1 Timothy 1
v.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
Paul told Timothy to remain in Ephesus because it seemed that Timothy wanted to give up and run away. Most everyone in ministry deals with this at some time; for a few it is a constant affliction. There was probably both external pressure and internal pressure for him to leave.
He might have been intimidated by following Paul’s ministry.
- He seems to have been somewhat timid or reserved by nature and was perhaps intimidated by the challenge.
- He might have been discouraged by the normal difficulties of ministry.
- He might have questioned his own calling.
- He might have been frustrated by the distracting and competing doctrines swirling around the Christians in Ephesus.
Despite all these reasons, there is no doubt that God – and the Apostle Paul – wanted Timothy to stay in Ephesus, and in the rest of the chaper, Paul gave Timothy at least six reasons why he should stay there and finish the ministry God gave him to do.
- Because they need the truth (1 Timothy v.3-7).
- Because you minister in a hard place (1 Timothy v.8-11).
- Because God uses unworthy people (1 Timothy v.12-16).
- Because you serve a great God (1 Timothy v.17).
- Because you are in a battle and cannot surrender (1 Timothy v.18).
- Because not everyone else does (1 Timothy v.19-20).
v.4
nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith.
*Philo, *Josephus and other Jews argued that their Scriptures contained no myths; but extrabiblical elaborations of biblical accounts were common, and Paul probably has them in view here (cf. Tit 1:14). “Genealogies” might refer to expansions of biblical genealogies, as in some Jewish works from this period, or perhaps false postbiblical attributions of ancestry. The phrase “myths and genealogies” had been used pejoratively from Plato on.
v.5
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
The highest goal of true religion is the unselfish love of full loyalty to God and boundless goodwill to our fellow human beings. This must be our ultimate goal in life.
v.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.
That is, to have the credit and reputation of being well versed in the law of Moses, and qualified to explain it to others. This was a high honor among the Jews, and these teachers laid claim to the same distinction. They do not understand the true nature and design of that law which they attempt to explain to others.
v.9
We also know that the law 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,
The meaning seems to be, that the purpose of the law was not to fetter and perplex those who were righteous, and who aimed to do their duty and to please God. It was not intended to produce a spirit of servitude and bondage. As the Jews interpreted it, it did this, and this interpretation appears to have been adopted by the teachers at Ephesus, to whom Paul refers. The whole tendency of their teaching was to bring the soul into a state of bondage, and to make religion a condition, of servitude. Paul teaches, on the other hand, that religion was a condition of freedom, and that the main purpose of the law was not to fetter the minds of the righteous by numberless observances and minute regulations, but that it was to restrain the wicked from sin. This is the case with all law. No good man feels himself lettered and manacled by wholesome laws, nor does he feel that the purpose of law is to reduce him to a state of servitude. It is only the wicked who have this feeling - and in this sense the law is made for a man who intends to do wrong.
v.12-14
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 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.
Paul’s past did not disqualify him from serving God. God’s mercy and grace were enough to cover his past and enable him to serve God. **We should never feel that our past makes us unable to be used by God. **
With these words, Paul gave Timothy another reason to remain in Ephesus. It is likely that one reason Timothy wanted to leave Ephesus and his ministry there because he felt unworthy or incapable of the work. These words from Paul assured Timothy, “If there is anyone unworthy of disqualified, it should be me. Yet God found a way to use me, and He will use you also as you remain in Ephesus.”🔥
He was sincere in believing that he was serving God through his violence against the Christian movement. When brought later before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, he testified, “I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day” (Ac 23:1). This apparently included his pre-Christian life.
v.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.
Aren’t we all equally sinners? No; “All men are truly sinners, but all men are not equally sinners. They are all in the mire; but they have not all sunk to an equal depth in it”
The greatest psychological insight, ability, and experience cannot grasp this one thing: what sin is. Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of men, And so it also does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness. Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner.
v.16
Yet for this reason I was shown mercy so that in me, as the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might demonstrate all His patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon Him for eternal life.
“Christ’s longsuffering will never undergo a more severe test than it did in my case, so that no sinner need ever despair. Let us glorify God therefore.” This explains another reason why God loves to save sinners. They become a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him. God wants others to see what He can do by working in us.
v.19
holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
See winners&losers.
v.20
Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
The apostle had handed these two ringleaders “over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” (cf. 1 Co 5:5, where this phrase indicates excommunication from the church). The purpose was to jolt the offenders to repentance, induced by the fearful thought of being turned over to Satan’s control. Its purpose, therefore, is remedial, not punitive.
By handing these blasphemers over to *Satan, Paul is simply acknowledging the sphere they had already chosen to enter (5:15).