First Timothy 1:1-7

To begin, let's look at the scripture from the New International Version of the Bible:

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

To Timothy my true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm

Commentary

So Paul's first letter to Timothy opens with an assertion of Paul's authority. He is an apostle of Jesus by God's command. His authority comes from a higher source than himself. This assertion of authority was probably not for Timothy's benefit. Timothy was well aware of Paul's authority. It was most likely intended for the Ephesian church and particularly those within the church that might challenge Timothy's methods as handed down by Paul. If they did question him, Timothy could show he was acting under instruction of an apostle. He could even read the letter to the church and he most likely did this. And having apostolic support would make it easier for him to unite this divisive church.

Paul also called Timothy a true son of the faith. It was a title indicative of Timothy's credentials. He had apostolic approval. He had studied under Paul for years. He was known for rightly dividing the truth; for teaching sound doctrine. Timothy was qualified for the leadership post that Paul had left him in and Paul wanted the Ephesian church to know this.

There is also a blessing here for Timothy. In addition to the usual grace and peace of his other letters, Paul also adds mercy. He knew that God's mercy would prove to be a constant need for Timothy as he worked in this troubled church.

Then beginning in vs 3, Paul dives right in to the first controversy. He explains that he had left Timothy in Ephesus to handle the problem of false teachers in the church. Timothy was suppose to command these heretics to cease teaching false doctrine and stop devoting themselves to Jewish myths and far fetched tales centered around obscure genealogical data. It was Paul's view that these things promoted arguments and controversies and interfered with God's true work.

Paul wanted to be clear that Timothy's commands in this regard were not to be punitive. The purpose was not so much to discipline, but to restore the errant individuals to the truth. This had to be done with love, a pure heart and a sincere faith.

Paul also knew that these false teachers had wandered away from the truth and toward meaningless self aggrandisement and self promotion that was of more interest to them than the real work of God. These men wanted to be self styled teachers of the law, but in reality, they were clueless. All the things they taught and all the things they were so sure of were just plain wrong. They had no idea what they were talking about and Timothy was going to have to address this. 

Questions

1. From the introduction to this letter, it seems obvious that Paul was Timothy's spiritual mentor What qualities make for a good spiritual mentor?
2. If you could choose your own mentor, who would that be?
3. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to deal with the false teachers in the church. Instead of concerning themselves with God's work, these teacher liked to delve into more speculative matter. They were distracted by unimportant things and they wanted to distract others. What matters of speculation are distracting Christians in church today?
4. Paul told Timothy to correct the false teachers with loving intentions, a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith. The purpose of the correction was not to discipline, but to restore them to the truth of the faith. What can happen when the goal of correction is punishment rather than redemption?
5. Is there a point at which correction has to become disciplinary or punitive in the church?
6. The false teachers at Ephesus had obviously wandered away from sound doctrine. They were pursuing and speculating on things that didn't matter and they were misleading others. They thought they knew everything, but they actually knew nothing. so...

    First, What is sound doctrine? Give some examples.

    Second, give some examples of false doctrine.