Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the commandment of God
our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ,
which is our hope; unto Timothy,
my own son in the faith: Grace,
mercy, and peace, from God
our Father and Jesus Christ
our Lord.
1Timothy 1:2
Having finished our study of Thessalonians we find that Paul gave serious but important instructions to those in Thessalonica and to us on our present age and beyond until Jesus Christ returns for His bride. We now turn our attention to the letters that Paul wrote to Timothy to find the nuggets of truth that Paul was inspired to write to see how we can benefit from his writings.
Paul reminds us that he was an apostle, not chosen by men, but by the commandment of God and or Jesus Christ our Savior. Once again I must point out some Greek grammar which I have done in the past in regards to the Trinity. There are those, i.e., Modalist, for one such religious group, that deny the Trinity, who seem not to understand the Greek language and grammar. What they want, as do many, is a direct wording in Scripture that uses the word Trinity. God did not apparently intend to teach that word, the Trinity, No, to do so would cause confusion when interpreting each Person, God the Father, Jesus Christ the Savior, and the Holy Spirit. What He did was teach us who He is and Who Jesus Christ is, and the Holy Spirit as to their purpose and work in their separate capacities, each being God, not some separate essence of God and this by the Greek language conjoined each as to their being of the Godhead, that is clear and plain. Once again, the Greek word theos does not have a definite article, meaning "the God," nor does Jesus Christ having a definite article, which would mean, "the Jesus Christ," but uses each noun without that definite articles and uses the Greek word, "kai," meaning "and," but by this grammar there is no separation of Person, rather by this usage each noun is equal to one another. Paul uses this grammatical form twice in these two opening verses.
Paul wrote to Timothy who was in Ephesus probably around 64 A.D. and we find in Acts 14 that Paul visited Asia Minor when he spoke of being in Lystra a city of Asia Minor. We find that in 97 A.D. Timothy, a faithful Christian chosen by Paul do Timothy's ability to the truth and administrative abilities, chosen to lead the Church in Ephesus, in fact as tradition tells us, this city was the home of John the Apostle, and in this year (97 A.D.) Timothy was stoned and beat with clubs until he died while preaching near the temple of Diana.
It is always good and important to know history and the history of Ephesus aids us to understand what, why, and how things occurred in the days of early Christianity. The legend of Ephesus is that this city was founded by a tribe of the Amazons, great female warriors. The name, Ephesus, is said to have its derivation form "Apasas," meaning the "city of the Mother Goddess." At the end of the Bronze age onwards the location of city changed due to floods and the whim of various rulers. Around 1200 B.C. Ephesus had migrations of the Ionian people and the city became known as an Ionian city. Ephesus became one of the wealthiest cities of the Mediterranean area and a center of learning and even was the birthplace and home of the great Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus. The Temple of Artiemis was began and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ephesus prospered as an important port of trade, and this due to the fact that the trade route from India, East Asia, went to and through Ephesus and as a port city, ships would travel across the Aegean Sea to Corinth where they would cross their ships across the four mile portion of Corinth to the Adriatic Sea on their way to Rome and beyond. Ephesus is no longer an important trade route and is a city in Turkey. In the next verse we find Paul speaking of Macedonia and his desire to go there, a place north of Thessalonica, and we know this place today with names such as Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, etc., so there is much history, especially when remembers that in Macedonia King Philip, the father of Alexander the Great was king there and Greek influence to this nation makes Macedonia in actuality a Grecian nation, although there has been much dispute over this fact.
Paul, Timothy, Christians, all faced a land, a city, that was steeped in pagan worship with pagan temples and a bustling city by many foreign people passing through and by this passing through of those people they leaned of Christianity and Christianity by default spread by them as well as by others. A strong administration would be needed for this church to survive and Timothy was such a man that was needed.
We now have some history so that when we study this letter and Paul's other letter to Timothy we have a foundation to understand the problems and how there were to be resolved. Problems of people have not changed and the solution given by Paul apply to us today. Read this letter to get a foundation as to what I will write to ensure that what I write is according to Scripture.
Thou, O LORD, remaineth forever;
thy throne from generation
to generation. Wherefore doest
thou forget us for ever,
and forsake us for so long time?
Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD,
and we shall be turned; renew our
days as of old.
Lamentations 5:19-21
Be a Timothy: faithful
Richard L. Crumb
Paul wrote to Timothy who was in Ephesus probably around 64 A.D. and we find in Acts 14 that Paul visited Asia Minor when he spoke of being in Lystra a city of Asia Minor. We find that in 97 A.D. Timothy, a faithful Christian chosen by Paul do Timothy's ability to the truth and administrative abilities, chosen to lead the Church in Ephesus, in fact as tradition tells us, this city was the home of John the Apostle, and in this year (97 A.D.) Timothy was stoned and beat with clubs until he died while preaching near the temple of Diana.
It is always good and important to know history and the history of Ephesus aids us to understand what, why, and how things occurred in the days of early Christianity. The legend of Ephesus is that this city was founded by a tribe of the Amazons, great female warriors. The name, Ephesus, is said to have its derivation form "Apasas," meaning the "city of the Mother Goddess." At the end of the Bronze age onwards the location of city changed due to floods and the whim of various rulers. Around 1200 B.C. Ephesus had migrations of the Ionian people and the city became known as an Ionian city. Ephesus became one of the wealthiest cities of the Mediterranean area and a center of learning and even was the birthplace and home of the great Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus. The Temple of Artiemis was began and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ephesus prospered as an important port of trade, and this due to the fact that the trade route from India, East Asia, went to and through Ephesus and as a port city, ships would travel across the Aegean Sea to Corinth where they would cross their ships across the four mile portion of Corinth to the Adriatic Sea on their way to Rome and beyond. Ephesus is no longer an important trade route and is a city in Turkey. In the next verse we find Paul speaking of Macedonia and his desire to go there, a place north of Thessalonica, and we know this place today with names such as Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, etc., so there is much history, especially when remembers that in Macedonia King Philip, the father of Alexander the Great was king there and Greek influence to this nation makes Macedonia in actuality a Grecian nation, although there has been much dispute over this fact.
Paul, Timothy, Christians, all faced a land, a city, that was steeped in pagan worship with pagan temples and a bustling city by many foreign people passing through and by this passing through of those people they leaned of Christianity and Christianity by default spread by them as well as by others. A strong administration would be needed for this church to survive and Timothy was such a man that was needed.
We now have some history so that when we study this letter and Paul's other letter to Timothy we have a foundation to understand the problems and how there were to be resolved. Problems of people have not changed and the solution given by Paul apply to us today. Read this letter to get a foundation as to what I will write to ensure that what I write is according to Scripture.
Thou, O LORD, remaineth forever;
thy throne from generation
to generation. Wherefore doest
thou forget us for ever,
and forsake us for so long time?
Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD,
and we shall be turned; renew our
days as of old.
Lamentations 5:19-21
Be a Timothy: faithful
Richard L. Crumb
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