First Epistle To Timothy - Key Themes and Words

Key Themes and Words

The author of this epistle writes to Timothy concerning the organization of the church and Timothy's own leadership within the body. Paul alternates in instructing Timothy personally and the church corporately, yet in both cases his major goal is to call believers to behave with a recognition that they are living within the household of God. Other major themes include the use of The Law (1Timothy 1:7-11), warnings against false doctrine such as Encratism, instructions for prayer (1Timothy 2:1-8), roles of women in the church (1Timothy 2:9-15; see below), and qualifications for leaders of the church (1Timothy 3:1-13), among others.

The structure for the role of women in the Church at Ephesus is laid out as well as a detailed list of qualifications for who can and cannot serve as Elders and Deacons in the church. It is a notably a hotly debated issue in the church as to what Paul meant in this book in regard to the women’s role in the church. What provoked this reversion from Paul’s revelation, in Galatians, that in Christ Jesus there is no male or female, to this banal legalism? Had the women, having been led to expect an imminent end of the world, begun to abandon their “wifely duties”? "Some feel he clearly teaches that women are not to have authority over men in the church structure (1 Timothy 2:12) and that this is why he clearly excludes them from the roles of Elder/Bishop and Deacon in chapter three. People who hold to this stance point out that Paul’s use of the phrase “Husband of one wife” is gender specific and excludes women from that role. They would point out that in the Greek text it literally reads "Man of one woman". "μιασ γυναικοσ ανδρα"(1 Timothy 3:2) However, more liberal scholars debate this, arguing that this is a product of the time in which Paul lived and it is a cultural reference not meant to be eternally binding on the church. Many churches have now embraced the ordination of women based on this modern outlook. The treatment of this issue has also been pointed to as evidence that I Timothy is not Pauline, noting "the freedom granted in the aspostolic age to exercise the gifts of the Spirit, Paul's insistence that in Christ there is neither male nor female, had brought them into quick and widespread public activity." . TNJBC also points out that the reasoning in I Timothy (the fall was Eve's fault) is non-Pauline: “Paul himself prefers to assign blame to Adam (as a counterpart to Christ – see Rom 5:12-21; I Cor 15: 45-49…)”

The treatment of widows, elders, masters, youth, and church members are spelled out; as well as a healthy warning against greed being given to the rich.

Key words and phrases in this book include; “fight the good fight”, “This is a faithful saying”,” let no one despise your youth”, doctrine, elder/bishop, deacon, fables, guard.