1 Timothy 1.3-When Leaving Macedonia, Paul Requested That Timothy Stay At Ephesus To Command Certain People Not To Teach False Doctrine
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 19, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:3-When Leaving Macedonia, Paul Requested That Timothy Stay At Ephesus To Command Certain People Not To Teach False Doctrine
Lesson # 10
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:1.
This evening we will study 1 Timothy 1:3 and in this verse Paul reveals that when leaving Macedonia, he urged Timothy to stay on at Ephesus to command certain Ephesian pastors to not teach false doctrines.
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, 2 to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.” (NASU)
1 Timothy 1:3 is an elliptical clause meaning that Paul does not explicitly command Timothy to command certain Ephesian men to not teach false doctrines but rather he only presents the basis or the reason for doing so.
The reason why Paul does not explicitly command Timothy to complete the task of staying in Ephesus to command certain men not to teach false doctrines is that he assumes Timothy is doing so since he knew from experience that Timothy would be faithful in carrying out this task.
Rather, he omits it since he does not want to emphasize Timothy responsibility here but waits till verse 18 since he is directed his statements to the Ephesians.
In particular those who were teaching false doctrines that contradicted his doctrine.
Also, Paul is undoubtedly extremely agitated by this situation in Ephesus and is thus coming at these false teachers in Ephesus with guns blazing.
Thus, he is not preoccupied with Timothy’s responsibility but rather the situation with the false teachers in Ephesus.
“As” is the causal use of the conjunction kathos (καθώς) (kath-oce), which does not introduce a comparative clause but rather a causal clause that presents the basis for Timothy commanding certain Ephesian pastors to stop teaching false doctrines.
The emphasis is not upon a comparison between Paul urging Timothy when leaving Macedonia to stay on at Ephesus in order to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines and Timothy doing exactly that now that Paul has left him in Ephesus.
Rather, his emphasis is that he wants Timothy to continue commanding certain Ephesian believers to not teach false doctrines because he commanded him to do so upon leaving for Macedonia.
His emphasis is as to why he wants Timothy to confront these false teachers.
This is to help support Timothy in this task since he is emphasizing in this causal clause his apostolic authority that he received from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
To reject Paul’s instructions was to reject the Lord Himself.
“I urged” is the first person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb parakaleo (παρακαλέω) (para-kah-leh-owe), which means “to urgently request” and not “command” since the verb parangello, which appears in the hina purpose clause to follow means this.
Parakaleo does not denote an authoritative summons to obedience since if he wanted to convey that idea he would have employed parangello.
Furthermore, the context indicates that Paul is not ordering Timothy to fulfill this task of confronting the false teachers in Ephesus since in 1 Timothy 1:18, he does not use an authoritative tone with Timothy but rather one of encouragement and tenderness.
“You” is the accusative second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), which is a reference to Timothy of course.
“Upon my departure” is the nominative masculine singular present middle participle form of the verb poreuomai (πορεύομαι) (poe-eh-vah-meh), which means “to depart” with an indication of the destination and is used of Paul traveling from Ephesus to the Roman province of Macedonia.
The verb is a temporal participle indicating when Paul urgently requested that Timothy remain at Ephesus to command certain Ephesian believers not to teach false doctrines.
The present tense of the verb is a futuristic present emphasizing the immediacy of Paul departing for Macedonia indicating that Paul requested that Timothy remain at Ephesus in order to command certain Ephesian not to teach false doctrines when he ‘was about to” depart for Macedonia.
“Macedonia” refers to a Roman province which was located in the region of the Balkan peninsula north of the Roman province of Achaia.
1 Timothy 1:3, “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.” (NASU)
“Remain on at Ephesus” is composed of the aorist active infinitive form of the verb prosmeno (προσμένω) (prose-may-no), “remain on” and the preposition en (ἐν), “at” and the dative feminine singular form of the noun Ephesos (Ἔφεσος) (ef-eh-soce), “Ephesus.”
The verb prosmeno means “to remain on” or “stay on” implying that Paul wanted Timothy to continue confronting those teaching false doctrines in Ephesus and expresses the concept of perseverance.
“Ephesus” was located on the western part of Turkey and was situated at the mouth of the Cayster River and opposite the island of Samos.
“So that” is the conjunction hina (ἵνα) (ee-nah), which introduces a purpose clause that indicates that Paul’s purpose for urgently requesting that Timothy stay on in Ephesus was so that he could command certain Ephesian believers not to teach false doctrine.
The purpose is further described in verse 4 indicating that Paul wanted these Ephesian believers who taught false doctrines to also not occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies.
“You may instruct” is the second person singular aorist active subjunctive form of the verb parangello (παραγγέλλω) (pah-dahn-yellow), which means “to command, order.”
It implies clearly that Paul has delegated authority to Timothy to rebuke and hold these false teachers accountable since this word indicates that the false teachers in Ephesus are under Paul’s apostolic authority and are thus Christians.
“Certain men” is the dative masculine plural form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις) (teece), which refers to unidentified Christian pastor-teachers who taught false doctrines in fulfillment of Paul’s prophesy recorded in Acts 20:28.
In the plural form it means that there were more than one pastor in Ephesus who was teaching false doctrines.
However, it does not mean that all the pastors were doing so.
Lock believes that Paul is being tactful with this word and not mentioning by name these erring Christian pastors.
He does not name them because they had not become antagonistic toward Paul as Alexander and Hymenaeus who he names in 1 Timothy 1:20, which indicates the severity and antagonism of the opposition of these two toward Paul. (Lock, Walter, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles; The International Critical Commentary; page 8; T & T Clark)
In 1 Timothy 1:3, this indefinite pronoun functions as a dative direct object emphasizing the personal relationship that exists between him and these false teachers in Ephesus indicating that these individuals are believers.
“Not to teach strange doctrines” is composed of the negative particle me (μή) (me), “not” and the present active infinitive form of the verb heterodidaskaleo (ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω) (eh-ta-roe-dee-dah-ska-leer-owe), “to teach strange doctrines.”
The verb heterodidaskaleo means “to teach heretical or false doctrines” and speaks of the act of teaching that which is contrary to the apostolic teaching of Paul.
The word does not refer to the style of teaching or manner of teaching but rather it describes the content of the teaching of these pastors in Ephesus as fundamentally and essentially different than Paul’s apostolic teaching.
The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “not,” which denies any idea of these Christian pastors in Ephesus teaching heretical doctrines.
Together, these two words form a prohibition denying any idea of these Christian pastors in Ephesus teaching heretical doctrines.
The present tense of the verb is a “gnomic present,” which is used to describe something that is true “any” time and “does” take place.
With the negative particle me, it indicates that Paul is prohibiting certain individuals in Ephesus from “at any time” teaching heretical doctrine.