1 Timotius 1:2-4

1:2 to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

Timothy’s Task in Ephesus

1:3 As I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus ¹  to instruct ²  certain people not to spread false teachings, ³  1:4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. ⁴  Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan ⁵  that operates by faith.

1 Timotius 1:13-14

1:13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant ⁶  man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, 1:14 and our Lord’s grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus. ⁷ 

1 Timotius 2:8

2:8 So I want the men ⁸  to pray ⁹  in every place, lifting up holy hands ¹⁰  without anger or dispute.

1 Timotius 2:15

2:15 But she will be delivered through childbearing, ¹¹  if she ¹²  continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

1 Timotius 4:15

4:15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress. ¹³ 

1 Timotius 5:17

5:17 Elders who provide effective leadership ¹⁴  must be counted worthy ¹⁵  of double honor, ¹⁶  especially those who work hard in speaking ¹⁷  and teaching.

[1:3]  ¹ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[1:3]  ² tn This word implies authoritative instruction: “direct, command, give orders” (cf. 1 Tim 4:11; 5:7; 6:13, 17). See BDAG 760 s.v. παραγγέλλω.

[1:3]  ³ tn Grk “to teach other doctrines,” different from apostolic teaching (cf. 1 Tim 6:3).

[1:4]  ⁴ sn Myths and interminable genealogies. These myths were legendary tales characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. See parallels in 1 Tim 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4; and Titus 1:14. They were perhaps built by speculation from the patriarchal narratives in the OT; hence the connection with genealogies and with wanting to be teachers of the law (v. 7).

[1:4]  ⁵ tc A few Western mss (D* latt Ir) read οἰκοδομήν (oikodomhn, “[God’s] edification”) rather than οἰκονομίαν (oikonomian, “[God’s] redemptive plan”), which is read by the earliest and best witnesses.

[1:4]  tn More literally, “the administration of God that is by faith.”

[1:4]  sn God’s redemptive plan. The basic word (οἰκονομία, oikonomia) denotes the work of a household steward or manager or the arrangement under which he works: “household management.” As a theological term it is used of the order or arrangement by which God brings redemption through Christ (God’s “dispensation, plan of salvation” [Eph 1:10; 3:9]) or of human responsibility to pass on the message of that salvation (“stewardship, commission” [1 Cor 9:17; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25]). Here the former is in view (see the summary of God’s plan in 1 Tim 2:3-6; 2 Tim 1:9-10; Titus 3:4-7), and Paul notes the response people must make to God’s arrangement: It is “in faith” or “by faith.”

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Or “violent,” “cruel.”

[1:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “with faith and love in Christ Jesus.”

[2:8]  ⁸ tn The word translated “men” here (ἀνήρ, anhr) refers to adult males, not people in general. Note the command given to “the women” in v. 9.

[2:8]  ⁹ sn To pray. In this verse Paul resumes and concludes the section about prayer begun in 2:1-2. 1 Tim 2:3-7 described God’s concern for all people as the motive for such prayer.

[2:8]  ¹⁰ sn Paul uses a common ancient posture in prayer (lifting up holy hands) as a figure of speech for offering requests from a holy life (without anger or dispute).

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “But she will be preserved through childbearing,” or “But she will be saved in spite of childbearing.” This verse is notoriously difficult to interpret, though there is general agreement about one point: Verse 15 is intended to lessen the impact of vv. 13-14. There are several interpretive possibilities here, though the first three can be readily dismissed (cf. D. Moo, “1 Timothy 2:11-15: Meaning and Significance,” TJ 1 [1980]: 70-73). (1) Christian women will be saved, but only if they bear children. This view is entirely unlikely for it lays a condition on Christian women that goes beyond grace, is unsupported elsewhere in scripture, and is explicitly against Paul’s and Jesus’ teaching on both marriage and salvation (cf. Matt 19:12; 1 Cor 7:8-9, 26-27, 34-35; 1 Tim 5:3-10). (2) Despite the curse, Christian women will be kept safe when bearing children. This view also is unlikely, both because it has little to do with the context and because it is not true to life (especially life in the ancient world with its high infant mortality rate). (3) Despite the sin of Eve and the results to her progeny, she would be saved through the childbirth – that is, through the birth of the Messiah, as promised in the protevangelium (Gen 3:15). This view sees the singular “she” as referring first to Eve and then to all women (note the change from singular to plural in this verse). Further, it works well in the context. However, there are several problems with it: [a] The future tense (σωθήσηται, swqhshtai) is unnatural if referring to the protevangelium or even to the historical fact of the Messiah’s birth; [b] that only women are singled out as recipients of salvation seems odd since the birth of the Messiah was necessary for the salvation of both women and men; [c] as ingenious as this view is, its very ingenuity is its downfall, for it is overly subtle; and [d] the term τεκνογονία (teknogonia) refers to the process of childbirth rather than the product. And since it is the person of the Messiah (the product of the birth) that saves us, the term is unlikely to be used in the sense given it by those who hold this view. There are three other views that have greater plausibility: (4) This may be a somewhat veiled reference to the curse of Gen 3:16 in order to clarify that though the woman led the man into transgression (v. 14b), she will be saved spiritually despite this physical reminder of her sin. The phrase is literally “through childbearing,” but this does not necessarily denote means or instrument here. Instead it may show attendant circumstance (probably with a concessive force): “with, though accompanied by” (cf. BDAG 224 s.v. δία A.3.c; Rom 2:27; 2 Cor 2:4; 1 Tim 4:14). (5) “It is not through active teaching and ruling activities that Christian women will be saved, but through faithfulness to their proper role, exemplified in motherhood” (Moo, 71). In this view τεκνογονία is seen as a synecdoche in which child-rearing and other activities of motherhood are involved. Thus, one evidence (though clearly not an essential evidence) of a woman’s salvation may be seen in her decision to function in this role. (6) The verse may point to some sort of proverbial expression now lost, in which “saved” means “delivered” and in which this deliverance was from some of the devastating effects of the role reversal that took place in Eden. The idea of childbearing, then, is a metonymy of part for the whole that encompasses the woman’s submission again to the leadership of the man, though it has no specific soteriological import (but it certainly would have to do with the outworking of redemption).

[2:15]  ¹² tn There is a shift to the plural here (Grk “if they continue”), but it still refers to the woman in a simple shift from generic singular to generic plural.

[4:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “that your progress may be evident to all.”

[5:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “who lead well.”

[5:17]  ¹⁵ tn Or “deserving.”

[5:17]  ¹⁶ tn Like the similar use of “honor” in v. 3, this phrase
denotes both respect and remuneration: “honor plus honorarium.”

[5:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in preaching”; Grk “in word.”