First

Timothy

By

D. Edmond Hiebert

Moody Press

chicago

Copyright ©, 1957, by

The Moody Bible Institute

of Chicago

ISBN: 0-8024-2054-0

Contents

Preface

An Introduction to I Timothy

An Outline of I Timothy

An Interpretation of 1 Timothy

I. The Charge to Timothy Concerning False Teachers, 1:3–20

II. The Instructions Concerning Church Order, 2:1–3:16

III. The Advice to Timothy in View of the Charge, 4:1–6:2

IV. The Concluding Instructions and Exhortations to Timothy, 6:3–21

The Benediction, 6:21b

Bibliography on I Timothy

Preface

This study of I Timothy is intended to present a concise yet precise interpretation of the apostle’s thought in the letter. The reader is urged to keep a copy of the scriptural text open before him. The text quoted is that of the American Standard Version (1901), but the interpretation is based on a study of the original Greek. Technical matters in connection with the language of the original have been kept to a minimum, and Greek words, whenever referred to, have been transliterated into the English.

The material of this slender volume constitutes a verse-by-verse interpretation of I Timothy, but it is not cast into the form of a series of comments on the numbered verses of the scriptural text. In an effort to keep the trend of thought clearly before the reader, an outline of the epistle is inserted into the interpretation and made the guide in the development of the exposition. It is hoped that thus the line of the apostle’s thought will not become lost in a maze of details, a danger not infrequently encountered under the ordinary practice of simply commenting on the verses seriatim.

Limitations of space have prevented an elaboration of the interpretation given. Homiletical applications have of necessity been largely dispensed with. Where different views as to the meaning of the text have been advanced, I have usually simply set down what I consider to be the right interpretation without enumerating all the divergent views on the matter. Such a practice is a favorite with certain commentators but it is a weariness to the flesh for the ordinary reader.

I owe much to others who have labored on this important letter. My indebtedness will be evident from the Bibliography.

An Introduction to I Timothy

The term “the Pastoral Epistles” is used to designate the triad of epistles addressed to Timothy and Titus. Although addressed to individuals, they are not exclusively personal and private communications, like Philemon. They were addressed to men who stood in places of important ecclesiastical responsibility at the time Paul wrote to them. I Timothy and Titus especially have an official character which marks them as being more than personal letters to Paul’s friends. Since the letters are largely concerned with matters of church order and discipline, the term “Pastoral Epistles” is quite appropriate. They occupy a classical position in the Christian church as a guide for the “good soldier” of Jesus Christ in the Christian warfare. ...