While 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus, were personal correspondence, their contents were directed toward the church communities in Ephesus and Crete. These new assemblies, and their leaders, were forced to deal with issues of both Christian doctrine and Christian practice. Paul was concerned that his readers understand the law in light of Christ (1 Tim 1:3-11, Tit 3:9-11). He urged the churches to distribute money justly (1 Tim 5:3-18), endure the battles of ministry (1 Tim 4:1-5:2; 2 Tim 4:1-8), and choose church leaders who would demonstrate and teach the message of Christ (1 Tim 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). In the Pastoral Epistles, Paul wrote that Christian doctrine was to form the beliefs and behavior of an orderly church. He advanced his argument by referencing Old Testament individuals and texts in light of God’s revelation in Christ.
(1) In 1 Tim 1:3-5, Paul contrasted the truthfulness of his ministry with the deceptive patterns of his opponents, reflecting Jeremiah’s statements about his own ministry situation. Repeatedly in Jeremiah, the prophet lamented that he spoke God’s truth while the other prophets of Judah proclaimed lies to the people. In Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah stood in the temple and exhorted the people to repent. He confronted those who proclaimed deceptive words and urged the people that they were secure because they could yet go to the Lord’s temple (Jer 7:4). The false prophets deceived the people by urging them to trust in their national status rather than God. These false prophets spoke lies in God’s name (Jer 14:14). Jeremiah wrote, “They keep on saying to those who despise Me: The LORD has said: you will have peace, To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they have said, No harm will come to you” (Jer 23:17). Paul’s opponents operated from the same frame of thought, promoting salvation through myths and Jewish genealogical records rather than faith (1 Tim 1:3-4). Like the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day, those who opposed Paul and Timothy engaged in fruitless discussion of the law and gave their audiences a sense of false security (1 Tim 1:4-7). Paul countered that the law could not provide any greater security than what God provided His people in Christ (1 Tim 1:8-11).
(2) In 1 Tim 2:5, Paul’s theological paradigm reflected Israel’s confessional statement in Deut 6:4. After Moses reviewed Israel’s travels from Mount Sinai to their settlement on the far side of the Jordan river (Deuteronomy 1-4), he reviewed for Israel the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5. Moses then said, “Listen, Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is One” (Deut 6:4). As long as Israel recognized the unity and singularity and holiness of the Lord, and loved Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deut 6:5), they would enjoy success in the Promised Land. In 1 Tim 2:1-7, Paul wrote that the church was to be devoted to prayer in its public gatherings, interceding especially for kings and those in authority so that the church would be an evangelistic and peaceful community. Paul grounded his instructions regarding prayer in the theology of Deut 6:4, writing, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time” (2 Tim 2:5-6).
(3) In 1 Tim 2:13-15, Paul wrote that church order was to reflect the roles of Adam and Eve described in Gen 2:18-3:16. In the record of Genesis, the Lord formed Eve from Adam and set them in the garden to work it together in fellowship with Him. When the serpent tempted Eve, she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—disobeying God’s command. Then, Adam took and ate, entering into the same sinful state Eve had entered when she ate. The Lord judged the serpent, Eve, and Adam, telling Eve that she would have to endure pain in childbearing. Paul wrote that when the church gathered for prayer, it was to be led by temperate men (1 Tim 2:8) and modestly adorned women (1 Tim 2:9-11). Paul’s instructions reflected the gender curses the Lord issued to Eve and Adam in the garden. He wrote that when the church gathered, women were not to usurp the authority of their husband. Though women would have to endure the pain of childbirth, they would yet be saved by faith and its fruit in the community of the church (1 Tim 2:13-15).
1 Timothy 4-6
In 1 Timothy, Paul wrote his young friend to encourage him to remain in Ephesus and establish the church in good doctrine. Those opposing the church perverted the gospel of grace—which Paul had experienced and in turn entrusted to Timothy (1 Tim 1:12-19). Paul reminded his readers that the gracious gospel of Christ was to be the foundation of prayer, relationships, and leadership in the church (1 Tim 2:1-3:6). He wanted his audience to view the Old Testament in light of God’s revelation in Christ, as part of the storyline of God’s redemptive purposes.
(1) In 1 Tim 4:1-5, Paul argued against those who proposed that Christians needed to observe the Old Testament food laws. In Lev 11:1-23, 41-47, Moses commanded Israel to abstain from specific species of animals, marking these animals as unclean for God’s people. Moses repeated these commands in Deut 14:1-21. By marking certain foods as unclean, Israel would be marked as God’s holy people when they refused to eat what other nations freely consumed. Peter was thus shocked when the Lord told him in a dream to take up and eat foods that Moses forbade Israel to eat (Acts 10:9-16). Paul confronted Peter for promoting food laws when Peter came from Jerusalem to Antioch (Gal 2:11-14). In Paul’s mind, those in the church in Ephesus who were promoting food laws were under a demonic influence (1 Tim 4:1-3). As a servant of Christ Jesus, Timothy was to point out that marriage and food were to be viewed as holy, sanctified by the word of God and prayer (1 Tim 4:4-6).
(2) In 1 Tim 5:4, Paul wrote that children of a needy widow should practice their religion and care for her, echoing the fifth commandment. In Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16, the Lord commanded His people to honor their parents. In Leviticus 19, Moses commanded Israel to be holy before the Lord and one another, loving God and their neighbor. In Lev 19:2-3, the Lord told Moses, “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. Each of you is to respect his mother and father. You are to keep My Sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.” As believers in the church looked out for the needs of their parents, they would alleviate the church from bearing the burden of financially supporting widows with resources that could be used to advance the gospel through missionary endeavors.
(3) In 1 Tim 5:18, Paul quoted Deut 25:4 to reinforce his argument that church elders should be paid for their labor. In Deut 25:1-4, Moses wrote commands regarding justice and mercy in the community of Israel. His stipulations applied to humans at court and animals in the pasture. Moses wrote, “Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain” (Deut 25:4). Paul saw in Moses’ command a basis for churches paying elders who labored in the word (1 Tim 5:17-18). Paul cited Deut 25:4 in 1 Cor 9:9, arguing that churches should support the apostles, even though he gave up the right of support from the Corinthians.
(4) In 1 Tim 5:19-21, Paul reflected Deut 19:15 when describing the process for correcting a sinful elder. In Deut 19:15-21, Moses wrote procedures that would ensure a fair trial when an Israelite was accused of wrongdoing: “A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deut 19:15). Jesus cited Deut 19:15 in Matt 18:16 when He established the practice of confronting a brother in sin so as to win the brother back to the community of the church. Paul wrote that elders who were accused of sin needed to be treated with the same due process that Jesus established for the church at large. No elder was to be condemned by a single witness.
(5) In 1 Tim 6:15-16, Paul employed the language of Deut 10:17 to describe God’s sovereign plan to send Christ back to earth at the time He has appointed. In Deuteronomy 10, Israel renewed their covenant with the Lord and Moses exhorted the people to keep their covenant commitment by obeying the law. Moses reminded the people that the Lord is the Lord of all lords and the God of all gods, acting with perfect justice in all that He did (Deut 10:17). Paul echoed Moses’ language in 1 Tim 6:15, reminding Timothy and the church in Ephesus that God had already appointed the day when Christ would return for them.
1 Timothy Commentary New Testament