1st Timothy

This is the first in a series I’m going to do on 1st and 2nd Timothy. I plan on going verse by verse (post by post). My prayer is that this would become a daily discipline. I have been staying in the word daily, but I want to go a little more in depth and do some serious Bible study, analyzing each verse and praying for understanding from God.

Chapter 1, Verse 1 (ESV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

Definitions

• apostle
• by (ESV), according (NAS)
• command (ESV), commandment (NAS)
• savior
• hope

Paul truly believed (as do I) that he was set apart (delegated), and sent forth with orders. He begins his letter stating where he derives his authority from.

• Likewise, where should we be getting our authority? Who do we view as our authorities? I believe I would place God as my highest, my parents next, my government, and finally my business partner (should my church be in here?). Based on this, when I make life decisions right now I would make sure my decisions first coincide with God’s word (His will), then my parents will, and finally do not go against my government. For business decisions I would look to the Word first, parents second, the government, and finally my business partner. I could go on and on, but you see the chain I have to go through to come to each decision. This is not easy (and I often screw it up), but I think setting these guidelines is a good start.

Paul was given a task, he wasn’t asked, he was commanded.

• God commands us to obey. Obeying fully is not something we can do overnight, or in a lifetime for that matter. I know of no one that can even come close to keeping the Ten Commandments. It is impossible, and that is exactly God’s reason for giving them to us, to show us we are sinners, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ our Lord …

God truly is our saviour, He had a plan from the beginning, that the Son should die and be raised to life (have victory over Satan) to make atonement for or cover over our sins. “God our saviour” is also used in the first chapter of Jude.

The end of this verse tells us Jesus is our hope.

• I already quoted Romans 6:23 but I think it is important that we say it again :-)

God Bless