A Commentary in Simple English on 1 Timothy

CHAPTER 4

Verses 1-5 The final charge

For the last time Paul tells Timothy what his duty is. This is in verse 2. But first, verse 1 tells us how important this is. Paul is in a Roman prison. Timothy is far away, perhaps in Ephesus. God is on his throne in heaven. Yet Paul and Timothy stand together in front of God. God is great. He is holy. He has a right to our service. When we stand in front of him, we do not think only of those things. He loves us. Our peace and our power come from him. Paul and Timothy also stand together in front of Christ Jesus. God is with Paul, even in his prison in Rome. Paul says these great things about Jesus here:-

1. He will judge both those who are alive and those who are dead. Paul expects to die soon. Some of us may live on until Jesus comes again. He will judge us all. 'Judge' here does not only mean that Jesus will show bad people just how wrong they have been. He will send them to be punished. But ‘Judge’ also means that Jesus will also go through the record of our Christian lives. (See 1 Corinthians 4:2-5.) He will do this to show up everything that is right and good in our lives. Then he will give us our reward.

Jesus gives much the same teaching in Matthew 24:14-23. There, the master gives two of his servants some money to look after (verses 15-17). Then he goes away for a long time. In verse 19, the master has come back. He settles his accounts with his servants. He does not want to find fault with these two servants. He says: 'Well done'. This teaching goes on in Matthew 25:31-40.

2. Then Paul speaks of the 'appearing' or Second Coming of Jesus. He speaks of this again in verse 8. There he speaks of Christians as people who love the appearing of Jesus. So we wait and we hope for the coming of Jesus.

3. Jesus will come back to rule and to be the king. So Paul speaks of 'his kingdom'.

Then in verse 2, Paul tells Timothy what he must do.

1. Timothy must preach the Word. This is the Word of God. It is the Good News about Jesus. It is what Paul has just said in verse 1 about Jesus.

2. Timothy must be ready to preach at any time. There are some times when it seems good for us to preach. There are other times when we feel we should not preach at all. Timothy must always be ready. Then there are three words which set out what makes up this preaching.

a) Timothy is to correct or convince. Sometimes people are wrong in what they think or do, but they are ready to be put right. Timothy is to put such people right.

b) Sometimes people are wrong. Yet they are not at all ready or willing to be put right. Timothy is to 'rebuke' such people. He is to tell them that they are wrong. He must also show them what is right.

c) At other times people are right in what they think and do. Yet they do not get on very quickly. They are not as sure as they might be of the truth. They need someone to get close to them. They need someone to 'encourage' them.

3. Timothy must have all the patience which any good teacher needs. He must not give up too easily or too quickly. Any teacher needs to be careful. There may be nothing wrong with what we say. Yet what we say may make people think something which is not right. We need the help of God's Holy Spirit every time we speak in his Name.

In verse 2, Paul had spoken of good and bad times. Now he says that there will be a time when people will not even listen to the sort of teaching which produces 'healthy', sound Christian lives. Paul gives a picture in which both the teachers and the hearers are wrong. The hearers want teaching which they would no doubt say was 'more spiritual' than Paul's teaching. Yet it does not call on them to do anything. It only reaches their ears. It does not reach the heart or even the mind. God's Word does not just play with our ears. It is about eternal life and glory. The religion of these people is only like a game which children play.

The teachers are wrong too. They tell the people who listen to them just what they want to hear. They have no serious purpose. They do not try to win men and women for Christ. They do not show them how to live so that they will please God. Now it is never easy to show people how to please God. Instead when we teach or preach, we may say what we think our people need to hear. Yet we must not just try to please them or to give them the teaching which they want to hear.

So these people will not listen to the truth (verse 4). They twist or 'wrench' their necks; they turn their heads to listen to 'myths' or foolish stories. Timothy must not be like this (verse 5). He is to be awake to what happens around him. He is not even to try to get away from suffering. He is to win men and women for Christ; he must preach the Good News. And he is to complete all the service for other people which is his duty.

Verses 6-8 What Paul expects now

We shall find in verse 16 that Paul had already been in the law court once. He has to go to court again, and after that he expects that the Romans will kill him. Paul has come to the end of his ministry. This is why Timothy must go on with his work (verse 5).

Paul gives us some pictures in these verses. The first one (verse 6) is a picture of an animal which is an offering to God. Both the Jews and the heathen made an offering of wine when they sacrificed an animal. (See Numbers 15:1-12; 28:7 and 28:24.) The Jews poured out the wine on the ground beside the altar. The heathen poured the wine over the body of the animal on the altar. Paul says then that his life will soon be poured out like this wine. This will complete the offering which he has made to God (Philippians 2:17). We may pray: 'Lord, give me a death like this.' [4.1] Then Paul says that the time of his 'departure', that is, of his death, had come. Now people used the word for 'departure' in more than one way. There are two of these which Paul knew about well.

a) Paul often made journeys by ship. People used this word when a ship left a port. The sailors untied the ropes which tied the ship up in harbour. They pulled up the anchors which held the ship. The ship was ready to sail. So perhaps Paul says here that his life is like a ship in a harbour. Now he is ready to die. The ship will set sail over the sea to a better harbour with God in glory.

b) Then Paul was a tent-maker. People used this word when an army had been living in tents. When the time came the army moved on somewhere else. The soldiers had to take down the tents. They had to be rolled up and packed away. Paul knew all about that. And he says that death will be like that (2 Corinthians 5:1; Isaiah 38:12; 2 Peter 1:13 and 14).

When we go on to verse 7, we have pictures taken from the Greek games. The Christian life is like a race (Hebrews 12:1; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Acts 20:24). Although our Bibles speak of 'the good fight', Paul may not have boxing or wrestling in mind. [4.2] Any man who wanted to enter the sports had to prepare for ten months. At the end of that time he could only take part in the sports if he were good enough. Paul says that he has entered the foot race, and he has run the full distance. The man who ran in the sports had to promise to keep to the rules and to run fairly. So Paul says: 'I have kept the faith.' He has 'kept to the rules' of the Christian life.

In the Greek games, the real prize or reward was the honour which the people gave to the man who won. However, the judge or 'umpire' or 'referee' did give a crown to the winner. It was not a crown made from gold. It was only made from green plants. It would all 'wither' or die. Yet the honour was so great that the winner would look after it with great care. These crowns may have been given after each race. In verse 8, it sounds as though the judge gave them all out right at the end of the games.

So Paul says he has finished the 'foot race'. That means the Christian life. He has kept the promise not to break the rules. Now he waits. The Lord Jesus will give him the reward. It is a crown of honour. It is made, not from green plants, but from 'righteousness'. The Lord is the just 'Umpire' or 'Referee'. He makes no mistakes. (See Matthew 25:23.)

Before we leave this verse, there are a few more things that we must say.

1. In this life, judges are often wrong. Nero was quite wrong when he killed great numbers of Christians. Paul quite expects Nero to send him out from the law court to die. But we must not think that because our judges are sometimes wrong, the Lord Jesus will ever be wrong when he judges.

2. Paul says too that he is not better than other faithful Christians. Paul is not different from them. All will get their reward from the Saviour.

3. Then Paul says that he shares something with all true Christians. They love (not just 'long for') the time when the Lord Jesus will come again.

Verses 9-13 Personal requests

In verse 9, Paul asks Timothy to join him in Rome as soon as he can. (See verse 21.) This probably means that Paul wrote the letter in the month of June. It would take some weeks for the letter to reach Timothy and he had to complete the journey by November. Ships did not leave harbour, even for short journeys, from November to March. Parts of the journey from the east to Rome had to be made by sea.

For Demas (verse 10) see Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 24. This man had been one of Paul's helpers. He should have loved Christ's appearing (verse 9). Instead, he loved this world. (See 1 John 2:15-17.) We do not know why he went to Thessalonica.

Nothing more is known of Crescens, although it is just possible that 'Galatia' here means modern France, not what is now Turkey.

Titus probably went from Nicopolis in Greece to Dalmatia (Titus 3:12). Dalmatia was to the east of Italy in what is now Croatia (verse 11). Luke is the only one of Paul's helpers who is with him in Rome. Mark is the 'John' of Acts 13:13. Paul once felt that Mark had failed badly (Acts 15:37-39). However, later we find Mark with Paul and Luke in Rome (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24). Many people think that in 1 Peter 5:13, 'Babylon' means Rome. So Mark was with Peter in Rome. The early church thought that Mark wrote his 'Gospel' at Rome with Peter. Perhaps it was Mark who carried Peter's letter to the churches in what is now Asia Minor (1 Peter 1: 1 and 2). That may not be so, but Paul and Timothy knew where to find Mark. Paul had forgiven Mark. Mark knew his way around Rome, and he knew some of the Christians in Rome too. He could be a real help to Paul. We do not know whether Mark was willing to go to Rome, where his old friend Peter had not long since been killed by the Romans. Mark may have written his Gospel by this time, and he may have known Jesus in Jerusalem when he was a boy.

Tychicus is another of Paul's friends and workers. He came from Roman Asia (Acts 20:4). He took Paul's letters to the Ephesians and to the Colossians from Rome to Asia (Ephesians 6:2; Colossians 4:7-9). That also means that he took Onesimus with him back from Rome to Philemon at Colosse in Asia. It is likely that Paul did not send Tychicus to Crete (Titus 3:12). Artemas went instead to take the place of Titus. Otherwise Tychicus would not have been in Rome with Paul. Now Tychicus will carry Paul's letter from Rome to Timothy in Ephesus. Tychicus will also take the place of Timothy in Ephesus.

Paul's cloak (verse 13) was a piece of heavy wool cloth. It was a circle in shape. In the middle there was a hole for the head. Paul would wear it in the winter to keep warm. He would also wrap himself up in it to keep warm in the cold winter nights in Rome. The scrolls were probably paper (papyrus). 'Parchment' was more costly than paper. Animal skins were used to make parchment. There are several guesses as to what these scrolls and parchments were. They may have been copies of Scripture. If they were Jewish Scriptures, Paul might bring them out in court to show how much he had used them and how worn they were. Or these scrolls might be something which Paul needed to prove that he was a Roman citizen. Timothy would go through the port of Troas on his journey from the east to Rome.

Verses 14 and 15 Alexander, an enemy of the Good News

Alexander was quite a common name. We do not know whether this is the same Alexander as the one we read about in Acts 19: 33. [4.3] He could be the same Alexander as the one Paul writes about in 1 Timothy 1:20. He may well have become Paul's enemy. These verses could mean that he made charges against Paul to the Romans. That is to say, he was an 'informer'. Or he may well have appeared in Rome as Paul's enemy. Paul says that he spoke many very bad things against him. Paul does not wish to get his own back. He leaves it to God (Psalm 62:12). Timothy is to keep himself away from Alexander. When Paul says that Alexander 'strongly opposed our own message', he probably does not mean the Good News. He means here the arguments which Paul used in the law-court to help his case.

Verses 16-18 Paul's first defence

Paul has already been to the law court once. We have to think of him in a great hall or 'basilica'. He would stand in front of the judge. Paul's enemies would stand all round him; they would make their charges against him. The main part of the hall would be behind Paul. Hundreds of people would crowd into it. Many of them would be people who were interested in the law. Others would just be there to pass the time away.

Now Paul needed friends. They need not be Christians. He needed people to speak to the judge in his favour. He needed people who would be honoured by the judge. Luke was a good friend, but he was not an important enough man to do this. Nero had killed great numbers of Roman Christians not long before this. Now the Christians in Rome were very frightened. So it is no surprise that no one came and stood with Paul to speak for him. Yet it is still sad that no one had the courage to do so. [4.4] Everyone left Paul. Paul prays that God may not charge it against them as a sin.

Verse 17 tells us that although not one friend came forward to speak up for Paul, he knew that he was not alone. Enemies stood round him. Yet Paul knew that the Lord stood at his side. Jesus knew that his followers would sometimes find themselves in law courts. So he gave us special promises for such times. (Matthew 10:19 and 20; Mark 13: 11; Luke 12:11 and 12; Luke 21: 12-15). Of course, if we have done anything wrong, we cannot expect God to keep these promises to us. God kept his promise to Paul. He stood by him. He gave him strength. So Paul spoke God's Word and everyone in the 'basilica' that day heard it. I think that many of the people who listened that day became Christians. They heard this aged Jew, worn out by work, care and travel, who faced death. The Holy Spirit was at work in their hearts that day.

When Paul says that he escaped from the mouth of the lion, he means that the court did not decide what to do with him. He was not set free. He went back to prison to wait for another court hearing.

Then in verse 18, Paul says that there will be more attacks on him by bad men. God will use these attacks to draw Paul to himself. The Romans may kill Paul before long. Yet he will be safe. Even if Paul's head is cut off with an axe or sword, he will be safe. He will go then to God's kingdom in heaven. He will leave behind the kingdom of a bad man, Nero, on earth. The 'glory' which men gave to Nero would soon end. Nero in a year or two would kill himself. Glory is still given to God today. It will be forever. So Paul says, 'To God be the glory into the ages of the ages, Amen.'

Verses 19-22 Last Greetings

Priscilla (or Prisca) and Aquila were good Christian friends of Paul. Jews from Pontus became Christians right at the start of the church (Acts 2:9). Aquila may have been one of them. With Priscilla who was his wife he went to Rome. He had to leave and about AD 50 they met Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:2). They were all three leather workers. We think that they made tents. [4.5] Paul worked with them. In Ephesus they were a great help to Apollos. (Acts 18:18-19 and 26; and 1 Corinthians 16:19). A few years later, they were back in Rome (Romans 16: 3). Now they are back in Ephesus again.

Paul spoke before (1:16-18) about the 'household of Onesiphorus'.

Erastus (verse 20) was a fairly common name. Most people think that the Erastus in Romans 16:23 is another Christian, but that the one here is the same man we read about in Acts 19:22. It seems that there was work for him in the church at Corinth. Trophimus came from Ephesus and he had worked with Paul for about ten years (Acts 20: 21:29). Miletus was a city and port which was only about 50km from Ephesus. It is strange that Paul should have to tell Timothy where Trophimus is. Indeed, but for this chapter, we would not know that Paul had been in Corinth, Troas and Miletus at about this time. We do not know quite how this fits together.

In verse 21, Paul asks Timothy again to come as quickly as he can. (See 1:4 and verse 9.) We can see that Paul wants the company of Timothy even more than warm clothes and his books.

Perhaps Paul did have the comfort of seeing Timothy again. All we know is that the Romans put Timothy in prison (Hebrews 13:23). They set him free again. This may have happened when Nero died. We do not really know who wrote Hebrews. We do not know where the writer was or where he sent it to. So this does not tell us very much.

The people that Paul speaks of in the second half of the verse knew that Paul was writing to Timothy. We do not really know anything about any of the four people that Paul names. Linus may have been the leader of the Christians in Rome after the death of Paul.

The names 'Pudens' and 'Claudia' were common names in those days. [4.6]

We believe that the words of verse 22 are the last words that we have from Paul. His prayer is that the grace of God may be with us. He does not pray for the great power of God. He prays for the grace which forgives our sins. It saves the lost. It is love to those who have no right to it. It is God's grace which will win us at last and bring us to glory.