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1 Timothy

1 Timothychapter 1

20 verses · BSB1 Timothy book hub →

Speaks with:Titus 1×51 Timothy 6×42 Timothy 2×32 Timothy 4×32 Timothy 1×21 Timothy 4×2

Summary

Chapter summary

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, to Timothy, his own son in the faith. Charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart. I thank him who enabled me, though a blasphemer and persecutor, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. This is a faithful saying. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Henry reads the chapter as the apostle's catechism for pastors.

Context

Epistle · Paul — 1 Timothy overview

  • A. 1–11 Stop the Myths: The Law Is Good If Used Lawfully
  • B. 12–17 Chief of Sinners, Made a Pattern of Mercy
  • C. 18–20 Fight the Good Fight; Some Have Made Shipwreck

The outline

  1. A.Stop the Myths: The Law Is Good If Used Lawfullyvv. 1 to 11

    Read vv. 1 to 11 →

  2. B.Chief of Sinners, Made a Pattern of Mercyvv. 12 to 17

    Read vv. 12 to 17 →

  3. C.Fight the Good Fight; Some Have Made Shipwreckvv. 18 to 20

    Read vv. 18 to 20 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

The faithful sayings of the Pastorals

Pattern

Five times the Pastoral letters mark a church maxim with the formula this is a faithful saying: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, the desire of the bishop's office, godliness profitable unto all things, if we be dead with him, and the charge to maintain good works.

The formula shows the young churches already carried fixed, quotable teaching while the apostles still wrote. Paul stamps each saying reliable, and the five together run from salvation to office to godliness to endurance to good works.

  1. 1 Timothy 1:15 you are here

    Christ Jesus came to save sinners

    The first saying carries the gospel itself, and Paul signs it: of whom I am chief.

  2. 1 Timothy 3:1

    He desireth a good work

    The KJV reads this is a true saying here; the Greek carries the same formula as the other four.

  3. 1 Timothy 4:8-9

    Godliness profitable unto all things

    The saying holds promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

  4. 2 Timothy 2:11

    If we be dead with him

    The saying runs on: we shall also live with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.

  5. Titus 3:8

    Careful to maintain good works

    The last saying is to be affirmed constantly: these things are good and profitable unto men.

The world behind this chapter

1 Timothy 1
When
After Paul's first Roman imprisonment, during his later travels · c. AD 62–64
Where
Written to Timothy, left in charge at Ephesus, the great port and religious capital of the province of Asia
Who first heard it
A younger man holding a large, mixed, argumentative church for an absent apostle

The history

Ephesus was one of the largest cities of the empire, with a harbor, a huge theater, and the temple of Artemis — counted among the seven wonders of the world. The temple also served as a bank, holding deposits for the whole region, so religion and money were physically the same building.

The city had a long-established Jewish community as well, and the mix produced exactly the trouble the chapter names: endless genealogies and speculative stories. Jewish teachers of that era did spin elaborate legends out of the family lists in Genesis, and a teacher who could do it drew an audience and gifts.

Handing a man over to Satan, as Paul does with two named teachers, meant putting him outside the protection of the congregation and back into the world he had chosen. It was the sharpest discipline a church had, and it was aimed at recovery, not destruction.

Some scholars argue this letter was written under Paul's name by a later admirer, mainly because its vocabulary and church structure differ from Romans or Galatians. The traditional view answers that a private letter to a colleague about running a church naturally sounds different from a public argument about justification, and that the early church received it as Paul's from the start.

What it meant to them

Timothy was young, and the men he had to correct were older and better connected. The chapter arms him with a direct commission from Paul, spoken publicly in a letter the church would hear read.

The personal testimony in the middle does real work: the man handing out this charge introduces himself as the worst case he knows. That kept the correction from becoming a matter of superior people managing inferior ones.

Sources cited

  • Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting
  • Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on 1 Timothy 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and Patrick Fairbairn, The Pastoral Epistles.

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