PAUL, AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST. — The letter to Timothy, though addressed to a very dear and intimate friend, was sent with a two-fold purpose. It was an affectionate reminder from his old master, “Paul the Aged,” to his disciple to be steadfast in the midst of the many perils to which one in the... [ Continue Reading ]
MY OWN SON IN THE FAITH. — Timothy was St. Paul’s very own son. No fleshly relationship existed between the two, but a closer and far dearer connection. St. Paul had taken him while yet a very young man to be his companion and fellow-labourer (Acts 16:3). He told the Philippian Church he had no one... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU MIGHTEST CHARGE SOME. — Some time _after_ the first imprisonment at Rome, and consequently beyond the period included by St. Luke in the Acts, St. Paul must have left Timothy behind at Ephesus while he pursued his journey towards Macedonia, and given him the solemn charge here referred to.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER GIVE HEED TO FABLES. — These fables ware, no doubt, purely Rabbinical. It was said in the Jewish schools that an oral Law had been given on Sinai, and that this Law, a succession of teachers, from the time of Moses, had handed down. This “Law that is upon the lip,” as it was termed, was furt... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE END. — The Greek word should be translated _But the end._ Though Timothy must resist and oppose these false teachers with all courage and firmness, still he must not forget what was the real end, the aim, the purpose of all Christian teaching, which, the Apostle reminds him, is Love. OF THE... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM WHICH SOME HAVING SWERVED HAVE TURNED ASIDE. — This sentence is rendered more accurately: _From which some, having gone wide in aim, have turned themselves aside._ These words seem to tell us that these teachers had once been in the right direction, but had not kept in it; indeed, from the whol... [ Continue Reading ]
DESIRING TO BE TEACHERS OF THE LAW. — “Desiring,” though they really were not. They coveted the respect and influence which was ever paid to the acknowledged teachers of the Law of Moses; but these men utterly failed to understand the real spiritual meaning of that Law which they pretended to teach.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WE KNOW. — Better, _Now we know_: a strong expression of his knowledge, learned in the school of the Holy Ghost. He spoke with the conscious authority of an Apostle, confident of the truth of what he preached and taught. THAT THE LAW IS GOOD, IF A MAN USE IT LAWFULLY. — “The Law is good,” St. Pa... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING THIS. — The teacher of the Law, being aware of this great truth, now to be detailed — viz.: — THAT THE LAW IS NOT MADE FOR A RIGHTEOUS MAN. — The stern Mosaic Law was enacted centuries before the Messiah Jesus had given to men His new Law. The Law of Moses was not, then, enacted for a “right... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MENSTEALERS. — After enumerating the transgressors of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments against murder and adultery, St. Paul speaks of a class well known in the Roman world of his day — perhaps the worst class of offenders against the Eighth Commandment — the “slave-dealers.” FOR LIARS, FOR P... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL. — All that St. Paul had been saying concerning the Law — its true work and its only work — was no mere arbitrary conception of his own; it was simply a repetition of the teaching of the gospel which his Master had intrusted to him, the gospel which taught so clearly... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I THANK CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, WHO HATH ENABLED ME. — Better rendered, _who hath given me strength within._ The ancient authorities here are divided; the majority omit the first word of the verse, the connecting “and.” With or without this word, the sense is much the same; for on the words, “the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO WAS BEFORE A BLASPHEMER, AND A PERSECUTOR, AND INJURIOUS. — In these words of bitter I self-accusation, St. Paul sums up. the characteristic features of his brilliant career as a young Pharisee leader, as a popular Jewish patriot. The _object_ of his intense hatred and of his burning antagonism... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT. — The thought of his Master’s great love to one who once reviled Him so bitterly, and who had spent his strength in trying to undo His servants’ work, seems to have pressed with overwhelming force on St. Paul, who struggled to find words which should... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION. — This striking formula in the New Testament, found only in the Pastoral Epistles, here and in 1 Timothy 3:1; 1 Timothy 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8; and the somewhat similar expression, “these sayings [_words’_] are faithful and true,” Rev... [ Continue Reading ]
(16)HOWBEIT FOR THIS CAUSE I OBTAINED MERCY. — In spite of this deep consciousness of his guilt, faith and confidence in his own salvation seem never to have wavered. He speaks of _this_ with all certainty, and proceeds to tell us with great clearness why Christ saved him, the chief of sinners. THA... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW UNTO THE KING. — The wonderful chain of thoughts (1 Timothy 1:12) which so well illustrate the great assertion of 1 Timothy 1:15 — “that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners” — St. Paul closes with a noble ascription of praise and thankfulness to the great God. This doxology is addr... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS CHARGE I COMMIT UNTO THEE, SON TIMOTHY. — The nature of the charge which he committed to Timothy must be gathered from the solemn words and thoughts of the foregoing passage — 1 Timothy 1:15. The sum of it was that men should put their whole trust in Him who came into the world to save sinners,... [ Continue Reading ]
HOLDING FAITH, AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE. — Again, as in 1 Timothy 1:5, the Apostle joins “faith” and “the conscience undefiled.” In the mind of St. Paul, “want of faith” was no mere refusal to accept a definite religions dogma, but was ever closely connected with impurity and the love of sin. If a man... [ Continue Reading ]
OF WHOM IS HYMENÆUS AND ALEXANDER. — Here the Apostle names two, as examples of the utter shipwreck of all true faith — persons evidently well known to Timothy and the members of the Church at Ephesus. Hymenæus is probably identical with the heretic of that name, charged, in the Second Epistle to Ti... [ Continue Reading ]