1 Timothy

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. Paul holds this position by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope.

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

Note"Apostle" translates a Greek word for an envoy: someone sent out with authority to speak for the person who sent him. Paul opens most of his letters by claiming that commission, since his right to the title was contested by some.

2To Timothy, my true son in the faith: may grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

NoteAncient letters opened with the sender's name, then the recipient, then a one word greeting. Paul keeps the standard form but replaces the usual greeting with "Grace, mercy, and peace." Grace means favor given freely to someone who has no claim on it, and peace carries the Hebrew sense of shalom, whole and settled well-being. Timothy was not Paul's child by birth; "my own son in the faith" marks him as Paul's convert and protege.

3When I was leaving for Macedonia, I urged you to stay on in Ephesus. I wanted you there so you could order certain people to stop teaching a different doctrine,

3As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

NoteEphesus was a large port city on the west coast of what is now Turkey, the leading city of the Roman province of Asia, where Paul had worked for about three years. Macedonia was the Roman province covering northern Greece, across the Aegean Sea.

4and to stop giving their attention to made-up stories and endless lists of ancestors. Those things only stir up arguments instead of carrying out God's work, which is done by faith. So stay there and do this.

4Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

NoteLong lists of ancestors were a normal part of Jewish scripture, and teachers of this period spun elaborate stories and calculations out of the names. The complaint in "endless" is that the chains of ancestors, and the speculation built on them, never arrive anywhere. Note also that the Greek words for stewardship (a plan being administered) and for building up differ by a single letter, which is why the King James has "godly edifying" where modern translations have God's work or stewardship.

5The goal of that order is love, love that comes out of a pure heart, a clear conscience, and faith that is not faked.

5Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

NoteIn 1611 "charity" simply meant love, with no special connection to giving money to the poor; the Greek word is agape. "The end of the commandment" means its goal or aim, not its abolition. "Unfeigned" means not put on, not acted.

6Some people have swerved away from these things and turned aside to empty talk.

6From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;

Note"Vain jangling" was ordinary English in 1611 for empty noise or pointless chatter. The Greek word describes talk that leads nowhere, not talk that is loud.

7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or the things they state so confidently.

7Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

Note"The law" here means the law of Moses: the commands and case law in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures. Being a recognized teacher of it carried real social standing.

8Now we know that the law is good, if a person uses it the way it is meant to be used.

8But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

NoteThe Greek contains a wordplay English cannot keep: the law (nomos) is good if a person uses it lawfully (nomimos), that is, in the manner a law is properly used.

9We also know this: the law is not made for the person who does what is right. It is made for those who break the law and refuse to obey, who ignore God and live in sin, who have nothing holy about them and treat sacred things as common, who kill their fathers or mothers, and who murder.

9Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Note"Profane" in older English did not mean swearing. It meant treating as ordinary something that had been set apart for God. "Manslayers" is the 1611 word for murderers. The list runs roughly in the order of the second half of the Ten Commandments: honoring parents, killing, sexual conduct, stealing, false testimony.

10It is made for those who are sexually immoral, for men who have sex with men, for those who steal people and sell them, for liars, for those who lie under oath, and for anything else that goes against sound teaching.

10For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Note"Whoremongers" covers sexual activity outside marriage generally, not prostitution alone. "Them that defile themselves with mankind" translates arsenokoitai, a rare Greek compound built from the words for "male" and "bed"; because the word appears almost nowhere before Paul, the precise conduct it names is disputed. "Menstealers" means kidnappers, in practice the slave traders who seized free people and sold them.

11That sound teaching agrees with the glorious good news of the blessed God, the good news that God entrusted to me.

11According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

12And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave me strength, because he judged me trustworthy and put me into his service.

12And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

Note"Putting me into the ministry" uses a Greek word that means plain service, the sort of work a household servant does. In the first century it did not yet name a clerical profession.

13Before that, I spoke against God, I persecuted, and I was violent. But I was shown mercy, because I acted out of ignorance and unbelief.

13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

NoteA blasphemer is someone who speaks abusively, here against God. "Injurious" in 1611 did not mean merely harmful; it named a person who inflicts harm arrogantly, an overbearing bully who enjoys the damage.

14And the grace of our Lord poured over me in great supply, along with the faith and love that are found in Christ Jesus.

14And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

Note"Exceeding abundant" renders a single Greek verb meaning to overflow past all measure, piling one intensifier on another.

15Here is a saying you can trust, and everyone should accept it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them.

15This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Note"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation" is a set formula. It appears five times across 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, and flags a line the readers already knew and repeated, rather like quoting a well known motto. "Chief" here means first in rank, foremost, rather than leader.

16But this is exactly why I was shown mercy. In me, the worst case of all, Jesus Christ could put his complete patience on display, as an example for those who would later believe in him and receive eternal life.

16Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Note"Longsuffering" is a 1611 compound meaning patience held over a long stretch of time, restraint in the face of provocation. "Pattern" means a sample or prototype, a first case by which later ones are measured. The word translated "first" is the same Greek word rendered "chief" in the previous verse.

17Now to the King who reigns forever, who cannot die and cannot be seen, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

17Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

NoteThe oldest surviving manuscripts read "the only God"; the word "wise" comes from the later copies available to the King James translators. "For ever and ever" is literally "to the ages of the ages," a Greek way of saying time without any end. "Amen" is a Hebrew word carried over untranslated, meaning roughly "so be it" or "this holds," used to endorse what has just been said.

18Timothy, my son, I am placing this charge in your hands. It fits the prophecies that were spoken about you earlier. Let them help you fight the good fight.

18This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

Note"Charge" translates a military term for orders handed down the chain of command, and "war a good warfare" continues the image: a soldier on campaign, not a single duel. The prophecies are words spoken over Timothy by members of the church when he was set apart for this work.

19Hold on to faith and a good conscience. Some people have pushed these aside, and as a result their faith has been wrecked like a ship run aground.

19Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

20Hymenaeus and Alexander are two of them. I have handed them over to Satan, so that they may learn not to speak against God.

20Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

NoteHymenaeus is named again in 2 Timothy 2:17. Alexander was an extremely common name, and whether this is the Alexander mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament cannot be settled. "Delivered unto Satan" is an idiom Paul also uses in 1 Corinthians 5:5. It means putting a person out of the community and back into the world outside it, which he pictures as Satan's ground.