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Those who deny the deity of Christ will have an insoluble difficulty here, unless they
are prepared to state there are two Gods and two Saviours referred to in this epistle, which
is of course sheer heresy, denying the truth of the Old and New Testaments concerning
one God and one Saviour and `none else'.
Well may E. K. Simpson write concerning the opening verses of I Timothy:
"This is no slender proof of his conviction of the deity of Christ, especially when we
reflect that the statement comes from a monotheist to his finger tips like this Hebrew of
the Hebrews" (The Pastoral Epistles, p.25).
The word `Saviour' would have a contemporary significance when we remember it
was used in the cult of Emperor-worship, being applied to such an infamous character as
Nero. What a contrast! Here, Christ Jesus is both Lord and Hope. Let us never forget
our hope is indissolubly bound up with a Person not a creed, and that Person is the
ever-living Saviour.
This is what gives the word `hope' absolute certainty in the N.T., an element that is
usually lacking in our modern usage. The true believer, grounded in the Lord Jesus
Christ, does not have to speculate about his final end. He knows for certain he is linked
for ever by grace with the One Who said "Because I live, ye shall live also" and He lives,
never to die again, the eternal Saviour and Lord, Who, "being raised from the dead
dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him" (Rom. 6: 9).
Timothy is addressed as gnesios, `true-born', `genuine'. There was nothing spurious
about Timothy or his standing in the faith. He was the recognized representative of the
Apostle. Teeknon, `child', rather than huios, `son', strikes a caressing note and shows the
close and warm relationship between Timothy and his spiritual father. The Apostle
continues:
"As I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia, that thou
mightest charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine, neither to give heed to
fables and endless genealogies, the which minister questionings, rather than a
dispensation of God which is in faith; so do I now" (I Tim. 1: 3-4, R.V.).
The reference to Ephesus need not imply that Paul had recently been there or that
Ephesus was his starting point. Poreuomenos, `when I was going', not A.V. `when I
went', seems to indicate that Timothy was left en route for Ephesus and was charged by
the Apostle to remain there for the reason expressed by the next verse, namely to correct
the false teachers and uphold the truth committed by the Lord. Timothy's sensitive
nature may have shrunk from this, but he was exhorted to take a strong line with the
offenders and maintain the `good deposit' of truth. This was obviously a recognized
body of doctrine, as we have seen in other studies, and related to what the risen Christ
had revealed and committed to Paul as his human vehicle for making it known to the
Christian world. Timothy was to charge certain ones that they were not to teach a
different doctrine. "Charge" parangello, is a strong military term which means literally
`to pass commands from one to another'. Heterodidaskaleo, means `to teach amiss'.