Outlines of 1 Timothy for Bible study

Lesson-2

1. The Pattern of Grace    Verses 12-17

 

It Provides a Proto-type

•      Vs. 16   Phillips: “It was a kind of demonstration of the extent of Christ's patience towards the worst of men, to serve as an example to all who in the future should trust him for eternal life.”

•      Demonstrate: A representative symbol

•      Paul’s conversion is a proto-type of God’s grace at work in our lives

 

It Begins with a Plan

•      Vs. 12  “I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry”

•      Appointing me to the ministry

•      Strengthened me

–    ESV: “I thank him who has given me strength”

–    Word for dynamo and dynamite

•      Because he considered me faithful

–    i.e. He foreordered that I would be faithful, not because I had been faithful

 

It Changes a Past

•       Vs. 13  “One who was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. Since it was out of ignorance that I had acted in unbelief, I received mercy”

•       Blasphemer

–    Acts 26:9 & 11, NLT  "I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth…    Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ.”

•       Persecutor

–    Acts 8:3,NIV  “But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.”

 

•      Arrogant man

–    A bully who throws his weight around, enjoying humiliating others

•      Vs. 13  “…Since it was out of ignorance that I had acted in unbelief, I received mercy”

–    He didn’t knowingly reject Christ. Paul didn’t know that Christ was who He claimed to be.

–    Yet Paul was still responsible and needed mercy

–    But Paul wasn’t hardened beyond mercy

–    Because of the greatness of his sin, Paul marveled at the mercy he received

 

It Involves a Power

•      Vs. 14  “And the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

•      Overflowed: super-abounded

 

It is Based on a Principle

•      Vs. 15  “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance:     

•      ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them.”

•      Philips: "Christ Jesus entered the world to rescue sinners"

 

 

It Results in Praise

•      Vs. 17   “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

•      King Eternal: King of all ages

•      Immortal: Beyond the ravages of death & decay

•      Invisible: Beyond human discovery or control

•      Only God: Unique in his being

 

2. The Perpetual Nature of Spiritual Warfare   Verses 18-19

 

It’s an Ongoing War

•      Vs. 18  “Timothy, my child, I am giving you this instruction… that by them you may strongly engage in battle...”

•      KJV “War a good warfare”

•      An entire military campaign, not a single battle

•      Weymouth:  “Continually fighting the good fight”

•      “This instruction” – a command, a charge, an order

 

It is Part of God’s Plan

•      Vs. 18-19  “Timothy, my child, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may strongly engage in battle...”

•      The supernatural and specific direction from God for your life

–    “In keeping with the prophecies previously made about you”

 

It Requires God

•      Vs. 18-19  “… you may strongly engage in battle, having faith and a good conscience.”

•      Inspired by the prophetic word

•      They come back to strengthen us

–    “By them you may strongly engage in battle”

•      Literally, “In them, you may…”

•      Connected to God’s Resources by Faith

–    AMP: “Holding fast to faith (that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence) ”

 

•      Unleashed by a Good Conscience

–    Unburdened by guilt, free to focus

–    Not desensitized by hardness

•    1^st Timothy 4:2  “Having their own conscience seared with a hot iron”

 

 

 

3. The Peril of Becoming A Spiritual Shipwreck    Verses 19-20

 

It is the Result of Self-Will

•      Vs. 19-20  “Having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have suffered the shipwreck of their faith.

•      Rejected these

–    i.e. “Faith and a good conscience”

•      Rejected

–    Push away, repudiate, deliberate rejection

–    Philips: “Some, alas, have laid these simple weapons contemptuously aside”

 

Its Consequences are Drastic

•      Vs. 19  “…suffered the shipwreck of their faith.”

•      Shipwreck

–    Literally, “To break a ship to pieces”

–    Today, They crashed and burned

 

 

It Results in Severe Discipline

•      Vs. 20  “…I have delivered them to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.”

•      Delivered to Satan

–    1^st Corinthians 5:5  “Turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.”

 

•      Taught not to blaspheme

–    Taught: to correct through discipline and punishment

–    Hebrews 12:9, 11, NAS95  “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father…?                                                   … All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”