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World Christian Fellowship 60, High Worple, Rayners Lane, Harrow

Middlesex, HA2 9SZ, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 208 429 9292

www.wcflondon.com

wcflondon@gmail.com

1 Timothy

Author: Paul of Tarsus – born to Jewish parents, a Roman

citizen, speaks Greek eloquently, and a tent maker.

Year Written:

Letter Year Written 1 Thessalonians 52 AD 2 Thessalonians 52AD 1 Corinthians 57 AD 2 Corinthians 57 AD Galatians 55-57 AD Romans 57 AD Ephesians 62 AD Philippians 62 AD Colossians 52 AD Philemon 63 AD Hebrews 64-65 AD Titus 64-65 AD 1Timothy 64-65 AD 2 Timothy 66-67 AD

Apostle Paul has written three pastoral letters from the

Roman prison prior to his death: 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus.

There are doubts cast by some regarding the authorship of

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these books; however, looking at these letters, it is evident

that Paul in fact has written them.

Time and Place of Writing:

According to historical records, Apostle Paul was martyred

by Nero in A.D. 68. Paul probably wrote these pastoral letters

between A.D. 62 and 64. He may have written them from

Macedonia (1 Tim. 1:3) in northern Greece.

Background:

These two letters bore the name of Timothy, Paul’s spiritual

son, to whom the letters were addressed.

Timothy was from Lystra, a Roman colony in the province of

Galatia, whose father was a non-Jew and mother a Jew.

Acts 16:1-3

Apostle Paul took Timothy along for his journey. Both his

mother and grandmother were strong believers in the Lord,

who had raised him up in faith right from his childhood (2

Timothy 1:5 & 3:14-15).

Paul as well as the church elders had laid their hands upon

Timothy, prayed over him and sent him on his missionary

journey (1 Timothy 1:18 & 4:14).

Acts 17:14-15; 18:5; 19:22 & 20:4-6 stress the fact that

Timothy was in deed Apostle Paul’s companion on his long

missionary journey.

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Paul calls himself a father to Timothy (Philippians 2:22) and

Timothy his ‘son’ (1 Timothy 1:2, 18; 1 Corinthians 4:17; 2

Timothy 1:2; 2:1). Timothy works in the many churches that

Apostle Paul had established.

Thessalonica – 1 Thessalonian 3:2;6

Corinth – 1 Corinthians 4:17; 16:10

Philippi – Philippians 2:19 & 23

Ephesus – 1 Timothy 1:3

The apocryphal Acts of Timothy states that in the year 97,

the 80-year-old bishop tried to halt a procession in honour of

the goddess Diana by preaching the gospel. The angry

pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and

stoned him to death.

Purpose:

Paul had established the church in Ephesus during his third

missionary journey, staying there for about three years (Acts

19; 20:31).

Paul had warned the Ephesian elders that false teachers,

some coming from the leadership itself, would harm the

church, making people to stumble in their faith (Acts 20:29-

30).

His predictions about the false teaching had come true and

hence the necessity for writing this letter (1 Timothy 1:6, 19;

4:1-2; 6:3-5, 10, 21).

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Here, Apostle Paul firstly deals with the life of the church and

secondly the leadership of the church.

Where does the false teaching come from?

Within the church: 1 Timothy 1:6, 19; 4:1; 6:10, 21; 2

Timothy 2:18; 4:4.

What causes the false teaching to surface?

Myths: 1 Timothy 1:4; 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4

Genealogies: 1 Timothy 1:4

Quarrels about words: 1 Timothy 6:4

Controversies: 1 Timothy 1:4; 6:4

Knowledge: 1 Timothy 6:20

Meaningless talk: 1 Timothy 1:6

Godless chatter: 1 Timothy 6:20

Against marriage and certain foods: 1 Timothy 4:3

Wrong interpretation of the Jewish law: 1 Timothy 1:7

and

Restrictions on prayer: 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

Leadership Problems Within the Church:

Apostle Paul lists out the qualities one should possess to be a

leader. In fact, this is one long list (1 Timothy 3:2-13)!

You might hear 1 Timothy 3:2-7 a lot in ordination services!

Paul also emphasizes about giving the elders and teachers a

higher degree of honour (1 Timothy 5:17)!

He then gives Timothy practical guidance on how to handle

the elders and leaders.

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Key Truth:

Almost impossible to avoid false teaching but in the

church it must be dealt with resistance.

Legalistic teachings always lead people away from the

true Gospel and make them a hypocrite.

Order must be maintained in church in the areas of

worship and church authority.

Clear understanding of the different groups within

the church that have specific needs must be

maintained.

Love for money has no place in the ministry of the

Gospel and in everyday Christian life.

Brief Summary:

Greetings from Apostle Paul to Timothy: 1:1-2

False teachers at Ephesus: 1:3-7

The purpose of the law: 1:8-11

God glorified by Paul and the Gospel: 1:12-17

Fight the good Fight: 1:18-20

Prayer for all people: 2:1-4

One God and only one way to Him: 2:5-7

Instructions to men and women in the church: 2:8-15

Qualifications of an elder: 3:1-7

Qualifications for a deacon: 3:8-13

The Great Mystery: 3:14-16

Warning against false teachers: 4:1-5

How can you guard yourself against false teaching:

4:6-16

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Treating church members: 5:1-2

Honouring by caring for widows: 5:3-16

Honour and responsibility of elders: 5:17-25

Honouring masters: 6:1-2

Error in teaching because of greed: 6:3-10

Instructions to Timothy: 6:11-16

Instructions to wealthy persons: 6:17-19

Final appeal to Timothy: 6:20-21

Another striking aspect about this letter and the second is

that he warns about false leaders, also saying he has handed

them over to Satan: Hymenaeus, Alexander and Philetus (1

Timothy 1:20 & 2 Timothy 2:17)

There are some who have joined the church for their

financial gain (1 Timothy 6:5 & 10). These leaders were

divisive and able to deceive women (1 Timothy 2:14 & 2

Timothy 3:6-7).

Apostle Paul uses the letter to shed some extra light on

theology, especially salvation.

That God has accomplished our salvation through

Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 1:13-16 & 2:3-6 (This

theological point is well supported by the affirmation

that salvation is by grace and that between God and

mankind there is only one meditator, that is Lord

Jesus Christ.)

Substitutionary atonement is also stressed here, that

is, Jesus Christ dying as a substitute for sinners. (1

Timothy 2:6).

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Apostle Paul makes caring for the poor and widow

mandatory, thereby nullifying the rumours that he is a male

chauvinist.

Application for Today:

1. The Local Church is Key to Showing ‘Godliness’

God designed local church to be the display of His truth!

Every one of us are called to be the light of the World. God

called us to let our light shine so that people will glorify His

name (Matthew 5:14-16). Not only individually, we are

called to show this glory as a corporate body as well. Thus,

when a local church shows godliness as a corporate body,

the whole world will come to know Him.

How do we exhibit godliness?

By showing Christ in us by the power of the Holy Spirit! This

is the mystery of godliness that Apostle Paul writes about in

this letter.

For this purpose, the local church has established leaders.

The leaders do this by teaching, by encouraging and by

leading by example.

The church leader prepares their members to reveal God's

truth, most importantly by exemplifying the truth and

illustrating it in his or her life.

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14),

not "You announce the light of the world."

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2. Responsibilities of the Local Church

a) Purpose, the local church must be careful to present

an unchanged gospel. We should not major in the

minors, making sure that the truth is not distorted. In

this epistle, Paul warned Timothy about all of these

threats to the purity of God's truth. We could be

creative in the way the message is delivered, but not

in actual message itself. Never forget that we are in

the delivery business, not in the manufacturing one.

b) Worship, the local church's worship and prayer must

be unceasing. Paul points this out very clearly when

he gives instructions regarding the priority of prayer

in church life (2:1-7).

c) Leaders, the local church needs good leaders who are

sold out for His purpose only, only then will the local

church be able to persevere in its ministry without

failing. Such as those who live out the truth, and

consistently minister to and motivate the disciples.

Therefore, the need for qualified leaders is obvious

(3:1-13).

d) Setting an example, A leader as an example far

outweighs any believable explanation.

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3. The Great doxology

1 Timothy 3:16, And without controversy great is the

mystery of godliness:

God was manifested in the flesh,

Justified in the Spirit,

Seen by angels,

Preached among the Gentiles,

Believed on in the world,

Received up in glory.(NKJV)

What we learn here is as follows:

a) God came to us as a man, in the person of Christ.

Christ was always God. But HE came to us as a human

being so that we may know him.

b) The Lord Jesus claimed to be the Christ the Messiah

that God had promised to send. Jesus said that He was

the Son of God and He was equal with the Father. He

was God. The Spirit agrees that these claims are true.

He declares that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is

perfect. Jesus did not sin at all and He knew no sin.

But Jesus took the sins of all our humanity when He

died on the cross.

c) Angels were involved at times while Jesus lived on the

earth. One of them came to those who looked after the

sheep to tell them about his birth (Luke 2:9).

d) They came to Jesus after the devil had tempted him

(Matthew 4:11).

e) An angel helped him as he prayed in the garden of

Gethsemane (Luke 22:43).

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f) An angel rolled back the stone from the entrance to

the grave when Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew

28:2-7).

g) The angel sat on that stone. When some women had

come, the angel told them that Jesus was alive again.

Two angels who were inside the grave spoke to Mary

(John 20:11-13).

h) Later, Jesus left the earth and went up to heaven. Two

angels were there who told the friends of Jesus that

He would come again (Acts 1:10-11).

i) Following resurrection, Jesus had commanded His

disciples to preach the Gospel and make disciples of

every nation (Matthew 28:18-20).

j) When the early Christians went out and preached the

good news of Jesus Christ, some believed it and put

their trust in Him and become Christians.

k) The Lord Jesus after His resurrection left the earth

and entered into the bright light of heaven where God

lives. God gave Jesus the honour and praise and has

given to Him all power to rule in heaven and over all

the earth.

Drawing from the above doxology, Paul lists six good

qualities that Christians ought to have, as follows:

We must always do what is good and right.

We should live to please God.

We should believe and trust the Lord at all times.

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We ought to love God and other people.

We must be patient and strong.

We should be gentle. When people do bad things to us, we must never do bad things in return.

4. Beware of False Doctrine

Any doctrine that deviates from the essential teaching of the

faith is a false doctrine. The Gospel is the central theme of

this letter that the Apostle had written. Therefore, if we

accept any false teaching, then this will weaken the church's

testimony to the world. Hence, it is our responsibility to

guard the doctrine of our church.

5. Prayerlessness

We ought to be careful in our personal and corporate prayer

life. Apostle Paul had warned about this in this letter. It is

quite possible that when you fail to pray, you drift away from

godliness.

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6. Do’s and Don’ts

To teach only the true doctrine 1:3

To not listen to fables and genealogies 1:4

To teach the Gospel to the sinners 1:15-18

To not pay attention to stories 4:7

To pray and intercede for everyone 2:1

To not neglect the gift 4:14

To choose the worthy leaders 3:1-15

To not rebuke old men but exhort them 5:1

To instruct others in sound doctrine 4:6

To not entertain complaint without two witnesses 5:19

To train to be godly 4:7-8 To not be partial as leader 5:21

To be an example in word and in conduct 4:12

To not appoint anyone hastily 5:22

To honour widows 5:3 To not engage in arguments 6:4-5

To stay pure 5:22 To not keep company with those who are greedy and making money out of preaching the gospel 6:5-11

To pursue righteousness, faith, love, patience and gentleness 6:11

To not engage in idle chat and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge 6:20