1 Timothy Verse by Verse

Session 1 | 1 Timothy 1:1-3

Introducing Timothy

• The first mention of Timothy is given in Acts 16:1-2.

• Derbe was the last place Paul visited on his previous journey.

• Coming from Antioch, Derbe would have been the first city at which Paul and Silas arrived. Lystra was beyond Derbe, about 50 miles.

• In Derbe, Paul had preached the saving gospel (Acts 14:20-21) and had taught many (Acts 14:21). It is likely that Timothy was one of these that he (along with Barnabas) had taught.

• Timothy was considered Jewish by the Jews yet had been raised as a gentile.

• It was well reported (Acts 16:2) in the region that this uncircumcised Jew was a “rising star” in the assembly.

• It appears (from context) that the assemblies would have been fine with an uncircumcised gentile, but Timothy was not that, and this caused the very problems that the intentions of the Jerusalem assembly were trying to avoid.

• Note: the KJV uses Timotheus in some places and Timothy at other times. This is nothing more than orthographic practices of the time.

• An important timeline.

• The first recorded testimony of the Gospel of Grace is found in Acts 13:38-39. This was spoken in Antioch in Pisidia, approximately 45AD.

• The Jerusalem Conference, at which the determination was made that the Gospel of Grace was a legitimate revelation from God, was held approximately 50-52AD.

• Paul’s meeting at Lystra and Derbe, where he met Timothy, was approximately 52-53 AD, not long from the Jerusalem Conference. Assuming Timothy was a young man (20-25?), he would have been born during the time of Christ, and before the time of Paul. Therefore, when Timothy was a child (2 Tim. 3:16), the scriptures that he was taught by his mother and grandmother would have been prophetic, not mystery.

• During this timeframe, it is undeniable that both the Gospel of Grace (Pauline) and the Gospel of the Kingdom were being taught at the same time. See Galatians 2:7-9.

  • If Peter was among the uncircumcised, which Gospel would it be appropriate for him to preach?

  • If Paul was among the circumcised, which Gospel would it be appropriate for him to preach?

  • Did anything in the scripture prohibit Paul from ministering the kingdom message to the Jews?

    
    

• My position:

• Since Paul loved and cared for his kinsman in the flesh, the Jews, it is only natural that he would do everything possible to see them recognize Jesus as their Messiah and accept the Kingdom message. If he did not share the kingdom message with Jews, we would consider it a dereliction of duty.

• Since Paul was entrusted with the Gospel of grace, it was required of him to preach the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles.

• Since Timothy was a Jew with a Gentile father, he would be the most natural companion / helper to Paul that would be possible. He would understand both worlds!

• However, for Timothy to be of value among the Jews, he would need to be circumcised. This circumcision had to be done in honesty.

  • If this circumcision was nothing more than politically expediency, then Paul is nothing more than a slimy political operative.

  • The circumcision of Timothy was full confirmation that Timothy was accepting of the Kingdom Gospel and all its requirements.

    
    

• Therefore, Timothy was both part of the kingdom Gospel of Peter and part of the grace Gospel of Paul. Due to this fact, we will find both mystery (Pauline) information and prophetic (Kingdom) information in the epistles to Timothy. It is our job to rightly divide!

  
  
  

  1 Timothy 1:1-2 | Paul’s Salutation

• Verse 1 –

• Paul used the word apostle to describe himself 19 times, several times defending his claim. While we normally use the term to refer to the 12 and Paul (as the 13th), the term is also used of Barnabas (Acts 14:4), Andronicus and Junias (Rom. 16:7), and even indirectly of Silas and Timothy (compare 1 Thess. 1:1 to 2:6). Ephesians 4:11 informs us that God gave some, apostles.

• Why is Paul an apostle by the commandment of God rather than simply sent forth by Jesus, whom he met on the road to Damascus? It is because the mystery was hid in God (Eph. 3:9), and thus Paul’s apostleship had to come ultimately from God.

• The term God our Saviour appears six times. I cannot discern any particular dispensational significance.

• Verse 2 –

• Timothy was called my own son in the faith, likely because Paul led him to a full understanding of both the Kingdom and of grace, and almost instantly loved him and desired his assistance.

• Paul begins with greetings of Grace, mercy, and peace, a phrase also used in 2 Timothy 1:2 and Titus 1:4.

  
  
  1 Timothy 1:3-10 | Paul’s Charge, and His Insight into Ministry

• Verse 3 –

• The heart of the sentence, separated by several clauses, is: As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus...so do.

  • As indicated by italics, the words so do must be supplied by interpretation.

  • The Greek word translated abide still is προσμένω [prosmeno], a strengthened form of meno, which is the typical word for abide.

    • The KJV added the word still to show the strengthened form (other translations fail to give any indication of the strengthened form).

    • Compare Acts 11:23 where it is translated cleave.

      
      

• Timothy’s job was abide still in order to charge some to teach no other doctrine.

  • The word charge is παραγγέλλω [parangello], literally to “come alongside with a message.”

  • This is largely the task of a preacher anywhere and anytime, to “come alongside with a message.”

  • In Timothy’s case (as for most preachers), the “message” is to teach no other doctrine, a phrase that comes from a single Greek word: ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω [eterodidaskaleo]. The word is a compound word from etero (another, specifically of a different kind) and didaskaleo (to teach). The word could be literally translated, “a different kind of teaching.”