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.10However, "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
