1 Timothy
Author: Paul
Paul writes to Timothy in Ephesus, charging him to resist other teaching and to order the church’s prayer, leadership, and care.
Outline
The charge (1)
Timothy is to stay in Ephesus so that other doctrine and endless genealogies do not displace a faithful saying.
Prayer, overseers, and deacons (2–3)
Public prayer, modest conduct, and the qualifications of overseers and deacons are set down for the household of God.
The later charge (4–6)
Timothy is to refuse fables, honor widows and elders rightly, and fight the good fight of faith.
Key verses
1 Timothy 1:15
A faithful saying: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul calls himself chief.
1 Timothy 3:15
The church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth.
1 Timothy 6:12
Timothy is told to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life.
First Timothy is a letter from an apostle to a younger coworker who has been left in a hard post. Paul had urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus when he himself went into Macedonia. The reason is specific. 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. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Some have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law and understanding neither what they say nor what they affirm. The law is good if it is used lawfully, against the lawless. The gospel Paul was entrusted with is different in its announcement. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He obtained mercy that in him first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter believe. Timothy is to war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away have made shipwreck. Hymenaeus and Alexander are named.
Prayer is the first practice of the ordered church. Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks are to be made for all men, for kings and for all in authority, that believers may lead a quiet and peaceable life in godliness and honesty. God will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. Paul then gives instructions for men and women in the assembly, including learning in quietness, and he grounds the instruction in the creation and the fall and in the promise attached to faith, charity, holiness, and sobriety. The qualifications of a bishop follow. He must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, patient, not a brawler, not covetous, ruling his own house well. He must not be a novice. He must have a good report from those outside. Deacons likewise must be grave, not doubletongued, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. They are to be proved first. Women who serve are to be grave and faithful. Those who have used the office well purchase a good degree. Paul writes so that if he tarries, Timothy may know how to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The mystery of godliness is then confessed in a few lines: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
The later chapters prepare Timothy for teaching he must refuse. In the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving. Every creature of God is good if it is received with thanksgiving and sanctified by the word and prayer. Timothy is to be a good minister, nourished up in the words of faith. Exercise unto godliness. Let no one despise his youth. Be an example in word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith, and purity. Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift given with the laying on of hands. Elders who rule well are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except before two or three witnesses. Honor widows who are widows indeed, and let families care for their own. The love of money is the root of all evil. Timothy is to flee these things and follow after righteousness. Fight the good fight of faith. Charge the rich not to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, and to be rich in good works. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called. First Timothy is a manual for a minister left in a church where novelty and money both threaten the gospel he was told to guard.