1 Timothy 1.1-Paul Identifies Himself As The Author Of The Epistle
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 13, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:1-Paul Identifies Himself As The Author Of The Epistle
Lesson # 7
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:1.
This evening we will study 1 Timothy 1:1 and in this verse Paul identifies himself as the author of this epistle.
1 Timothy 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope.” (NASU)
“Paul” is the nominative masculine singular form of the proper name Paulos (Παῦλος) (pahv-loce), which means, “little” and is used here rather than Saul since Saul was the apostle’s Jewish name and the Ephesian church was primarily composed of Gentiles.
The Lord Jesus Christ authorized him to be the apostle to the Gentiles (See Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9).
“An apostle of Christ Jesus” is composed of the nominative masculine singular form of the noun apostolos (ah-pos-tah-loce) (ἀπόστολος), “an apostle” and the genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ” and the genitive masculine singular form of the proper noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) (yee-soose), “Jesus.”
In our passage, the noun apostolos refers to the temporary spiritual gift of apostleship that held maximum authority in the church.
This gift was given to only twelve men and existed exclusively during the pre-canon period of the church age and is no longer existent today since all twelve men have died and went home to be with the Lord (See Matthew 10:2-4).
In Acts 1:26, Matthias was selected to be an apostle by lot to replace Judas Iscariot, however, this selection was not honored by God since he was not personally selected by the resurrected Christ as the other eleven men were, nor did he demonstrate any sign gifts.
One of the requirements for holding the “office” of apostle was the experience of seeing the resurrected Christ as Paul had when defending his ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2.
Another requirement for holding the “office” of apostle was that of possessing the “sign gifts” such as healing, which Paul demonstrated he had many times during the course of his ministry (Acts 14:10; 16:18; 19:11; 20:10; 28:8) or “tongues,” which Paul also demonstrated he possessed (1 Corinthians 14:18).
The office and spiritual gift of apostleship was not appointed until after the resurrection and ascension and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (See Ephesians 4:1-16).
The spiritual gift of apostleship functioned under two categories: (1) Writers of the New Testament (2) Establishment of local churches: (a) The clarification of mystery doctrine (b) The maintenance of a true systematic theology with dispensational emphasis (c) The training of pastors (d) Establishment of local church policy.
Paul was personally commissioned by the resurrected Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles (See Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9; Ephesians 3:1; 1 Timothy 2:7).
Now, in 1 Timothy 1:1, Paul employs the word even though he is writing to a faithful disciple since he is also writing to the Ephesian church, many of which had rejected his teaching and authority as evidenced by those who were propagating false teaching which he addresses in this letter.
He knew that these false apostate teachers had rejected both his teaching and authority as well as Timothy’s, thus he felt the need to establish that his authority was delegated to him by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Apostolos in 1 Timothy 1:1 designates Paul as an authoritative leader whose authority was delegated to him personally by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
So Paul is writing this letter to give Timothy apostolic authorization to refute and rebuke and discipline the false teachers in Ephesus.
Therefore, by using apostolos in the salutation, Paul makes clear that the instruction in this letter falls under the category of apostolic authority.
It would indicate that the Ephesians and their false teachers were accountable to Paul and Timothy’s authority delegated to him by the apostle.
At the same time, this would give Timothy encouragement to be bold to mete out discipline to the false teachers and those who adhere to their teaching.
In 1 Timothy 1:1, Christos emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God delivered the believer from the sin nature, personal sins, the devil and his cosmic system, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.
It functions as a possessive genitive denoting ownership meaning that the Lord Jesus Christ owns Paul.
The proper name Iesou is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua, “Jehovah saves,” and refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
Knight makes the following excellent comment, he writes that “ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ meant that he was: (a) directly appointed by Jesus Christ and empowered and authorized by him (Gal. 1:1, 11-17; 2 Cor. 12:12; 1 Thess. 2:6) (b) an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 15:3-9; cf. Acts 1:22; 1 Cor. 9:1) (c) a foundation stone of the church along with the prophets as a bearer of the gospel and of God’s revelation (Rom. 1:1; Eph. 2:20 and 3:4, 5; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11) and thus (d) first in leadership and authority in the church along with the other apostles (1 Cor. 12:28; 2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11; Eph. 4:11; 1 Thess. 2:6; cf. Acts 15, especially vv. 23-29 and 16:4). Along with all this, in Paul’s case an aspect of apostleship was to be especially responsible, under God, for the Gentiles (Rom. 1:5; 11:13; 1 Cor. 9:2; Gal. 2:7-9; 1 Tim. 2:7).” (Knight, George W. III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text; page 58; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K., The Paternoster Press; Bletchley)
1 Timothy 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope.” (NASU)
“According to the commandment of God our Savior” is composed of the kata (κατά) (kah-tah), “according to” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun epitage (ἐπιταγή) (eh-pee-tie-ee), “the commandment” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun soter (σωτήρ) (so-peer-deh), “Savior” and the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), “our.”
The noun epitage is used of Paul’s apostleship and refers to that which has been specifically decreed by God the Father in eternity past or in other words, it refers to the authoritative decree of God the Father in eternity past.
It is the object of the preposition kata, which functions as a marker of a norm of similarity introducing the basis for Paul’s apostleship indicating that Paul’s apostleship was “based upon” the decree of the Father in eternity past.
Thus, this prepositional phrase emphasizes Paul’s apostolic authority indicating that the Ephesian church is accountable to Paul and Timothy who is the apostle’s delegate and so consequently, to reject his instructions in this epistle was equivalent to rejecting the Father Himself.
The noun soter is a title for the Father emphasizing that He is the member of the Trinity who initiated salvation and is its source.
He is the Savior or Deliverer of the human race in a seven-fold sense: (1) Deliverer or Savior from personal sins. (2) Deliverer or Savior from old sin nature (3) Deliverer or Savior from Satan and his cosmic system. (4) Deliverer or Savior from spiritual and physical death (5) Deliverer or Savior from eternal condemnation. (6) Deliverer or Savior from self. (7) Deliverer or Savior from condemnation from the Law.
The Father is the Christian’s deliverer in all these areas and not just the Lord Jesus Christ since it was according to the Father’s plan in eternity that the Son was sent into the world to save sinners in the first place (See Ephesians 1:1-14).
“Who is our hope” is composed of the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun elpis (ἐλπίς) (el-peace), “who is hope” and the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), “our.”
The noun elpis means “confident expectation” of blessing and is related to the believer’s union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, spiritual and physical deaths on the cross, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Christian’s confident expectation of blessing because they are in union with Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, spiritual and physical deaths, burial, resurrection and session.
In respect to time, the noun elpis denotes that the Christian has been blessed in the past and is being blessed in the present and will be blessed in the future.
For instance, in relation to the believer’s election to privilege in eternity past, elpis refers to the Christian’s “confident expectation” of being blessed in the future because of their union and identification with Christ as a result of being elected to privilege in eternity past.
The believer’s election to privilege guarantees blessing in the present and in the future.
In relation to the believer’s present, elpis refers to the Christian’s “confident expectation” of blessing in relation to experiencing fellowship with the Trinity.
It is related to the blessing of having the character of Christ being formed in the believer by the Spirit through various adversities and undeserved suffering.
This blessing is related to deliverance experientially from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system.
It is also related to the immanency of the rapture, which if the believer lives his life in light of will result in joy and holy living, i.e. their sanctification.
Then, lastly, in relation to the believer’s future, elpis speaks of the Christian’s “confident expectation” of being blessed in the future with a resurrection body and rewards for enduring undeserved suffering and faithful service.