1 Timothy 1:1-20 - Homiletics

St. Paul was about to commit extensive powers in the Church to Timothy. It was therefore necessary that lie should define clearly the source of his own authority. This he does very distinctly. He was an apostle according to the commandment of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence his power to delegate authority to his son Timothy, and hence the duty of the Church to submit to Timothy's ruling. Among the powers committed to Timothy was that of ordaining bishops and deacons by the laying on of hands ( 1 Timothy 3:1-16 . and 1 Timothy 5:22 , compared with 2 Timothy 2:2 ), which seems to give us very clearly the doctrine of apostolical succession. For it should be observed that this succession is alone consistent with what St. Paul here writes. If the power to appoint and ordain their ministers had been vested by Christ's ordinance in the congregation, St. Paul would have been violating the rights and liberties of the Church by sending Timothy to do that which really belonged to the Ephesian congregation to do. But the theory that the government of the Church is in the hands of those who have received their commission by succession from the apostles is in exact accord with what St. Paul here writes to Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:3-11 , 1 Timothy 1:19 , 1 Timothy 1:20 .—The heretic.

We have in these verses some of the characteristics of heresy very graphically portrayed. First, there is the teaching of other or different doctrine from that which they had received. The Fathers always lay stress upon novelty as characteristic of heresy, while it was characteristic of the Church to teach the old truths which had been banded down to them by those who went before them. And they are right. "I delivered unto you that which I also received," is the spirit of sound teaching. To invent new doctrines, and to preach things of one's own choosing, is the spirit of heresy. Then, again, it is characteristic of heresy to start curious questions, not with a view to real edification in the faith of Jesus Christ, but for the sake of displaying subtlety in disputing, and keeping up controversy and a war of words, and factious partisanship. The unity of the Church, and loving agreement amongst the brethren, is the last thing that heretics think of. Puffed up with self-importance, desirous of being leaders, despising others, treating with contempt all who will not follow them, they turn the Church into a bear-garden, and substitute vain jangling for the words of truth and soberness. Especially is arrogance combined with ignorance a leading feature in the heretic; and in his method of handling Divine truth he makes a display of both. Another feature may be noted, as set forth in 1 Timothy 1:19 , viz. the divorce between conscience and faith. The heretic handles the things of God as matter for mere intellectual contests, apart from reverence and godly fear. He disputes about God and about Christ, and thinks it unimportant whether his own heart is pure or impure. He walks in open disobedience to God's commandments, and yet thinks himself competent to judge of God's nature and attributes. He darkens his own soul by sin, and yet dares to approach the mystery of godliness. Lastly, it is characteristic of the heretic that he rarely, if ever, repents, and returns to the faith which he denied. Hymenaeus and Alexander, in spite of the godly discipline ministered to them for their correction, are still found subverting the faith of many, and withstanding the apostle of Jesus Christ, in the latest mention of them. They were in this respect like their brethren in heresy, Simon Magus, Cerinthus, Marcion, Valentinus, Montanus, Manes, Arius, Socinus, and many more. The shipwreck of faith is, for the most part, total and irremediable.

1 Timothy 1:12-18 .—The apostle.

The character of the apostle and true minister of the gospel stands out here in striking and glorious contrast with that of the heretic. Called by the grace of God to the ministry of the Word, not self-appointed; enabled by the grace of God, not trusting in his own cleverness; seeking the glory of God and the salvation of souls, not aiming at his own self-exaltation;—the apostle and minister of Christ moves altogether in a different plane from the heretical leader. A humble sense of his own unworthiness, instead of arrogant self-conceit; a lively apprehension of the mercy and love of God to his own soul, instead of a self-sufficient reliance upon his own intellect; a faithful delivery of the truth committed to him, instead of a presumptuous fabrication of new doctrines; and a glowing faith and love, with a growing apprehension of the glory of the central truths of the gospel, instead of a vain reaching after new things, and an itching for exciting fables—mark off the true servant of Christ from the pretentious heretic by unmistakable distinctions. Well were it for the Church if these characteristics of the true bishop of souls were more distinctly visible in all her ministers. Questions, and strifes of words, and fables, and speculations, which tend to division more than to unity, may be found in the teaching and writing of professing Churchmen, as well as in those of avowed heretics. Let "the faithful saying" hold its supreme place in the heart and in the teaching of the Church's ministers, and the unity as well as the holiness of the Church will be proportionately increased. Its strength to resist heresy will be increased in the same degree.