1 TIMOTHY 1 (FIRST READING)
[p. 333] 1 [p. 335] TIMOTHY 1 (FIRST READING)
CAC It is very important that we should not overlook this epistle in connection with the highest truth. We connect the full unfolding of Christianity in its heavenly character with Ephesus. Does not this epistle give us what corresponds with that on the practical side? It is remarkable the place that Ephesus has in that way as being the crown of the apostle’s ministry. It seems to have been a kind of headquarters for Satan in the world; the concentrated power of Satan was there. He had set up there the great goddess Diana “whom all Asia and the world worshippeth”, Acts 19: 27. Ephesus was the devil’s shrine in a special way, and God singled it out to be the place where His shrine should be. He set up in testimony all that was of Himself in the very place that had been the devil’s stronghold.
Rem It is a great thing that the ground should be held in the face of the enemy.
CAC Yes, and the enemy completely overthrown. We were seeing lately how the power of the apostle’s ministry was to pull down strongholds and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. We not only see that Ephesus was the temple-keeper of the goddess Diana, but we find the devil in full possession, men using curious arts, men glorified by the power of the devil; all this was in full bloom, and God says, as it were, ‘I am going to plant there My testimony’. It had been the headquarters of the devil’s power and now it is to be a great stronghold of God’s testimony. We see in Acts 20 the way Paul laid the foundation, how he preached and how he laboured; then he went away and left Timothy there and wrote this letter to Timothy. It is instructive because it is instruction to Timothy in the absence of the apostle. Paul had left, and the testimony he had planted had to be preserved by men like Timothy. None of us can be Pauls but we can aspire to be Timothys, that is, true children in the faith of Paul. We may have a spiritual desire to come out in that character. It is interesting that Paul could leave behind [p. 336] him a man who was a true child of his. He does not mean that Timothy was his convert; he was not that, for Timothy was a disciple when Paul first met him, but he was so like Paul that Paul could say, he is my true child. That is the sort of man that is needed to read this epistle.
Ques What were the marks that made him a true child?
CAC All that was precious to Paul, and all that was the light of Paul’s heart, was precious to Timothy, and was the light of his heart. Timothy was not the size or the shape of vessel that Paul was. I am often thankful for Timothy; I should be very discouraged if we only had Paul! Paul was such an extraordinary man, one of the greatest men that the world ever produced as a man. I do not suppose that Timothy was a great man naturally. He was not of extraordinary energy and character as Paul was; he was probably a weak and timid man, and had a stomach that gave him trouble. Yet we see the testimony maintained in a feeble vessel without losing its true character. Paul’s official place was that of an apostle, but I was thinking of the character of the vessel. The Lord could have made an apostle of Timothy if He had chosen, but He did not. Before He could make anything of Paul He had to reduce him, but that does not alter anything of the character of the vessel. God knows what He is going to do with a man from the beginning. It is striking that we find Paul and Timothy in perfect accord. Timothy was likeminded, a true child, there was a perfect answer in Timothy to Paul.
Rem Timothy had been a disciple.
CAC He had been under good influence from a child, he had a godly mother and grandmother, he was marked by piety, and had a good report of the brethren. It is a fine thing for a brother, particularly a young one, to have a good report of the brethren; it is the first thing we are told about Timothy. That he had known the Scriptures from a child suggests that the work of God was going on in him from a child, and that there was no point in his history at which one can say he was converted. Then the first thing is, he “had a good testimony”. If the truth in this epistle is to have a real footing in this world, it must be in men like Timothy. We read Scripture too much as doctrine, instead of seeing that we get in Scripture the effect of the knowledge of God in men.
It is so instructive to see that difficulties at Ephesus had to be met by the moral power of a man of God, not by apostolic [p. 337] authority. That is how things have to be met now, by the moral power of men of God. Timothy was a man of God, that is what should characterise this dispensation; we need men of moral power now. There are so few men of God now; it is perhaps the most honourable title that could be conferred on a man. There are many children of God but few men of God.
Ques What does the title convey to your mind?
CAC It conveys to me that there is the stamp of God about the man; he is set here for God, and he will not flinch or swerve. The title seems to be connected with days of difficulty. Moses is the first to be called a man of God. The man of God is in full sympathy with the testimony, it has made its mark on him, he is cut out as a stone for the house of God. It is the truth here of the house of God, and he is wrought into proper shape for it.
Rem We think so much of how God will stand for us. Here is a type of man who will stand for God.
CAC Yes, that is a very important point. It reminds me of the story of a deputation that waited on Abraham Lincoln, and they began by saying, ‘We trust that God is on our side’. He stopped them at once, and said: ‘I am not concerned at that; what I am concerned at is that we should be on God’s side’.
Rem Timothy had to enjoin these men not to teach wrong doctrine.
CAC Timothy was able to do it, his character and spirit were such that he could do what Paul enjoined on him. God never sets us to do anything we are not equal to.
All this brings in exercises as to our personal state, we cannot go on reading Scripture and taking no account of the kind of man that Scripture addresses. Timothy was a true child, and this is the character of man that can take up this scripture. We may be very small, but if this is not our character we cannot take it up. Paul was bringing out the character of things that was to mark the assembly of God and the shrine of His testimony. It is a very special time, and we should aspire to be found in the position of a Timothy, not his official position, but his relation to the apostle.
If a man is set for the testimony he is sure to encounter opposition. It reminds me of the case of a brother who was turned out of his work, and his foreman, in reporting to his master, said: ‘This man thinks more of his God than of his daily bread’. He submitted to being turned out with no prospect of getting any more work, rather than surrender what was of God. That is a fine bit of testimony.
You get the teaching of this epistle summed up in the first verse, “God our Saviour, and ... Christ Jesus our hope”. That is the blessed God known in grace and power, and God’s blessed Son, Christ, the glorious Man of purpose, before the soul. If you put these two thoughts together you have the teaching of all that comes out in this epistle. If you want the key of any scripture you have only to read the first few verses; the key always hangs at the door of any scripture.
The epistle shows how we should behave in the house of God, not how we should behave in business or in the family circle; all is viewed in connection with behaviour in the house of God. That is why the first consideration is as to teaching. The most important thing in one way is that the teaching should be of God; if it is not, everything is corrupted at the source, the wells are poisoned. That is why teaching is so important, it is the first thing, you must have it first, and then you have the ornaments. If the teaching stood by itself you would have no testimony, it is the teaching adorned that is the testimony. If you leave out teaching there is no testimony, and if you leave out adorning there is no testimony. The adorning is the teaching exhibited in the lives of the saints, that is the testimony. We should not like to use such a word as ‘adorning’, as if anything could add to the testimony, but the apostle does, he speaks of the teaching being adorned and that by slaves. We must have the teaching first, so Paul’s great jealousy is as to the teaching. There were some at Ephesus he had misgivings about; they were saying what was not right, so he left Timothy there to maintain the teaching. Everything had to be met in moral power; there was not the assertiveness that could carry weight, but there was moral power, and everything had to be met with that. I remember once hearing of a meek, quiet brother who had to meet some unruly men, and I was told it was wonderful the power with which he met them. We want to see a little more of that. A man furnished with grace, mercy, and peace, is wonderfully calm in the presence of what is hostile. It was in the power of all this that Timothy could meet these things. It must have been very trying — people bringing fables into the assembly and endless genealogies, then [p. 339] others bringing in the law. That was the Jewish element coming in; it was the setting aside of the truth of our Saviour God, and of the hope of saints, the Man Christ Jesus. All was set aside if these things were admitted. The legal line has always been the devil’s master-stroke, because it is the revelation of God in grace that is in question. God is for us; He is on our side. He has come out to be the Justifier and Deliverer of men, He is the Saviour God — a wonderful title.
Rem It is the gospel of the glory here.
CAC The glory comes out in His being a Saviour God. God makes it His very glory. It is terrible to take away glory from God. We must remember that all legal teaching robs God; it is not only that it robs man.
Rem Questions only tend to make us dry bones.
CAC If there is to be conflict, God does not call us to have conflict over a dry bone; if conflict arises there is a good deal of food at stake. We read about those mighty men of David who preserved the food to the people of God. One man preserved a “piece of ground full of lentils” (2 Samuel 23: 11), and another preserved a “parcel of ground full of barley”, 1 Chronicles 11: 13. You would not contend for anything else but to preserve food to the people of God, and then how could a man die in a better cause!
Rem Gideon too threshed wheat to hide it from the Midianites.
CAC Yes, and it was by the wine-press, too! If a man preserves food for God’s people, the wine-press is not far off; there is a good deal of spiritual joy.
Ques What does “Christ Jesus our hope” convey to you?
CAC That the Man of God’s purpose is the hope of the saints. It is a Person who is our hope, not events, and the Man of our hope is the anointed Man of God’s purpose. There is a retrospect and a prospect in this verse. As to retrospect, if you take account of all that you were and are in the flesh, the Saviour God meets that, and all that exists on your side is an opportunity for the shining in of all that God is. All connected with me as a ruined, fallen creature has been met by God our Saviour, so, if I take account of myself, it only manifests a Saviour God. Then as to prospect, you have nothing before you but the blessed Man of purpose, raised, ascended, and glorified in God’s presence, and all the future filled with that Man.