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.
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