1 Timothy 1-11

Teaceher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: 1 Timothy

Rusty's Notes

James (The Lord’s Half-Brother) Is Martyred

• Porcius Festus dies in office. (Roman provincial governor)
• This account comes from the Jewish historian Josephus and the church historian Eusebius.
• Albinus is slated to replace Festus.
• But it will take at least five weeks for the news to travel from Judea to Rome and at least five more weeks for Albinus to travel from Rome to Judea.
• During this three-month waiting period, Ananus the high priest convenes the Sanhedrin and brings “James the Just” (the half-brother of Jesus) and some others in Jerusalem before the council.
• Before the Sanhedrin, Ananus accuses James of blaspheming the Law.
• James is brought to the pinnacle of the temple, thrown down, and is clubbed and stoned to death.
• Since James was held in high regard in Jerusalem as being a “Torah-true Jew,” the fair-minded Jews in the city are offended by his execution.
• Albinus takes office, and Ananus is deposed for illegally convening the Sanhedrin.

 
63 AD – 70 AD

• Peter and Silas have been spending time traveling in northwest Asia bordering the Black Sea (modern Turkey)—specifically the regions of Pontus, North Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia where there are churches mixed with Jewish and Gentile believers. (1 Peter 1:1)
• Peter and Silas now come to Rome where they join John Mark. (1 Peter 5:12-13)

 
63 AD

• After spending two years of house arrest in Rome, Paul is released for lack of evidence to convict him.
• Upon his release, Paul makes his long-awaited trip to Spain. (Romans 15:24)
• The visit is brief, and no churches are planted. (There are no records of Pauline origins)
• Paul travels southeast and meets Titus on the Island of Crete.
• Both men minister to the churches on the island.
• The churches are undergoing an assault of false teaching.
• As a result, they are falling apart.
• Paul leaves Titus on the island to strengthen the churches and to select overseers (elders) who will be able to care for the church when Titus leaves.
• Paul travels northeast and spends some time in Asia Minor.
• He visits Miletus where he begins preaching the gospel.
• Paul sends a message to Trophimus in Ephesus to meet him in Miletus to help with the work.
• Trophimus joins him and a church is planted in Miletus—a community who expresses Jesus Christ.
• Regrettably, Trophimus gets sick.
• Paul heads off to Colosse as he had promised, (Philemon 22)
• But he leaves Trophimus behind in Miletus. (2 Timothy 4:20)
• Timothy sends word to Paul in Colosse that the Ephesian church is being ravaged by false teachers.
• Paul meets Timothy in Ephesus and excommunicates two men from the church, Hymenaeus and Alexander.
• These men are blaspheming and teaching that the resurrection of the believers has already passed.
• They will not repent, so Paul has no other choice but to put them out of the church because they are damaging the faith of some of the believers. (1 Timothy 1:20 & 2 Timothy 2:17-18)
• Alexander, who is a metal-worker, retaliates by opposing Paul’s message and causing him great harm. (2 Timothy 4:14-15)
• A brother in the church in Ephesus named Onesiphorus is of great help to Paul. (2 Timothy 1:16-18)
• Paul leaves Timothy in Ephesus and instructs him to combat the false teachers in the church who are ambitious to teach the Law (yet know little about it).
• These men are teaching myths that pervert the creation account and they are debating over genealogies. (1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 4:4)
• Paul heads off to Macedonia.
• On his way to Macedonia, Paul visits the church in Troas and stays in the home of Carpus. Paul departs Troas, but he leaves behind his winter coat, some scrolls, and some parchments at Carpus’ home.
• Paul arrives in Macedonia and visits the church in Philippi as he had planned to do while in prison.
• Crisis in Ephesus Despite Timothy’s attempt to re-center the church of Ephesus back on Christ, the problems worsen.
• Paul’s warning to the elders in Ephesus is finally coming to pass.
• Five years earlier he forewarned the Ephesian elders that wolves would penetrate the church and draw disciples after themselves with perverse teachings. (Acts 20:28-30)
• The wolves have appeared in Ephesus. (1 Timothy 1:3-7; 6:3-5)
• The heresy they are teaching is a kind of Jewish proto-gnosticism. (Gnosticism will make its appearance in the second century. According to gnosticism, full salvation comes through special knowledge—gnosis—that only the initiated possess.
• In Ephesus, an embryonic form of the heresy has emerged.) (1 Timothy 6:20)
• Here is what they are teaching:
• 1) It is a sin to eat meat and to engage in marriage. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
• 2) Eve is both a mediator and redeemer figure who pre-existed Adam. (1 Timothy 2:5, 13-14)
• 3) Man came into existence because of a woman, and he was given enlightenment through the woman.
• 4) Since Eve was the first to take a bite from the Tree of Knowledge, she is the bearer of special spiritual knowledge (called gnosis).
• 5) Women are called to lead people to the illuminating gnosis which was represented by the Tree of Knowledge.
• Redemption completely reversed the effects of the Fall so that men are no longer subject to earthly authorities and women are no longer subject to their husbands. (Paul refutes this in 1 Timothy 2:9-15)
• Those in the Ephesian church who are accepting this heresy prefer the leadership of women over men.
• Male teachers were the first to spread the false doctrine in Ephesus. (1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17)
• But it finds fertile ground among the women in the church. (1 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 3:6-9)
• The homes of the Ephesian women provide a network by which the heresy is spread rapidly through “gossip.” (1 Timothy 3:11; 5:13-15)
• Some of the women are teaching the heresy in the church meetings and are lording it over (dominating) the men.
• They have also accepted the ideals of the “new women” of the Roman Empire.
• They are dressing in an immodest and exploitive way (like that of prostitutes) and are defying other accepted norms regarding marriage and family.
• There is also a problem with respect to how the widows are being cared for in the church.
• 40% of women between the ages of 40 and 50 are widows.
• As a group, they compromise 30% of women in the ancient world.
• The Christian community in Ephesus decided that only women who were at least 60 years old should be supported by the Church.
• Some of the widows have adopted the heresy, and others have family members who are able to care for them.
• Still worse, some of the younger widows who decided not to remarry are acting promiscuously.
• Consequently, Timothy wants to know which widows the church ought to be responsible for.
• Further, some of the rich brethren in the church are trusting in their riches and are influencing their poorer brethren to desire wealth.
• The church in Ephesus is in crisis and Timothy writes Paul about it.
• Upon hearing the news, Paul wishes to return to Ephesus. But he cannot.
• So he responds to Timothy by letter.

 
From: Philippi in Macedonia
To: Timothy who is in Ephesus
Provocation: In this letter, Paul reminds Timothy how the believers ought to behave themselves in the community (3:15).

• He encourages Timothy to be faithful to his ministry, and exhorts him to combat the proto-gnostic heresy that is spreading like a cancer in Ephesus.
• Paul gives Timothy practical instructions on how to do it.
• One solution is to forbid the women who are peddling the false doctrine from teaching in the meetings.
• He also addresses the problem of the Ephesian women accepting the ideals of the “new women” in their dress (2:9ff).
• Paul calls for the need to select new overseers (3:1ff) and exhorts the church to give respect to those overseers who are serving well (5:17ff).
• He exposes the spirit behind the present heresy and predicts that it will increase in the future (4:1ff).
• Paul exhorts Timothy to let no one despise his youth, but rather, to boldly proclaim the truth in the face of error.
• He also gives Timothy instructions on caring for the widows (5:1ff).
• Paul closes the letter by admonishing the contentious and the rich (6:3ff).
• Luke is with Paul and serves as his recorder to pen the letter.
• This letter, along with Titus and 2 Timothy, are written to Paul’s coworkers rather than to a church.
• This fact, along with Luke’s penmanship, account for the uniqueness of vocabulary and style in the so-called “Pastoral Epistles.”
• While Paul was responsible for the content, Luke shaped the vocabulary and style.

Excerpt from: Viola, Frank. “Untold Story of the New Testament Church.” Destiny Image, Inc., 2010-03-10. iBooks.
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GREETING
1 Timothy 1
1 Paul,

• A missionary to the Gentiles and the writer of 13 NT letters. Paul’s ministry is the focus of Acts 13–28.

an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:

• One commissioned for a particular task and given the authority to carry out the task.
• Having appointed Timothy as leader of the churches in Ephesus, Paul refers to himself as an apostle to remind those under Timothy’s leadership of his authority[1]

2 To Timothy, my true son in the faith.

• Timothy’s father was Greek
• Timothy’s mother was Jewish Christian (taught OT)
• Timothy became a believer in Lystra.
• Began traveling with Paul to Macedonia, Ephesus, Corinth & Asia Minor. Maybe even to Jerusalem.
• Was with Paul during his 1st Roman imprisonment.
• Ended up in Ephesus to deal with chaos.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
FALSE DOCTRINE AND MISUSE OF THE LAW
3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus

• At least 8 years after Paul’s 3 year stay in Ephesus.

so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine 4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies.

• Don’t teach theology based upon man.
• Teach the doctrine that we have always taught.
• These false teachers have no good news for lost sinners.
• Instead of producing love, purity, a good conscience, and sincere faith, these novel doctrines were causing division, hypocrisy, and all sorts of problems.
• They seek instead to lead Christians astray and capture them for their causes.[2]
• We have no cause here at Leavener.
• We don’t need you for anything other than building community under the banner of Jesus.

These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. 5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

• Where does a pure heart, good conscience, and a sincere faith come from?
• W. Hendriksen calls the love:
• 1) “a personal delight in God,
• 2) a grateful outgoing of the entire personality to him,
• 3) a deep yearning for the prosperity of his redeemed,\
• 4) an earnest desire for the temporal and eternal welfare of his creatures.”[3]

6 Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on. 8 But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

• They were leading believers out of the liberty of grace (Gal. 5:1ff) into the bondage of legalism, a tragedy that still occurs today.
• The flesh loves religious legalism because rules and regulations enable a person to appear holy without really having to change his heart.
• Paul listed fourteen kinds of people who were condemned by the Law

9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

• The lawful use of the Law is to expose, restrain, and convict the lawless.
• The Law cannot save lost sinners (Gal. 2:21; 3:21–29); it can only reveal their need for a Savior.
• When a sinner believes on Jesus Christ, he is freed from the curse of the Law (Gal. 3:10–14); and the righteous demands of the Law are met by the indwelling Holy Spirit as a believer yields to God (Rom. 8:1–4).[4]

[1] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Ti 1:1). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 211). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Lea, T. D., & Griffin, H. P. (1992). 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Vol. 34, p. 68). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 211). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.