1 Timothy
Day 3
SCRIPTURE
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Timothy 1:1-2, NRSV)
WHAT
With all our background commentary behind us, now we begin our study of the texts of the Pastoral Letters, beginning with the first letter to Timothy.
The opening of the letter parallels the opening of many of Paul’s undisputed letters (1 Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans) which themselves follow the formula for an opening of a standard Greek or Roman letter in the ancient world:
· Identify the author
· Identify the recipient(s)
· Share a blessing
· Get into the meat of the letter
Nothing particularly new or shocking here, except for two items worth briefly mentioning. In his reference to Timothy, Paul adds “mercy” to the blessings of “grace” and “peace.” In his undisputed letters Paul frequently blesses his audience with “grace” and “peace,” as does his letter to Titus. But only in his two letters to Timothy does he add “mercy.” As we’ll see below, Paul felt an especially strong affection for young Timothy. Perhaps his use of “mercy” in addition to “grace” and “peace” reflects that bond.
The other unusual thing we find here is a reference to God as “Savior.” He’ll do it again in 1 Timothy 2:3 and Titus 3:5. Usually that title is applied in the New Testament to Jesus the Christ, but not God. So, this too, is something we do not find in any of Paul’s other letters. It reminds us of what we saw about Paul’s authorship in Background Commentary #2 regarding differences in style and vocabulary in the Pastorals being one bit of evidence in support of those who do not believe Paul wrote this letter. But as William Barclay points out, this is a term commonly applied to God in the Old Testament. He points out:
· “It is Moses’ charge against Israel that Jeshurun ‘abandoned God who made him, and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation’ (Deuteronomy 32:15).
· The psalmist sings of how the good will receive righteousness from the God of their salvation (Psalm 24:5).”
And calling God “Savior” is also found elsewhere in the New Testament:
· It is found in Mary’s song, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46–7).
So when Paul called God “Savior,” he was going back to an idea which had always been dear to Israel and even to the early church.
But even more, “Savior” was a title the emperor took upon himself. Caesar was proclaimed throughout the empire as the “savior of the world.” The early Church preempted that claim and gave that title, along with “Lord,” to Jesus. Paul here says that the Jesus he follows as his hope is the King, the Messiah, the world’s true Lord. “Once we get that straight,” says Bishop Wright, “there should be no need for teachers to go round and round in circles, fussing about strange old stories or ‘endless genealogies’, as some of the Jewish teachers of the day seem to have done.”
Notice what Paul says about himself. He calls himself, “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope…” This is consistent with Paul’s undisputed letters, especially claiming the title of apostle.
We can see from his undisputed letters such as Galatians and 1 and 2 Corinthians that some of Paul’s detractors in the Church did not consider him an apostle. In Acts, after Judas committed suicide it was decided to cast lots to select a new apostle to restore the number of apostles to twelve (to match the twelve tribes of Israel). Peter spoke of the qualifications of an apostle:
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, “Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus -- for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. …So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us -- one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” (Acts 1:15-17, 21-22NRSV)
Peter was saying that an apostle must be one who was with Jesus when he walked the earth, from the time of his baptism by John until the day when he was resurrected.
Paul did not meet that qualification.
In fact, Paul did not even “meet” Jesus until his road to Damascus experience. And before that, Paul – then known by his Hebrew name, Saul – had been a persecutor of the Church, responsible for jailing, and perhaps even killing, many disciples. He had even stood by approvingly when Stephen was murdered by stoning (Acts 7). So these opponents of Paul’s had a strong case in saying he was not a genuine apostle.
But Paul always had a different definition of an apostle. He defined an apostle as one to whom Jesus appeared personally, whether before or after his resurrection, with a call to be “a sent one.” The Greek word translated “apostle” is apostolos from the verb apostellein, which means “to send out.” An apostolos was one who was sent out by some authority, such as a governor or king. Today we would use the word “envoy,” or “ambassador.” The US ambassador to France, for example, is sent out by the President of the United States and represents the President to France, speaking with the President’s authority on US policy.
We can also see this different definition of an apostle in action in Romans. As Paul closes out his letter, he says:
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. (Romans 16:7, NRSV)
Paul identifies Andronicus (a male name) and Junia (a female name) as apostles. Neither would meet Peter’s definition of an apostle. But they must have had an encounter with the living Jesus after his resurrection, thus for Paul, they were apostles as he was. Be sure to note that Junia is a female apostle according to Paul. We’ll come back to this when we get to Paul’s saying he does not allow women to teach in the church in 1 Timothy 2:8-15.
Despite Peter’s definition of an apostle in Acts, Paul always regarded himself as an envoy or ambassador of Christ because Jesus had appeared directly to him. Paul believed with all his heart that Jesus had given him a call to minister to the Gentiles.
Professor Barclay notes:
“…in truth, that is the office of every Christian. It is the first duty of all ambassadors to form a liaison between the country to which they are sent and the country from which they have come. They form the connecting link. And the first duty of Christians is to be a connecting link between other people and Jesus Christ.”
So despite the protestations of those who opposed Paul – and there were many in the early Church (and there are still some today) -- he proudly claimed the title of “apostle of Christ Jesus.” How did he justify this? Because of “thecommand of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope…” The Greek word translated “command” by the NRSV is epitagē. This is the word in Greek for the orders which some absolutely binding law gives to an individual -- such as a direct royal command. And above all, it was used for the instructions which come to individuals either directly or by some oracle from a divine power.
As the 20th century New Zealander and Methodist writer Rita Snowden said in her poem Through Open Windows:
Life can never be dull again
When once we’ve thrown our windows open wide
And seen the mighty world that lies outside,
And whispered to ourselves this wondrous thing,
‘We’re wanted for the business of the King!’
It is significant that Paul would attach “hope” to Christ Jesus. And by the way, note that Paul here, just as in his undisputed letters, refers not to “Jesus Christ,” as we usually do, but to “Christ Jesus.” This ought to remind us that “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, it is his title. It comes from the Greek word Christos, which translates the Hebrew word for “anointed one” which is mashiach. From this word we get the English word “messiah.” So Paul refers to Jesus as “Messiah Jesus.” And he is our hope.
Incidentally, there are 83 instances of the phrase “Christ Jesus” in the New Testament compared to 136 instances of “Jesus Christ.” Of the 83 instances of “Christ Jesus,” 82 of them are in letters attributed to Paul. The one that is not is in Acts, and in that passage, Luke is speaking about Paul. So “Christ Jesus” seemed to be a favorite of Paul’s, and might point to the authenticity of this letter.
From the perspective of the ancient world in which Paul wrote, we might ask, “hope of what?” Professor Barclay points out how even the pagan writers, philosophers, and historians of the ancient Roman world were aware of how much in need of hope their world was. When Tacitus, the Roman historian, came to write the history of that very age in which the Christian Church came into being, he began by saying:
“I am entering upon the history of a period rich in disaster, gloomy with wars, rent with seditions; nay, savage in its very hours of peace. Four emperors perished by the sword; there were three civil wars; there were more with foreigners, and some had the character of both at once … Rome wasted by fires; its oldest temples burned; the very Capitol set in flames by Roman hands; the defilement of sacred rites; adultery in high places; the sea crowded with exiles; island rocks drenched with murder; yet wilder was the frenzy in Rome; nobility, wealth, the refusal of office, its acceptance, everything was a crime, and virtue was the surest way to ruin. Nor were the rewards of the informers less odious than their deeds. One found his spoils in a priesthood or a consulate; another in a provincial governorship, another behind the throne. All was one delirium of hate and terror; slaves were bribed to betray their masters, freedmen their patrons; and he who had no foe was betrayed by his friend.” (Histories, 1–2)
In such a world – then and now – Christ Jesus is our hope because as Professor Barclay puts it:
“Christ came, not only telling men and women what was right, but also giving them the power to do it. Christ gave to those who had lost it the hope of moral victory instead of defeat. …In the certainty that nothing on earth could separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus, Christians discovered the means of victory over the terrors of the age.”
Not only did Christ give the power for moral victory, but people also found in Christ the hope of victory over death. “They found in him,” says Professor Barclay, “at one and the same time, strength for mortal things and the immortal hope.”
Paul then turns to his recipient, Timothy:
To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Timothy 1:2, NRSV)
Who was Timothy and what was his connection of Paul and his ministry?
We learn from Acts that Timothy was a native of Lystra in the province of Galatia, which is today’s central and southeastern Turkey. Lystra was a Roman colony whose residents called it, “the most brilliant colony of Lystra.” But in reality, Lystra was a little place on the edges of Roman civilization. Sort of like a rural town in deep East Texas. Lystra did house a Roman garrison to keep at bay the wild tribes of the Isaurian mountains which lay just beyond the town.
Luke tells us in Acts that on their first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas came to Lystra (Acts 14:8-21). But there is no mention at that time of Timothy. Some interpreters have suggested that perhaps when Paul was in Lystra that first time, he lodged in Timothy’s home. This speculation derives from the fact that Paul knew well the faith and devotion of Timothy’s mother Eunice and of his grandmother Lois as we see in 2 Timothy 1:5 (assuming Paul wrote 2 Timothy. See Background Commentary #2).
On that first visit, Timothy must have been very young. But he took hold of the Christian faith, becoming a disciple of Jesus. And Paul became his mentor if not his hero. But it was on Paul’s second visit to Lystra that life in Christ really began for Timothy (Acts 16:1-3). “Young as he was,” writes Professor Barclay, “he had become a valuable member of the Christian church in Lystra. There was such a charm and enthusiasm in the young man that everyone spoke well of him. To Paul, he seemed the ideal person to be his assistant. Maybe even then he had dreams that this young man was the one to train to take over his work when the time came.”
Luke tells us a little bit about Timothy. He was the product of a mixed marriage between his mother, Eunice, who was a Jew, and his unnamed father, who was a Gentile (Acts 16:1). Paul circumcised him, which seems a bit unusual. In Galatians, Paul proudly proclaims that he did NOT circumcise Titus because he found it unnecessary for a Gentile to be circumcised before becoming a disciple of Jesus (Galatians 2:3). But Luke says that Paul did circumcise Timothy because he knew that, if Timothy was to work among the Jews, there would be a prejudice against him if he was uncircumcised. So he took this step as a way to increase Timothy’s usefulness as an evangelist. And from that time forward, Timothy was Paul’s constant companion.
It is absolutely incredible how much Timothy did for Paul in his service of Christ and the gospel. I was astounded when I wrote all this down! Professor Barclay catalogues this list:
· Timothy was left behind at Beroea with Silas when Paul escaped that Macedonian town to Athens following persecution by the Jews of Thessalonica, and later joined him there (Acts 17:14–15, 18:5).
· Timothy was sent as Paul’s messenger to Macedonia (Acts 19:22).
· Timothy was in Macedonia when the collection from the Gentile churches was being taken to send to Jerusalem for famine relief for Jewish Christians there (Acts 20:4).
· Timothy was with Paul in Corinth when Paul wrote his letter to Rome (Romans 16:21).
· Timothy was Paul’s messenger to Corinth when there was trouble in that church (1 Corinthians 4:17, 16:10).
· Timothy was with Paul when he wrote 2 Corinthians (2 Corinthians 1:1, 1:19).
· It was Timothy whom Paul sent to see how things were going in Thessalonica; and he was with Paul when he wrote his letter to that church (1 Thessalonians 1:1, 3:2, 3:6).
· Timothy was with Paul in prison when he wrote to Philippi; and Paul was planning to send him to Philippi as his representative (Philippians 1:1, 2:19).
· Timothy was with Paul when he wrote to the church at Colossae and to Philemon (Colossians 1:1; Philemon 1:1).
· And as we saw in Background Commentary #1, Paul had left the Ephesian church in Timothy’s charge when he traveled to Macedonia, the occasion for this letter. That meant Paul trusted young Timothy enough to deal with the threatening rise of heresy among the elders of the church in Ephesus.
So as we can see, Timothy was constantly by Paul’s side; and, whenever Paul had a difficult job to do, Timothy was the one he sent to do it. No wonder that there is such deep affection in Paul’s voice when he speaks here of Timothy. “My loyal child in the faith.” No wonder that Paul must have felt Timothy was the embodiment of God’s “mercy” to him, meaning he didn’t have to deal with all these tough situations personally. So he adds an extra word to his blessing of Timothy, “mercy.”
APPLY
Grateful people believe they have better than they deserve. Instead of taking things for granted, they see good things in life as gifts. Instead of assuming they are entitled, they assume grace underlines all they have. Gratitude gives thanks for mercy. Complaints focus on what we don’t have. Gratitude notices the good and is thankful. Gratitude sets us up for joy in life. Rather than merely consuming or existing, the grateful choose to embrace what life gives and enjoy life’s mercies. Paul was grateful for Timothy whom he saw as one of life’s mercies given him by God.
Be a grateful person.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for people like Timothy; people who work so hard for the gospel, often without any mention or praise other than what they get from you. There are countless hardworking yet unnamed servants of the gospel in the scriptures. And I have known many just like them during my ministry in the Church today. I am grateful we know about Timothy. In Christ. Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What are the two unusual, even if not shocking, things Bob observes in Paul’s first line of this letter? How does Bob explain their presence?
2. Why was Paul’s claim to be an apostle suspect by his opponents? Where did they get the basis for their opposition? How did Paul define an apostle and why was he able to justify his being one?
3. Why would even a pagan Gentile of the first century Roman world been attracted to the idea that Christ Jesus is our hope?
4. List some of the things that Timothy did for Paul. Why do you suppose Timothy was willing to leave his home and family in Lystra, endure the hardships of first century travel with Paul, and work so hard for him, handling even the most difficult of situations (like the one Paul thrust him into in Ephesus)?
How can you apply these insights in your life?