1 Timothy 1:1–2

1:1 The most contested word in the Pastoral Epistles may very well be the first that appears in each book—“Paul.” Nevertheless, we take this reference to the sender of the letter to be authentic (cf. Introduction to the Pastoral Epistles). This is the same Paul who was introduced as the church-persecuting Pharisee in the book of Acts.

Paul calls himself an “apostle of Christ Jesus.” Even though the word translated as apostle can be used with the generic sense of messenger or delegate (e.g., John 13:16; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25), it certainly means more than that here. Apostle refers to a foundational office in the church (Eph. 2:20). It is the term the Gospels give to the special group of disciples sent out by Jesus to proclaim his message. The term refers specifically to the twelve whom Jesus appointed to preach the gospel of the kingdom (e.g., Matt. 10:2; Mark 3:14; Luke 6:13). In the Upper Room Discourse of John’s Gospel, after Judas has already left to betray Jesus, Jesus tells these men of his plans for them after his departure. He promises to send the Holy Spirit to teach them, to bring to their minds everything Jesus has taught them, and to guide them into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13). In other words, Jesus promises a special divine enablement for these men to be the authoritative representatives of Jesus’ teaching and God’s truth.

After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles seek to fill the position vacated by the betrayer Judas. In doing so, the apostles lay down two primary qualifications for anyone who might fill the twelfth slot as apostle: (1) he must have been an eyewitness of Jesus’ resurrection, and (2) he must have been commissioned by Jesus himself to preach the gospel (Acts 1:21: “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us”; cf. Luke 10:1). In Acts 1:26, they ultimately choose Matthias to become the new twelfth apostle. But later in Acts, Jesus himself reappears and commissions Saul of Tarsus. On his way to persecute Christians in Damascus, Saul becomes an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:3–4) and is later commissioned by Jesus to be a “chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Thus Jesus himself appoints Paul to the apostolic office. This is why Paul calls himself an “apostle of Christ Jesus” in 1 Timothy 1:1. He is an authoritative messenger of the gospel and has been commissioned by Christ Jesus himself.

Notice that Paul uses the term “Christ” in connection with Jesus. This is not accidental or without meaning. Christ translates the Greek term christos, which in the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew term for “anointed one,” or Messiah—the long-anticipated Davidic king who would come and take his place as ruler and Savior of the world (cf. LXX 2 Sam. 19:22; 22:51; 23:1; Pss. 2:2; 17:51; 131:17; Dan. 9:25–26). Paul employs Christ as a royal title, indicating that all of the messianic expectation of the OT has been fulfilled in this man Jesus. Paul’s phrase “Christ Jesus,” therefore, is the virtual equivalent of “King Jesus.” And it is this man—King Jesus, the rightful sovereign of the world—who has sent Paul forth as an apostle. To be an “apostle of Christ Jesus” is to be on a mission with a message bearing the authority of Jesus himself.

Paul says that he became an apostle of Christ Jesus “by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope.” This is Paul’s way of making clear that Jesus’ appointment is a divine one. The term translated “God” is theos, which is Paul’s characteristic term for referring to the first person of the Trinity. Indeed, in the very next verse he explicitly calls him “God the Father.” Paul’s language here is obviously pre-Nicene, but it is also thoroughly Trinitarian—at least insofar as it implies something profound about the first two persons of the Godhead. God the Father and Christ Jesus are distinct personalities, yet their “command” of Paul’s apostleship is singular. There is no daylight between Jesus’ will and his Father’s will. Indeed, they share the very same divine will. This is not a Nicene formulation, but the substance of that later development is here. And Paul makes clear that his apostleship derives its origin in the purposes of God himself. There can be no stronger statement of Paul’s authority as an apostle.

“God our Savior” harks back to OT descriptions of God as the Savior of Israel and of his anointed King (e.g., LXX 1 Sam. 10:19; Ps. 24:5). It is a reminder that the saving purposes of God in the OT have now been brought to their apex in the saving work of Christ. “Christ Jesus our hope” reminds Christians that they look to Christ alone as the guarantor of their final salvation—the resurrection of the body. In Paul’s writings, “hope” is not merely wishful thinking (as in, “I hope someone gives me a million dollars”). Paul uses “hope” to refer to a confident expectation that God will fulfill his word in due time (e.g., Rom. 8:24–25). By marking Christ as the substance of hope, Paul shows that the destiny of the believer is bound inexorably to Jesus. Paul also ties the certainty of our resurrection to the certainty of Jesus’ own resurrection, which has been attested by many witnesses, including Paul (1 Cor. 15:3–8).

1:2 Paul addresses this letter to Timothy, his “true child in the faith.” A “true” child is “one who is considered a valid member of a family” (BDAG, s.v. γνήσιος). “Child in the faith” indicates that Paul’s fatherly bond is not a blood relation but a spiritual one. Nevertheless, Paul does not view his familial relation to Timothy as a legal or spiritual fiction but as a genuine bond—one perhaps even more profound than a blood relation.

Luke introduces Timothy in Acts 16:1 as the son of a Jewish woman and a Gentile father. Timothy proved himself to be a faithful servant of Christ as he traveled with and was mentored by Paul. His relationship with Paul became very close, which is why Paul calls him “my legitimate/true son.” Paul did not lead Timothy to faith, but Paul was his spiritual father in the sense that he showed him the ropes of gospel ministry. Timothy went with Paul all over the Roman world, assisting him and preaching the gospel, and eventually Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to lead the church there.

The greetings in 1 and 2 Timothy are identical: “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” The source of grace, mercy, and peace in verse 2 is the same as the source of Paul’s apostleship in verse 1—“God” and “Christ Jesus.” In verse 2, however, the Trinitarian dimensions are accentuated. It is both “God the Father” and “Christ Jesus our Lord” who provide these spiritual blessings. “Father” expresses the first person of the Trinity’s unique relation to the Son, which itself is reflected in the messianic expectation of the OT—that the Messiah would be the son of God (e.g., 2 Sam. 7:14).