Text -- 1 Timothy 1:1-2 (NET)

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 1:2 to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 1Ti 1:1

According to the commandment ( kat' epitagēn ).

A late Koiné[28928]š word (Polybius, Diodorus), but a Pauline word also in N.T. This very idiom ("by way of command") in 1Co 7:6; 2Co 8:8; Rom 16:26; 1Ti 1:1; Tit 1:3. Paul means to say that he is an apostle under orders.

Robertson: 1Ti 1:1

Of God our Saviour ( theou sōtēros hēmōn ).

Genitive case with epitagēn . In the lxx sōtēr (old word from sōzō for agent in saving, applied to deities, princes, kings, etc.) occurs 20 times, all but two to God. The Romans called the emperor "Saviour God."In the N.T. the designation of God as Saviour is peculiar to Luk 1:47; Jud 1:25; 1Ti 1:3; 1Ti 2:3; 1Ti 4:10; Tit 1:3; Tit 2:10; Tit 3:4. In the other Epistles Paul uses it of Christ (Phi 3:20; Eph 5:23) as in 2Ti 1:10. In 2Pe 1:1 we have "our God and Saviour Jesus Christ"as in Tit 2:13.

Robertson: 1Ti 1:1

Our hope ( tēs elpidos hēmōn ).

Like Col 1:27. More than the author and object of hope, "its very substance and foundation"(Ellicott).

Robertson: 1Ti 1:2

True ( gnēsiōi ).

Legitimate, not spurious. Old word from ginomai , but Pauline only in N.T. (Phi 4:3; 2Co 8:8; Tit 1:4). In Phi 2:20 the adverb gnēsiōs occurs and of Timothy again.

Robertson: 1Ti 1:2

Christ Jesus ( Christou Iēsou ).

So twice already in 1Ti 1:1 and as usual in the later Epistles (Col 1:1; Eph 1:1).

Vincent: 1Ti 1:1

An apostle of Jesus Christ

This title appears in the salutations of Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians. In Philippians, Paul and Timothy the servants of Jesus Christ. Philemon a prisoner . This formal announcement of apostleship is strange in a private letter.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:1

By the commandment of God ( κατ ' ἐπιταγὴν θεοῦ )

The phrase in Rom 16:26. Κατ ' ἐπιταγὴν absolutely, by commandment , 1Co 7:6, 2Co 8:8. Paul uses διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ by the will of God . See 1Co 1:1; 2Co 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1. Comp. 2Ti 1:1.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:1

Our Savior ( σωτῆρος ἡμῶν )

Comp. Luk 1:47; Jud 1:25. o P. Six times in the Pastorals. Used of both God and Christ (see Tit 1:3, Tit 1:4; Tit 2:10, Tit 2:13; Tit 3:4, Tit 3:6). The saving of men appears as God's direct will and act, 1Ti 2:4; Tit 3:5; 2Ti 1:9 as Christ's work, 1Ti 1:15, comp. 2Ti 2:10. In lxx σωτὴρ occurs twenty times, and in all but two instances, of God.

Vincent: 1Ti 1:2

My own son in the faith ( γνησίῳ τέκνῳ ἐν πίστει )

More correctly, " my true child in faith ." Comp. Tit 1:4. With these two exceptions, τέκνον or υἱός ἐν πίστει does not occur in N.T. Ἑν πίστει or τῇ πίστει is not come on Paul; see 1Co 16:13; 2Co 8:7; 2Co 13:5; Gal 2:20; 2Th 2:13. In the Pastorals, nine times. In Paul joined with ζῇν to live , εἶναι to be , στήκειν to stand , βεβαιοῦσθαι to be established . For γνήσιος true , see 2Co 8:8; Phi 2:20; Phi 4:3. It means natural by birth-relation , therefore true or genuine .

Vincent: 1Ti 1:2

Mercy ( ἔλεος )

This addition to the usual form of salutation is peculiar to the Pastorals.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:1

Familiarity is to be set aside where the things of God are concerned.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:1

The authoritative appointment of God the Father.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:1

So styled in many other places likewise, as being the grand orderer of the whole scheme of our salvation.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:1

That is, the author, object, and ground, of all our hope.

Wesley: 1Ti 1:2

St. Paul wishes grace and peace in his epistles to the churches. To Timotheus he adds mercy, the most tender grace towards those who stand in need of it. The experience of this prepares a man to be a minister of the gospel.

JFB: 1Ti 1:1

The authoritative injunction, as well as the commission, of God. In the earlier Epistles the phrase is, "by the will of God." Here it is expressed in a manner implying that a necessity was laid on him to act as an apostle, not that it was merely at his option. The same expression occurs in the doxology, probably written long after the Epistle itself [ALFORD] (Rom 16:26).

JFB: 1Ti 1:1

The Father (1Ti 2:3; 1Ti 4:10; Luk 1:47; 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:3; Tit 2:10; Tit 3:4; Jud 1:25). It was a Jewish expression in devotion, drawn from the Old Testament (compare Psa 106:21).

JFB: 1Ti 1:1

(Col 1:27; Tit 1:2; Tit 2:13).

JFB: 1Ti 1:2

Literally, "a genuine son" (compare Act 16:1; 1Co 4:14-17). See Introduction.

JFB: 1Ti 1:2

Added here, in addressing Timothy, to the ordinary salutation, "Grace unto you (Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3, &c.), and peace." In Gal 6:16, "peace and mercy" occur. There are many similarities of style between the Epistle to the Galatians and the Pastoral Epistles (see Introduction); perhaps owing to his there, as here, having, as a leading object in writing, the correction of false teachers, especially as to the right and wrong use of the law (1Ti 1:9). If the earlier date be assigned to First Timothy, it will fall not long after, or before (according as the Epistle to the Galatians was written at Ephesus or at Corinth) the writing of the Epistle to the Galatians, which also would account for some similarity of style. "Mercy" is grace of a more tender kind, exercised towards the miserable, the experience of which in one's own case especially fits for the Gospel MINISTRY. Compare as to Paul himself (1Ti 1:14, 1Ti 1:16; 1Co 7:25; 2Co 4:1; Heb 2:17) [BENGEL]. He did not use "mercy" as to the churches, because "mercy" in all its fulness already existed towards them; but in the case of an individual minister, fresh measures of it were continually needed. "Grace" has reference to the sins of men; "mercy" to their misery. God extends His grace to men as they are guilty; His "mercy" to them as they are miserable [TRENCH].

JFB: 1Ti 1:2

The oldest manuscripts read the order, "Christ Jesus." In the Pastoral Epistles "Christ" is often put before "Jesus," to give prominence to the fact that the Messianic promises of the Old Testament, well known to Timothy (2Ti 3:15), were fulfilled in Jesus.

Clarke: 1Ti 1:1

Paul an apostle - by the commandment of God - We have already seen that the term αποστολος, apostle, literally signifies a person sent from one to another, without implying any particular dignity in the person, or importance in the message. But it is differently used in the New Testament, being applied to those who were sent expressly from God Almighty, with the message of salvation to mankind. It is, therefore, the highest character any human being can have; and he message is the most important which even God himself can send to his intelligent creatures. It was by the express command of God that St. Paul went to the Gentiles preaching the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus

Clarke: 1Ti 1:1

Jesus Christ - our hope - Without Jesus, the world was hopeless; the expectation of being saved can only come to mankind by his Gospel. He is called our hope, as he is called our life, our peace, our righteousness, etc., because from him hope, life, peace, righteousness, and all other blessings proceed.

Clarke: 1Ti 1:2

My own son in the faith - Brought to salvation through Christ by my ministry alone. Probably the apostle speaks here according to this Jewish maxim: כל המלמר בן תכירו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאלו ילרו He who teaches the law to his neighbour’ s son is considered by the Scripture as if he had begotten him; Sanhedrin, fol. xix. 2. And they quote Num 3:1, as proving it: These are the generations of Aaron and Moses - and these are the names of the sons of Aaron. "Aaron,"say they, "begot them, but Moses instructed them; therefore they are called by his name."See Schoettgen

But γνησιῳ τεκνῳ may mean my beloved son; for in this sense το γνησιον is not unfrequently used

Clarke: 1Ti 1:2

In the faith - The word πιστις, faith, is taken here for the whole of the Christian religion, faith in Christ being its essential characteristic

Clarke: 1Ti 1:2

Grace, mercy, and peace -

Grace, the favor and approbation of God

Mercy, springing from that grace, pardoning, purifying, and supporting

Peace, the consequence of this manifested mercy, peace of conscience, and peace with God; producing internal happiness, quietness, and assurance.

Calvin: 1Ti 1:1

1.Paul an apostle If he had written to Timothy alone, it would have been unnecessary to claim this designation, and to maintain it in the manner that he does. Timothy would undoubtedly have been satisfied with having merely the name; for he knew that Paul was an Apostle of Christ, and had no need of proof to convince him of it, being perfectly willing, and having been long accustomed, to acknowledge it. He has his eye, therefore, chiefly on others, who were not so ready to listen to him, or did not so easily believe his words. For the sake of such persons, that they may not treat lightly what he writes, he affirms that he is “ an Apostle of Christ. ”

According to the Appointment of God our Savior, and of the Lord Jesus Christ He confirms his apostleship by the appointment or command of God; for no man can make himself to be an apostle, but he whom God hath appointed is a true apostle, and worthy of the honor. Nor does he merely say, that he owes his apostleship to God the Father, but ascribes it to Christ also; and, indeed, in the government of the Church, the Father does nothing but through the Son, and therefore they both act together.

He calls God the Savior, a title which he is more frequently accustomed to assign to the Son; but it belongs to the Father also, because it is he who gave the Son to us. Justly, therefore, is the glory of our salvation ascribed to him. For how comes it that we are saved? It is because the Father loved us in such a manner that he determined to redeem and save us through the Son. He calls Christ our hope; and this appellation is strictly applicable to him; for then do we begin to have good hope, when we look to Christ, since in him alone dwells all that on which our salvation rests.

Calvin: 1Ti 1:2

2.To Timothy my own son This commendation expresses no small praise. Paul means by it, that he owns Timothy to be a true and not a bastard son, and wishes that others should acknowledge him to be such; and he even applauds Timothy in the same manner as if he were another Paul. But how does this agree with the injunction given by Christ, (Mat 23:9,) “Call no man your father on the earth?”

Or how does it agree with the declaration of the Apostle,

“Though ye have many fathers according to the flesh, yet there is but One who is the Father of spirits.” (1Co 4:15; Heb 12:9.) ²

I reply, while Paul claims for himself the appellation of father, he does it in such a manner as not to take away or diminish the smallest portion of the honor which is due to God. (Heb 12:9.) It is a common proverb “That which is placed below another is not at variance with it.” The name father, applied to Paul, with reference to God, belongs to this class. God alone is the Father of all in faith, because he regenerates us all by his word, and by the power of his Spirit, and because none but he bestows faith. But they whom he is graciously pleased to employ as his ministers for that purpose, are likewise allowed to share with him in his honor, while, at the same time, He parts with nothing that belongs to himself. Thus God, and God alone, strictly speaking, was Timothy’s spiritual Father; but Paul, who was God’s minister in begetting Timothy, lays claim to this title, by what may be called a subordinate right.

Grace, mercy, peace. So far as relates to the word mercy, he has departed from his ordinary custom in introducing it, moved, perhaps, by his extraordinary affection for Timothy. Besides, he does not observe the exact order; for he places first what ought to love been last, namely, the grace which flows from mercy. For the reason why God at first receives us into favor and why he loves us is, that he is merciful. But it is not unusual to mention the cause after the effect, for the sake of explanation. As to the words grace and peace, we have spoken on other occasions.

Defender: 1Ti 1:2

Timothy (meaning "honor to God") was the son of a Greek father and a devout Jewish mother (Act 16:1). His mother and grandmother had instructed him in the Scriptures in childhood. Apparently, they had come to believe in Christ as a result of Paul's message and testimony at Lystra on his first missionary journey (2Ti 1:5; 2Ti 3:15). On Paul's second trip to Lystra, he was so impressed with young Timothy and his Christian character that Paul urged Timothy to accompany him on the rest of his journey, first arranging for Timothy to be circumcised in order not to offend the Jews in the cities where they would be witnessing (Act 16:3). From then on, Timothy worked closely with Paul right up to the end of Paul's life, though often being sent away on special assignments."

TSK: 1Ti 1:1

an apostle : Rom 1:1; 1Co 1:1

by : 1Ti 2:7; Act 9:15, Act 26:16-18; 1Co 9:17; Gal 1:1, Gal 1:11; 2Ti 1:11; Tit 1:3

God : 1Ti 2:3, 1Ti 4:10; Psa 106:21; Isa 12:2, Isa 43:3, Isa 43:11, Isa 45:15, Isa 45:21, Isa 49:26, Isa 60:16, Isa 63:8; Hos 13:4; Luk 1:47, Luk 2:11; 2Ti 1:10; Tit 1:3, Tit 2:10,Tit 2:13, Tit 3:4, Tit 3:6; 2Pe 1:1; 1Jo 4:14; Jud 1:25

is : Rom 15:12, Rom 15:13; Col 1:27; 2Th 2:16; 1Pe 1:3, 1Pe 1:21

TSK: 1Ti 1:2

Timothy : Act 16:1-3; 1Th 3:2

my : 1Ti 1:18; 1Co 4:14-17; Phi 2:19-22; 2Ti 1:2, 2Ti 2:1; Tit 1:4

Grace : Rom 1:7; Gal 1:3; 2Ti 1:2; Tit 1:4; 1Pe 1:2

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Ti 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ; - see the notes on Rom 1:1.

By the commandment of God - See the notes at 1Co 1:1.

Our Saviour - The name Saviour is as applicable to God the Father as to the Lord Jesus Christ, since God is the great Author of salvation; see the notes, Luk 1:47; compare 1Ti 4:10; Tit 2:10; Jud 1:25.

And Lord Jesus Christ - The apostle Paul had received his commission directly from him; see the notes, Gal 1:11-12.

Which is our hope - See the notes at Col 1:27.

Barnes: 1Ti 1:2

Unto Timothy - For an account of Timothy, see Intro. Section 1.

My own son in the faith - Converted to the Christian faith by my instrumentality, and regarded by me with the affection of a father; see notes, 1Co 4:15. Paul had no children of his own, and he adopted Timothy as a son, and uniformly regarded and treated him as such. He had the same feeling also toward Titus; Tit 1:4; compare Gal 4:19 note; 1Th 2:7, 1Th 2:11 notes; and Phm 1:10 note.

Grace, mercy, and peace, ... - See the notes, Rom 1:7.

Poole: 1Ti 1:2

He dignifies Timothy with the title of his son in the faith that is, being converted by him to Christianity, and begat to the Divine life: and by styling Timothy his

own son he signifies his piety and virtue, that rendered him a worthy son of such a father, whom he imitated and honoured, and with whom he corresponded in a grateful, obedient affection. Having thus designated the person to whom he writes, he expresses his ardent desires of his complete felicity; which is included in

grace, mercy, and peace By grace he means the free favour and good will of God, with all the spiritual gifts that proceed from it, either requisite for salvation, or the great work of the evangelical ministry. By mercy his compassionate tender love, pardoning, relieving, supporting, and assisting us in our Christian course. By peace he signifies, principally, the peace of God, that divine calm of conscience, that tranquillity and rest of soul, which proceeds from the assurance that God is reconciled to us in Christ, and our freedom by the sanctifying Spirit from the tyranny of carnal lusts: this peace can never be to the wicked. And besides this principal peace, we may understand peace with man, that is, a quiet state, exempt from hatred and persecutions, that Timothy might more comfortably and successfully perform the work of his ministry. He prays for these blessings from God who is the original Fountain of all good: and from Jesus Christ as the channel, by which all the gifts of God are conveyed to us; for without his mediation the Deity is as a sealed fountain, no grace would flow to us. He styles God our Father because he has adopted us in his Son, and in that quality he communicates his grace, mercy, and peace to us: he styles Christ our Lord who hath supreme power over us, as well by the right of creation as of redemption.

PBC: 1Ti 1:1

Having spent several months in our study of 2 Peter 2 with its focus on false teachers, it seems logical and balanced to take a look at the opposite side of the same coin.  Rather than look emphatically at the character of the false teacher, let’s take a look at the character and conduct of the godly church leader and teacher.  Second Peter indeed has its role in a healthy balanced Christian perspective.  Invariably we occasionally encounter the insidious false teacher who imitates the people whom Peter so directly opposes.  A significant percent of the Christian community lives with a somewhat " Pollyanna" attitude regarding error and those who teach it.  Ignore them, pretend that they simply don’t exist, and they will eventually go away.  Peter’s letter jolts us back into reality on this point.  However, a full study of 2 Peter reveals a common tie with Paul’s first letter to Timothy.  The most effective antidote to error, especially devious error, is a strong foundation in the faith as it comes to us in the New Testament.  That is the point of 2Pe 1:1-21. 

Probably most contemporary Christians have abandoned any sense of expectation that their leaders simply can, or even should, live up to the qualifications of leadership as set forth in the pastoral epistles (Paul’s letters to the two young preachers, Timothy and Titus).  Often this attitude finds it strongest support from deficient leaders themselves.  Therefore they advocate full abandonment of these qualifications as required criteria for ordination or as the basis for continuing in active ministry in a church office.  Many of these same people would react with horror to someone advocating such a cavalier abandonment of an essential theological concept.  They simply refuse to live up to the Biblical requirements for office in the church.  Sadly, I occasionally encounter this " Why bother, attitude among our own fellowship of Primitive Baptists.  More than once I have heard this response, " If we wait to ordain someone till they meet these qualifications, we’d never ordain anyone at all.  Therefore, we should just ignore the qualifications."  In any institution of human beings the organization will never rise above its leadership.  Any appearance of this reckless abandonment of Biblical requirements among church leaders is frightening indeed.  I will maintain in this writing that we cannot abandon the required qualifications of church officers any more than we can abandon a cardinal theological concept.  In fact abandonment of one position often leads to abandonment of the other.  I will also urge that continuing adherence to the qualifications should be required for a man who holds a church office to continue in that office.  What is a church office?  In the sense of qualifications as set forth by Paul to Timothy the two offices requiring ordination and thus subject to these qualifications are the offices of elder (pastor, preacher) and deacon. 

Paul’s letters in the New Testament are " occasional" letters.  Some event, problem, or " occasion" prompted him to write each letter.  Typically Paul identifies the occasion for his letters near the beginning of each letter and near its end, something of idea bookends around the detailed instructions addressing the primary issue that motivated the writing of the letter. 

We should not think of either Timothy or Titus as resident pastors of a specific church.  Rather they appear in each of these letters as special helpers to Paul, sent by him to deal with specific problems in a local area or church.  Through the window of these letters we can see much regarding the culture of New Testament Christianity, as well as the local culture of each church involved in these special apostolic assignments.  In addition, and to our benefit, we can discover some of the significant problems encountered by first century Christianity and how an inspired apostle directed his aides to deal with those problems.  Particularly in this point we can learn about potential problems that we shall encounter and discover Biblical instruction to deal with them. 

Some commentators suggest that the pastoral epistles form a comprehensive handbook of pastoral ministry and church conduct.  Given the fact that both men served directly under Paul’s apostolic authority and direction with churches that he had visited or founded, I suggest that we should view these letters in a somewhat less comprehensive manner.  However, Paul’s emphasis on sound (literally, healthy) teaching makes these letters an invaluable source of instruction for every church that truly aspires to New Testament faith in its belief and practice.

The New Testament contains an incredible breadth of instructive information regarding any question of belief or practice that a conscientious church will need.  We should view the whole New Testament, not just the Pastoral Epistles, as our handbook for Christian faith and practice.  For example, the two letters that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church confront cosmopolitan, suburban Christianity, likely the most relevant—and frightening—New Testament letter to confront twenty-first century Western Christianity.  In this letter to Timothy we learn through the occasion that Paul assigns to the letter, that he sent Timothy to the church at Ephesus to confront and to correct a growing problem within that church.  Three rather informative New Testament references tell us much about the short history of this church.  In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church we gather that they were strong in their faith and faithful in their practical living out of the faith.  We sense less of rebuke and correction of specific error and more of encouragement and reinforcement of good faith and practice than in most of Paul’s church letters.  First Timothy informs us that the Ephesian church fell under the influence of false teachers from within the church and needed Timothy’s reinforcement of Paul’s foundational teaching to rediscover their true spiritual roots.  Interestingly, Paul’s final personal words to the elders at this church become prophetic of this specific problem (Ac 20:30 and context).

Finally when we read John’s (actually Jesus’ personal message) letter to the Ephesian church near the end of the first century (Re 2:1-7) we encounter a sad affirmation of the lingering problem of internal weakness at Ephesus.  Jesus warns them that they have left their first love (not necessarily first in chronological order, but distinctly first in order of importance).  They appear in danger of losing their " candlestick," their identity and blessing as one of the Lord’s churches. 

"…That thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,  Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith…" 

Here we discover Paul’s opening " bookend" idea, the " occasion" for his letter to Timothy.  It appears that some of the elders within the church were now teaching " other doctrine," that they were paying more attention to " fables and endless genealogies" than to " godly edifying which is in faith."  This last reference to genealogies may suggest that the false teachers had embraced a false view of Old Testament writings and were elevating their errant interpretations above Paul’s New Testament instruction to them. 

While I question that 1 Timothy, or the three Pastoral Epistles combined, establish a comprehensive manual of church administration, I hold that these letters are invaluable to a healthy church culture.  Paul affirms this point to Timothy (1Ti 3:14-15). 

My objective in this writing will be to reinforce a thoroughly New Testament model for both doctrine and for church activity.  This vision of the church is sorely needed in our time.  Modern churches in large numbers rationalize one doctrinal abandonment after another from the New Testament pattern.  For example, many church leaders exhibit more loyalty to the feminist movement than to the New Testament text and its prohibition of women as teaching leaders in the church.  While they justify their rejection of the New Testament model on the basis that Paul’s objection to women leader-teachers was based on local cultural problems, Paul himself based his objection on Adam and Eve; this example establishes a principle that transcends local culture.  Among our own Primitive Baptist people, often the ideas of an older respected preacher are viewed with more knowledge and respect than the teachings of Paul and other New Testament writers as the basis for what we believe and what we do.  If we say that we believe in Scripture alone as our foundation for faith and practice, we are ethically bound to demonstrate intense familiarity with and faithfulness to the New Testament model in all matters.  May we live up to our profession.     275

Typically Paul begins his letters with " by the will of God" or other similar terms.   The appearance of the word " commandment" in First Timothy calls our attention to an exception to the Pauline rule.  Why would Paul deviate from his normal introduction?  In other letters the exception seems to have purpose.  For example, the abruptness of Paul’s introduction in the Galatian letter immediately alerts us that Paul feels a high intensity toward the erring Galatians due to their error.  Reading the first few verses of that letter, we fully expect the terseness that follows. 

Although Paul will develop his letter around quite positive issues, if, as many commentators believe, a primary purpose in this letter is to confront a growing error in the Ephesian church through Timothy’s ministry there, we should expect that Paul will communicate through Timothy the urgency of his concern.  If confronting error at Ephesus is in the forefront of Paul’s mind as he writes, we should expect Timothy to share this letter with the church, so Paul will make sure that the church knows both the gravity of his concern and the necessity of the principles that he affirms to Timothy.

Our human nature easily imposes judgments onto others if they do not apply to us.  If we interpret a situation or mandate of conduct as directly applicable to us, especially when it is corrective of our present conduct, we quickly lose our objectivity and seek alternatives to relieve our obligation.  This is precisely the objective we see when we hear someone seek to rationalize non-compliance with Paul’s qualifications for church office in this letter, particularly a church leader whose life is to match the qualifications set forth in this letter.  Paul establishes immediately in his introduction that the things that he will present in this letter are " commandments" from the Lord, not merely the highest ideals toward which we should strive.  Since the qualifications for either the office of deacon or elder (minister) command such prominence in this letter, we must assume that the character, qualifications, and personal discipline of church leaders constituted a significant part of the Ephesian problem that Timothy was to correct.  Gordon Fee makes this point convincingly.[i]  I would add to Fee’s assessment that Paul obviously sees wise and qualified church leaders as a major insulator against and antidote to error within the local church community.  People naturally look to leaders and tend to follow their examples.  A compromising leadership will cultivate a compromising church membership.  A leader who does not practice the qualifications of his office will foster a casual attitude among church members that they need not follow the Biblical commandments that apply to them with any more faithfulness than their leaders practice within their assignment.

As an elder and pastor, I am confronted and convicted by these qualifications often.  I wish that I could say that I have always complied with every mandate set forth by Paul in the qualifications for church office.  I believe in them and in their applicability to me and to others who hold church office today.  As we who hold church office become aware of deficiencies in our personal lives, we are compelled by this letter to one of two courses.  1) We must take immediate steps to correct our errant conduct and ensure that the people in the church know that we take our position and qualifications seriously.  2) We should exhibit sufficient respect for the Biblical qualifications of our office to step down from the office and beg the church’s forgiveness for our failure.  The gravity of these qualifications cannot be compromised without grave consequences to the church.  We must live with the obvious truth that Paul introduced this letter with this clear qualification; what he wrote was a commandment from God, not merely his opinion or idealized recommendations.  Often the family of a church officer may disqualify him from office as readily as his personal conduct.  Paul observes a parallel in these qualifications between the way a church leader deals with the less-than-ideal problems in his family and the way he deals with problems in the church that he serves.  If he does not earn his family’s respect for his position, his qualifications (and theirs as his family), and his responsibilities, he cannot expect the church that he serves to respect him in his office.  If he fails to lead his family by godly and convincing example, he will predictably fail in leading the church by example.  If he is inclined to passively ignore problems in his family till they go plummeting out of control, he will likely do the same with problems in the church.  If, when he finally reacts to problems in his family, he does so with anger and harshness, he will almost certainly do the same in his church office.  All of these failures are public and damaging to both him and to the church that he is charged with serving. 

Before leaving this personal note, I need to cover one additional area of concern.  Writing to the errant Corinthian church, Paul established a pattern of ministry that lies at the core of every man’s success or failure in ministry.  (Since the word translated " ministry" applies to both the office of deacon and pastor-teacher, I include both in this observation.)  " For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake" (2Co 4:5).  No church leader can remain effective if he becomes the center of attention or controversy.  Forethought, not afterthought, must guide his judgment and conduct.  The minute he allows himself to become the focal point he has lost his ability to teach and to lead the church objectively.  This principle must control his clarity in teaching and his lifestyle in leading the church.  Ministry is not about the man who ministers.  He is " your servant," not your lord.  His role is to serve, not ensure that his will and preferences prevail in church decisions.  The Biblical model of leadership by example, not by compulsion or intimidation (the " bully pulpit" concept that our nation’s politicians occasionally mention), is perhaps the most difficult, but it is also the safest to ensure fulfillment of the church’s Biblical mission.  The Lord Jesus Christ leads by personal authority and commandment.  However, we are to lead by example under His direction, indeed under His " commandment" .

We often use " soundness" to refer to a person’s theological or doctrinal purity.  This word appears several times in the pastoral letters.  Consistently the word is translated from the Greek root for our English word " hygiene."  It refers to good health.  The New Testament model of soundness applies equally to our personal conduct, including in this case the unique conduct of those who hold church offices of leadership, and to our doctrinal or theological posture.  Bad health habits will inevitably lead to disease and to a compromised physical body.  The same principle applies to a church body.  Bad health, be it in the area of personal conduct, conduct of church officers, or theological perspective, predicts a spiritually sick, diseased, and weakened church whose survival, much less prosperity, is questionable.  I will make the case throughout this series that all three areas of a church’s culture must follow the New Testament " commandment" in order to legitimately qualify as " sound," healthy and hygienic, in the spiritual framework of a godly church.

The high marks that I set here both convict and challenge me as well as each of you.  Although we must first assess our personal conduct against these " commandments," we must never allow our humanity to compromise the objective.  Indeed, I must confess that I have not at all times lived up to the Biblical qualifications for my office.  How did I respond?  I tried to face the conviction of conscience and work to remedy the deficiency, not alter the New Testament qualifications to accommodate my failures.  I hope to perpetuate refinement in my conduct as long as I live.

With conviction and determination, I pray that this series will nudge each of us toward a more faithful and conscientious development of the New Testament model in our personal lives.

275

If our assumption is correct that Paul left Timothy at Ephesus to correct specific deficiencies, what were they?  We must begin with the premise that Paul’s letter will address the areas in which problems existed, so we look within the letter for clues to identify the problems.  Rather prophetically Paul warned the elders that some of their own number would introduce problems in the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:30).  What specific clues do we find in First Timothy to indicate that problems existed, what they were, and how to correct them?  Here are a few clues, borrowed from Gordon Fee.[ii]

1Ti 1:3, Paul directs Timothy to " charge some that they teach no other doctrine."  Although at this point Paul does not name these men, he obviously has someone specific in mind.  He views them as redeemable, but fallen into grave error.  They are to be confronted and charged with the gravity of their current teaching. 

1Ti 1:7, these men desire to be teachers, but they do not comprehend the error of their present course or the consequences of their error. 

1Ti 1:19-20, Paul names two men who have erred concerning faith, men whom he " turned over to Satan," possibly by directing their excommunication or other disciplinary measures. 

1Ti 6:3-5, Paul specifically warns against errant teaching and describes the character of the false teachers who refuse the correction that he and Timothy or others offer to assist their recovery. 

1Ti 3:1-13; 5:17-25; Paul defines the qualifications and conduct of godly leader-teachers in specific details.  The degree of specificity that he includes in these passages offers strong indication that the church at Ephesus had in some way compromised the qualifications of leadership and had promoted unqualified men to these offices. 

1Ti 2:9-15; 5:3-16 suggests that the false teachers found fruitful support among some of the women in the church and were backing them to the detriment of the " hygiene," the sound spiritual health, of the church.

Perhaps the church functioned through multiple " house-churches," small gatherings that met in the homes of individual teachers between the general gatherings of the whole assembly.  If this were the case, a small group leader could easily influence the people who gathered under his teaching into error. 

Fee acknowledges that the specifics of the errors are difficult to define.  He makes a good case that the errors involved both behavioral as well as cognitive dimensions.  However he offers several probable errors based on various passages in the letter.  1) The false teachers were involved in speculations and disputes over words.  2) They encouraged arguments and quarrels.  They were proud, arrogant, and divisive.  3) Fee assigns personal greed as the root problem in these errant individuals.  Godliness " is a means to turn a drachma." 

In some way they related their errant teachings to a faulty use of the Old Testament, including " myths" and " genealogies" .

There were also elements of Hellenism, particularly Greek dualism with its " dim view of the material world."  

Although the reference appears in 2 Timothy, Fee suggests that denial of the literal resurrection of the body may have also impacted this church. 

The reference to " knowledge, so called" may indicate that the gnostic error that appears in Corinth and Colosse may have also invaded the church at Ephesus. 

From a more global assessment of the major problems documented in the first century, Fee examines the potential that efforts to " Judaize" Christianity were part of the problem at Ephesus, as it certainly appears in Antioch and other churches mentioned in the New Testament.

The complexities of these factors seem staggering.  They make our local problems seem insignificant by comparison.  However, we should take courage that, despite this diversity of likely errors, Paul approaches the situation with striking optimism.  The solution to these and other difficulties appears in wise leaders who insist on teaching and living the teachings of Scripture alone.  Despite infectious spiritual viruses that abounded, diligent adherence to the faith set forth by the Lord Jesus will inoculate the church from these errors and will ensure a sound, " hygienic," healthy church for generations to come.  Perhaps some of Fee’s suggestions involve a stretch, but none of them is outside the probable, given the presence of all these errors in the New Testament era and culture.

Should a church reflect its culture, or should it confront its culture with an alternative New Testament culture?  Despite loud protests to the contrary, many contemporary church cultures justify their existence on the basis that they appeal to and comply with the needs of our culture.  From the Willow Creek experience that literally created a church culture based on a survey of " unchurched" people in the local community to the counter-culture mood of the Calvary Chapel movement to the less radical elements within contemporary Christianity, many churches assess their reason for exiting based on a personal assessment of the current culture and what they think within their esoteric assessment they can do within that culture. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum we should be cautious that we do not adopt such an anti-culture disposition that we fail in our efforts to reach and to change the culture in which we exist.  Many Christians, not just our own fellowship, tend to isolate themselves from the surrounding culture so that the broad culture either knows nothing of them, or it marginalizes them as " radical, right-wing, fundamentalist, extremists."  In a taped series of messages on the typology of the tabernacle and sacrifices of Levitical worship Dr. Stephen Olford complained that many of the members of the church that he then served in New York City failed when he urged them to invite non-Christian or non-Baptist friends to join them in special church services or seminars such as the one he was then conducting.  He alleged that these folks intentionally avoid any social contact or substantial friendship with anyone who is not a strong professing Christian.  This problem violates Jesus’ analogy of the faithful believer as being " salt" and " light" in the world.  Salt cannot benefit any food unless it comes into direct contact with that food.  Light demonstrates its value when exposed directly to darkness.  A Christian will only have a beneficial impact on the world in which he lives by personal contact with those who live in that world.  Dr. Ron Rhodes, a noted Christian apologist from southern California, makes a similar point.  He alleges that the pseudo-Christian cults do now win converts by a superior Biblical interpretation, but by investing in the lives of their friends and neighbors during times of need.  They are present and helpful during a time of need, thus ingratiating their friends to their religion.  Rhodes offers wise counsel; historical Christians can become effective in winning people away from these cults, primarily by becoming involved in their lives and by offering sacrificial help to them in times of need.  Be better than the cultists at their own practice.  May we be effective Christian servants to those around us, not passive insulators from the culture.   275

[i] Fee, Gordon D., New International Biblical Commentary: 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus  (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1988), pp. 5-23.

[ii] Fee, Gordon D., New International Commentary: 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus…, p. 8-10.

Haydock: 1Ti 1:1

Of God, our Saviour. God the Father is here called our Saviour, as also to Titus, (iii. 4.) being the author of our salvation, as are all the three divine persons. (Witham) ---

As this letter was to be read to the faithful, it was proper that St. Paul should speak with dignity and authority; and, as in the course of it he reproves false apostles who taught from themselves, he reminds them at the beginning of his letter, that he himself had entered the sacred ministry, and was an apostle by the command of God. (Calmet)

Haydock: 1Ti 1:2

To Timothy, my beloved son [1] in faith: not that St. Paul first converted him, but that by his instructions he was settled in the principles of faith and of the Christian religion. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Dilecto, Greek: gnesio tekio. Some manuscripts, Greek: agapeto.

Gill: 1Ti 1:1

Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ,.... His name was well known to Timothy, and very dear to him; and so was his office as an apostle, and which he mentions, not so much for Timothy's sake, but for the sake of others, that what he delivers in this epistle might come with its proper weight and authority, and be regarded: of this his office, as well as name; see Gill on Rom 1:1. How he came into this office next follows, not of himself, nor by men,

by the commandment of God; the appointment and decree of God, by which he was separated to this office, even from eternity, and is the same with the counsel or will of God, Eph 1:1 or it may refer to the order given by the Holy Ghost to the church; to set apart him and Barnabas, to the work of the ministry, Act 13:2 though this commandment is called the commandment of God

our Saviour; by whom is meant God the Father; and this character of him is mentioned, to show that the embassy the apostle was sent on as such, and in which the discharge of his office greatly lay, was the affair of salvation, to publish and declare that to the sons of men; and also to show the concern which God the Father has in that work: he resolved upon it, and appointed his people to it, and determined upon saving them by his Son, whom he pitched upon to be his salvation; he drew the scheme of it by his infinite wisdom, and sent his Son into the world to execute it; and he sends his ministers to publish the Gospel of it, and his Spirit to reveal and apply it to the hearts of his chosen ones; and keeps them by his power unto it, and will at last put them into the full possession of it; so that this character well suits with him, to whom it is also given, Tit 3:4 as well as with his Son Jesus Christ, to whom it is more commonly ascribed, and from whom he is here distinguished: for it follows,

and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; who is both the author, and the ground and foundation of the grace of hope of salvation, and eternal life; not earthly enjoyments, nor any external thing whatever; not birth privileges, carnal descent, religious education, morality and civility, obedience to the law of Moses, moral or ceremonial; nor a profession of Christ, nor a bare subjection to his ordinances, but he himself: and there is good ground to hope for pardon through his blood, which was shed for it; and for justification by his righteousness, which is freely wrought out, and freely imputed; and for salvation by him, since it is in him, and in no other, and is completely effected by him, and that for the worst of sinners, and is wholly of free grace, and which everyone that believes in him shall enjoy; and so for eternal life, which hope is conversant with; and good reason there is for it in Christ, seeing it is in him, and in his gift; what his grace gives a meetness for, and his righteousness a title to; and which he is possessed of in the name of his people, prepares for them, and will introduce them into. The Complutensian edition reads, "of the Father, and, our Saviour Jesus Christ"; and so the Ethiopic version, "of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ".

Gill: 1Ti 1:2

Unto Timothy my own son in the faith,.... Not in the flesh, or by natural descent, but in a spiritual sense, in the faith of Christ; for Timothy was not related to the apostle according to the flesh, as some have thought, but the relation was spiritual; though the apostle was not properly his spiritual father, or the instrument of his conversion; for Timothy was a converted person, and a disciple of Christ, and well reported of by the brethren, when the apostle first met with him, Act 16:1 but he calls him his son, either because of his age, being a young man; or because of his affection for him, so the Vulgate Latin version reads, "a beloved son"; or rather, because he was instructed more largely by the apostle into the doctrine of faith; and as a son, with a father, served with him in the Gospel of Christ. It may be rendered "a true or genuine son in the faith", in distinction from nominal Christians, formal professors and hypocrites. Timothy was a real Christian, a true believer, and an hearty and upright professor and preacher of the faith of Christ, as well as truly regenerated by the Spirit of God,

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord; the Arabic version reads, "and Lord Jesus Christ our Lord". The form of salutation is the same as in all the epistles of the apostle, only that "mercy" is here inserted; and when he wishes "grace" to Timothy, he may mean a fresh discovery of the love and free favour of God unto him, and an increase of grace in him, and of the gifts of the Spirit upon him; and by "mercy" he may intend a fresh application of the pardoning mercy of God, through Christ, and all assistance, and success in his work as a minister, and all succour and support under every trial and exercise, and mercy at the last day, or the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life; and by "peace" he may design peace of conscience through the blood of Christ, and all prosperity, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. And all this being wished for equally from Christ, as from God the Father, is a proof of the proper deity of our Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ti 1:1

¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

² sn God our Savior. Use of the title “Savior” for God the Father is characteristic of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. It occurs six times in these letters, but only twice elsewhere in the NT. However, it occurs commonly in the OT, especially in Isaiah. It emphasizes the Father as the initiator and source of salvation.

Geneva Bible: 1Ti 1:1

Paul, ^{( 1 )} an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, [which is] our hope;

^{( 1 )} First of all, he affirms his own free vocation and also Timothy's, that the one might be confirmed by the other: and in addition he declares the sum of the apostolic doctrine, that is, the mercy of God in Christ Jesus apprehended by faith, the end of which is yet hoped for.

Geneva Bible: 1Ti 1:2

Unto Timothy, [my] own son in the faith: Grace, ^{( a )} mercy, [and] peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

^{( a )} There is as much difference between mercy and grace, as is between the effect and the cause: for grace is that free good will of God, by which he chose us in Christ, and mercy is that free justification which follows it.

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.

MHCC: 1Ti 1:1-4

Jesus Christ is a Christian's hope; all our hopes of eternal life are built upon him; and Christ is in us the hope of glory. The apostle seems to have been the means of Timothy's conversion; who served with him in his ministry, as a dutiful son with a loving father. That which raises questions, is not for edifying; that which gives occasion for doubtful disputes, pulls down the church rather than builds it up. Godliness of heart and life can only be kept up and increased, by the exercise of faith in the truths and promises of God, through Jesus Christ.

Matthew Henry: 1Ti 1:1-4

Here is, I. The inscription of the epistle, from whom it is sent: Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, constituted an apostle by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ. His credentials were unquestionable. He had not only a commission, but a commandment, not only from God our Saviour, but from Jesus Christ: he was a preacher of the gospel of Christ, and a minister of the kingdom of Christ. Observe, God is our Saviour. - Jesus Christ, who is our hope. Observe, Jesus Christ is a Christian's hope; our hope is in him, all our hope of eternal life is built upon him; Christ is in us the hope of glory, Col 1:27. He calls Timothy his own son, because he had been an instrument of his conversion, and because he had been a son that served him, served with him in the gospel, Phi 2:22. Timothy had not been wanting in the duty of a son to Paul, and Paul was not wanting in the care and tenderness of a father to him.

II. The benediction is, grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father. Some have observed that whereas in all the epistles to the churches the apostolical benediction is grace and peace, in these two epistles to Timothy and that to Titus it is grace, mercy, and peace: as if ministers had more need of God's mercy than other men. Ministers need more grace than others, to discharge their duty faithfully; and they need more mercy than others, to pardon what is amiss in them: and if Timothy, so eminent a minister, must be indebted to the mercy of God, and needed the increase and continuance of it, how much more do we ministers, in these times, who have so little of his excellent spirit!

III. Paul tells Timothy what was the end of his appointing him to this office: I besought thee to abide at Ephesus. Timothy had a mind to go with Paul, was loth to go from under his wing, but Paul would have it so; it was necessary for the public service: I besought thee, says he. Though he might assume an authority to command him, yet for love's sake he chose rather to beseech him. Now his business was to take care to fix both the ministers and the people of that church: Charge them that they teach no other doctrine than what they have received, that they do not add to the Christian doctrine, under pretence of improving it or making up the defects of it, that they do no alter it, but cleave to it as it was delivered to them. Observe, 1. Ministers must not only be charged to preach the true doctrine of the gospel, but charged to preach no other doctrine. If an angel from heaven preach any other doctrine, let him be anathema, Gal 1:8. 2. In the times of the apostles there were attempts made to corrupt Christianity ( we are not as many, who corrupt the word, 2Co 2:17), otherwise this charge to Timothy might have been spared. 3. He must not only see to it that he did not preach any other doctrine, but he must charge others that they might not add any thing of their own to the gospel, or take any thing from it, but that they preach it pure and uncorrupt. He must also take care to prevent their regarding fables, and endless genealogies, and strifes of words. This is often repeated in these two epistles (as 1Ti 4:7; 1Ti 6:4; 2Ti 2:23), as well as in the epistle to Titus. As among the Jews there were some who brought Judaism into Christianity; so among the Gentiles there were some who brought paganism into Christianity. "Take heed of these,"says he, "watch against them, or they will be the corrupting and ruining of religion among you, for they minister questions rather than edifying. "That which ministers questions is not for edifying; that which gives occasion for doubtful disputes pulls down the church rather than builds it up. And I think, by a parity of reason, every thing else that ministers questions rather than godly edifying should be disclaimed and disregarded by us, such as an uninterrupted succession in the ministry from the apostles down to these times, the absolute necessity of episcopal ordination, and of the intention of the minister to the efficacy and validity of the sacraments he ministers. These are as bad as Jewish fables and endless genealogies, for they involve us in inextricable difficulties, and tend only to shake the foundations of a Christian's hope and to fill his mind with perplexing doubts and fears. Godly edifying is the end ministers should aim at in all their discourses, that Christians may be improving in godliness and growing up to a greater likeness to the blessed God. Observe, further, Godly edifying must be in faith: the gospel is the foundation on which we build; it is by faith that we come to God at first (Heb 11:6), and it must be in the same way, and by the same principle of faith, that we must be edified. Again, Ministers should avoid, as much as may be, what will occasion disputes; and would do well to insist on the great and practical points of religion, about which there can be no disputes; for even disputes about great and necessary truths draw off the mind from the main design of Christianity, and eat out the vitals of religion, which consist in practice and obedience as well as in faith, that we may not hold the truth in unrighteousness, but may keep the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:1-2

Never a man magnified his office as Paul did. He did not magnify it in pride; he magnified it in wonder that God had chosen him for a task like that. Twice in the opening words of this letter he lays down the greatness of his privilege.

(i) First, he calls himself an apostle of Christ Jesus. Apostle is the Greek word apostolos (652), from the verb apostellein (649) which means to send out; an apostolos (652) was one who was sent out. As far back as Herodotus it means an envoy, an ambassador, one who is sent out to represent his country and his king. Paul always regarded himself as the envoy and ambassador of Christ. And, in truth, that is the office of every Christian. It is the first duty of every ambassador to form a liaison between the country to which he is sent and the country from which he has come. He is the connecting link. And the first duty of every Christian is to be a connecting link between his fellow-men and Jesus Christ.

(ii) Secondly, he says that he is an apostle by the royal command of God. The word he uses is epitage (2003). This is the word Greek uses for the injunctions which some inviolable law lays on a man; for the royal command which comes to a man from the king; and above all for the instructions which come to a man either directly or by some oracle from God. For instance, a man in an inscription dedicates an altar to the goddess Cybele, kat' (2596) epitagen (2003), in accordance with the command of the goddess, which, he tells us, had come to him in a dream. Paul thought of himself as a man holding the king's commission.

If any man can arrive at this consciousness of being despatched by God, a new splendour enters into life. However humble his part may be in it, he is on royal service.

"Life can never be dull again

When once we've thrown our windows open wide

And seen the mighty world that lies outside,

And whispered to ourselves this wondrous thing,

'We're wanted for the business of the King!' "

It is always a privilege to do even the most menial things for someone whom we love and respect and admire. All his life the Christian is on the business of the King.

Paul goes on to give to God and to Jesus two great titles.

He speaks of God, our Saviour. This is a new way of speaking. We do not find this title for God in any of Paul's earlier letters. There are two backgrounds from which it comes.

(a) It comes from an Old Testament background. It is Moses' charge against Israel that Jeshurun "forsook God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his Salvation" (Deu 32:15). The Psalmist sings of how the good man will receive righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psa 24:5). It is Mary's song, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour" (Luk 1:46-47). When Paul called God Saviour, he was going back to an idea which had always been dear to Israel.

(b) There is a pagan background. It so happened that just at this time the title soter (4990), Saviour, was much in use. Men had always used it. In the old days the Romans had called Scipio, their great general, "our hope and our salvation." But at this very time it was the title which the Greeks gave to Aesculapius, the god of healing. And it was one of the titles which Nero, the Roman Emperor, had taken to himself. So in this opening sentence Paul is taking the title which was much on the lips of a seeking and a wistful world and giving it to the only person to whom it belonged by right.

We must never forget that Paul called God Saviour. It is possible to take a quite wrong idea of the Atonement. Sometimes people speak of it in a way which indicates that something Jesus did pacified the anger of God. The idea they give is that God was bent on our destruction and that somehow his wrath was turned to love by Jesus. Nowhere in the New Testament is there any support for that. It was because God so loved the world that he sent Jesus into the world (Joh 3:16). God is Saviour. We must never think or preach or teach of a God who had to be pacified and persuaded into loving us, for everything begins from his love.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:1-2

Paul uses a title which was to become one of the great titles of Jesus--"Christ Jesus, our hope." Long ago the Psalmist had demanded of himself: "Why are you cast down, O my soul?" And he had answered: "Hope in God" (Psa 43:5). Paul himself speaks of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27). John speaks of the dazzling prospect which confronted the Christian, the prospect of being like Christ; and goes on to say: "Every one who thus hopes purifies himself as he is pure" (1Jo 3:2-3).

In the early Church this was to become one of the most precious titles of Christ. Ignatius of Antioch, when on his way to execution in Rome, writes to the Church in Ephesus: "Be of good cheer in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our common hope" (Ignatius: To the Ephesians 21:2). Polycarp writes: "Let us therefore persevere in our hope and the earnest of our righteousness, who is Jesus Christ" (Epistle of Polycarp 8).

(i) Men found in Christ the hope of moral victory and of self-conquest. The ancient world knew its sin. Epictetus had spoken wistfully of "our weakness in necessary things." Seneca had said that "we hate our vices and love them at the same time." He said, "We have not stood bravely enough by our good resolutions; despite our will and resistance we have lost our innocence. Nor is it only that we have acted amiss; we shall do so to the end." Persius, the Roman poet, wrote poignantly: "Let the guilty see virtue, and pine that they have lost her for ever." Persius talks of "filthy Natta benumbed by vice." The ancient world knew its moral helplessness only too well; and Christ came, not only telling men what was right, but giving them the power to do it. Christ gave to men who had lost it the hope of moral victory instead of defeat.

(ii) Men found in Christ the hope of victory over circumstances. Christianity came into the world in an age of the most terrible personal insecurity. When Tacitus, the Roman historian, came to write the history of that very age in which the Christian Church came into being, he began by saying, "I am entering upon the history of a period rich in disaster, gloomy with wars, rent with seditions; nay, savage in its very hours of peace. Four emperors perished by the sword; there were three civil wars; there were more with foreigners, and some had the character of both at once ... Rome wasted by fires; its oldest temples burned; the very capitol set in flames by Roman hands; the defilement of sacred rites; adultery in high places; the sea crowded with exiles; island rocks drenched with murder; yet wilder was the frenzy in Rome; nobility, wealth, the refusal of office, its acceptance, everything was a crime, and virtue was the surest way to ruin. Nor were the rewards of the informers less odious than their deeds. One found his spoils in a priesthood or a consulate; another in a provincial governorship, another behind the throne. All was one delirium of hate and terror; slaves were bribed to betray their masters, freedmen their patrons; and he who had no foe was betrayed by his friend." (Tacitus: Histories 1, 2). As Gilbert Murray said, the whole age was suffering from "the failure of nerve." Men were longing for some ring-wall of defence against "the advancing chaos of the world." It was Christ who in such times gave men the strength to live, and the courage, if need be, to die. In the certainty that nothing on earth could separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus, men found victory over the terrors of the age.

(iii) Men found in Christ the hope of victory over death. They found in him, at one and the same time, strength for mortal things and the immortal hope. Christ, our hope, was--and still should be--the battle-cry of the Church.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:1-2

It is to Timothy that this letter is sent, and Paul was never able to speak of him without affection in his voice.

Timothy was a native of Lystra in the province of Galatia. It was a Roman colony; it called itself "the most brilliant colony of Lystra," but in reality it was a little place at the ends of the civilized earth. Its importance was that there was a Roman garrison quartered there to keep control of the wild tribes of the Isaurian mountains which lay beyond. It was on the first missionary journey that Paul and Barnabas arrived there (Act 14:8-21). At that time there is no mention of Timothy; but it has been suggested that, when Paul was in Lystra, he found a lodging in Timothy's home, in view of the fact that he knew well the faith and devotion of Timothy's mother Eunice and of his grandmother Lois (2Ti 1:5).

On that first visit Timothy must have been very young, but the Christian faith laid hold upon him, and Paul became his hero. It was at Paul's visit to Lystra on the second missionary journey that life began for Timothy (Act 16:1-3). Young as he was, he had become one of the ornaments of the Christian Church in Lystra. There was such a charm and enthusiasm in the lad that all men spoke well of him. To Paul, he seemed the very man to be his assistant. Maybe even then he had dreams that this lad was the very person to train to take up his work when his day was over.

Timothy was the child of a mixed marriage; his mother was a Jewess, and his father a Greek (Act 16:1). Paul circumcised him. It was not that Paul was a slave of the law, or that he saw in circumcision any special virtue; but he knew well that if Timothy was to work amongst the Jews, there would be an initial prejudice against him if he was uncircumcised, and so he took this step as a practical measure to increase Timothy's usefulness as an evangelist.

From that time forward Timothy was Paul's constant companion. He was left behind at Beroea with Silas when Paul escaped to Athens, and later joined him there (Act 17:14-15, Act 18:5). He was sent as Paul's emissary to Macedonia (Act 19:22). He was there when the collection from the Churches was being taken to Jerusalem (Act 20:4). He was with Paul in Corinth when Paul wrote his letter to Rome (Rom 16:21). He was Paul's emissary to Corinth when there was trouble in that unruly Church (1Co 4:17; 1Co 16:10). He was with Paul when he wrote 2 Corinthians (2Co 1:1; 2Co 1:19). It was Timothy whom Paul sent to see how things were going in Thessalonica and he was with Paul when he wrote his letter to that Church (1Th 1:1; 1Th 3:2, 1Th 3:6). He was with Paul in prison when he wrote to Philippi, and Paul was planning to send him to Philippi as his representative (Phi 1:1; Phi 2:19). He was with Paul when he wrote to the Church at Colossae and to Philemon (Col 1:1; Phm 1:1). Constantly Timothy was by Paul's side, and when Paul had a difficult job to do Timothy was the man sent to do it.

Over and over again Paul's voice vibrates with affection when he speaks of Timothy. When he is sending him to that sadly divided Church at Corinth, he writes: "I have sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord" (1Co 4:17). When he is planning to send him to Philippi, he writes: "I have no one like him.... As a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel" (Phi 2:20, Phi 2:22). Here he calls him "his true son." The word that he uses for "true" is gnesios (1103). It has two meanings. It was the normal word for a legitimate child in contradistinction to illegitimate. It was the word for genuine, as opposed to counterfeit.

Timothy was the man whom Paul could trust and could send anywhere, knowing that he would go. Happy indeed is the leader who possesses a lieutenant like that. Timothy is our example of how we should serve in the faith. Christ and his Church need servants like that.

Barclay: 1Ti 1:1-2

Paul always began his letters with a blessing (Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3; 2Co 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phi 1:2; Col 1:2; 1Th 1:1; 2Th 1:2; Phm 1:3). In all these other letters only Grace and Peace occur. It is only in the letters to Timothy that Mercy is used (2Ti 1:2; Tit 1:4). Let us look at these three great words.

(i) In Grace there are always three dominant ideas.

(a) In classical Greek the word means outward grace or favour, beauty, winsomeness, sweetness. Usually, although not always, it is applied to persons. The English word charm comes near to expressing its meaning. Grace is characteristically a lovely and a winsome thing.

(b) In the New Testament there is always the idea of sheer generosity. Grace is something unearned and undeserved. It is opposed to that which is a debt. Paul says that if it is a case of earning things, the reward is not a matter of grace, but of debt (Rom 4:4). It is opposed to works. Paul says that God's election of his chosen people is not the consequence of works, but of grace (Rom 11:6).

© In the New Testament there is always the idea of sheer universality. Again and again Paul uses the word grace in connection with the reception of the Gentiles into the family of God. He thanks God for the grace given to the Corinthians in Jesus Christ (1Co 1:4). He talks of the grace of God bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia (2Co 8:1). He talks of the Galatians being called into the grace of Christ (Gal 1:6). The hope which came to the Thessalonians came through grace (2Th 2:16). It was God's grace which made Paul an apostle to the Gentiles (1Co 15:10). It was by the grace of God that he moved amongst the Corinthians (2Co 1:12). It was by grace that God called him and separated him from his mother's womb (Gal 1:15). It is the grace given to him by God which enables him to write boldly to the Church at Rome (Rom 15:15). To Paul the great demonstration of the grace of God was the reception of the Gentiles into the Church and his apostleship to them.

Grace is a lovely thing; it is a free thing; and it is a universal thing. As F. J. Hort wrote so beautifully: "Grace is a comprehensive word, gathering up all that may be supposed to be expressed in the smile of a heavenly king, looking down upon his people."

(ii) Peace was the normal Jewish word of greeting, and, in Hebrew thought, it expresses, not simply the negative absence of trouble, but "the most comprehensive form of well-being." It is everything which makes for a man's highest good. It is the state a man is in when he is within the love of God. F. J. Hort writes: "Peace is the antithesis to every kind of conflict and war and molestation, to enmity without and distraction within."

"Bowed down beneath a load of sin,

By Satan sorely pressed,

By war without and fears within,

I come to thee for rest."

(iii) Mercy is the new word in the apostolic blessing. In Greek the word is eleos (1656), and in Hebrew chesed (02617). Now chesedh is the word which is often in the Old Testament translated loving-kindness; and when Paul prayed for mercy on Timothy, he is saying, to put it very simply, "Timothy, may God be good to you." But there is more to it than that. Chesed (02617) is used in the Psalms no fewer than one hundred and twenty-seven times. And time and time again it has the meaning of help in time of need. It denotes, as Parry puts it, "God's active intervention to help." As Hort puts it, "It is the coming down of the Most High to help the helpless." In Psa 40:11the Psalmist rejoices, "Thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness ever preserve me." In Psa 57:3he says, "He will send from heaven and save me... God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness." In Psa 86:14-16he thinks of the forces of the evil men which are arrayed against him, and comforts himself with the thought that God is "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." It is by God's abundant mercy that he has given us the living hope of the resurrection (1Pe 1:3). The Gentiles should glorify God for that mercy which has rescued them from sin and hopelessness (Rom 15:9). God's mercy is God active to save. It may well be that Paul added Mercy to his two usual words, Grace and Peace, because Timothy was up against it and he wanted in one word to tell him that the Most High was the help of the helpless.

Constable: 1Ti 1:1-2

I. SALUTATION 1:1-2

Paul began this very personal letter with a customary salutation to set the tone for what followed. The salutation reveals that this was not just a personal letter, however, as was Paul's epistle to Philemon, but it was also official.

"The opening and closing sections of the pastoral epistles vary considerably from the standard formulae. This suggests a calculated focus toward certain aspects of the author/reader relationship."⁸

1:1 As usual, except in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philippians, and Philemon, Paul reminded his readers of his authority as an apostle. Timothy would have read this letter publicly in the Ephesian church, and others would have read it in other congregations later as well.

Paul wrote here that his calling came to him by the commandment or commission of God, not simply by His "will," the term Paul used more often in this connection. Paul received his commission in Damascus (Acts 9). This stronger word is one of many indications that Paul stressed the importance of faithful perseverance in God's calling in this epistle, as he did in 2 Timothy as well.

The idea of God being our Savior is a characteristic emphasis in the Pastorals (2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4; cf. Ps. 25:5; 27:1, 9; Hab. 3:18; Isa. 12:2). Jesus Christ is our hope generally in that we have set our hope on Him, and specifically in that we look for His appearing when God will complete our salvation. Paul was not describing the relationship of the Persons in the Godhead to each other but to believers.

"The designation of God as Savior, unusual in Paul, is in keeping with the Old Testament presentation of God (Deut 32:15; Ps 24:5; 27:1; Is 12:2; 17:10). It described the God who delivered his people from their bondage in Egypt and many times thereafter as the initiator and originator of salvation. In the New Testament, of course, God as the Savior is the initiator of the program of deliverance through Christ."⁹

1:2 Paul may have led Timothy to faith in Christ personally, or Timothy may simply have been Paul's "child in the faith" in that he was Paul's protégé (cf. Acts 14:6; 16:1).

Paul added "mercy" to his customary benediction of grace and peace here and in 2 Timothy (cf. 2 John 3). He probably did so because the Jewish blessing "mercy and peace" was one that Paul could appropriately share with his half Jewish child in the faith.¹⁰ However, "mercy" also reminds us that we need God not to give us what we deserve, namely chastisement. These three words summarize all the Christian's blessings.

"It is much more natural to think that the keen solicitude of the aged apostle for his young friend in his difficult position led him to insert the additional prayer for mercy as springing from his own enlarged experience of divine mercy."¹¹

"With these three terms, then, Paul greets Timothy and the church: charis [grace]--God's ongoing forgiveness and enabling, eleos [mercy]--God's sympathy and concern, eirene [peace]--God's tranquility and stability within and among them as individuals and as a Christian community."¹²

The two relationships with God that Paul cited, as our Father and our Lord, are especially significant in this letter. Timothy had a tendency to be fearful, so the reminder that God is our Father would have encouraged him. However, Paul eliminated the possibility of permissiveness implied in "Father" by using "Lord." Timothy needed to remember that the Lord had called him to serve a God who loved him as a father yet deserved complete obedience as a lord. We share Timothy's need.

"Only fifteen times was God referred to as the Father in the Old Testament. Where it does occur, it is used of the nation Israel or to the king of Israel. Never was God called the Father of an individual or of human beings in general (though isolated instances occur in second temple Judaism, Sirach 51:10). In the New Testament numerous references to God as Father can be found."¹³

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.

Vincent: 1 Timothy (Book Introduction)

The Pastoral Epistles

Introduction

The two Epistles to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus are called the Pastoral Epistles because they consist chiefly of instructions and admonitions to pastors. Their authenticity is disputed. The current of modern criticism is against their Pauline authorship, but it is supported by high authorities.

I. The three letters are closely allied, and stand or fall together. While each has its peculiarities, they contain considerable common matter; and their general situation and aim are substantially the same. They oppose heresies, seek to establish a definite church polity, and urge adherence to traditional doctrine. Their style is similar. Certain expressions which occur nowhere else in the N.T. are found in all three. Whole sentences are in almost verbal agreement.

II. They exhibit certain resemblances to the Pauline Epistles, notably to Romans. If the writer is not Paul, he is manifestly familiar with Paul's teachings.

III. As to the external evidence for these letters, there seems good reason to believe in the existence, at an early date, either of the letters in their present form, or of documents on which the letters were constructed later. Not much reliance can be placed on the traces which occur in Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians: perhaps a little more on those in the Ignatian Epistles, although many of these are merely analogies of expression which may have been accidental, or echoes of current religious phraseology. An unmistakable reminiscence appears in Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians ( Philip . iv.; 1Ti 6:7, 1Ti 6:10). There are no echoes in Hermas or in the Didache, and none of importance in Barnabas. Justin Martyr has a few characteristic expressions of the Pastorals, which may be only accidental coincidences. The Muratorian Canon enrolls the three as canonical, and expressly justifies their reception because, being private letters, their canonicity might be called in question. They are found in the Peshitto and Old Latin Versions, and are accepted and cited as Pauline by Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. At the end of the second century they have a recognized place among the Pauline Epistles. It is, however, significant, that they were excluded from Marcion's Canon. It cannot be positively affirmed that Marcion knew them, although his acquaintance with them would seem to be implied by Tertullian ( Adv . Marc . v., 21), who says that it was strange how Marcion could have accepted a letter written to one man (Philemon), and have rejected the two to Timothy and the one to Titus.

On the assumption that they were known to Marcion, it is said that he cut and carved the New Testament Scriptures to suit his own views, and that there was therefore nothing strange in his rejecting the Pastorals. But besides rejecting the whole of the New Testament with the exception of ten Epistles of Paul and the Gospel of Luke which he mutilated, Marcion applied the knife to the Pauline Epistles. In view of his reverence for Paul as the only true apostle and representative of Jesus Christ, and for Paul's Epistles as containing the only true gospel, - it is strange that, knowing the Pastorals as Pauline, he should have rejected them en masse , instead of merely altering or abridging them to suit himself. Tatian also rejected the two letters to Timothy, but accepted Titus, because it contained nothing adverse to ascetic practices.

IV. Chronological Considerations. - Was Paul released from his first imprisonment and imprisoned a second time? Can a place be found for the three letters in his recorded history?

It is claimed that Paul was released from prison after his first confinement at Rome (Acts 28:16-31) and that he then continued his missionary labors in Ephesus, Epirus, Macedonia, and Crete: that he was again arrested and imprisoned, and that the second imprisonment was terminated by his execution.

Of this there is no sound historical evidence whatever. The narrative of Acts leaves him in his first confinement. The ordinary course of argument forms a circle. The hypothesis of a second imprisonment can be sustained only by the Pastoral Epistles if they are authentic. Their authenticity can be shown only on that hypothesis. The only evidence adduced for the second imprisonment outside of these letters is, 1. A passage in Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians (v.), as follows: (Paul) " having preached the gospel both in the East; and in the West, received the glorious renown due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and having come to the boundary of the West, and having born his testimony before the rulers. Thus he departed out of the world." The main point is having come to the boundary of the West (ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα τῆς δύσεως ἐλθών ). It is claimed that this expression refers to Spain, and that Clement thus records the fulfillment of the apostle's intention stated in Rom 15:24, Rom 15:28. Others, however, hold that it refers to Rome. Apart from this difference, which it is impossible to settle, the whole statement is general, vague, and rhetorical, and has no historical value.

2. The Muratorian Canon (about 170 a.d.) contains a passage apparently to the effect that Luke relates to Theophilus the things which fell under his own notice, and evidently declares as apart from his purpose the martyrdom of Peter; but the departure of Paul setting out from the city to Spain - here the text is mutilated. How the writer intended to complete it can only be guessed. The passage is worthless as evidence. 3. After these two we have nothing until the fourth century, when Eusebius says that there was a tradition that the apostle again set forth to the ministry of his preaching, and having a second time entered the same city of Rome, was perfected by his martyrdom before Nero. That in this imprisonment he wrote the second Epistle to Timothy ( H . E . ii. 22, 25). This is all. Jerome merely echoes Eusebius. Eusebius does not mention Spain. History does not show any apostolic foundation in Spain. Neither Irenaeus, Caius, Tertullian, nor Origen allude to such a mission; and although Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen mention the death of Paul at Rome, they say nothing of any journeys subsequent to his first arrival there. Dr. McGiffert remarks (note on Euseb. ii. 22, 2): " The strongest argument against the visit to Spain is the absence of any trace of it in Spain itself. If any church there could have claimed the great apostle to the Gentiles as its founder, it seems that it must have asserted its claim, and the tradition have been preserved at least in that church."

It is also said that 2Ti 4:16, 2Ti 4:17 implies that Paul had had a hearing and been discharged and permitted to preach. The assumption is entirely gratuitous. The words may have referred to a hearing during his first captivity, when he was delivered from imminent danger, but not set at liberty.

In short, historical evidence for a release from the first Roman imprisonment, a subsequent missionary activity, and a second imprisonment, is utterly wanting. It seems hardly conceivable that no traces of a renewed ministry should be left in history except these instructions to friends and pupils. If Paul was liberated from his first imprisonment, it is singular that Luke should not have recorded the fact as a triumph of the gospel.

Such being the case, it remains only to find a place for these letters in the recorded ministry of Paul. This cannot be done. There is no period of that ministry, from Damascus to Rome, into which they will fit.

V. Style and Diction. - The most formidable objection to the Pauline authorship of these Epistles is furnished by their style and diction, which present a marked contrast with those of the Pauline letters. That the three Pastorals contain 148 words which appear nowhere else in the N.T., and 304 which are not found in Paul's writings, are facts which, by themselves, must not be allowed too much weight. Hapaxlegomena are numerous in the several Pauline Epistles. Second Corinthians has about 90: Romans and 1st Corinthians each over a hundred: Ephesians about 40. That words like πολυτελής and οἰκουργός appear in the Pastorals and not in Paul, counts for no more than that ὁλοτελής occurs only in 1st Thessalonians, and ἀβαρής only in 2nd Corinthians.

But we are not dealing with individual letters, but with a group of letters, nearly, if not absolutely, contemporaneous. It is a striking fact that this entire group, closely allied in all its three parts in vocabulary and style, presents, as a whole, such marked variations in these particulars from the accepted Pauline letters. In their lexical peculiarities the Pastorals form a class by themselves.

One who is thoroughly steeped in Paul's style and diction, and who reads these letters out of hand, is at once impressed with the difference from Paul. He feels that he is in a strange rhetorical atmosphere. The sentences have not the familiar ring. The thought does not move with the accustomed rush. The verve of Corinthians and Galatians, the dialectic vigor of Romans, the majesty of Ephesians, are alike wanting. The association of ideas is loose, the construction is not compact, the movement is slow and clumsy. We miss the heavily freighted utterance of Paul. The thought is scanty in proportion to the volume of words; as Holtzmann says: " We miss those characteristic dam-breakings which the construction suffers from the swelling fullness of thought." We miss the frequent anacolutha, the unclosed parentheses, the sudden digressions, the obscurities arising from the headlong impetus of thought and feeling. The construction of sentences is simple, the thoughts are expressed without adornment, everything is according to rule and easy, but without momentum or color. Strange compounds, great, swelling words, start up in our path: a Pauline thought appears in a strange dress: the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

Some of these unusual compounds, for which the writer has a great liking, occur neither in the N.T. nor in profane Greek, High-sounding words are chosen where simpler terms would have suited the thought better. It seems, occasionally, as if the diction were being employed to pad the meagerness of the thought. A class of words which occur principally in the Pauline letters is wanting, as ἄδικος, ἀκαθαρσία, ἀκροβυστία, γνωρίζειν, διαθήκη, περιπατεῖν, χρηστός and σῶμα which, in the four principal Epistles alone, Paul uses 71 times. We miss entire families of Pauline words, as ἐλεύθερος, φρονεῖν, πράσσειν, τέλειος, ἐνεργεῖν, περισσός , and the numerous derivatives and compounds growing out of these.

Again, we look in vain for certain expressions most characteristic of the Pauline vocabulary, as ὑπακούειν, ἀποκαλύπτειν, καυχᾶσθαι , and their kindred words. Still more significant is the fact that the article, which is freely used by Paul before entire sentences, adverbs, interjections, numerals, and especially before the infinitive, is never so employed in the Pastorals. Τοῦ with the infinitive disappears. The prepositions, the conjunctions, and especially the particles are quite differently handled. The lively γὰρ appears oftener in the Epistle to the Galatians than in all the three Pastorals. The movement of the Pauline thought indicated by ἄρα and ἄρα οὖν is lacking. Ἁντὶ, ἄχρι, διὸ, διότι, ἔμπροσθεν, ἕνεκεν, ἔπειτα, ἔτι, ἴδε, ἰδού, μήπως, ὅπως, οὐκέτι, οὔπω, οὔτε, πάλιν, παρὰ with the accusative, ἐν παντί, πότε, ποῦ, σύν, ὥσπερ - none of these appear. There is no trace of Paul's habit of applying different prepositions to the same object in one sentence, for the purpose of sharper definition. See Gal 1:1; Rom 1:17.

Similar ideas are differently expressed by Paul and in the Pastorals. Comp. 1Ti 1:3 and 2Co 11:4; Gal 1:6 : 1Ti 1:9 and Gal 5:18, Gal 5:23; Rom 6:14 : 1Ti 1:12 and 1Co 12:28. For Paul's ἐπιθυμεῖν or ἐπιποθεῖν the Pastorals give ὀρέγεσθαι . For Paul's ἄμωμος , ἄμεμπτος , ἀνέγκλητος , the Pastorals give ἀνεπίλημπτος (not elsewhere in N.T.). For ἐπιπλήσσω (not elsewhere in N.T.) Paul has ἐλέγχω though ἐλέγχω occurs several times in the Pastorals. For ἀμοιβή (not elsewhere in N.T.) Paul has ἀντιμισθία or ἀνταπόδοσις . Paul uses ὄντως only adverbially (see 1Co 14:25; Gal 3:21): in the Pastorals it is prefixed to a substantive, and converted into an adjective by means of an article, and is used only in this way, a construction unknown to Paul (see 1Ti 5:3, 1Ti 5:5,1Ti 5:16; 1Ti 6:19).

To these should be added expressions in all the three Epistles which indicate a peculiar mode of thought and of literary expression on the part of the writer. Such are εὐσεβῶς to live godly ; διώκειν δικαιοσύνην to pursue righteousness ; φυλάσσειν τὴν παραθήκην to guard the deposit ; παρακολουθεῖν to follow the teaching ; τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἀγωνίζεσθαι to fight the good fight . Also designations like ἄνθρωποι κατεφθαρμένοι corrupt men ; ἄνθρωπος θεοῦ man of God ; constructions like διαβεβαιοῦσθαι περὶ τινος to affirm concerning something ; and the introduction of examples by ὧν ἐστίν of whom are .

Many more might be added to these, but these are amply sufficient to show the wide gulf which separates the vocabulary and style of these letters from those of Paul.

By way of explaining away these facts we are reminded that these are private letters; but even in his private letters a man does not so entirely abjure his literary peculiarities, and the letter to Philemon exhibits no lack of distinctive Pauline characteristics. It is further urged that Paul's style had developed, and that, in his advanced age, he had lost the vivacity once peculiar to him. One is tempted to smile at the suggestion of a development of style in the easy commonplaces of these Epistles over the nervous vigor of Romans, the racy incisiveness of Galatians and 2nd Corinthians, and the majestic richness of Ephesians. As to a decline on account of age, Paul, on this showing, must have aged very rapidly. He styles himself " the aged" in Phm 1:9. Colossians was written at the same time with Philemon, and Philippians and Ephesians shortly before or after. The Pastorals (assuming Paul's authorship) cannot have been written more than three or four years later than these; but the Epistles of the Captivity certainly betray no lack of vigor, and exhibit no signs of senility; and the differences between these and the Pastorals are far greater than between the former and Paul's earliest letters, written ten years before. The production of an old man may indeed exhibit a lack of energy or a carelessness of style, but an old writer does not abandon his favorite words or his characteristic turns of expression. After following Paul for a dozen years through ten Epistles, all marked by the essential features of his style, one finds it hard to believe that he should suddenly become a writer of an entirely different type, ignoring his own characteristic and favorite modes of expression. Surely the themes treated in the Pastorals would have furnished abundant occasion for υἱὸς, θεοῦ, ἀπολύτρωσις, υἱοθεσία, δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ , and δικαιόω , which occurs only twice, and in one of these instances is applied to Christ.

VI. As to the character of the teaching, it is possible that the divergence of the teaching and of the Christian ideal of the Pastorals from those of the Pauline Epistles may have been somewhat exaggerated. On a fair construction, the Pastorals may be said to contain the essentials of the Pauline teaching, expressed or implied. More exaggerated, however, is the claim of Godet and Findlay, that the Pastorals represent an advanced and rounded expression of Pauline teaching, " bringing the doctrines of grace to a rounded fullness and chastened ripeness of expression that warrants us in seeing in them the authentic conclusion of the Pauline gospel of salvation in the mind which first conceived it" (Findlay).

No special pleading can get round the clear difference between the types of Christianity and of Christian teaching as set forth in the Pastorals and in the Pauline Epistles; between the modes of presenting the doctrine of salvation and the relative emphasis on its great factors.

The death and resurrection of Christ are matters of allusion rather than central truths. As regards resurrection, the Pastorals resemble the Epistle to the Hebrews. The vital union of the believer with Christ, which is the essence of Paul's Christian ideal, may possibly be implied, but is not emphasized, and certainly does not underlie the Pastoral teaching. The conception of Justification is not sharply defined. Δικαιοῦν occurs but twice, and in one of the cases is predicated of Christ (1Ti 3:16). The teaching is predominantly ethical. Its two key-notes are practical piety and sound doctrine. Ἑυσέβεια piety or godliness plays the part which is born by πίστις faith in the Paulines. Πίστις does not occupy the commanding and central position which it does in Paul's teaching. Only in 1Ti 1:16; 2Ti 3:15, does faith clearly appear as the means of the subjective appropriation of salvation. In Tit 3:5, just where we should expect it, we do not find faith set sharply over against righteousness by works. Faith is emphasized as confiding acknowledgment of the truth, and sometimes as the virtue of fidelity. See 1Ti 5:12; Tit 2:10. It appears either as one of the cardinal virtues following in the train of εὐσέβεια , or as the acknowledgment of the teaching in which εὐσέβεια finds expression.

These Epistles deal much with the character and attributes of God, and exhibit them in terms which are mostly foreign to Paul, such as God our Savior . This, however, may have been partly due to the false representations of contemporary heresies. I cannot but feel that there is too much truth in the remark of Schenkel, that " the image of Christ presented in the Pastorals is indeed composed of Pauline formulas, but is lacking in the Pauline spirit and feeling, in the mystic inwardness, the religious depth and moral force, that live in the Christ of Paul." Still, the Pauline conception appears in the emphasis upon the manhood of Christ (1Ti 2:5; 2Ti 2:8), and the clear implication of his preexistence (1Ti 1:15; 1Ti 3:16; 2Ti 1:10). In 1Ti 3:16 the representation is nearer to that of John.

VII. The Writer's Allusions to Himself and His Companions. - Grave suspicions as to the Pauline authorship are awakened by the writer's mode of speaking of himself, and to intimate and trusted companions and disciples like Timothy and Titus. We know how near these two were to him, and how he confided in them (see Phi 2:19-22). It is strange that in writing to them he should find it necessary to announce himself formally as an apostle of Jesus Christ (Comp. Philemon, δέσμιος prisoner ), just as to the Galatians, who had impugned his apostolic authority, or to the Romans, to whom he was personally a stranger. Such an announcement is singularly out of place in a private letter, even though official. Equally strange is his assuring such friends that he is appointed of God to be a herald of the gospel; that he speaks the truth and does not lie; that he has served God from his fathers with a pure conscience. One might doubt his entire confidence in these trusted ministerial helpers and personal friends, when he feels it incumbent upon him to commend to them the most elementary and self-evident duties, as abstinence from youthful lusts. It is singular that he should exhort Timothy to let no man despise his youth, when Timothy had attended him for at least thirteen years, and must have been a mature man. And if Paul, before writing 1st Timothy and Titus, had recently been with them both (1Ti 1:3; Tit 1:5), and had given them their commissions by word of mouth, why does he do the same thing so soon after, especially when he is looking forward to a speedy reunion (1Ti 3:14; Tit 3:12)? Why does he picture the Cretans in such detail to Titus, who was in the midst of them, and who must have known their characteristics quite as well as himself?

VIII. The Heresies. - Before it can be decisively asserted that the heresies treated in these Epistles are later than Paul's time, it must be settled what these heresies were, and this, with our present knowledge, is impossible. There are almost as many different views as there are critics. In the Epistles themselves the statements regarding heresies are general and sweeping, and, taken together, do not point to any particular system. It would seem that the writer was assailing, not a particular form of heresy, but a tendency, of which he does not discuss the details. Indeed, the allusions to heresies appear intended principally to point the exhortations to hold fast sound teaching and the instructions concerning church polity, as safeguards against false teaching and immoral practice. The moral developments of the heresies, rather than their doctrinal errors, are treated. Their representatives are wicked men and impostors: they are deceiving and deceived: they are of corrupt mind, destitute of truth, with their consciences seared: they lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts: they are greedy of gain. At the root of the moral errors there seem to be indicated Gnostic tendencies and Jewish corruptions, and traits akin to those which appear in the Colossian heresy. All of the writer's theology is anti-Gnostic. Individual features of Gnosticism can be recognized, but a consistent reference throughout to Gnosticism cannot be shown. In any case, it is noticeable how the treatment of heresies and false teachers differs from that of Paul. The treatment in the Pastorals is general, sweeping, vague, and mainly denunciatory. No vital differences between the forms of error and between their teachers are defined, but all are indiscriminately denounced as concerned with foolish and ignorant questioning, disputes about words, strifes about the law, fables, endless genealogies, and profane babblings. This is quite unlike the controversial method of Paul, who defines what he assails, demonstrates its unsoundness, and shows the bearing of the gospel upon it.

IX. Church Polity. - The church polity of the Pastorals is of a later date than Paul. Within the circle of the Pauline Epistles there is no trace of formally constituted church officers. The greeting to Bishops and Deacons in Philippians is unique, but it does not imply a polity differing substantially from that exhibited in 1st Corinthians and 1st Thessalonians. The greeting is to the church first, and the special mention of Bishops and Deacons by way of appendage is explained by the fact that the letter was cancel out by the pecuniary contribution of the Philippian church to Paul, of the collection and sending of which these functionaries would naturally have charge. The names Bishop and Deacon designate functions and not official titles. In the formal list, in Eph 4:11, of those whom God has set in the church, neither Bishops, Elders, nor Deacons occur; and yet that Epistle was written within a short time of the writing of the Philippian letter. The offices in the Pauline church were charismatic. The warrant of leadership was a divine, spiritual endowment. Paul recognizes certain functions as of divine institution; and those functions are assumed in virtue of a special, divine gift in prophecy, speaking with tongues, teaching, healing, or helping, as the case may be (see 1 Corinthians 12). There is no recognition of official distinctions, or of formal appointment to definite offices, in the Pauline Epistles. Apostles, prophets, teachers, powers, helps, healings, kinds of tongues, do not represent offices resting on the appointment of the church. The Pastorals recognize Bishops, Deacons, and Presbyters. The recognition of three distinct orders is not as sharp and clear as in the Ignatian Epistles (100-118 a.d.), but the polity is in advance of that of the Pauline churches as set forth in the Epistles of Paul. The Pastorals seem to mark a transition point between the earlier republican simplicity and the later monarchical tendency. If these letters are the work of Paul before his first imprisonment, their notes of church polity do not consist with those of his other letters written during that period. If they were composed by Paul a few years after his first imprisonment, the period is too early for the change in polity which they indicate.

In view of all these facts, it seems unlikely that these Epistles are the work of Paul. The writer was probably a Pauline Christian in the early part of the second century, who, in view of the doctrinal errors and moral looseness of his age, desired to emphasize the orthodox doctrine of the church, to advocate a definite ecclesiastical polity as a permanent safeguard against error, and to enforce practical rules of conduct. These counsels and warnings he issued in the name of Paul, whose letters he evidently knew, whose character he revered, and whose language he tried to imitate. To this he was, perhaps, moved by the fact that contemporary heretics, in some cases, laid claim to the authority of Paul, and in other cases openly repudiated it. It is probable that he based these letters upon genuine Pauline material - despatches, or fragments of letters to Timothy and Titus, which had fallen into his hands. It may be conceded that the letters have a Pauline nucleus. The writer probably assumed that the addresses of his letters to Timothy and Titus would attract attention and carry weight, since these teachers were representatives of churches.

To stigmatize such a proceeding as forgery is to treat the conditions of that early time from the point of view of our own age. No literary fraud was contemplated by the writer or ascribed to him. The practice of issuing a work in the name of some distinguished person was common, and was recognized as legitimate. A whole class of writings, chiefly apocalyptical and known as pseudepigraphic or pseudonymous, appeared in the times immediately preceding and succeeding the beginning of the Christian era. Such were the Book of Enoch, the Sibylline Oracles, and the Psalter of Solomon. Precedent was furnished by the Old Testament writings. The Psalmists adopted the names of David, Asaph, and the Sons of Korah. Neither Samuel nor Ruth nor Esther were supposed to be the authors of the books which bore their names. Koheleth, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, impersonates Solomon, and the Proverbs and the Canticles both bear his name.

The church of the second century thankfully accepted these three Epistles, and, inferior though they were in spiritual power and richness of idea to the genuine Pauline letters or the Epistle to the Hebrews, incorporated them with these among the New Testament writings. They are valuable in exhibiting to us certain features of post-Pauline Christianity. They testify to the energy and purity of the church's moral impulses as nourished by the religious principles of Christendom. They show us the causes out of which grew the increased emphasis upon authority and external regimen. By their strong attestation of the value of the inheritance from the apostolic age, by their high ethical character, based on religion and exhibiting the moral consequences of the Christian faith, by their emphasis upon the practical rather than the doctrinal edification of the church, upon the significance of the church, and upon the representation of Christianity by Christian personality - they justify their canonization.

Lists of Words Found Only in the Pastoral Epistles, and in the Pastoral Epistles and Not in Paul's Writings.

Pastorals Only

ἀγαθοεργέω

ἀγνεία

ἀγωγή

ἀδηλότης

ἀθλέω

αἰδώς

αἱρετικός

αἰσχροκερδής

ἀκαίρως

ἀκατάγνωστος

ἀκρατής

ἄλλως

ἄμαχος

ἀμοιβή

ἀναζωπυρέω

ἀνάλυσις

ἀνανήφω

ἀναψύχω

ἀνδραποδιστής

ἀνδροφόνος

ἀνεξίκακος

ἀνεπαίσχυντος

ἀνεπίλημπτος

ἀνήμερος

ἀνόσιος

ἀντιδιατίθεμαι

ἀντίθεσις

ἀντίθεσις

ἀντίλυτρον

ἀπαίδευτος

ἀπέραντος

ἀπόβλητος

ἀπόδεκτος

ἀποδοχή

ἀποθησαυρίζω

ἀποτρέπομαι

ἀπρόσιτος

ἄρτιος

ἄσπονδος

ἀστοχέω

αὐθοντέω

αὐτοκατάκριτος

ἀφθορία

ἀφιλάγαθος

ἀψευδής

βαθμός

βδελυκτός

βέλτιον

βλαβερός

γάγγραινα

γενεαλογία

γόης

γραώδης

γυμνασία

γυναικάριον

δειλία

διαβεβαιόομαι

διάβολος, as adj.

διάγω

διαπαρατριβή

διατροφή

διδακτικός

δίλογος

διώκτης

ἐγκρατής

ἑδραίωμα

ἔκγονος

ἔκδηλος

ἐκζήτησις

ἐκστρέφομαι

ἔλαττον, as adv.

ἐλεγμός

ἐνδύνω

ἔντευξις

ἐντρέφομαι

ἐπαγγέλλομαι in sense of professing

ἐπανόρθωσις

ἐπαρκέω

ἐπιδιορθόω

ἐπίορκος

ἐπιπλήσσω

ἐπιστομίζω

ἐπισωρεύω

ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω

εὐμετάδοτος

εὐσεβῶς

ἤρεμος

θεόπνευστος

θεοσέβεια

ἱεροπρεπής

Ἱουδαΐκός

καλοδιδάσκαλος

καταλέγομαι

κατάστημα

καταστολή

καταστρηνιάω

καταφθείρω

καυστηριάζομαι

κενοφωνία

κνήθω

κοινωνικός

κόσμιος

κοσμίως (alt. for κοσμίῳ )

λογομαχέω

λογομαχία

μάμμη

ματαιολογία

μααταιολόγος

μεμβράνα

μετάλημψις

μηδέποτε

μητρολῴης

μονόομαι

νεόφυτος

νεωτερικός

νηφάλιος

νομίμως

νοσέω

ξενοδοχέω

οἰκοδεσποτέω

οἰκουργός

ὁμολογουμένως

ὀργίλος

ὀρθοτομέν

παραθήκη

πάροινος

πατρολῴης

περιούσιος (citn.)

περιπείρω

περιφρονέω

πιστόομαι

πλέγμα

πλήκτης

πορισμός

πραγματία

πραΰπαθία

πρεσβῦτις

πρόγονος

πρόκριμα

πρόσκλισις

ῥητῶς

σεμνότης

σκέπασμα

στόμαχος

στρατολογέω

στυγητός

συνκακοπαθέω

σωτήριος

σωφρονίζ

σωφρονισμός

σωφρόνως

σώφρων

τεκνογονέω

τεκνογονία

τεκνοτροφέω

τυφόομαι ὑγιαίνω , (metaphorical use of the participle as attributive)

ὑδροποτέω

ὐπερπλεονάζω

ὑπόνοια

ὑποτύπωσις

ὑψηλοφρονέω

φελόνης

φιλάγαθος

φίλανδρος

φιλαργυρία

φίλαυτος

φιλήδονος

φιλόθεος

φιλότεκνος

φλύαρος

φρεναπάτης

φροντίζω

χαλκεύς

χρήσιμος

ψευδολόγος

ψευδώνυμος

ὠφέλιμος

Pastorals and Not in Paul

αἰτία

ἀμελέω

ἀνατρέπω

ἄνοια

ἀντιλαμβάνομαι

ἀνυπότακτος

ἀνωφελής

ἀπόλαυσις

ἀποπλανάω

ἀργός

ἀργύρεος

ἀρνέομαι

ἄσπιλος

αὐθάδης

ἀφιλάργυρος

ἀχάριστος

βέβηλος

βίος

βλάσφημος

βραδύνω

βρέφος

βυθίζω

γεωργός

γυμνάζω

δεσπότης

διπλόος

δρόμος

δυνάστης

εἰσφέρω

ἐκτρέπομαι

ἐκφέρω

ἐμπίπτω

ἐμπλέκω

ἐξαρτίζω

ἑξήκοντα

ἐπακολουθέω

ἐπίθεσις

ἐπιλαμβάνομαι

ἐπιμελέομαι

ἐπισκοπή

ἐπίσταμαι

ἐπιτίθημι

ἐπιτιμάω

ἐπιφαίνω

εὐεργεσία

εὐκαίρως

εὐσέβεια

εὐσεβέω

ζήτησις

ζωγρέω

ζωογονέω

ἡδονή

ἡσύχιος

θηρίον

θνήσκω

ἱματισμος

κακοπαθέω

κακοῦργος

καταστροφή

κατηγορία

κῆρυξ

κοσμέω

κοσμικός

κριτής

κτιτής

κτίσμα

λαός (in Paul always in citn.)

λείπω

λέων

λίαν

λοιδορία

λυτρόομαι

μαργαρίτης

μαρτυρία

μάχομαι

μελετάω

μέντοι

μεταλαμβάνω

μήποτε

μιαίνω

μῦθος

νέστης

νίπτω

νομή

νομικός

νομοδιδάσκαλος

νοσφίζομαι

ξύλινος

ὀρέγομαι

ὅσιος

παλινγενεσία

παραδέχομαι

παραιτέομαι

παρακολουθέω

πειθαρχέω

περίεργος

περιέρχομαι

περιίστημι

περιποιέομαι

ποικίλος

πολυτελής

πρεσβυτέριον

πρεσβύτερος

προάγω

πρόδηλος

προδότης

προπετής

προσέρχομαι

προσέχω

προσμένω

πυκνός

σοφίζω

σπαταλάω

στερεός

στεφιανόω

στρατιώτης

σωματικός

σωφροσύνη

τάχειον

ὑβρίζω

ὑγιαίνω

ὐγιής

ὑπομιμνήσκω

ὑπόμνησις

ὕστερος

φιλανθρωπία

φιλάργυρος

φιλόξενος

χαλεπός

χειμών

χείρων

χρυσός

A List of Phrases Which Occur Only in the Pastoral Epistles

Χριστὸς Ιησοῦς ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν, 1Ti 1:1

πέκνον ἐν πίστει, 1Ti 1:2

νόμος κεῖται, 1Ti 1:9

ἡ ὐγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία, 1Ti 1:10

τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης τοῦ μακαρίου θεοῦ 1Ti 1:11

ὁ μακάριος θεὸς 1Ti 1:11

πιστὸς ὁ λόγος, 1Ti 1:15

πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος, 1Ti 1:15

πίστις καὶ ἀγαθή συνείδησις, 1Ti 1:19

πρῶτον πάντων 1Ti 2:1

οἱ ἐν ὑπεροχῇ, 1Ti 2:1

εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, 1Ti 2:4

καιροῖς ἰδίοις, 1Ti 2:6

διδάσκαλος ἐθνῶν (of Paul), 1Ti 2:7

ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ 1Ti 2:7

ἐπαίροντες ὁσίους χεῖρας, 1Ti 2:8

χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμῶν, 1Ti 2:8

ἔχων ἐν ὑποταγῇ, 1Ti 3:4

ἐμπιπτεῖν εἰς κρίμα, 1Ti 3:6

τὸ μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως, 1Ti 3:9

οἶκος θεοῦ (of the church), 1Ti 3:15

στύλος καὶ ἐδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας, 1Ti 3:15

ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι (of Christ), 1Ti 3:16

ἐν ὑοτέροις καιροῖς , 1Ti 4:1

ἀφίστασθαι τῆς πίστεως, 1Ti 4:1

ἐπαγγελίαν ἔχειν, 1Ti 4:8

νῦν (with an article and adjectively, as ὁ νῦν αἰών; ζωῆς τῆς νῦν ), 1Ti 5:3

ὄντως (with an article and adjectively, as τὰς ὄντως χήρας ), 1Ti 5:3

ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδιδόναι, 1Ti 5:4

ἔχειν κρίμα, 1Ti 5:12

ἐκλεκτοὶ ἄγγελοι, 1Ti 5:21

χωρὶς προκρίματος, 1Ti 5:21

προέρχεσθαι ὑγιαίνουσι λόγοις, 1Ti 6:3

ἡ κατ ' εὐσέβειαν διδασκαλία, 1Ti 6:3

ἄνθρωπος θεοῦ, 1Ti 6:11

ἀγωνίζεσθαι τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα, 1Ti 6:12

ὁμολγεῖν τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν, 1Ti 6:12

μαρτυρεῖν τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν, 1Ti 6:13

δυνάστης (of God), 1Ti 6:15

οἱ κυριεύοντες for κύριοι, 1Ti 6:15

ἔχειν ἀθανασίαν, 1Ti 6:16

ἀποστόλος κατὰ - , 1Ti 1:1; 2Ti 1:1; Tit 1:1

ἐπαγγελία ζωῆς, 2Ti 1:1

ἀπὸ προγόνων, 2Ti 1:3

ἐν καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει, 1Ti 3:9; 2Ti 1:3

πίστις ἐνῴκησεν, 2Ti 1:5

κλῆσις ἁγία, 2Ti 1:9

πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων, 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2

σωτηρία ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἱησοῦ, 2Ti 2:10

νομὴν ἔχειν, 2Ti 2:17

θεμέλιος τοῦ θεοῦ, 2Ti 2:19

ἡ τοῦ διαβόλου παγίς, 2Ti 2:26

τοῦτο γίνωσκε, 2Ti 3:1

διώκειν (in sense of persecute), 2Ti 3:13

ἱερὰ γράμματα, 2Ti 3:15

ἑααυτοῖς ἐπισωρεύειν διδασκάλους, 2Ti 4:3

κνηθόμενοι τὴν ἀκοήν, 2Ti 4:3

ὁ τῆς δικαιοσυ.νης στέφανος, 2Ti 4:8

τοῖς ἠγαπηκόσι τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ, 2Ti 4:8

παραγίνομαι (in the sense of standing by as a friend), 2Ti 4:16

κατὰ κοινὴνπίστιν, Tit 1:4

σεαυτὸν παρέχεσθαι, Tit 2:7

ὁ ἐξ ἐναντίας, Tit 2:8

πᾶσαν πίστιν ἐνδείκνυσθαι ἀγαθήν, Tit 2:10

τὴν διδασκαλίαν κοσμεῖν, Tit 2:10

ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ σωτήριος, Tit 2:11

κοσμικαὶ ἐπιθυμίαι, Tit 2:12

ἡ μακαρία ἐλπίς, Tit 2:13

ὁ μέγας θεὸς, Tit 2:13

μάχαι νομικαί, Tit 3:9

οἱ φιλοῦντες ἡμᾶς ἐνπίστει, Tit 3:15

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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_____. S.v. "prophetes, prophelikos, propheteuo . . .," by Helmut Kramer, Rolf Rendtorff, Rudolf Meyer, and Gerhard Friedrich. 6 (1968):781-861.

Thiessen, Henry Clarence. Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962.

Towner, Philip H. 1-2 Timothy & Titus. The IVP New Testament Commentary series. Downers Grove, Il., and Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 1994.

_____. The Goal of Our Instruction. Sheffield: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1989.

Trench, Richard Chenevix. Synonyms of the New Testament. Reprint ed., London: James Clarke & Co., 1961.

Ukleja, P. Michael. "Homosexuality in the New Testament." Bibliotheca Sacra 140:560 (October-December 1983):350-58.

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.

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

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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