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The First Letter to Timothy |
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1. From Paul, an agent of
Jesus Christ by appointment of both our Savior-God and Jesus Christ, our hope; 3. When I set out for Mississippi, I urged you to stay on in Birmingham so you could warn certain people not to spread wrong ideas nor get bogged down in endless programs and reports which generate a lot of discussion but little else for God’s household of faith. The purpose of such a warning is to produce love which springs from a clean heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith. A few of them, having missed the mark entirely, have soared off in high-flown gobbledygook. They want to be doctors of divinity, but they have no understanding of what they’re talking about or what they’re trying to prove. 8. Now we know that hellfire preaching is all right if one treats it as such, realizing that brimstone is not aimed at a truly good man but at the wild and unruly, the anti-religious and sinners, the holy Joes and the nice Nellies, the bombers of men, women and children, the catters, homos, exploiters, liars, fixers and anything else that’s opposed to the wholesome teachings found in our blessed God’s wonderful gospel with which I’m entrusted. 12. I am eternally grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ who cranked me up and considered me fit to be put into service. I used to be a slanderer, a persecutor and an insulter of Christians. But I was pitied, because as a disbeliever I did it without knowing what I was up to. And so the undeserved favor of our Lord just busted loose all over me, along with the faith and love for which Christ Jesus is famous. Timothy, you can bet your last dollar on this: Christ Jesus came into the world to rescue sinners, and I’m the worst one of all. But that’s why I was pitied—that of me, the worst one, Christ Jesus might make Exhibit A of all his incredible goodwill. He used me as a display of what can happen to those who put their trust in him for spiritual life. So all honor and credit for evermore to the Leader of movements, undying, unseen, God alone. May it ever be so. 18. Timothy, my boy, in keeping with earlier predictions about you which enabled you to put up a sure-enough fight, I am entrusting to you this responsibility. Hold on to your faith and keep your conscience clean. Some people, among whom are Henry and Alec, have stifled their conscience and shipwrecked their faith. I let Satan have them, so they might learn not to play fast and loose with God.
1. So in the first place, I recommend that requests, prayers, pleadings and thanksgivings be made for all people, for heads of state and for all who are in positions of authority, so that we might carry on a pleasant and quiet business with all reverence and dignity. This is proper and fitting before our Savior-God, who is anxious for all people to be rescued and to know what the truth really is. For God is one, and there is one connecting link between God and man—the Man Christ Jesus. He sacrificed his own life as the price of setting all men free, a fact that has become clear time and again. I was made a preacher and agent to spread this word, yes, and—believe it or not, but I’m telling the honest truth—a teacher of other races in the Christian faith and truth. 8. I’d like, then, for the men at each place to join in prayer, doing so with clean hands, with no hard feelings or arguments. It’s also my wish that .the women outfit themselves in suitable clothing with modesty and good taste. They should not go in for fancy hairdos and gold ornaments or expensive dresses, but for that which really becomes dedicated Christian women—their gracious ways. Let a woman learn to quietly take a subordinate place. I don’t permit a woman to teach a man or to boss him but to stay in the background. For Adam (man) was put together first, then Eve (woman) - And it was not Adam but Eve who was tricked and became the offender. But she’ll get off the hook by having children, provided, of course, she shows good sense and lives in faith, love and devotion.
1. You can bank on the fact that if a fellow seeks the office of overseer in the church, he has his heart set on an honorable occupation. It’s necessary, therefore, that the overseer be a top-notch man, faithfully married to his wife, level-headed, with a lot of horse sense, polished, one who loves people, open-minded. He should not be an alcoholic, nor a military man, but gentle, non-violent and free from the love of money. He should do a good job running his own household and should show good judgment in keeping his children well in hand. (For if a man doesn’t know how to manage his own home, how shall he take care of God’s family?) He should not be a newcomer, lest he get the bighead and the Devil throw him for a loop. He must also be highly regarded by those outside the church, or the Devil might hook him with some scandal. 8. In the same way, the church’s financial administrators 1 should be conscientious, straight-shooting, not hitting the bottle very often, nor grubbing for money. They should hold onto the secret of the Christian faith without any reservations. Let them first serve a trial period and then if they pan out OK let them have the job. It’s important, too, that their wives be conscientious, not devilish nor flightly, utterly loyal. Financial administrators must be faithfully married to their wives, handling well both their children and entire households. For they who serve well as financial administrators earn a fine reputation for themselves as well as much openness on matters of the Christian faith. 14. I’m writing these things to you in the hope that I’ll be coming your way soon. But if I should be delayed, then you’ll know how people must order their lives in the household of God, which is the Living God’s family, the focal point and repository of the truth. And without doubt the secret of the Good Life is tremendous:
Born in the flesh,
Preached to all races,
1. The Spirit definitely tells us that as time moves on some people will twist Christianity out of shape. They’ll go wild over misguided preachers and the books of distinguished devils. With their consciences branded with a hot iron, they hypocritically preach what isn’t so. They teach that it is wrong to marry, and to eat certain foods which God made for believers and others who have an understanding of the truth to eat with humble gratitude. For all of God’s creation is good, and nothing we gratefully accept is forbidden, since it is made kosher by God’s work and intervention. 6. As you lay these things on the hearts of the brothers you will be a worthy agent of Christ Jesus, nourished on the ideas of the Christian faith and the fine principles which you’ve practiced. But don’t get involved in ridiculous and seedy religious fads. Rather, give yourself a good workout in real religion. Physical fitness is quite valuable, but spiritual fitness is worth more than anything, because it enables one to have life for both the present and the future. Bank on this and don’t hesitate to accept it. This is why we work and sweat, because we have bet our lives on the Living God, who is the rescuer of all peoples, and especially Christians. 11. Stress these things and teach them. Don’t let anybody look down his nose at you jnst because you’re a young man. Instead, you be an example of what church members should be in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in dedication. Till I come, keep up your reading, your counseling, your teaching. Care for the inner spiritual gift which was prophetically bestowed on you when the elders laid their hands on you. Let these things consume you; breathe them, so that it will be clear to everybody that you’re making progress. Keep a tight check on yourself and your teaching. Stay on the ball, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
1. Don’t jump all over an elder; rather, approach him as a father. Approach young men as brothers, elderly women as mothers and young women as sisters—in complete sincerity. 3. Accept responsibility for widows who are clearly dependent. If a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn to exercise religion first at home and meet the needs of the elder members of the family, for this is what God expects. But a truly dependent widow who is alone pins her hopes on God and lives by asking and praying to him night and day. On the other hand, the widow that’s revving it up, though she’s living high now, has already died off. So insist on these things, that they may be above reproach. Too, if someone does not provide for his own relatives and especially his own family, he has denied the Christian faith and is really worse than a non-Christian. Now to get a pension from the church a widow must be at least sixty years old, undivorced, with a good reputation. You should know whether she reared her children well, if she was hospitable, if she put herself at the disposal of the church, if she befriended people in trouble, if she did all the good she could in every way. But turn down young widows. For when they get too hot for Christian restraint, their desire is to mate. Then they feel guilty for having broken their original commitment. But on top of this they learn to be loafers, flitting around to people’s houses, not only loafing but babbling and carrying on like mad, never discussing anything important. So I recommend that the young widows get married, have children, keep house and not give someone opposed to us any grounds for ridiculing us. For already some have gone trekking off after Satan. 16. If a church member has widows in the family, let him provide for them and not burden the church, so it can provide for widows who are truly dependent. 17. Spiritual leaders who perform their duties well should be eligible for a double allotment, particularly those who make real sacrifices to preach and teach. For the Bible says, "Don’t put a muzzle on a mule that’s plowing corn," and, "A worker is entitled to his wages." 19. Don’t entertain a charge against a spiritual leader unless there are two or three witnesses to back it up. 20. Openly rebuke those who make sin a habit, so as to put the fear of God into the rest. 21. I hereby call on you, in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels, to uphold these things with an unprejudiced mind and show no favoritism whatsoever. Don’t embrace a fellow too quickly, nor be a partner with others in their sins; keep yourself clean. You may stop being a teetotaler, but use only a little wine to settle your stomach and for your serious illnesses.
1. Let all who are laborers consider their bosses as worthy of the utmost respect so that God’s name and Christian principles might not be smeared. Nor should workers whose bosses are church members and loved ones have hatred for them, since they are brothers. Rather, they should work all the harder, because the beneficiaries of a job well done are fellow church members and loved ones. Keep on teaching and counseling these things. 3. If anybody contradicts and does not consent to the sound principles laid down by our Lord Jesus Christ and to the well-tested precepts he gave, that man is a puffed up blowhard. He not only doesn’t know the score, but he is cracked on side issues and controversial matters which give rise to hard feelings, breakups, smears and malicious suspicions. This is the kind of running off at the mouth that men do when their mind is festered and they’ve robbed the truth of all meaning. They’re counting on getting well off on religion. The religion that produces inner satisfaction really is something to get well on. For we brought nothing into the world, and we surely can’t take anything out of it. We have enough food and clothing, and with these we shall be content. You know, when people make money their goal they fall head over heels into confusion and into a bear trap and into all kinds of senseless and harmful cravings which shove them down into ruin and destruction. For the root of everything wicked is money-addiction. And some folks, in forming the habit, have ceased to be Christians and have hanged themselves with a peck of troubles. 11. But you, God’s man, turn your back on all that. Set your heart on justice, honest religion, faith, love, steadiness, unswerving loyalty. Put all you’ve got into the faith’s noble struggle. Stand on tiptoe to get the spiritual life into which you were invited and which you so nobly accepted in front of many others who had done the same thing. Before the God who makes all things alive and before Christ Jesus who made the Great Acceptance in front of Governor Pontius Pilate, I plead with you to keep the new commandment untainted and without compromise until our Lord Jesus Christ shows up. This will be made clear at his own convenience by the wonderful and only ruler, the President of presidents and the Governor of governors, who alone is deathless, whose home is blinding light, at which no human being has ever been able to look or ever will. To him be eternal respect and rule. May it ever be so. 17. Plead with the worldly rich not to be conceited nor to rest any weight on the mirage of wealth, but on God who liberally offers us everything needful for our well-being. Plead with them to do good, to be rich in noble deeds, to be sharers, full partners, assembling material for a fine foundation for the future, so that they might hang on to life that’s real. 20. Timothy, guard your directions with your life. Don’t get bogged down in the muddle-headed spoutings and fancy froth parading under the name of "higher learning." Some people have gone for that junk and have really messed up their Christian faith. Best wishes to you all, 1 The word here is "deacon" and refers to those men appointed by the church to be responsible for the physical needs of the members. They were to see that none had too little—or too much! ©1968 by Clarence
Jordan. Used by permission of Koinonia
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