Thoughts on 1 Timothy as 2 Ephesians

Often we take a passage of Scripture or a book in the Bible and whether we have heard it said a dozen times or we have read it all before a dozen times, we pigeonhole the Scriptural passage—i.e., it means this or that.

It’s easy to do. We gravitate to the simplest explanations of things; and if some explanation is offered often enough, then usually that becomes the accepted understanding. That’s okay in most instances. The Scriptures can speak to the simple in simple terms and make them wise.

1 Timothy is like this: it’s a pastoral epistle to Timothy—someone he truly loved—written because Paul was nearing the end of his life. In other words, we are called to witness a private and intimate conversation between spiritual father and spiritual son. And, every time we read that letter that is the framework in which we understand the language there. That understanding works—kind of—but it works better for 2 Timothy, not as well for 1 Timothy.

Granted, it takes a fair amount of discipline to read each passage of Scripture as if you were hearing it, or reading it, for the first time. That’s hard to do, but worth the attempt.

I entitled this post as “1 Timothy as 2 Ephesians.” While no one will likely ever call the letter that. That label is helpful in understanding the text—the letter is more for the Ephesians than it is for Timothy. And I would suggest a comparison with 2 Timothy bears that out.

After the introductory comments, we read, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus . . .” and from there the letter proceeds. Certainly, the letter has much to recommend it in its own right. It can stand alone and give us counsel. 1 Timothy is a tall tree. But while it can stand alone, the letter really shouldn’t. One would do well to see the forest.

Ephesus must have held a special place in Paul’s heart. He had spent 3 years there, significantly more than most places (see Acts 19). His ties were so strong he passed them by for fear the Ephesian believers would delay his journey to Jerusalem (see Acts 20). He wrote them an extraordinary letter—something he did not do for other places he visited and taught. (see Ephesians). And now he sends his own son (that is, his very best) to them to bring them order and light and life.

To be sure, there is instruction to Timothy, but the target, the aim, in view are the Ephesian Christians. Paul knew trouble would come. He warned the Ephesian elders:

You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

. . . .

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

What issue does the letter to Timothy address? Not anything lacking in him. Instead, Paul addresses this:

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 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing 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 departed from these and have 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.

What was Paul’s concern at Miletus? “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” (emphasis added)

Does he reiterate that here in 1 Timothy? He does:

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.  He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.  (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)  He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. (emphasis added).

This criteria may be helpful for Timothy, but it has more application to the Ephesians who needed to distinguish between true shepherds and false shepherds, true sheep and wolves in sheep’s clothing, true servants and false ones. Timothy is simply the hand of Paul guiding a local body he cares very deeply about. What he feared would befall the Ephesians has actually befallen them. While he cannot come (for reasons we know nothing about), he sends his son in the faith to exhort and reprove, teach and preach, and command and rebuke. But above all the aim of Paul’s letter is as he stated: love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith.

That is something Paul has for the Ephesians. He says so in Miletus. He loves Timothy; that’s obvious from the fatherly tone of the letter. But this love is something he wants to see in action among the Ephesians.

Timothy is to lead in love, by example:

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

But they are to follow his example in giving proper recognition to those widows who are really in need, to love and honor the elders who serve amongst them, to be devoted to masters, and to be more considerate of the poor.

In other words, this letter is but one pearl of wisdom we glean from the multiple interactions with Ephesus (and to see it that way, 1 Timothy, as it regularly understood, has to take a back seat). Ephesus and God’s dealings with it is the larger message.

To consider the “Ephesian” message, it’s best to avoid reading 1 Timothy in a vacuum (although you can, without issue or peril). I would suggest starting with Acts 19, then read Ephesians, then 1 Timothy, and finally, Revelation 2:1-7. I would pay particular attention to the bookends, Paul’s concern to the elders in Acts and Risen Jesus’ concern in the second chapter of Revelation. That is a fitting context ti understanding 1 Timothy. Remember the Lord loves the Ephesians. He sent Paul to them, prompted Paul to write, birthed and nurtured the love Paul had for them. Jesus is moving in the hearts of Paul and Timothy for the Ephesians because he died for them and loves them.

Hard to see all that if 1 Timothy is only standing there as an isolated tall tree.