THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY
Lesson 1
Introduction and Chapters 1:1-2:7
Warnings Against False Doctrines and Conduct Within the Community
Holy Lord God and Father,
You called St. Timothy to service the same way You call
every baptized Christian. Some of us are called to ordained ministerial
service like St. Timothy, and You call others to serve You in the priesthood of
believers, sharing the Gospel of salvation within their ordinary lives. In
answering Your call to service, our ordinary lives serve an extraordinary
function as disciples of our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Send Your Holy
Spirit, Lord, to guide us in our study of St. Paul's first letter to St. Timothy,
concerning his pastoral duties as Christ's shepherd to the Christians at
Ephesus. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
+ + +
Paul's fellow
workers and fellow soldiers, as he himself called them, numbered many
thousands, the majority of whom he considered worthy of an everlasting
memorial, for he has made his testimony to them enduring in his own letters.
Moreover, Luke also, as he lists those known to him, makes mention of them by
name. So Timothy is recorded as the first one called to oversee the church of
Ephesus, just as Titus was for the churches in Crete.
Eusebius of
Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, 3.4
Among the epistles of Saint Paul, the three letters of First and Second Timothy and Titus form a distinct group of letters. Biblical scholars refer to these three letters as Paul's "Pastoral Epistles" because they all concern the ministry of a pastor caring for the community entrusted to his care. St. Paul wrote all three letters late in his ministerial career. They differ from his other letters in their form and content, and unlike his other letters, they were not written to Christian communities. Paul sent these three letters to Christian ministers who served with Paul on his second and third missionary journeys and were now appointed as the chief shepherds of congregations. Paul's first letter to St. Timothy addresses Timothy's relationship with and responsibilities to the members of faith communities and their presbyters in and around the city of Ephesus.1
Ephesus was a city of Ionia (western Asia Minor). The Romans made the city the capital of their province of Asia (133 BC), and it served as the residence of the Roman Emperors' financial representatives (procurators) in the province. Emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC-14 AD) gave the city the prestigious title "First and Greatest Metropolis of Asia," making it one of the foremost Roman cities in the eastern Mediterranean with a population that exceeded 250,000. The 1st-century AD geographer Strabo of Pontus (died c 24 AD) identified Ephesus as the second most important city in the Roman Empire after Rome (Strabo, Geography, vol. 1-7, 14.1.24).
St. Paul visited Ephesus towards the end of his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21). He returned on his third missionary journey and took up residence there for several years (Acts 19; 20:31). It was at Ephesus that the population, prompted by the silversmiths who made pagan idols for visiting pagan worshipers, instigated a riot against St. Paul, believing that he was endangering their livelihood (Acts 19:23-40). After leaving Ephesus, Paul later summoned the presbyters of the church at Ephesus to meet him at Miletus before his final journey to Jerusalem (c. 60 AD). Paul gave them a farewell homily that moved them to tears in professing their love for him (Acts 20:17-38).
According to tradition, after Timothy suffered martyrdom, the Apostle St. John Zebedee became the Bishop of Ephesus. According to Church tradition, the city was the last home of the Virgin Mary, who lived the under the protection of St. John (Jn 19:26-27). The church at Ephesus was also one of the seven churches to receive letters from the resurrected Christ in the Book of Revelation (Rev 2:1-7). The letter praised the Christians of Ephesus for persevering in right doctrine and enduring suffering for the sake of their belief in Christ. However, the letter also criticized them for having lost their initial fervor for the faith and called them to repentance by restoring their former good works (Rev 2:4-5).
Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy during his travels in Macedonia, probably sometime between 63 and 67 AD, after his release from his first captivity in Rome and before his second arrest and martyrdom in 67 AD. Timothy's name in Greek is Timotheus and means "honoring the god ___" (the name of a Greek god was probably attached to his name). He suffered martyrdom for condemning the worship of pagan gods, and he shares his Memorial in the Church with St. Titus on January the 26th. It is probably because St. Paul recommended that Timothy should take a little wine for the sake of his stomach in 1 Timothy 5:23 that we invoke his intercession against stomach ailments.
| Biblical Period | #12 The Kingdom of the Church | |||
| Covenant | The New Covenant in Christ Jesus | |||
| Focus | Paul's Greeting and Instructions Concerning the Community | Timothy's Pastoral Responsibilities | ||
| Scripture | 1:1------------------2:1------------------------5:1-----------------------6:2------------------21 | |||
| Division | Greeting and instructions on sound teaching | Discipline and qualifications for ministerial service | Duties toward members of the community | False teaching, true wealth, and final exhortations |
| Topic | Warnings, worship, and wisdom | Rules for widows, presbyters, slaves, and false teachers | False doctrine and true teachers | Duties and dealings |
| Location | Written somewhere in Macedonia to Timothy in Ephesus | |||
| Time | Sometime after Paul's first Roman imprisonment and before his second Roman arrest and martyrdom, probably between 63-67 AD | |||
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2018 | ||||
Paul's letter instructs Timothy on his duties as Christ's representative to the Church at Ephesus:
Paul's instructions to Timothy reveal the major themes of his letter:
Chapter 1: Greeting and Sound Teaching
1 Timothy 1:1-2 ~ Paul's Greeting to Timothy
1 Paul, an
apostle of Christ Jesus by command [epitage] of God our Savior and of
Christ Jesus our hope, 2 to
Timothy, my true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
The letter begins with Paul identifying himself as the author of the letter and as an apostle, "one sent" or "an emissary," of Jesus the Messiah. He is "an apostle" by the divine command of God the Father and God the Messiah, God the Son. It is significant that the Greek word Paul uses for "command" (epitage) means more than the "will" (thelema) of God, a word Paul uses in other letters to ground his apostolate (1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1). The word epitage "connotes a published decree, command, or injunction that countermands any other custom or order, used often in secular Greek for a mandate of the highest authority" (Montague, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: First and Second Timothy, Titus, page 31).
In identifying himself as "an apostle," Paul announces that this is not a personal letter (like his letter to Philemon urging freedom for a Christian slave or his letter of thanks to the Christians at Philippi who sent him a donation for his material support). In this letter, Paul is exercising his authority as Christ's representative in the hierarchy of His Kingdom of the Church (also see 2:7).
The early Fathers of the Church, like St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (130-202 AD), testified that Paul was the undisputed author of the First Letter to Timothy and the other Pastoral Epistles. St. Irenaeus was a disciple of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor (69-156 AD) who was a disciple of St. John the Apostle when he was bishop of Ephesus. He testified that St. Paul was the author of the letters to Timothy and quoted frequently from the Pastoral Epistles in his writings.
From the time of St. Irenaeus in the second century, and continuing to the nineteenth century, Pauline authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles was, for the most part, unchallenged. However, Protestant Biblical scholars in the mid-nineteenth century were the first to argue that Paul could not have been the author since the vocabulary, style, and the concepts of church organization in the Pastoral Epistles were different from Paul's other letters. Other scholars who argue in favor of Paul as the author of the three Pastoral Letters point out that the differences of vocabulary, style, and concepts concerning church organization should be expected:
Today, the majority of Biblical scholars support the arguments in favor of Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles.
Notice that Paul identifies God as "our Savior" and Christ Jesus as "our hope." Paul uses the title "Savior" four times in First Timothy and ten times in the Pastoral Epistles. It is a title that appears fourteen times in the rest of the New Testament.2
Question: Is God only identified as Savior in the
New Testament? What was His relationship with His covenant people in the Old
Testament? What is the significance of Paul's parallel statement God our Savior
and of Christ Jesus our hope? See 2 Sam 22:3;
Ps 24:5; 95:1;
Is 43:3, 11; 45:21;
Sir 51:1;
Lk 1:47;
Jn 4:42;
1 Tim 1:1; 4:10;
2 Tim 1:10.
Answer: The covenant people in the Old Testament
acknowledged Yahweh as the Savior God of His people. Paul's expression is a
perfect parallel, showing the way God is the Savior promised to old Israel and
revealed to the new Israel of the Kingdom of the Church in Jesus the Messiah
who Paul writes is the only "hope" of our salvation.
Paul's parallel designation would sound familiar to both Jewish Christians and their Gentile brothers. For Jews, it recalled the whole history of Israel beginning with God's salvation in the Exodus experience and the continuing promises of salvation for the covenant people (see Ps 24:5; 95:1; Is 43:11; Sir 51:1). For Gentiles, the concept of a "Savior" was also familiar. In first century AD culture, the title "savior" applied to the reigning Roman Emperor, to other kings, and even to pagan gods. The city of Ephesus was the center of the worship of the goddess Artemis throughout the Roman Empire. Artemis was the Greek goddess of chastity, virginity, the hunt, the moon, and the natural environment. Her Roman equivalent was Diana. Artemas' title was "Artemis the Savior." However, the Christians of Ephesus have renounced Artemis the false savior in favor of Christ Jesus, their true Savior.
2 Timothy,
my true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Paul gives Timothy a blessing at the end of his greeting,
identifying Timothy's relationship to him as a spiritual "child." In other
letters, Paul called Timothy his brother (2 Cor 1:1;
1 Thess 3:2; Philem 1; Heb 13:23) and his co-worker (Rom 16:21). However, Paul calls Timothy his "child"
(teknon) in
1 Timothy 1:2, 18 and in 2 Timothy 1:2; 2:1. The Greek
word teknon is different from the Greek word for "son," huios.
Paul's use of the word emphasizes that the Christian community in covenant with
Christ is a family bonded with Jesus Christ and with one another. Paul feels
this familial bond with individuals and communities he brought to faith in
Christ Jesus both as a brother and as a father to his children. For this
reason, Paul called the Galatians his "little children" (Gal 4:19), the
Corinthians his "beloved children" (1 Cor 4:14), and described his relationship
with the newly founded church at Thessalonica as "a nursing mother" taking care
of her children (1 Thess 2:7).3
Question: According to Scripture, what do we know about
Timothy? See Acts 16:1-3; 18:5; 19:22; 20:4;
Rom 16:21;
1 Cor 4:17; 16:10-11;
2 Cor 1:1;
Phil 1:1; 2:19-22;
Col 1:1;
1 Thes 1:1; 3:2;
2 Thes 1:1;
Phlm 1;
1 Tim 1:2-3; 4:12; 5:23 and
2 Tim 1:5, 7.
Answer:
Paul's blessing is similar to the blessings found in his other letters. The only exception is the Letter to the Hebrews which the majority of the Church Fathers attributed to St. Paul. It was probably the written copy of a homily he delivered to the Jewish-Christians of the Jerusalem Church on his final visit to the city (Acts 21:15-23:11). The only difference in Paul's greetings from a traditional Greek letter is that he does not use the customary Greek greeting chara or chaire, meaning "joy" or "rejoice." Instead, he substitutes the Greek word charis that means "favor."
Scholars suggest that Paul intentionally substitutes the Greek word charis with the distinctive meaning and understanding of the Hebrew word hen, which means a gift of participation in the life of God (CCC 1997). The New Testament writers used Greek, the international language of the times, to write their letters. However, all their concepts were from Hebrew traditions, and so they adapted Greek words to convey the Hebrew into distinctively Christian concepts. For example, since the Greek language had no word for "Messiah," the Greek word christos ("smeared with oil") took on the meaning of the Hebrew word "Messiah" (anointed by God).
Then, to the greeting giving the blessing of God's grace, Paul adds the Greek word for "peace," eirene, which reflects the typical Semitic greeting of peace that is shalom (i.e., see 2 Mac 1:1; Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19, 21, 26). It is a greeting repeated in our priestly greeting at Mass when the priest, repeating the words of Jesus' post-Resurrection greetings (Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19, 21, 26), says "Peace be with you."
In his greeting of grace and peace, Paul gives what Jewish-Christians would have recognized as an echo the ancient priestly blessing for God's holy covenant people of Israel in Numbers 6:24-26, May Yahweh bless you and keep you. May Yahweh let his face shine on you and be gracious to you [give you grace]. May Yahweh show you his face and bring you peace (NJB). If Paul does intend to echo the priestly blessing, then Paul is giving an ecclesial blessing. In that case, "grace" represents God's covenantal grace revealed in Jesus Christ and "peace" is the deep and abiding peace that comes from the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. It is a blessing that would have appealed to a mixed congregation of Christian Jews and Gentiles who are one Body in Christ.
Question: Paul's letters are not the only place
where the blessing of "grace and peace" appears as a greeting in the New
Testament. Where else is the same blessing found in the New Testament? See
Rev 1:4.
Answer: It is the greeting the Resurrected Jesus
sends to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation.
Another difference in Paul's blessing in this letter is that he adds the blessing of mercy in addition to grace and peace. "Mercy" is the disposition to be kind and forgiving. In this case, Paul is petitioning the Father and the Son to dispense mercy and forgiveness to Timothy in his ordained ministry. He also adds that Jesus the Messiah (the "Christos") is "our" Lord, emphasizing the covenant relationship Paul and Timothy have with their Savior who is the Lord above all earthly lords.
Absent from Paul's letter is the typical "thanksgiving" for the community that follows the greeting in his other letters to Christian communities. But this absence is understandable since his letter is for the leader of the community.
1 Timothy 1:3-11 ~ Sound Teaching and a Warning against
False Doctrine
3 I repeat
the request I made of you when I was on my way to Macedonia, that you stay in
Ephesus to instruct certain people not to teach false doctrines 4 or to concern themselves with myths and
endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the plan of God
that is to be received by faith. 5 The aim of this instruction is love from a pure heart, a
good conscience, and a sincere faith. 6 Some
people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 wanting
to be teachers of the law, but without understanding either what they are
saying or what they assert with such assurance. 8 We know that the law is good, provided
that one uses it as law, 9 with
the understanding that law is meant not for a righteous person but for the
lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who
kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, 10
the unchaste [fornicators], sodomites, kidnappers, liars,
perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching, 11 according to
the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
[...] literal Greek, IBGE, vol. IV, page 563.
Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus sometime before he left to visit churches previously founded in the Roman province of northern Greece. He first visited Ephesus toward the end of his second missionary journey in the mid-fifties AD (Acts 18:19-21). After his departure, the Christian preacher Apollos and Paul's good friends Aquila and Pricilla established a church home in Ephesus. Paul returned to Ephesus on his third missionary journey and remained with the community for a long time before being forced to leave (Acts 19-20).
Paul continued on to established churches in Macedonia and Greece. At Miletus, he summoned the presbyters of the church at Ephesus to meet with him before he continued to Jerusalem where he told them imprisonment and hardships awaited him (Acts 20:17-21). In that meeting, Paul urged the Ephesian presbyters to remain vigilant because wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears (Acts 20:29-31). At some point, Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus as leader/bishop of the churches of Ephesus and with the mission of preserving the unity of true Christian doctrine. However, Paul's prophecy has come true, and the "wolves" are within the doors of the churches of Ephesus.
Question: What is St. Timothy's first assignment?
Answer: He must halt the spread of false teaching in Ephesus.
The false teachers in verse 3 may be similar to the "Judaizers" (Jews who were not willing to give up the rituals of the Old Sinai Covenant) who had caused trouble for Gentile Christians at Antioch and other mixed Jewish and Gentile Christian communities (Acts 15:1, 5). However, the troublemakers at Ephesus are not outsiders but misguided members of the congregation. They present theoretical teachings concerning "myths" and "genealogies" that are additions to Old Testament Scripture (verse 4).
Question: How is Paul writing his instructions in the letter?
See verse 5
Answer: Paul is writing from a pure heart, a good conscience,
and a sincere faith.
6 Some people have
deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 wanting
to be teachers of the law, but without understanding either what they are
saying or what they assert with such assurance.
That the false teachers aspire to be "teachers of the Law" is a
reference to the Torah (instruction) of Moses (verse 7). They may be
caught up in the letter number equivalent of names in the genealogies and
phrases in Old Testament Scripture, called in Greek "gematria," and the
supposed mysteries they reveal. They are probably also influenced by Jewish
apocryphal writings that offered legendary stories about Old Testament heroes
(see Titus 1:14). Some of the false teachers among the congregation might also
be apostate Christians presenting the heretical doctrine of a "special
knowledge" or gnosis (see 1 Tim 6:20-21).
8 We
know that the law is good, provided that one uses it as law, 9 with the understanding that law is
meant not for a righteous person but for the lawless and unruly, the godless
and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers,
murderers, 10 the unchaste
[fornicators], sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is
opposed to sound teaching, 11 according
to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
Paul lists fourteen sins including sexual sins that
pervert God's first blessing to humanity in the gift of fertility (Gen 1:28).
For Paul's other lists of sins and his condemnation of sexual misconduct see
Rom 1:24-32 and 1 Cor 6:9-10.
Question: How was the old Law good and necessary
for its time? See Rom 6:23; 7:1-12, 1 Tim 1:9-10; CCC 632-37; 1962-68.
Answer: Paul acknowledges that the Old Covenant
Law was good for its time because it fulfilled its purpose by providing a path
to salvation in promoting holiness, prohibiting wrongdoing, and by identifying and
prohibiting practices that were sinful. It was the first stage of revealed Law
and the prepartion for the Gospel. However, the old Law could not give the
gift of eternal salvation or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that was offered
in the New and eternal Covenant that fulfills the commands of the old Law.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 ~ Paul's Past and Gratitude for God's Mercy
12 I
am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he
considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. 13 I was once a blasphemer and a
persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I
acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. 14 Indeed,
the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are
in Christ Jesus. 15 This
saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. 16 But for that reason I was mercifully
treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his
patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for
everlasting life. 17 To the
king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever
and ever. Amen.
Question: How is Paul a living example of the
redeeming work of Jesus Christ? See the story of Paul's conversion experience
in Acts Chapter 9.
Answer: He is an example of how God can transform
a sinner into a saint! He went from Paul the persecutor of Christians to Paul,
apostle of Jesus Christ, destined to bring salvation to the Gentiles!
15 This
saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost.
The mercy of God that Paul received in his conversion
experience and the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit in his baptism
convicted him of his past sins (CCC 545). Those Biblical scholars who support
the authenticity of the letter as Paul's point out that it is unlikely that an
admirer or disciple of Paul's would use such a humiliating claim that Paul was
the "foremost" of sinners other than Paul himself.
17 To the
king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever
and ever. Amen.
This short doxology (a liturgical formula of praise to
God) may have been part of the liturgy of worship in the early Church and is
similar to other doxologies in Paul letters (Rom 16:27; Phil 4:20; Eph 3:21; 1
Tim 6:15-16).
1 Timothy 1:18-20 ~ Timothy's Special Commission
18 I
entrust this charge to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophetic
words once spoken about you. Through them may you fight a good fight 19 by having faith and a good conscience.
Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith, 20 among them Hymenaeus and Alexander,
whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
The "prophetic words" spoken about Timothy may refer to a prophetic revelation during his ordination associated with his gift of preaching and leadership. Paul makes a similar reference in 4:14 where he writes: Do not neglect the gift you have, which conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.
Through them may you fight a good fight 19 by having faith and a good conscience.
Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith...
The Greek word syneidesis refers to one's moral
consciousness that is the hidden, interior law God placed on the heart of every
human to do good and avoid evil (see Rom 2:15). Paul uses the word six times
in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 1:5, 19; 3:9; 4:2; 2 Tim 1:3; Titus 1:15), and
it appears 24 times in the other books and letters of the New Testament. The
more we make good, righteous choices, the more we strengthen our moral
conscience. However, when we continue to sin, we can weaken our moral
conscience to the point that it can no longer easily discern what is right from
the wrong. Paul wrote to St. Titus: To the clean all things are clean, but
to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean; in fact, both their
minds and their consciences are tainted (Titus 1:15).
Hymenaeus and Alexander appear to be the leaders of the false teachers in the community. Their false teaching is such a danger to the salvation of the community as a whole that Paul surrenders them to the power of Satan by condemning them to excommunication from the Sacraments and the life and liturgy of the Church. Excommunication is a disciplinary action intended to bring the one in error to repentance and to restore that person to the community. Paul also "delivered a man to Satan" in 1 Corinthians 5:5 "for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord."
Hymenaeus is probably the same false teacher in Ephesus mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17. Alexander may be the same Jewish Christian from Ephesus mentioned in Acts 19:33 and 2 Timothy 4:14-15 who cause Paul "much harm."
Chapter 2: Public Prayer and Women in the Liturgy
This section of Paul's letter concerns prayer in the Liturgy of worship:
1 Timothy 2:1-7 ~ Prayer to God for Civil and
Ecclesial Leaders
1 First of
all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be
offered for everyone, 2 for
kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in
all devotion and dignity. 3 This
is good and pleasing to God our savior, 4 who
wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God.
There is also one mediator between God and the human race,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave
himself as ransom for all.
This was the testimony at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed preacher and
apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in
faith and truth.
In the Liturgy of worship, Paul asks for four forms of intercession:
2 for
kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in
all devotion and dignity.
Question: Paul requests prayers for what two
groups in authority over the Ephesian Christians?
Answer: He requests prayer for the pagan civil
rulers and for the Christian religious authorities.
Since God governs every aspect of human history, even secular rulers exercise authority only because God allows it. Therefore, secular rulers will govern more effectively if we appeal to God for their guidance. Pope St. Clement of Rome (35-99 AD) wrote a prayer concerning secular political authorities in the first century of the Church: "Grant to them, Lord, health, peace, concord, and stability so that they may exercise without offense the sovereignty that you have given them. Master, heavenly King of the ages, you give glory, honor, and power over the things of the earth to the sons of men. Direct, Lord, their counsel, following what is pleasing and acceptable in your sight, so that by exercising with devotion and in peace and gentleness the power that you have given to them, they may find favor with you" (see CCC 1900).
Paul's request for prayers also includes ecclesial leaders. In every age of the Church, our ecclesial leaders should receive every community's prayers for wisdom in leading the faithful and by the good example of their lives that demonstrates the dignity of their office and their devotion to the Lord.
3 This
is good and pleasing to God our savior, 4 who
wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
It is our destiny to come to eternal salvation; it is the
way God created us before Adam's fall from grace. As St. Peter wrote ...he is
patient with you, not wishing that any should perish... (2 Pt 3:9). Paul
uses the Greek verb thelo, "wills," in the sense of an act extended to
all people but conditional on everyone's free will response. Paul uses this
verb more than sixty times. God's "will" to save us depends on the cooperation
of our human will. It is like someone extending his hand to save a person from
drowning. If the person in danger refuses the extended hand of salvation, it
does not change the "will" of the one intent on saving, but it does determine
the fate of the one in peril.
5 For
there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race,
Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who
gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time.
Verses 5-6 may be an early creed recited during the
liturgy of worship, professing the doctrine of monotheism and the unique role
of Jesus within the Godhead of the Trinity (Jn 17:3; 1 Cor 8:6; CCC 200-202).
The phrase: This was the testimony at the proper time may support
this theory. Some Biblical scholars see a relationship to the Jewish Shema,
the Old Covenant profession of faith: Listen, O Israel, Yahweh our God
is the one, the only Yahweh (Dt 6:4 NJB). In the Old Covenant profession,
the faithful unknowingly expressed the threeness of the mystery of the Trinity,
not revealed in the old covenants, by the three times repetition of the divine:
Yahweh, God, Yahweh.
That Jesus is the "one mediator between God and the human race" (verse 5) declares that the gift of eternal salvation is through Jesus and no other. As St. Peter professed at Pentecost, There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved (Acts 2:12, also see Acts 4:12). Moses was the covenant mediator between Israel and God in the Sinai Covenant, but only Jesus has the power to reconcile the world to the Father in the bonds of the New Covenant:
The old Sinai Covenant had the power to convict transgressors of their sins and to offer forgiveness for unintentional sins in the blood sacrifice of animals (Lev 17:11; Num 15:27-31). Jesus has the power to deliver us from all sins defined under the Old Covenant, which the Mosaic sacrifices were incapable of effacing. Until Jesus offered His unblemished sacrifice, humanity could not attain the eternal inheritance promised by God (Heb 9:15, (28). The Incarnation of God the Son bridged the distance that sin caused in the separation between God and humanity that closed the gates of Heaven (CCC 536). Divinity and humanity are now united in the atoning blood sacrifice of God the Son who gave himself as a ransom for all (verse 6), opening the gates of Heaven to those who repent their sins and are justified by the death of the Christ (CCC 1026, 1987-1992).
6 who gave
himself as a ransom for all.
This verse repeats Mark 10:45 when Jesus said, "For
the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for many." Some misinterpret the "all" and the "many" to mean all
people of every human condition are saved through Jesus sacrifice whether they
believe in Him or not. To come to salvation is the destiny for which God
created us. St. Peter wrote that God is not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance (2 Pt 3:9b). While it is true that
Jesus offered up His life as a sacrifice for all sinners, not all sinners will
"come to repentance," confess their sins, and accept His gifts of forgiveness
and eternal salvation.
7 For this
I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying),
teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The Greek word translated "preacher" is keryx,
meaning "herald." A herald served in an official role as a king's diplomatic
messenger. Kings charged their heralds with delivering their message in its
integrity without additions or deletions. Paul testifies that he was anointed as
Christ's herald for this reason (verses 5-6). It is Paul's calling to profess
the belief in the One God and in Jesus Christ, humanity's mediator who came in
human form and died for the sins of all. This message is why God called him as
herald of the Gospel of the King of kings who brings salvation.
Question: Is there a difference between an apostle
and a herald?
Answer: Paul claims that he is both Christ's apostle
("the one sent") and His herald charged with announcing the unaltered truth of Christ's
message of salvation to the world.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
How have false doctrines infiltrated and watered down
Christian teaching? How is the word "tolerance" used against Christians, and
how have certain mortal sins that bar the way to Heaven become morally excused
or acceptable in today's secular society? How does the Catechism define mortal
sin (see CCC 1033, 1452, 1854, 1855-61)?
Becoming a "herald" for Christ is not limited to the pulpit/ambo. How can you become a "herald" for Christ? What are the duties and responsibilities of a Christian herald? There is an eternal benefit for accepting the mission as a "herald" for Christ. However, is there a penalty for altering the message of the King of kings instead of delivering it as Christ intended the transmission of His Gospel message within His Kingdom of the Church and to the world?
Endnotes:
1. A presbyter in the early Church was a member of a
group (usually of priests) who advised a bishop. Together they formed the
presbytery, which, under the leadership of a bishop, was the governing body of
a community. The rank of presbyter was above that of deacons but inferior to bishops.
In some Bible editions, "presbyter" translates as "elder."
2. "Savior" in the Pastoral Epistles:
1 Tim 1:1; 2:3; 4:10;
2 Tim 1:10;
Titus 1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6.
"Savior" in the New Testament Gospels and other Epistles:
Lk 1:47; 2:11; Jn 4:42;
Acts 5:31; 13:23;
Eph 5:23;
Phil 3:20;
2 Pt 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18;
1 Jn 4:14;
Jude 25.
3. Sts Peter and John used the same affection term in 1 Pt 1:14; 1 Jn 2:1, 12, 28; 3:7, 10, 18; 4:4; 5:2, 21.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2018 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism references for this lesson (* indicates Scripture is either quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
1:3-4 CCC 2518*
1:5 CCC 1794
1:8 CCC 1962-68
1:9-10 CCC 1852*
1:10 CCC 2357*
1:15 CCC 545*
1:18-19 CCC 162
2:1-2 CCC 1349, 1900*
2:2 CCC 2240
2:3-4 CCC 2822
2:4 CCC 74, 851, 1058, 1256*, 1261*, 1821
2:5-7 CCC 2634*
2:5 CCC 618, 1544, 2574