1 Timothy 1

CHAPTER 1THEME: The faith of the churchPaul’s emphasis here will not be a doctrinal statement of the Christian church, but a warning against false teachers in the local church. He will stress that the gospel of the grace of God is central in doctrine and concerns the person of Christ.

1 Timothy 1:1

INTRODUCTIONThe introduction to 1 Timothy is unlike any other in Paul’s epistles. Perhaps you had come to the conclusion that they were all the same, but the introductions to the Pastoral Epistles are a little different. Dr. Marvin R. Vincent has said that the salutation in 1 Timothy as a whole has no parallel in Paul. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God.” Paul asserts his apostleship to Timothy, and he has certainly done so before. In Ephesians he says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God …” (Eph_1:1, italics mine). Now what is the difference between the commandment and the will of God? The will of God and the commandment of God are the same, yet they are not exactly synonymous. All the commandments which you will find in the Bible reveal the will of God. This would include much more than the Ten Commandments.

For example, we are told that it is the will of God that we pray: “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1Th_5:17-18). There are many things which are the will of God, and they are expressed in His commandments. However, I do not think that we have revealed to us all of the will of God, even in the sum total of the commandments in Scripture. The will of God is therefore a much broader term than the commandment of God. Remember, however, that we have revealed to us enough of the will of God to know that man is not saved by obedience to the commandments of God. This is important to reiterate as there are so many today who say the Law is essential to our salvation. In verse 1Ti_1:8 of this chapter, Paul writes, “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” How are we to use the Law? First, we need to see that the Law is good: “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom_7:12). It is the very fact that the Law is good and demands absolute goodness from man (in whom there is no good thing) that the sinner cannot obey it. Paul says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing …” (Rom_7:18). The Law or the commandments of God were given to reveal the will of God and to show that in order for a sinner to be saved it is necessary to find a way other than obedience to a perfect law; to understand this is to use the law “lawfully.” The glory of the gospel is that God found a way that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. In Acts Paul preached: “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man [that is, the Lord Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Act_13:38-39). Why could they not be justified by the law of Moses? Because it was a ministration of death: the Law condemned them. The Law wasn’t given to save us, but to reveal that God is holy and that you and I are not holy. The way that God found to save us is the way of the Cross, the way of the Lord Jesus. “I am the way,” He says, “the truth, and the life” (Joh_14:6). The Law is not the way to God; Christ is the way. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians that he was an apostle by the will of God, that was true. But when he wrote to this young preacher Timothy, he said, “I am an apostle by the commandment of God. He made me an apostle. It is not just because I am in the will of God today that I am an apostle. There was a time when He commanded me to be an apostle.” I think Paul might have been rather reluctant to become an apostle. I’m sure he could have offered excuses to the Lord as Moses did.

He hadn’t been with the Lord as the other eleven apostles had been. He never knew Him in the days of His flesh; he knew Him only as the glorified Christ. He said he was unworthy to be an apostle. But the Lord Jesus had said, “I command you,” and that is the reason Paul could walk into a synagogue or go before a gainsaying audience in Athens, or a group of rotten, corrupt sinners in Corinth, and boldly declare the gospel. He was a soldier under orders, an apostle by commandmentnot by commission, but by commandment. No one laid hands on Paul to make him an apostle, but the Lord Jesus personally gave him the authority. Jeremiah had this same kind of authority. He was a shrinking violet, a retiring sort of person, the man with a broken heart. Yet he stepped out and gave some of the strongest statements that ever came from God. Why could he do that? He was a soldier under ordersunder orders from God. Any man who is going to speak for God today needs to do it with authority or he ought to keep quiet. A man who gets up in the pulpit and says, “If you believe in a fashion, I expect that maybe you’d be saved if you believe in a way on Jesus.” Such a wishy-washy man has nothing to say for God at all. Paul was an apostle who spoke with the authority of God. “God our Saviour"is God our Savior? He certainly is: “…God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son …” (Joh_3:16). God provided the sacrifice, and the Lord Jesus is the One who came to this earth and executed it. “And the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.” To say that Christ is our hope may seem strange to you, as it is not found often in Scripture. Actually, the only other time you will find it is in Col_1:27: “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The Lord Jesus died to save you. He lives to keep you saved. He is going to come someday to take you to be with Himself and to consummate that salvation. He is our faith when we look backwards; He is love when we look around us today; and He is our hope as we look ahead. But it is hope, actually, all the way through our lives, and that hope is anchored in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Timothy"sometimes he is called Timothy and sometimes Timotheus. Timotheus is made up of two Greek words which mean “that which is dear to God.” Timothy was dear to God, he was dear to the apostle Paul, and he was dear to the local churches. We read of Timothy in the Books of Acts, Ephesians, and Philippians. His father was a Greek. His grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, became Christians before him. He lived in Lystra where Paul was stoned. I feel that Paul was actually raised from the dead at that time, and this may have had a lot to do with the conversion of Timothy. As a young man he probably was rather skeptical, and this event may have helped convince him and bring him to conversion. After his conversion he became an avowed follower of Paul. Timothy was a man who had a good reputation. We read of him in Act_16:2-5: “Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.” As Timothy worked with Paul he became one in whom Paul had the utmost confidence, while others in the churches proved to be false brethren who deceived him. It is the joy of every pastor to have wonderful friends in his church. I have lived and ministered in Pasadena, California since 1940. I meet people everywhere, some who came to know the Lord as early as 1940 or 1941, who are still following in the Lord’s steps, and they are loyal, faithful friends of mine. That is why we keep our ministry’s headquarters here, for we have a host of wonderful, trusted friends in this area. Paul had those whom he couldn’t trust, but Timothy was one he could trust. He wrote in Philippians: “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me” (Php_2:19-23). “Timothy, my own son in the faith” could be translated as “my true son in the faith” or “my genuine son in the faith.” Paul had led Timothy to the Lord, and they were very close. “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.” At first this may appear to be the same as the introductions to Paul’s other epistles. Yes, Paul has used grace and peace before, but we have another word here, and that is mercy. Mercy is a word that was used in the Old Testament and was equivalent to the word grace. It was the Old Testament sacrifice that made the holy and righteous and just throne of God into a mercy seat. When you and I come to God, we don’t want justice, for we would be condemned. What we want and need from God is mercy. And God has provided mercy for all His creatures. He has all the mercy that you need. Yet His mercy is just like money in the bank which will do you no good unless you write a check, and the check you need to write is the check of faith. God is rich in mercy, but when He saves you, He saves you by His grace.

God is merciful to you, and He is merciful to all sinners in the world, even those who blaspheme Him and repudiate Him and turn their back on Him. He sends rain on the just and the unjustHe doesn’t play favorites, even with His own people. Sinners today get rich and they prosper. They often seem to do better than God’s own people. He is merciful to sinners. But when you come to God, you must come by faithwrite the check of faithand then God will save you by His grace. These three wordslove, mercy, and graceare a little trinity. Love is that in God which existed before He could care to exercise mercy or grace. God is love; it is His nature, His attribute. Mercy is that in God which provided for the need of sinful man. Grace then is that in Him which acts freely to save because all the demands of His holiness have been satisfied. Therefore, because God is merciful, you can come to Him, and by His grace He’ll save you. You don’t have to bring anything, you cannot bring anything, because it would only be filthy rags to God. A do-gooder is one who thinks he does not need the mercy of God, that his own good works will save him. I knew a man who, although he was on his deathbed, said to me, “Preacher, you don’t need to tell me that I need Christ as a Savior and that I need the mercy and the grace of God. I don’t need it: I’m willing to stand before Him just like I am.” Then he went on to tell me all that he had done in his life. He had been deeply involved with the Community Chest and with an orphans’ home and on and on. Oh, he was a do-gooder, and he was going to stand before God on that! My friend, a do-good salvation will not do you any good when you really need it.

The salvation God provides will enable you to do good, the kind of good which is acceptable to Him. The righteousness of man is filthy rags in His sight. So we have found that Paul uses here (and throughout all of the Pastoral Epistles) expressions that we will not see elsewhere in his writings. He obviously spoke to these young preachers in an intimate and more personal way than he did in his public speaking or writing. Wouldn’t you love to have been Timothy, to have traveled with Paul and have the great apostle open his mind and heart to you? Well, my friend, the Spirit of God is here and He is talking to us through this epistle which Paul wrote to Timothy. Although 1 Timothy is intimate and personal, it has to do with the affairs of the local church, the body of believers as it manifests itself in the community. And I want to say hereperhaps it reveals the pastor in methat every believer should be identified with some local church. “God our Father"God is Paul’s Father, He is Timothy’s Father, and He is your Father if you have received Christ. He is my Father because I have received Christ and have been brought into the family of God. What a privilege that is! Paul had been a Pharisee, and in Judaism he had never had the privilege of calling God his Father. “Jesus Christ our Lord.” Anything that is done in the local church needs to be done in the name of Christ and at His command. He is the Head of the church; He is the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, “You call Me Lord, Lord, and yet you don’t do the things I say; you don’t obey Me.” Could He say the same thing to many of us today? He warned that there are going to be many at the judgment who will say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we do this and that, and the other thing? We were as busy as termites for You!” And He will have to say to them, “I don’t even know you. I didn’t know you were doing that in My name, for you certainly didn’t seek My will. You didn’t seek to obey Me.” We need not only to call Him Lord but also obey Him as Lord.

1 Timothy 1:3

WARNING AGAINST UNSOUND DOCTRINEWe have said that this epistle deals with the creed and the conduct of the local church. Your creed must be right before your conduct can be right. It is almost an impossibility to think wrong and act right. One time a man complained to me: “When a woman driver puts her hand out the window at an intersection it means nothing but that the window is open! You never know what she is going to do, because sometimes she signals left and turns right, and sometimes she signals right and turns left!” It is sad that man often tries to act right even though his thinking is very wrong. It is impossible to keep that up for very long, my friend. “That thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine"in other words, that they teach no different doctrine. Paul wrote to the Galatians that there was no other gospel. The Judaizers there were preaching another gospel, but Paul said there was none other. There is only one gospel, and there is only one doctrine. “Doctrine” refers to the teaching of the church. What should be the teaching of the local church? It should be what it was from the very beginning. Following the Day of Pentecost it is recorded that “they continued in the apostles’ doctrine.” This was one of the four things which characterized that church: (1) The apostles’ doctrine; (2) fellowship; (3) prayers; and (4) the breaking of bread, or the Lord’s Supper. These are the four “fingerprints” of the visible church. A church is not a true church of Christ if its doctrine is not the apostles’ doctrine. I recognize that our varying interpretations of the Scriptures lead us to disagree on some points of doctrine. I had lunch one time with a very fine, outstanding Pentecostal preacher here in Southern California. We talked over what we agreed on and what we disagreed on, and it was not as severe a difference as some might think. As we concluded he said to me, “Dr. McGee, we agree on so much, and we agree on what is basic; therefore we ought not to fall out on the things that actually are not essential things.” I was glad he felt that way. I am sorry everybody doesn’t believe like I do, but there are some who don’t. However, we must hold to the apostles’ doctrine, the basic truths of the faith. The apostles taught the plenary, verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, the integrity and inerrancy of the Word of God. And they taught the deity of Christ. We will see in this very epistle that Paul had anexalted view of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those who say he did not teach the deity of Christ. Well, of all things, that is one thing on which Paul is as clear as the noonday sun. He clearly taught the deity of Christ. Even here in this chapter when he says, “God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord,” he places Christ right beside God, making it clear that He is God. “I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus.” Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus while he himself was in Macedonia. Ephesus was a very important city, and Paul had spent more time there than anywhere else and had his greatest ministry there. Timothy was to remind the Ephesians to teach no other doctrine. If the teaching of the church is not right, it is not a church. It does not matter how many deacons, elders, pastors, song leaders, choirs, or Sunday schools it might have. If the doctrine is not there, it is not a church. The doctrine must be that of the apostles.

1 Timothy 1:4

“Neither give heed to fables,” or do not give heed to myths. Ephesus was the heartland of the mystery religions of that day. In that great center there was the temple to Hadrian, the temple to Trajan, and the great temple of Diana. All of that centered in Ephesus. These were all based on the mythology of the Greeks, and the Ephesian believers were to shun them. Paul’s reference to “fables” or myths could possibly mean the philosophy of Philo. Philo was an outstanding and brilliant Israelite who took the Old Testament and spiritualized it. In other words, he attempted to introduce the myth viewpoint. We have some of this same teaching in our old-line denominational seminaries today. They teach, for example, that the Book of Genesis is a myth, that the stories there are myths and the men didn’t actually live. There is such an accumulation of evidence to support the Book of Genesis from the recent findings of archaeology that the liberals seem to have backed down from this teaching somewhat. “Endless genealogies.” This could refer to the false teaching that the church is just a continuation of Judaism, that it is just one genealogy following another and not a matter of God dealing with man in different dispensations. Such teaching leads to great confusion as to the positions of Israel and the church in God’s program. Also the Greeks were teaching at that time what was known as the demiurge, and this teaching became a part of the first heresy within the church, which was Gnosticism. They taught that there were emanations from a divine center. The original created a being, and that being created another being below him, and he created another, and then another, and so on down the line. They wanted to fit Jesus in somewhere along that line as one of the created beings. “Which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith.” In other words, Paul tells Timothy that all these types of false teaching won’t build you up in the faith. I think we can observe today in the liberal churches the fruit of their many years of unbelief. It has produced a hard core of almost heartless individuals who absolutely lack faith. They have rejected the Word of God, and the results we see in their churches are unbelievable.

1 Timothy 1:5

“Charity [love] out of a pure heart.” Paul again is using intimate expressions in writing to this young preacher that you will not find in his epistles to the churches. He tells Timothy that what is taught in the church should produce love out of a pure heart. A “pure heart” is in contrast to our old nature. It means a person who has been made righteous in Christ and can now manifest the fruit of the Spirit, which includes love. There are three things that should be manifest in the church. The first is faithfaith in God and in His Word. The second is love. Love is not something you simply mouth all the time. Love is an active concern for others, which means you won’t gossip about them or in any way bring harm to them. I know of one church that has done everything it can to wreck the ministry of its pastor. The one thing they aren’t justified in saying is that he didn’t teach the Word of Godhe did teach it. Yet they had accused him of not having taught it. And at the same time they talk about love. What hypocrisy! Love is not something you just talk about; it is something that must be made manifest. Faith should be lived out in the life of a church, and love should be lived out. You do need an organization and church officers, but whether you have an episcopal or congregational or presbyterian form of government does not make much difference. If faith and love are lacking, you have nothing more than a lodge, a religious club of some sort. But if faith and love are manifest, the form of government is not too important. The third thing that should be manifest in the life of a church is “a good conscience.” I do not believe that conscience is a good guide even for a believer; yet a believer ought to have a good conscience. When you lie down at night, do you feel bad about something you’ve said or done during the day? Many sensitive Christians are like that. I had a call one time from a person who was weeping and said, “I said something about you that I should not have, and I hope you’ll forgive me.” I hadn’t known anything about it, by the way, but apparently he hadn’t been able to sleep that night because of it. It is good to have a sensitive conscience. Many have consciences that have been seared with a hot iron; that is, they are insensitive to right or wrong. These three wonderful graceslove, a good conscience, and faithare the things Paul says should be manifested by believers in a local church.

1 Timothy 1:6

“Vain jangling” means empty chatter, beautiful words, flowery language. There are people who will butter you up and pat you on the back, but it means nothing. It’s all just talk.

1 Timothy 1:7

Paul is really laying it on the line. He makes it clear there are those who teach error, and they do it with assurance. They reject the Word of God and actually do not understand what they are talking about.

1 Timothy 1:8

In this section where Paul is warning believers against unsound doctrine, he has mentioned the mystery religions and the idolatry that abounded in Ephesus where young Timothy was. He has also warned against the false teaching that sought to make the Old Testament merely a mythology. Now Paul warns against legalists, those who taught that the law is a means of salvation and a means of sanctification after salvation. The Law served a purpose, but God did not give it as a means of salvation. The Law condemns us; it reveals to man that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. Under the Law the best man in the world is absolutely condemned, but under the gospel the worst man can be justified if he will believe in Christ. The sinner cannot be saved by good works for he is unable to perform any good works. Paul wrote in Romans, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom_8:8). This idea that in and of yourself you can please God absolutely contradicts the Word of God. It is impossible to please Himyou cannot meet His standard. Good works cannot produce salvation, but salvation can produce good works. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved unto good works. Paul makes this very clear in Eph_2:8-10 where we read: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” The Law reveals the will of Godit is morally excellent. It is good for moral conduct but not for obtaining salvation. It cannot save a sinner, but it can correct him or reveal that he is a sinner. That is its purpose.

1 Timothy 1:9

The Law was not given to the righteous man, the one who has been made righteous because of his faith in Christ. That man has been called to a much higher plane before God. The Law was given for the lawless. “Thou shalt not kill” is not given to the child of God who has no thought of murdering anyone, who does not want to hurt anyone but wants to help. That commandment was given to the man who is a murderer at heart. It is given to control the natural man. The Law is “for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons.” Those who have come to Christ were not saved by the Law, but by the grace of God. They have been brought to a plane of living higher even than that given in the Law. Let me give two illustrations of this that I trust will be helpful. Imagine a judge on a bench who has a lawbreaker brought before him. He is guilty, and he should pay a heavy fine and go to prison. However, the judge says, “I have a son who loves this prisoner although he has broken the law and I must condemn him. My son is a wealthy man and has agreed to pay his fine. He’s also agreed to go to prison on behalf of this man.

Therefore, his penalty has been fully paid. I am going to take this criminal into my home, and I am going to treat him as a son of mine.” When the judge takes the criminal into his home, he no longer says things like, “Thou shalt not kill” or “Thou shalt not steal” (Exo_20:13, Exo_20:15). The man is now his son. The judge will talk to him about loving the other members of his family, how he is to conduct himself at the table, treat his wife with respect, and take part in the family chores. You see, this man is treated on an altogether different basis from what he was before. That is what God has done for the believing sinner.

We are above and beyond the law. The law is for that fellow out yonder who is a lawbreaker. It is given to control the old nature, the flesh. The other illustration is one that Dr. Harry Ironside told me years ago. After teaching at an Indian conference in Flagstaff, Arizona, Dr. Ironside took one of the Christian Indians with him to Oakland, California. Among other things, this Indian was asked to speak at a young people’s group that was mixed up on the ideas of law and grace. They were confused about the place of the law in the Christian life.

The Indian told the group, “I came here from Flagstaff on the train, and we stopped over for several hours in Barstow. There in the station’s waiting room I noticed signs on the walls which said, ‘Do Not Spit on the Floor.’ That was the rule there. I looked down on the floor, and observed that nobody had paid any attention to the law. But when we got here to Oakland I was invited to stay in a lovely Christian home. As I sat in the living room I looked around and noticed pretty pictures on the walls, but no signs which said ‘Do Not Spit on the Floor.’ I got down on my hands and knees and felt the rug and, you know, nobody had spit on the floor. In Barstow it was law, but in the home in which I’m staying it is grace.” Under law man never kept it, he couldn’t measure up to it, and he broke it continually. Under grace a man is brought into the family of God, and he is not going to murder or lie. If he does, he is surely out of fellowship with God. “Any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” Paul adds this in case he has left out something. It covers any and all sin he may have omitted in his list.

1 Timothy 1:11

PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF PAULAgain this is one of those unique statements that Paul uses in writing to this young preacher which you will not find in his epistles to the churches. It might be translated: “According to the gospel of glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” Isn’t that a wonderful way to speak of it!

1 Timothy 1:12

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord"Paul emphasizes the Lordship of Christ. “He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” The idea of ministry is greatly misunderstood in our day. All believers are in the ministry; not one of us is out of the ministry if he is a child of God. The word Paul uses here for ministry is the same as the word for deacon, and every believer is a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul even calls rulers ministers"ministers of God.” We say that we have voted for a certain man or that the people put a man into his office, but I think that sometimes God overrules who is to be put into office. Rulers are supposed to function as ministers of God. Paul is grateful to God that He has put him into His service as a missionary. Every believer has some service to perform for the Lord.

1 Timothy 1:13

“Who was before a blasphemer"Paul uses this awful word and says that he was a blasphemer. He had blasphemed the Lord Jesus, and he had hated Him. I think he was present at the Crucifixion and ridiculed the Lord Jesus. Paul says that he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and that he had injured the church. “But I obtained mercy.” When Paul speaks of his salvation he says he was saved by the grace of God. It was the mercy of God that put him into the ministry. I have never really figured out why the Lord has used me in this ministry of giving out the Word of God. If you had said to me when I was a young, smart-alecky bank clerk that I was someday going to be in the ministry, I would have said it was absurd. I didn’t want it, and I didn’t have anything that would commend me to it. But God by His mercy, my friend, has put me into His service, His ministry. He is rich in mercy, and I have used quite a bit of it in my lifetime! “Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” This was Paul’s condition, and it was the condition of all of us before we came to Christ.

1 Timothy 1:14

Paul was saved by the grace of God, who brought him to the place of faith and love “which is in Christ Jesus.” Again, these are the things that will be manifest in the life of a believer.

1 Timothy 1:15

This is a very important verse of Scripture because it affirms that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He didn’t come to be the greatest teacher the world has ever known, although He was that. He didn’t come to set a moral example, but He did do that. He came into the world to save sinners. When you give your testimony make sure that you don’t tell people how wonderful you are or all you have accomplished. Tell them you were a sinner and that Christ saved you. That is what is important. “Of whom I am chief.” When Paul says he was the chiefest of sinners, he is not using hyperbole. He is not using high-flung oratory. He is speaking the truth. He was the chief of sinners; he blasphemed the Lord Jesus and shot out his lip at Him. “But,” Paul says, “I’ve been saved.” The Lord Jesus came to save sinners, and if you say, “I don’t think Christ can save meI’m the worst,” you are wrong. Paul is the chief of sinners, and the chief of sinners has already been saved. So you will be able to be saved if you want to be. The decision rests with you. All you need do is turn to Christ, and He’ll do the rest. He is faithfulPaul says, “This is a faithful saying.”

1 Timothy 1:16

“Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy"you see, he needed mercy in order to become a minister, to be a missionary. “That in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” Paul said that he was not only a preacher of, but also an example of, the gospel.

1 Timothy 1:17

Paul simply couldn’t go any further without sounding out this tremendous doxology. Who is “the King eternal”? He is the Lord Jesus Christ. And who is the Lord Jesus? He is “the only wise God.” Don’t tell me that Paul did not teach that the Lord Jesus was God. Paul considered Him to be God manifest in the flesh, and here he gives this wonderful testimony to that.

1 Timothy 1:18

CHARGE TO TIMOTHY"This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy.” Although his letter to Timothy is very practical and has to do with the local church and Timothy’s responsibilities in it, it also reveals something of the wonderful personal relationship that must have existed between the apostle Paul and Timothy. This is Paul’s personal charge to Timothy as a young man in the ministry. “Son Timothy"he was Paul’s spiritual son; Paul had led him to Christ. “According to the prophecies which went before on thee.” Paul had real spiritual discernment, and evidently God had directed him to take this young man along with him and allow him to have the position which he held in the early church. “That thou by them mightest war a good warfare.” You ought never to fight a war unless your heart is in it, unless you are fighting for a real cause and intend to get the victory. As a Christian, Timothy had a real enemy. He was involved in a spiritual warfare. Paul wanted him to fight a good fight and not to make shipwreck of the faithas others were doing.

1 Timothy 1:19

Living the Christian life is not as simple as some would like us to believe. It is more complex than walking when the light is green and not walking when the light turns red. We have intricate personalities, and Paul is saying there is real danger for us in our human inconsistencies and failures. I assume you are not living in some ivory tower somewhere. Some Christians feel they are, that they are above the landscape and the smog and are way up yonder. But for those of us today who are walking on the sidewalks of our cities and rubbing shoulders with rough humanity and the problems of the world, we find that there are inconsistencies and failures. The danger we face is that of accomodating our faith to our failure. A man I knew came home from the mission field and got a job doing something rather ordinary. He said, “The Lord led me to do this.” He had trained about nine years to be a missionary, and now he said the Lord had led him back home to take a job that just wasn’t very important. I asked him if he really felt that that was the way the Lord leads, and he insisted it was. He repeats this so frequently that I am afraid what actually happened was that he accommodated his faith to his human failure on the mission field. That is a grave danger for all of us. My friend, when you and I failwhen there is inconsistency in our liveswe ought to go to Him and tell Him that we have fallen short, that we haven’t measured up.

As we will read shortly in 1 Timothy, the Lord Jesus is a wonderful mediator between God and man. We need not be afraid to go to Him.

1 Timothy 1:20

“Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander"Paul cites two examples of apostates in his day. He mentions them elsewhere in Scripture, and he doesn’t have much good to say about either one of them. In 2 Timothy he writes, “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil …” (2Ti_4:14). “Whom I have delivered unto Satan.” These men had failed, they were apostates, and Paul exercised a ministry which I feel only an apostle can exercise. He says, “I have delivered [them] unto Satan.” This is not something we could put under the name of ecclesiastical discipline or excommunication today. It is Paul exercising what was his prerogative and position as an apostle; he hands over these men to Satan. We have another occasion of this mentioned in 1 Corinthians where Paul writes: “For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1Co_5:3-5). This is an authority the apostles had which we do not have today. We have no right to deliver any man over to Satan, but the apostles did. Peter exercised it also: I imagine that if we could talk to Ananias and Sapphira they would be able to tell us something of his authority as an apostle (see Act_5:1-11).