1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Warning Against False Teachers of the Law
3As 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 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith. 5The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
8We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9We also know that law[1] is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers--and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
The Lord's Grace to Paul
12I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
18Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 20Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
1) V1-5 – 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3As 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 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work – which is by faith. 5The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Paul, whose Greek name means “little” and whose Jewish name (Saul) means “asked,” declares himself an apostle, which means “sent one;” but Paul uses it to remind his audience (not just Timothy) of his God-given authority, even apart from his desire (likely referring to the Damascus Road encounter). He always notes that his apostleship comes from God and his work is on behalf of Jesus Christ. Paul calls God “our Savior” in v1 probably in direct contrast to the culture of the day, which made it commonplace to call Caesar “savior.” By the time Paul wrote this letter, Christians were being killed for refusing to call Caesar by this title (or by Lord), instead choosing rightly to reserve these titles for Jesus Christ and God the Father (co-equal in monotheistic divinity). Paul may also be thinking of God the Father as Savior in the sense that He is the author of the covenant of grace. Finally in v1, Paul calls Christ Jesus “our hope,” and there are a number of things he could be referring to, such as Jesus as mediator of the covenant of grace; but to keep it simple, one commentator says, “Paul often uses this term in several related senses. Often it is associated with the consummation of the believer’s faith. This can be expressed as glory, eternal life, ultimate salvation, Second Coming, etc. This consummation is certain, but the time element is future and unknown.”
In v2, Paul greets Timothy, whose name means, “one who honors God.” Timothy is mentioned more than any of Paul’s other helpers, some 17 times throughout 10 different letters; he is even referred to as an apostle, along with Paul and other “sent ones,” in 1 Thessalonians 2:6. Paul refers to him as “true son” – the word “my” is not in the Greek text. Paul uses similar phrases elsewhere regarding Timothy (1 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 1:2; 2:1), Titus (Titus 1:4), and even Onesimus (Philemon 10). Jesus referred to his disciples as His children in John 13:33, and John uses the concept repeatedly in his epistles (3 John 4; 1 John 2:1,12,13,18,28; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21), referring to spiritual parenthood (“in the faith”) and mentoring. Even Peter and the author of Hebrews use similar phrases but not quite as personally (1 Peter 1:14; Hebrews 2:14; 12:8). Paul issues a standard greeting of grace, mercy, and peace, and as usual, he acknowledges Jesus’ deity by proclaiming that the blessing comes from both God the Father and Christ the Son. Grace is a primary description of the character of God; peace is what humans receive when they trust God; and mercy describes “hesed,” the covenant faithfulness and steadfast loyalty of God to His people, namely by keeping His promises.
In v3, Paul reveals that Timothy is in Ephesus, which at that time was the largest city in Asia Minor. Ephesus was also home to the Temple of Diana (Artemis), one of the Seven Wonders of the World, which made it also a haven for immorality, prostitution, and multi-cultural freedom. It was an “anything goes” city, for as long as peace was kept, Roman government did not interfere. Paul even stayed there for three years during his third mission trip (Acts 20:31), along with Aquila and Priscilla, and presumably Timothy, among others. Tradition asserts that John moved to Ephesus as well, after the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is thought that Paul and Timothy returned to Ephesus as Paul’s first destination upon being released from his first Roman imprisonment. Eusebius, the third century church historian, asserts that Timothy was stoned in Ephesus over arguments with those who worshipped Diana (Artemis).
Apparently Paul left Timothy in Ephesus after they had arrived there together. Paul went on to Macedonia (Thessalonica and Philippi), while Timothy was to stay and give strict orders for certain people who were teaching false doctrine to stop from doing so. This purpose for Paul’s letter was so crucial that he omits the typical beginning to his epistles, which is thanksgiving (see Galatians as well).
In v4, Paul reveals the reason for this urgent command to Timothy. Writing of false doctrine, he mentions myths and endless genealogies, which promote controversies rather than God’s work of salvation by grace through faith. Calvin says, “Vain curiosity has no limit, but continually falls from labyrinth to labyrinth.” Paul is categorizing the pre-Gnostic heresies that stem from a combination of Greek mythology and Jewish apocryphal literature. The false teachers were avoiding the proper duty of gospel stewardship, which involves edification of the saints. Perhaps they were merely looking into the depths of philosophy, astrology, and mythology, but their speculation was causing controversy and failing to edify the body of Christ; Paul judges doctrine by its fruit. They weren’t showing love toward one another; thus, the teaching of false doctrines needed to stop.
In v5, Paul explains the goal of the command Timothy was to issue – love. This love comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. With the phrase “a pure heart,” Paul is emphasizing the whole of a person, their intellect, emotion, and will (Deuteronomy 6:5-6); the heart is the center, the core, of life, both physically and spiritually. So love is to be wholehearted and complete. When he speaks of “a good conscience,” Paul is referring to the inner senses (1 Peter 3:21); the conscience is, as one commentator noted, “a developing understanding of believers’ motives and actions based on (1) a biblical worldview, (2) the indwelling Holy Spirit, and (3) a knowledge of the word of God.” So love is to be wholehearted and complete, and the one loving is to know that they are showing love for the right reason. Finally, Paul writes of “a sincere faith.” He describes faith with a seldom-used adjective, “anypokritos.” It means “sincere” or “undisguised,” and is translated in the King James Version, “unfeigned,” “without hypocrisy,” and “without dissimulation.” One commentator elaborates, “Paul uses this adjective three times in his writings to describe (1) faith (1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:5) and (2) love (2 Corinthians 6:6; cf Romans 12:9; 1 Peter 1:22). It has the connotation of genuine, real, or sincere which is opposite of ‘counterfeit’ which describes the false teachers (cf 1 Timothy 1:19-20).” To summarize, we can say that Paul is confirming in this introduction the importance of both orthodoxy and orthopraxy, for the former leads to the latter.
2) V6-11 – 6Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. 8We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9We also know that law [or that the law] is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers – and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me.
Paul begins this section (v6-7) by explaining the false teachers’ motive. They engage in meaningless talk out of pride (not out of love, which is the means and the desired end), thinking themselves capable of teaching the law, but they don’t even grasp it for themselves. They end up confidently affirming things about the law that they don’t really understand. They ought to be fruitful (teaching sound doctrine in love, which edifies and produces love), but they prove to be fruitless (speculating out of pride, which doesn’t edify or produce love). And just in case Timothy needed a refresher course on the law, especially in relation to what these false teachers were proclaiming, Paul gives that in v8-11, which is one long sentence in the Greek language.
His digression on the law implies that it is good when used properly, as a corrective rod and directional staff that reveals our sin and guides us to Christ. The law has no power over us unto condemnation once we are safe in Christ; however, the law is still useful since it reveals God’s character. And the specific sins he mentions in v9-10 mirror the actual Ten Commandments (Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:21), which align with sound doctrine. Paul concludes in v11 that one’s determination of sound teaching and understanding of the law must be in accord with the gospel message. In other words, the law doesn’t determine the meaning of the gospel; rather, the gospel helps us to see the intention of the law, which is to convict us of and restrain sin. (It is also used to point us to Christ and guide us in righteous living once we come to Christ by grace through faith for salvation.)
Finally, with the seldom-used term, “blessed God,” Paul is referring to the truth that only God – Yahweh (YHWH) – is worthy of praise, and only doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel has value. And just in case the Jehovah’s Witnesses are nodding their heads in agreement with Paul, he goes on immediately (v12) to thank Christ as equivalent to Yahweh, thereby refuting the JW’s, as the One who appeared to him on the Damascus Road and commissioned him for gospel ministry.
3) V12-17 – 12I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service. 13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
In this passage, Paul reviews his calling as a testimony to the power of the gospel at work in him. In other words, Paul himself serves as an example of the gospel at work. The first response to understanding God’s grace in salvation is thanksgiving. Notice again, thanking God and/or thanking Christ (and/or the Holy Spirit for that matter) are practically and doctrinally synonymous, much to the chagrin of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. (I can’t help but mention that the Oneness Pentecostals don’t have the same problem, since they see God and Christ as one being in a modalistic framework.) Paul is thankful to Christ for strength, for considering him faithful, and for appointing him to His service (v12). Paul was the least faithful person he could think of, at least in regard to the gospel, and that’s why he acknowledges the mercy shown him, though he was “once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man” (as Saul of Tarsus, under the law). Paul attributes that mercy to the fact that he was an ignorant unbeliever (v13). Now this statement doesn’t work when you break the speed limit; you can’t say, “But I didn’t know.” And that’s not what Paul is saying either. Rather Paul is saying that his attempt to be righteous by law keeping was ignorant. He didn’t know Jesus, and so he was condemnable; the law didn’t help him, and he needed to abandon it. But he shown mercy under the gospel, not under the law, as God’s grace, “along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (v14), abundantly poured out on him in the fullest sense.
The fruit of grace is faith and love. This realization and self-reminder causes him to evoke a “trustworthy saying” (1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8), the truth that “Christ Jesus came into the world [implying His pre-existence] to save sinners (v15). There’s a six-point sermon in that part of v15. God’s grace has no limits in terms of the degree of sinner it can save. Early on, Paul called himself “the least of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:9), and then five years later, “less than the least of all God’s people” (Ephesians 3:8); and now towards the end of his life, he considered himself to be the worst of all sinners, yet he was saved. That means anyone can be saved by trusting Christ, for it is by grace that we are saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:8). And it also means that Paul’s estimation of himself decreased as his understanding of the gospel of grace increased. John the Baptist understood this, saying, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30); and that’s what we come to understand as we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).
Paul says in v16 that it was “for this very reason” that he was saved. The gospel came to him in order that he may be an example of the great patience and willingness and ability of God to forgive. Paul was a sincere false teacher prior to conversion, and the fact that God had mercy on him, again, means that God will save all, no matter what, who come to Him in faith. It is the gospel – welcoming the Person of Jesus Christ as Lord, believing specific truths about Him, and waging war unto holy living – that brings eternal life, that saves, and that transforms. And when Paul mentions eternal life in v16, he’s thinking not of the duration of that everlasting life, but the fact that it entails life in its fullness, which is both immediate and to come, both now and later. Paul was saved by the gospel to serve, and his gracious, dependent, and undeserved ministry service reveals that he was truly saved by the gospel.
Finally, in v17, Paul issues a brief but glorious doxology (similar to 1 Timothy 6:15-16). He can’t help but praise God when he reflects on the grace shown to him in the gospel, and that’s a sign of genuine conversion. He refers to God literally as “King of the universe,” “eternal” in the sense of “God of all ages,” thinking past, present, and future, “immortal,” or literally “incorruptible,” as in the ever-living and only self-existent One, “invisible,” referring to God as Spirit, and as “the only God,” referring to the culturally unique position of the day of monotheism. Paul chooses these magisterial characteristics to describe God, and then he rightly ascribes to God “honor and glory for ever and ever.” The honor mentioned here is akin to the Hebrew word “kabod,” also seen in v11 translated “blessed.” It refers to infinite value and weight and brilliance and worthiness. And then the glory mentioned is ambiguous; it could refer to God’s righteousness, holiness, perfect character and image, or even His splendorous presence.
4) V18-20 – 18Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 20Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
In this passage, Paul returns to the theme from v3-7, not that Timothy should strive to succeed in succeeding Paul in his ministry, but that Timothy would continue faithful to Christ in his own ministry. He uses military language to get Timothy’s attention; in fact, one author defined a Christian as one who is engaged as a soldier in spiritual battle. That’s what Paul wants Timothy to recognize. He commands (“give you this instruction”) him to fight. He also speaks of prophecies given about Timothy, and commentators conclude that the elders who laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6) as an ordination rite must have also prophesied about him and his ministry at that time. Paul is charging him not to forget the importance of that ceremony, which set him apart in a tangible way.
Regarding the importance for Timothy to cling to faith and a good conscience, notice that both are also mentioned in v5. Faith here may mean both orthodoxy and orthopraxy, while a good conscience results from those. David, after cutting the corner off Saul’s robe in the cave, was stricken by a guilty conscience; he knew, from his faith in God, he shouldn’t have done that, and he immediately repented (1 Samuel 24:4-6). The refusal to recognize and repent leads rightly to excommunication (v20). It appears that Paul has excommunicated (handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme) Hymenaeus (see 2 Timothy 2:16-17) and Alexander for the sake of discipline unto recognition of their sin and timely repentance. And here we hold out hope that they may yet return to godliness, but when Paul uses a similar metaphor in 1 Timothy 4:2 of the false teachers, there appears to be no hope for their restoration. Timothy is to note the shipwreck some have made of their lives by abandoning faith.
Footnotes
- 1:9 Or that the law
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.