March 5, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Joshua and Timothy? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Timothy 1 (NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer……Continue Reading
In this letter from Paul to Timothy we see so many important issues that were facing the people of Ephesus and still facing us all today. False teachings leading people astray and Paul urged Timothy to know the law and to teach it properly to others that they may in turn do the same. If we don’t know our Bible it is much easier to be swayed, we must stand firm on His word. Legalism, Paul tried to show Timothy the fine line between obeying the law and becoming legalistic. We follow the law out of obedience but we must be careful to remember that it is not about what we do but what Christ has done for us that makes us righteous in His sight. Finally, Paul used his lone example to Timothy of the amazing transformations God can make in people when they choose to believe in a God that saves. Paul is still a great example to us today, that it is God’s love, mercy, and grace that meets us where we are regardless of our past and makes us a new creation!
Vs 5. A pure heart that overflows with charity,
from a good conscience
in faith that is not faked,
Now this is the whole law! This is what God wants from his creation!
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15. He knew that the only way that we could be in His presence in Heaven and live with Him eternally was to die in our place on the cross. There was no way possible for us to earn our own salvation. For we are all sinners. Romans 3:23. {For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.} Because of our sinful nature we deserve to die spiritually and physically. Spiritually as separated from God and physical death. Although our souls will live on forever whether in Hell or Heaven. Romans 6:23 {For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.} Two more important verses out of so many. Romans 3:24 {Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.} Romans 3:28 {Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith WITHOUT the deeds of the law.} So, if we think we are not sinners, then we can`t be saved. Or if we think that our goodness can save us, then we are also doomed to Hell. To be saved we must put our complete trust in Jesus Christ alone and what He did on the cross. May the Lord bless.
Because none of us can be everywhere, Paul entrusts Timothy with the Ephesian church to continue his/the Lord’s work there. The Ephesian church was dear to Paul and he had spent much time there during his missionary journeys. But false teachers had crept in (a danger for any church) and they needed to be addressed and corrected. But the goal of these efforts was to be love (1 Timothy 1:5). It seems like they were misusing the law, which Paul knew firsthand how that can happen. Because he too needed to learn of the grace of God and therefore becomes the best person to represent and affirm it’s role in our lives. He then encourages Timothy to follow through on what had been prophesied about him. We all must learn to follow through on what has been put before us by virtue of talents given, or desires we have or circumstances we find ourselves in. It is not enough to just want something to happen, we must fight with the Lord’s help and direction to get it. Might we all fight the battle well for our own souls, the lives of other believers and for the gospel.
1 Timothy 1
”Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.“
I Timothy 1:5, 8-11 NKJV
Love from a pure heart and a good conscience, a simple summary of a life lead by the Spirit. The law is the schoolmaster that trained us, we no longer need it for we are not under law but under grace. Legalism, ironically, binds us in the flesh as we seek to obey in our own power.
”Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.“
Galatians 3:24-25 NKJV
1 Timothy 1
1Timothy 1