1 Timothy 1 & 2

1 Timothy 1

1-2 Salutation

• Paul, an apostle of Christ "by the command of God our Savior and Jesus Christ our hope." Maybe it's because the NRSV uses the phrase "by the command" instead of "according to the commandment of" used in other translations, but I had never noticed the force of this phrase before. Paul is an apostle not by permission, but by commandedment! A look at other Pauline epistles reveals these beginning phrases: "called to be an apostle" (Romans); "by the will of God" (1 & 2 Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians); "sent...through Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Galatians). This is one of the reasons I've enjoyed using the NRSV for this Bible reading. Because it uses different expressions than the ASV or NKJV that I'm used to reading, it's like reading these passages for the first time.
• To Timothy, "my loyal child in the faith." See Acts 16:1-5 for the account of Paul and Timothy's first meeting and the beginning of their relationship as spiritual father and son.

3-11 Warning against False Teachers

• Paul urges Timothy to remain at Ephesus so he can teach "certain" people to avoid speculating on myths and genealogies when they should be concentrating on the training that comes from faith.
• That training involves love, a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith. But some deviate from this basis and begin to expound on heavy matters of law because it makes them feel scholarly.
• Yes, the law is good, but it's not to be forced down the throats of those who need the pure gospel. It's intended for the godless and sinful – murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars. What an indictment! And a warning for us today. In our arrogance, our "showing off" our Bible knowledge, we may forget the purpose behind the gospel, which is to draw people in by caring for them, giving them a means of clearing their consciences and building their faith in God, not by picking apart passages to see if we can create some kind of "law" to which others must conform.

12-20 Gratitude for Mercy

• Paul has received strength from Christ, because he was judged as faithful.
• He received mercy because before he was a Christian he acted in ignorance.
• He was shown this mercy as an example of God's forgiveness. If he, as a blasphemer, persecutor and man of violence, could be forgiven for the things he did, anyone could.
  
• Paul gives glory and honor to God for his mercy
• He's writing to Timothy, "his child," that he might "fight the good fight" with faith and a good conscience.
  
• Not like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul had "turned over to Satan" so they would learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 2
1-15 Instructions Concerning Prayer

• Paul urges his readers to supplicate (make humble and earnest entreaty), pray (commune with God), intercede (pray on behalf of others), and give thanks for everyone, including the king and all who are in high position. Now here's a great list of "things to do." We could make it a legal list, to make sure that each of our prayers does all these things, making sure we include the word everyone in our prayers. But if mine is a life of continual prayer, one where I constantly have a mind for God – whether it's a focused prayer or a prayer as I go on my way – I will do at least the first three things, interceding for people close to me. I might, however, neglect the everyone, which includes those far away from me, both in distance and in power. The reason I pray for them? Because when they do well, we all can live peaceably and quietly, in godliness and dignity.
• This is acceptable to God because he wishes everyone to be saved. One purpose of such prayer is that everyone will be saved.
  
• God has shown that willingness by giving his son as a "ransom." We were captivated by sin, and God paid the only ransom that could buy us back – his Son. This ransom, as John Wesley puts it, is "more than equivalent to all mankind."
• Paul was appointed as a herald an apostle, and a teacher of Gentiles. Really! He's not lying. I'm not sure which phrase Paul is affirming here – probably the fact that he's been called as an apostle, which he seemed to have to defend at every turn.
• He desires that men lift up holy hands and that women dress modestly, not with gaudy accessories, but with good works. If you look at this as a couplet, he's really asking the same thing of men and women – that they pay attention to their degree of piety. Men might have a tendency to bring attention to themselves by showing a public but false fervor while harboring secret unrighteousness; women might tend to dress the outside while neglecting the inside.
• Women should learn submissively, silently, not trying to control men. In a religious community that recognizes male spiritual leadership, it sometimes may seem that the men make all the decisions while the women do all the work behind the scenes. In today's world of "equality of the sexes," both men and women resent this differentiation and attribute Paul's instruction either to a hatred of women or a cultural adaptation. But there's no indication here that it's cultural; Paul refers back to Adam and Eve and the basic nature of humans. Women tend to be more sympathetic and therefore more gullible; men can be influenced by women to do what's wrong. Therefore, we must all promote our better selves – women to live righteously and quietly, using our influence on our men for good; and men must be righteous as they take the lead, having the courage to pursue what is right.
• The woman will be saved through childbearing, if "they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty." As many times as I've read this, I still think of the childless wife. Can she not be saved, then? Here are quotes from various commentaries:

John Wesley:

Carried safe through the pain and danger which that sentence entails upon them for the transgression; yea, and finally saved, if they continue in loving faith and holy wisdom.

Jamiesson, Faust and Brown:

Through, or by, is often so used to express not the means of her salvation, but the circumstances AMIDST which it has place.... "She shall be saved ([though] with childbearing)," that is, though suffering her part of the primeval curse in childbearing; just as a man shall be saved, though having to bear his part, namely, the sweat of the brow.

Matthew Henry:

Though the difficulties and dangers of childbearing are many and great, as they are part of the punishment inflicted on the sex for Eve’s transgression, yet here is much for her support and encouragement: Notwithstanding she shall be saved, etc. Though in sorrow, yet she shall bring forth, and be a living mother of living children; with this proviso, that they continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety: and women, under the circumstance of child-bearing should by faith lay hold of this promise for their support in the needful time.