Paul commences by stating his credentials as being “… an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour and our Lord Jesus Christ” (v1). Interestingly, he adds, ‘Our hope.’ We have no other hope!
He knew that his qualifications would be necessary for Timothy’s encouragement and as reference for the Ephesians.
The title ‘Saviour’ was usually used in relation to the Roman Emperor Nero, and the people were forced to call Caesar Nero saviour, but Paul states quite clearly that God and the Lord Jesus Christ is the true Saviour. There is no other.
Paul indicated to whom he was writing so that there was no doubt (v2). Timothy came from Lystra in Galatia (Acts 16:1-3). His father was Greek; however, his mother was Jewish. Her name was Eunice and apparently, a believer as was her mother, Lois. Eunice and Lois had taught Timothy the scriptures from being young (2 Timothy 1:5, 2 Timothy 3:15.) He referred to him as his true son in the faith as maybe he had probably led him and his mother to the Lord on his first missionary journey (Acts 14:8-20, 16:1). Paul had the utmost confidence in Timothy believing that he was faithful to the truth and full of integrity.
He greeted Timothy with God’s grace, mercy, and peace. Paul often commenced his letters with ‘grace and peace’ but here in these three pastoral epistles he added ‘mercy.’ These pastors needed to know about God’s mercy as well as grace and peace.
Mercy is the compassionate treatment of those in need, particularly where someone has the power to punish them. Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, grace is getting what we don’t deserve. In a court of law defence lawyers often plead for mercy, in other words for their client to get less than what they deserve, which would be justice. Often, we heard phrases like, ‘my client throws himself on the mercy of the court’.
Mercy invokes feelings of forgiveness and kindness. The Latin word merced or merces, indicate ’price paid.’ The price for our sin has been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater mercy than that.
He reminded Timothy that when he left for Macedonia, he urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus to prevent false doctrines being taught, and not to give heed to fables and endless genealogies. All these things would cause disputes rather than godly edification (v3,4). It was a challenging task Paul gave him, and Timothy perhaps felt like running away, but Paul was confident that he could deal with it. Timothy could have felt that they were huge shoes to fill, and maybe he was not up to the task. Despite many reasons to the contrary, Paul, and the Lord had confidence that Timothy was capable of dealing with the situation.
Timothy may have been timid. In chapter 4 Paul tells him not to let anyone look down on him because of his youth and in chapter 5 he refers to his constant illness. It wasn’t going to be an easy task. He was to stand firm and teach others to do the same. God occasionally allows us to be in difficult situations. He was to ensure that the Ephesians did not stray into false doctrines. Doctrine is important to God and therefore, should be to us. Sadly, today, it has become unimportant, for one believes what seems right to us. ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death.’ (Proverbs 14:12)
Our doctrine must be based solely on the Word of God, and we must teach no other. Timothy’s job was to see to that, and Paul ‘charged’ him to do so. ‘Charge’ is a military term – to give strict orders from a commanding officer (Wiersbe). It was not a suggestion; it was a command.
It seemed that ‘fables and endless genealogies’ were distractions. It was not that they were necessarily contrary to the sound doctrine, but that people could get carried away with unnecessary distractions, emphasising the wrong things, and these could distract people from the truth.
Genealogies give the impression that some were relying on ancestry, perhaps even suggesting that they came from a better line than others and thus should be listened to. In the letters of James and Jude they both begin by stating that they are servants of Jesus Christ, when they could have said that they were half brothers of Jesus, and maybe that would have caused their readers to take more note. What better genealogy could they have but they didn’t do that. My old boss used to say “Don’t you know who I am” which never helped any further conversation. They might be interesting, but they tend to cause disputes and take people away from the sound doctrine which Timothy had been taught, and he was to pass on to others.
Jude v3 tells us to contend for the faith. It is a battle, a fight. Timothy, likewise, was to do that in Ephesus.
Paul tells Timothy the purpose of the command (v5-7). Firstly, it is love from a pure heart. Not legalism, but genuine love, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. This is not just outward show, but sincere. Paul says that already some have strayed and turned aside to idle talk. They thought themselves to be teachers of the law but did not understand what they were talking about. Legalism leads to twisting God’s word, becoming harsh and judgmental and trusting in one’s own ability.
Love is the outward display of what is in the heart, not merely outward observance, which is shallow, but something genuine, coming from deep within a person. Reading and meditating on God’s word should produce love from a pure heart not idle, meaningless talk.
The purpose of the law is not to make us good, but to show us our sin. A prisoner once said that the law is like a mirror, it shows us how dirty we are, but it cannot make us clean. That was a very insightful statement. The law is to help us recognise our sinfulness. It is obviously good in itself but powerless to do any thing to change us. We cannot achieve our salvation, our peace with God by just being good. Salvation is by faith, not of works (see Ephesians 2). God gave the Ten Commandments, His blueprint for life, a moral code to enable us to live with our God and our fellowman. However, fortunately, we don’t and cannot keep them all, and if we offend in one point, we have broken them all. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we are all sinners and have fallen short of His standards. We are all spiritually bankrupt, the debt we owe is so big that we cannot pay it. Someone has said, ‘We owed a debt we couldn’t pay, but Jesus paid the debt He did not owe.’
Nothing we can do can obtain for us salvation, as the hymn writer put it, ‘Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.’
I quote the next few verses –
“But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” (v8-11)
Some interesting words in these verses but it is inclusive, covering all aspects of society. How up to date the Bible is. We have seen lots of these crimes in recent times. It lists many things, but we are not sinners because we have committed those crimes (sins) because there is a catch-all, ‘any other thing contrary to sound doctrine’. And there we all fall down. We are all lawbreakers. Paul states that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. We are legalists when we think that what we do makes us right before God.
That Paul mentions some of those unlawful acts shows how important it was that Timothy was commanded to remain in Ephesus. Sound doctrine was the only way that such evils were going to be defeated. It was certainly a difficult place to serve. It was not for the faint-hearted, but Paul had every confidence in him. He had already said that the law could not bring about righteousness but the gospel about our God can.
Paul proves that last phrase by his own experience. There is hardly a better way than by one’s own testimony to the saving grace of God. If God could save and change this man, there is no doubt that He can change the lives of the Ephesians. He was astonished that God enabled him and counted him faithful to put him in the ministry in view of what he formerly had been. The grace of God had been exceedingly abundant through Christ Jesus (v12-14).
He had completely changed his life so, he was confident that what God had done for him, He could do for others.
We need to be faithful in our service for Christ Jesus right where we are. Paul says that the gospel was entrusted to him, not through his own merit, he would say elsewhere that he didn’t have any merit, in fact, his good points were as garbage (Philippians 3:8) “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” To the apostle, it was the highest honour to serve Christ, especially considering what he had been.
As I said earlier, Timothy may have felt inadequate for the task, but Paul said, if anyone should have felt like that it should have been me. If God assigns us to a task, a service, He will equip us to do it, so, the glory is His, not ours. He goes on to make the now memorable statement, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (v15). This was important to him, so much so that he mentions it five times in his Pastoral Epistles. He never forgot who he had been, but he was confident in his Lord, that He had done the work in him. And knowing what he had been saved from, spurred him on to greater service for his Lord.
Here we see the first qualification towards salvation, being a sinner. If we do not recognise that, we nowhere near being saved. Jesus Himself said that he had not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Many churches and preachers have done away with the word, ‘sin’. It has been watered down as sickness, even classed as mental illness. We have done this because we do not want to offend them, but the Bible is clear that we have all sinned and we need a Saviour. A friend of mine who had been addicted to alcohol for thirty years was told that he had an illness, ‘alcoholism’, but he came to Christ and couldn’t find that in the Bible, all he could find was that drunkenness was a sin. He confessed his sin to God, and God saved him and took away his desire for alcohol.
One old writer has said, that the more a man feels his burden of sin, he ought with greater courage betake himself to Christ, relying on what is here taught, that He came to bring salvation not to the righteous but to sinners.” (Calvin)
Paul goes further and says, that he is the chief of sinners. This was no false humility, but a genuine feeling of his sin making him more accountable to God. He felt that his sins were far worse because he was responsible for the death, imprisonment, and suffering of followers of Jesus Christ (known as people of The Way before being nicknamed Christians at Antioch (Acts 11:26)). Paul was not afraid to tell people what he had done, and what Jesus Christ had done for him and how He had changed him. Even before King Agrippa in Acts 26, he was not afraid to tell of what he had been and, by the grace of God, what he had become.
Some have said that we are all equally sinners. I would agree with that, and that in some respects, no sin is worse than others. God doesn’t have categories of sin; all sin is against God. Some sins carry greater punishments on earth than others, and, in some respects, we accept, are worse than others. One old preacher said that some have sunk to greater depths of sin. However, I can understand why Paul says that he was the chief of sinners. It didn’t fill him with pleasure what he had been, but he was stressing that God had changed him, and if God could change him, God could change anyone. He genuinely mourned his wicked behaviour.
Someone has that the chief of sinners is now in heaven, so, because he is there, then there’s hope for us all. Because God saved him, He can save us all, whatever we have done in the past, our sins have been washed away in the blood of Christ.
He goes on to prove that because God had mercy on him, that Jesus was long-suffering to him, and that, this is a pattern for all who believe(v16). The door is open to all. One writer has said that “As a pattern: Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, understood that his life, conversion, and service to God was in some way a pattern to other believers.”
Paul takes no credit for the change in his life; he gives all the praise To God in some now familiar words, often used in a benediction or even sung as a hymn – Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (v17)
Paul had a complete view of God – King, eternal, immortal, invisible, alone wise, to whom all honour and glory is due now and always. Not the slightest inclination towards himself but all to God for His amazing work in his life.
Paul reminds Timothy that the prophecies made about him would, alone, be totally adequate for him to wage the warfare (v18). He was to fight the good fight. The word ‘charge’ is used again as in v3 as a military command. He also shows his faith in his ‘son’ in the personal prophecies made personally to him. What God had promised him would give him the courage he needed.
God wanted Timothy to draw strength from the prophecies, but of course, we all need to test all prophecies (1 Corinthians 14:29) especially those which might tickle a person’s imagination. There are many around who pedal stories purporting to be led by the Holy Spirit when, if tested, they are anything but. So, we must be careful who we believe. I have met those who purport to be filled with the Spirit, been baptised in the Spirit, but turn out to be nothing of the sort. There are some counterfeits around and we need to be on our guard.
I have seen Prophetic Conferences advertised, many church leaders and non leaders describe themselves as prophets. Many can be suckers for these things, with many godly people left to pick up the pieces and guide those misled into God’s ways. It had happened by the time Paul wrote to the Corinthians which is why he had to write about testing prophecies (14:29), and in chapter 13 that prophecies will cease (v8). Clearly it is still happening today, and many false practitioners are making a lot of money from susceptible people, as well as causing many shipwrecks in people’s lives by false predictions and false promises.
Paul assured Timothy that God had supplied the tools for the warfare – faith and a good conscience (v19). These are essential when we are attacked by doubt and condemnation. Of course, his faith was to be totally in God. God would not let him down, and it is not the amount of faith one has, but the one our faith is placed in. Jesus said that our faith need only be the size of a mustard seed, the tiniest of seeds, to achieve great things for Him. James said, ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God’.
Faith, then is obvious, but what about the ‘good conscience’? Timothy was to live a godly life. His enemies would inevitably attack him, thus, all the more reason why he should live a godly life, so that no-one could point the finger at him. One commentator has said, ‘A good conscience isn’t just a conscience that approves us, but one that approves us because we’ve been doing what is right – it is connected with good conduct.’
Paul goes on to say that some having rejected, concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck. He mentions two who had rejected the faith, Hymenaeus and Alexander. In his second letter (4:14) Paul mentions Alexander the coppersmith, who did him much harm. I don’t now if it is the same Alexander, if so, it expands a little, but if not, we don’t read of either of these men elsewhere. Whatever, Paul says that “…. he delivered them to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme” (v20). He had to discipline both of them either for their lack of faith, or their conduct, or both, and his words are very strong. Paul was not afraid to name those who opposed the truth. It was to protect the church from error. “While Christians are not to judge one another’s motives or ministries, we are certainly expected to be honest about each other’s conduct” (Wiersbe).
He delivered them to Satan, which we must assume is putting them out of the church. Much of our protection from Satan comes from the community of other believers, the church. Isolation can be dangerous and christians who are not involved in a church fellowship put themselves in danger. Of course, the Lord is the one who protects us, but He uses His people (Luke 22:31,32).
