1 Timothy Chapter 1

The book of 1 Timothy can best be summed up in 1 Timothy 1:11-12.  The glorious gospel was committed to Paul’s trust, as it is committed to each of us when we hear it.  How we respond to it will determine the effect of the gospel in our lives.  The simple gospel is stated in 1 Timothy 1:15, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  He bore the penalty for our sins so that we would not have to be punished for our sins.  When we believe it, God gives us His free gift of righteousness or right-standing in Christ Jesus.  We must hold on to the gospel and not depart from the faith.  There are two departures from the faith mentioned in 1 Timothy.  We can let go of the truth of the gospel and go back to the Old Testament Law.  This will produce condemnation in us, even after we are born again.  The other departure from the faith is to reject holiness and use grace as an excuse to sin.  This will cause pain and harm to us and those around us.  It will cause people to reject us and our testimony of God’s grace.  This is the very same topic that Jesus addressed in the parable of the sower and the seed.  The seed is the gospel.  The four types of ground represent how we respond to the gospel.  These same issues are addressed in almost every epistle that Paul wrote.  Paul sent this letter to Timothy, his son in the faith and his fellow minister.  Timothy was the pastor of the church at Ephesus.

1 Timothy 1:1-5 “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. To Timothy, a true son in the faith.  Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.  As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather godly edification which is in faith.  Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith….”

The goal of the teaching of the gospel is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.  The gospel is the Good News that Jesus died for the sins of our entire lifetime.  When we trust in Jesus, we receive the free gift of righteousness apart from any works we have done or will do.  This produces love for God in our hearts.  We demonstrate this love to others from a good conscience.  A good conscience according to Hebrews 13:13, means that we live honorably in all things.  We live this way not to gain favor with God.  We have God’s favor through what Jesus has done.  We want to have a good conscience before men so that they will receive our message of grace.  Our goal is godly edification or godliness which is in faith, or stemming from faith that our sins have been forgiven before God.

1 Timothy 1:6-11 “from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.  But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”  

This is the first departure from the faith mentioned in this epistle.  People had turned aside from preaching and believing the gospel and turned back to preaching the Old Testament law.  This is a reference to the stony ground in the parable of the sower.  This turning aside from grace back to law is the falling away or stumbling at the word of righteousness that Jesus discussed in the parable of the sower.  Notice that the law is not made for a righteous person.  The Old Testament law was given to convict us of sin.  The law is good when it convicts us of sin so we realize we need a Savior.  When we hear that Jesus bore our sins and call upon Jesus, our Savior, the law is no longer needed for us now that we have received the free gift of righteousness in Jesus.   If we then turn back to the law to somehow be made right with God again, we have turned aside or fallen away from the gospel of grace.

1 Timothy 1:11-16 “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I did it ignorantly in unbelief.  And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.  However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.”

The glorious gospel was committed to Paul’s trust.  He first had to be faithful with the gospel in his own life.  He had to hold on to the gospel truth that Jesus came into the world to save sinners by bearing our punishment on the cross and allow it to cleanse his conscience from his past life as a blasphemer and persecutor of the church.  As he was faithful in this, God was able to put Him in the ministry to share the gospel with others.  As Paul was faithful to share the gospel of Jesus, God enabled or empowered him and his ministry with the miraculous power of God.  This is the essence of ministry.  As we are faithful to share the gospel that God has committed to our trust, He empowers us for ministry.  Notice the phrase, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."  We see the same exact phrase in 1 Timothy 4:7-9 in regards to holiness.  "But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.  For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance."   Paul is saying that grace not only forgives our sins but teaches us to walk in godliness.  Both aspects of grace are worthy of all acceptance and should be taught.

1 Timothy 1:17-20 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.  This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have made shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

Timothy was to fight the fight of faith.  This is the good warfare Paul described.  We must hold on to righteousness by faith apart from our works.  This is the gospel.  This is grace.  We must have faith in Christ and a good conscience before men by living in holiness.  If we reject walking in holiness, our faith will be shipwrecked.  This does not mean that we will lose our salvation and go to hell.  It means that our lives will suffer pain and shipwreck as we sin and suffer the earthly consequences of that sin.  Two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, apparently were born again but rejected walking in holiness.  Paul turned them out of the church so that their ideas would not infect everyone else.  They were turned over to Satan to suffer the earthly consequences of sin.  Paul did this in hopes that they would come to their senses and stop sinning, not so that they would lose their salvation, as some have taught from passages like this.  This is very similar to what happened in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.  Christians who reject walking in holiness are like the seed sown among thorns that Jesus described in the parable of the sower.  They are born again, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires or lusts of the flesh choke out the word and they are unfruitful.  They experience pain instead of the fruit of love, joy and peace that they are supposed to inherit.

In 1 Timothy 6:20, Paul told Timothy to guard what was committed to his trust.  The gospel was committed to Timothy, just as it is committed to us.  How we respond to the gospel, both initially and over the long term, will determine how much fruit that the seed of the gospel bears in our hearts and lives. 

Keith Oliver