1 Timothy 1:5-17

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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Here the apostle, I. Returns thanks to Jesus Christ for putting him into the ministry. Observe, 1. It is Christ's work to put men into the ministry, Acts 26:16, 17. God condemned the false prophets among the Jews in these words, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied, Jer. 23:21. Ministers, properly speaking, cannot make themselves ministers; for it is Christ's work, as king and head, prophet and teacher, of his church. 2. Those whom he... 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

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:8-11

1:8-11 We know that the law is good, if a man uses it legitimately, in the awareness that the law was not instituted to deal with good men, but with the lawless and the undisciplined, the irreverent and the sinners, the impious and the polluted, those who have sunk so low that they strike their fathers and their mothers, murderers, fornicators, homosexuals, slave-dealers and kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and all those who are guilty of anything which is the reverse of sound teaching, that... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:8-11

In an ideal state, when the Kingdom comes, there will be no necessity for any law other than the love of God within a man's heart; but as things are, the case is very different. And here Paul sets out a catalogue of sins which the law must control and condemn. The interest of the passage is that it shows us the background against which Christianity grew up. This list of sins is in fact a description of the world in which the early Christians lived and moved and had their being. Nothing shows... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Timothy 1:8-11

Into this world came the Christian message, and this passage tells us four things about it. (i) It is sound teaching. The word used for sound (hugiainein, Greek #5198 ) literally means health-giving. Christianity is an ethical religion. It demands from a man not only the keeping of certain ritual laws, but the living of a good life. E. F. Brown draws a comparison between it and Islam; a Mohammedan may be regarded as a very holy man if he observes certain ceremonial rituals, even though... read more

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