Verse by verse study of Paul's first letter to Timothy. In this lesson we examine chapter 1 verses 1-11, looking at God's provisions for our minds.
God’s Provision of Truth
1Tm 1:1-4 & 11
At the start of his first letter to Timothy, Paul uses the expression "the provision of God" (1Tm 1:4). God helps people live the Christian life by providing the training, discipline, and edification that is needed. His does this "by faith". Paul elsewhere says that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Rom 10:17).
The churches, and individuals, ought to be trained, edified, and governed by the word that God has provided. They should not turn aside to strange doctrines consisting of speculations, myths, and imaginations (1Tm 1:3-4).
Paul calls the provision of God...
"God's commandment" (1Tm 1:1) by which he became an apostle.
"the faith" (1Tm 1:2) by which Timothy became his "child".
"the glorious gospel of the blessed God" (1Tm 1:11) which had been entrusted to Paul.
It was a very serious matter indeed that certain preachers had digressed from the teaching provided by God and were preaching a religion of their own invention.
Myths, Genealogies, and Speculation
1Tm 1:3-4 & 6-7
Timothy's task was to promote the provision of God, the truth he had learned, and to refute the junk that false teachers were peddling. This is the main concern underlying Paul's letter. The church was being destabilised by false teaching.
It is worth noting Paul's characterisation of this teaching (1Tm 1:4)...
Myths and fables. Paul repeatedly refers to the false doctrines of his day as "fables"(1Tm 1:4, 4:7, 2Tm 4:4, Tit 1:14). We must follow the gospel, not "cunningly devised fables" to borrow a phrase from Peter (2Pe 1:16). The gospel is the testimony of eye witnesses and persons divinely inspired. False teaching comes from people who just make stuff up and tell fairy stories. Both Jews and Greeks of Pauls and Timothy's time were fond of fables, myths, dreams, and legends. Whilst they are excellent for entertainment, they are not the stuff of which true religion and the path to eternal life is made. God, provides us with a true record of things that really did take place.
Endless genealogies(1Tm 1:3, Tit 3:9). The exact nature of these is not clear. However the principle is plain. A genealogy is a series of generations from an ancestor to a descendant, whether it be of humans or of other creatures and beings.
A genealogy seems to give dignity and credence to what otherwise might appear to be crazy. The longer the genealogy, the better, because the difference in each generation is so minute as to become acceptable. If I said, for example, that a fish turned into a man, people would think I was daft. But if I said that, over millions and millions of years, through a gradual succession of minute changes and mutations, a fish turned into a man, then people would think I was scientific. I would still be daft, but somehow the endless genealogy makes my belief respectable.
Questions and speculation. This is another description used repeatedly by Paul to characterise the false teachings that were being propogated, and he considers these arguments and speculations to be "foolish"(1Tm 1:4, 6:4, 2Tm 2:23, Tit 3:9).
Some people enjoy speculating and coming up with new ideas. This, however, is not the way to find eternal life. There isn't time to make a mistake, and there is too much at stake, to be seeking eternal life by speculation and philosophical debate.
We need to know the truth and the facts, and we need to know now. We don't need death or Christ's coming to catch us fooling around with theories and fine points of debate. That's why God gives us the truth, and gives it straight. He gives us the gospel not gobbledegook. So we should not "stray from these things and turn aside to fruitless discussion" (1Tm 1:6).
They Do Not Understand. Paul characterises the false teachers as "not understanding what they are talking about" (1Tm 1:7). It is surprising how confidently false teachers and their followers make assertions about things which they so little understand. We should not let their confidence blind us to their ignorance. Nor should we excuse them for their ignorance, because they are "willingly ignorant" (2Pe 3:5 KJV).
The Gospel’s Goal
1Tm 1:5
The gospel is not "fruitless" like the speculations of false teachers. The gospel has a definite aim, and it hits its target. Paul outlines this goal as "love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a genuine faith" (1Tm 1:5).
A Pure Heart
"Impurity" in the Bible is sin. Paul describes sin as "whatever is contrary to sound teaching" (1Tm 1:10). A pure heart heart desires no sin and looks up to the perfect righteousness of Christ. The gospel's goal is to create such a heart in everyone.
A Good Conscience from God
The point of Christianity, when it's all boiled down, is to provide us with a a conscience made good by God. A good conscience, strictly speaking, is not just one that feels good. Paul knew that only too well. His conscience was clear when he persecuted the church and had Christians imprisoned and killed (Acts 26:9 1Tm 1:13). Paul lived his whole life with "a perfectly good conscience..." (Acts 23:1). He means of course that it was always perfectly good in his own eyes. He admits to Timothy, however, that his conscience had been confused and deceived by "ignorance and unbelief"(1Tm 1:13).
Plenty of people have "good" consciences in that they think they are doing right and doing it very well. However the only basis for a truly good conscience, one that is perfectly good in God's sight, is the gospel of Christ (1Pe 3:21-22). The gospel's goal is to enlighten the conscience so that it judges us as God judges us.
A Sincere Faith from God
The sincere faith is literally a faith without hypocrisy (Jas 3:17). One mark of a false teacher is hypocrisy. The falseness of a false teacher is not just in his or her doctrine, but in the heart. A genuine person who is teaching error by mistake should not be treated as a false teacher, but simply as a genuine person teaching error by mistake. Such persons can be shown their mistakes, and will correct them, just as Apollos did (Acts 18:24-28). The gospel's goal is to add accuracy to sincerity, so that true doctrine comes from true hearts.
The Gospel’s Perfection
1Tm 1:8-11
No other law needed: Paul makes a comment about the Law in which the false teachers seem to regard themselves as experts. Paul regards the Law as good when lawfully applied, but he makes the point that the law is not applicable those who follow the sound teaching of the gospel (which is a higher law) (1Tm 1:8-11).
What is the sense in teaching a law to Christians if they already don't do the things that law prohibits and punishes? True Christians, by their own principles (those of the sound teaching of the gospel) don't kill their mothers, or practice homosexuality, or tell lies. So any law prohibiting such things was not made for them and is not applicable to them.
An illustration: In Bairnsdale my town, there is a law against consuming alchoholic drinks in the streets, parks, and other public places. Now I can properly claim that this law does not apply to me. I certainly don't mean that I am exempted, and am permitted to drink alchohol in public places. No, but I do mean that this law was made for other people. It was not made for me and people like me. I am a teetotaller, you see. When the Council made this law and put up the prohibition signs, they did not have teetotallers in mind did they? What is the point of making a law for a person to observe, if that law is against something which, by his own principles, he never does?
You cannot add to perfection: There is a corollary to this which Paul doesn't mention, but to which he alludes when he speaks of the "glorious gospel of our blessed God" (1Tm 1:11). Does this gospel sound as though it needs improvement? It is glorious, and it comes from God. Regarding it as a law (Rom 8:2, Gal 6:2) we would have to take the position that it cannot be improved, and therefore any change or addition would spoil it. By adding and imposing another law, the false teachers were in the business of ruining the gospel.
The gospel is God's provision for our minds, furnishing us with all the principles necessary to live pleasing to God. The gospel so perfectly enlightens us, that we are enabled to live with God forever through "Christ Jesus who is our hope" (1Tm 1:1)..