1 Timothy 1:1-2 - Homilies By T. Croskery

As this Epistle was designed to bear an official character, it was necessary that its address should set forth the authority under which the apostle gave his instructions concerning Church order and Christian work.

I. THE APOSTLE 'S AUTHORITY . "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior, and Christ Jesus, who is our Hope." The apostleship was his, not merely because he was called to it ( Romans 1:1 ), or destined to it by the will of God ( 1 Corinthians 1:1 ), but according to express Divine commandment.

1. It was the commandment of God our Savior , evidently in allusion to the command of the Spirit at Antioch, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have appointed them" ( Acts 13:2 ), but more distinctly to his earlier call ( Acts 26:16 ), as "a vessel of election" ( Acts 9:15 ), to preach the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles. As the things of the Father are the Son's, so the things of the Son are the Spirit's. Thus God—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—gave him his original appointment. Thus the salvation would be seen to be of God's purpose and agency; for he is "God our Savior."

2. It was also the commandment of Christ Jesus , our Hope . Therefore his ordinary title is "an apostle of Jesus Christ." The aged apostle, in the near prospect of death, dwells on the thought of Christ as his one blessed hope. He is our Hope:

He is our very "Hope of glory" ( Colossians 1:27 ).

II. THE APOSTLE 'S GREETING . "To Timothy, my true child in the faith."

1. His early life . Timothy was a native of Lycaonia in Asia Minor, probably of Lystra, one of its towns. His father was a pagan, his mother a pious Jewess, named Eunice, who trained him early in the principles of true religion. It is an interesting fact that the apostle's more intimate companions were Gentiles, or with Gentile blood in their veins—Timothy, Titus, Luke, and even Demas.

2. His relationship to the Apostle Paul .

(a) There was great personal affection between Timothy and Paul.

(b) There was "no one like minded" with Timothy who could be brought to take care of individual Churches.

(c) Timothy was a constant organ of personal communication between the apostle and individual Churches.

(d) He seems to have been of a soft and, perhaps, timid temperament.

(e) He was very abstemious in his habits ( 1 Timothy 5:23 ).

3. The salutation . "Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord."

(a) Grace—a fresh discovery of Divine favor, an increase of grace, a fuller enjoyment of the gifts of the Spirit.

(b) Mercy—a fresh application of the pardoning mercy of God in Christ. It occurs only here and in the Second Epistle to Timothy suggested, perhaps, by the nearness of his own death, and the increasing difficulties of his last days; for he hopes that Timothy may share in the mercy he has sought for himself.

(c) Peace—peace of conscience through the blood of Christ, so necessary "to keep heart and mind" in the midst of the perturbations and distractions of his service at Ephesus.

1 Timothy 1:3 , 1 Timothy 1:4 . — The object of Timothy's continued sojourn at Ephesus.

I. CONSIDER THE TENDER CARE WHICH THE APOSTLE TAKES OF THE EPHESIAN CHURCH , "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia, so do I beseech thee now that thou charge some that they teach no other doctrine." As Timothy was with the apostle in his first journey through Macedonia ( Acts 16:3 , Acts 16:12 ; Acts 20:3 , Acts 20:4 ), this must refer to a later journey, occurring after the first imprisonment at Rome.

1. Mark the affectionate style of his address— "I besought thee;" whereas to Titus he said, "I gave thee command" ( Titus 1:5 ). Timothy received no authoritative injunction, but merely a tender request that he would prolong his stay so as to check the waywardness of false teachers who had risen to mar the simplicity of the gospel.

2. Mark the tendency of the purest Churches to be spoiled by false doctrine . The apostle had foretold the rise of a separatist party when he was addressing the elders of Ephesus at Miletus ( Acts 20:29 , Acts 20:30 ). They may have been few—"some;" but if they were like "the grievous wolves" of the prediction, they might succeed in "drawing away disciples after them, speaking perverse things."

II. THE CHARGE WHICH THE APOSTLE GIVES TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE FALSE TEACHERS .

1. It was a charge that they should teach no doctrine different from the gospel . "That they teach no other doctrine."

2. It was a charge that the errorists should give no heed to fables and genealogies .

3. Consider the ground upon which the apostle condemns this injurious teaching . "Inasmuch as they minister questions, rather than the dispensation of God which is in faith."

(a) God's dispensation is simply his method of salvation, as unfolded in the gospel ( Ephesians 1:10 ), with which the Apostle Paul was specially entrusted ( 1 Corinthians 4:1 ).

(b) This dispensation has its principle in kith; unlike the fables and genealogies, which might exercise the mind or the imagination, but not the heart. Faith is the sphere of action upon which the dispensation turns.

(a) This rabbinical teaching, if allowed to enter into the training of Gentile congregations, would cause Christianity to shrink into the narrow limits of a mere Jewish sect. Judaism might thus become the grave of Christianity.

(b) It would despiritualize the Christian Church, and rob it of its "first love," and prepare the way to bitter apostasy.—T.C.

1 Timothy 1:5-7 . — Nature of the charge connected with the fulfillment of God's dispensation.

In resisting these false teachers, Timothy must remember the true scope and design of the practical teaching which sets forth the scheme of Divine salvation for man.

I. THE END OF THIS TEACHING IS LOVE .

1. The teaching , as opposed to " fables and genealogies ," is of the nature of a solemn charge or practical exhortation . It is not

2. The end or aim of it is love . "The end of the charge is love." It is love to men, not to God; for the charge stands in contrast with "the questionings which minister strifes" ( 2 Timothy 2:23 ). Practical religious teaching has a tendency to unite men in love.

II. THE NATURE OF THE LOVE WHICH IS RELATED TO THIS GOSPEL CHARGE . It is "love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." This is the threefold foundation on which it rests.

1. It springs out of a pure heart as its inward seat .

The love springing from such a heart must be "without dissimulation;" for it is loving with a pure heart fervently.

2. It springs from a good conscience .

3. It springs from faith unfeigned .

4. Mark the order of grace here followed . In the order of nature, faith must be placed first. The apostle follows the order of practical working. Furthest down in man's inner nature is the deep well of a purified heart; then the love, as it comes forth into exercise, must be arrested on its way by a good conscience, to receive restraint and regulation; then, to sustain the vigor of love in its continuous exercise, there must be faith unfeigned, grasping the promises of God, and in intimate relation to things not seen.

III. THE EVIL EFFECTS OF SWERVING FROM THIS THREEFOLD FOUNDATION OF LOVE . "From which things some having swerved have turned aside to vain talking.

1. The persons referred to had evidently belonged , if they did not still belong to , the Church at Ephesus . Timothy could not otherwise have exercised authority over them.

2. The swerve was moral in its nature , but it would have intellectual effects of an injurious character. How often does the heart determine the bias of the mind!

3. Its actual result was a persistent habit of vain talking . It was empty babbling, without sense or profit—about mere trifles, to the neglect of weightier matters of doctrine.

IV. THE PRESUMPTUOUS IGNORANCE OF THIS PARTY , "Desiring to be teachers of the Law, not understanding either what they say, or concerning what things they confidently affirm."

1. It is no new fact in life to find the least qualified the most ready to undertake the task of instruction . They were ignorant and unlearned men , who were only able to wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.

2. Their ignorance was of the most unquestionable character ; for they neither understood their own averments or arguments, as to their nature and drift, nor did they comprehend the things concerning which they were so ready to give their foolish but deliberate judgment.

1 Timothy 1:8 , 1 Timothy 1:9 .—The nature and design of the Law.

"We know that the Law is good, if a man use it lawfully." This passage contains the last recorded utterance of the apostle concerning the Law, and of which he speaks with all the conscious authority of an apostle. He asserts the goodness of the Law—the moral Law, not the ceremonial, which was now disannulled, for the context refers expressly to the precepts of the Decalogue—and this goodness is manifest if you keep in view the moral end for which it was given. Perhaps the apostle may have had in view the lax moral practice of the errorists at Ephesus.

I. THE LAWFUL USE OF THE LAW . Scripture sets forth its design in plain language.

1. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ . ( Galatians 3:24 .) Thus "Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness" ( Romans 10:4 ).

2. But it only brings us to Christ as it reveals to us our imperfections and our sins . "For by the Law is the knowledge of sin" ( Romans 3:20 ). It was, indeed, "added because of transgressions" ( Galatians 3:19 ). The Law shows us our sinfulness, and drives us to the Savior. It thus "shuts us up to faith" ( Galatians 3:23 ).

II. THE UNLAWFUL USE OF THE LAW .

1. To make it the occasion of endless logomachies— of vain talking, of "strivings about the Law."

2. To seek justification by obedience to its precepts .

3. To strive for the attainment of holiness by a use of the Law , interpreted , not in its plain sense , but with meanings imposed upon it by mystical allegorizings and theosophic culture. The errorists at Ephesus were no Pharisaic legalists or mere Judaists, but persons ignorant of the true nature and design of the Law; who abstained from things lawful and good, and were yet morally corrupt ( Titus 1:10 ; Revelation 2:9 , Revelation 2:14 , Revelation 2:20 , Revelation 2:24 ).

III. GROUND OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ITS LAWFUL AND UNLAWFUL USE . "Knowing this, that the Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless"

1. The Law is not made for a righteous man .

(a) Because the Law had relation to

( α ) Adam in innocence, who had the Law written in his heart;

( β ) to Abraham, who was a righteous man;

( χ ) to David, who was a righteous man;

( δ ) and to all the Old Testament saints;

( ε ) it had even relation to Jesus Christ himself,

who was "made under the Law"—the very "Law that was in his heart" ( Psalms 40:8 ), of which he was "the end for righteousness" ( Romans 10:4 ), because he came to fulfill it ( Matthew 5:16 ).

(b) Because the Law has relation to believers under the Christian dispensation; for this very apostle enforces the obligation to obey it, specifying six of its enactments ( Romans 13:8 , Romans 13:9 ; Ephesians 6:1 ). James says that believers who show respect of persons become "transgressors of the Law." Therefore, when the apostle says "the Law is not made for a righteous man," he does not mean that the righteous man is no longer bound to obey it. He delights in it; he actually serves it ( Romans 7:25 ). If any should say that the apostle means that the righteous do not need the Law to direct them, we answer that they might as well say they do not need the Scripture to direct them, as the Law is already in their hearts. How is a righteous man to know sin but by the Law? "For by the Law is the knowledge of sin."

(a) The Law was not made because of righteous, but because of wicked, men. "It was added because of transgressions." It is similar to the statement of the apostle concerning the nine graces of the Spirit—"against such there is no Law" ( Galatians 5:23 ). The Law does not, cannot condemn, any one of these graces.

(b) The Law was never made for the righteous man in the sense in which it was made for the unrighteous man, to condemn him; for the righteous man is redeemed from the curse of the Law ( Galatians 3:13 ). Its penalty cannot affect him; its burden does not weigh him down; its terrors do not bring him into bondage. On the contrary, he delights in it as he serves it. Thus, while in one sense the righteous man delights in it and serves it, he is in another sense "not under the Law, but under grace" ( Romans 6:14 ). It may be further observed that if Adam had continued in his original righteousness, the Law of Sinai would never have been given to man. "It was added because of transgressions."

2. The Law is made for the wicked . They are described according to the two tables of the Decalogue. Those in the first table go in pairs.

(a) sins against the fifth commandment: "smiters of fathers and smiters of mothers;"

(b) sins against the sixth: "man-slayers;"

(c) sins against the seventh: "fornicators, sodomites;"

(d) sins against the eighth: "men-stealers"—this special form of transgression being selected because the theft of a man himself is a far more serious offence than the theft of his goods;

(e) sins against the ninth: "for liars, for perjurers"—the one being a great advance in enormity upon the other.

(f) Strange that the apostle does not enumerate the tenth, which operated upon himself so powerfully ( Romans 7:7 ). Perhaps it was designed by the inclusive reference no longer to the committers of sin, but to the sins themselves: "And if there be any other thing that is contrary to the sound instruction, according to the gospel of the glory of God which was committed to my trust." This language implies

1 Timothy 1:12 , 1 Timothy 1:13 . — Ejaculation of thankfulness for this high trust.

Though he appears to turn aside for a moment from the false teachers, he is still carrying out his design to inspire Timothy with a proper view of the true nature and importance of the gospel.

I. THE SUBJECT - MATTER OF HIS THANKSGIVING . "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, that enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to the ministry."

1. The Lord gave him strength for his work . "He enabled me." He gave him all his intellectual abilities, all his capacity for winning men to the truth, all his firmness, endurance, and patience in preaching the gospel.

2. The Lord gave him his appoint-melt to the ministry .

II. HIS THANKSGIVING IS GREATLY ENHANCED BY THE THOUGHT OF HIS DEEP UNWORTHINESS . "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a doer of outrage." These are words of bitter self-accusation.

1. He had been a blasphemer . He spoke evil himself of the Name of Jesus, and compelled others to follow his example ( Acts 26:11 ). This was the highest sin that could be committed against God.

2. He had been a persecutor . "I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women" ( Acts 22:4 ). He "breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" ( Acts 9:1 ). He not only spoke evil of Christ, but persecuted Christ in his members.

3. He had been a doer of outrage . Not content merely with reproachful words, he broke out into deeds of violence. His conduct was contumelious and injurious in the last degree.—T.C.

1 Timothy 1:13 . — The Lord's mercy contrasted with his own want of it.

Great as his sin had been, he became a subject of Divine mercy.

I. THE LORD 'S MERCY TO HIM . "I obtained mercy."

1. The mercy included the pardon of his great wickedness . It was mercy unsought for as well as unmerited.

2. It was mercy with the grace of apostleship added to it .

II. THE GROUND AND REASON OF THIS MERCY . "Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."

1. The true ground of mercy is nothing whatever in man , but the compassion of God himself ( Titus 3:5 ).

2. The apostle does not signify that he had any claim to God ' s mercy , for he calls himself in the next verse "the very chief of sinners."

3. He does not mean to lessen the enormity of his guilt , but sets it forth, in all its attending circumstances, as not being such as excluded him from the pale of mercy, because he had not sinned against his own convictions.

1 Timothy 1:14 . — The super-abounding grace of the Lord to the apostle.

He now explains how fully he received of God's mercy in spite of his unbelief.

I. THE MERCY OF THE LORD OVERFLOWED IN GRACE ON GOD 'S SIDE . "But the grace of our Lord super-abounded." His salvation was of free grace. He had done nothing to deserve it, but rather everything to forfeit his claim upon it. It was grace first that made him a Christian, and then made him an apostle.

II. THE MERCY OF THE LORD OVERFLOWED IN FAITH AND LOVE ON MAN 'S SIDE . "With faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

1. These two graces are the fruits of grace . When grace abounds, they will necessarily abound.

2. Faith stands in opposition to his old unbelief . It is that grace which receives every blessing from Christ, and gives him all the glory, bringing peace, joy, and comfort into the heart, and ending in eternal life.

3. Love stands in opposition to his former rage and cruelty . He now has love to God and man.

4. His faith and love find their true spring in Jesus Christ , as in him all fullness dwells.—T.C.

1 Timothy 1:15 .—The summary of the gospel.

This statement is grounded on his own experience of God's saving mercy.

I. THE TRUTH AND CERTAINTY OF THE GOSPEL REVELATION . "Faithful is the Word, and worthy of all acceptation." Five times does this phrase occur in the pastoral Epistles. It was a sort of formula or watchword of the early Christian Churches.

1. The doctrine of salvation is entitled to all credit . It is certain that Christ came to save sinners.

2. It is to be received by all sorts of people , with heartiness and gladness , as a doctrine suitable to the necessities of all men . With what zeal it ought, therefore, to be set before men!

II. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE GOSPEL REVELATION . "That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."

1. This language implies Christ ' s pre-existence . He left the glory which he had with the Father before the world was ( John 16:28 ).

2. It implies that he came voluntarily of his own free will . It is true that God's love is manifest in the sending of Jesus, but Christ's love is equally manifest in his advent. It was necessary that he should come into the world, because he could not otherwise suffer and die in our stead. The fact that he came as man in the fullness of time implies that the mere forth-putting of spiritual power from heaven did not suffice. A man's work had to be done that God's mercy might reach us.

3. It suggests the true design of his coming . "To save sinners."

(a) The apostle speaks of himself in the present tense, not in the past, for he still feels himself to be but a believing sinner.

(b) The language recalls his frequent allusions to his persecutions of the Church of God. God had forgiven him, but he could never forgive himself. He places himself in the very front rank of transgressors because of his share in the devastation of the Church.

(c) The language implies his deep humility. It was an element in his spiritual greatness that he had such a sense of his own sin. He calls himself elsewhere "less than the least of all saints" ( Ephesians 3:8 ).

(d) It is well to be mindful of our sin in a way of godly sorrow, as a means of keeping us humble and thankful for the rich grace of the gospel dispensed to us.—T.C.

1 Timothy 1:16 , 1 Timothy 1:17 . — The apostle an example of the Divine long-suffering to all ages.

There was an economical purpose in the salvation of the Apostle Paul.

I. THE EXERCISE OF THE LORD 'S LONG - SUFFERING TOWARD THE APOSTLE . "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy."

1. The mercy takes the form of long-suffering ; for the Lord bore long with the ways of this fierce persecutor of the saints, when he might have cut his career short in judgment.

2. It took the form of positive deliverance from guilt and sin and death . How often "the long-suffering of the Lord is to usward salvation" ( 2 Peter 3:9 )!

II. THE DESIGN OF THIS REMARKABLE EXHIBITION OF MERCY . "That in me as the chief Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting."

1. The long-suffering is exercised by the Lord himself . It is he who is wounded in the persecutions of his members. "Saul, Saul! why persecutest thou me?" Yet it is he who shows mercy.

2. The greatest persecutors may not despair of mercy . The Lord will tarry long with them if peradventure they may repent and turn to him.

3. The case of Paul— " the chief of sinners " —ought to encourage sinners of every class and sort to exercise hope and trust in the Lord , as well as to meet the misgivings of those who think they have sinned too much to warrant the expectation that the Lord will have mercy upon them.

4. Trust in Jesus Christ necessarily brings with it eternal life . There is nothing needed but faith for this purpose. "He that hath the Son hath life."

III. ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE AND THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR HIS MERCY .

1. Consider the titles by which God is addressed . "Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God."

2. Consider the doxology . "Unto him be honor and glory for ever and ever."

1 Timothy 1:18-20 .—The solemn charge to Timothy.

The apostle here returns to the duty of directing Timothy.

I. IT IS NECESSARY FOR EVEN GOOD MINISTERS TO BE REMINDED OF THEIR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES . "This charge I commit to thee, my son Timothy."

1. The charge may have indirectly alluded to the commands already given , but refers immediately to the good warfare in which he is to war as the fulfillment of his calling .

2. It is committed to him like a precious deposit to be guarded and kept . How anxious the apostle is that Timothy should be faithful to his position and his responsibilities!

II. IT IS A SOLEMN THING TO INVOKE THE MEMORY OF PROPHECIES OR PIOUS ANTICIPATIONS IN AID OF A DIFFICULT CAREER . "According to the prophecies that went before on thee, that by them thou mightest war a good warfare."

1. The allusion is to prophecies uttered probably at his ordination by the prophets of the Church , foretelling his future zeal and success . Such prophetic intimations were not uncommon in the primitive Church. We trace them at Jerusalem ( Acts 11:27 , Acts 11:28 ), at Antioch ( Acts 13:1 ), at Corinth ( 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 .), at Caesarea ( Acts 21:8-10 ).

2. Such prophecies would act with a stimulating , self-protective power upon a temperament like that of Timothy , inclined , perhaps , to softness and timidity . They would encourage him in the midst of his present perils and trials at Ephesus.

3. It is a serious thing to disappoint the hopes of the pious .

III. THE PURPOSE CONTEMPLATED BY THE COMMAND AS WELL AS ITS IMMEDIATE SUBJECT . "That by them"—that is, in virtue of them—"thou mightest war a good warfare." The figure is a familiar one with the apostle ( Ephesians 6:12 ; 2 Corinthians 10:3 , 2 Corinthians 10:4 ; 2 Timothy 2:3 ).

1. Christian life , and above all that of a minister , is a good warfare .

2. It is to be carried on

IV. THE WEAPONS IN THIS WARFARE ARE FAITH AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE . "Holding faith and a good conscience. The two must go together, but faith must necessarily go first. You cannot have a good conscience without faith, nor faith in its reality without a good conscience. There must be faith in your teaching, conscience in your actions.

1. Faith . There is "the shield of faith." It is not the mere doctrine of faith, but the grace of faith. It is by this faith we overcome

A mere intellectual belief could not produce such results; for "the devils believe and tremble."

2. A good conscience .

V. THE WOEFUL SHIPWRECK OF CONSCIENCE . "Which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck." The figure is a nautical one. When the cargo or ballast of a good conscience is tossed overboard, the ship becomes unmanageable, and is easily shipwrecked. "Some" at Ephesus resolutely stifled the admonitions of conscience, and thus turned faith into a mere matter of speculation, with no influence whatever upon their practice.

1. These persons made shipwreck of the doctrine of faith; for they held that the resurrection is past already ( 2 Timothy 2:18 ).

2. If they made shipwreck of the grace of faith , it may not have been a total shipwreck ; for the discipline imposed upon them by the apostle was for the saving of the spirit, "not for the destruction of the flesh" ( 2 Corinthians 5:5 ).

3. The apostle ' s method of dealing with these off riders . "Of whom are Hymeaeus trod Alexander; whom I delivered unto Satan, that they may be taught not to blaspheme."

(a) a solemn excommunication from the Church, carried out no doubt by the Church at the apostle's command; and

(b) the infliction of bodily disease. Cases of the exercise of this terrible apostolic power are those of Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas, and the incestuous person at Corinth.