1^st Timothy Chapter 1 -- John Karmelich

1. There is an interesting little commandment tucked away in the Book of Hebrews that I want to start with today:

a) Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.
(Hebrews 10:25, The Living Bible [TLB])

b) My interpretation of this verse: The writer of Hebrews, who I believe was Paul, commands us to not neglect to gather together as believers. That means go to church! J

i) This is a commandment to attend church regularly, be it a super-large church or a small home church, or somewhere in-between.

ii) Christianity is designed to be a team-effort, and not a solo act.

2. If we are commanded to go to church every Sunday, that leads to a lot of logical questions:

a) How do we organize a church?

b) Who should be in charge?

c) What should we do there anyway?

d) How do we know that the church we go to is being “Biblical” in its actions?

e) How do I know that the church I’m attending is right for me?

3. The answers to all of these marvelous questions are hinted at all through the Bible, but they are specifically discussed in a handful of Paul’s letters.

a) More specifically, there are a couple of Paul’s letters known as the “pastoral letters”.

i) These are Paul’s letters to 1^st Timothy, 2^nd Timothy and Titus.

ii) They are the only letters specifically written to church pastors.

iii) All of Paul’s other letters are written to Christians in a specific location.

b) OK you say, if these letters are written to pastors, why I should I read them? I haven’t been to seminary and don’t plan on attending anytime soon. Why should I read them? J

i) Good question, and I’m glad you asked! J

ii) For starters, these letters answer some of the questions that are in “Point 2” above.

a) All Christians should be a part of a congregation.

b) All churches are inevitable accountable to God for their actions.

c) Churches are also structured in that the membership has final authority on what happens at that church.

(1) We as Christians “vote with our feet” as to which church we attend.

(2) Therefore, it is the members who ultimately decide the fate of any given church. This fact has to balanced with the idea that it is not the size of a church that makes it successful, but whether or not that church is following biblical principals.

(3) Since the “church”, and all its members belongs to Christ. It is up to us, as members of the church to keep our pastors and leaders accountable that their actions are biblical.

4. There is another reason to study these pastoral letters.

a) Ask yourself “am I in the ministry?”

b) Now ask yourself, do I choose to follow Jesus and obey his commandments?

i) Now ask yourself again, “am I in the ministry?”

ii) The answer the second time, should be “yes”.

c) If you have committed your life to serving Jesus, you have been called in the ministry.

i) Some of us (believers) have been given special ability as apostles; to others he has given the gift of being able to preach well; some have special ability in winning people to Christ, helping them to trust him as their Savior; still others have a gift for caring for God’s people as a shepherd does his sheep, leading and teaching them in the ways of God. (Ephesians 4:11, TLB)

d) One of the great joys as a Christian is discovering how you fit into the body of believers.

i) You are not saved by anything you do. It is only by turning your life over to Jesus and saying He is now in charge of my life, that your life begins.

ii) What I encourage, and I believe God encourages, is that you then grow in maturity as a believer. Part of that growth is finding your role as a believer.

a) Discovering how you fit is actually easier than you think.

(1) The first step is to discover what spiritual “gifts” you have. As Ephesians 4:11 stated on the previous page, some are called to be apostles (direct messengers of God), some to be preachers, some to be teachers, some to be evangelists (winning people to Christ) and others to work as helpers in the church.

(2) No role is any more or less important than any other role. Some of the simplest tasks as believers will earn rewards in heaven great or greater than what we perceive as the “head-people”.

(3) The key is are you being faithful to what God has called you to do?

(4) The other aspect to consider is: What are you passionate about?

(a) Personally, I write these Bible studies because I can’t stand not writing them. I actually get grumpy and depressed if I go too long without writing. J

(b) For others, you may just love helping out around the church.

(c) Others may be called to raise Godly children. You may have the gift of helping out with children’s Sunday school.

(d) “If you like to live dangerously, consider the parking lot ministry.” Chuck Swindoll. J

5. Which leads us back to 1^st Timothy. In case you’ve forgotten, this is a study of 1^st Timothy. J

a) This is Paul’s letter to his young protégée Timothy.

b) We first hear of Timothy in the Book of Acts.

i) Remember that the Book of Acts was written by Luke, and not Paul.

a) Luke was a good church-historian and a traveling companion of Paul.

ii) Luke mentions Timothy in Acts 16:1. He was a young believer, probably a teenager at the time. Acts 16:1 says his father was a “Greek”, meaning Greek culture, not necessarily from Greece. Timothy’s mother was Jewish. Remember that prior to the Roman Empire, this territory was under the influence of the Greek Empire for centuries, and thus “Greek” means Greek-culture.

iii) In Chapter 17, Timothy becomes a traveling companion of Paul on his 2^nd missionary journey. Paul sees enough faith in this young man, that he takes Timothy under-his-wings to be his protégée.

iv) Paul’s 1^st Letter to Timothy takes place 15-20 years after this event.

a) The consensus date for the time of this letter was about 62-66AD.

v) If you know the Book of Acts, it ends with Paul in prison waiting trial before Nero.

a) Early church historians teach us that Paul was released from this trial.

b) Paul was eventually arrested again, a few years later, and executed by Christian persecutions under Emperor Nero.

c) In-between that 1^st and 2^nd imprisonment in Rome, Paul traveled around again. We get clues all through Paul’s letters that he went back on the road. Some of those clues are here in 1^st Timothy.

vi) In Verse 3 of Chapter 1, we learn that Paul writes this letter from Macedonia.

a) Paul was in Macedonia as part of his 2^nd missionary journey, but the facts of this letter don’t correspond with that journey, so it appears “logical” that Paul went again to this area after his release from Rome.

(1) Macedonia is an area that is just north of Greece. It was also part of the former “Yugoslavia” before it broke up.

6. Let’s get back to Paul and why he wrote this letter:

a) This letter has Paul in Macedonia and Timothy in Ephesus.

b) Paul is giving instructions on how to run and organize the church at Ephesus.

c) Further, Paul lays out the duties of the minister, as well as other church leaders.

d) Remember that Paul wrote this letter after all the events of the Book of Acts.

i) This is now Paul “the seasoned veteran”, who has been on 3 full missionary journeys, and has already had a 20+ year career in the ministry.

7. Chapter 1, which we’ll cover tonight, focuses on the issue of false doctrines.

a) The first few verses are an introduction. It states who the letter is to, and from.

b) The first issue the letter discusses is false doctrines and false teachers.

i) It would seem like a strange topic to begin such an important letter.

ii) Personally, I would start with the “how to organize a church” type of stuff, but Paul has other ideas. He starts with the warnings against false teachers.

a) The “why-this-first” issue is something we’ll tackle when we get to those verses, but I want you to notice that issue before we begin.

8. With that, let’s hit verse 1: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

a) In English, when we write a letter, we say “Dear whoever…then write the body of the letter, and then we sign our name.

i) In Middle East tradition, you write a letter by first saying who you are, then who the letter is addressed to, and then the text of the letter.

ii) When we sign a business letter, we often put our title after the letter.

a) For example, a letter may be signed, John Smith, President.

(1) That “president” part, is the authority by which the letter is written.

b) Which leads us back to Paul. What is Paul’s “authority” to write this letter?

i) First, Paul states he is an apostle of Christ Jesus

a) “Apostle” simply means “sent-one”. He claims to be a direct apostle, with direct revelation from God.

(1) Exactly “who” is an apostle is a great debate question.

(a) One can make a argument that it is more than just the “12”, but also includes those who were eye-witnesses of the resurrection who were commissioned to preach the Gospel.

(2) Besides the “original 12”, Paul himself considers himself an apostle.

ii) Second, Paul is sent by the command of God (the father) our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.

a) Stop and ask yourself, why is Paul telling all of this to Timothy?

b) After a 15-20 year relationship of Paul and Timothy, don’t you think Timothy is aware Paul is an apostle and sent by the command of God?

(1) Understanding that fact is one of the keys of this verse:

(a) I believe this letter was meant to be read publicly.

(b) It was designed to be shared among believers.

c) Remember that Timothy was still young. Many people look down upon youthful ministers thinking, “what do they know?”.

(1) Another clue comes in Chapter 4 of this letter where Paul says,
“Let no one despise your youth” (1^st Timothy 4:12a, NKJV).

d) This letter gives authority to Timothy as a church leader.

iii) Notice the reference of “God (the Father) our savior and Jesus our hope”:

(1) Generally, we as Christians think of Jesus as our savior, and rarely say God (the father) as our Savior.

(2) We tend to forget that he was the one who gave the command for Jesus to come to take the place for our sins.

(3) The last phrase says, “Christ Jesus our hope”.

(a) The key word is “hope”. Personally, I’m betting my eternal destiny on the fact that the Bible is correct. That Jesus died in the place of my sins. That is my hope.

9. Verse 2: To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

a) Paul’s first words about Timothy is “my true son in the faith”.

i) As best we can tell, Paul never had any children of his own.

ii) His “children” were the young ministers who Paul was training to one day become missionaries like himself.

iii) I believe Paul loved Timothy as one loves his own child. There was a bond of love that grew through a long term relationship.

iv) There is an old Biblical saying that applies here:

a) “Every Paul needs a Timothy and every Timothy needs a Paul”.

(1) Many churches have mentor programs where younger members team up with older members. This is biblically sound and supported from verses like this one.

(2) One of my points I pound home a lot is Christianity is not designed to be a solo-act. God desires team work. Part of that team work is knowing that no one will be around forever, and we must train up future people to carry on the work of Christ.

b) Back to the greeting: Paul greets Timothy with 3 blessings: grace, mercy and peace.

i) Almost all of Paul’s letters start with the terms “grace and peace”.

a) “Mercy” is asking for forgiveness of punishment you do deserve.

b) “Grace” is receiving a gift you haven’t merited.

c) This is why “grace” always comes before “peace”.

d) It is the unmerited grace of God, giving us the free gift of eternal salvation that brings us our peace. The concept of peace is that sense of inner calm one can have no matter what the circumstance, because we know this is only temporary as we have eternal rewards for trusting in God’s grace.

ii) Which leads us back to “mercy” This is the unique word in the introduction letters of the “pastoral epistles” of 1^st Timothy, 2^nd Timothy and Titus.

a) Why “mercy” here? Didn’t the Romans, the Ephesians, the Philippians and the Colossians etc. also need mercy?

b) What is so special about the pastoral letters that mercy is also added?

c) The commentaries are full of theories. Since a blunt answer is not given in the Bible, we can only speculate.

d) My first inclination, which I can biblically support is the added responsibility of being a pastor or a teacher.

(1) “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1, NIV)

(a) Well now, there’s an encouraging verse for us teachers. J

e) You want to feel intimidated? Try teaching God’s word! It is intimidating to consider taking the Word of God and wanting to explain it to people.

(1) For this reason, I believe God holds pastors and teachers more accountable than lay-Christians.

(2) Which leads us back to Timothy. That responsibility should drive us to our knees to not only to ask for God’s grace, but also for his mercy in forgiving us daily for our sins and help us to act responsibly in what God has called us to do.

c) For those of you reading this and are not called to be a pastor or teacher, consider this:

i) Let’s read ahead to verse 13 of this chapter: “Even though I (Paul) was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

a) Paul was shown grace by God by forgiving all of his sins.

b) But he was also shown mercy for his actions prior to his conversion.

c) Let’s face it, our sins, past, present and future have consequences.

(1) God forgives us, but we often still have to deal with the consequences of those sins for a long time.

(2) Those sins could have done permanent damage to our bodies (think about drug addictions) our financial health (greed leading to bankruptcy) or fill-in your own example.

(3) This is why we also ask for mercy. We do ask God to forgive us our sins for the eternal benefits, but also for mercy to help us cope with out lives to deal with the consequences of our actions.

10. Verse 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.

a) Notice the phrase “stay there in Ephesus”.

i) Does this mean Timothy was considering leaving? Was he “burnt out”? Did he think his work was done in Ephesus? We don’t know the answer.

a) We do know that Paul commands him to stay.

b) The reason for this request is given in this verse; to fight false doctrines.

b) Let’s talk about the issue of false-doctrines and false teachers:

i) Every one of Paul’s letters, and all the books of the New Testament for that matter, have something to say about false teachers.

ii) This indicates that one of the primary purposes of being a pastor is to make sure those that are under your care stay on the correct path.

iii) History has also shown how easily churches and members of a church get strayed away into false doctrine.

iv) Caring for the people in your church is not just being there when they are sick and hurting, but also that you teach them proper doctrine as to avoid false doctrine.

c) The specific false-doctrine Paul focuses upon, is the wrong-application of the law, as we’ll see in the next few verses.

11. Verse 4: nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith.

a) Verse 4 finishes the sentence of Verse 3. The entire command given by Paul is to watch for men who teach false doctrines and those who devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies”.

b) The question is what does Paul mean by “myths and endless genealogies”?

i) The commentators are full of speculations on this one.

ii) Some believe it was a local phenomena where people were teaching mystical things about Jesus and using genealogical references of angels.

iii) Others believe it was teachings of Jewish Christians who focus on how they are more special because they are Jewish and use genealogies to show their Jewish heritage. The idea is that they know how to properly interpret the law because of their Jewish heritage.

iv) Again, the true historical answer is a mystery.

v) The point to you and me is not so much the historical reference, but to understand how this applies to you and me today.

a) To see what Paul meant, lets look at the last part of the verse in which Paul says “God's work--which is by faith”

b) What is “God’s work?” God’s work is to “build up the body of Christ”. To mature us as believers. His will for us as believers is that we grow in the knowledge and likeness of our savior Jesus. We live by faith that he is working through us. We study God’s word for applications to our lives as how God desires us to live and act.

c) The concept and personal application for “myths and endless genealogies” is that people will teach things “extra-biblical”.

(1) It is one thing to speculate on the meaning of a Bible verse.

(2) It is another to teach mythological ideas and claim they are “biblical”. I believe that’s the idea Paul is shooting for here.

d) Let me give you a modern example: About 5-10 years ago, there was a growing moment in the Pentecostal churches called “Holy Laughter”. Preachers would go around teaching that if you have the spirit in you, you can receive this special gift of uncontrollable laughter, rolling around on the floor. There would be whole services of people being “slain in the spirit” and then everybody breaks out in uncontrollable laughter.

(1) I have one question for the group: Where does it say this in the Bible? Show me a biblical support for “holy laughter” and I’ll consider it. Personally I think the movement worked due to the hypnotic suggestion of “laughter” and grew that way.

(2) I’m sure the people behind this movement believe it is a sincere action of the Holy Spirit. It is a terrific example of “myths and endless genealogies” because it gets your focus off of God and his redemption plan and onto something else (in this case, laughter).

12. Verse 5: The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

a) My first question is “the goal of “what” command”?

i) The only time the word “command” is used, is in Verse 1 when Paul says he was ordained as an apostle by the command of God.

ii) I believe Verse 5 ties in with the “command” of Verse 4 to watch out for false teachers that lead believers astray.

b) Verse 5 is gives the purpose of this command. The purpose is “love”.

i) Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35, NIV).

ii) The concept behind “love” here is not just to go around hugging each other. The idea is to “give of one self for others”. The Greek word here used for “love” implies to totally give of one self for someone else.

c) The “source” of this love comes from 3 things as stated in Verse 5:

i) 1) A pure heart, 2) a good conscience and 3) a sincere faith.

ii) (Didn’t you just know I was going to analyze all 3 of these on the next page? J)

iii) What does Paul mean by “a pure heart?”

a) When you become born-again, you get a “new heart”.

(1) “I (God) will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, NIV)

b) The concept behind this is that the ability to obey God’s commandments does not originate from us, but from God. God puts his Spirit within us so that we have the ability to obey what he commands us to do.

c) This is why we pray “thy will be done”. It is the idea of God working through us (literally) as the Spirit guides our life.

iv) What does Paul mean by “a good conscience?”

a) If your conscience is bothering you, that means you feel guilty of something. God does not want us to have a guilty conscience as it blocks our relationshi