1 Timothy 4:3-5 -Everything God created is good

4:3

Now what are these “demonic doctrines” teaching? We might imagine that they are promoting the slaughter of babies, or gross sexual practices, but no. They are forbidding people from marrying and ordering them to abstain from certain foods! Is this really inspired by demons? Yes, for it is directly against God’s purposes, against the good for which He created them. Back in the Garden of Eden Satan said “did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” (Gen 3:1). Now God had said no such thing, He had only said you must not eat from the one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, apart from that they could eat from any tree (Gen 2:16,17). Satan often works by twisting what God says. Likewise, the Sabbath was a good rule, given for man’s benefit. The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law had completely lost the plot and turned it into an ordeal to be endured. This is how Satan works.

4:4,5

The truth is that all that God has created is good, and He created it to be enjoyed by those who believe. This does not mean that no one else can enjoy it, but knowing God will enhance our enjoyment of His good gifts. By the way, prosperity gospel teaching is rightly criticised, but if we go to the other extreme we are just as wrong, just as likely to be listening to “devils’ doctrines”. Good things were created for our enjoyment. Moreover, it is consecrated by the word of God! Marriage is consecrated by the Word of God. Jesus spoke in favour of marriage. These devil's doctrines can have a superficial appearance of piety, but they will always lead to trouble. Forbidding marriage will lead to more sexual sin, not less!

1 Timothy 4:1,2 -Things taught by demons

4:1

Note that Paul clearly believed that the Holy Spirit spoke. The revelation came from God, not from man. The Spirit warns that “in later times” some will abandon the faith and following deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons. When did the Spirit say this? Well we are not told explicitly, but Jesus taught similar things in the Olivet discourse (Matt 24), and Paul himself gave similar warnings elsewhere. The ESV has “devoting themselves to deceitful spirits”. This is scary, but true. Look at prominent Christian leaders who turn away from the faith. So often they are indeed devoting themselves to deceitful spirits. And the false teachings are inspired by demons. In the church today we are far too soft on false teaching, far too willing to tolerate nonsense.

4:2

So how do demonic teachings come? It is not (at least not usually) via satanic rituals or occult practices, they come in a much more mundane way. They come “through hypocritical liars”. Note that the Bible never says anything good about false teachers! Their consciences have been seared, ie they are immune or insensitive to the internal warnings we should experience when we encounter false teachings.

1 Timothy 3:14-16 - Taken up in glory

3:14-15

This gives us the reason for Paul writing this letter, and tells us something about the importance of the church. Paul may have been forced to leave Timothy in Ephesus at rather short notice, hence his writing to give these instructions, or maybe to confirm and expand on instructions given verbally. We should also note that Paul my well have felt compelled to write. He would obviously be concerned about the church at that time, God knew that the letters that Paul wrote would have both an immediate relevance, but would also be relevant for the church throughout history.

There is a way in which people “ought to conduct themselves” in God’s household. This is what the church is, and it matters how we live. The church is God’s house, not our house.

The phrase “pillar and foundation of the truth” has caused some problems as it could give a wrong importance to the church, making the church the source of truth. The church is not the source of truth, Christ is the source of the truth. But the church is very important, and it is God’s prime means of working in the world.

3:16

The “mystery” means the “revealed truth”. It is not a hidden mystery, but an open revelation to the world now. The inability to see is purely a result of spiritual blindness. This verse sums up much of the gospel. Jesus appeared in the flesh (see 1 John 4), He came as a man. The Spirit helped Jesus in His ministry, and now the Spirit bears witness to who Christ is and what He has done. “Seen by angels” could be demonic spirits receiving judgement, or “good” angels seeing Him in glory.

The gospel is preached to all the world, and is received by peoples from all nations. Jesus ascended to glory. The resurrection was not a resuscitation.  Jesus ascended to the glory He had before He came to earth.

1 Timothy 3:8-13 - Deacons

3:8-10

Being a deacon was a recognised office in the early church, with the emphasis more on serving, less on teaching. There is also evidence that women served as deacons. The qualities required are very similar to those required of an overseer or elder. There is no requirement to be able to teach, though doing that is not necessarily excluded. However, there is a requirement for them t hold to the “deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience”, ie they must understand and believe the gospel, and not just at a surface level. They were also to be tested, they had to prove their worthiness.

3:11-13

Verse 11 may refer to women, or to female deacons.  Whatever the case, they are not to be malicious talkers, eg not spreaders of unworthy gossip. They are to be temperate and trustworthy in everything.

The details of verse 12 are a little different from the requirements for an overseer, but in essence they are exactly the same. Managing our households is again seen as important. When we do serve well we gain a good reputation. It also increases our assurance in our faith. This does not mean that we somehow earn assurance. Rather, the more we put our faith into practice, the more we learn of the faithfulness of Christ, and the more we come to understand what the gospel is about. We increase our understanding by studying and by doing.

1 Timothy 3:6,7 - A good reputation

3:6

We have seen that some of the qualifications seem blindingly obvious, eg not prone to drunkenness or violence, and that the reason for this is that the gospel was reaching into a pagan, godless society. So people would come from all backgrounds. So a leader was not to be a recent convert. Dramatic things can sometimes happen at conversion, with amazing changes. Sometimes they don’t, but whatever the case, it takes time for Christian character to develop, and character is an essential qualification for leadership. If someone is given too much responsibility too soon there is always a danger that pride will take home. In Deuteronomy the Israelites were warned against pride before entering the Promised Land, not to think they were being blessed because of any inherent virtue in themselves. The same dangers apply to people becoming Christians.

3:7

“A good reputation with outsiders”. The world should recognise that someone is of good character. Otherwise a person can become an easy target for slander (or true accusations). Now we need to be careful here as well, and not treat this as a “law”. In today’s society anyone who speaks up for Biblical morals will very likely branded a homophobe, bigot or similar. Ie they will not have a good reputation with outsiders in this respect. That does most definitely not mean they are unsuitable for leadership, indeed too much of the church has leaders who want a good reputation with the world in the wrong way. What it means is that we are to live lives that are worthy of respect.

1 Timothy 3:3-5 - Not given to drunkenness

3:3

“Not given to drunkenness, not violent ...” These requirements might seem obvious to us, but we forget the background from which converts were coming from. People were being saved from a godless society, one without godly immoral foundations. In the West we have had godly foundations to our society for many centuries, but in recent times we have been rejecting and abandoning these foundations with ever increasing haste. So this teaches us three things. The first is that the good news of Jesus Christ can reach into such a society. The second is that when it does so things get messy. Thirdly, part of the gospel is teaching people to “obey all I have commanded” (Matt 28:19,20). The gospel produces a gentle spirit in a person. Also we should not be lovers of money.

By the way, while it is imperative that a leader meets these requirements, we should all aim for them as well.

3:4,5

A leader in the church has responsibility for looking after people, for helping to bring people up in the faith. So how well, or otherwise, we manage our own families is a key indicator of our suitability for leadership. If someone’s home life is chaotic, then it is is almost certainly a bad idea to put them in charge of a church! However, the man is to run his own family “in a manner worthy of full respect”. Someone may be utterly dictatorial, a tyrant in their own family, and so get some form of “obedience” from his children, but that is not the way it is to be in God’s family. Jesus warned us not to “lord it over them” (Matt 20:25). We exercise discipline, but there is no room for tyrants.

1 Timothy 3:1,2 - A noble task

3:1

We have another “trustworthy saying” here (see 1:15). “Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task”. There are some who question the “trustworthy saying” bit, thinking it to be a later addition. The reason for this is that the statement isn’t of great theological importance. However, these objections don’t really stand up. Leading in the church is a very demanding and difficult task, yet it is a very noble one, a very worthwhile one. So the saying is indeed of great importance, even of great theological importance. For Jesus said “I will build my church” (Matt 16:18) and the church is the primary means of God working in the world today. God has chosen to work through people, through His people. So to have a role in that work, difficult as it might be, is indeed a noble thing to do.

Some older versions translate overseer as bishop, but overseer in the Pastoral epistles is essentially interchangeable with elder.

3:2

We now get the qualifications for the role of overseer. Similar lists were found in Greek literature for civic roles. He is to be of good character, and above reproach. Ie he must not be someone who is easily accused.  Where NIV has “faithful to his wife”, the more literal translation (as ESV) is “husband of one wife”. The NIV here is an interpretation, not a translation. There is argument over whether this qualification means that the overseer must not have been divorced and remarried, or whether it means that he has only one wife and is faithful to her. The latter is possible, but the NIV has been a little naughty here. He must be temperate and not a drunkard, He must be self-controlled, respectable and hospitable, and able to teach. Most of these qualities might seem blindingly obvious to us, but remember that the gospel here was reaching into pagan societies, where morals were low. So does this mean that someone who has lived a pretty immoral life and gets converted can never lead in the church? No. But they must demonstrate the reality of their conversion, living a “respectable” life for a period of time. Teaching is an important quality.

1 Timothy 2:13-15 - Adam and Eve and childbirth

2:13,14

Paul then gives a theological reason for his instructions in the preceding verses. The appeal to the creation account could be taken as implying that the instructions are indeed meant to be universal. Adam was formed first, and Eve was the one who was originally deceived by Satan. By the way, this does not mean that Adam is any less guilty. He did not have to follow any of his wife’s instructions, but he chose to do so. Moreover, Paul talks about fallen mankind as being “in Adam”. So that is cut and dried then, women must not preach or have authority over a man. Well things aren’t quite so cut and dried. In 1 Cor 11:1-5, and elsewhere, women are allowed to prophecy. In Genesis 21:12 God tells Abraham to listen to his wife. Deborah was a prophet and leader of Israel (Judges 4). In 2 Kings 22:14-20 the prophetess Huldah instructed the king. Women told the disciples that Jesus was risen (Mark 16:7). In Paul’s instructions on head covering  (1 Cor 11:2-16) he refers to creation, yet hardly any churches consider this to be a lasting direct ordnance.

So where does that leave us? As I said in my longer discourse on the matter, one can use scripture to support either position. I think at least part of the problem is that take a legalistic approach to the matter, whether it be “women must not be elders or preach”, or “women must be allowed to preach”.  Maybe it is a bit like the Sabbath. There are far stronger grounds from the Old Testament for saying that Sabbath observance is necessary, than there is for women not being elders or being allowed to preach. Yet we see the Pharisees and teachers of the Law took a legalistic approach to the matter and were lambasted by Jesus for doing so. For they had totally lost the plot, had lost all sight of God’s intention. We can so easily do the same in the matter of men and women’s roles in the church. Men and women are equal but different, and we complement each other, and in right relationship bring out the best in each other. I don’t think this precludes women from preaching, nor in sharing in leadership, but if there is no male leadership, or very little of it, then we are in big trouble.

2:15

Ah, onto safer ground now. If only! Though at least there is much more agreement on this verse, but the agreement is generally that no one has a clue what Paul is on about! There are several weird and wonderful explanations of what Paul means. These include:

• Women will get safely through childbirth.
• Childbearing or looking after children save women in a spiritual sense.
• The childbearing refers to Mary giving birth to the Messiah.
• A woman will be saved even though she must bear children.

Perhaps the fourth is the most likely. Ie although the childbearing role of a woman clearly has an enormous impact on her life, if she continues in “faith, love and holiness” she will be saved. Not just “salvation saved” but also in the sense of being a “fulfilled woman of God”. Part of the problem of our society is that it wants to deny the importance and effect of bearing and bringing up children.

1 Timothy 2:11,12 - In quietness and full submission

2:11,12

For an in depth look at this see the link in yesterday’s post. What I write here will be much shorter. Let’s first look at the meaning. Society in those days was very much male dominated, much so than today’s Western societies. The gospel brought tremendous freedom and worth to women. Luke’s gospel, especially, brings out this side of things. It is possible that some women were abusing this liberty. The instruction was specifically aimed at women, but we should all learn in “quietness and full submission” to leadership. There are some grounds for translating “woman” in v11 and 12 as “wife”, though woman seems the best translation. When given freedom a human reaction can be to abuse that freedom. Women were not allowed to teach or have authority over men. Now the key issue here is this. Is Paul giving an instruction that applied just to the situation he was writing to, or is it meant to be an instruction for all churches in all ages? I said a little more about this matter yesterday and I think it is hard to make a decision on this. One could say the instruction is clear, and so it applies for all time. Or one could say that such an injunction does not fit with the tenor of the whole of Scripture, and so was just an instruction for its time.

I tend to favour the latter and am quite happy with women teaching. However, it is very wise to be aware of the differences between men and women. Men will tend to be more authoritative in their teaching (in some cases), than women, and for a church to function properly I believe it is essential for men to exercise Godly authority in a Christlike manner. However, men and women should work together. It is generally unwise for a man to counsel a woman alone, or a woman to counsel a man alone.

We should also note Paul’s respect for the cultural situation. The gospel does turn things upside down, but this does not mean we ignore the cultural realities of the situation we operate in.

1 Timothy 2:11-15 - Women, leadership and preaching

Women in Leadership and Preaching - some thoughts

We now come to five verses and a topic that causes much controversy and argument. We should perhaps bear in mind Paul’s instructions in v8 to be “without anger or disputing”! Anyway, before looking at the verses here I will set out something of my position and a few general thoughts, so you can know where to disagree with me!

Women in leadership is a very contentious issue, and one that raises its head in 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Therefore I will spend a little time on this issue, to let you know where I am coming from. First of all a little general background, and then personal background, then some thoughts. This section is not intended to give a complete exposition of the role women should have in the church, nor to look at the text in detail (we will do some of that when we get to that section), but to give some insight into my thinking. So you can decide where you think I am wrong, and maybe it might even stimulate your own thinking.

There are two main positions on women in leadership: egalitarianism and complementarianism. The former sees no problem with women in leadership and believes that a woman can occupy any leadership position. The latter sees men and women as equal but having different roles, and women should not have authority over men, and should not preach to men. This is putting the two positions quite starkly, and no doubt some will fall somewhere between the two (as indeed I do!).

My own background is that I was brought up in the Methodist church, which has has women ministers for a long time. For the past almost thirty years I have been part of a church that allows women to preach, and we have some women elders. There are some very good women preachers.

So what is my own position? Well I would describe myself as a “soft-complementarian”. What I mean by this will hopefully become apparent as we go on.

First of all some observations. The key Biblical issue seems to be whether Paul’s instructions are intended to be universal, applying to all churches at all times, or whether they are particular to a certain cultural context. A very thorough, balanced and sober assessment of the place of women in leadership and the Bible can be found at https://www.gci.org/church/women . It seems to me that this topic is one where we come to it and use our pre-suppositions to interpret the text. Ie if you are a complementarian you can find lots of support for saying that women should never lead or preach in church. Conversely, if you are an egalitarian then you can equally well make a Biblical case that such a position is perfectly reasonable. That is one of the reasons for giving my background, so if you want to write-off what I say as mere rationalisation of a pre-conceived ideas then you have the ammunition to do so! And I should warn you that the church that put together the previously cited web page does come down in favour of women elders. However, I believe there is much useful material in there, whatever your own view.

Now, let’s dispatch with two very bad arguments. One for each side, so we maintain balance! One bad argument is that there are some bad women leaders who do not believe the Bible. True, there are some truly awful women ministers in some churches who seem to have no regard whatsoever for the word of God. But there are many more truly awful male leaders who have no regard for the word of God! A second bar argument is “In Christ there is neither male nor female”. To quote this as an argument for women leaders or preachers is to take this way out of context.Paul is speaking about salvation, not leadership. In terms of leadership it proves nothing, and wasn’t meant to.

Right, let’s start to get a little more positive. Here are two absolute truths:

1. God created us in His image, male and female He created us. Men and women are God’s good creation, and are of equal worth, and we are equal heirs in Christ.
2. Men and women are different and we should rejoice in the differences.

In seeing how things can work out in a church I think it is helpful to look at the trinity. Jesus and the Father, along with the Holy Spirit, are co-equal. Yet Jesus lived His life on earth in complete obedience to the Father. At the same time Jesus exerted tremendous authority and initiative. Authority in the Kingdom is completely different from the way in which we so often see authority in the world. Jesus told His disciples that they must not lord it over one another, instead because we have authority we serve one another all the more, and Jesus demonstrated the day to day reality of this when He washed His disciples’ feet, and demonstrated this supremely by going to the cross. Jesus was under authority, and He exercised authority.

In Genesis we are told that man and woman were created to work together, to complement each other. Now one could interpret this as there being some clear lines where men do this and women do that, with no cross-over. In some cases this is true, childbearing being an obvious one (though not obvious to the BMA it would seem!). In other cases it might mean doing similar things differently. It would seem perfectly reasonable, and consistent with the tenor of Scripture for a husband and wife to lead a church together.

I personally have no problem with women preachers, nor with men and women serving together in leadership. Indeed, in a healthy church men and women should be working together. I see the one of the greatest problems in the church being men failing to take up their responsibilities properly, and we certainly do need more Biblical male leadership. Men and women are different, and are meant to be different. They are also equal. We can seek to capture that difference and equality legalistically, but when we do so we have a habit of capturing only one side of it, and that not very well. I favour a more organic approach. However, I believe that a church where there is dearth of men exercising godly leadership in a Christlike manner is in serious trouble. Conversely, when men do exercise godly leadership it leads to women being released as well. The problem the church as a whole faces is not women preaching, but a lack of godly men leading in a Christlike manner.

Anyway, I’ll stop there. I am sure I have given you enough so that you can disagree with me! Just a reminded that this was not meant to be an in-depth study of the matter, go to https://www.gci.org/church/women  if you want to read a lot more on this topic, and no doubt there are many complementarian websites as well (Wayne Grudem has written stuff on this, and is referenced in the previous website.).

1 Timothy 2:8-10 Modesty

2:8-10

Having urged them to pray (2:1), Paul now gives instructions for both men and women. In these he addresses the areas where men and women are most likely to fall down, though. Men tend to be more prone to being angry and quarrelling, women are more prone to being obsessed with their appearance. Whatever our society might think, men and women are different and we are prone to different weaknesses. This does not mean women never quarrel or argue, nor that men are never overly obsessive about their appearance, but in general men are more prone to the former, and women to the latter.

So we are to lift up holy hands in prayer, making sure we have the right attitude. Our society puts a tremendous premium on looking good, especially for women, and this contributes to women being regarded as sex-objects. This does not mean women should have no concern for their appearance. Nor does it mean that beauty is a “bad thing”. In Job 42:15 it says that Job’s daughters were beautiful. Beauty is good, but it needs to be done respectfully, and always bearing in mind that good deeds and a good heart are of much greater value and importance.

1 Timothy 2:5-7 - For this purpose

2:5

Why are we to pray for all people, and for all rulers? “For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus”. We live in an age that claims to value diversity and equality, with tolerance being the primary virtue, though so-called liberals can be amazingly intolerant. Society claims all religions are the same and it is wrong to say that one is unique or is better than others. We need to recognise that this is a lie. God is the only God, and Christ is the only saviour. Atheists need to believe in Christ, Muslims need to believe, Sikhs need to believe, Hindus need to believe, agnostics need to believe. Everyone needs to believe in Christ.

2:6,7

Why is Christ the only mediator? Because He gave Himself as a ransom for all people. No other religious leader claims to have done this, in fact all other religions rely on us somehow earning our way into heaven, into God’s approval. But no one can earn God’s approval, we all fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). And the gospel bears witness to what Christ has done. Because of the universality (not universalism!) of the gospel, Paul was appointed as a “herald and apostle to the Gentiles, and a teacher of the truth of the gospel. And we, the church, are to be a herald of good news and teacher to the world. For God has appointed the church to this task (Matt 28:19,20).

1 Timothy 2:1-4 - Pray for everyone

2:1,2

We now get into various instructions about worship. First, Paul urges Timothy to ensure that all kinds of prayers are offered for all kinds of peoples. The church is not to be an exclusive sect that is inward looking and looks down on all those outside. Sadly, we are all to prone to fail in this area. We are to pray for all the world, and all sectors of society. Paul then highlights praying for our rulers. It is so easy to dismiss our rulers, just to consider them as self-serving fools. Sometimes this is an apt enough description, but they are also doing a very difficult job, and they need our prayers.  Paul mentions the purpose of enabling us to live peaceful lives in all godliness and holiness. It is far better for us that our society is governed well than it be governed badly. Bad government results in people suffering.

2:3,4

It is pleasing to God that society is governed well. at the time of writing the book “The Benedict Option” is receiving a lot of attention, a book that seems to advocate more or less giving up on society. We can certainly become too involved in politics, but the running of society matters to God, so we should pray for our rulers. The phrase “God our saviour” is rather unusual, “Christ our Saviour” being more common. God wants all people to be saved. This causes much dispute between Calvinists and Arminians. It seems quite clear that God wants us to want all people to get saved as well.  These verses imply that this is more likely to happen in a well-run society than in a corrupt or chaotic society.

1 Timothy 1:18-20 - Handed over to satan

1:18

Paul then addresses Timothy personally, calling him his son. This does not mean Paul was actually his father, but that he was his father in the faith, having trained him up as a servant of the Lord. But it was not just Paul who had brought Timothy up, he had received prophecies from the church. We are not told the precise details of these prophecies, but they were presumably about the ministry he would have, the way in which he would serve the Lord. These prophecies were to be an encouragement to Timothy in fighting the battles he would face. Prophecy is an important gift to the church and here we see one of its prime uses. It is significant that we do not know the details of the prophecies. They were not intended to have lasting Scriptural significance (unlike those of Isaiah, Hosea etc), but they were important to Timothy and his service to the Lord. There are no grounds in Scripture for believing that this use of prophecy has ceased. Above all else God speaks to us through His written word, the Bible. He also speaks to us as individuals in many and various ways. All this has to be measured against the Bible, but He does communicate on a personal level as well.

1:19

In our battles we need to have faith and a good conscience. This means two things. First, we hold to the faith. This is not just faith that we will win the battle, but faith in the truth of the gospel. This provides a solid foundation for our lives. We also need a good conscience. So we should avoid doing things which are “bad”. Naturally we should not sin full stop, but sometimes we will. However, we should be as careful as possible, for one of the effects of sin is on the conscience and it makes us less able to fight battles. If we do not follow these instructions we may shipwreck our faith. It has serious and lasting consequences.

1:20

Paul then mentions two specific people, one of whom gets mentioned in 2 Timothy as well. By the way, this counts against the letter being written by someone other than Paul. For if someone was trying to pass this off as a letter from Paul why mention names? Paul has handed these people over to Satan. What this means is that he has put them out of the church and left them to fend for themselves in the world. The purpose is that they will learn the error of their ways. Today we would be accused of being hard-hearted if we did this, but this is an example of tough love. It matters what we believe, and it matters how we live. These things are not to be trifled with.

1 Timothy 1:15-17 A trustworthy saying

1:15

“Christ came into the world to save sinners”. This short sentence sums up so much of the gospel, and sums up what we so often forget. First, we are sinners, and we need to be saved from our sins. Any teaching that forgets this basic fact is bound to go wrong. All of us are sinners, rich or poor, powerful or weak, male or female, living in the West or the third world. The so-called prosperity gospel puts the focus on material blessing, social-action gospels put the focus on helping the needy or oppressed. Now both these things are important. God does bless us, God has a great concern for the poor and oppressed, and so should the church. But the prime problem of every single human being is sin. Secondly, Jesus came to save sinners, that is the primary purpose of His mission, and He is the only means by which a person can be saved. Paul rounds off the verse by claiming to be the worst of sinners.

1:16

Paul cites his own life as an example of the power of the gospel. There was clearly nothing in Paul to commend him to Christ, for Paul persecuted Christ and the church, and violently so. Yet God was patient with him, and gave him the gift of eternal life. Christ transformed Paul’s life. So if Paul can be saved, anyone can be saved.

1:17

This is a typical doxology, similar ones being found in Rom 11:33-36 and Jude 25. In Romans Paul’s doxology came at the end of chapter 11 when he had finished delineating God’s plan of salvation Likewise, here he has talked about God’s salvation plan. Paul was amazed at the wonder of God’s plan of salvation, amazed at how it was possible, and how God has worked things out. God is the only God and is eternal, immortal and invisible. We should remind ourselves frequently how great is our God, then the obstacles we face (including ourselves) and the opposition we face are all seen in a very different light. All glory and honour belong to Him!

1 Timothy 1:12-14 - The grace of the Lord

1:12

Now why does Paul give something of his own testimony here? It is to encourage Timothy, and all who have come after him as servants of the Lord. Serving the Lord can at times be a painful or costly task. For Paul it involved times in prison, beatings etc. Yet he still gave thanks to the Lord. If we are working in His service we too should give thanks. The Lord gives us strength, and He has considered us trustworthy. It is a great honour to serve the Lord. We are appointed by the Lord to His service, it is the most honoured job that we can have.

1:13

Paul was not appointed to this position because he was worthy. He was a blasphemer, a violent man, a persecutor of Christ and the church. Paul had been a Pharisee, and remember that they would have considered the Christians to be blasphemers, yet now Paul speaks of himself as a blasphemer. He would also have been “respectable”, yet he describes himself as a violent man. When we look at the gospels we see that the religious leaders were perfectly happy to have violence used against Jesus.

Paul says he was shown mercy because he acted in ignorance and unbelief. A man without Christ is spiritually blind, it needs the Holy Spirit to take away our blindness. However, if someone who has seen Christ for who He is, who has been enlightened by the Spirit, then rejects Christ, then they are in a very serious position. Jesus talks about the sin against the Holy Spirit, and Hebrews speaks of those who have tasted the goodness of Christ and the gospel falling away.

1:14

So what changed in Paul? The grace of God was poured out on him. We need the grace of God in our lives. Along with it came the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. When He was here on the earth Jesus showed us what a life of faith and love looks like. And now we can share in that faith and love through the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 - The Law is good

1:8

The Law is good. The place of the Law in the gospel, the church and the life of the Christian has always been a contentious issue. In the early church there was the famous council in Jerusalem (Acts 15). It was the key issue in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and cropped up in many other letters, especially Romans. The gospel is not opposed to the Law, and the Law is not opposed to the good news. However, the role of the Law needs to be properly understood. If it is understood properly then it is useful. In Paul’s day the primary danger was people, particularly the Judaisers, making observance of the law a requirement for salvation, or at least for being a “full” member of God’s people. Today the primary danger is probably considering it to be of no account, “Oh that’s just the Old Testament”. The truth is that the Law is the word of God and reflects something of God’s heart, as well as pointing forward to Jesus Christ.

1:9a

“The law is not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels”. What does this mean? A wrong understanding of the law is to think that it can bring righteousness. It cannot, and Paul explains all this on Romans. Instead it has a twofold purpose. First, it highlights sin, and our sinfulness. It shows that by nature we are lawbreakers, but can do nothing to change that nature. Secondly, it helps to restrain the effects of the sinful nature. It shows us what is good and what is bad. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to transform us, but this is a process, and one that takes time.

1:9b-11

We now get a long list of various lawbreakers. The first part is very general and includes everyone! Then we get specific sins. It includes murder and sexual immorality. Homosexual acts are mentioned, and parts of the church today would do well to pay attention to this instead of thinking of ways to get round it. Note that sexual immorality covering all sorts of sexual sins and perversions comes first, homosexual acts are just one example. Slave traders, interestingly, are mentioned. Sceptics often accuse the Bible of being in favour of slavery, thinking in terms of the slave trade. It is not! It is consistently against slave trading, but not all slavery fell into this category. Liars and perjurers come next. There is a rough correlation between this list and the ten commandments.

Notice that Paul then speaks about everything that is against sound doctrine. Wrong actions are against sound doctrine.Note also that the gospel is about the glory of God. We need to keep this sharply in focus. It is about God’s glory, not man’s glory.

1 Timothy 1:5-7 - They do not know what they are talking about

1:5

“The goal of this command is love”. We often seem to think commands and love are somehow opposed to each other, nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey Him (John 14:15). Teaching false doctrines or getting involved in pointless arguments does not promote love. Love comes from a pure heart, false teachings and controversies come from a corrupt heart.  And it comes from a good conscience, for it comes from a heart that is devoted to Jesus and knows that by His blood we are justified. And it comes from sincere faith. False teachings do not and cannot come from a sincere faith, for it involves twisting or ignoring God’s word. And pointless myths and genealogies come from a puffed up mind.

1:6

“Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk”. Nothing much has changed in two thousand years! Jesus is the truth, the way and the life. When we turn to Him and follow Him our lives have purpose, and our lives become increasingly in line with the truth. If we turn away from Christ we are turning away from the truth, so as it says in Romans 1:21 such a person becomes futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts are darkened.

1:7

The people who have turned away from God want to be teachers, they want to be teachers with authority.  But because they have rejected the truth their talk becomes meaningless drivel. It is likely that at least some of the false teachers that Paul had in mind came from a Jewish background, so maybe they were hoping to emulate the “teachers of the Law”. Today, those who espouse transgenderism seek to be speaking with authority, but there is no basis whatsoever to what they are saying. It goes against all common sense, all that every society has been based on from time immemorial, it goes against science, and it goes against God’s word. Such is its foundation, so its destiny is assured.

1 Timothy 1:3,4 - Command them not to teach false doctrines

1:3

Paul had been on his way to Macedonia when he had instructed Timothy to remain in Ephesus. As mentioned earlier, Ephesus was a significant city, so this would be a daunting task, and Timothy seems to have been of a somewhat timid disposition. Timothy's task was to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine”. Oh, if only some of our modern bishops and leaders would obey this command! Instead, you would be branded a bigot or similar. The truth matters, and false teachings are destructive. We do not allow contaminants in the water supply, neither should we allow contaminants in the teaching supply. There is of course the opposite danger, but we are nowhere near needing to worry about that in most of the church.

1:4

As well as false teachings, others devoted themselves to myths. One example of this would be Jewish genealogies. Such things are futile. All they do is promote speculations, instead of good stewardship. We are here to do good works, not to waste our time debating about irrelevancies. An example today could include some of the speculations about the return of Christ, especially the date. Jesus told us not to worry about the date, but instead to get on with the job of serving Him, of doing the great commission. Note the last bit of the verse “that is by faith”. The Jews who worried about genealogies, or those who get obsessed about the end times can substitute something else in place of faith as our justification. We are to live by faith, not by myths.

1 Timothy 1:1,2 - Paul, an apostle; Timothy my true son

1:1

While this is a personal letter, Paul uses a rather formal introduction, similar to that used in his letters to churches. Paul may have intended that the letter would also be read to a wider audience than just Timothy, or have known that it would be so.

Paul is an apostle of Christ Jesus, and here apostle is used in its formal sense, ie one with apostolic authority. Paul was an apostle by the command of God, it is not something that can be taken upon oneself, nor a position that can be bestowed on someone by men.

It is rather unusual for Paul to speak of God our Saviour, he usually talks of Christ our Saviour. Notice also the linking of God and Christ. Christ is our hope, but in what sense is He our hope? He is the basis for our hope,  it is only because of Him that we have hope. Otherwise death and hell are the only things that await us. He is also the firstborn of our hope. Our hope is that we become more and more like Him. We hope to have the same character as Jesus, and hope here is used in the sense of a certain expectation, not wishful thinking. We hope to be raised from the dead and to be raised immortal.

1:2

The letter is addressed to Timothy, though of course it soon had a much wider applicability. Indeed it was quoted by several of the early church fathers. “My true child in the faith”, expresses a close relationship between Paul and Timothy. Timothy is leading a church in a prominent city. So there would be those in the church who were very sure of themselves. There were also several false teachings go around. So Timothy needed to have the right sort of confidence in himself. So Paul assures him that he has every confidence in him. Ultimately our confidence needs to be in God, but we also need to encourage and affirm one another.

Then Paul uses his characteristic greeting of grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. However, it is rare for him to use mercy in this greeting. Timothy was going to have to exercise authority. When we do so we are usually aware of our own weakness and shortcomings. None of us is worthy in our own right, but we have received mercy from God, so He gives us the grace to do what He commands us to do.

1 Timothy - Introduction

Introduction

1 Timothy is one of the “pastoral epistles”, 2 Timothy and Titus being the other two. They were all written by Paul. Unsurprisingly, their authorship is disputed, but we will see later that Pauline authorship is the most sensible option.

My primary source of information is
The Pastoral Epistles, D Guthrie, TNTC 1957.

They were written to Timothy and Titus to give advice, instruction and encouragement in pastoring the church. Timothy had been left to take charge of the church in Ephesus. Paul had been hoping to return to Ephesus, but then it seemed that this would not be happening he sent this letter to Timothy. There seem to have been quite a variety of heretical teachings that were a possible danger to the church, these were:

• Incipient gnosticism
• Decadent Judaism
• False asceticism

The letter was written some time after the events of Acts 28.

The objections can be summarised briefly as:

1. The background events cannot be fitted into those related in Acts
2. The theology differs from that in Paul’s others letters, and church organisation is much more advanced than could have been the case in the mid-late first century.
3. There are literary differences.

None of these objections hold much water and can be dealt with as follows:

1. The letters were written after the time reached in Acts 28, and Acts 28 does not record Paul’s death.
2. I can’t say I have ever noticed any conflict between the theology of the pastorals and that found in Paul’s other letters. The church organisation really isn’t much more advanced than found in Paul’s other letters or Acts. Essentially we have elders and deacons.
3. There is no surprise at all in their being literary differences. Letters written to a close friend and colleague are bound to be different from one written to a church or churches. Many years ago I wrote many letters to my future wife (this was long before the days of email, texts and social media - oh happy days!). I have since written many papers that have been published in scientific and engineering journals. You will notice an amazing difference in the vocabulary and style! However, both were most certainly written by me.

I mention these doubts and the counter arguments as it is important that we realise that the arguments of the doubters are in reality very weak. One further point to note is that they can never come up with a plausible alternative to who wrote the letters, they certainly cannot produce any names! So, as is always the case, the best, simplest, and most well-attested solution is to go with what the Bible says.