1Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our
Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
1Ti 1:2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God
our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is clear here that the author of this letter is the apostle Paul written to
Timothy.
Paul not only had to suffer prison and persecution for the gospel he preached
but he also had the care of the churches and those that were workers and helpers
in starting congregations all over the area. He took the time to admonish
Timothy.
1Timothy 1:3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into
Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
1Ti 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister
questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
Unfortunately the church has always faced the temptation of getting sidetracked
off the main message of the gospel and into other things. Some of these things
are false doctrines and the bible was written so we can check everything we hear
by the written account of the word of God. However, not all sidetracks are false
doctrines or even wrong things.
We can get very involved with charity works, programs, entertainment, plays,
rallies, banquets and do great things but neglect the presentation the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Some Christian societies in the past got so legalistic and judgmental that they
forgot to have compassion on the weak and unbelieving. When we do that it is a
sign of unbelief in us, because we forgot that God has the power to convict the sinner
of sin and save the sinner by the preaching of the gospel. How easy we forget
that God would much rather save than destroy.
The story of Jonah is a good example of this. We sometimes emphasize the part of
Jonah's disobedience and forget that God wanted to save a whole city of "bad"
people through the preaching of Jonah.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a
good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Love that comes from a pure heart, A conscience that is free of condemnation and
faith that is without hypocrisy and pretense is a sign of a true believer.
That sums up the whole life that we are to live in Jesus Christ.
1Ti 1:6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;
This could be talking of and emphasizing things that have nothing to do with the
gospel or the salvation of the soul.
1Ti 1:7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say,
nor whereof they affirm.
1Ti 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
This shows that the law of God can be misused and misrepresented as many have
done. It is easily done when we take a verse out of context and teach doctrine
from the one verse without considering the verses before and after it. We can
sometimes get an entire different meaning from words taken in the order in which
they were written instead of taking it out of the bible and using it by itself
to further someone's private agenda.
Some in the church have taught false doctrine many times by replacing Israel
with the church. If the church commits the same evil that Israel committed in
the Old Testament, some things may apply to the church but when the
scripture mentions Israel, it means Israel. That is just one of many examples
of how we can misuse scripture to further our own purposes. It was hard to
explain no Israel before 1948 so they did their best to place the church where
Israel was supposed to be to try to make sense out of bible prophecy.
God, however, does not need our help. Israel had to be back in their land
for some of the prophecies to be fulfilled and that is just what happened.
I've read books on the hard struggle they had to form that nation in the
beginning. The odds were about 1000 to 1 that they would even be able to
have a nation. Old Harry Truman had a hard time getting enough votes for
the UN to allow the state of Israel to form.
Some have used
the scripture in Deuteronomy about God sending a prophet like Moses to mean
certain prophets that have arisen over the years and claimed to be that prophet.
We know from studying the whole bible taken together that the prophet Moses
spoke of was Jesus Christ and not Joseph Smith, William Branham or any other man
past and present. Many times verses are pulled out of context to puff up
some certain man of God above others. The apostles never considered
themselves higher than other believers. Most priests, prophets and pastors
in both the old and new testaments were there to serve, not to lord over anyone.
Some have used the scriptures that admonish us to obey them that have rule over
us to fool us into thinking we have to obey evil rulers and go along with false
teachers. When we take the whole bible rightly understood and taught by the Holy
Spirit, we will not be deceived and will know the true from the real.
Jesus said that His sheep will know His voice. We must abide in Christ and
in His word to hear His voice.
1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for
menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine;
Sound doctrine is very important to us as believers in Jesus. We can't just
claim we believe in Jesus and then go about our business without considering
anything God's word has to say to us and expect to be saved for eternity.
Notice that the above verses mention men stealers. That would apply to kidnapping
and taking captive people to buy and sell them for slaves.
We see that God never endorses slavery like the type we had in early America
Those men were stolen from their own homeland by slave traders.
They did not willingly become indentured servants.
The bible condemns sexual immorality, perversion, perjury and other things that
defile the flesh and are not to be among those that believe in Jesus Christ.
We are to preach the gospel and preach that people repent of these things and
turn to Christ to be made free from these things mentioned above. We don't kill
and put to death people when they do those things, but we preach the gospel so that
those that do those things can escape the judgment of God and come out of the
sin that is destroying them.
1Ti 1:11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was
committed to my trust.
Think about those words for a moment. The gospel that was committed to my trust.
God has committed to those that have believed in Him, the gospel. We have the
gospel and it is given in our keeping. This I believe is what Jesus meant when
he said to Peter that he has the keys to the kingdom and whatever he binds on
earth shall be bound in heaven. He was given the responsibility to preach the
gospel and the other teachings that we have in the word.
This was not given to Peter only but to all who later receive this word and
believe. Some are called to be pastors, teachers, etc but all of us are
committed to share the gospel. We have the power to sit on it and not share it
and we have the power to spread in all over the world. We also have the ability
to suppress the gospel or change it into something else but if we do, we will
answer to God.
Once we have received the gospel, it is now been put in our trust. If we don't
know how to share the gospel, at least we must not hinder someone else from
sharing it or get so bogged down with "other things" that we hide the gospel or
cover it up with a bunch of nonsense.
It is great to show love and have soup kitchens, and do things to help the poor.
In fact woe to us if we have plenty to eat when our neighbors are starving. In
saying that though, we must not turn our churches into soup kitchens and charity
places to the point that we get so busy we do not pray, teach the word or spread
the gospel which is our first calling. While we don't want to become a, "Be ye
warmed and filled type," we also do not want to attend to the material things
without winning the lost to Jesus Christ. If we neglect the greatest message of
all time, we will see people come to just
get the food and go away as lost as they ever were.
1Ti 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he
counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I
obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Paul had to continually remember his past and the time he was zealous for
the Law of God but was totally wrong.
This is the difference between just religion and the gospel. Religion in itself
condemns the sinner and teaches to live by the righteousness of the law. It is
unmerciful to those who break that law. The gospel on other hand offers mercy to
those that have broken God's laws. It says to them. I know you broke the law, I
know you are guilty and deserve death but I have made a way that you just admit
you are a sinner in need of salvation, be willing to forsake that sin and trust
in the Son, Jesus Christ to save you from your sin and you can be forgiven and
become a new person in Christ Jesus. You can be born again by the spirit of God
and start anew. A new life and a new spirit can be to all who believe. We did
nothing to earn this grace but it is given freely to all who would receive it.
1Ti 1:14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus.
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1Ti 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ
might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on him to life everlasting.
If Jesus can save a murderer and one who persecuted the innocent followers of
Jesus, He can save the worst one of us.
This truth was forgotten by early church fathers when they joined hand in hand
with the state and begin to persecute those that disagreed with them; killing
Jews, so-called heretics and the first protestants.
This truth was shown to Martin Luther but he forgot it at times when the Jewish
people rejected his message and he wrote things that Hitler later used to
justify the
holocaust.
This truth was shown to John Calvin but he forgot it in Geneva Switzerland many
years ago when we had a man arrested and burned to the stake because that man dared to disagree with
the doctrine of Calvinism.
This truth was shown to the Puritans but they forgot that Jesus wants to save
witches also.
Let us spread the gospel and warn against sin but never forget that we too was
once sinners in need of the grace of God.
If someone had not have told us about the salvation through faith in Jesus
Christ and remission of sins, we too would be doing the same sins that we
condemn in others.
"But for the grace of God go I."
The law condemns yes but Jesus came to save us from the condemnation of the law
and show us how to live in holiness and truth.
We must avoid religion that shows no mercy.
1Ti 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1Ti 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the
prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good
warfare;
1Ti 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away
concerning faith have made shipwreck:
Warn yes, but with love and faith in the power of God to change those that do not
believe.
We must warn against those that teach we can be saved and still live in
immorality. True salvation brings a clear, clean conscience. It is a false
doctrine to say we can be saved once and still sin and make heaven our home. We must correct, reprove and exhort but we
must do so in faith that God is able to deliver the worst sinner no matter how
hopeless his case may be. God still can change lives. We must not forget that.
As long as a person is still among the living, there is hope for his (her)
salvation.
1Ti 1:20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan,
that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Paul did not put these men to death or do them any physical harm. Delivering one
to Satan is removing the hedge God places about them when they become children
of God and allowing evil to befall them in hopes that the trouble that they receive
will lead them to repentance. I do not believe this means shunning or
doing any physical harm like the Middle Age church practiced. We just
leave the wayward person to God after we have instructed, corrected and taught
the right way to that person. After a while it is best to go our own way
and leave them up to the Lord.
1 Timothy 2