1 Timothy:1-11 - One True Doctrine of Eternal Hope

1 Timothy 1:1-11

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,

2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

No Other Doctrine

3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, 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, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

Paul was given a co-laborer in the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ by the Lord just as he was given the role of an apostle because he had seen Jesus face to face as the original twelve had.  He was chosen by the Lord and did not aspire to the position nor work himself up to it within the church.  The other apostles recognized God’s unlikely choice when they heard of his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:27) and heard of the powerful preaching of God’s word through him to confound the Jewish scholars and his fellow Pharisees.  They saw the finger of God on Paul and realized that he was commanded by God to be an apostle as well as Jesus had chosen them in the beginning of His ministry.  This same chosen one saw the hand of God on Timothy (Acts 16:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:15) and brought him along to work side by side in the work of the Lord and treated him as his own son in the Lord by the same faith.  He therefore prayed that the Lord God and His Son would continue to grant Timothy His grace, mercy, and peace in the hope of being called in Jesus.  Here Paul the aged urged Timothy the younger to engage in ministry to the Ephesians by keeping them aligned with sound teaching and not run after physical genealogies or philosophical stories instead of the truths of scripture because the former only result in arguments and do not edify.  Godly building on the foundation of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20) and His work by faith in the word of God was what was and still is required, unadulterated by human reasoning and reliance on human nationality or Jewish heritage.  We are accepted in Christ by His work alone and not on anything we possess or inherit outside of Him.  Our God-given faith is our standing.  What then is the purpose of the commandments of God in Jesus Christ?  Love should mark a disciple out of a sincere faith grown in pure desire for the Lord and others and a clear conscience in doing what is good and right in the sight of all (Acts 24:16, Romans 12:17, 2 Corinthians 1:12, 4:2, 2 Timothy 1:3).  Those who stray away from sound doctrine to pursue worldly wisdom or miraculous signs and wonders such as healings (1 Corinthians 1:22-23, 24-25) as proof end up themselves teaching things they do not understand or agree to and end in conflict and disputes contrary to scripture and detrimental to the spiritual growth of the body toward a common faith (Ephesians 4:3, 13-14, 15-16) under Christ as our authoritative head.  The Law of works that some apply rigorously and legalistically has to be applied by faith in the context of the heart and all intentions of scripture to be effective and good.  It turns people (Galatians 3:19-20, 23-24) to conviction of their sin and to the grace of Him who alone fulfilled every point of that Law, Jesus Christ, who is God and man in one so as to enable His perfection to work our eternal salvation.  This is the purpose of the glorious gospel of hope we have been given and share with others, not philosophy or miracles that only mask the true doctrine of Jesus Christ according to His work and wisdom straight from God the Father as revealed by the Spirit through Him to us.  His miracles proved to doubting Thomases who He is as the first apostles followed suit until the full counsel of God was captured in the scriptures of the New Testament we now possess and look to for the wisdom and power of God working in the souls of men and women we bear witness to.  This gospel is the one true doctrine of eternal hope.