Overview of 1 Timothy

We move now from letters to churches to letters to the leaders of churches. These are known as the pastoral epistles, as they focus on teaching specific individuals about their pastoral responsibilities as leaders in the church. This includes 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.

1 Timothy is traditionally said to have been written by Paul while in prison in Rome around 64 CE, to Timothy, who was leading a church in Ephesus. Some scholars argue for a later date, sometime in the early 100s CE. Like other disputed letters, they would suggest this was a letter written by a disciple of Paul as a thought experiment of what would Paul teach a young pastor leading a church.

We met Timothy in Acts 16 as a young man, son of a Jewish mother and Greek father. He Joined Paul in his mission trips and became a key member of Paul’s team. Many of Paul’s letters mention Timothy (see 2 Corinthians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Colossians 1:1, 1 Thessalonians 1:1).

At some point, later in Paul’s ministry, he sent Timothy to pastor the church in Ephesus, which is where we now find Timothy.

1 Timothy 1-3 - Instructions for the church in Ephesus

• 1 Timothy 1 - False teaching vs faithful ministry
• 1 Timothy 2:1-8 - Instructions on prayer
• 1 Timothy 2:9-15 - Instructions for women in the church
• 1 Timothy 3 - Instructions for leaders in the church

1 Timothy 4-6 - Instructions for Timothy

• 1 Timothy 4 - Timothy’s leadership
• 1 Timothy 5:1-6:2 - Instructions on handling different members of the church
• 1 Timothy 6:3-21 - Final warnings and instructions

A key struggle that Timothy is facing is false teaching, much like elsewhere. This teaching is working its way through the church and impact many areas of church life. Paul gives Timothy guidance for handling this false teaching, and criteria for establishing good leaders in the church while weeding out bad ones.

Along with this comes teaching for Timothy on how to lead well. Paul includes guidance on how to handle different members of the church, to pastor them and strengthen the church.

1 Timothy 1-2

Paul opens with the usual greetings, but immediately we can see the tone of this letter. Paul calls Timothy his ‘loyal child in the faith’ (1 Timothy 1:2). We’ve seen the care and love that Paul has had for the churches in the previous letter.

How much more love would Paul have for this young man he has seen grow up, who has followed him from church to church, and has suffered and struggles alongside him?

Paul then cuts straight to the chase. He reminds Timothy of why he was sent to Ephesus in the first place, to ‘instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine’ (1 Timothy 1:3). These teachers were getting caught up looking for special teaching.

This would be an early form of what would become known as Gnosticism. Gnosticism is the belief that true believers are those that identify and find secret, hidden knowledge. In short, they are caught up in trying to be clever.

Paul tells Timothy that, instead, the goal should be ‘divine training that is known by faith’ (1 Timothy 1:4). In other words, salvation doesn’t come from knowing secret things that come from being super smart. It comes from formational habits and living that come from faith. All teaching should come from a place of love, pureness of heart, and sincere faith. It should seek the best of the people that it is teaching.

Paul identifies some have moved away from this to this teaching that is just meaningless talk. They want the position and the influence that come from being teachers, but they’ve completely misunderstood the importance and the significance of what they are teaching.

The fact that Paul describes them as teachers of the law suggests that, as we’ve seen elsewhere, there are some that are trying to force the believers in Ephesus to follow set Jewish laws.

So Paul addresses the law in a much more nuanced way than we’ve seen before. Here, Paul argues that the law has value if used well. It’s not there for those who are already in the habit of doing right. Instead, it’s there for those who aren’t. He then lists examples of behaviours that would benefit from the law.

Let’s take a moment to unpack that. We’ve gathered from other letters that the law is useless as a means of salvation, but it was initially brought in to be a guide for God’s people to help them avoid indulging sin and being shaped by it.

The model we’ve looked at in the past points to the deciding factor on how we should be live should be weighing up is this indulging sin and shaping us in its image, or is it indulging the Spirit and shaping us in the image of Jesus. But this requires a level of maturity and wisdom, which someone still very trapped in the grips of sin is likely to lack.

So it may be that the law is useful as a stopgap for those who are very much caught up in sin. It curbs their behaviour temporarily, so they stop indulging sin, and so the work of the Spirit can start to shape them and unravel the power of sin in their life.

Then, when they are more stable and less controlled by their sin, they can begin to lean less on the law and more on the wisdom of the Spirit. Paul believes this wisdom in how to use the law is from God.

Paul then points to himself as an example of a better way. He is grateful to Jesus in how he has kept him in the ministry that he appointed Paul to. Paul used to be a wicked man, denying the power of Jesus, and persecuting believers with violence.

But God had mercy on Paul, transforming him with faith and love through Jesus. Paul is the perfect example that Jesus came to save and transform sinners, and has the power to do so.

In fact, Paul serves as an example of what Jesus can do for all people because of his patience. For Timothy, the person to learn from here is not Paul, but Jesus. Just as Jesus has patience and mercy on Paul, and shaped him with faith and love into the man he now is, Timothy should have patience and mercy with the sinners in his church. He should shape them with faith and love.

Paul then encourages Timothy. He is giving Timothy these instructions because Timothy has had many prophetic words spoken over him about being a leader of God’s people. Paul wants to encourage Timothy in these prophetic words that he might continue to do well in what he has been called to. To ‘fight the good fight’.

That will require faith and good conscience in order to stay strong. Paul points to those who abandoned their good conscience, Hymanaeus and Alexander. They have left the faith, and Paul has given them over to Satan in the hope that they learn the error of their ways.

Next Paul switches to talking about order in the church. He begins by encouraging all to pray for one another. That might be praying on behalf of someone, or praying to give thanks for someone. This includes leaders and those in authority.

Paul argues that the believers should do this so they may leave quiet and peaceable lives (1 Timothy 2:2). The reason for this is likely because there were men who were getting into arguments and disagreeing with one another in anger.

It’s hard to hold on to anger for someone when you are genuinely praying for them regularly. Paul reminds Timothy that it’s Jesus’ desire that all are saved and Jesus was given for all. So Paul encourages these angry men to pray instead.

Paul then switches to the women, saying they should dress themselves modestly. This isn’t modesty in terms of how we view modesty today. Modesty today is often used to refer to ideas of showing too much skin. In the Greco-Roman world, modesty meant not flashy or showy.

Many of the rich women in the church are wearing lots of expensive clothing and jewellery. This is causing division in the church, as these women are showing off their wealth when many in the church are very poor.

We then get a controversial passage where Paul tells Timothy that women should learn in silence and should not teach or have authority over a man. As evidence for this, Paul points to Adam and Eve.

Some read this and argue that women should never teach or have authority over a man. As we’ve read so far, this doesn’t seem to line up with Paul’s other teachings, where it is expected to that women would not be silent but pray and prophecy in church (1 Corinthians 11:5).

It also doesn’t fit with this idea that Jesus came to free us from the law. If we're free from the law, why would Paul then come in with new, even more restrictive laws?

It seems more likely, then, that Paul was talking specifically about the women in the church of Ephesus. These women were more likely to be uneducated, and if they are parroting what the male false teachers are saying, then they are going to be causing issues.

This may then be why Paul points to Adam and Eve as evidence. Just as Eve did not know better and was easily convinced by the serpent, these Ephesian women don’t know better and are easily convinced by false teachers.

This leaves us with the difficult verse “Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.” (1 Timothy 2:15).

There’s great debate over what this means, because even the most culturally conservative Christians have to face the fact that an on the face reading of this verse suggests that women aren’t saved by faith but by having children, which is incompatible with the gospel message Paul has been sharing.

There are two key points to focus on. First it says ‘she will be saved’, not ‘they will be saved’. This suggests that Paul is still talking about Eve, not women in general.

Then there’s the saved part. Some point to the fact that through child birth Eve continued the line that would end in Jesus, and through Jesus, all are saved. There are lots of unknowns, and most interpretations will leave some unsatisfied.

Psalm 16

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of trust psalm. These psalms sing of confidence in who God is.

Psalm 16:1-2 - The Lord my refuge

Psalm 16:3-4 - Contrast between those who are committed to the Lord and those who worship other gods

Psalm 16:5-6 - The Lord my portion

Psalm 16:7-8 - The Lord my comfort

Psalm 16:9-11 - The Lord my joy

The psalm opens up with the psalmist laying out their stall, so to speak. God is the one that they trust in. As far as they are concerned, there is nothing good that can be found outside God.

Those that are equally faithful to God are an encouragement to the psalmist. But those that choose to worship other gods choose a way of sorrow. The psalmist will never make offerings to other gods or speak their names. He wants nothing to do with them.

And so he sets his eyes back on the Lord. The Lord is our portion and inheritance. For an Israelite, being a follower of God was part of their inheritance. Just like someone enjoys wealth or property being handed down to them, the Israelites see their faith as a blessing they inherit.

This is also true for us as Christians. This access to God is something we inherit as adopted children of God.

The Lord is our comfort. When we are unsure or struggling, it is the Lord who comforts and advises us. He goes before us, protecting us and holding us stable, even when it feels like we’re unstable. This promise (Psalm 16:10) is picked up in the New Testament when they talk about Jesus’ resurrection. God did not abandon Jesus to death but restored him to life (Acts 2:25-28; 13:35).

Because of all this, the Lord is our joy. We have a security, that God won’t abandon us. He offers us life. His very presence is a source of joy.