The Importance of Sound Doctrine
IT is impossible to fix a precise date for the First Letter. There are many difficulties in the way of harmonising the indications of time and place in it with any of the details given in the Acts. Even if we accept the suggestion in the Introduction that the episÂtle relates to a period between two imprisonments, we can do no more than put forward the possibility that the date of writing was towards the end of that period, say AD 66 or 67, as in the Table set out on the previous page.
Paul says that he had given Timothy a charge "when I went into Macedonia" (1 Timothy 1:3), which is no certain indication that Paul was now writing from there; or if he were, that he had not been further afield beforehand. That he was on his way back to Ephesus seems probable from 1 Timothy 3:14. But wherever he had been, perhaps even to Spain as some suggest (see Romans 15:28), what more natural than a sojourn amongst his beloved Philippians on the return journey?
The contents of this Epistle afford confirmation of the later date suggested by the more advanced state of ecclesial organisation they envisage and the stage of development of the false teaching frequently alluded to. The object of the Epistle is plain enough: it was to warn and exhort Timothy personally and reinforce him with the Apostle's own written authority to counteract the undesirable trends in the ecclesia at Ephesus, by sound organisaÂtion, positive teaching and, above all, his personal integrity in doctrine and life.
1:1-2—Address and Salutation
The superscription is "Paul, an apostle ..." An apostle was a messenger, 'one sent', and the Greek apostolos is so translated in 2 Corinthians 8:23 and Philippians 2:25. There a representative of the local ecclesia seems to be in view. But Paul's apostleship was of a higher status: he was commissioned personally by Christ as his ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20), and belonged to him as his minister and servant. Thus the letter, though addressed to Timothy personally, is an "open letter" in the best sense: not one offering criticism to an individual* to which the writer wished to give the widest publicity, but one the recipient can use publicly for the effective discharge of his duty. Timothy now has written apostolic authority for his delicate and responsible task.
"Christ Jesus": Most versions give this order of words here. "Jesus Christ" expresses briefly the idea that Jesus is the Christ; "Christ Jesus" emphasises the title rather than the person of the Lord.
"According to the commandment": The commandment is clearly expressed in Acts 13:2—"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." The same phrase occurs in Titus 1:3. The word is epitage, and its use in Titus 2:15 helps to define its sense: "rebuke with all authority." Paul's usual words defining his commission are according to "the will of God" (1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1), but perhaps "commandment" is a more appropriate word when God and Christ are joined in the same phrase: God commanded and Christ gave the actual order. See also 1 Corinthians 7:6, where epitage, 'commandment', is conÂtrasted with sugnome, 'concession'.
"God our Saviour": The application of the title Saviour to God instead of to Christ is characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles and of no other letters of Paul (1 Timothy 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10,13; 3:4). Its use there and in Jude 25, another late New Testament writing, has given rise to the idea that it was a counter to the growing tendency to attribute the title of Saviour to the pagan emperors. Elsewhere in Paul the title is given to Christ as being the one through whom the great deliverance from sin and death was wrought.
In fact, God is frequently described as Saviour in the Old Testament, notably in the Psalms (24:5; 25:5; 27:1,9; 62:2,6; 65:5; 70:4; 95:1) and Isaiah (12:2; 17:10; 25:9; 45:15) and it is a thoroughly Old Testament idea to which Mary gives expression in Luke 1:47—"My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." For she was to bring forth God's only begotten Son and call his name Jesus ('the Lord is salvation'), because he would "save his people from their sins". He would also be Immanuel, "the Holy One in the midst of thee".
"The Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope": A profound truth lies in these words. God has become our salvation because He "hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). He is the ground of our "hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). In these two expressions ("Saviour" and "hope") the present and future aspects of salÂvation are clearly seen. God saved us, potentially (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 2:11; 3:4,5—tenses are all aorist, expressing completed "once for all" action), but we still look "for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" for the full realisation. See also 1 Peter 1:20,21, where the sense could probably be better expressed as "so that your faith might be your hope in God".
"Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith": This form of address, with its tender gentleness, speaks volumes about the mind of the Apostle and his feelings towards Timothy. ' 'Ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ", he wrote to the Corinthians, "yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:15). Just as those who are led by the Spirit of God are His beloved sons by adoption, so Timothy and Titus (1:4) were Paul's spiritual sons, begotten, cherished and now made his worthy representatives. Gnesios, 'true-born', 'legitimate', is found in the New Testament only in Paul. In 2 Corinthians 8:8 it refers to the sincerity of love and in Philippians 4:3 to a true yokefellow, expressions which illuminate the quality of Paul's relationship with Timothy just as the word teknon, 'child', expresses affection as well as a spiritual relationship (see also Acts 16:1-3). The Greek text omits the definite article before "faith", another characteristic of the Pastoral Letters when dealing with familiar Christian terms.
"Grace, mercy, peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord": "Grace" and "peace" form the salutation to all the other Pauline epistles, and to Peter's epistles and Revelation: "mercy" is added in the Pastorals and 2 John (see "Introduction", page 11). Grace is the mark of God's condescension towards sinful men, the strong coming to the help of the weak—"by grace ye are saved, and that not of yourselves". To wish that the beauty of God's holiness and of His loving kindness should be upon those with whom we too correspond is to wish them all that can be desired, especially when coupled with "the peace of God that passeth all understanding".
It is the hall-mark of the Scripturally ordered life of the man "whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee" (Isaiah 26:3). But man needs pardon for the past as well as strength for the future, and the sense of the wideness of God's mercy had evidently grown in the Apostle's mind over the years since first he, "a blasphemer, and a persecutor", had become a very pattern to them that believe of the long-suffering of God in action (1 Timothy 1:12-16). What more natural then than that a spiritual father, now ageing and approaching the hour of his appearing before the righteous Judge, should adapt once more an old Jewish blessing of mercy and peace (Galatians 6:16) with which to bless his own son in the faith?
1:3-7—Paul's Charge to Timothy
Verses 3-4: That Paul is now sending a written memorandum of previous oral instructions, given as he was on the point of departure (RV), appears from verse 3. The original text reveals one of the peculiarities of the Apostle's style, when he begins a sentence of which the strict grammatical conclusion seems to be temporarily lost sight of in the full flow of his thought. Examples are to be found in Romans 5:12; Galatians 2:4; Ephesians 3:1, where the conclusion of the sentence is delayed unto 4:1. "As I exhorted thee" has a conclusion supplied in italics by both AV and RV in verse 4: "So do". The thought is in fact sustained until 2:1, "I exhort therefore", where the practical measures to be taken by Timothy are spelt out. For all his apostolic authority, clearly emphasised in most of the epistles, Paul prefers to exhort or beseech his readers. The verb parakaleo is used about 50 times in this sense (it also means 'to comfort') throughout his works.
As already pointed out, the historical details of Paul's stay with Timothy at Ephesus and his visit to Macedonia (verse 3) cannot be accurately defined. No such doubt surrounds the Apostle's exhortation: Timothy was to "abide still": prosmeno is used by Paul only in this letter: in 5:5 it refers to the "widow indeed, and desolate" who "continueth in prayers and supplications night and day". In Acts 11:23 Barnabas urged the brethren at Antioch "that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord"; and Paul, in spite of all the difficulties that beset him "tarried yet" in Corinth (Acts 18:18): so Timothy was to 'remain at his post'.
The military metaphor in fact suits the task entrusted to him: he was to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine". The charge was committed to him (1:18) that he might pass it on, as from the higher command. This idea is present throughout the Pastoral Letters, since Paul derived his authority as an apostle from the Lord Jesus, and what he committed to Timothy, the younger man was to commit to "faithful men . . . able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).
The strength of the words for "charge" (parangello and parangellia), both verb and noun, can be gauged from their use elsewhere in the New Testament. In the Gospels (Matthew 10:5; Mark 6:8; 8:6; Luke 5:14; 8:29,56; 9:21) it is always the Lord's commandment; in Acts it is either the categorical instructions of the Sanhedrin that the apostles should not preach the resurrecÂtion, the charge to the gaoler at Philippi, or some other military occasion, or else a command of the Lord Jesus to his apostles, or one made in his name to cast out an evil spirit (Acts 16:18). It appears elsewhere only in 1 Corinthians, Thessalonians and, significantly, seven times in 1 Timothy. We shall note these occurrences in their place.
Timothy was to charge "some". It is probable that Paul is beÂing intentionally vague rather than contemptuous here, although he does name two in particular later. The number of Timothy's potential opponents might well have been small at this stage. It is characteristic of Paul, however, to name names in a critical way only when he has to, preferring generally to keep the personal element out of his censure, since his purpose is to reform and not to provoke. For examples, see 1 Corinthians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 3:1; Galatians 1:7. We can gather from the same epistles that his opponents were not equally generous, but we shall do well to follow Paul's example rather than theirs.
To describe the work of the brethren who were putting the faith of others at risk Paul apparently coined a new word, "to other-teach", which is found in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 6:3 and nowhere else in Greek literature up to that time. Emphasis on "teaching", both in content and method, is a characteristic of these letters, as will become apparent later, and two other compound words are used, for "law-teachers" (nomodidaskaloi, 1:7) and "good-teachers" (kalodidaskaloi, Titus 2:3), the latter being a "oncer", like "false-teachers" {pseudodidaskaloi) in 2 Peter 2:1.
The force of the word "other-teach", or rather "to be an other-teacher", as it applies directly to the theme of 1 Timothy will become more apparent from the verses which follow (and see Essay 1, page 41). Such teaching overthrew the faith of some because it ignored vital elements of the Gospel and it needed a workman who could rightly divide the word of truth to combat it (2 Timothy 2:15). The content of the teaching in Ephesus is suggested by the phrase "fables and endless genealogies" (see Essay 2, page 42). In Titus the fables or myths are defined as Jewish (1:14), and all five occurrences of the word muthoi can be so conÂnected with Jewish traditions. Four of them are in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:4; 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4; Titus 1:14) and the other in 2 Peter 1:16, where Peter is contrasting the true word of God with what the false prophets among the people were proclaiming (2:1). It is significant that this word, "other-teach", enters late into the vocabulary of the New Testament, suggesting that the earlier circumcision controversy (the word "circumcision" appears but once, in Titus 1:10) had given way to debates about the content and use of Scripture.
Building up the Ecclesia
The many further references in the three Epistles to the effects of false teachings leave no doubt as to the urgent necessity for the charge: there would arise "strifes of words" (logomachini, lit. 'word-battles') and many other things destructive of ecclesial life. The AV of 1 Timothy 1:4 adopts the reading oikodomia, "edifyÂing' ', and certainly the other-teachers did nothing to minister to that, for there was no content to their doctrine which could be productive of faith. In the Letter to the Ephesians the Apostle had been concerned with the edifying, or building up of the church in love and unity. The other-teaching would have divided between Jew and Gentile as effectively as would the earlier Judaising conÂtroversy, had not Paul opposed its protagonists. In the one case insistence on conformity to the Law and in the other on the possession of a secret, exclusive knowledge as essential for salvaÂtion, would make void the work of him through whom both Jew and Gentile have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Perhaps the more usually adopted reading oikonomia, 'dispensaÂtion' or 'stewardship', yields even better sense as part of the charge to one who was to tend the flock. The word can mean either the office of the steward, or the method by which he carries out his duties. Both meanings are appropriate, in view of the fact that Paul had written to Timothy (3:15) that he might know how he ought to behave himself in the house of God, and by taking heed unto himself and his teaching save himself and them that heard him (4:16).
Paul now feels the need to break off the grammatical sequence of his sentence (see above) to explain further about the trust comÂmitted to him and Timothy, the "dispensation of God" (RV).
The End of the Charge
Verses 5-7: The RV "But" introducing verse 5 is surely correct: the whole purpose Paul has in view, the whole concept of good stewardship in the house of God, is the fostering of love, the greatest of the three abiding qualities, of the very nature of God Himself (1 John 4:16). The immediate reference here is to the promotion of love in the place of the strife caused by the false teachers, but the links are plainly with such passages as "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10); "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:4).
So Timothy receives no profound arguments, to combat the other-teachers. He is to concern himself with the positive instrucÂtion of which the ensuing letter is full, and the test of its validity would be the restoration of that loving spirit which seems to have characterised the Ephesian ecclesia in its earlier days (Acts 20:36-38). It would be interesting to know how well the balance was maintained in the ecclesia after Timothy's day. In Revelation 2:1-5 the ecclesia is highly commended for their zeal and the way in which they had dealt with the false apostles. But they had "left their first love", which, in view of the foregoing, can hardly mean their early love of the Truth; rather, "they did not love as they used to do", and this in the Lord's eyes was "somewhat against thee" (see Essay 3, "The Three-fold Origin of Love").
"Missing the mark"
"Some" in Ephesus "swerved" from these three things or rather "missed their aim". The word appears only here and in 6:21 and 2 Timothy 2:18, where it is translated as "erred" concerning the faith or the truth, in each case referring to the other-teachers. They may well have had good intentions, but failed because of a lack of sound method in handling Scripture. It seems clear that they were still members of the ecclesia, for otherwise Timothy could have no jurisdiction over them.
The picture is consistent with what is described in Acts 20, where a united body of elders came to see Paul at Miletus, but there were among them those who would later fall into error: "Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things" (verse 30). They would thus "turn aside'', or swerve from the path, in which the true "workmen needing not to be ashamed" would "hold a straight course in the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). "Turn aside" is a typical word from these Letters: some widows were "already turned aside after Satan" (5:15); Timothy was to see to it that he "avoided" completely "profane and vain babblings" (6:20); while the followers of the other-teachers would themselves be "turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:4).
The only other New Testament use (Hebrews 12:13) is equally revealing: "Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way''. Or, as the Old Testament passage on which the verse is based has it: "Make level the path of thy feet . . . Turn not to the right hand nor to the left" (Proverbs 4:26,27, RV).
There is a practical as well as a theoretical need to hold a straight course in the word of truth: having defined the way, one then has to walk in it. Otherwise, all is " vain jangling", or empty talk (see Titus 1:10), a special characteristic of the other-teachers. This "oncer" in the Pastorals is related to the "vain conversaÂtion" or traditional way of life (1 Peter 1:18), "vain thoughts" of the wise (1 Corinthians 3:20), "vain religion", of the man without control of his tongue (James 1:26), and "vain imaginaÂtions" of those who "changed the truth of God into a lie" (Romans 1:21).
Yet what the other-teachers had sought was the honourable title of "law-teachers", or "doctors of the law" (Luke 5:17; Acts 5:34; and verse 7 only), with all the respect and influence of a Gamaliel at whose feet Paul himself had been brought up. Verse 7 confirms that the content of the teaching was concerned more with Jewish than with Gnostic learning, although the false teachers had departed a long way from the conservative Judaisers who wanted to impose the Law as a way of life. Rather had they sought to emulate the intellectual skill of contemporary Rabbinical comÂmentators, and in doing so missed the point of both the Old Testament and the Gospel. For a teacher must first of all underÂstand what he teaches and be perfectly clear in his own mind that it is true. The false teachers are charged with the exact opposite: they understood "neither what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm" (RV).
The scene is a familiar one: the dogmatism with which a theory is propounded is no guide to its validity. Again a word familiar enough in the cultured Hellenistic world (diabebaiousthai, 'conÂfidently affirm') finds its only place in the Greek Bible here and Titus 3:8. The positive affirmation and entire confidence of the "other-teachers" must be matched by the man of God's equally confident and constant exhortations to the ecclesia to maintain good works, profitable to men, and "avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain" (Titus 3:9).
1:8-11—The Right Use of the Law
Verse 8: Paul immediately guards against possible misunderÂstanding of his attitude to the law, as distinct from the professed teachers of it, by a comment upon its quality arid purpose: "But we know that the law is good.'' The context demands that we underÂstand not "law" in general, but the Law of Moses in particular. He is not decrying the validity of that Law but opposing the futility of the speculations of the other-teachers about it. The word kalos, 'good' or 'beautiful', is used 24 times in the Pastoral Letters, compared with 16 in other letters of Paul, and it has a shade of meaning which agathos, 'intrinsic goodness', has not. For the Greek philosophers, their studies led them to the pursuit of the kalos kai agathos—"the beautiful and the good", or the quality of beauty and nobility that springs from excellence. It has been suggested that in a Biblical context "the beauty of holiness" is exÂpressed by kalos in a way no single English word can reproduce. It is applied to God's law in Romans 7:16—"If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good (kalos)."
The Law is good "if a man use it lawfully", that is, suitably for the purpose for which it is intended. Paul's word-play on "law . . . lawfully" is equally apparent in the Greek nomos . . . nomimos, the latter word being found elsewhere only in 2 Timothy 2:5 and once in the Apocrypha.
Verse 9: "Knowing this" is grammatically attached to the preceding "a man", and refers to the essential view to be taken of the Law by the true teacher, a view to be expounded in the verses that follow. "Knowing this" is characteristic of Paul, as in the original of Romans 5:3; 6:6; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 2:16; Colossians 3:24, and something of its force can be learned from consulting these passages. Being "well aware" of certain things, the disciple believes or acts accordingly. In this case it is the fact that law is not "made (or ordained) for the righteous" but for the wicked of various classes which must be borne in mind. Its practical end was to make men righteous, which it could not actually do, as Paul is at pains elsewhere to point out (e.g. GalaÂtians 3:21); therefore its spiritual end was to bring men unto Christ (Galatians 3:24), "that we might be justified by faith".
It will be noticed that in the list that follows, the acts of impiety, profanity and defilement are the grossest forms of what the Ten Commandments prohibit for the people of God. They are all expounded in practical terms in the Book of Deuteronomy, in which the Law of God in its principles is expressed in terms of the laws of the land, the centre of the worship of God and the throne of His Kingdom.
"Lawless and disobedient" is a general description of those who are unwilling to submit to restraints upon their behaviour. Anomos, the word that describes the "wicked" that crucified Christ, the deeds of Sodom, and the thieves executed with the Lord, appears here only in the Pastorals. It is coupled with anupotaktos (peculiar to the Pastorals and Hebrews 2:8), usually translated "unruly" (see RV) as in Titus 1:6,10, which has a positive verbal form, "be in subjection (to higher powers)" in Romans 13:1,5.
The rest of Paul's list contains several words peculiar to these Letters, or found only in the Septuagint or later New Testament writings like 2 Peter or Jude. "The ungodly and sinners" (asebes and hamartolos) are joined together also in 1 Peter 4:18 (from Proverbs 11:31) and Jude 15. For those without reverence for God or who actually deny Him, the Lord is not merciful, gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth: they hate Him and are therefore outside His covenant.
This idea is well taken up in the words "unholy and profane" {anosios and bebelos). As one commentator (J. H. Bernard, The Pastoral Epistles, Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges) has put it: "Such is the temper which lies at the root of the sin of perjury, explicitly forbidden in the Third CommandÂment." Anosios occurs in the LXX, but only again in 2 Timothy 3:2; bebelos is an instructive word, especially in its application to Esau. Its basic idea is that of ground which can be walked on— that is, outside the sanctuary, and so 'secular' (cf. Exodus 3:5 —"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground"). Esau, having despised his birthright, placed himself outside the covenant and so could not inherit the blessing. "A root of bitterness" sprang up and defiled him (Hebrews 12:15), and the context in Deuteronomy 29:18 of that quotation shows that it refers to turning away the heart from the Lord our God. This background will help us understand more accurately Paul's use of bebelos when we consider the later references.
"Smiters (RV margin) of fathers and mothers" were extreme and outrageous violators of the Fifth Commandment, as "man-slayers" (a "oncer" in the New Testament) were of the Sixth.
Verse 10: "Fornicators and sodomites" broke the Seventh ComÂmandment. "Menstealers", despising the Eighth Commandment, practised the most despicable of all theft—that of a man's own self, and the practice is specifically condemned in Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7. The word itself appears nowhere else in the Greek Bible, but the idea it represented carried severe condemnation (see also Amos 1:6,9).
Of the words for "liars and perjurers", the latter is also a hapax ("oncer") in the New Testament, although it comes from the same root as the verb used by the Lord in Matthew 5:33, meaning 'to foreswear'. "To suppress the truth is a form of 'false witness', but the worst form is a false charge made on oath" (Bernard); the Apostle's reference is clearly to the Ninth Commandment.
It is to be noticed, however, that in his use of words and ideas in these verses, Paul is following the thought of the Master. It is not to be assumed that in giving examples of the grossest forms of wickedness with which the anomoi, 'the lawless', violate the Ten Commandments, the Apostle thinks that only such men are sinners. Rather is he reminding us that by the law sin is revealed to be "exceeding sinful" (Romans 7:13), and that all departures from the Divine standards are gross. The Lord made the same point (Matthew 5:21-37) when he declared that murder was unreasonable anger, adultery the lustful glance, and the disciple's lightly given "yea, yea or nay, nay" could take God's name in vain: "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin" (James 1:15).
Only those sins have been actually specified in Paul's list which can be regulated by law, in the sense that their effects are obserÂvable by others. But there are sins, such as covetousness, to which only the heart of the sinner and, of course, God Himself are privy. Perhaps covetousness is in the Apostle's mind when he concludes his list of things which God's law is designed to combat with "and if there be any other thing which is contrary to sound doctrine" (see Essay 4, page 46), arising out of "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16).
The Apostle applies the word "sound" to healthy doctrine, and contrasts this with error when he adds that "if any man teach otherwise ('other-teach') ... he is ailing (AW, doting)" (1 Timothy 6:3,4). Although this term was applied especially to the situation prevailing in Ephesus at the time, the warning against discussion of questions ultimately destructive of faith is timely for us. After all, everyone is just not capable of striking the right balance between possible opinions, and those who are have the responÂsibility of not "helping the unbelief of the others in the wrong direction. There are "words which will eat as doth a canker" (2 Timothy 2:17) now, as then, often of the same type as those of Hymenaeus and Philetus who were guilty of wrong emphasis to the point of missing the mark as far as the truth was concerned. It is true that every baptized believer has passed through a sort of resurrection when raised to newness of life. To say, however, that this was the true meaning of resurrection, which was therefore past already, overthrew the faith of some not capable of evaluating the statement for what it was worth.
It is imperative that the Brotherhood become more sensitive to the distinction between the profitable and the unprofitable, the helpful and the unhelpful, that it avoid both the shut mind unreceptive to the full implications of Christian teaching, and also the mind so open that it is willing to accept anything at all. Moreover, the raising of doubtful issues and the pressing of personal opinions in a way which tends to form partisan groups is what is meant by the word "heretic" in Titus 3:10, and it is condemned by the Apostle in no uncertain terms.
Verse 11: "The glorious gospel of the blessed God": the nature of the sound doctrine is thus further defined, in this Hebraism for "the gospel of the glory". The false teachers asserted that the Law was designed for a righteous man and urged their interpretations as a necessary appendix to the Gospel. Their doctrine, like the wickedness of men itself, was not answerable to the true message of the Gospel.
It is highly appropriate that Paul should refer to the glory of God immediately after his catalogue of vices for which the restraint of law is necessary. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The "glory of the Lord" first appeared in the cloud to Israel at a time when they were manifesting their sinfulness, to leave them in no doubt as to the nature of their "shortcoming" (Exodus 16:4-10). The Gospel likewise revealed the glory of the Lord (with rich harmonies of Exodus 34:6,7), in its message of the grace and truth, the righteousness of God, and the wrath of God against every evil work (John 1:17; Romans 1:17-19). Only in this verse and in 6:15 is the term makarios, 'blessed', applied to God in the whole of Scripture. It is not only that men bless the Lord (eulogeo, 'to speak well'): He is the source of all blessedness in Himself, and the hope in Him and His salvation is therefore a blessed hope (Titus 2:13).
"Committed to my trust": Paul was always acutely conscious of his responsibility as an apostle of the Lord Jesus, and a preacher of the Gospel. We shall consider this point in further detail when we discuss 1 Timothy 6:20 and Titus 1:9, under the title of "the good deposit", a banker's term expressing all that "committing to" and "trust" implies in that profession. For the present we refer the reader to 1 Corinthians 9:17; Galatians 2:7; Colossians 1:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:4 (especially); 2 Timothy 1:11 and Titus 1:3. Paul's contemplation of both his responsibility and privilege (1 Thessalonians 2:4), and the bountiful mercy and longsuffering of God thus displayed to him personally, leads naturally to the next section. This is in the form of a parenthesis in which thankfulness, praise, wonder and adoration are expressed as his personal experience of the truth that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (verse 15). No clearer indication of the practical aspect of "doctrine" and the necessity for such a statement of the faith could be given us.
1:12-17—Paul's own experience of the Gospel
Some commentators think that it was sometimes a convention in ancient letters to include expressions of praise and thanks to a god. Even if this were so, however, there is no following of a conÂvention in the thankfulness of the Apostle, ending as it does in an outburst of "wonder, love and praise" characteristic of the man so responsive to the grace of God towards him—cf. the ending of Romans 11 and 1 Timothy 6:16. The very mention of "the gospel of the glory of the blessed God" (verse 11, RV) leads him to describe in gratitude his personal experience of its power unto salvation, which made him "a pattern to them which should hereafter believe".
Verse 12: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord": The Apostle's usual word for "I thank" is eucharisto, but here and in 2 Timothy 1:3 he uses the rarer charin echo, found elsewhere in the New TestaÂment only in Luke 17:9 and Hebrews 12:28—"let us have grace" being a literal translation of the expression. (It is worth noting in passing the links between the vocabulary of the Pastoral Epistles and that of Luke, and some of the later epistles, specially Hebrews.) Charin echo was common enough in New Testament times, but it has been suggested that Paul adopted it after his stay in Rome, where he became acquainted with the Latin idiom, gratiam habeo, which is the exact equivalent.
"Who hath enabled me": The idea of power and strength (dunamis) with reference to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is a favourite one of Paul's. The word here is a verb, endunamo, and three of Paul's six uses of it appear in 1 and 2 Timothy; again it is used in Acts and Hebrews, where the exact sense in which it is to be understood in Paul's reference to his own experience is plain to read. After his conversion and baptism "Saul increased the more in strength" (Acts 9:22) as he preached Christ in the synagogues. The Lord who had called him equipped him for the task, just as God's faithful servants through the ages "out of weakness were made strong" (Hebrews 11:34), so that they could say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13; see 2 Timothy 2:1; 4:17). Thus did he prove that Jesus was "the very Christ" (Acts 9:22).
"For that he counted me faithful": Paul had already written to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:2) that "it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful", and the sense is clearly trustworthy. We shall consider some aspects of the word for "faithful" later, since it is used repeatedly in these letters. In fact, trustworthiness both in handling the Word of God and in the conduct of ecclesial affairs is the basis of Paul's solution for the problems affecting the ecclesias in Ephesus and Crete—and the same is true today.
"The ministry"
For "the ministry" referred to in verse 12 is to be understood in the general sense, not the technical as in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. The diakonia is the service rendered to the Lord in love and devotion, and the very use of this word in this sense is an argument against a date in the second or third century for the writing of these letters, which the critics suggest. By that date the word was used of a lower rank of Church servant and would never have referred to an apostle.
Such characteristic words and usages of Paul stamp the letters with the seal of authenticity, as does the word "count" in "counted me faithful", in the sense of "esteem". The thankfulness he felt at being held in some esteem by the Lord whom he had persecuted lent force to his exhortations to the brethren at Philippi to have lowliness of mind and "each esteem other better than themselves" (2:3; see also 1 Thessalonians 5:13).
"Putting me into the ministry": "putting" is a weak expression to describe the purpose of the Lord himself in making Paul a "chosen vessel" and ordering the affairs of the ecclesias. For all the main uses of the Greek word in the New Testament, the subject is God Himself, working through Christ or the Holy Spirit. So He made the overseers in Ephesus (Acts 20:28), made Abraham father of many nations (Romans 4:17), set the members in the body and "some" in the church in various capacities, and appointed some to wrath and others to escape it (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Likewise Paul was ordained a preacher and an apostle—an unworthy man (in his own estimation), entrusted to proclaim God's grace with the conÂviction that he was a living example of what that grace really was.
Verse 13: "A blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious": Paul describes his former conduct in the strongest possible terms. In them he takes to himself the lesson of what the purpose of the Law was, and on his own principle of being a debtor to the whole Law if a man offend in one particular, confessed that he was chief of sinners. A blasphemer offended against the first and great commandment, which summed up the first Table of the Law: he spoke against God, by denying the resurrection and Divine Sonship of the Lord, whom God had declared to be "the Son of God with power ... by the resurrection of the dead" (Romans 1:4, RV). It was in the very context of his persuading Agrippa that there was nothing incredible in the thought of God raising the dead, that he declared: "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). In his being "exceedingly mad against them", he even compelled Christ's brethren to blaspheme (verse 11).
He had been pulled up short, however, in the realisation that as a persecutor of the disciples he was persecuting Jesus himself as well as breaking the Second Commandment, which was "like unto" the First; in that very act (Acts 9:1,4,5 etc.) he had been made a witness of the fact that Christ was risen indeed.
He had indeed been injurious, a wanton aggressor, almost a "bully", using one of the words with which he had earlier described those who had not retained a true sense of the living God in their minds, "despiteful" (Romans 1:30). Indeed, only in these two passages does the adjective hubristes occur in the whole of the New Testament, although the verb "to treat shamefully or spitefully" is used in connection with persecution and stoning, such as Paul had suffered himself at the hands of his countrymen (Acts 14:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; see also Matthew 22:6; Luke 18:32). It is interesting to see from the use of this word in Luke 11:45 how the lawyers smarted under the Lord's words: "Thou reproachest us also."
"But I obtained mercy": the contrast between what he had been and what he was allowed to become—a minister of the Gospel— was clearly always in the Apostle's thoughts. It was a living testimony as to the nature of God's mercy. He is faithful, though man be not; His covenant love extends to those who fail to keep His standards, His glory is not obscured by those who come short of it. So the Lord is plenteous in mercy, and Paul had obtained it, undeserving though he felt himself to be.
Obtaining or receiving mercy is a characteristic phrase of Paul's, especially in the Letter to the Romans, and the verb used appears frequently in the Gospels, usually in the form of an appeal to "the Son of David" to have compassion on the sick. In 1 Corinthians 7:25, Paul gives his opinion on a marital problem "as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful" (see 1 Timothy 1:12 again)—a powerful lesson in the spirit with which we should approach such difficulties in our own time: as faithful stewards, who have themselves obtained mercy of the Lord and therefore count the showing of compassion as an important element in a faithful ministry.
But if Paul had been a blasphemer, he was no blasphemer against the Holy Spirit. He obtained mercy because he acted "ignorantly in unbelief". Unbelief or apistia, 'lack of faith', goes hand in hand with ignorance, as the Jews themselves were witnesses. Their rulers who had admitted that Christ had done many miracles yet deliberately plotted his death (John 12:47; cf. Acts 4:16), were in a dangerous spiritual condition.
The people, too, were counted as having taken him by wicked hands to slay him (Acts 2:23). But in the spirit of the Lord Jesus, who had prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", Peter could say to the Jews, "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers" (3:17). They believed also that they were doing God service, by killing the disciples, as the Lord had foretold (John 16:2), a motive to which Paul also confessed (Acts 26:9). When the true nature of God's service (diakonia) was brought home to him, "he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision". The quality of our own service, personal and ecclesial, will be commensurate with our estimate of the grace we have received.
Verse 14: "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant": Paul's own estimate was a very high one indeed, and again his vocabuÂlary accurately reveals his thought, and again the authenticity of these letters as his work is also revealed. Expressions like abounding grace, faith that grows exceedingly, the glory that excels, all contain the Greek prefix hyper, and are one of the marks of the Apostle's writings (see Romans 8:37; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 7:4; Philippians 2:9; 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; 4:6; 5:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, in any Greek Testament or Concordance). Although the actual word in this verse 14 (hyperpleonazo) is a very rare word, appearing nowhere else in the Greek Scriptures, the thought is no doubt consciously reproduced from Romans 5:20, which Paul is here applying to himself: "But where sin abounded (pleonazo, without the hyper), grace did much more abound (hyper-perissuo). "
Grace and mercy must be linked together, and are no abstract concepts for Paul: as his sin manifested itself in real acts, so every act of service Paul was privileged to perform testified that through His grace God had granted him mercy.
The simple title "our Lord", is used once more by Paul (2 Timothy 1:8), and occurs in Hebrews 7:14 also—one more link in the chain of evidence which suggests that Hebrews was, after all, written by the Apostle to the Gentiles.
"Grace, faith and love" are also frequently joined together in Paul's writings. True faith believes in the grace and love which is in Christ Jesus, and as the disciple responds in love so the grace abounds. So disciples "abide in his love" if they keep his comÂmandments (John 15:10) and, with "the breastplate of faith and love" (1 Thessalonians 5:8), grow in the "faith which worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6), manifesting such qualities as "work of faith, labour of love, patience of hope", which rejoice an Apostle's heart (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 3:6). Such qualities he commends to Timothy as the true end of the charge given to him (1 Timothy 1:5) and to Titus (2:2) as the basis of the example the older men are to set the young. And what better benediction can be said than,
"Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 6:23)?
Verse 15: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners": this, the first of the "faithful words" (see Essay 5, page 49), like that in 4:9, is qualified as being "worthy of all acceptation". The last word, like its related adjective "acceptable" (1 Timothy 2:3; 5:4) occurs only in the Pastoral Letters, although the verb, which is variously translated "receive" or "welcome hospitality", is more common, and is in fact applied to the cordial reception of apostolic preaching in Acts 2:41—"They that gladly received his word were baptized." Why the particular saying now under consideration should be declared "worthy of all acceptation", that is, worthy to be received gladly by all men as well as accepted unreservedly, will become plain when we examine it further.
Paul's reference to "the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust" has led him to express his deep gratitude to Christ for the manifestation of his grace which allowed the man who had been a blasphemer and a "bully" to become a messenger of that grace. If, therefore, the expression "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" is indeed a terse "statement of the faith" such as might find its way into a catechism of the early community, Paul has made it characterÂistically a personal statement of faith, related directly to his own experience. For him the salvation in Christ was, as we have seen, no mere theological point; he was the living example of the power and scope of the Divine mercy. He enables us to gain a deep insight into what happened to him on the Damascus road where the conviction of personal sinfulness was borne in upon him more deeply than by any requirements of the law of which he had been so zealous an upholder.
It was no mock modesty which caused him to describe himself as the "chief" of sinners or, elsewhere, as "the least of the Apostles" and "less than the least of all saints" (1 Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8). Indeed, his use of the present tense, "lam" instead of "I was the chief" emphasises this point, and gives added force to his claim to be "a pattern to them which should hereafter believe" in Christ, a living example of what that grace and mercy can accomplish and a source of genuine hope and comfort to all weighed down by a sense of personal failure to reach the standard set in Christ. The Greek word translated "first" in the AV of verse 16 is the same as "chief, and refers not to time but to degree: his active opposition to the members of the Church had been a persecution of Christ himself, the very type of rebellion against God.
"Came into the world" reminds us both of Christ's own words, "The Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost", and also of the words of John's Gospel in several passages (Luke 19:10; John 1:9; 12:46; 16:28). The expression does not imply the pre-existence of Jesus as commentators suggest, although the grace and mercy of which he was the manifestation existed from the beginning. Commenting on the verse, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ", John Carter wrote: "Mark the precision of John's words: the law was given; grace came. Moses was the mediator of a covenant in which the favour of God made Israel His own nation, but he was only the channel of this grace which bestowed this privilege on Israel . . . Jesus is also the mediator of a covenant, but of better things, and the grace of this covenant was—it came to be—it resided in Jesus and remained in him. One was but the channel; the other the embodiment of all embraced in the covenant established in him" {The Gospel of John, page 27).
Thus, "the coming into the world to save sinners" means that the eternal purpose of God includes, even necessitates, the salvation of sinners and that this Word, this purpose, was made flesh and dwelt among us. "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true . . . This is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). We "believe on him to life everlasting" (1 Timothy 1:16).
We have already noted two other characteristic features of the Pastoral Epistles, which illustrate the Apostle's awareness of the need for salvation in God's purpose and of the central role of Christ in its accomplishment. One is the constant emphasis on the special qualification of Jesus for his work. He was anointed of God to be the saviour of men, and the title regularly afforded him in the Letters to Timothy is Christ Jesus rather than Jesus Christ. The name occurs in this form 13 times in the two Letters, surely more than a mere change for the sake of variety (1 Timothy 1:12,14,15; 2;5; 3:13; 6:13; 2 Timothy 1:1,9,13; 2:1,10; 3:12,15).
The other feature is the application of the title of "saviour" to God Himself. In the three Letters Christ is referred to as "saviour" four times, and God Himself six times (1 Timothy 1:1; 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4); in some cases the title is ascribed to each of them in consecutive verses. God is so described outside the Pastorals only in Jude 25 and Luke 1:47 in the New TestaÂment, although it is a familiar concept in the Old. The point is interesting and important enough to warrant a study on its own, but is mentioned here to show that it is in the thought that God is the ultimate source of salvation—that He is "the saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Timothy 4:10)—that Paul finds his personal inspiration and on which he builds his exhortations to keep the glorious gospel of the blessed God unÂchanged. It is the responsibility of the community thus redeemed to hold fast to the sound teaching about its salvation.
It is easy to see, then, why such a faithful saying should be "worthy of all acceptation". It is in the nature of God to save and the coming of Christ into the world was the manifestation of that salvation. But "after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared" (Titus 3:4), its effectiveness towards the individual depends upon a man's personal acceptance of it. Should not all men be eager to accept it and to accept it all? And should not a community built upon faith in Christ live quiet and peaceable lives "in all godliness and honesty"? "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (2:3,4).
Finally, in an age when we too need the exhortation to hold fast the form of sound teaching and distinguish between the vital and the unprofitable question, we would do well to remember that the important theological points are those which affect us personally and have the power to change our lives as completely as does the faithful saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
Verse 16: "For this cause I obtained mercy": with great emphasis Paul reinforces his words about the purpose of God in salvation through Christ, as it had been illustrated in himself. That he was a "chosen vessel" the Lord had made clear, both to Ananias at the first and to Paul himself in the commission he had been given (Acts 9:15; 22:21; 26:16-18). The choice was evidently made, not solely on the basis of his suitability as a preacher to the Gentiles: he was a living example of "the power of God unto salvation" in the Gospel he preached. The Lord had, in him "as chief", revealÂed the very nature of Divine mercy, and illustrated the point to which Paul returns in 2:4 and Peter spells out in 2 Peter 3:9—that God desired the salvation of all men and that "longsuffering" was an important attribute of His holy Name (Exodus 34). And in the same man the principles upon which mercy would be granted were illustrated also—confession, repentance and obedience. The force of "all longsuffering" should not be missed.
So Paul was "a pattern to them which should hereafter believe" on Jesus. The word for pattern is hupotuposis, which occurs elsewhere only in 2 Timothy 1:13—"the form of sound words". The idea is that of a detailed sketch from which a skilled craftsman may work to reproduce an exact copy of an original. The skilled preacher or teacher, for example, handles his material in the spirit and style of the Master whose Gospel it is. Likewise every potential disciple experiences the long suffering and Divine forgiveness, the examÂple and pattern of Paul's experience being plainly set before him. As Paul could say: "Be ye imitators (mimetes) of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1, RV); "Be ye therefore imitators of God as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1; also 1 CorinÂthians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:6, all RV, etc.). Saved by this grace we are quickened, even "to life everlasting". At this point it is worth reading through carefully Ephesians 2:1-7, for all the rich associations with the theme of this section of the Pastorals. The passage ends: "That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
Verse 17: "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible": praise and thanksgiving are never far from the lips of Paul, as we have remarked above. Characteristic of the expressions of them in these letters, here and in 1 Timothy 6:16; 2 Timothy 4:18, is the tendency to dwell upon the absolute eternity, power and unity of God, "the only wise God" (AV) or "the only God" (RV). The exact expression, "King eternal", occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, unless we adopt the RV for Revelation 15:3, and read basileus ton ainon instead of basileus ton hagion, "King of saints". It is soundly based in the Old Testament, however, as in Exodus 15:18—"The Lord shall reign for ever and ever", and in Psalm 145:13—"Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom".
Through the grace of the God "who only hath immortality", the source of light and life, is "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). The fact that God dwells in light unapproachable, exalts Him above the ways and thoughts of men, rendering all the greater the privileges of drawÂing nigh to His throne of grace and of rejoicing in the revelation of the glory of His Name—things which being unseen are eternal, making it possible for us to be related to eternity. For the glory granted to those privileged to be with Christ where he is and behold the glory which he had with the Father from the beginning (John 17), will be likewise "for ever and ever. Amen", indeed.
1:18-20—The Charge Committed to Timothy's Trust
Verse 18: "This charge I commit unto thee": here Paul takes up the thought suspended at the end of verse 4, which the English versions there complete for us by the addition of the words "so do", or their equivalent, in italics. He is saying, "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, that thou mightest command some not to other-teach . . . this charge I commit unto thee". In the long intervening passage, "the end of the charge" and the deep responsibility it brings has been brought out, in a way which could leave Timothy in no doubt that his commission was related to the eternal things of the Gospel and salvation, both his and that of the ecclesia under his care. Such are the responsibilities, personal and corporate, of the life in Christ. The ideas behind the word "charge" and the Apostle's understanding of "the gospel . . . committed to my trust", have already been considered. The word "commit" is used again in 2 Timothy 2:2, where Timothy is in his turn to commit to faithful men that which he has received—the true "apostolic succession". See page 16 also for "son Timothy".
"According to the prophecies which went before on thee": it is tempting to see in this phrase a parallel with "the commandment going before" of Hebrews 7:18. But the RV margin translation of the succeeding phrase, "led the way to thee", indicates that we are here concerned with utterances which pointed out Timothy as a person suitable for the ministry, rather than prophecies about how he was to act in the future. This interpretation agrees with the whole concept of the apostolic mission. For since Paul had been charged with the work of preaching and edifying, it is eviÂdent that the Spirit would guide him in carrying out that work. There had in fact been "prophecies" connected with his own special mission delivered in some way in the Antioch ecclesia, for "the Holy Spirit said", no doubt through the "certain prophets and teachers" that were there, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:1-2).
The ecclesial "laying on of hands" which followed was not an act of "ordaining", which the Spirit had already done, but of fellowship and association with the work. See 2 Timothy 1:6; the question of the laying on of hands will be discussed further when this verse is dealt with later. It is, of course, quite consistent with the New Testament usage of the word "prophecy" that it should imply some "predictions" of Timothy's future progress, as is suggested in 4:14. The fact that Paul now commits this responsiÂble charge to Timothy in accordance with the prophecies suggests that the other view is more probable.
"That thou mightest war a good warfare": consistent with the military metaphor underlying the word parangellia, 'charge', Paul exhorts Timothy to war a good warfare. "By them", or "in them", means the prophecies referred to which are the source of his confidence, perhaps even with the idea of their being the armour in which he goes forth to his spiritual warfare. The conÂcept gives strength to the interpretation of the prophecies referred to above, since it means that Timothy is buoyed up not by a prediction of success but by the knowledge that his task was for God and therefore could be carried out in the strength of God.
The meaning of the word kalos, 'good', characteristic of the Pastoral Letters, has been discussed before (page 22). It is to be noted that Timothy's work is not a battle but a campaign, the service of the good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3,4) in all its details, calling for endurance and separation from the things of this life. We shall further discuss the military metaphor in its later context, but simply note here that the links of this passage are with 2 Timothy 2:3,4 and not 1 Timothy 6:12 ("Fight the good fight") or 2 Timothy 4:7, which are concerned with athletics. All the passages, however, reveal Paul's fondness for the cognate accusative, as it is called—fight a fight, war a warfare, sin a sin, or even run a race, which is not so plainly the same class of expression in English as it is in other languages.
Verse 19: "Holding faith, and a good conscience": "holding" is literally 'having' or 'holding fast to', which is surely the meaning. Timothy is not "holding faith" as a shield, although in Ephesians 6:16 faith is the shield of the man of God. But echon is used in conÂnection with faith (1 Timothy 3:9), sound words (2 Timothy 1:13) and a form of godliness (3:5), in the sense of "possessing", and the linking of "faith and a good conscience" is a reference back to verse 5 and "the end of the charge". If Timothy is rightly to carry out his duty, in the spirit of charity, then he must himself have "faith and a good conscience".
"Some", on the other hand, had "thrust away" (RV) the good conscience, going further than "neglecting" faith or "missing the mark" (verse 6 margin): they had rejected it and so had "tossed conscience away", like the jettisoning of the ballast or cargo of a vessel. The positive, wilful nature of the act can be gauged from the use of the verb in such passages as Acts 13:46, RV—"Ye thrust (eternal life) from you"; Acts 7:27—"He that did his neighÂbour wrong thrust him away"; 7:39—"Our fathers would not obey but thrust him from them".
The natural result of such conduct is to make "shipwreck conÂcerning the faith''. With no conscience of Divine things there can be no faith, since faith is more than intellectual assent or a drawing nigh with the lips: "The devils also believe" (James 2:19). Faith is manifested in the deeds of a man sensitive to God's commands because he believes in them.
We are justified, however, in taking faith here as meaning also "the faith", as the RV does. This is consistent with the entire range of thought in these letters, concerned as they are with sound words, sound doctrine, and five faithful sayings, or "statements of the faith". Out of 33 occurrences of the word pistis, at least eight including this one bear this objective sense. The others are 4:1,6; 5:8; 6:10,21; 2 Timothy 3:8; 4:7; Titus 1:13. In these passages men are said to depart from, deny, err from, or be reprobate concerning, keep, or be sound in "the faith". Loyalty to a body of revealed doctrine and to the community founded upon it are clearly implied, which makes the quality of the subjecÂtive faith of the individual of even greater importance.
"To make or suffer shipwreck" is a "Pauline" word, appearing in the New Testament only here and in 2 Corinthians 11:25. To go through the actual experience three times would leave Paul with a vivid impression of the nature of such a disaster, with its loss of wealth and potential loss of life, and his realisation of the meaning of a shipwrecked faith was equally vivid. Men do survive, however, and Paul's dealings with such were designed to save and not to cast away.
Verse 20: "Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander": Both these names occur in the Second Letter, but there is no certain proof that the same persons are referred to in each case. This Hymenaeus is probably the one associated with Philetus (2 Timothy 2:17) as author of a "cankerous word". The fact that by their teaching, which was a clever denial of the literal resurrection in favour of a purely "spiritual" one (based on a misapplication of Romans 6 and a shutting of the eyes to 1 Corinthians 15), they "overthrew the faith of some" is a good indication that Philetus' colleague was the one also who "made shipwreck concerning the faith".
The other two Alexanders mentioned are the Jews' spokesman at Ephesus (Acts 19:33) and the coppersmith who did Paul "much evil" (2 Timothy 4:14). There are some grounds—the fact that one was a Jew who might have joined the ecclesia at Ephesus and leaned towards the Jewish fables, and the other occasioned Paul much distress—for thinking that one of them is referred to in this verse 20, but we cannot be sure. Alexander the coppersmith may be so named to distinguish him from the other one, and he was apparently at Rome or possibly had been in the place where Paul was arrested the second time.
"That they may learn not to blaspheme": This is surely decisive when determining what "delivered unto Satan" actually means (see Essay 6, page 52). It was not solely punitive but disciplinary, as the word for "learn" shows. Paideuo is often translated "chasten", especially in Hebrews 12:6-10, referring to the Lord's education of His sons. Timothy was in meekness to "instruct" his opponents (2 Timothy 2:25), while the revelation of the salvation of God in Christ should "teach" us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts while we wait for the glorious manifestation of the Saviour who is still to come (Titus 2:11-14). The "blasphemy" in view in the verse we are considering is in fact a speaking against God, by declaring that His grace and salvation is other than He has declared it to be. "Faith" is a Scripturally definable thing, as is also "the faith"; and "a good conscience" is one "void of offence toward God", not because we feel "not guilty" but because we are not in fact so in His sight. This as we have seen is the true end of the charge (1:5), the true charity, which is not the declaring of the guilty to be innocent, but the compassionate re-education in spiritual things of those whose conscience has been pricked.
No doubt there are lessons here for us today. There might well be fewer "automatic" withdrawals, or less abandoning of those who have been withdrawn from, if there were in fact more true ecclesial discipline exercised in the spirit of helping one another towards a spiritual maturity, and a fuller realisation that forgiveness and restoration are complete in God's sight for those who at least attempt to mortify the flesh.
ESSAY 1 The ''Other-Teachers':
IF the word "other-teachers" (1 Timothy 1:3 etc.) was new to Paul, the idea was not, and a brief study of it will help to define the nature and the danger of the unsound teaching in Ephesus.
The key passages are in 2 Corinthians 11:3,4,13-15 and Gala-tians 1:6-9. The first is concerned with subtlety and beguiling which, after the manner of the serpent with Eve, can nullify the force of Divine truth by a false emphasis. God had indeed made the tree of knowledge as Eve saw it, "good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and much to be desired to make one wise". It was reasoning in the place of simple faith that made the word of God of none effect. Rarely does the direct negation of the Truth go unrecognised for what it is.
But if what is preached is Jesus, other than as he is presented in the Scripture, or the Gospel be proclaimed for what it is not, then that is the work of apostles, hut false ones, of workers who are in fact deceitful. Their skill and zeal may be exemplary, but the effect of their work devastating to the life of the ecclesia. Similarly in Galatia: there could be no doubt about the excellence of the Law nor of the necessity for a Jew born under it to be circumcised.
Where observance of the Law excluded the grace of Christ, however, then the Gospel was made "other" than it was intended to be. In fact, says Paul, it is no Gospel at all (Galatians 1:7), and even he himself or an angel from heaven, would lie under a curse for so denying the validity of the work of God in Christ. (ComÂpare also the word "to other-yoke" in 2 Corinthians 6:14, to express incompatibility in essentials which hinders any spiritual enterprise.)
ESSAY 2
Myths and Genealogies
THE myths were Rabbinical tales, incorporating some wise teachings and many legendary histories, which formed the subject of comment and discussion. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is based on such a tale, skilfully used by the Lord to drive home a point. The danger was that such fables, together with the traditional oral commentary on the Law which often accomÂpanied them, assumed all the authority of the Word of God, and in many cases made it void, as Jesus was at pains to point out (e.g. in Matthew 15:1-9). The parallels with the serpent's other-teaching are obvious.
"Endless genealogies"
The "endless genealogies" may well have been genealogies in the proper sense of the word—authentic lists of names such as occur in the Pentateuch and 1 Chronicles particularly, but with wild allegorical interpretations added to make them "endless". The word "genealogy" occurs in 1 Timothy 1:4 and in Titus 3:9 only, although there is a related verb in Hebrews 7:6; elsewhere the term "generations" is used. The Book ojJubilees written about 135-105 BC contains many examples of genealogies of Biblical characters. It has been assumed by some commentators that the Letters to Timothy and Titus presuppose a form of the Gnostic heresy which troubled the ecclesias later in the first century and particularly in the second; in which case the "genealogies" would be the succession of personal emanations from God, of which Jesus Christ was one, by which God was separated from the material world.
Though there probably was an incipient form of this heresy in Ephesus, the evidence of the Pastoral Letters themselves favours the Jewish theory, especially since there had been a growing tendency amongst some of the Jews of the Dispersion to follow the teachings of Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish thinker of the early first century. His greatest contribution to thought is said to have been his linking of Hellenistic philosophy with the forms of the Mosaic Law. His main works were expositions of the Pentateuch, and included a commentary on Genesis: The Allegory oj the Laws. There is little doubt that the influence of his ideas of allegory and typology were felt in Ephesus and Crete. As he himself commented on a community called the Therapeutae, among whom he may have spent his youth: "They read the holy Scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written word as symbols of hidÂden truth which is communicated in obscure figures" (Concerning the Contemplative Life).
No wonder such discussions were described as "endless". They could lead to no firm conclusion and since they were not conÂcerned with realities, the choice of interpretation was largely a matter of taste. To what could they lead, then, other than to "questionings", to which no answer could be given, and which were not worth answering in any case. The charge was therefore not only to refrain from teaching such things but "to give no heed" to them either.
ESSAY 3
The Threefold Origin of Love
THE love of which Paul is writing in 1 Timothy 1:5 has a threefold origin. It is:
(i) "out of a pure heart", and could not, therefore, be displayed by "men of corrupt minds" (1 Timothy 6:5). The "pure heart" is an Old Testament concept, referring to the moral and intellectual as well as emotional dispositions of a man. "He that hath ... a pure heart" would ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place (Psalm 24:3,4); he will "see God" (Matthew 5:8); and for such a "clean heart" David most earnestly prayed, that he might be restored to the Divine fellowship (Psalm 51). It is obviously inseparable then, from
(ii) "and of a good conscience": "conscience" was a familiar word in the Hellenistic world of the day, a favourite theme of the Stoic philosophers. Its literal meaning concerns that which a man "knows with himself, but Paul's usage has nothing to do with the Greek concept of "the god within", although the world "conÂscience" is emphasised in the Pastoral Epistles, as for example in 1 Timothy 1:19; 3:9; 2 Timothy 1:3, where the conscience is "good" or "pure"; and in 1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15, where, in reference to the false teachers, it is "seared" or "defiled". For the true Scriptural idea of conscience, we can go to Hebrews 5:12-14: the mark of spiritual maturity is "by reason of use to have (their) senses exercised to discern both good and evil". Those who have their "conscience purged from dead works" are able to "serve the living and true God" (Hebrews 9:14). So Paul exercised himself "to have a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16; see also Acts 20 for how he conducted himself in Ephesus). Such a Scripturally informed conscience is consistent with "rightly dividing the word of truth", in practice as well as theory. The other essential element is:
(iii) "and of faith unfeigned": an unhypocritical faith, such as dwelt in Timothy himself and his forebears (2 Timothy 1:5). It is a faith that "worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6) and "purifies the heart" (Acts 15:9). With wrong or inadequate ideas about God true faith is impossible, and without faith in Him and His purpose in Christ there could be no purging of the conscience or creating of a clean heart. What a responsibility devolved upon Timothy and the faithful men who were able to teach others also!
ESSAY 4
"Sound doctrine
THE words "sound" and "doctrine" are so characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles as to call for a special note. In fact, "sound doctrine"—both in the teaching and practice of it—is the only remedy which Paul sees for the problems of the ecclesias in Ephesus and Crete.
It is evident from its use in the context of his description of those for whom law is necessary that Paul views doctrine as the basis of a way of life and not as a theological code. Didaskalia is the word he uses 14 times in these letters (1 Timothy 1:10; 4:1,13,16; 5:17; 6:1,3; 2 Timothy 3:10,16; 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1,7,10), and it occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7; Ephesians 4:14; Colossians 2:22; Romans 12:7; 15:4. The more usual word is didache. We have already met a related verb form in the word for "other-teaching" (page 19).
It means not only the content but the art and method of teaching, such as is displayed by a didaskalos, 'teacher' or 'master', the very title by which the Lord Jesus was usually addressed by his disciples in the days of his flesh. (After the resurrection he was invariably "the Lord".) His is the pattern, therefore, for "sound doctrine".
"Sound" and "Wholesome"
The two related Greek words represented by "sound" (hugies, hugiaino) appear nowhere else in Paul's letters, and nowhere else in the New Testament in the sense in which they are used here. Their basic meaning concerns the health of the body, and they form the root of the English word "hygiene". They are frequently used in the Gospels with reference to miracles of healing, when "they were made whole that had been sick". The prodigal son's father rejoiced because he had received him "safe and sound'', and John wished the beloved Gaius to prosper and "be in health" (Mark 3:5; Luke 7:10; 15:27; 3 John 2).
It is possible, since the Apostle wrote the Pastoral Letters late in his career, that these words were added to his vocabulary as a result of his long association with Luke, the beloved physician. Secular writers used them in the sense of 'sane' and 'wholesome' as applied to thoughts and speech, and it is a metaphor which Paul found peculiarly suited to the purpose in hand. In his earlier ministry he had been concerned with the building up of the body of Christ, and his metaphors had been taken from building conÂstruction and the nourishment of the body (Ephesians 4:12-16). Now the process foreseen in Acts 20 was sufficiently advanced for him to realise that the speaking of perverse things was seriously endangering the spiritual health of the Christian community in Ephesus and Crete. Hence his insistence that both Timothy and Titus should devote their talents and energies to healthful teaching, encouraging responsible members of the church to do likewise and shunning those who would not consent to wholesome words (1 Timothy 6:3; Titus 2:1,2).
Two passages particularly throw light on the nature of this teaching, and offer us a useful guide in days when our problems as a community seem to arise as much within as from without. In 1 Timothy 6:3 the wholesome words are qualified as being "the words of our Lord Jesus Christ". While it is tempting to see in this phrase confirmation of the existence of a collection of sayings of the Master recorded at quite an early date (see also Paul's words to the elders of Ephesus in this connection, Acts 20:35), the translation is not without its difficulties, and commenÂtators are divided on the exact interpretation. But even if they do not bear the sense of "the actual words of the Lord Jesus", they certainly mean that the Lord himself is the ultimate source and theme of the sound doctrine the Apostle had in mind, especially since it is further qualified as "according to godliness"—teaching wherewith a man can approach the standard which God has revealed in Christ.
The other passage is 2 Timothy 1:13, where Timothy is exhorted to "hold fast the form of sound words" which he had heard from Paul. The word "form", the same as that translated "pattern" in 1 Timothy 1:16, means 'an outline sketch or ground-plan used by an artist or, in literature, the rough draft forming the basis of a fuller exposition'. Timothy, therefore, should be unswervingly loyal to Paul's message, regarding it as his pattern. Furthermore, this must be done "in faith and love in Christ Jesus".
The spiritual health of the community, therefore, is affected to a great extent by the sense of responsibility of its members towards the splendid trust committed unto them (2 Timothy 1:14). This is a responsibility of which all speakers, writers, editors and publishers should be especially aware. It does not mean that they are confined to the repetition of what has been already said, or that there should be no free and open discussion of difficult problems.
A living witness is a personal witness, and it is still true that a body is fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, and so is edified; but it must grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:15,16). There is all the difference in the world between the free and frank discussion of problems which are recognised as such and the publication of one's personal doubts or the discussion of questions in a way which undermines the faith of those who would otherwise not have been troubled by such doubts. Especially is this true when theories are put forward with all the assurance of authoritative teaching.
ESSAY 5
The Faithful Sayings
AMONG the interesting and unique features of the Pastoral Epistles are the five "faithful sayings". The phrase consistently rendered by the Revised Version as "Faithful is the saying" occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11 and Titus 3:8. There has been some discussion as to whether the words preceding or immediately following this expression form the saying thus referred to; but, as we shall see when we come to consider each saying separately, a careful reading of the text usually removes all ambiguity. This note is concerned with the "Faithful Sayings" as a group.
Most commentators agree that they are in fact sayings which had become proverbial in the church at the stage of development implied in the Pastoral Letters, and are either statements of docÂtrine tersely expressed, or maxims of Christian conduct. This is most probably the case, but the interest attached to the question of their origin is increased by the use made of them by Paul and the insight they give into his mind and thought. The position of the adjective is emphatic, "Faithful the word" (pistos ho logos) being the literal translation of the Greek in each case.
There is an Old Testament parallel in the words of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon: "True the word which I heard in my land concerning thy words and concerning thy wisdom" (1 Kings 10:6; 2 Chronicles 9:5). Even more significant is the precedent of a phrase in use in the worship of the synagogue, apparently from the earliest times, which can be found in the Hebrew Prayer Book even today. Although Paul felt keenly the separation from his own people and tradition caused by his preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, he took great pride in his upbringing and refers, evidently with gratitude, to the religion of his forefathers which found its "proper development and flowering" in Christ (see 2 Timothy 1:3).
It could well be that Paul's "Faithful the saying" is an echo of a prayer which followed the recital of the words, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One": "True and firm, estabÂlished and enduring, right and faithful, beloved and precious, desirable and pleasant, revered and mighty, well-ordered and acceptable, good and beautiful is thy word unto us for ever" (see Authorized Daily Prayer Book, Hebrew-English version, 1924 edn., page 42, and page 98 for a similar expression). For in these Letters, whether he is quoting a popular saying, a fragment of a Christian hymn or a doctrinal statement, the Apostle relates it to the purpose he has in hand, the restraint of false teaching and the edification of the ecc lesia through the wise guidance of responsible members. However he speaks, then, he speaks as the oracles of God.
Some New Testament parallels to the phrase "Faithful the saying" provide further illustration of this. "Faithful is he that callethyou, who also will do it", Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, when encouraging them to hold fast under persecution by the reminder that "the God of peace would sanctify them wholly, and preserve them blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Such exhortation was valueless if its basis was insecure. But it was God who had called them to sanctification, and His faithfulness made the Apostle's exhortation effective and powerful.
Again, on the same theme in 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks of believers being confirmed unto the end because "Faithful is the God, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9). And again, in the same letter, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but faithful is God, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able" (1 Corinthians 10:13). So keenly aware was Paul that he was put in trust with the Gospel of God, that he set himself the highest possible standards of truth and faithfulness in his handling of it and the people with whom it brought him into contact. When he discusses with the Corinthians his intention to visit them he declares that even in this matter he did not purpose according to the flesh, "But faithful is God, and so our word to you was not yea and nay'' (2 Corinthians 1:15-24).
Just as God was a God of truth (Hebrew: amen), and as the Lord prefaced some of his emphatic utterances with the words, "Verily, verily (amen, amen) I say unto you" (e.g. John 3:3,5,11; 5:24,25; 10:7), and as "all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20), so the sayings of the Apostle bore the same stamp of faithfulness and authenticity. As we consider each of the faithful sayings of the Pastoral Epistles separately we shall see their force and beauty and the characteristic way in which Paul uses them to express the teaching of him who said to another Apostle, also traditionally of Ephesus: "Write: for these words (sayings) are true and faithful" (Revelation 21:5; 19:9; 22:6).
ESSAY 6
Delivering unto Satan
MUCH discussion has been centred around the meaning of this phrase in 1 Timothy 1:20, which is parallelled in 1 Corinthians 5:5— "to deliver such an one unto Satan". There it refers apparently to a formal act, when the ecclesia was to be assembled "in the name of our Lord Jesus . . . and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 4). It is even possible that the phrase is an almost technical formula, based upon the idea of Job 2:6, where Job was put into Satan's hand by the Lord God Himself. The detailed discussion of the issues raised would demand a separate treatise on the Devil and Satan, of which there is already a good example in the book The Devil— The Great Deceiver, by Peter Watkins. Perhaps some immediate help with this passage can be gained from Acts 26:18, where the purpose of the apostolic mission is described as "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
"Deliverance unto Satan", therefore, could be anything from the formal pronouncement of the apostle, or the ecclesia under his guidance, that the words or works of an offender were sinful and would, apart from his repentance, leave him in darkness, or in the power of Satan, and exclude from the life of God, to an actual act of disfellowship. The latter would be the logical sequel to the former, until the repentance was manifested, since it was a pracÂtical consequence of a spiritual state. It has been well said that "more often than we know, religious error has its roots in moral rather than intellectual causes". Such an interpretation accords well with the context of 1 Timothy 1:19; Hymenaeus and Alexander had thrust away a good conscience, doing violence both to their own faith and to "the faith", and besides being in a dangerous spiritual condition themselves were liable, in the absence of ecclesial discipline, to "overthrow the faith of some" of their brethren (2 Timothy 2:18).
The question then arises as to whether some physical penalty were attached to this act of excommunication, in view of 1 CorinÂthians 5:5—"For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." That the apostles had power to do such a thing is plain enough, when we consider the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) and Elymas the sorcerer (13:8-12). But the first case was an act of judgement for "lying against the Holy Spirit", the eternal issues of which we cannot begin to discuss here. The flesh was quite literally destroyed, but there was no possibility of the reclamation or reÂeducation of the sufferers.
In the case of Elymas, the temporary physical blindness which matched his spiritual blindness, was more of a sign than a discipline, since he was not a disciple anyway. In any case, it is almost certain that Paul would have used the word "body" for "flesh" if he was talking in physical terms, since the contrast between "flesh" and "spirit" is essentially a moral one. "Flesh" stands for that which opposes God, which is not the body but wrong thoughts or deeds done in the body. If we are humble enough to repent and seek forgiveness, then indeed to that extent the flesh has been destroyed and the spirit revived. That certain acts involve physical consequences of course goes without saying, but that is not what is meant here.
Comments