Bible Commentary / New Testament
1 Timothy
1 Timothy is a pastoral apostolic letter from Paul to Timothy, written to help Timothy stabilize the church in Ephesus by confronting false teaching, restoring proper worship, establishing qualified leadership, protecting gospel truth, and shaping godly conduct in the household of God. From a conservative evangelical…
Literary units
1 Timothy 1:1 - 1 Timothy 1:11
Greeting and charge to oppose false teachers
Paul opens the letter by grounding his apostleship in divine command and affirming Timothy as his true child in the faith. He then states the immediate reason for writing: Timothy must remain in Ephesus to confront certain teachers whose m…
1 Timothy 1:12 - 1 Timothy 1:20
Paul's testimony and the purpose of grace
Paul answers the false teachers of 1:3-11 not with abstraction but with his own history. The man who had been a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent opponent was shown mercy, flooded with grace, and entrusted with ministry. The saying in v.…
1 Timothy 2:1 - 1 Timothy 2:15
Instructions on prayer and conduct in worship
Paul moves from Timothy's charge to preserve sound teaching into concrete instructions for gathered-church life. He first urges expansive prayer for all kinds of people, including rulers, because such prayer accords with God's saving conce…
1 Timothy 3:1 - 1 Timothy 3:13
Qualifications for overseers and deacons
Paul lays down character qualifications for overseers and deacons in the Ephesian church. The opening line approves the desire for oversight, but immediately defines it as a good work rather than a mark of status. What follows is largely a…
1 Timothy 3:14 - 1 Timothy 3:16
The mystery of godliness
Paul explains why he wrote: if his visit is delayed, Timothy must know how people are to behave in God's household. Paul then names that household as the church of the living God and calls it the pillar and support of the truth. The confes…
1 Timothy 4:1 - 1 Timothy 4:5
Warnings about false teaching and asceticism
Paul presents the ban on marriage and certain foods as a foretold mark of latter-times deception, not as a stricter path to holiness. He traces the error to deceiving spirits working through lying teachers with damaged consciences, then an…
1 Timothy 4:6 - 1 Timothy 4:16
A good servant of Christ Jesus
Paul tells Timothy how to answer the teaching rejected in 4:1-5: put these truths before the church, refuse corrupt myths, and train for godliness. The charge then becomes concrete—teach with authority, answer youthful contempt by exemplar…
1 Timothy 5:1 - 1 Timothy 6:2
Instructions for church relationships (widows, elders, slaves)
Paul tells Timothy how to govern a congregation that must act like a rightly ordered household. He is to correct people in ways fitting their age and sex, ensure that widows who are truly alone receive support while families carry their ow…
1 Timothy 6:3 - 1 Timothy 6:10
Godliness, contentment, and the love of money
Paul sets two kinds of gain against each other. In verses 3-5, teachers who depart from the Lord Jesus Christ’s sound words are exposed by their pride, quarrelsome speech, and assumption that godliness can be monetized. In verses 6-8, Paul…
1 Timothy 6:11 - 1 Timothy 6:21
Final charge to Timothy and exhortation to the rich
This closing literary unit contrasts Timothy's vocation and the conduct of wealthy believers with the false-teacher mindset of 6:3-10. Paul first addresses Timothy as a