I am trying to re-memorize 1 Timothy again. I did memorize almost to chapter 4 but never got around to memorize the whole epistle. I am trying to review chapters 1 to 3 then move on to memorize chapters 4 thru 6. Hopefully I will be able to memorize entire 1 Timothy.
I have always found 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy to challenge me as a minister to Christ's church to have a pure life, pure mind, pure motives, and pure preaching of the Word. For this post, I will focus on the first 5 verses of 1 Timothy.
First two verses already show that Jesus Christ is equal with God. And that Jesus is God Himself. Notice two "and"s in the first two verses connecting God and Christ Jesus. In Greek language, "and" ("kai" in Greek) can show parallel, connection, and sameness. For these verses, "and" shows the sameness between God and Christ Jesus. Paul tends to exalt Jesus Christ as God Himself (i.e. Colossians 1).
Paul then informed Timothy the reason he urged Timothy (which Timothy did comply) to stay at Ephesus. The reason is that Timothy may challenge certain persons at Ephesus not to teach any different doctrines and not to devote themselves to myths (possible early signs of Gnosticism) and genealogies (which is very popular with the Jewish people). Why these people should not devote themselves to these things? Because it leads to wild guessings and to more questionings rather than edifying people from the Word.
Then Paul gave the main thrust of the epistle to Timothy, "now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" (KJV). The result of our charge in our sermons should be love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith! We should strive to encourage people to grow in pure heart (Psalm 24:3-5), good conscience (1 John 1:5-10), and real faith that bring forth good works (James 2:17-26). We should apply this verse to our lives first before encouraging believers to grow in these areas. Interesting that result of growing in these 3 areas is having love. Many Evangelicals say "love, love, love, love" is very important while many Fundamentalists say "holy, holy, holy, holy" is very important. This verse debunks both of these. If we want to have a true love, we must grow in pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. There must be balance between love and holiness in our lives.
Edifying Deaf Christians 