Book of 1 Timothy - Bible Survey

It is a confidential communication which Paul sent to Timothy concerning the church as the house of God. In chapter 3:14, 15 we find the words which state clearly the purpose of this Epistle, "These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth." The epistle therefore contains practical and important instructions on the order which is to be maintained in the church, as the house of God. The suitable conduct befitting to the house of God is given by the apostle. Pure doctrine, pure worship and a faithful ministry are the leading thoughts of this pastoral letter, but he also enters into the godly conduct of the individuals which are in the church of the living God. Blessed instructions! There is failure on all sides, showing, that departure from the faith, when men no longer endure sound doctrine, is upon us, according to the warning given in both Epistles. Yet individuals can always walk and live in the truth, for there is grace sufficient to lead and to maintain the members of the body of Christ in the divinely marked out path, even in the last days, the perilous times.

In the First Epistle to Timothy, the church is viewed as composed of believers “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). In connection with this great truth, the instruction of the Epistle has in view a twofold end. Firstly, the Apostle writes to charge believers to live the practical life of piety consistent with the house of God, as we read, “that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God's house, which is the assembly of the living God” (1 Timothy 3:15). Secondly, the Apostle writes to instruct us that the great purpose of the house of God is to be a witness in the world that God is a Saviour God, “who will have all men to be saved.”

The especial object of those written to Timothy was the maintenance of sound doctrine, although speaking of other things with regard to which the apostle gives directions for the conduct of Timothy. This the apostle himself tells us. In the first epistle to Timothy we see that Paul had left his beloved son in the faith at Ephesus, in order to watch that no other doctrine was preached there; the assembly is the pillar and support of the truth. In the second epistle we find the means by which Christians are to be strengthened in the truth, when the mass have departed from it.

The First Epistle to Timothy presents the church of God as the house of God and prescribes its divine order according to the mind of God. It recognises that there were, even then, individuals who had turned aside to vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, and that there were some who had made shipwreck of the faith. Warnings are also given that in the latter times some will apostatise from the faith. Nevertheless, the mass of Christians are viewed as desiring to answer to their responsibilities in maintaining the order of the house of God, and the great aim of the Spirit in the Epistle is to give instructions as to that order and the behaviour consistent with it in all the details of its administration on earth.

'These things write I unto you... that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth' (1 Tim. 3:14-15) These verses could be the heading of the First Epistle to Timothy.

Exactly in Ephesus Paul had proclaimed the whole purpose of God and in his epistle described the great privileges and blessings of the members of the body of Christ. Now he is instructing Timothy (who actually stays in Ephesus) in his first epistle in relation to the outward order of the church (whereas the first epistle to the Corinthians dealt with the inward order of the church). The truths written in the Epistle to Ephesus not more than three years ago had no need of being repeated (1 Tim. 1:3). The apostle pre-supposed these truths as known. This is also why the First Epistle to Timothy bears a totally different character from the Epistle to the Ephesians. First Timothy is neither directed to the believers nor to the whole church there but to a servant who had been charged and authorized by the apostle himself.

In 1 Timothy God's administration which is in faith is first brought before us and the standard is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Believers in the House of God is the theme, and that which binds the whole structure together is the mystery of piety in the incarnation of the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The men are to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and reasoning and the women to be marked by modesty of dress in the fear of God. In this way, a proper impression of God will be set forth in testimony. God is One, and the mediator between God and men One, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony to go forth in its own time. The rest of the Epistle gives instruction concerning oversight and ministry with directions concerning the distribution of alms to the needy and dependent. All these details are given us because God desires all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He does not want us to give a false impression of Him, for it is through His saints He puts Himself in touch with all. The Holy Spirit speaks of Himself here in this Epistle and, as dwelling in the saints, is the immanent life and power of the whole spiritual structure.

Following upon the greeting, the Apostle at once sets forth the special purpose for which he writes to Timothy. In the first place he writes to insist upon the presentation of the doctrines of grace; secondly, he exhorts to a right spiritual condition in order to be a true witness to grace.

(V. 3). As to the doctrine, the Apostle having laboured at Ephesus for two years and three months, declaring to the saints all the counsel of God, it might be thought that there would be little danger of false doctrines being taught in their midst. It was not so, however, for the Apostle realised that there were “some” who were ready to teach “other doctrines” even amongst those who had the greatest light. The natural pride of the heart may think that much light is a safeguard against error. It is well for us to learn, by the example of the Ephesian assembly, that the fact of a company being enriched with truth, and enjoying the highest ministry, is no guarantee against false doctrine. Timothy, then, was to charge some that they teach no other doctrine than the great doctrines of the grace of God.

The first epistle to Timothy is introduced, so far as its substance is concerned, with the words, "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine" (ver. 3). At Ephesus, where Paul had laboured so long, the enemy was very busy seeking to undermine the truth ministered by the apostle. Fables and endless genealogies might do for the heathen and for Jews who had forsaken the Word of God, but were utterly worthless to those who had received the precious truth of the Gospel and counsels of God. What proceeds from the natural mind will foster questionings, but can never help on the dispensation of God which is in faith.

If Timothy had been left at Ephesus to hold in check the introduction of false teaching, he was also there for the maintenance of the true; and the character of the teaching will always be evident in its practical results. The teaching of Christianity, when received into the heart, will enable those who have received it to "love out of a pure heart," to walk with "a good conscience and unfeigned faith."

Verse 3. Though Paul had spent three years in Ephesus (Acts 20:31), in ardent labors, teaching, testifying, and warning; and though to the Ephesians he was able to communicate in his epistle the truths of highest Christian blessing and position; yet he was persuaded that their souls' condition needed the ministry of Timothy to labor with the sad tendencies of departure that were present. There were "some" at least who were inclined to teach doctrine other than the truth of God. It did not need superior intellect to counteract this, but the faithfulness that honors God; not the communication of new truth, but applying to heart and conscience the truth which had been before communicated.

Timothy was to keep watch over the doctrine taught in the assembly. There was need for this. Of what would take place in Ephesus after Paul's death he had warned the Ephesian elders years before at Miletus. How the prediction was verified the Lord's address to the angel of that Church surely intimates. (Rev. 2:2.) But whilst he was still in life he saw heterodoxy getting in there, and the saints in danger of being ensnared by fables and endless genealogies, which ministered questions rather than God's dispensation which is in faith; whereas the end of the command, i.e. what was enjoined, is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, which things some having missed had turned aside to vain talking, desiring to be law-teachers, understanding neither what they said nor whereof they affirmed. Such were the dangers at Ephesus to the maintenance of sound teaching to which Timothy's attention was especially drawn. Paul had pointed them out before leaving for Macedonia; he refers again to them in this letter.