Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Timothy

Background

Apollos “founded” the church of Ephesus, but he only knew about John’s the Baptist’s baptism of repentance.

Paul Priscilla and Aquila “explained the way of God to him more accurately” (Acts 18:26).

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went to Ephesus and baptized the disciples of Apollos/John the Baptist “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5).

They did not know about the Holy Spirit, but when Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit filled them and 12 men began to prophesy.

Paul stayed in Ephesus for 3 years (A.D. 46-48) before a riot cased him to leave for Macedonia, where he had already sent Timothy.

Paul circumcised Timothy.

Timothy had a Greek father, and a Jewish mother, Eunice.

Timothy’s half-Jewish heritage let Paul to circumcise him to be able to minister to Jews.

Titus, on the other hand, was a Gentile, and Paul did not circumcise Titus.

Timothy was perhaps the closest friend of Paul.

Timothy was converted on Paul’s 1st missionary journey (Acts 14), joined him on the 2nd missionary journey, and was in Ephesus during Paul’s 3rd missionary journey and after.

Paul wrote 13 letters to the churches.

Here, in approximate chronological order:

Galatians - 1st missionary journey

1 Thessalonians - 2nd missionary journey

2 Thessalonians

1 Corinthians - 3rd missionary journey

2 Corinthians

Romans

Ephesians - 1st Roman imprisonment

Philippians

Colossians

Philemon

1 Timothy - After Acts

Titus

2 Timothy - 2nd Roman imprisonment

Pastoral Epistles Compared

In Chapter 1

Paul greets Timothy, foreshadowing his topics (mercy, commandments, true son).

Paul tells Timothy to deal with false teachers.

These false teachings were used to justify bad morals.

The law is for the ungodly and disobedient.

There is not a law for the righteous person.

Paul gives his testimony:

5. Timothy must keep up the good fight for the true gospel, “in keeping with the prophesies”.

6.

Some have “shipwrecked” their faith.

Paul “delivered them to Satan” so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

In Chapter 2

Paul gives instruction on prayer.

For kings and all in authority.

So that we may live quiet lives.

For it pleases the Savior since he wants all to be saved.

Therefore men pray without anger or argument.

Therefore women dress in good works.

There is order in the church.

Starting with Chapter 2, the rest of the letter is a handbook for order in the church.

Paul sprinkles in some gospel and warnings against false teachers, but primarily he instructs Timothy on how to run an orderly congregation.

Let’s keep a critical eye on our own church as we study 1 Timothy.

We surely don’t get everything right.

But, I do think that we get a lot right.

Paul begins his “handbook” with instructions on prayer.

In chapter 3, he talks about the qualifications for leadership.

In chapter 4 he teaches on the demonic struggle that leaders have, and their guidelines for ministry.

In the New Testament, the elder is the pastor, is the bishop.

These are three different titles for one office.

In Acts 20:17, Paul “sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders (presbyterous) of the church”....and in Acts 20:28 says, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit appointed you as overseers (episkopous) to shepherd (poimainein aka pastor) the chuch of God, which he purchased with his own blood.”

Elder/pastor/presbyter/bishop/etc.

these refer to the same office in the church.

Part of what we believe as Baptists is that the local church is under authority.

The following acrostic acronym, spelling BAPTIST, summarizes Baptists' distinguishing beliefs:

Biblical authority (Matt 24:35; 1Pet 1:23; 2Tim 3:16–3:17)

Autonomy of the local church (Matt 18:15–18:17; 1Cor 6:1–6:3)

Priesthood of all believers (1Pet 2:5–2:9; 1Tim 2:5)

Two ordinances (believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper) (Acts 2:41–2:47; 1Cor 11:23–11:32)

Individual soul liberty (Rom 14:5–14:12)Saved and baptized church membership (Acts 2:41–2:47; 1Cor 12:12; 2Cor 6:14; Eph 4:3)

Two offices of the church (elder and deacon) (1Tim 3:1–3:13)

I’ve been a little nervous about this lesson.

Since losing a husband is such a terrible thing, the subject of widows should be handled with great care.

However, God has given us this passage and there are lessons for everyone in it.

Let me begin the topic with three things to put in context:

One, God cares for widows.

A lot.

We should too.

Two, the word “widow” is broader than our English word.

Three, the treatment of widows (good and bad) reflects what we believe.

God loves the widow and the orphan

There are way too many OT verses to list here.

Take my word, there are a lot.

From some of the earliest stories in Genesis to major treatment in Psalms and the prophets, God’s love for widows is throughout the OT.

Shortly after the 10 Commandments, the Lord says,

“You must not mistreat the widow or the orphan..” (Ex.

22:22) or “My anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword...” (Ex.

22:14)

When Job fell into calamity and lost everything, one of his “friends” suggested that he had harmed a widow, since logically that was the worst thing you could do (Job 22:9).

Job protested that he had not done that, but instead had not even withheld “crumbs” from widows or orphans (Job 31:16-18).

In the NT, Jesus criticizes those who abuse widows (Mark 12:40, Luke 20:47), and James 1:27 says “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after the orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Most languages don’t have a word for a “divorced woman” separate from the word for “widow” (even English borrows a French word).

The Bible uses “widow” to describe any abandoned woman.

English didn’t have a word for divorce until the 1300s.

Of course, people got divorced before that.

Roman and Greek societies had divorce . . .

for rich people.

If you don’t own anything, marriage and divorce weren’t legally necessary.

It wasn’t until common people owned land and a woman might own that land apart from her husband did we need to narrow the definition of “widow” in English.

“Widow” was used to describe an abandoned mistress until after the time of Shakespeare.

So… In 1 Timothy, Paul’s discussion of widows begins his section on money.

His discussion on money is part of his larger discussion on church order.

That church order is endangered by false teachers, who use the church to satisfy their desires.

So let’s reach this section with the understand that Paul wants us to live with and in the gospel.