Paul thanked God for changing him to enable Timothy to appreciate the fact that God can transform even the worst of sinners and enable His saints to accomplish supernatural feats. What precipitated Paul's testimony here was the difficult situation Timothy faced in Ephesus made even harder by Timothy's personal tendency toward timidity. The evidence that Timothy tended to be timid, perhaps partly because of the strong opposition he faced, comes out more clearly later in this epistle.
"V. 11 with its assertion that the gospel was entrusted to Paul provides the setting for vv. 12-17. Paul demonstrates how this entrusting and his own reception of mercy and grace in Jesus Christ provides an illustration that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for any sinner, because it has been that to him, a terrible sinner."40
1:12-14 Did God save Paul because He foresaw that Paul would be faithful (v. 12)? No, but God entrusted him with the ministry he had received at least in part for that reason.
"Not skill or knowledge but faithfulness is the first qualification for a minister of Christ (I Cor. 4:2)."41
Paul had not opposed Jesus Christ and His church because he wanted to dishonor God. Paul believed he was serving God by persecuting Christians. He was mistaken about who Jesus Christ is. For this reason God had mercy on him.42The Greek word translated "violent aggressor"("violent man,"NIV; hubristes) means a proud, haughty man. Such a person heaps insulting language on others and or does some shameful act of wrong against them.
God poured out grace, trust, and love on Paul even though Paul had poured out blasphemy, persecution, and violence on God.
"Jesus recognized this principle when He prayed on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). Their ignorance did not save them, nor did Christ's prayer save them; but the combination of the two postponed God's judgment, giving them an opportunity to be saved."43
1:15 Seven times in the Pastorals Paul evidently alluded to statements that had become proverbial in the early church. They may have been parts of early Christian hymns or catechisms (manuals for the training of new Christians; cf. 2:5-6; 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:9-10; 2:8-13; Titus 2:11-14; 3:3-7).44They may be restatements of what Jesus said about Himself (cf. Matt. 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32; 19:10; John 12:46-47; 16:28; 18:37).45Paul probably alluded to one of these classic statements here, as seems likely from his use of the introductory, "It is a trustworthy statement."Here the great truth affirmed is that the purpose of Christ's incarnation was the salvation of sinners.
"The repeated formula is always attached to a maxim (relating either to doctrine or practice) on which full reliance can be placed."46
Was Paul really the worst sinner of all time (cf. 1 Cor. 15:9; Eph. 3:8)? Obviously many people have lived longer in a more depraved condition than Paul did. He became a Christian relatively early in his adult life. Perhaps the apostle meant that he was the "foremost"sinner in the sense that his sin of aggressively tearing down the work that God was building up was the worst kind of sin. It was much worse than simply ignoring God and going one's own way.
Note, too, that Paul still regarded himself as a sinner though a forgiven one: ". . . I amforemost."
"The fact is that it is always the characteristic of a true saint to feel himself a real sinner. The air in a room seems to be clear, but when it is penetrated by the sunlight it is seen to be full of dust and other impurities: and so as men draw nearer to God, and are penetrated by the light of God (1 John i. 5), they see more clearly their own infirmities, and begin to feel for sin something of the hatred which God feels for it."47
1:16 God was unusually merciful to Paul because He desired to make the apostle an example of how God can change the worst of sinners into the best of saints. His greatest enemy became His greatest servant. In the light of Paul's conversion no one should conclude that his or her sin is too great for God to forgive. God may be patient with anyone since He was patient with Paul.
1:17 Such grace prompted Paul to glorify God in this brief doxology. God is the King of the ages (sovereign), immortal (eternal), invisible (spiritual), and the only God (unique). To Him belong all honor and glory eternally. "Amen"means, "So be it."The Christians often uttered this word out loud in their meetings as did the Jews in their synagogues.
The reason Paul referred to his conversion in this section (1:12-17) was to encourage Timothy to be faithful in the ministry with which God had entrusted him (1:3-11). In his ministry at Ephesus Timothy would never encounter a more difficult case than Saul of Tarsus had been. The fact that God had completely transformed Paul shows that He can do the same to anyone. This gives hope to everyone who seeks to win people to Christ and to help them grow in Christ.
Paul next balanced his positive encouragement based on God's dealings with himself (vv. 12-17) with a negative warning based on God's dealings with two unfaithful ministers. He did this to challenge Timothy further to remain faithful to God as he discharged his duties. His thought returned to what he had written in verses 3-7.
1:18-19 The command to which Paul referred here is the one contained in verses 3 and 4. He now returned to the subject that he began there. Sometime in the past someone had given prophecies concerning Timothy's effectiveness as a servant of Christ (4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6; cf. Acts 13:2). We have no record of who gave them, when, or where, but Paul referred to them here to motivate Timothy to carry on. Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus (v. 3), but more importantly the Holy Spirit had placed him there.
"Here the believer is cast in the role of a soldier who is ordered out into battle. The weapons of this soldier, however, are not clever argumentation or inescapable logic, things that we might think best suited to debates with false teachers. On the contrary, Timothy is to avoid debates (2 Tim 2:23-25). Nor is the soldier's objective the destruction of his opponent. Appropriate strategy includes instructing, correcting erroneous views and urging repentance (see 2 Thess 3:14-15). The minister's weapons for this fight are the gospel and godly concern for the spiritual condition of the opponent. The goal is to protect the faith of those whom the false teachers seek to influence and, if possible, to win back those who have strayed (1:5). Only the gospel is sufficient for such work, as Paul has just taken great care to illustrate (1:11-16)."48
As Timothy fought the good fight, he should continue to trust God and maintain a good conscience. A conscience, like a computer, programmed with the will of God can be a great asset to the Christian soldier. However if one violates his or her conscience so programmed, that person ignores a warning signal. The results can be disastrous. The conscience is the umpire of the soul. One's conscience enables him or her to feel dishonor, shame, and guilt.
"In the conflict which we wage outwardly against the enemy, our chief concern is with the inner state and disposition of the heart."49
"One man said of his hypocritical pastor, He is such a good preacher, he should never get out of the pulpit; but he is such a poor Christian, he should never get into the pulpit!"50
1:20 Paul cited two examples of casualties of this type with which Timothy was apparently familiar: Hymenaeus (cf. 2 Tim. 2:17) and Alexander (cf. 2 Tim. 4:14). Paul had turned them over to God's discipline because of their determination to continue living in a manner contrary to the will of God. This discipline would come on them through the agency of Satan so that they would repent and stop blaspheming God by their lives.
Handing someone over to Satan may mean that Satan had permission to inflict some illness or disability on the evildoer (cf. Job 2:6).51It may also picture life outside the fellowship of the church as Satan's sphere (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5).52Thus to deliver these men to Satan would mean that Paul had removed them from the church's fellowship and placed them in Satan's realm where they would experience his malice (cf. Acts 5:1-11; 13:11).53These men appear to have been leaders, teachers, and even elders in the Ephesian church. It was very rare for Paul to name names when referring to serious sinners. That he did so here indicates that he wanted everyone to know to whom he was referring.
"It is certainly a disciplinaryor remedialand not a merely punitivepenalty . . ."54
"We should not misunderstand the nature of this process. It was not simply intended to cut out a cancer' in order to preserve the rest of the body, as some churches view it today. Neither is it a practice that the church today can afford to ignore, as if it were an aberration belonging to the Inquisition. Taken together, Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 and 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 reflect the development of a carefully measured process. Each step was designed to bring the erring individual to the point of admission and true change of mind and behavior. Even if the individual persisted in a stubborn refusal to change (like the two mentioned here), the final step of expulsion from the fellowship back into the hostile world was ultimately intended as a means (desperate and last-ditch though it be) of reclamation. To be handed over to Satan (compare 1 Cor 5:5) is to be exposed, without the protection God promises to his people, to the dangers of sin. For some it takes being cast off into the sea to realize the advantages on board ship [cf. Jonah]."55
Hymenaeus and Alexander appear to have been genuine believers in view of how Paul described them here and in his other references to them in 2 Timothy.56Perseverance in faith and good works is not inevitable for the Christian. The many New Testament warnings against turning away from the Lord and the truth should make that fact obvious. There are also examples of Old Testament believers who did not remain faithful to the Lord (e.g., Lot, the Israelites in the wilderness, Saul, Solomon, Uzziah, et al.).
The Greek word translated "blaspheme"(blasphemein) means to "by contemptuous speech intentionally come short of the reverence due to God or to sacred things."57
This first chapter deals with matters of vital importance to every Christian since we are all ministers of Jesus Christ. These matters are specially relevant to church leaders. In the communication of God's Word, our primary responsibility (2 Tim. 4:2), we should avoid speculation and seek to represent God's intention accurately (vv. 3-11). We can face our task optimistically since God has the power to transform even the worst of sinners into the greatest of saints (vv. 12-17). Nevertheless we should be careful not to go against the warnings of our consciences programmed with God's Word as we carry out our ministry.
