“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:
To Timothy, my true son in the faith.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God theFather and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Today we’ll start on Paul’s first letter to Timothy. I’ve already written about who Timothy is, and I’ve written about Paul when I blogged Ephesians. You can read about him here: Ephesians 1:1-2 – Abundant Joy. I do want to write a little more about him here and his writing of this letter.
Paul wrote the Pastoral Epistles toward the end of his life. First and Second Timothy and Titus are considered the Pastoral Epistles. Gotquestions.org describes the letters this way. “All three are letters from an old man at the close of his ministry who was concerned for his successors in the pastorate. As such, the letters concern the things that would be crucial for the young pastors to understand- church organization and discipline, including such matters as the appointment of elders and deacons, the opposition of rebellious members or false teachers, and the maintenance of doctrinal purity.”
He identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus. He refers to himself as an apostle of Christ at the beginning of all his letters with the exceptions of Philippians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and Philemon. When he refers to himself as an apostle here, he is referring to himself as one who was commissioned by the risen Christ, just as the original twelve were called by Christ while he was on earth. He is not using it in the broader sense of “messenger.”
He also identifies himself as an apostle by command of God. He uses similar language in his letter to Titus. “In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior: To Titus, my true son in our common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.” (1:3-4). Mark Bailey writes in Nelson’s New Testament Survey, “Paul reminded his readers of his authority as an apostle. Timothy would have read this letter publicly in the Ephesian church, and others would have used it in other congregations later as well. Paul’s calling came to him by the “command” of God. This strong word is one of many indications that Paul stressed the importance of faithful perseverance of God’s calling in this letter.”
Let’s expand the phrase. He calls himself an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior. The phrase “God our Savior” only occurs six times in the New Testament. All but one of these are in Paul’s Pastoral letters. Walter Liefeld writes in his commentary 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, “We are so used to thinking of Jesus as our Savior that the use of that term to describe God arrests our attention.”
He then goes on to say, “… and of Jesus our hope.” This immediately brought me back to 1 Peter! One of my favorite passages from that book is 1 Peter 1:3-4. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” Paul describes Christ as our hope in Titus also. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2:11-13).
After Paul tells who the letter is from, he writes who the letter is to: “To Timothy, my true son in the faith.” There are some questions as to what Paul means when he writes this. Some commentators think that Paul is writing that he led Timothy to the faith. Other’s think that he is just referring to Timothy as his protege. I lean toward the second view. In 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul writes, “…and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Timothy had been hearing the scriptures from his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5) since he was an infant. Chances are, he already was a Christian when he was introduced to Paul. Liefeld writes, “Timothy’s mother provided the environment of Jewish faith in which he had grown up; Paul provided the nurture of his Christian faith. Since he is called a “disciple” at the outset of the Acts 16 narrative, he probably had become a Christian before Paul’s arrival, possibly through Paul’s earlier ministry in Lystra (Acts 14:8-20).”
Although this letter was addressed to Timothy, it was to be passed around to the churches in Ephesus. There are clear instructions to the churches, and it would have been read aloud to the congregations.
Lastly, Paul conveys grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I was curious, because I remembered checking Paul’s greeting for Ephesians, to see if he used mercy in any of his other letters. I looked at the beginning of every one of Paul’s letters. Only in his first and second letters to Timothy does he use grace, mercy, and peace. In every other letter it is grace and peace. I don’t know if it is significant, but I do think it is interesting! And Paul always ends his letters with a form of grace be with you, which is why I started ending my blogs this way. And it is how I will end today.
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 