1 Timothy 1:1-11 - Commanded and Charged
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
I am excited to start this new book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy starts off the first of three books that are called the Pastoral Epistles - which includes 1 and 2 Timothy as well as Titus. These three books are all about how the church should be run and managed. These are books about church order. To give you an overview of what is to come over the next 13 weeks as we traverse the pages of 1 Timothy, we will see that this book hits extremely practical matters of the church including:
Rough Outline of 1 Timothy:
How to Combat False Teaching (Chapter 1)
Public Worship Including Women’s Roles in the Church (Chapter 2)
Church Leadership and the Offices of Elders and Deacons (Chapter 3)
Moral Instruction and Godliness (Chapter 4)
Social Responsibilities of the Church (Chapter 5)
How to Manage Material Blessings (Chapter 6)
I would encourage you to read ahead so that you are prepared to understand more and more about God’s church.
My hope for our fellowship at CrossPointe is that we submit to God’s way of running the church. Many people have experience in different churches. We all come from different backgrounds and have different ideas about how the church should be run. However, it is only one Person Who can determine how this church is run. And it is not me or you! It is God alone. So as we go through this great book, may we be changed by God’s Word and may we see the importance of ordering our fellowship after God’s Word and not man’s ideas.
Prayer
Our first aspect of church order involves maintaining sound doctrine in the church.
Today we will see two ways that we are to hold fast to sound doctrine. The first is…
I. We Are Commanded to Hold Fast to Sound Doctrine (1-2)
I. We Are Commanded to Hold Fast to Sound Doctrine (1-2)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
Obviously we see that the author of this book is Paul. Virtually every conservative commentator agrees that Paul wrote the Pastoral Epistles.
Paul then drops a big word after his name. We are told that Paul is an apostle of Christ Jesus. We have mentioned this a couple of times in the past but Paul is a big ‘A’ Apostle. These big ‘A’ Apostles met the following criteria:
Big ‘A’ Apostles
Chosen by God Himself. (Galatians 1:15-16, 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1, Colossians 1:1, 2 Timothy 1:1)
Defined by the ability to perform authenticating signs and miracles. (2 Corinthians 12:12, Acts 5:12)
Witnesses of the bodily form of Jesus on earth. (Acts 10:38-41)
Had been with Jesus throughout His earthly ministry on earth and witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. (Acts 1:10-26)
Paul is only exception to this as he was personally chosen by Jesus Himself as the Apostle to the Gentiles. (Acts 9)
They were and will be the foundation of the church as seen in Revelation 21:14. (Ephesians 2:20)
Obviously, we do not have this type of Apostle any longer. But we, who are believers, are all little ‘a’ apostles - meaning we are “sent out ones.” We are sent out to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope that clarifies the use of the word apostle for you today.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
Then Paul says that he writes according to the command of God our Savior. The words in this book are not Paul’s words.
Paul wants to remind his readers that he is not writing what he is thinking up in his head. He is writing the very Word of God. We understand that the entire 66 books of the Bible make up the inerrant word of God, but Paul reminds us at the beginning of this book that this is the very Word of God.
Although Paul refers to himself as an apostle in other letters, this is the only greeting that he starts off saying that he writes according to divine command. We know that he wrote his others that way as well, but he clearly articulates it here for us.
And he also reminds us that our hope is only found in Jesus Christ. As the old 1800’s theologian Charles Ellicott once beautifully stated:
“Jesus is not merely the object of our hope… or the author of it… but its very substance and foundation.”
Charles Ellicott
As the old hymn says:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
One may wonder why two books bear the name of Timothy. Paul informs us here that Timothy was an adopted spiritual son to Paul.
Timothy is first mentioned in Acts 16:1 where he is called a disciple. We are unsure how he was saved, but we see him as a traveling companion of the apostle Paul throughout Paul’s ministry. Paul calls him his child in the faith here in verse 2 and in 1 Corinthians 4:17 he calls him his beloved and faithful child. Although his biological father was not a believer and was a Greek, Timothy was blessed to have a grandmother (Lois) and mother (Eunice) who were both believers. Of note, his mother was of Jewish lineage as she was called a Jewish believer in Acts 16:1. It was almost certainly Eunice who named her son Timothy - whose name means “one who honors God.”
This young man certainly lived up to his name. He was obviously a serious believer even early in his walk with Christ as we see him mentioned in Acts 16 as a spiritual leader in his hometown of Lystra as well as nearby Iconium (Acts 16:2).
Paul writes this letter to Timothy but ultimately it is also for the church as a whole. It was written for the church in Ephesus but also for every church thereafter - including us.
Paul then includes three terms of blessings upon Timothy and the churches. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
These are beautiful and profoundly theological concepts that we should address briefly today.
Grace is unmerited and undeserved favor. It is getting what we do not deserve. It is salvation given to us freely despite our lack of deserving it.
Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. We deserve hell and yet God offers us salvation through Christ.
Peace is more than a feeling or emotion. It is an inner tranquility with God. It is not dependent on circumstances but is a gift of the Holy Spirit as listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
So far we have seen that we are commanded to hold fast to sound doctrine. The words that we read are the very words of God. If we want to have correct beliefs then they must be founded upon God’s Word alone.
Our next verses get into how we combat those who are false teachers - those who peddle false doctrines. Paul asserts that…
Scripture References: (Apostolic verses above), Acts 16:1-2, 1 Corinthians 4:17, Galatians 5:22-23
II. We Are Charged to Hold Fast to Sound Doctrine (3-11)
II. We Are Charged to Hold Fast to Sound Doctrine (3-11)
A) By Combating Liars (3-7)
A) By Combating Liars (3-7)
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,
After Paul's informative introduction he jumps right into getting into the meat of his letter. Verses 3 through 11 focus on a warning against false teaching.
The word charged here is parangellō (par-on-gare-oh) which is a military word. It means to be ordered. Timothy is charged to combat liars who are propagating different doctrines.
The Greek word for different doctrine in verse 3 is actually a word that Paul likely coined himself. It refers to strange doctrines that are erroneous.
He encourages Timothy to remain at Ephesus and rebuke those teaching different doctrines. One of the most important and high callings of church leaders is to protect the church from false teaching. This is a critical task that we must take very seriously.
It is clear that the Church in Ephesus was being afflicted by false teachers. There were "certain persons,” who were teaching false doctrines. He will go through many of these doctrines in later verses.
Unfortunately, some of these “certain persons” were likely leaders in the church. Many commentators believe they may have even been elders in the church that were teaching these false doctrines as Paul ends up excommunicating two of them mentioned in verse 1 Timothy 1:19-20:
1 Timothy 1:19b–20 (ESV)
By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
These men were divisive. Some of their teachings are mentioned in verse 4…
nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
False Teaching in the Church in Ephesus - Myths, Genealogies, Speculation, and Disorder
Paul's first false teaching that he addresses is directly toward those who are divisive over things that don't matter or are extra-Biblical and frankly oftentimes unbiblical. They are creators of disorder in the church.
There were those in the church in Ephesus that had an agenda. It may have been a myth that they were propagating, it may have been an argument over genealogies of the Old Testament, or it may have been a hobby horse that was unbiblical. Paul warns that these promote speculations rather than stewardship. This word stewardship can also mean good order. In other words, these people were being divisive over things that were not worth dividing over.
We must fight against those that highlight the lesser things at the expense of the greater things. We must hold fast to the Word of God above any other thing.
I want to focus on the word speculation as well. I think this has become a huge issue in the modern church. Instead of standing firm on the Word of God, many have veered off into speculation. Lauren and I saw a sad example of this speculative approach to Christianity a couple of years ago.
We were at a Christian coffee shop and saw a Bible study group meeting and discussing the Bible. At first, we were excited to see people meeting together for a Bible study! We had asked what church they were a part of and were told they were part of one of the more liberal-leaning denominations. Maybe this particular church was different and wasn’t buying into the liberal theology that had infected this dying denomination. Unfortunately, as we sat there with our coffees, we could not help but overhear some of the study. Time after time the study leader (who was the pastor of the church) kept asking the following two questions:
“How do you feel about that?” and “What do you think about that?” Sadly, they did not cover hardly any Scripture. The conversation morphed into a series of rants that were about as Biblical as a talk show on prime time television. Man’s opinions and humanism ruled the day during that, very loosely termed, Bible study.
My friends, this might sound offensive - and you have probably heard me say it in the past - but I don’t care what you think about something or how you feel about something when it relates to the Word of God. Frankly, I don’t care what I think or feel about something related to the Word of God. We should only care what God thinks!
When we start to creep into feelings and mysticism, we can quickly come into error. The Gnostics of the first century were constantly teaching that they had a special revelation that was not available to anyone else. 1 John is all about combating the Gnostic heresy. This heresy was likely infecting the church in Ephesus where Timothy was serving as well.
Beware of anyone claiming to have Biblical knowledge not available to you. Anyone who is a believer is blessed with ability to read and understand the Word of God. Although it is important that we sit under preaching and teaching in the local church, no pastor should ever bring any novel idea into the pulpit. Any new teaching discovered today is almost certainly a heresy. Our God does not change and His Word does not change. And we have been given the whole counsel of God in the 66 books of the Bible. Stand firm on the Word of God.
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
The aim of our charge is love. This is a pivotal teaching for church leaders and believers alike. We are to combat heresy and false teaching. But we are to do it in love. We do it out of love for God and love for others. We want to protect the church. Our focus is not on harming the false teachers.
Although we should address them directly, confidently by the Word of God, and strongly and not approach false teachers with kid gloves, our hope should be that they repent and change their sinful ways.
This love should flow through three distinct channels.
1. Love from a pure heart.
As Chapell and Hughes assert, the heart stands for the totality of man’s moral affections. A pure heart is only possible by one who has been cleansed by the blood of Christ. As the Psalmist infers, only God can create in us a clean heart (Psalm 51:10).
The second channel that love must flow is…
2. Love from a good conscience.
The conscience is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. The conscience can become bad and be seared as we see in 1 Timothy 4:2:
through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
All of us are born with a conscience. We all understand what is right and wrong. However, over time, one may sear his or her conscience by suppressing it.
We who are born-again believers are given the Holy Spirit Who sanctifies and works through our conscience. He works through the Word of God and through His power in our lives to make our conscience more holy and righteous.
Finally love must flow…
3. Love from a sincere faith.
Interestingly, faith and love are paired in the three Pastoral Epistles every time other than 2 Timothy 1:7. We can only sacrificially love (agape) others if we are true believers. And true believers must have faith.
A sincere faith is a faith that is true. It is not a faith with pretense or hypocrisy. It is a faith with integrity.
Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
Paul uses this phrase “certain persons” yet again to describe these false teachers. He asserts that the have swerved from sound doctrine and from love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Swerving from these, they have wondered into vain discussion. This word vain means empty, fruitless, or worthless.
They have pridefully put themselves into a teaching role that are entirely unqualified for. We are told that they have no understanding about the things in which they speak.
I sometimes joke with my children with the following statement:
“What they lack in skill, they make up for with confidence.”
False teachers, fall right into this trap of overconfidence and a lack of knowledge. Some speak very confidently about things they know little about.
With the internet, podcasts, YouTube, and blogs - anyone can become a self-proclaimed expert in any field. This is seen in the most dangerous of ways in theological circles. There are many YouTube videos and podcasts full of false teaching. Some of these teachers can speak very convincingly. They speak with great confidence and charisma but yet have a lack of knowledge to back up their confidence. Their confidence is misplaced and is placed in themselves and not the Word of God. We must beware of such people.
Finally, we see that we are charged to hold fast to sound doctrine…
B) By Combating Lawlessness (8-11)
B) By Combating Lawlessness (8-11)
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
Paul is about to give us a rapid-fire list of sins that are affecting the church in Ephesus. It is clear that we see that the Law is good. We are no longer under the ceremonial and sacrificial law of the Old Testament because of what Christ did on the cross. He fulfilled these laws. But God's moral Law does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Lord does not change.
It seems likely that Paul is addressing a false charge that his opponents have brought up against him. It appears that he is responding to what is called antinomianism.
Antinomianism is a view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation to observe to the moral law. (New Oxford English Dictionary)
The Greek is a compound word literally meaning anti-law.
Paul fought hard against the Judaizers and also those who tried to conform the Gospel to a series of legalistic guidelines. Sometimes, as we see here, the greatest threat to the Gospel may not always be liberalism but instead may be legalism.
In answering this attack, Paul goes through a vast list of moral law sins that need addressed. Interestingly, it appears that those accusing Paul of being too much about grace are guilty of breaking God’s moral law time and time again. It is interesting that oftentimes the sin someone accuses others of participating in is the very sin that the accuser is engaging in themselves!
understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
As we see, the law of God is not to be applied mystically like the Gnostics liked to do. It is to be applied literally and correctly. And in applying God’s moral law to these false teachers, it is apparent that they are in violation of it. We see at the end of verse 10, all of these things are contrary to sound doctrine. Instead of sound doctrine, these false teachers propagated a strange or different or false doctrine. Those who do not hold fast to sound doctrine fall into grievous sins such as the following:
1. Lawless and Disobedient
This describes those who are rebellious and refuse to obey the law of God. They are insubordinate and obstinate.
2. Ungodly and Sinners
These two terms are often used of those who reject God and live how they want to live. But praise be to God, He saves people like this! People like we were before being saved!
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
He died for the ungodly and sinners! I pray that if you have not repented (or turned away from your sins) and placed you faith in Christ’s work on the cross, that you do that now. He died on the cross for our sins and rose three days later. We had no power to save ourselves and yet He offers salvation freely for us. How wonderful is our God!
3. Unholy and Profane
Here is the third pair of sinful attributes that describes these false teachers and those who are like them. These two words are very closely linked. They refer to things and actions that are inappropriate for those who worship God.
After giving these first three pairs of broad descriptors, Paul zooms in on some specific sins that arise out of these broad categories. Take note that these will follow the Ten Commandments - namely Commandments #5-9 from Exodus 20:12-16. These commandments will be addressed in sequential order.
The first is:
4. Those Who Strike Their Fathers and Mothers (Commandment #5 - Exodus 20:12)
This phrase likely refers to both those who figurative strike their parents by dishonoring them as well as those who might strike and kill their parents.
The Bible is clear that parenthood is to be revered. Murder of a parent is unthinkable as one understands the Scriptural teachings for honoring parents. The fifth commandment says the following:
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
This is the fifth commandment but it is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:2). The negative of this promise is assumed in the Scripture as well. Those who do not honor their father and mother do not attain the promise of long days and instead have their days cut short.
5. Murderers (Commandment #6 - Exodus 20:13)
This is a crystal clear sin taught throughout the Scriptures. This is explicitly addressed throughout the Bible and clearly seen in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:13:
“You shall not murder.
This is the 6th commandment.
Next, Paul moves onto the 7th commandment...
6. Sexually Immoral (Commandment #7 - Exodus 20:14)
This Greek word that is translated sexually immoral refers to anything outside of the boundaries that God has set for sexual purity. It involves lust as well as any sexual act of any kind outside of marriage. Believers are called to be pure and holy and set apart.
Listen to Paul preach on the severity of sexual immorality:
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
In our world of sensual temptations at every turn, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit more than ever to combat this serious sin.
7. Homosexuality (Commandment #7 - Exodus 20:14)
Homosexuality is another form of sexual immorality. The reason it is oftentimes mentioned separately is because it is not only a sin against the body but it is a sin against the creation order of God. God created them male and female. He created the woman as a helper for man, and He created the two to become one (Genesis 2). This perversion is two-fold. One, it is a sin against one’s own body like all sexual immorality is and two, it is against the created order of God.
The literal Greek word here is men who practice homosexuality. However, we see in Romans 1:26-27 that homosexuality refers to both men and women who have same sex practices:
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Here we see homosexuality clearly addressed by the Bible. All forms of sexual expression outside of the confines of marriage between a biological man and a biological woman are sinful. There is no room for debate on this issue. The Scriptures speak clearly.
8. Enslavers (Commandment #8 - Exodus 20:15)
This is literally man-stealers. This refers to human traffickers and kidnappers. Listen to Exodus 21:16:
“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.
We see that this is a capital offense worthy of death. This was clearly ignored by those who promoted slavery in America. Thankfully, there were true believers who stood firm on the Word of God and fought against the satanic oppression of slavery and overthrew the evil practice that has marred our nation’s history.
However, slavery continues to be an issue worldwide even today.
Time fails us to speak of the horrible atrocities in our world with human trafficking. We need to pray for those who are suffering under this horrible form of modern-day slavery throughout our world.
9. Liars and Perjurers (Commandment #9 - Exodus 20:16)
Again, we see another of the Ten Commandments. #9. Exodus 20:16:
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
God hates lying. He actually refers to it as an abomination which means something that is profane, hated and disgusting. See Proverbs 12:22:
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Lying is contrary to God’s nature:
in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
Believers are to walk in the truth. In fact, Jesus is even called the Truth (John 14:6)!
10. Whatever Else is Contrary to Sound Doctrine
Paul ends this section with this open-ended phrase because all sin separates us from God. God hates all forms of sin.
Before moving on to our last verse, it is important that we understand our own sinfulness. Sometimes we can grab onto sins that we don’t struggle with and rail against them. Many in the Church do that with topics such as homosexuality and abortion. But friends, may we, like Paul states in 1 Timothy 1:15, see ourselves with a sober-minded view:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
May we judge ourselves rightly by the Word of God and realize our own sinfulness. This will help us lovingly rebuke those who teach falsely. We can humbly but confidently deal with false teachers only when we understand the sin in which we have been forgiven.
in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Anything that opposes or disagrees with the Gospel is false teaching and to be rebuked and dealt with.
In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul asserts that those who preach a Gospel contrary to the one he preached through the Holy Spirit should be accursed. He repeats that twice actually!
We must fight against the false gospels peddled today. We must stand firm on the true and sound doctrine taught in the Word of God.
Scripture References: 1 Timothy 1:19b-20, Psalm 51:10, 1 Timothy 4:2, Ephesians 6:2, Exodus 20:12-16, Romans 1:26-27, Exodus 21:16, Proverbs 12:22, John 14:6, Titus 1:2, 1 Timothy 1:15, Galatians 1:6-9
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, may we remember that we are commanded and charged. We are commanded to hold fast to sound doctrine and charged to combat those who do not hold fast to sound doctrine. We can only do this by studying the Word of God regularly and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us as we move forward.
May we be a church that is marked by holiness and purity. May we lovingly but fervently stand against the false teachers of today’s world and stand firm on God’s Word.
As we come to a close, we have had a lot of meat today my friends. I want us to take a little time to digest this as we have a time of prayer and reflection.