1 Timothy 1:3-6 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:1-4

Here is, I. The inscription of the epistle, from whom it is sent: Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, constituted an apostle by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ. His credentials were unquestionable. He had not only a commission, but a commandment, not only from God our Saviour, but from Jesus Christ: he was a preacher of the gospel of Christ, and a minister of the kingdom of Christ. Observe, God is our Saviour.?Jesus Christ, who is our hope. Observe, Jesus Christ is a... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:5-11

Here the apostle instructs Timothy how to guard against the judaizing teachers, or others who mingled fables and endless genealogies with the gospel. He shows the use of the law, and the glory of the gospel. I. He shows the end and uses of the law: it is intended to promote love, for love is the fulfilling of the law, Rom. 13:10. 1. The end of the commandment is charity, or love, Rom. 13:8. The main scope and drift of the divine law are to engage us to the love of God and one another; and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

1:3-7 I am writing to you now to reinforce the plea that I already made to you, when I urged you to stay in Ephesus while I went to Macedonia, that you might pass on the order to some of the people there, not to teach erroneous novelties, nor to give their attention to idle tales and endless genealogies, which only succeed in producing empty speculations rather than the effective administration of God's people, which should be based on faith. The instruction which I gave you is designed to... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

But this danger came with an even greater threat from the Greek side. At this time in history there was developing a Greek line of thought which came to be known as Gnosticism. We find it specially in the background of the Pastoral Epistles, the Letter to the Colossians and the Fourth Gospel. Gnosticism was entirely speculative. It began with the problem of the origin of sin and of suffering. If God is altogether good, he could not have created them. How then did they get into the world? The... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

The danger of Gnosticism was not only intellectual. It had serious moral and ethical consequences. We must remember that its basic belief was that matter was essentially evil and spirit alone was good. That issued in two opposite results. (i) If matter is evil, the body is evil; and the body must be despised and held down. Therefore Gnosticism could and did issue in a rigid asceticism. It forbade men to marry, for the instincts of the body were to be suppressed. It laid down strict food... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

In this passage there is a clear picture of the mind of the dangerous heretic. There is a kind of heresy in which a man differs from orthodox belief because he has honestly thought things out and cannot agree with it. He does not take any pride in being different; he is different simply because he has to be. Such a heresy does not spoil a man's character; it may in fact enhance his character, because he has really thought out his faith and is not living on a second-hand orthodoxy. But that is... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

As this passage draws the picture of the thinker who disturbs the Church, it also draws the picture of the really Christian thinker. He, too, has five characteristics. (i) His thinking is based on faith. Faith means taking God at his word; it means believing that he is as Jesus proclaimed him to be. That is to say, the Christian thinker begins from the principle that Jesus Christ has given the full revelation of God. (ii) His thinking is motivated by love. Paul's whole purpose is to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:3

As I besought thee to abide, still at Ephesus ,.... Where it seems he now was, being left here by the apostle, and where he was desired by him to continue: when I went into Macedonia ; not when he went his first journey there, for Timothy was then along with him, Acts 16:3 and so he seems to be in his journey through it, in Acts 20:3 . It may be this may refer to a journey which Luke has given no account of: that thou mightest charge some, that they teach no other doctrine ; than... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:4

Neither give heed to fables ,.... Old wives' fables, 1 Timothy 4:7 or Jewish fables, Titus 1:14 the traditions of the elders; anything that was not true; or if it was, yet idle, vain, trifling, and unprofitable: and endless genealogies ; not of deities, as the Theogony of the Gentiles, or the ten Sephirot or numbers in the Cabalistic tree of the Jews, or the Aeones of the Gnostics and Valentinians, which are said to proceed from one another, as some have thought; but both the public... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:5

Now the end of the commandment is charity ,.... By the "commandment" may be meant, the order given to Timothy, or the charge committed to him; see 1 Timothy 1:18 to forbid the teaching of another doctrine, and to avoid fables and endless genealogies; the end and design of which was to cultivate peace, to maintain and secure brotherly love, which cannot long subsist, when a different doctrine is introduced and received; and to promote godly edification, which is brought about by charity or... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:1-4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:5-11

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:3-7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:5

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