1 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,
To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
An ancient church tradition tells us about a faithful pastor. In the year 97, the city he ministered in was celebrating a pagan feast named Catagogion. It took place on the 22nd of January, and the celebrant would run through the streets dressed in immodest clothes, carrying cudgels in their hands and images of their gods. On this terrible day, women were raped, men were murdered, and it was all allowed because of the feast of Catagogion. In that year, this faithful pastor, who was eighty-years old, stepped into the street and loudly reproved the pagans for their evil behaviour. Instead of listening to him, they turned on him, beat him with their cudgels dreadfully. Two days later, he died of his wounds. An eighty-year old man confronting a mob.
We need faithful men like that today. We are in a famine of healthy churches pastored by faithful men. Faithful, godly qualified church leaders, leading healthy, biblically-ordered churches are not only what Christians need. They are what the world needs to confront their evil, just like that pastor did.
This is why the Bible includes the books of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, the books called the pastoral epistles. They are books written by Paul to pastors, to encourage them to lead their flocks in godly ways, and shape those churches to be worshipping rightly, structured rightly. And they are not there to be read only by pastors. 1 Timothy, along with Titus and 2 Timothy were distributed to the early churches. They were meant to be read by others, as a kind of open letter for what churches should be and how pastors should shepherd. They are there for all of God’s people to read, to learn what healthy churches look like, to judge whether they have mature, godly leaders.
The book of 1 Timothy is written by Paul, to Timothy. Timothy is mentioned twenty-four times by name in Scripture, but if you include all the times he is spoken about or spoken to, or included when Paul or Luke speaks in the plural “we” or “Us”, then Timothy is referred to 818 times in 367 verses. That’s a massive amount of Scripture that is related to this man.
Who is this man that this letter was written to, and why was it written? If we understand that story, we will not only read this letter rightly, we’ll see ourselves in Timothy. Whenever God sets forth an example in the Bible, it is because the example has universal application. All of us can find ourselves in this man, in his weaknesses, strengths, success and failures. We can study his life with four major stages in his life, which correspond to all of us: Timothy’s Salvation, Timothy’s Service, Timothy’s Situation, and Timothy’s Sanctification.
I. Timothy’s Salvation
Our only clue about his family comes from 2 Timothy 1:5.
There we read: when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.
Timothy is a third-generation Christian, and it seems it came only from the godliness of the women in his family. Lois and her daughter Eunice were Jewish women who lived in the city of Lystra. Lystra was a Roman colony, in modern day Turkey. There were many devout, practising Jews spread out throughout the ancient Roman world. The rule was if there were ten Jewish men in a place, a synagogue could begin. Lois and Eunice almost certainly attended this synagogue.
Timothy’s father was Greek, according to Acts 16. We don’t know anything more about him, except that he had not converted to Judaism himself, since Timothy had not been circumcised, and he is never mentioned the way Eunice and Lois are.
Timothy’s name is a combination of two Greek words: τιμή (timē) meaning “honor, reverence,” and θεός (theos), meaning “God”. It means honours God, God’s honour.
Evidently Lois and Eunice taught him the Old Testament Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
But Eunice and Lois still needed to hear the good news that Yeshua the Messiah had come. That happened when Paul’s very first missionary journey took him and Barnabas to the city of Lystra in about the year 46. In Acts 14, we read they preached the gospel, and Paul healed a man, resulting in the city trying to worship them, and when they refused, they stoned them. But Paul and Barnabas successfully planted a church in Lystra, and almost certainly that was where Lois and Eunice went from being devout Jewish women to fully embracing Jesus as Messiah. Best we can tell, Timothy was born in about the year 17, so he was around 29 or 30 when Paul first visited this city and planted the church. It may be that, he too, was saved during this first visit of Paul. Paul refers to Timothy as if he was his spiritual father:
- 1 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 1 Timothy 1:18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
- 2 Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Timothy, too, attended Lystra Church and there came to a full faith in Jesus Christ. In the next few years, Timothy grew, soaked in the Word, became an active, growing member of this church. So much so, that about four years later, when Paul returned to the city of Lystra, the most impressive and outstanding man in the church was Timothy.
Mothers, grandmothers, never underestimate the influence you can have in the lives of your children, even in the boys, even if their fathers are absent or don’t obey the Word. Timothy stands as an example of the effect of godly mothers and grandmothers.
Timothy also shows us the great power of being a second or third-generation Christian. To be raised in a believing home is great privilege, not to be sniffed out, squandered or thrown away. You have been raised in Christian homes, you have been spared from those things in the world that spoil you, damage you, ruin you, and hinder your usefulness to Christ. Most of the greatest preachers and missionaries and evangelists have been second-generation Christians, whose lives are pure and unspoilt by sin and ready to be vessels of honour for the master.
II. Timothy’s Service
Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.
He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.
Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.
And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. (Acts 16:1-4)
Timothy was already well-spoken of by the brethren. It is marvellous thing to earn a good reputation among God’s people for all the right reasons: faithfulness, wisdom, spirituality, humility, love for others, spiritual knowledge.
Paul, ever wanting to pass on the faith, and train leaders, sees in Timothy the raw material for a future leader. And, since it appears that Timothy is single, and unencumbered with the responsibility to provide for wife and children, Paul invites Timothy to join him, and Silas on the rest of their missionary journey.
Now Paul knows that Timothy has a Jewish mother, but has not been circumcised, and that will limit how much ministry he can do among Jewish people, and how much access he will get to the pulpits in synagogues, so Paul has him circumcised.
And now begins an adventure of missionary travels that will go on for the next twelve years.
Timothy is with Paul as they travel to Troas, land of the famous Troy, and then pioneer the work to the Europeans, crossing the sea to Philippi with all the adventures that began that church, Paul ending up in stocks. He travelled with Paul and Silas to other Greek cities: Berea, Thessalonica, Athens. At this point, Timothy is mature enough that Paul can send him to check on churches by himself and see how they are doing, while Paul goes to Corinth. Timothy eventually comes back and rejoins Paul in Corinth.
He passes now out of sight for a few years, but we meet him again in Acts 19, where he is with Paul at Ephesus, and Paul sends him again to check on some churches, particularly the problem church of Corinth. Timothy was prone to fear, and Paul warns the Corinthian church not to abuse Timothy or treat him badly.
1 Corinthians 16:10 And if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. Therefore let no one despise him. But send him on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I am waiting for him with the brethren.
But it appears Timothy wasn’t that successful, because it is Titus who is sent back to Corinth.
Timothy saw riots in Ephesus, sea voyages, and was likely there when Paul got back to Jerusalem, and was set upon by a mob.
It’s twelve years later, and Paul is under house arrest in Rome, awaiting his court case before Caesar. Timothy is there at his side. Paul writes the letters of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon, and in nearly all of them, he opens the letter by saying it is from Paul and Timothy.
The book of Acts closes with Paul in Rome, but it seems that Paul successfully defended himself and was set free. He then travelled with Timothy to visit some of his churches, especially in Asia and Greece. This is probably about the year 62. Paul leaves Timothy to pastor the church in Ephesus while Paul heads west to see the state of the other churches. He is probably in Philippi, when he writes this letter to Timothy to encourage and charge him to pastor and shepherd the church in Ephesus faithfully.
Paul probably didn’t see a great preacher like Apollos in Timothy or a powerful encourager like Barnabas. But what he did see was a young man eager to serve. Sometimes that’s all you need to be used greatly. “Here am I Lord, send me”. Now once you volunteer for the Lord’s army, basic training won’t be a holiday camp. But every army needs fresh, young, eager recruits, who say, “I don’t know what it will mean, but here I am. I don’t know where it will take me, but I’ll go.” Young people, where are the Timothys of 2022?
Paul was not just an evangelist, he was a trainer of leaders. He wanted the faith reproduced across generations. He was always on the lookout for men like Silas, Timothy, Titus, Epaphroditus, John Mark, to train the next generation. The church that does not train the next generation of leaders will dry up on the vine.
Where was Timothy’s service to take place when this letter was written to him?
III. Timothy’s Situation
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
Timothy is left to pastor the church in Ephesus. Paul loved the church in Ephesus; he spent more time there than in any other church. He wrote one of his most precious letters to the church there.
The Lord Jesus addressed this church in the book of Revelation through John as the serious-minded, doctrinally careful church, which had sadly left its first love by the time of John.
What would it have been like to pastor a church in Ephesus? Ephesus was on the west coast of modern-day Turkey, over a hundred miles across the Aegean Sea from Greece. It was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia Minor. That meant that powerful people and very wealthy people lived in Ephesus. There were public squares, stadiums, gymnasiums, and theaters. One theatre built into the side of a nearby mountain could hold 24,000 people. Timothy likely had some upper-class wealthy and even politically connected people in his church, alongside slaves and the poor. He had people used to the life of luxury and people just scraping by.
Ephesus was also the third largest city in the Roman empire, with over 250,000 people living there, and plenty of ethnicities: Lydians, Ionians, Greeks, a native population of Anatolians, and a large Jewish population. Timothy was going to have to pastor a very urban and cosmopolitan church, where he had to battle old Jewish legalism, Jewish myths, the equivalent of what we would call conspiracy theories, made up of a mixture of folk theology, speculation and superstition.
Of course, Ephesus was known for its paganism. It was the religious centre of Asia, as well as home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World: the temple of Artemis (Diana). This massive Temple was a huge complex 50 metres by 115 metres, 117 columns, a roof covered with large white marble tiles, brilliant colours as well as gold decorated the stonework. The sacred object within was an image of Artemis or Diana, the top part was the carved image of a woman, the bottom half was left uncarved, a mere block of wood. It was reputed to be so ancient that it fell from heaven.
Silversmiths made a business out of selling small replicas of the image as souvenirs. And once a false religion has become an industry, you can be sure there will be a lot of people who are very opposed to the kind of Christianity that calls it false. You remember a riot broke out in Ephesus when the silversmiths realised that Christianity could put them out of business. Timothy was pastoring a church when there was big money, and tourism to be made out of the false worship of Artemis.
Artemis herself was the goddess of fertility, magic, and astrology with supposed powers to compel love and passion. With that went the usual pagan sacrifices, immorality and invoking of evil spirits. Timothy was going to pastor a church with people deeply stained by sexual immorality, sexual perversion, and even inverted roles for men and women. There was demon possession in the city; you might remember the seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out a demon in the name of Jesus and had it turn on them.
Now this is the city that Timothy is pastoring in, and Paul writes 1 Timothy to tell Timothy how to order and shepherd this church properly. Chapter 3:15 is a succinct summary of the whole book:
1 Timothy 3:15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
It really doesn’t matter how bad the situation is that God places you in. It is possible to be faithful. It was possible to be a faithful pastor in Ephesus, and to be a healthy church in Ephesus. It is possible to a faithful pastor in your city and to be a healthy church. It is possible for us to be faithful spouses, faithful parents, faithful workers, faithful students, faithful children, faithful church members, even if we are surrounded with corruption, and materialism, and bribery, and pornography, and ancestor worship. Timothy could be faithful, and so can you.
But God is not only interested in doing ministry through a man. God is just as, if not more interested in doing ministry in a man. God doesn’t just want to use you to do ministry, he wants to use ministry to shape you. He wants to sanctify you, make you more like Christ.
IV. Timothy’s Sanctification
The books of 1 and 2 Timothy are not just manuals for how to pastor a church. They are personal letters from Paul the mentor to his son in the faith. After all these years of being together, Paul is still shaping and mentoring this man and wanting him to be sanctified.
Timothy was not himself a perfect man. For one thing, it seems Timothy was prone to fear. Paul keeps encouraging him not to fear:
- 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
- 2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
What could he have been fearful of?
For one, powerful people. He may have been intimidated by the wealthy and highly connected people in Ephesus, tempted to not preach the truth to them.
- 1 Timothy 5:21 I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.
- 1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
He could also have been fearful of persecution or of the public shame that went with being a Christian.
- 2 Timothy 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
- 2 Timothy 3:12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
He was also, it seems, prone to being intimidated by others about his youth.
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Of course, if this is the year 62, and Timothy was born in the year 17, then Timothy is 45. But to a culture that saw leaders and elders of society as those in old age, he was considered young. So it is entirely biblical to think of a 45 year-old man as young.
On top of this tendency to fear, Timothy may have had a temptation to be passive, retiring, withdrawing, even lazy. As sometimes happens when a boy’s father is absent, or distant or sets a bad example, certain masculine traits of aggressiveness and courage go missing. If Timothy was raised entirely by his mother and grandmother, then Paul has to inject some steel into his spine.
- 1 Timothy 4:14-15 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
- 1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
- 2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
- 2 Timothy 2:3-4 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
On top of all this, Timothy battled with bad health.
1 Timothy 5:23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
Evidently, Timothy never touched alcohol, but Paul told him to use it for medicinal purposes. We still use alcohol in many of our medicines and disinfectants, and that was the case in the ancient world. Timothy was not a recreational drinker at all, so Paul told to at least take his medicine.
Now, that seems like a list: a man who struggled with fear, passivity, maybe a touch of laziness, bad health. But this letter was written to him not to tell him to sit down and sit out of the battle, but to grow, to keep striving, to be more faithful.
Was Timothy a faithful man?
Look at how Paul commends Timothy.
Philippians 2:19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me.
These are the ways Paul referred to Timothy: “Fellow worker” (Rom 16:21; 1 Thess 3:2), “Brother” (2 Cor 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Thess 3:2); “Bond-servant” (Phil 1:1); “Beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Cor 4:17); “Son” (1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2); Coequal in the Lord’s work (1 Cor 16:10; 1 Thess 3:2).
In six of Paul’s letters, Paul opens the letter and greets them not only in his name, but in Timothy’s. Timothy was not a perfect man who enlisted. He was an eager Christian with potential. He was rough, raw material, who had showed enough desire, enough faithfulness, enough reliable service to move to the next level. Be faithful in little, and God will entrust you with more. Make yourself available, serve where you are, obey what you know, and God will shape you, train you, polish you for the next level. Timothy didn’t become a pastor after doing a two or three-year course. He ministered with Paul for twelve years, was set apart for ministry by the laying on of hands, and even now, he continued to grow, and be trained and be shaped.
Indeed, the story we began with, of the pastor who confronted the pagans at the feast of Catagogion, that was Timothy. The tradition says that it was he, who in the year 97, at the age of eighty, confronted the pagans in Ephesus. And there, after pastoring that church for more than 35 years, was martyred for the faith. Like his mentor, he fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith. A faithful man, a healthy church, true salt and light in a world that desperately needs it.