1 Timothy 1

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First Timothy 1 is Paul's charge to his younger colleague, left in Ephesus to stop teachers who had wandered into myths, genealogies, and speculation. Paul states that the goal of all instruction is love from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith; that the law is good when used rightly, aimed at the lawless rather than the righteous; and then, in the chapter's heart, tells his own story: a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent man shown mercy, so that Christ could display his patience in the worst of sinners. He ends with a doxology, a charge to fight the good fight, and a warning about two men who shipwrecked their faith.

장 주석 열기

First Timothy 1 is a letter from an old apostle to a young pastor in a hard post. Timothy has been left in Ephesus to deal with teachers who have wandered from the gospel into myths, genealogies, and confident talk about the law that they do not understand. Paul's instructions are brief and clear. The goal of all teaching is love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith. The law is good if it is used for what it is for, to name and restrain lawlessness, and it points beyond itself to the gospel. Then Paul does something that no false teacher would do: he tells the truth about himself. He was a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent man. He was shown mercy. The grace of the Lord overflowed to him, and the reason, he says, was so that Christ Jesus could display his perfect patience in the worst of sinners as an example for everyone who would believe afterward. The trustworthy saying at the center of the chapter is the gospel in one line: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul cannot say it without breaking into praise, to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. Then he hands the charge to Timothy: fight the good fight, hold on to faith and a good conscience, and remember the two men who let go of both and were shipwrecked.

Historical and literary context

Paul writes to Timothy, whom he calls his true child in the faith, after leaving him in Ephesus while traveling to Macedonia. The false teaching combined Jewish law, speculative genealogies, and ascetic rules; later chapters mention forbidding marriage and certain foods. The letter is one of the three Pastoral Epistles, concerned with ordering church life and guarding the gospel in the generation after the apostles. Paul's account of his own past refers to the persecution of the church described in Acts 8 and 9.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 and 2 greet Timothy. Verses 3 to 7 describe the false teachers and the true goal of instruction, love. Verses 8 to 11 explain the proper use of the law, with a vice list that echoes the Ten Commandments and ends in the gospel. Verses 12 to 17 are Paul's testimony: strengthened, appointed, formerly a blasphemer, shown mercy, the trustworthy saying that Christ came to save sinners of whom he is the worst, and a doxology to the King eternal. Verses 18 to 20 charge Timothy to fight the good fight, holding faith and a good conscience, unlike Hymenaeus and Alexander.

Why this chapter matters

First Timothy 1:15, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst," is the first of the five "trustworthy sayings" in the Pastoral Epistles and one of the most compact statements of the gospel in the New Testament. Paul presents his own conversion as the pattern for everyone who will believe: if the worst could be shown mercy, no one is beyond it. The chapter's definition of the goal of teaching as love, not knowledge or control, and its insistence that the law is good when used legitimately, have guided Christian teaching about doctrine and ethics ever since. The doxology of verse 17 is sung in churches around the world.

Interpretive tension to watch

Paul says he was shown mercy "because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief," which could sound as though ignorance earned the mercy. The next verses rule that out: grace overflowed, and the reason for his mercy was to display Christ's patience. The chapter holds Paul's real guilt and God's free mercy together without making one explain away the other, which is the tension of every conversion story.

이 장을 위한 질문

  • Paul says the goal of instruction is love from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith. How would teaching look different if that were its measure?
  • Why does Paul, writing to correct false teachers, stop to tell the story of his own conversion?
  • Faith and a good conscience are held together in verse 19, and abandoning one shipwrecks the other. How are the two connected?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

1 Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the order of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our hope; 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 It was my desire, when I went on into Macedonia, that you might make a stop at Ephesus, to give orders to certain men not to put forward a different teaching, 4 Or to give attention to stories and long lists of generations, from which come questionings and doubts, in place of God's ordered way of life which is in faith; 5 But the effect of the order is love coming from a clean heart, and a knowledge of what is right, and true faith: 6 From which some have been turned away, giving themselves to foolish talking; 7 Desiring to be teachers of the law, though they have no knowledge of what they say or of the statements which they make so certainly. 8 We are conscious that the law is good, if a man makes a right use of it, 9 With the knowledge that the law is made, not for the upright man, but for those who have no respect for law and order, for evil men and sinners, for the unholy and those who have no religion, for those who put their fathers or mothers to death, for takers of life, 10 For those who go after loose women, for those with unnatural desires, for those who take men prisoners, who make false statements and false oaths, and those who do any other things against the right teaching, 11 Which may be seen in the good news of the glory of the great God, which was given into my care. 12 I give praise to him who gave me power, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he took me to be true, making me his servant, 13 Though I had said violent words against God, and done cruel acts, causing great trouble: but I was given mercy, because I did it without knowledge, not having faith; 14 And the grace of our Lord was very great, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a true saying, in which all may put their faith, that Christ Jesus came into the world to give salvation to sinners, of whom I am the chief: 16 But for this reason I was given mercy, so that in me, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might make clear all his mercy, as an example to those who in the future would have faith in him to eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, ever-living, unseen, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. So be it. 18 This order I give to you, Timothy my son, in harmony with the words of the prophets about you, so that by them you may be strong, fighting the good fight, 19 Keeping faith, and being conscious of well-doing; for some, by not doing these things, have gone wrong in relation to the faith: 20 Such are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have given up to Satan, so that they may say no more evil words against God.

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