subsequently developed. The references to Judaism and legalism are clear (1Ti 1:7; 1Ti 4:3; Tit 1:10, Tit 1:14; Tit 3:9). Traces of beginning Gnosticism are also unequivocal (1Ti 1:4). The Gnostic theory of a twofold principle from the beginning, evil as well as good, appears in germ in 1Ti 4:3, &c. In 1Ti 6:20 the term Gnosis ("science") itself occurs. Another Gnostic error, namely, that "the resurrection is past," is alluded to in 2Ti 2:17-18. The Judaism herein opposed is not that of the earlier Epistles, which upheld the law and tried to join it with faith in Christ for justification. It first passed into that phase of it which appears in the Epistle to the Colossians, whereby will-worship and angel-worship were superadded to Judaizing opinions. Then a further stage of the same evil appears in the Epistle to the Philippians (Phi 3:2, Phi 3:18-19), whereby immoral practice accompanied false doctrine as to the resurrection (compare 2Ti 2:18, with 1Co 15:12, 1Co 15:32-33). This descent from legality to superstition, and from superstition to godlessness, appears more matured in the references to it in these Pastoral Epistles. The false teachers now know not the true use of the law (1Ti 1:7-8), and further, have put away good conscience as well as the faith (1Ti 1:19; 1Ti 4:2); speak lies in hypocrisy, are corrupt in mind, and regard godliness as a means of earthly gain (1Ti 6:5 Tit 1:11); overthrow the faith by heresies eating as a canker, saying the resurrection is past (2Ti 2:17-18), leading captive silly women, ever learning yet never knowing the truth, reprobate as Jannes and Jambres (2Ti 3:6, 2Ti 3:8), defiled, unbelieving, professing to know God, but in works denying Him, abominable, disobedient, reprobate (Tit 1:15-16). This description accords with that in the Catholic Epistles of St. John and St. Peter, and, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This fact proves the later date of these Pastoral Epistles as compared with Paul's earlier Epistles. The Judaism reprobated herein is not that of an earlier date, so scrupulous as to the law; it was now tending to immortality of practice. On the other hand, the Gnosticism opposed in these Epistles is not the anti-Judaic Gnosticism of a later date, which arose as a consequence of the overthrow of Judaism by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but it was the intermediate phase between Judaism and Gnosticism, in which the Oriental and Greek elements of the latter were in a kind of amalgam with Judaism, just prior to the overthrow of Jerusalem.

The DIRECTIONS AS TO CHURCH GOVERNORS and ministers, "bishop-elders, and deacons," are such as were natural for the apostle, in prospect of his own approaching removal, to give to Timothy, the president of the Church at Ephesus, and to Titus, holding the same office in Crete, for securing the due administration of the Church when he should be no more, and at a time when heresies were rapidly springing up. Compare his similar anxiety in his address to the Ephesian elders (Act 20:21-30). The Presbyterate (elders; priest is a contraction from presbyter) and Diaconate had existed from the earliest times in the Church (Act 6:3; Act 11:30; Act 14:23). Timothy and Titus, as superintendents or overseers (so bishop subsequently meant), were to exercise the same power in ordaining elders at Ephesus which the apostle had exercised in his general supervision of all the Gentile churches.

The PECULIARITIES OF MODES OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION, are such as the difference of subject and circumstances of those addressed and those spoken of in these Epistles, as compared with the other Epistles, would lead us to expect. Some of these peculiar phrases occur also in Galatians, in which, as in the Pastoral Epistles, he, with his characteristic fervor, attacks the false teachers. Compare 1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14, "gave Himself for us," with Gal 1:4; 1Ti 1:17; 2Ti 4:18, "for ever and ever," with Gal 1:5 : "before God," 1Ti 5:21; 1Ti 6:13; 2Ti 2:14; 2Ti 4:1, with Gal 1:20 : "a pillar," 1Ti 3:15, with Gal 2:9 : "mediator," 1Ti 2:5, with Gal 3:20 : "in due season," 1Ti 2:6; 1Ti 6:15; Tit 1:3 with Gal 6:9.

TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--The First Epistle to Timothy was written not long after Paul had left Ephesus for Macedon (1Ti 1:3). Now, as Timothy was in Macedon with Paul (2Co 1:1) on the occasion of Paul's having passed from Ephesus into that country, as recorded, Act 19:22; Act 20:1, whereas the First Epistle to Timothy contemplates a longer stay of Timothy in Ephesus, MOSHEIM supposes that Paul was nine months of the "three years" stay mostly at Ephesus (Act 20:31) in Macedonia, and elsewhere (perhaps Crete), (the mention of only "three months" and "two years," Act 19:8, Act 19:10, favors this, the remaining nine months being spent elsewhere); and that during these nine months Timothy, in Paul's absence, superintended the Church of Ephesus. It is not likely that Ephesus and the neighboring churches should have been left long without church officers and church organization, rules respecting which are giver in this Epistle. Moreover, Timothy was still "a youth" (1Ti 4:12), which he could hardly be called after Paul's first imprisonment, when he must have been at least thirty-four years of age. Lastly, in Act 20:25, Paul asserts his knowledge that the Ephesians should not all see his face again, so that 1Ti 1:3 will thus refer to his sojourn at Ephesus, recorded in Act 19:10, whence he passed into Macedonia. But the difficulty is to account for the false teachers having sprung up almost immediately (according to this theory) after the foundation of the Church. However, his visit recorded in Acts 19:1-41 was not his first visit. The beginning of the Church at Ephesus was probably made at his visit a year before (Act 18:19-21). Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla, carried on the work (Act 18:24-26). Thus, as to the sudden growth of false teachers, there was time enough for their springing up, especially considering that the first converts at Ephesus were under Apollos' imperfect Christian teachings at first, imbued as he was likely to be with the tenets of PHILO of Alexandria, Apollos' native town, combined with John the Baptist's Old Testament teachings (Act 18:24-26). Besides Ephesus, from its position in Asia, its notorious voluptuousness and sorcery (Act 19:18-19), and its lewd worship of Diana (answering to the Phœnician Ashtoreth), was likely from the first to tinge Christianity in some of its converts with Oriental speculations and Asiatic licentiousness of practices. Thus the phenomenon of the phase of error presented in this Epistle, being intermediate between Judaism and later Gnosticism (see above), would be such as might occur at an early period in the Ephesian Church, as well as later, when we know it had open "apostles" of error (Rev 2:2, Rev 2:6), and Nicolaitans infamous in practice. As to the close connection between this First Epistle and the Second Epistle (which must have been written at the close of Paul's life), on which ALFORD relies for his theory of making the First Epistle also written at the close of Paul's life, the similarity of circumstances, the person addressed being one and the same, and either in Ephesus at the time, or at least connected with Ephesus as its church overseer, and having heretics to contend with of the same stamp as in the First Epistle, would account for the connection. There is not so great identity of tone as to compel us to adopt the theory that some years could not have elapsed between the two Epistles.

However, all these arguments against the later date may be answered. This First Epistle may refer not to the first organization of the Church under its bishops, or elders and deacons, but to the moral qualifications laid down at a later period for those officers when scandals rendered such directions needful. Indeed, the object for which he left Timothy at Ephesus he states (1Ti 1:3) to be, not to organize the Church for the first time, but to restrain the false teachers. The directions as to the choice of fit elders and deacons refer to the filling up of vacancies, not to their first appointment. The fact of there existing an institution for Church widows implies an established organization. As to Timothy's "youth," it may be spoken of comparatively young compared with Paul, now "the aged" (Phm 1:9), and with some of the Ephesian elders, senior to Timothy their overseer. As to Act 20:25, we know not but that "all" of the elders of Ephesus called to Miletus "never saw Paul's face" afterwards, as he "knew" (doubtless by inspiration) would be the case, which obviates the need of ALFORD'S lax view, that Paul was wrong in this his positive inspired anticipation (for such it was, not a mere boding surmise as to the future). Thus he probably visited Ephesus again (1Ti 1:3; 2Ti 1:18; 2Ti 4:20, he would hardly have been at Miletum, so near Ephesus, without visiting Ephesus) after his first imprisonment in Rome, though all the Ephesian elders whom he had addressed formerly at Miletus did not again see him. The general similarity of subject and style, and of the state of the Church between the two Epistles, favors the view that they were near one another in date. Also, against the theory of the early date is the difficulty of defining, when, during Paul's two or three years' stay at Ephesus, we can insert an absence of Paul from Ephesus long enough for the requirements of the case, which imply a lengthened stay and superintendence of Timothy at Ephesus (see, however, 1Ti 3:14, on the other side) after having been "left" by Paul there. Timothy did not stay there when Paul left Ephesus (Act 19:22; Act 20:1; 2Co 1:1). In 1Ti 3:14, Paul says, "I write, hoping to come unto thee shortly," but on the earlier occasion of his passing from Ephesus to Macedon he had no such expectation, but had planned to spend the summer in Macedon, and the winter in Corinth, (1Co 16:6). The expression "Till I come" (1Ti 4:13), implies that Timothy was not to leave his post till Paul should arrive; this and the former objection, however, do not hold good against MOSHEIM'S theory. Moreover, Paul in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders prophetically anticipates the rise of false teachers hereafter of their own selves; therefore this First Epistle, which speaks of their actual presence at Ephesus, would naturally seem to be not prior, but subsequent, to the address, that is, will belong to the later date assigned. In the Epistle to the Ephesians no notice is taken of the Judaeo-Gnostic errors, which would have been noticed had they been really in existence; however, they are alluded to in the contemporaneous sister Epistle to Colossians (Col. 2:1-23).

Whatever doubt must always remain as to the date of the First Epistle, there can be hardly any as to that of the Second Epistle. In 2Ti 4:13, Paul directs Timothy to bring the books and cloak which the apostle had left at Troas. Assuming that the visit to Troas referred to is the one mentioned in Act 20:5-7, it will follow that the cloak and parchments lay for about seven years at Troas, that being the time that elapsed between the visit and Paul's first imprisonment at Rome: a very unlikely supposition, that he should have left either unused for so long. Again, when, during his first Roman imprisonment, he wrote to the Colossians (Col 4:14) and Philemon (Phm 1:24), Demas was with him; but when he was writing 2Ti 4:10, Demas had forsaken him from love of this world, and gone to Thessalonica. Again, when he wrote to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, he had good hopes of a speedy liberation; but here in 2Ti 4:6-8, he anticipates immediate death, having been at least once already tried (2Ti 4:16). Again, he is in this Epistle represented as in closer confinement than he was when writing those former Epistles in his first imprisonment (even in the Philippians, which represent him in greater uncertainty as to his life, he cherished the hope of soon being delivered, Phi 2:24; 2Ti 1:16-18; 2Ti 2:9; 2Ti 4:6-8, 2Ti 4:16). Again (2Ti 4:20), he speaks of having left Trophimus sick at Miletum. This could not have been on the occasion, Act 20:15. For Trophimus was with Paul at Jerusalem shortly afterwards (Act 21:29). Besides, he would thus be made to speak of an event six or seven years after its occurrence, as a recent event: moreover, Timothy was, on that occasion of the apostle being at Miletum, with Paul, and therefore needed not to be informed of Trophimus' sickness there (Act 20:4-17). Also, the statement (2Ti 4:20), "Erastus abode at Corinth," implies that Paul had shortly before been at Corinth, and left Erastus there; but Paul had not been at Corinth for several years before his first imprisonment, and in the interval Timothy had been with him, so that he did not need to write subsequently about that visit. He must therefore have been liberated after his first imprisonment (indeed, Heb 13:23-24, expressly proves that the writer was in Italy and at liberty), and resumed his apostolic journeyings, and been imprisoned at Rome again, whence shortly before his death he wrote Second Timothy.

EUSEBIUS [Chronicles, Anno 2083] (beginning October, A.D. 67), says, "Nero, to his other crimes, added the persecution of Christians: under him the apostles Peter and Paul consummated their martyrdom at Rome." So JEROME [On Illustrious Men], "In the fourteenth year of Nero, Paul was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake, on the same day as Peter, and was buried on the Ostian Road, in the thirty-seventh year after the death of our Lord." ALFORD reasonably conjectures the Pastoral Epistles were written near this date. The interval was possibly filled up (so CLEMENT OF ROME states that Paul preached as far as "to the extremity of the west") by a journey to Spain (Rom 15:24, Rom 15:28), according to his own original intention. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture (about A.D. 170) also alleges Paul's journey into Spain. So EUSEBIUS, CHRYSOSTOM, and JEROME. Be that as it may, he seems shortly before his second imprisonment to have visited Ephesus, where a new body of elders governed the Church (Act 20:25), say in the latter end of A.D. 66, or beginning of 67. Supposing him thirty at his conversion, he would now be upwards of sixty, and older in constitution than in years, through continual hardship. Even four years before he called himself "Paul the aged" (Phm 1:9).

From Ephesus he went into Macedonia (1Ti 1:3). He may have written the First Epistle to Timothy from that country. But his use of "went," not "came," in 1Ti 1:3, "When I went into Macedonia," implies he was not there when writing. Wherever he was, he writes uncertain how long he may be detained from coming to Timothy (1Ti 3:14-15). BIRKS shows the probability that he wrote from Corinth, between which city and Ephesus the communication was rapid and easy. His course, as on both former occasions, was from Macedon to Corinth. He finds a coincidence between 1Ti 2:11-14, and 1Co 14:34, as to women being silent in Church; and 1Ti 5:17-18, and 1Co 9:8-10, as to the maintenance of ministers, on the same principle as the Mosaic law, that the ox should not be muzzled that treadeth out the corn; and 1Ti 5:19-20, and 2Co 13:1-4, as to charges against elders. It would be natural for the apostle in the very place where these directions had been enforced, to reproduce them in his letter.

The date of the Epistle to Titus must depend on that assigned to First Timothy, with which it is connected in subject, phraseology, and tone. There is no difficulty in the Epistle to Titus, viewed by itself, in assigning it to the earlier date, namely, before Paul's first imprisonment. In Act 18:18-19, Paul, in journeying from Corinth to Palestine, for some cause or other landed at Ephesus. Now we find (Tit 3:13) that Apollos in going from Ephesus to Corinth was to touch at Crete (which seems to coincide with Apollos' journey from Ephesus to Corinth, recorded in Act 18:24, Act 18:27; Act 19:1); therefore it is not unlikely that Paul may have taken Crete similarly on his way between Corinth and Ephesus; or, perhaps been driven out of his course to it in one of his three shipwrecks spoken of in 2Co 11:25-26; this will account for his taking Ephesus on his way from Corinth to Palestine, though out of his regular course. At Ephesus Paul may have written the Epistle to Titus [HUG]; there he probably met Apollos and gave the Epistle to Titus to his charge, before his departure for Corinth by way of Crete, and before the apostle's departure for Jerusalem (Act 18:19-21, Act 18:24). Moreover, on Paul's way back from Jerusalem and Antioch, he travelled some time in Upper Asia (Act 19:1); and it was then, probably, that his intention to "winter at Nicopolis" was realized, there being a town of that name between Antioch and Tarsus, lying on Paul's route to Galatia (Tit 3:12). Thus, First Timothy will, in this theory, be placed two and a half years later (Act 20:1; compare 1Ti 1:3).

ALFORD'S argument for classing the Epistle to Titus with First Timothy, as written after Paul's first Roman imprisonment, stands or falls with his argument for assigning First Timothy to that date. Indeed, HUG'S unobjectionable argument for the earlier date of the Epistle to Titus, favors the early date assigned to First Timothy, which is so much akin to it, if other arguments be not thought to counterbalance this. The Church of Crete had been just founded (Tit 1:5), and yet the same heresies are censured in it as in Ephesus, which shows that no argument, such as ALFORD alleges against the earlier date of First Timothy, can be drawn from them (Tit 1:10-11, Tit 1:15-16; Tit 3:9, Tit 3:11). But vice versa, if, as seems likely from the arguments adduced, the First Epistle to Timothy be assigned to the later date, the Epistle to Titus must, from similarity of style, belong to the same period. ALFORD traces Paul's last journey before his second imprisonment thus: To Crete (Tit 1:5), Miletus (2Ti 4:20), Colosse (fulfilling his intention, Phm 1:22), Ephesus (1Ti 1:3; 2Ti 1:18), from which neighborhood he wrote the Epistle to Titus; Troas, Macedonia, Corinth (2Ti 4:20), Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) in Epirus, where he had intended to winter; a place in which, as being a Roman colony, he would be free from tumultuary violence, and yet would be more open to a direct attack from foes in the metropolis, Rome. Being known in Rome as the leader of the Christians, he was probably [ALFORD] arrested as implicated in causing the fire in A.D. 64, attributed by Nero to the Christians, and was sent to Rome by the Duumvirs of Nicopolis. There he was imprisoned as a common malefactor (2Ti 2:9); his Asiatic friends deserted him, except Onesiphorus (2Ti 1:16). Demas, Crescens, and Titus, left him. Tychicus he had sent to Ephesus. Luke alone remained with him (2Ti 4:10-12). Under the circumstances he writes the Second Epistle to Timothy, most likely while Timothy was at Ephesus (2Ti 2:17; compare 1Ti 1:20; 2Ti 4:13), begging him to come to him before winter (2Ti 4:21), and anticipating his own execution soon (2Ti 4:6). Tychicus was perhaps the bearer of the Second Epistle (2Ti 4:12). His defense was not made before the emperor, for the latter was then in Greece (2Ti 4:16-17). Tradition represents that he died by the sword, which accords with the fact that his Roman citizenship would exempt him from torture; probably late in A.D. 67 or A.D. 68, the last year of Nero.

Timothy is first mentioned, Act 16:1, as dwelling in Lystra (not Derbe, compare Act 20:4). His mother was a Jewess named Eunice (2Ti 1:5); his father, "a Greek" (that is, a Gentile). As Timothy is mentioned as "a disciple" in Act 16:1, he must have been converted before, and this by Paul (1Ti 1:2), probably at his former visit to Lystra (Act 14:6); at the same time, probably, that his Scripture-loving mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, were converted to Christ from Judaism (2Ti 3:14-15). Not only the good report given as to him by the brethren of Lystra, but also his origin, partly Jewish, partly Gentile, adapted him specially for being Paul's assistant in missionary work, laboring as the apostle did in each place, firstly among the Jews, and then among the Gentiles. In order to obviate Jewish prejudices, he first circumcised him. He seems to have accompanied Paul in his tour through Macedonia; but when the apostle went forward to Athens, Timothy and Silas remained in Berea. Having been sent back by Paul to visit the Thessalonian Church (1Th 3:2), he brought his report of it to the apostle at Corinth (1Th 3:6). Hence we find his name joined with Paul's in the addresses of both the Epistles to Thessalonians, which were written at Corinth. We again find him "ministering to" Paul during the lengthened stay at Ephesus (Act 19:22). Thence he was sent before Paul into Macedonia and to Corinth (1Co 4:17; 1Co 16:10). He was with Paul when he wrote the Second Epistle to Corinthians (2Co 1:1); and the following winter in Corinth, when Paul sent from thence his Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16:21). On Paul's return to Asia through Macedonia, he went forward and waited for the apostle at Troas (Act 20:3-5). Next we find him with Paul during his imprisonment at Rome, when the apostle wrote the Epistles to Colossians (Col 1:1), Philemon (Phm 1:1), and Philippians (Phi 1:1). He was imprisoned and set at liberty about the same time as the writer of the Hebrews (Heb 13:23). In the Pastoral Epistles, we find him mentioned as left by the apostle at Ephesus to superintend the Church there (1Ti 1:3). The last notice of him is in the request which Paul makes to him (2Ti 4:21) to "come before winter," that is about A.D. 67 [ALFORD]. EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.42], reports that he was first bishop of Ephesus; and [NICOPHORUS, Ecclesiastical History, 3.11], represents that he died by martyrdom. If then, St. John, as tradition represents, resided and died in that city, it must have been at a later period. Paul himself ordained or consecrated him with laying on of his own hands, and those of the presbytery, in accordance with prophetic intimations given respecting him by those possessing the prophetic gift (1Ti 1:18; 1Ti 4:14 2Ti 1:6). His self-denying character is shown by his leaving home at once to accompany the apostle, and submitting to circumcision for the Gospel's sake; and also by his abstemiousness (noted in 1Ti 5:23) notwithstanding his bodily infirmities, which would have warranted a more generous diet. Timidity and a want of self-confidence and boldness in dealing with the difficulties of his position, seem to have been a defect in his otherwise beautiful character as a Christian minister (1Co 16:10; 1Ti 4:12; 2Ti 1:7).

The DESIGN of the First Epistle was: (1) to direct Timothy to charge the false teachers against continuing to teach other doctrine than that of the Gospel (1Ti. 1:3-20; compare Rev 2:1-6); (2) to give him instructions as to the orderly conducting of worship, the qualifications of bishops and deacons, and the selection of widows who should, in return for Church charity, do appointed service (1Ti. 2:1-6:2); (3) to warn against covetousness, a sin prevalent at Ephesus, and to urge to good works (1Ti. 6:3-19).

JFB: 1 Timothy (Outline)

• ADDRESS: PAUL'S DESIGN IN HAVING LEFT TIMOTHY AT EPHESUS, NAMELY, TO CHECK FALSE TEACHERS; TRUE USE OF THE LAW; HARMONIZING WITH THE GOSPEL; GOD'S GRACE IN CALLING PAUL, ONCE A BLASPHEMER, TO EXPERIENCE AND TO PREACH IT; CHARGES TO TIMOTHY. (1Ti. 1:1-20)
• PUBLIC WORSHIP. DIRECTION AS TO INTERCESSIONS FOR ALL MEN, SINCE CHRIST IS A RANSOM FOR ALL. THE DUTIES OF MEN AND WOMEN RESPECTIVELY IN RESPECT TO PUBLIC PRAYER. WOMAN'S SUBJECTION; HER SPHERE OF DUTY. (1Ti 2:1-15)
• RULES AS TO BISHOPS (OVERSEERS) AND DEACONS. THE CHURCH, AND THE GOSPEL MYSTERY NOW REVEALED TO IT, ARE THE END OF ALL SUCH RULES. (1Ti. 3:1-16) Translate as Greek, "Faithful is the saying." A needful preface to what follows: for the office of a bishop or overseer in Paul's day, attended as it was with hardship and often persecution, would not seem to the world generally a desirable and "good work."
• PREDICTION OF A COMING DEPARTURE FROM THE FAITH: TIMOTHY'S DUTY AS TO IT: GENERAL DIRECTIONS TO HIM. (1Ti. 4:1-16)
• GENERAL DIRECTIONS AS TO HOW TIMOTHY SHOULD DEAL WITH DIFFERENT CLASSES IN THE CHURCH. (1Ti. 5:1-25)
• EXHORTATIONS AS TO DISTINCTIONS OF CIVIL RANK; THE DUTY OF SLAVES, IN OPPOSITION TO THE FALSE TEACHINGS OF GAIN-SEEKERS; TIMOTHY'S PURSUIT IS TO BE GODLINESS, WHICH IS AN EVERLASTING POSSESSION: SOLEMN ADJURATION TO DO SO AGAINST CHRIST'S COMING; CHARGE TO BE GIVEN TO THE RICH. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION. (1Ti. 6:1-21)

TSK: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

This Epistle bears the impress of its genuineness and authenticity, which are corroborated by the most decisive external evidence; and its Divine inspiration is attested by the exact accomplishment of the prediction which it contains respecting the apostasy in the latter days. This prophecy is similar in the general subject to that in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, though it differs in the particular circumstances; and exactly corresponds with that of the prophet Daniel on the same subject (Dan 11:38). This important prediction might be more correctly rendered, " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, giving heed to erroneous spirits, and doctrines concerning demons, through the hypocrisy of liars, having their consciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats," etc. How applicable these particulars are to the corruptions of the Church of Rome need scarcely be insisted on. The worship of saints in that church is essentially the same with the worship of demons among the heathen; which has been established in the world by books forged in the name of the Apostles and saints, by lying legends of their lives, by false miracles ascribed to their relics, and by fabulous dreams and relations; while celibacy was enjoined and practised under pretence of chastity, and abstinence under pretence of devotion. None but the SPIRIT OF GOD could foresee and foretell these remarkable events.

TSK: 1 Timothy 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

1Ti 1:1, Timothy is put in mind of the charge which was given unto him by Paul at his going to Macedonia; 1Ti 1:5, Of the right use and end of the law; 1Ti 1:11, Of Saint Paul’s calling to be an apostle; 1Ti 1:20, and Hymenaeus and Alexander.

Poole: 1 Timothy 1 (Chapter Introduction)

ARGUMENT

Timothy is thought to have been a native of Lystra in Lycaonia, Act 16:1 . His mother, Eunice, was a Jewess, Act 16:1 ; a believer, 2Ti 1:5 . His father a Greek, Act 16:1 , but (possibly) proselyted to the Jewish religion. They gave Timothy his name, signifying thereby their pious desire that their son should fear and honour God, and be put in mind of his duty by his name. They bred him up in the knowledge of the Scriptures from a child. When it was he first became a disciple to Paul doth not appear; but it appears from 2Ti 3:11 , that he was with Paul at Antioch and Iconium, which was before he came to Lystra, Act 16:1 , where Paul circumcised him. After this Paul made him his companion, and sent him upon several messages. He was a sickly person, 1Ti 5:23 , but eminent in gifts and graces, 2Ti 1:5 3:15 1Co 4:17 . After this he was ordained a minister by Paul and the presbytery, 2Ti 1:6 . He became very dear to Paul for his faithfulness, Phi 2:19-21 ; so as he calls him his beloved son, and faithful, 1Co 4:17 , his son in the faith, 1Ti 1:2 , his dearly beloved son, his fellow worker, fellow labourer, & c. Paul left him a time at Thessalonica and Berea, Act 17:13,14 ; then sent for him to Athens, Act 17:15 . He came to him at Corinth, Act 18:5 . Thence he sent him into Macedonia, Act 19:22 . From thence he came to Corinth, and goes with Paul into Asia. Act 20:4 ; where Paul entreats him to stay some time at Ephesus, as an evangelist, to settle the churches there, 2Ti 4:5 . From thence he sends for him to Rome, 2Ti 4:9 , and sends Tychicus in his room to Ephesus, 2Ti 4:12 . Paul having left Timothy, a young man, in this great trust, being himself to be absent, writes this Epistle to him, to encourage him against all dangers, and to direct him in the management of his office. The scope of the Epistle is to direct Timothy in the first place, and then all ministers of the gospel, how to behave themselves in the ministerial work, as to preaching, praying, government, opposing gainsayers, &c.; so as it is the most perfect direction we have in all Scripture for the discharge of the ministerial office. The time when Paul wrote this Epistle is uncertainly judged, but guessed to be the one and twentieth year after Christ’ s death, and about the nineteenth after Paul’ s conversion; it is certain it was when he was in Macedonia, and before he returned to Ephesus, Act 19:1 .

1 TIMOTHY CHAPTER 1

1Ti 1:1,2 The salutation.

1Ti 1:3,4 Timothy is put in mind of the charge before given him by Paul.

1Ti 1:5-7 The end of the commandment is charity, from which

some had turned aside to teach the law, which they

understood not.

1Ti 1:8-11 The scope of the law was to condemn wickedness, which

is the design of the gospel also.

1Ti 1:12-17 Paul blesseth God for calling him to the ministry

notwithstanding his great demerit, whereby all

penitent sinners that believe are assured of mercy

through Christ.

1Ti 1:18-20 He urgeth Timothy to a due discharge of his trust,

warning him of some who had deserted the truth, of

whom Hymeneus and Alexander had been delivered by

him unto Satan.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ one immediately sent by Jesus Christ, by his voice from heaven, Act 9:15 , though not by his voice upon earth, as those, Mat 10:1-42 .

By the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ:

through the will of God 1Co 1:1 , not his permissive, but preceptive will; and this is the same with his being called to be an apostle, Rom 1:1 1Co 1:1 . By our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father not being excluded, but the Son only being named, to whom the mediatory kingdom was committed.

Which is our hope: our hope there is no more in the Greek, that is, the object of our hope: as when it is said, Gen 31:53 , that Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac, that is, by the Deity whom his father feared. This glorious eulogy belongs to our Saviour, in whom there is a concurrence of all that is requisite to free us from destructive evils, and to make us everlastingly happy: for he is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Hence the Gentiles without Christ are said to be without hope, Eph 2:12 . And from hence it is evident that Jesus Christ is the eternal God, for if he were only a man, though in excellence above all others, he could not be our hope, for cursed is he that trusteth in man, Jer 17:5 .

MHCC: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

The design of the epistle appears to be, that Timothy having been left at Ephesus, St. Paul wrote to instruct him in the choice of proper officers in the church, as well as in the exercise of a regular ministry. Also, to caution against the influence of false teachers, who by subtle distinctions and endless disputes, corrupted the purity and simplicity of the gospel. He presses upon him constant regard to the greatest diligence, faithfulness, and zeal. These subjects occupy the first four chapters; the fifth chapter instructs respecting particular classes; in the latter part, controversies and disputes are condemned, the love of money blamed, and the rich exhorted to good works.

MHCC: 1 Timothy 1 (Chapter Introduction)

(1Ti 1:1-4) The apostle salutes Timothy.

(1Ti 1:5-11) The design of the law as given by Moses.

(1Ti 1:12-17) Of his own conversion and call to the apostleship.

(1Ti 1:18-20) The obligation to maintain faith and a good conscience.

Matthew Henry: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy

Hitherto Paul's epistles were directed to churches; now follow some to particular persons: two to Timothy, one to Titus, and another to Philemon - all three ministers. Timothy and Titus were evangelists, an inferior order to the apostles, as appears by Eph 4:11, Some prophets, some apostles, some evangelists. Their commission and work was much the same with that of the apostles, to plant churches, and water the churches that were planted; and accordingly they were itinerants, as we find Timothy was. Timothy was first converted by Paul, and therefore he calls him his own son in the faith: we read of his conversion, Act 16:3.

The scope of these two epistles is to direct Timothy how to discharge his duty as an evangelist at Ephesus, where he now was, and where Paul ordered him for some time to reside, to perfect the good work which he had begun there. As for the ordinary pastoral charge of that church, he had very solemnly committed it to the presbytery, as appears from Act 20:28, where he charges the presbyters to feed the flock of God, which he had purchased with his own blood.

Matthew Henry: 1 Timothy 1 (Chapter Introduction)

After the inscription (1Ti 1:1, 1Ti 1:2) we have, I. The charge given to Timothy (1Ti 1:3, 1Ti 1:4). II. The true end of the law (1Ti 1:5-11), where he shows that it is entirely agreeable to the gospel. III. He mentions his own call to be an apostle, for which he expresses his thankfulness (1Ti 1:12-16) IV. His doxology (1Ti 1:17). V. A renewal of the charge to Timothy (1Ti 1:18). And of Hymenaeus and Alexander (1Ti 1:19, 1Ti 1:20).

Barclay: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227). It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church, and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time, there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36).

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who will Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation. He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added his own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end). In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me." (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 .)

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS TO TIMOTHY AND TITUS

Personal Letters

1 and 2 Timothy and Titus have always been regarded as forming a separate group of letters, different from the other letters of Paul. The most obvious difference is that they, along with the little letter to Philemon, are written to persons, whereas all other Pauline letters are written to Churches. The Muratorian Canon, which was the earliest official list of New Testament books, says that they were written "from personal feeling and affection." They are private rather than public letters.

Ecclesiastical Letters

But it very soon began to be seen that, though these are personal and private letters, they have a significance and a relevance far beyond the immediate. In 1Ti_3:15 their aim is set down. They are written to Timothy "that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God." So, then, it came to be seen that these letters have not only a personal significance, but also what one might call an ecclesiastical significance. The Muratorian Canon says of them that, though they are personal letters written out of personal affection, "they are still hallowed in the respect of the Catholic Church, and in the arrangement of ecclesiastical discipline." Tertullian said that Paul wrote "two letters to Timothy and one to Titus, which were composed concerning the state of the Church (de ecclesiastico statu)." It is not then surprising that the first name given to them was Pontifical Letters, that is, written by the pontifex, the priest, the controller of the Church.

Pastoral Letters

Bit by bit they came to acquire the name by which they are still known--The Pastoral Epistles. In writing of I Timothy Thomas Aquinas, as long ago as 1274, said, "This letter is as it were a pastoral rule which the Apostle delivered to Timothy." In his introduction to the second letter, he writes, "In the first letter he gives Timothy instructions concerning ecclesiastical order; in this second letter he deals with a pastoral care which should be so great that it will even accept martyrdom for the sake of the care of the flock." But this title, The Pastoral Epistles, really became affixed to these letters in 1726 when a great scholar, Paul Anton by name, gave a series of famous lectures on them under that title.

These letters then deal with the care and organization of the flock of God; they tell men how to behave within the household of God; they give instructions as to how Godhouse should be administered, as to what kind of people the leaders and pastors of the Church should be, and as to how the threats which endanger the purity of Christian faith and life should be dealt with.

The Growing Church

The supreme interest of these letters is that we get in them a picture of the infant Church. In those early days it was an island in a sea of paganism. The people in it were only one remove from their heathen origin. It would have been so easy for them to relapse into the pagan standards from which they had come; the tarnishing atmosphere was all around. It is most significant that missionaries tell us that of all letters the Pastoral Epistles speak most directly to the situation of the younger Churches. The situation with which they deal is being re-enacted in India, in Africa, in China every day. They can never lose their interest because in them we see, as nowhere else, the problems which continually beset the growing Church.

The Ecclesiastical Background Of The Pastorals

From the beginning these letters have presented problems to New Testament scholars. There are many who have felt that, as they stand, they cannot have come directly from the hand and pen of Paul. That this is no new feeling may be seen from the fact that Marcion, who, although he was a heretic, was the first man to draw up a list of New Testament books, did not include them among Paulletters. Let us then see what makes people doubt their direct Pauline authorship.

In them we are confronted with the picture of a Church with a fairly highly developed ecclesiastical organization. There are elders (1Ti_5:17-19 ; Tit_1:5-6 ); there are bishops, superintendents or overseers (1Ti_3:1-7 ; Tit_1:7-16 ); there are deacons (1Ti_3:8-13 ). From 1Ti_5:17-18 we learn that by that time elders were even salaried officials. The elders that rule well are to be counted worthy of a double pay and the Church is urged to remember that the labourer is worthy of his hire. There is at least the beginning of the order of widows who became so prominent later on in the early Church (1Ti_5:3-16 ). There is clearly here a quite elaborate structure within the Church, too elaborate some would claim for the early days in which Paul lived and worked.

The Days Of Creeds

It is even claimed that in these letters we can see the days of creeds emerging. The word faith changed its meaning. In the earliest days it is always faith in a person; it is the most intimate possible personal connection of love and trust and obedience with Jesus Christ. In later days it became faith in a creed; it became the acceptance of certain doctrines. It is said that in the Pastoral Epistles we can see this change emerging.

In the later days men will come who will depart from the faith and give heed to doctrines of devils (1Ti_4:1 ). A good servant of Jesus Christ must be nourished in the words of faith and good doctrine (1Ti_4:6 ). The heretics are men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith (2Ti_3:8 ). The duty of Titus is to rebuke men that they may be sound in the faith (Tit_1:13 ).

This comes out very particularly in an expression peculiar to the Pastorals. Timothy is urged to keep hold of "the truth that has been entrusted to you" (2Ti_1:14 ). The word for that has been entrusted is paratheke (G3866). Paratheke means a deposit which has been entrusted to a banker or someone else for safe-keeping. It is essentially something which must be handed back or handed on absolutely unchanged. That is to say the stress is on orthodoxy. Instead of being a close, personal relationship to Jesus Christ, as it was in the thrilling and throbbing days of the early Church, faith has become the acceptance of a creed. It is even held that in the Pastorals we have echoes of the earliest creeds.

"God was manifested in the flesh;

Vindicated in the Spirit;

Seen by angels;

Preached among the nations;

Believed on in the world;

Taken up in glory" (1Ti_3:16 ).

That indeed sounds like the fragment of a creed to be recited.

"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from

David, as preached in my gospel" (2Ti_2:8 ).

That sounds like a reminder of a sentence from an accepted creed.

Within the Pastorals there undoubtedly are indications that the day of insistence on acceptance of a creed has begun, and that the days of the first thrilling personal discovery of Christ are beginning to fade.

A Dangerous Heresy

It is clear that in the forefront of the situation against which the Pastoral Epistles were written there was a dangerous heresy which was threatening the welfare of the Christian Church. If we can distinguish the various characteristic features of that heresy, we may be able to go on to identify it.

It was characterized by speculative intellectualism. It produced questions (1Ti_1:4 ); those involved in it doted about questions (1Ti_6:4 ); it dealt in foolish and unlearned questions (2Ti_2:23 ); its foolish questions are to be avoided (Tit_3:9 ). The word used in each case for questions is ekzetesis (compare G1567 and G2214), which means speculative discussion. This heresy was obviously one which was a play-ground of the intellectuals, or rather the pseudo-intellectuals of the Church.

It was characterized by pride. The heretic is proud, although in reality he knows nothing (1Ti_6:4 ). There are indications that these intellectuals set themselves on a plane above the ordinary Christian; in fact they may well have said that complete salvation was outside the grasp of the ordinary man and open only to them. At times the Pastoral Epistles stress the word all in a most significant way. The grace of God, which brings salvation, has appeared to all men (Tit_2:11 ). It is Godwill that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1Ti_2:4 ). The intellectuals tried to make the greatest blessings of Christianity the exclusive possession of a chosen few; and in contradistinction the true faith stresses the all-embracing love of God.

There were within that heresy two opposite tendencies. There was a tendency to asceticism. The heretics tried to lay down special food laws, forgetting that everything God has made is good (1Ti_4:4-5 ). They listed many things as impure, forgetting that to the pure all things are pure (Tit_1:15 ). It is not impossible that they regarded sex as something unclean and belittled marriage, and even tried to persuade those who were married to renounce it, for in Tit_2:4 the simple duties of the married life are stressed as being binding on the Christian.

But this heresy also issued in immorality. The heretics even invaded private houses and led away weak and foolish women in evil desires (2Ti_3:6 ). They professed to know God, but denied him by their deeds (Tit_1:16 ). They were out to impose upon people and to make money out of their false teaching. To them gain was godliness (1Ti_6:5 ); they taught and deceived for base gain (Tit_1:11 ).

On the one hand this heresy issued in an unchristian asceticism, and on the other it produced an equally unchristian immorality.

It was characterized, too, by words and tales and genealogies. It was full of godless chatter and useless controversies (1Ti_6:20 ). It produced endless genealogies (1Ti_1:4 ; Tit_3:9 ). It produced myths and fables (1Ti_1:4 ; Tit_1:14 ).

It was at least in some way and to some extent tied up with Jewish legalism. Amongst its devotees were those of the circumcision (Tit_1:10 ). The aim of the heretics was to be teachers of the law (1Ti_1:7 ). It pressed on men Jewish fables and the commandments of men (Tit_1:14 ).

Finally, these heretics denied the resurrection of the body. They said that any resurrection that a man was going to experience had been experienced already (2Ti_2:18 ). This is probably a reference to those who held that the only resurrection the Christian experienced was a spiritual one when he died with Christ and rose again with him in the experience of baptism (Rom_6:4 ).

The Beginnings Of Gnosticism

Is there any heresy which fits all this material? There is, and its name is Gnosticism. The basic thought of Gnosticism was that all matter is essentially evil and spirit alone is good. That basic belief had certain consequences.

The Gnostic believed that matter is as eternal as God; and that when God created the world he had to use this essentially evil matter. That meant that to them God could not be the direct creator of the world. In order to touch this flawed matter he had to send out a series of emanations--they called them aeons--each one more and more distant from himself until at last there came an emanation or aeon so distant that it could deal with matter and create the world. Between man and God there stretched a series of these emanations, each with his name and genealogy. So Gnosticism literally had endless fables and endless genealogies. If a man was ever to get to God, he must, as it were, ascend this ladder of emanations; and to do that he needed a very special kind of knowledge including all kinds of passwords to get him past each stage. Only a person of the highest intellectual calibre could hope to acquire this knowledge and know these passwords and so get to God.

Further, if matter was altogether evil, the body was altogether evil. From that, two opposite possible consequences sprang. Either the body must be held down so that a rigorous asceticism resulted, in which the needs of the body were as far as possible eliminated and its instincts, especially the sex instinct, as far as possible destroyed; or it could be held that, since it was evil, it did not matter what was done with the body and its instincts and desires could be given full rein. The Gnostic therefore became either an ascetic or a man to whom morality had ceased to have any relevance at all.

Still further, if the body was evil, clearly there could be no such thing as its resurrection. It was not the resurrection of the body but its destruction to which the Gnostic looked forward.

All this fits accurately the situation of the Pastoral Epistles. In Gnosticism we see the intellectualism, the intellectual arrogance, the fables and the genealogies, the asceticism and the immorality, the refusal to contemplate the possibility of a bodily resurrection, which were part and parcel of the heresy against which the Pastoral Epistles were written.

One element in the heresy has not yet been fitted into place--the Judaism and the legalism of which the Pastoral Epistles speak. That too finds its place. Sometimes Gnosticism and Judaism joined hands. We have already said that the Gnostics insisted that to climb the ladder to God a very special knowledge was necessary; and that some of them insisted that for the good life a strict asceticism was essential. It was the claim of certain of the Jews that it was precisely the Jewish law and the Jewish food regulations which provided that special knowledge and necessary asceticism; and so there were times when Judaism and Gnosticism went hand in hand.

It is quite clear that the heresy at the back of the Pastoral Epistles was Gnosticism. Some have used that fact to try to prove that Paul could have had nothing to do with the writing of them, because, they say, Gnosticism did not emerge until much later than Paul. It is quite true that the great formal systems of Gnosticism, connected with such names as Valentinus and Basilides, did not arise until the second century; but these great figures only systematized what was already there. The basic ideas of Gnosticism were there in the atmosphere which surrounded the early Church, even in the days of Paul. It is easy to see their attraction, and also to see that, if they had been allowed to flourish unchecked, they could have turned Christianity into a speculative philosophy and wrecked it. In facing Gnosticism, the Church was facing one of the gravest dangers which ever threatened the Christian faith.

The Language Of The Pastorals

The most impressive argument against the direct Pauline origin of the Pastorals is a fact which is quite clear in the Greek but not so clear in any English translation. The total number of words in the Pastoral Epistles is 902, of which 54 are proper names; and of these 902 words, no fewer than 306 never occur in any other of Paulletters. That is to say more than a third of the words in the Pastoral Epistles are totally absent from Paulother letters. In fact 175 words in the Pastoral Epistles occur nowhere else in the New Testament at all; although it is only fair to say that there are 50 words in the Pastoral Epistles which occur in Paulother letters and nowhere else in the New Testament.

Further, when the other letters of Paul and the Pastorals say the same thing they say it in different ways, using different words and different turns of speech to express the same idea.

Again, many of Paulfavourite words are absent entirely from the Pastoral Epistles. The words for the cross (stauros, G4716) and to crucify (stauroun, G4717) occur 27 times in Paulother letters, and never in the Pastorals. Eleutheria (G1657) and the kindred words which have to do with freedom occur 29 times in Paulother letters, and never in the Pastorals. Huios (G5207), "son," and huiothesia (G5206), "adoption," occur 46 times in Paulother letters, and never in the Pastorals.

Moreover, Greek has many more of those little words called particles and enclitics than English has. Sometimes they indicate little more than a tone of voice; every Greek sentence is joined to its predecessor by one of them; and they are often virtually untranslatable. Of these particles and enclitics there are 112 which Paul uses altogether 932 times in his other letters that never occur in the Pastorals.

There is clearly something which has to be explained here. The vocabulary and the style make it hard to believe that Paul wrote the Pastoral Epistles in the same sense as he wrote his other letters.

PaulActivities In The Pastorals

But perhaps the most obvious difficulty of the Pastorals is that they show Paul engaged in activities for which there is no room in his life as we know it from the book of Acts. He has clearly conducted a mission in Crete (Tit_1:5 ). And he proposes to spend a winter in Nicopolis, which is in Epirus (Tit_3:12 ). In Paullife as we know it that particular mission and that particular winter just cannot be fitted in. But it may well be that just here we have stumbled on the solution to the problem.

Was Paul Released From His Roman Imprisonment?

Let us sum up. We have seen that the Church organization of the Pastorals is more elaborate than in any other Pauline letter. We have seen that the stress on orthodoxy sounds like second or third generation Christianity, when the thrill of the new discovery is wearing off and the Church is on the way to becoming an institution. We have seen that Paul is depicted as carrying out a mission or missions which cannot be fitted into the scheme of his life as we have it in Acts. But Acts leaves it quite uncertain what happened to Paul in Rome. It ends by telling us that he lived for two whole years in a kind of semi-captivity, preaching the gospel without hindrance (Act_28:30-31 ). But it does not tell us how that captivity ended, whether in Paulrelease or his execution. It is true that the general assumption is that it ended in his condemnation and death; but there is a by no means negligible stream of tradition which tells that it ended in his release, his liberty for two or three further years, his reimprisonment and his final execution about the year A.D. 67.

Let us look at this question, for it is of the greatest interest.

First, it is clear that when Paul was in prison in Rome, he did not regard release as impossible; in fact, it looks as if he expected it. When he wrote to the Philippians, he said that he was sending Timothy to them, and goes on, "And I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself shall come also" (Phi_2:24 ). When he wrote to Philemon, sending back the runaway Onesimus, he says, "At the same time prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted to you" (Phm_1:22 ). Clearly he was prepared for release, whether or not it ever came.

Second, let us remember a plan that was very dear to Paulheart. Before he went to Jerusalem on that journey on which he was arrested, he wrote to the Church at Rome, and in that letter he is planning a visit to Spain. "I hope to see you in passing," he writes, "as I go to Spain." "I shall go on by way of you," he writes, "to Spain" (Rom_15:24 , Rom_15:28 ). Was that visit ever paid?

Clement of Rome, when he wrote to the Church at Corinth about A.D. 90, said of Paul that he preached the gospel in the East and in the West; that he instructed the whole world (that is, the Roman Empire) in righteousness; and that he went to the extremity (terma, the terminus) of the West, before his martyrdom. What did Clement mean by the extremity of the West? There are many who argue that he meant nothing more than Rome. Now it is true that someone writing away in the East in Asia Minor would probably think of Rome as the extremity, of the West. But Clement was writing from Rome; and it is difficult to see that for anyone in Rome the extremity of the West could be anything else but Spain. It certainly seems that Clement believed that Paul reached Spain.

The greatest of all the early Church historians was Eusebius. In his account of Paullife he writes: "Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, brought his history to a close at this point, after stating that Paul had spent two whole years at Rome as a prisoner at large, and preached the word of God without constraint. Thus, after he had made his defence, it is said that the Apostle was sent again on the ministry of preaching, and that on coming to the same city a second time he suffered martyrdom" (Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History, 2.22.2). Eusebius has nothing to say about Spain, but he did know the story that Paul had been released from his first Roman imprisonment.

The Muratorian Canon, that first list of New Testament books, describes Lukescheme in writing Acts: "Luke related to Theophilus events of which he was an eye-witness, as also, in a separate place, he evidently declares the martyrdom of Peter (he probably refers to Luk_22:31-32 ); but omits the journey of Paul from Rome to Spain."

In the fifth century, two of the great Christian fathers are definite about this journey. Chrysostom in his sermon on 2Ti_4:20 says: "Saint Paul after his residence in Rome departed to Spain." Jerome in his Catalogue of Writers says that Paul "was dismissed by Nero that he might preach Christgospel in the West."

Beyond doubt a stream of tradition held that Paul journeyed to Spain.

This is a matter on which we will have to come to our own decision. The one thing which makes us doubt the historicity of that tradition is that in Spain itself there is not and never was any tradition that Paul had worked and preached there, no stories about him, no places connected with his name. It would be indeed strange if the memory of such a visit had become totally obliterated. It could well be that the whole story of Paulrelease and journey to the west arose simply as a deduction from his expressed intention to visit Spain (Rom 15 ). Most New Testament scholars do not think that Paul was released from his imprisonment; the general consensus of opinion is that his only release was by death.

Paul And The Pastoral Epistles

What then shall we say of Paulconnection with these letters? If we can accept the tradition of his release, and of his return to preaching and teaching, and of his death as late as A.D. 67, we might well believe that as they stand they came from his hand. But, if we cannot believe that--and the evidence is on the whole against it--are we to say that they have no connection with Paul at all?

We must remember that the ancient world did not think of these things as we do. It would see nothing wrong in issuing a letter under the name of a great teacher, if it was sure that the letter said the things which that teacher would say under the same circumstances. To the ancient world it was natural and seemly that a disciple should write in his mastername. No one would have seen anything wrong in one of Pauldisciples meeting a new and threatening situation with a letter under Paulname. To regard that as forgery is to misunderstand the mind of the ancient world. Are we then to swing completely to the other extreme and say that some disciple of his issued these letters in Paulname years after he was dead, and at a time when the Church was much more highly organized than ever it was during his lifetime?

As we see it, the answer is no. It is incredible that any disciple would put into Paulmouth a claim to be the chief of sinners (1Ti_1:15 ); his tendency would be to stress Paulholiness, not to talk about his sin. It is incredible that anyone writing in the name of Paul would give Timothy the homely advice to drink a little wine for the sake of his health (1Ti_5:23 ). The whole of 2Tim 4 is so personal and so full of intimate, loving details that no one but Paul could have written it.

Wherein lies the solution? It may well be that something like this happened. It is quite obvious that many letters of Paul went lost. Apart from his great public letters, he must have had a continuous private correspondence; and of that we possess only the little letter to Philemon. It may well be that in the later days there were some fragments of Paulcorrespondence in the possession of some Christian teacher. This teacher saw the Church of his day and his locality in Ephesus threatened on every side. It was threatened with heresy from without and from within. It was threatened with a fall away from its own high standards of purity and truth. The quality of its members and the standard of its office-bearers were degenerating. He had in his possession little letters of Paul which said exactly the things that should be said, but, as they stood, they were too short and too fragmentary to publish. So he amplified them and made them supremely relevant to the contemporary situation and sent them out to the Church.

In the Pastoral Epistles we are still hearing the voice of Paul, and often hearing it speak with a unique personal intimacy; but we think that the form of the letters is due to a Christian teacher who summoned the help of Paul when the Church of the day needed the guidance which only he could give.

FURTHER READING

Timothy

D. Guthrie, The Pastoral Epistles (TC; E)

W. Lock, The Pastoral Epistles (ICC; G)

E. F. Scott, The Pastoral Epistles (MC; E)

E. K. Simpson, The Pastoral Epistles

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: 1 Timothy 1 (Chapter Introduction)

The Royal Command (1Ti_1:1-2)

The Hope Of The World (1Ti_1:1-2 Continued)

Timothy, My Son (1Ti_1:1-2 Continued)

Grace, Mercy And Peace (1Ti_1:1-2 Continued)

Error And Heresy (1Ti_1:3-7)

The Speculations Of The Greeks (1Ti_1:3-7 Continued)

The Ethics Of Heresy (1Ti_1:3-7 Continued)

The Mind Of The Heretic (1Ti_1:3-7 Continued)

The Mind Of The Christian Thinker (1Ti_1:3-7 Continued)

Those Who Need No Law (1Ti_1:8-11)

Those Whom The Law Condemns (1Ti_1:8-11 Continued)

The Cleansing Word (1Ti_1:8-11 Continued)

Saved To Serve (1Ti_1:12-17)

The Means Of Conversion (1Ti_1:12-17 Continued)

The Unforgotten Shame And The Undying Inspiration (1Ti_1:12-17 Continued)

The Summons Which Cannot Be Denied (1Ti_1:18-20)

Despatched On God's Campaign (1Ti_1:18-20 Continued)

A Stern Rebuke (1Ti_1:18-20 Continued)

Constable: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

Timothy apparently became a Christian as a result of Paul's missionary work in Lystra (Acts 14:6-23). He joined Paul on the second missionary journey when the apostle's evangelistic team passed through that area where Timothy lived (Acts 16:1-3). On the second journey Timothy helped Paul in Troas, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth. During the third journey he was with Paul in Ephesus. From there Paul sent him to Macedonia (Acts 19:22). Later he was with Paul in Macedonia (2 Cor. 1:1, 19) and apparently traveled with the apostle to Corinth (Rom. 16:21). On the return trip to Ephesus, Timothy accompanied Paul through Macedonia as far as Troas (Acts 20:3-6). Still later Timothy was with Paul in Rome (Col. 1:1; Phile. 1; Phil. 1:1), and from there he probably made a trip to Philippi (Phil. 2:19-23).

At the end of the Book of Acts, Paul was under house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:30-31). Our knowledge of his activities after that time comes mainly from scanty references in his epistles and conjectures since we have no canonical history of his work.

Following his trial before Caesar and his acquittal, Paul evidently left Rome. He made his way eastward and eventually arrived in Ephesus. While in Ephesus Paul doubtless visited other churches in the area and later set out for Macedonia and probably for other provinces intending to continue his pioneer missionary work (cf. Rom. 15:24, 28). When Paul departed from Ephesus he left Timothy in charge as his special representative to continue the work there (1 Tim. 1:3). Sometime after that Timothy evidently wrote to Paul probably asking if he could leave Ephesus perhaps to rejoin Paul. Paul responded with this letter in which he instructed Timothy to remain in Ephesus and to continue his needed ministry until Paul would rejoin him there (3:14; 4:13).

Timothy's function in Ephesus was to represent Paul to the church.¹ He evidently was not an elder in that church. Paul spoke of the Ephesian elders in this epistle as individuals different from Timothy.

When Paul had met with the Ephesian elders toward the end of his third missionary journey, he had warned them about false teachers who would arise in their midst (Acts 20:29-30). This situation had happened (cf. 1:6; 6:21; 2 Tim. 2:18). Evidently Hymenaeus and Alexander were two of those "wolves" (1:20). Paul alluded to others in this epistle as well (1:3-11; 4:1-5; 6:3-10). We shall consider their errors in the exposition to follow.

If Caesar released Paul from prison in Rome in the early 60s A.D., he may have written this epistle in the middle 60s, perhaps 63-66 A.D. Paul's reference to his going from Ephesus to Macedonia (1:3) suggests that he may have been in Macedonia when he wrote 1 Timothy. Nevertheless, since we have no other references to guide us, he could have been in any one of a number of other provinces as well.

The authorship of the Pastorals is a major critical problem in New Testament studies, but I believe the arguments for Pauline authorship are most convincing.²

"The majority of modern scholars maintain that the Pastoral Epistles are pseudepigraphical--that is, written pseudonymously (in Paul's name) sometime after Paul's death (so Dibelius and Conzelmann, Brox, Barrett, Hanson, Houlden, Karris, Hultgren). Most today locate these three letters around the turn of the century, suggesting that the author aimed to revive Pauline teaching for his day or to compose a definitive and authoritative Pauline manual for denouncing heresy in the postapostolic church."³

Purpose

First and 2 Timothy and Titus are called "Pastoral Epistles" because Paul wrote them to pastors (shepherds) of churches outlining their pastoral duties.⁴ Their main pastoral duties were to defend sound doctrine and to maintain sound discipline.⁵

"The pastoral Epistles are primarily practical rather than theological. The emphasis lies rather on the defense of doctrine than on its explication or elaboration. The distinctively doctrinal passages comprise only a small part of the whole; Timothy and Titus had already been instructed."⁶

Message⁷

All three of the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) deal with the same subject: the order of the local church. Paul had already expounded the doctrines of the church universal and the ministry of the saints in Christ's body in his other epistles. In these he also gave some direction concerning life in the local churches. Now in the Pastorals he expounded on the effective operation of the local church as a microcosm of the universal church. Remember that the church is people.

First Timothy deals with two aspects of the subject of order in the local church: the life of the church, and the leadership of the church. Titus elaborates on the leadership of the church. Second Timothy elaborates on the life of the church. First Timothy is more general and fundamental. Titus expounds how to set the church in order, and 2 Timothy expounds the leader's personal responsibility.

In 1 Timothy, Paul taught that the function of the local church is to proclaim God's truth in the world. He also taught that the function of the church leaders (Timothy and the elders) is to expound God's truth in the church. The purpose for which the church exists is the proclamation of God's truth in the world. The purpose for which the leaders of the church exist is the exposition of God's truth in the church. This is the message statement.

These are the same points Paul made in Ephesians 4:11-12 concerning the universal church. The saints are to do the work of the ministry, and the gifted men (apostles, prophets, etc.) are to equip the saints for their work. In 1 Timothy he applied the same truth to the local church.

On the one hand then the purpose of the church is to declare God's truth to the world (3:14-16). The key terms in this central passage are "church" and "mystery of godliness."

The local church is an instrument God designed to support and display His truth. Every individual believer is a light in a dark world. God has called us to let our light shine among men (Matt. 5:14-16).

The local church exists to support and display the light of the testimony of believers, not only individually but also corporately.

The "mystery of godliness" is essentially Christ. It is more broadly the truth that the church proclaims that centers on Christ. It is a mystery in that we know it only by special revelation. "Godliness" means piety. This word describes faith in Christ worked out in everyday living. Where does one find godliness? We see it in concrete manifestation in Jesus Christ (3:16). Paul summarized the three stages of His ministry in the three couplets of an ancient hymn. These are His past humiliation, His present proclamation, and His future glorification.

The purpose of the local church then is to proclaim godliness. We do this by presenting Christ and by demonstrating before the world godlike behavior ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit. Audio witness builds on visual witness.

The purpose of the leaders of the local church, in the second place, is to expound the truth in the church. Church leaders do this by teaching, by exhortation, and by example. The exposition of the truth is not only spoken or written communication (teaching) followed by intellectual comprehension. It also requires encouragement and sensitivity to the condition of the learners (exhortation). The church leader prepares others to reveal God's truth most importantly by exemplifying the truth and illustrating it in his or her life. Truth must be incarnate in the teacher before the learner can thoroughly grasp it. God did this for us in the incarnation of His Son. Jesus said, "You are the light of the world," not, "You announce the light of the world."

Paul drew several implications from these truths.

Notice first some implications concerning the purpose of the local church.

In view of its purpose the local church must be careful to present an unchanged gospel. There must be no majoring in the minors, no claim to "higher knowledge," and no distortion of the truth. In this epistle Paul warned Timothy about all these threats to the purity of God's truth. Preachers and teachers take note. We should be creative in delivering the message, but we must not be creative in the content of the message.

Second, the local church's worship must be unceasing. This was Paul's point when he gave instructions concerning the priority of prayer in church life (2:1-7).

Third, the local church must persevere in its ministry without failing. If it is to do this it needs leaders who incarnate the truth and consistently minister to and motivate the saints. Thus the need for qualified leaders is obvious (3:1-13). Personal example is every bit as important as persuasive explanation.

Note also some implications of the truth that the purpose of the church leader is to expound God's truth to the saints. These are the same as those already pointed out for the church, but they are true of the leader on a personal level.

First, the leader must be absolutely loyal to the truth. "Preach the Word!" (2 Tim. 4:2).

Second, his behavior toward others must be consistent. He must have a deep commitment to fulfilling his purpose of being a good example as well as to his purpose of communicating verbally.

Third, in his personal life he must persevere. He must continue to let God's truth sit in judgment on his life. He must continue to be responsive to the truth. He must also continue to behave in harmony with the truth. Watch out for spiritual calluses.

By way of application let me point out three things the church needs to watch out for and then three things the church leader should beware of. They are very similar.

The local church, Paul warns in this epistle, should beware of false doctrine. By this I mean any doctrine that deviates from the essential teaching of the faith. This will weaken her testimony to the world. Guard the doctrine of your church.

Second, the church should beware of a failure in prayer. This will hinder both her witness to the world and her own growth in godliness (cf. James 4:2; John 15:5).

Third, the church should beware of feeble government. By feeble government I mean government by elders and deacons who lack godly character. Too often church leaders gain appointment for other reasons. Church oversight must fulfill the purposes of God's truth by men who incarnate God's truth. Don't recognize elders too soon, or at all, if they are unqualified.

The dangers to the church leader correspond to these. There must be no failure in his doctrine, nor in his duty, nor in his diligence. If we know and respond to God's truth we will be free from those influences that would hinder us from fulfilling our ministry.

Teaching is life-changing not only to the extent people understand it and appreciate its importance but also to the extent that the life of the teacher illustrates it. We can be completely orthodox and effective in our methods of presentation. However if our life does not harmonize with what we say, those who listen will reject what we say. Not only does our preaching then become ineffective, it also becomes blasphemous. The life of the preacher can promote the growth of his church as much as his pastoral skill. People will put up with many deficiencies, and we all have many, if they can have a good example of a sincere Christian. You can be effective because you have God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's grace.

Constable: 1 Timothy (Outline)

Outline

I. Salutation 1:1-2

II. Timothy's mission in Ephesus 1:3-20

A. The task Timothy faced 1:3-11

B. Exhortations to be faithful 1:12-20

1. A positive encouragement 1:12-17

2. A negative warning 1:18-20

III. Instructions concerning the life of the local church 2:1-4:5

A. The priority of prayer in church life 2:1-7

B. The primary responsibilities of the men and the women in church meetings 2:8-15

C. The qualifications for church leaders 3:1-13

1. Qualifications for elders 3:1-7

2. Qualifications for deacons 3:8-13

D. The nature of the local church 3:14-16

E. The problem of apostasy in the church 4:1-5

IV. Instructions concerning leadership of the local church 4:6-5:25

A. The leader's personal life and public ministry 4:6-16

B. Basic principles of effective interpersonal relationships 5:1-2

C. How to deal with widows and elders 5:3-25

1. Provisions for widows 5:3-16

2. The discipline and selection of elders 5:17-25

V. Instructions for groups within the church 6:1-19

A. Slaves 6:1-2

B. False teachers 6:3-10

C. Those committed to Christ 6:11-16

D. The wealthy 6:17-19

VI. Concluding charge and benediction 6:20-21

Constable: 1 Timothy

1 Timothy

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Wallis, Wilbur B. "The First Epistle to Timothy." In Wycliffe Bible Commentary, pp. 1367-81. Edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison. Chicago: Moody Press, 1962.

Waltke, Bruce K. "1 Corinthians 11:2-16: An Interpretation." Bibliotheca Sacra 135:537 (January-March 1978):46-57.

White, Newport J. D. "The First and Second Epistles to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus." In Expositor's Greek Testament. 5 vols. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1910.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Faithful. BE Books series. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1984.

Wilkin, Robert N. "Saving Faith and Apostasy: Do Believers Ever Stop Believing?" Grace Evangelical Society News 6:11 (November 1991):1, 4.

Winter, B. W. "Providentia for the Widows of ! Timothy 5:3-16." Tyndale Bulletin 39 (1988):83-99.

Witmer, John A. "The Truth about Error." Bibliotheca Sacra 124:495 (July-September 1967):248-53.

Wuest, Kenneth S. The Pastoral Epistles in the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO TIMOTHY.

INTRODUCTION.

St. Paul passing through Lycaonia, about the year 51, some of the brethren at Derbe or Lystra recommended to him a disciple, by name Timothy, who from his infancy had studied the Holy Scriptures. St. Paul took him, making him his companion and fellow-labourer in the gospel: and not to offend the Jews, who could not be ignorant that Timothy's father was a Gentile, he caused him to be circumcised. Afterwards he ordained him bishop of Ephesus. (Witham) --- St. Paul writes this epistle to his beloved Timothy, to instruct him in the duties of a bishop, both in respect to himself and to his charge; and that he ought to be well informed of the good morals of those on whom he was to impose hands: Impose not hands lightly upon any man. He tells him also how he should behave towards his clergy. This epistle was written about thirty-three years after our Lord's ascension; but where it was written is uncertain: the more general opinion is, that it was in Macedonia. (Challoner) --- After his epistles to the Churches, now follow those to particular persons; to Timothy and Titus, who were bishops, and to Philemon. Timothy was the beloved disciple of St. Paul, whom he frequently styles his son; but it is not certain that they were at all related. After having accompanied the apostle in many of his travels, the latter at last ordained him bishop, and fixed him permanently at Ephesus. Shortly after he wrote him this epistle, to instruct him in the episcopal duties, as he was but young for those great functions. He might be then about thirty-five. He mentions, likewise, in short the chief heresies which were then making mischief at Ephesus, and gives regulations and instructions for different states of persons in the Church. St. Timothy, who had been so long the disciple of St. Paul, and who never left him except when ordered by his master, could not be ignorant of his duties, but it was destined for the use of bishops of every age. Hence St. Augustine says that such as are destined to serve the Church, should have continually before their eyes the two epistles to Timothy and that to Titus.

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Gill: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 TIMOTHY

Timothy, to whom this epistle is written, was eminent for his early piety and acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures; his mother was a Jewess, and his father a Greek, which was the reason why he was not circumcised in his infancy. Mention is made in the second epistle to him of his mother Eunice, and grandmother Lois, as believers, and of his knowledge of the Scriptures from a child: this excellent person the apostle meeting with at Lystra, and having a good report of him from the brethren there, he chose him to be his companion in his travels, and to assist him in the spread of the Gospel; and knowing that it would be very disagreeable to the Jews to hear the word of God from the lips of an uncircumcised person, he took him and circumcised him, becoming all things to all, that he might gain some. This being done, he went along with him into several parts, and he made great use of him, in preaching the word, planting churches, and writing epistles; he sent him to various places with messages from him, to Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica; and now had left him at Ephesus, where he besought him to abide for a while; for that he was the bishop, pastor, or overseer of that church is not likely, since his residence here was not constant, and was afterwards called away from hence by the apostle, who desired his stay there, under whom, and by whose directions, he acted while there; and seeing that this church had elders, bishops, or overseers, whom the Holy Ghost had set over them, whom the apostle called to him at Miletus, and gave them some advice and instructions. The design of Timothy's continuance there was to check growing errors and heresies, and to take care of, and preserve the discipline of God's house; and to charge him with these things was the design of this epistle; in which he teaches him how to behave himself in the church of God, by taking heed to his doctrine and conversation; and gives rules relating to the qualifications of bishops and deacons, and to the care of widows, and with regard to church censures, and the becoming walk and conversation of all sorts of persons of every office, age, sex, rank, and order. This epistle is thought to be written about the year 55.

Gill: 1 Timothy 1 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 TIMOTHY 1

In this chapter, after the inscription and salutation, the apostle having entreated Timothy to abide at Ephesus, observes, that his end was, that he might check the false teachers there, whom he describes; and then he gives an account of his apostleship, and also of his conversion, to the encouragement of sinners, and to the glory of the grace of God; and closes with an exhortation to Timothy to constancy and perseverance in his Christian warfare. The inscription and salutation are in 1Ti 1:1 and much in the common form; and whereas, when he went into Macedonia, he desired Timothy to continue at Ephesus, his end was, to restrain the false teachers from preaching the doctrine they did, which was contrary to the Gospel, fabulous, useless, and unedifying, 1Ti 1:3 for though these men set up for teachers of the law, they went off, and strayed from its general end, which was love with faith, through their ignorance of it, 1Ti 1:5 not but that the law itself was good, as Gospel ministers full well knew; which is said to prevent an objection against them, as laying it aside as useless; but the abuse of it is what is complained of, it being made for some persons, and not for others who are mentioned, between which, and the sound doctrine of the Gospel, there is an agreement, 1Ti 1:8 which leads on the apostle to observe his call to the office of a preacher of it by Christ, his qualification for it, and investiture with it, for which he gives thanks, 1Ti 1:12 And in order to illustrate the grace of God in converting him first, and then making him a minister of the word, he takes notice of his state and condition before conversion, what a vile sinner he had been, and of the abundant grace God bestowed on him in it, 1Ti 1:13 And that this case of his might not seem strange and incredible, he observes, that this is the sum of the Gospel, that Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners, such an one as he was, 1Ti 1:15. And besides, the end of the Lord in his conversion was, by the pattern of longsuffering he showed in him, that others might be encouraged to believe in Christ also, 1Ti 1:16 and then for all this grace bestowed on him, he ascribes honour and glory to God, 1Ti 1:17 and renews his charge to Timothy to fight manfully against the false teachers, to which he should be the more induced by the consideration of the prophecies that went before of him, 1Ti 1:18 and to hold faith and good conscience, which had been dropped by some professors; of which instances are given in Hymenaeus and Philetus, 1Ti 1:19.

College: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

FOREWORD

A movement which prides itself in its back-to-the-Bible underpinnings and its plea for unity should welcome any effort of the stature of the College Press NIV Bible Commentary. The exegesis of the biblical text must always be at the heart of who we are, and the effort to do so in a way that reaches across lines that have divided our movement signals an emphasis on the original hallmarks of the movement.

Having taught Bible and Greek at David Lipscomb University for eleven years, I have come to appreciate how many good commentaries there are on nearly every book in the New Testament. I am, in some ways, reluctant about adding another book to that pile. All of those commentaries have helped to shape my understanding of the biblical text for its original audiences and its import for Christians today.

I especially want to thank my family who have supported me and encouraged me when I spend hours at my computer typing away, my students whose questions have always caused me to look at the biblical text in fresh ways, and my colleagues who have always served as a constant encouragement.

When I was asked to participate as an author in this project, I was hesitant. When I was asked to write on Timothy and Titus, I was even more hesitant. To be a part of this series is an honor. To undertake writing a commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus is a challenging task. This is, after all, the section of Scripture that has fueled the debate about the role of women, has been at the heart of effort to redefine church leadership, and has provided encouragement to those who feel as if they "have fought the good fight" and are about to "finish the course." I began the study hoping for wonderful insights, and, although I gained a few, I came out of the study convinced that many of the more traditional interpretations were still reasonable. I discovered that, although I did not have all the answers, Paul's advice to those two young preachers and to their churches still made sense both for Paul's original audiences and for the preacher and his church today. May we today heed the words of Paul to "guard what has been entrusted to" our care and to "preach the Word."

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

While several passages in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus have provided the fodder for tomes of theological discussion (e.g., 1 Tim 2:9-15 and the role of women; 1 Tim 3:11 and deaconesses; 1 Tim 3:1-8 and Titus 1:6-9 and the characteristics of those to serve as elders), the real value of these epistles lies in their message to two young ministers, to second generation believers in Ephesus and to a young church facing a pagan world in Crete. These epistles provide teaching which the church in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries needs to hear.

The two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus stand in a very close relationship to one another. They are written to fellow workers of the Apostle Paul; they are bound together by similar content: false teachers who bear similar characteristics, a discussion of church leaders, similar situations for the churches addressed, and the same basic time frame.

1 and 2 Timothy and Titus have been known as the Pastoral Epistles since the eighteenth century. As early as the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas referred to 1 Timothy as a "pastoral rule." In 1703 D.N. Berdot described Titus as a "Pastoral Epistle," based on the assumption that it was an instruction manual for a pastor. In reality, neither the term "pastor" nor its equivalent, "shepherd," appears in any of the three epistles. Paul Anton popularized the term in lectures he delivered on Timothy and Titus published posthumously in 1753-1755. Anton applied the term "Pastoral Epistles" to all three epistles.

Although the term "the Pastoral Epistles" has become a convenient designation for these three epistles which have much in common, it can be misleading. These epistles are not really a manual of pastoral theology. Only a fraction of these books contains what could be termed ecclesiastical teaching (1 Tim 3:1-13; 5:3-22; Titus 1:5-9). The three epistles are very different. There is nothing within the epistles that would indicate they were written from the same place and time or that the author intended them to be studied together.

AUTHORSHIP

A crucial issue in the Pastoral Epistles (PE) is the authorship of the epistles. Despite widespread denial of Pauline authorship in modern times, ancient authors generally accepted the works as authentic epistles of the Apostle Paul. Serious challenges to Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles began in the nineteenth century, especially with the forceful challenge espoused by Schleiermacher in 1807.

Testimony of the Books Themselves

The letters claim to be by Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus (1 Tim 1:1; Titus 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1). This assertion matches claims of the other Pauline letters. The author describes himself as "a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man" (1 Tim 1:13), a description which fits the account of Paul's pre-Christian life as seen in Acts. The author describes Timothy and Titus as his spiritual sons (1 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4); this too is in full accord with their relationship to Paul as seen in Acts and the other Pauline epistles. The epistles frequently refer to events in the Apostle's life and mention co-workers like Tychicus, Apollos, Barnabas, and Mark who are known from the other Pauline epistles.

With all of this data in mind, it is little wonder that there was almost unanimous agreement regarding Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles for nearly 1800 years.

Attestation by the Early Church

The early church clearly regarded Paul as the author of the Pastoral Epistles. Clement of Alexandria (ca. 155-ca. 220) frequently referred to and cited the Pastoral Epistles. He even cited 1 Tim 6:20, "what is falsely called knowledge," and ascribed the passage to "the apostle." Similarly Origen, his student, ascribed 1 Tim 1:15 to Paul: "Moreover, Paul, who himself also at a later time became an apostle of Jesus, says in his epistle to Timothy, 'This is a faithful saying, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.'" Eusebius (ca. 265-ca. 339) attributed the Pastoral Epistles to Paul. He said, "The epistles of Paul are fourteen, all well known and beyond doubt. It should not, however, be overlooked that some have set aside the epistle to the Hebrews." The Muratorian Canon (ca. 200) refers to the Pastoral Epistles as Pauline. The extensive citations of the Pastoral Epistles by the church fathers, including Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Ignatius, and Irenaeus, demonstrate the early consensus that the Pastoral Epistles are Pauline.

The evidence is not, however, all positive. According to Tertullian, Marcion (ca. 140) excluded the Pastoral Epistles from his canon. Marcion, of course, rejected any book which did not fit his heretical view of Christianity. He omitted Matthew, Mark, and John; and he accepted only a mutilated copy of Luke. It seems likely that Marcion objected to the Pastoral Epistles because of their denunciation of tenets of his brand of Christianity (cf. 1 Tim 1:8; 6:20; 2 Tim 3:16).

An additional bit of negative evidence is seen in the apparent absence of the Pastoral Epistles from ⁴⁶ of the Chester Beatty papyri. The codex dates from the mid-third century and contains Pauline epistles. Portions of the manuscript are missing. It lacks a portion of Romans which stood at the beginning of the codex, a portion of 1 Thessalonians, and all of 2 Thessalonians. Most scholars feel that the manuscript did not have room for the Pastoral Epistles and Philemon, which are also missing.

If one looks only at external evidence, the victory would clearly be won in favor of acceptance of the Pastoral Epistles as Pauline.

Modern Times

Until the nineteenth century the Pastoral Epistles were deemed authentic and Pauline. The first attack on apostolic authorship was made by Schmidt (1804) and Schleiermacher (1807).

Today Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles is disputed on five grounds:

Historical Allusions. Scott has said, "That Paul cannot have been the author [of the PE] is most clearly apparent when we examine the historical framework of the letters." The problem may be summarized as follows: the Pastoral Epistles do not fit into the historical framework of Acts and the Pauline epistles. Acts mentions only two imprisonments: Caesarea and Rome.

The modern reader is not provided with many of the details of Paul's early life (i.e., the period described in Acts). Nowhere in Acts, or for that matter anywhere in the Pauline corpus outside 2 Corinthians, can one find Paul's frequent imprisonments, his five beatings, or his three shipwrecks (2 Cor 11:23-27). Also one is not bound to place the events described in the Pastoral Epistles into the period described in Acts. In fact the situation there seems to indicate likelihood of Paul's being released from prison. The traditional interpretation which proposes a release from the imprisonment mentioned in Acts during which 1 Timothy and Titus were written and a subsequent Roman imprisonment as described in 2 Timothy has much to offer and provides few difficulties. There is nothing improbable about Paul being released from prison, engaging in the kind of ministry indicated in 1 Timothy and Titus, and then later being imprisoned again with death being imminent.

Ecclesiastical Situation. It is argued that the church situation described in the Pastoral Epistles is akin to the second century and far too developed for Paul. At this juncture it is worth noting that very little of the Pastoral Epistles can really be termed "ecclesiastical teaching."

Paul does have an interest in ecclesiastical matters: he and Barnabas appoint elders (Acts 14:23); Paul addresses the bishops and deacons at Philippi (Phil 1:1); Paul lists pastor-teachers among the divine gifts provided to the early church (Eph 4:11-13); and Paul calls for the elders at Ephesus on his way to Rome, calling upon them to oversee (verb from which the noun "bishop" comes) and shepherd (verb from which the noun "pastor" comes) their flocks (Acts 20:13-35).

Nothing in the Pastoral Epistles would demand the later phenomenon of monarchical bishops. As Carson, Moo, and Morris have noted, "Clearly none of this amounts to much in the way of organization, certainly to nothing more than can have appeared in the church in comparatively early days."

The Nature of the False Teaching. It is usually assumed that all three Pastoral Epistles face the same false teaching, an assumption which has been questioned in recent years. Many have wanted to see the Pastoral Epistles addressing a heresy seen only after the early second century and therefore as being non-Pauline. Easton argued that the Pastoral Epistles painted a picture of Christianity threatened by a "coherent and powerful heresy," a heresy which claimed to be more profound than the revelation of the Church. That the heresy seen here is "coherent and powerful" and that one must see it as second century Gnosticism is still to be demonstrated. The heresy or heresies seen in the Pastoral Epistles betray a strong Jewish element much akin to what one meets in the Qumran literature and the apocryphal work, Jubilees. There are no real grounds to see the false teaching confronted in the Pastoral Epistles as something which would not, indeed did not (cf. Colossians), arise in Paul's lifetime.

It does seem that the false teaching and false teachers encountered in all three of the Pastoral Epistles are of the same sort. They have similar tendencies and use similar language even though every element seen in one book may not appear in the other. One must simply piece together the elements that compose this heresy: emphasis on myths and genealogies (1 Tim 1:4; Titus 1:14; 3:9; 2 Tim 4:4); concern for the Law and Jewishness (1 Tim 1:7; Titus 1:10, 14; 3:9); emphasis on "knowledge" (1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 3:6-9); controversy, speculation and arguments (1 Tim 1:4, 6; 6:4, 20; Titus 1:10; 3:9; 2 Tim. 2:14, 16, 23; 3:1-5); immorality (1 Tim 1:19, 20; Titus 1:15, 16; 2 Tim 2:16, 19; 3:1-5); deception (1 Tim 4:1-3; Titus 1:10-13; 2 Tim 3:6-13); some ascetic practices (1 Tim 4:1-5); and teaching for material gain (1 Tim 6:5; Titus 1:11; 2 Tim 3:2-4).

Vocabulary and Style. As Guthrie has noted, "the majority of those who favor the non-Pauline authorship of the Epistles are swayed more by linguistic considerations than by any of the objections mentioned above." Perhaps no scholar has presented this argument for non-Pauline authorship in stronger fashion than P.N. Harrison. Harrison built upon the work of previous scholars to argue that the vocabulary and style of the Pastoral Epistles indicated that they did not share the same author as the ten epistles generally accepted as Pauline.

Harrison noted that well over one third of the words, excluding proper names, used in the Pastoral Epistles occur nowhere else in the New Testament. Many of the words used in the Pastoral Epistles and the universally accepted Pauline epistles have different meanings. Many of the words used only in the Pastoral Epistles are found in the early church fathers and in the apologists. On the surface Harrison's arguments seem most convincing; however, Carson, Moo, and Morris have noted that one could use the same line of argument to suggest that the three Pastoral Epistles were themselves written by different authors.

In examining the style of the Pastoral Epistles, Harrison gives special emphasis to particles, prepositions, and pronouns - elements that are indicative of style which an imitator might not follow. After noting a drastic difference in usage, he concludes that it is unlikely that "within a very few years we should find the same writer producing three epistles without once happening to use a single word in all that list - one or the other of which has hitherto appeared on the average nine times to every page that Paul wrote. " Guthrie, however, has noted that Harrison's data is selective and "would seem to be invalid."

One must allow any author to use differing vocabulary and styles which would fit a differing situation, audience, purpose, and time frame. Arguments offered thus far on the basis of vocabulary and style neither prove nor disprove Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles.

The Theology of the Pastoral Epistles. It has been argued that the theology of the Pastoral Epistles is not that of Paul: the cross is no longer the center of theology, and there is undue emphasis on works. This argument fails to take into consideration the whole of the teaching, both in the ten epistles generally accepted as Pauline and in the Pastoral Epistles as a whole. Hendriksen has rightly noted, "The truth is that the doctrine taught and presupposed in the Pastorals is clearly the same as that which is held before us in the ten [Pauline epistles]." Hendriksen goes on to list nine theological concepts, including salvation by grace through faith, which are central to the ten epistles generally accepted as Pauline and then delineates their occurrence in the Pastoral Epistles.

Modern Solutions to These Issues. Several solutions have been offered to these apparent inconsistencies by serious critics. Some have suggested one must simply opt for non-apostolic authorship. Others, like Harrison (1921), Scott (1936), and Easton (1948), have suggested non-Pauline authorship for the documents as a whole while allowing for a few genuine Pauline fragments.

A central issue in the discussion is the attitude of the early church toward the pseudepigrapher. Carson, Moo, and Morris have noted that the contention that pseudonymous epistles circulated freely and were widely accepted by early Christians cannot be supported. Tertullian spoke of a church leader who composed writings which wrongly bore the name of Paul. Even though this was done out of love, the man was dismissed from his office. Similarly, the Muratorian Canon says that forgeries in Paul's name were to be rejected. As Carson, Moo, and Morris have noted, "Nowhere is evidence cited that any member of the New Testament church accepted the idea that a pious believer could write something in the name of an apostle and expect the writing to be welcomed." Indeed discussion of canonicity tended to focus on the issue of authorship.

The traditional position of Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles fits the data. One who deems these works to be authentic Pauline epistles is not without support from a good number of excellent scholars (cf. Carson, Fee, Guthrie, Hendriksen, Johnson, Moo, and Morris). When one accepts Pauline authorship, the issues of language and style remain. They are still more like Paul than different from Paul. Is the change due simply to subject? Can it be an aging Paul? Should one see an amanuensis as the one responsible for the differences? The final words of Fee on the issue of authorship of the Pastoral Epistles are worth repeating:

To say that Paul is the author of the Pastoral Epistles means that the letters ultimately come from him in the historical settings contained within them. It does not say how they came from him; the final answer to that question is not available to us.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

INTRODUCTION

PLACE OF ORIGIN AND DATE

Little can be said with certainty of Paul's location when he penned 1 Timothy. Although Paul does not say explicitly that he was in Macedonia, he appears to indicate that he had been in Ephesus with Timothy, had left Timothy behind, and had gone on to Macedonia: "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus" (1:3).

If Paul was released from "house arrest" in Rome as the data in Acts 28:30 and the prison epistles might suggest and wrote this epistle at a subsequent time, the date for 1 Timothy would likely be 63-66. A chronology of Paul's life from Acts would indicate his imprisonment lasted until 61/62. The Neronian persecution of 64 would indicate that his release should precede that date. Eusebius recorded that Paul died in 67. If one accepts those dates, Paul would have penned 1 Timothy between 63 and 66.

Other suggestions are given by those who would contend that Paul died at the height of the Neronian persecution of 64. Some would, therefore, provide a date of 62-63 for composition of 1 Timothy. Robinson has suggested Paul's departure for Macedonia, leaving behind Timothy in Ephesus (1:3), reflects the situation seen in Acts 20:1-4. He, therefore, places 1 Timothy within the historical data of Acts and suggests a date of 55. Scholars who argue for pseudonymity generally date the epistle during the second century (cf. Kümmel).

A date of 63-66 seems best to fit the data currently available.

DESTINATION AND AUDIENCE

Although on the surface 1 Timothy seems to be personal correspondence between Paul and Timothy, his son in the faith, there is much in the epistle that indicates Paul intended the letter to be read and heeded by the congregation at Ephesus. "Grace be with you" in 6:21 is plural. Many of Paul's admonitions to Timothy (e.g., "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young," 4:21) may also have served to advise the church of their correct path of action.

Timothy is well known from Acts and the epistles of Paul. He was a native of Lystra; his mother was Jewish and his father a Gentile. About A.D. 49 he became a co-worker of Paul. As a young man likely converted and trained by Paul, Paul found a special place in his heart for him (1 Cor 4:17; Phil 2:22; 1 Tim 1:2). Timothy appears alongside Paul in the opening greetings of several epistles (2 Cor 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1). He was undoubtedly considered a trusted colleague and co-worker (1 Thess 3:2) who could be trusted to be sent on special missions (1 Cor 16:10; Phil 2:20). If one accepts the traditional site for the place of writing of the prison epistles, Timothy was with Paul in Rome (Col 1:1; Phlm 1). He has, at this juncture, been left behind in Ephesus to set things in order. He is a young man (see the discussion of 1 Tim 4:12) who was perhaps not in the best of health (1 Tim 5:23).

The church where Timothy was laboring found itself in the midst of the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. Ephesus housed a famous shrine to Artemis, the great mother goddess, known by the Romans as Diana of the Ephesians. Upon arriving at Ephesus Paul met a group of disciples whose knowledge of the gospel was so incomplete that it would seem they were still looking for the Messiah and they clearly knew nothing of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). Paul's next encounter was with a group of Jews, the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest. These men were seeking to do exorcisms in the name of Jesus (Acts 19:8-16). The citizens of Ephesus were so impressed with what happened to these men and with the preaching of Paul that many came to belief. Some who had previously practiced sorcery even burned their books (Acts 19:17-20). During this stay Timothy worked with Paul at Ephesus before being sent by Paul on to Macedonia (Acts 19:21-22). Feeling the pinch of their pocketbooks, the silversmiths, who made their livelihood selling images of Artemis, instigated a riot that led to Paul's moving on to other fields (Acts 19:23-20:1). Paul's love and concern for the Ephesian church did not end there. As Paul headed along the coast of Asia Minor on his way to Jerusalem, he summoned the elders from that church to meet him at Miletus. Paul warns them of the impending dangers, especially the false teachers, and charges them to watch after the flock (Acts 20:13-38). These dangers facing the church are a recurrent theme whenever the church at Ephesus is mentioned (1 Cor 16:8-9; Eph 4:14, 17-24; 5:6-14; Rev 2:6). The nature of Paul's correspondence with Timothy in the two epistles addressed to him follows this same theme.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF 1 TIMOTHY

Perhaps the greatest contribution 1 Timothy makes is the insight it provides into Paul's view of ministry: his own, that of Timothy, and that of the church (elders/bishops, deacons, women, and believers called to godliness). The church today needs to heed that call to ministry and godliness. Paul's emphasis on prayer (2:8), the demeanor of women in worship (2:9-15), the relationships between the old and the young (5:1-2), the treatment of widows (5:3-16), the response of slaves to their masters and ultimately to the Lord (6:1-2), and the warning against arrogance and trusting in wealth (6:17-19) produce a book rich in wisdom for the believer.

Paul does warn of needless controversies which do not produce growth. While the "godless myths" (1:4), forbidding of marriage, and enforcing of food laws (4:3) may seem far removed from the issues facing the church today, it is not immune from "an unhealthy interest in controversies and arguments that result in envy, quarreling, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction" (6:4-5). Similarly the modern church should give heed to Paul's warning against those "who think that godliness is a means to financial gain" (6:5).

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allan, J.A. "The 'In Christ' Formula in the Pastoral Epistles," New Testament Studies 10 (1963) 115-121.

Barclay, William. The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon ( DSB rev. ed.). Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975.

. "Paul's Certainties VII. Our Security in God - 2 Timothy 1,12," Expository Times 69 (1958) 324-327.

Barnett, Paul W. "Wives and Women's Ministry (1 Timothy 2:11-15)," Evangelical Quarterly 61 (1989) 225-238.

Barrett, C.K. The Pastoral Epistles ( NCB). Oxford: Clarendon, 1963.

Berdot, D.N. Exercitatio theologica-exegetica in epistulam Pauli ad Titum. 1703.

Bernard, J.H. The Pastoral Epistles. Thornapple Commentaries, 1899; reprinted Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980.

Bratcher, R.G. A Translator's Guide to Paul's Letters to Timothy and Titus. New York: United Bible Society, 1983.

Cadbury, H.J. "Erastus of Corinth," Journal of Biblical Literature 50 (1931) 42-58.

Carson, D.A.; Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992.

Colson, F.H. "'Myths and Genealogies' - A Note on the Polemic of the Pastoral Epistles," Journal of Theological Studies 19 (1917/18) 265-271.

Cook, D. "The Pastoral Fragments Reconsidered," Journal of Theological Studies 35 (1984) 120-131.

Cottrell, Jack. "1 Timothy 2:12 and the Role of Women," Christian Standard (Jan. 17, 1993) 5.

Deer, D.S. "Still More about the Imperatival hina," Bible Translator 30 (1979) 148.

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Dodd, C.H. "New Testament Translation Problems II," Bible Translator 28 (1977)112-116.

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. The Role Relationship of Men and Women. Revised ed. Phillipsburg, NJ. 1985.

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. "The Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:11-15: A Rejoinder," Trinty Journal new series 2 (1981) 198-222.

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-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

ABBREVIATIONS

BAGD Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker Greek Lexicon (2nd. ed.)

DSB Daily Study Bible

ICC International Critical Commentary

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JSNT Journal of Studies for the New Testament

KJV King James Version

LWC Living Word Commentary

LXX Septuagint

MNTC Moffatt New Testament Commentary

NAC New American Commentary

NCB New Clarendon Bible

NCBC New Century Bible Commentary

NEB New English Bible

NIBC New International Bible Commentary

NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary

NRSV New Revised Standard Version

NTC New Testament Commentary

NTS New Testament Studies

PNTC Pelican New Testament Commentary

RSV Revised Standard Version

TBC Torch Bible Commentaries

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. by

Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich

TEV Today's English Version

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: 1 Timothy (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. THE SALUTATION - 1:1-2

II. PAUL'S CHARGE TO TIMOTHY - 1:3-20

A. The Charge and the False Teachers - 1:3-7

B. The Lawful Use of the Law - 1:8-11

C. Paul's Own Ministry, A Positive Example - 1:12-17

D. The Negative Example of Hymenaeus and Alexander - 1:18-20

III. DIRECTION FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP - 2:1-15

A. Prayers by All for All - 2:1-7

B. Respective Roles of Men and Women - 2:8-15

IV. DIRECTIONS FOR CHURCH ;LEADERS - 3:1-16

A. Bishops/Overseers - 3:1-7

B. Deacons and "Women" - 3:8-13

C. The Basis for These Directions - 3:14-16

V. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR TIMOTHY - 4:1-16

A. The Apostasy Timothy Was to Face - 4:1-5

B. The Discipline of a Good Minister - 4:6-16

VI. RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY - 5:1-6:2

A. The Minister and the Church - 5:1-2

B. The Care of Widows - 5:3-16

1. Family Responsibilities - 5:3-8

2. Widows to Be Enrolled - 5:9-10

3. Younger Widows - 5:11-15

4. Women and Widows - 5:16

C. Elders - 5:17-25

D. Slaves - 6:1-2

VII. FINAL EXHORTATIONS - 6:3-21

A. An Indictment of False Teachers - 6:3-5

B. Godliness, Contentment, and Money - 6:6-10

C. A Charge to Timothy - 6:11-16

D. Instructions for the Rich - 6:17-19

E. Paul's Final Charge to Timothy 6:20-21

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV