1st Timothy 1:1-2 REASONS FOR WRITING There are certain principles we learn in the scriptures that are fundamental to the passing on of truth from one generation to the next. To wait until death is upon us, who are older, is to deprive the younger people of the benefit of applying and practicing the things we know to be true. At the same time, we can assist them and, if necessary, correct practices and teaching before serious mistakes are accepted as right. The passing on of truth orally begins early in life, and in ancient times, it was repeated so often that it would be understood and repeated word for word while people were still quite young. Now, in a mobile and rapidly changing society, most things are passed on in written form. Care must be taken that individual bias is not substituted for divine truth that comes to us by the inspiration of God. Even writing today has taken on the form of "text messages" that don't use the grammar and punctuation necessary to maintain a pure message.
Paul understood the need to prepare younger men to carry on the work of the Lord after he, the last of the apostles, had gone home to heaven. So, not only did he write down doctrinal truth by the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, but he also gave invaluable personal teaching for Timothy and Titus in the pastoral epistles. By sending them to different places to pass on what he taught them, he gave them the opportunity to make what he taught, real to them personally. He gave them instructions and then presented both men with suitable venues to practice the truths he had taught them orally. Even further, he put in written words those same truths so they could go back and make sure the work in which they were involved was being carried out in the way our Lord intended. It is a great blessing when those who are older commit themselves to instructing and guiding those who follow them and reach out to the people of the next generation or two.
We may not realize at the time that we model our values and demonstrate those things that are important to us, to our own children and grandchildren, without being conscious of that fact. Our spiritual children pick up certain impressions and/or actions that we have and repeat them. Phrases we use when we preach and pray, using our hands, facial expressions, and body language, are often caught and practiced by those who come after us. Timothy learned "unfeigned faith" from his mother and grandmother. He learned from Paul the natural care for the Lord's people that Paul had demonstrated. He learned daily, as he listened to Paul's preaching and teaching, how to transmit truth in understandable ways and apply those truths to suit the local needs.
Timothy and Titus were not "pastors" in the sense of being designated and paid by a local congregation of believers for "services rendered." Still, they were given "good work" to fulfill in the assemblies to which they ministered as they went from place to place. Men who lived in each area and were part of that local fellowship would learn from them the responsibilities that were theirs as those who were "raised up" by the Holy Spirit to take leadership among God's people. Paul had given Timothy and Titus authority to do things that were apostolic work. Titus designated elders in the assemblies in Crete. Timothy instructed those who were already elders in Ephesus. Paul would have been confident and probably comforted by these two men's real desire to strengthen the believers in those assemblies in the evil days that were upon them. They would also be able to protect and defend them from the false teachers seeking to come among them and turn them aside from apostolic teaching.
Willing learners soon gain the experience needed to establish credibility among the companies of gathered- out saints. Fellow workers are very important, and younger men raised up by God bless the people of God as the older workers are called home to heaven. Spirituality and devotedness give weight to those who carry on the work that older men have built up. Moses had Joshua. Our Lord Jesus Christ had "the twelve," and Paul had those he could trust to be faithful to the word of God and the people of God. Every succeeding generation needs people willing and able to lead the saints because the truth of God is indelibly imprinted on their hearts.
Timothy was to preserve the doctrines of the Christian faith by teaching "sound doctrine" so that men of sound mind and sound words would pass on that sound doctrine with sound speech so that those men would be sound in the faith. That is what "the man of God" was to do to ensure the continuation of the work of God. He was to teach sound doctrine and be a living example of how those who have made "sound doctrine" their own should live. Some false teachers had come, and others would come, whom Satan would use to turn the people of God away from the "faith that is in Christ Jesus." Such people often teach one thing and live another. We must know and practice sound doctrine before teaching and defending it properly. It is our responsibility to hold on to the truths of God and avoid any teaching that would undermine or demean any of the doctrines of the faith.
Some of those fundamental doctrines that are being attacked and challenged today include the verbal inspiration of the scriptures. Some say the Bible contains the truth but is open to private interpretation, and they suit the words to their own preconceived ideas. The doctrine of the Trinity is not easily understood by the finite minds of frail mortal men, so some do not accept what they cannot easily explain in their frame of reference. The deity, humanity, and eternal Sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ are not taught by those who consider Him to be only a good man with good teaching. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every believer is rejected, even by some evangelical groups. The literal, physical resurrection of Christ is also denied by those who cannot conceive of life after death. Salvation by grace alone, following repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, has been challenged and refused almost from the beginning of the age by those who believe in a "works" salvation earned by good living and good intentions. The fact of hell and the lake of fire relating to the doctrine of eternal punishment are rejected by many denominations of so-called Christians. The resurrection of the just and unjust, the imminent return of the Lord for the church, and many other fundamental doctrines are being rejected now, even as some were rejected in the early church.
Doctrine is a weighty saying that regulates moral conduct in life [Deut. 32:1-4]. It is also taught by precept, vocal instruction, and example as in Proverbs 4:1-4. In 1st Timothy 4:11-16, doctrine is taught by public presentation of truth in the gatherings of people. He was to teach nothing but God's truth because that brings lasting results. In Titus 1:9-2:1, doctrine is instruction in biblical truth by public speaking and illustration. That ministry produces love out of a pure heart when sound doctrine is taught. This is God's kind of love, and we can practice it with the power of the Holy Spirit. Sound doctrinal teaching also leads to a good conscience free of unconfessed sin. When practiced experimentally, wrongs are made right, and the one who follows sound doctrine aims to please our Lord in everything that is done. It also produces "unfeigned faith" that is true faith without hypocrisy. Such faith is our own faith, not just copying that of others. We learn from others but make that faith our own.
Biblical Christianity is being challenged and attacked from many directions today. Not all come from without. There are those found among us sometimes who follow the same pattern of undermining practices that have been part of the church since the beginning, and were challenging the church at Ephesus when Timothy was sent there by Paul. The instructions given by Paul are directed first to Timothy to practice himself and then to pass on to the saints at Ephesus. From them, it is passed on to us for "our learning and admonition." Unless truth is personal, convicting, and solid in the heart of one who ministers to the Lord's people, it will produce very little change and commitment needed to maintain our assembly testimony. "God my Savior," "godliness," "sound," and "man of God" are repeated more in these epistles than anywhere else in scripture because these truths must be mine before I am able or qualified to pass on to others what they truly mean.