The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Timothy — Section 35

iDto hie views and plans, and therefore, we may say, the ideal of an assistant. 3. &dutatum. "Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and ChriRt Jesus our Lord." The insertion of mercy in the salutation is a peculiarity of the Epistles to Timothy. There is invoked grace on him a.q unworthy, mercy on him as ea:pnsed to sufferin,q, peace on him as the result of his being graciously and mercifully dealt with. The Source from which the blessing is invoked is God the Fathr,r. It is to the fatherly feeling in God-that which is highest in his nature, and with which redemption originated-that our appeal is to be made for saving blessings for ourselves and for our friends. In the thought of Christ as the second Source of blessing, Paul finds occasion for the third introduction of the name of Christ. He is thought of as our Lord, i.e. the sovereiun Dispenser of the saving blessings in his Father's house, of which there are enough and to spare. 1. CHARGE DEVOLVED ON TIMOTHY. "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 1 ,,ow." The time of the journey into Macedonia would seem to be after the first imprisonment at Rome, beyond the period included in the Acts of the Apostles. This brings the date of the Epistle well on to the close of the apostle's life. If this is correct, theo Paul's confident anticipation of never again being in Ephesus was not verified. For it is here mentioned as his point of departure for Macedonia. He would have taken Timothy with him ; but there were manifesbtion• in the Church at Ephesus which necessitated him to leave him behind. There were certain persons not otherwist' characterized, who taught a different doctrine, i.e. different from the gospel as preached by Paul. It could not be called a different gospel as in the Galatian Churches; it was rather something taught by itself which tended to frustrate the ends of the gospel It WBll a giving heed to fables and endless genealogies. We come upon inripient Gnosticism here, of which we have already seen traces in the Epistle to the Colossians. This is best known as Es.stem mysticism in contact with Christianity. But there seems reason to believe that there was a prior contact of Eastero mysticism with Judaism in the form of Essenism. This has many elements in common with Gnosticbm; the peculiarity is that it is Jewish materials that are thrown into the my,tic form. A great feature in Gnosticism is the interposing of intermediate agencies, to account for the creation of the world, supposed·to be evil, so that God could not come into immediate contact with it in its creation. What were afterward known as reons or emanations, in the Epistle to the Colossianl! are called angels. Here the intermiuable genealogies found in rabbinical speculations are associated "ith the intermediate agencies. God created a being at a certain remove from himself, with a name which they were in a position to give. This being created another at a further remove from God, who also was named. The object was to come down to the name of one who was bad enough to create the world; but it wu difficult to know where to stop. Upon these genealogies ingenuity was exercised; but, as there was nothing of the element of certainty in them, they only ~istered questionings or disputing& as ~ the names. _W~at_ 'l'i111?th~ was to ~r~ct hie efforts to was to set forth the dispensatum of God which is in faith, 1.e. the D1vme order of things, as seen partly in creation and specially in redemption, in which faith can lay hold on certa;nty. "By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen bath not been made out of things which do appear." By faith also we understand that Infinite Love ha~ in Christ JcsW! provided a full atonement for our sins. IL THE END OF THE CHARGE. "But the end of the charge is love.• The link of connection is the charge to be given by Timothy to the false teachers. The thought which follows is, these teachers missing the aim of what 1, charged on them. We have here, then, not the end aimed at in others, as the end of tl,c physician is health (which is Ellicott'H idea), but plainly the end aimed at in what i., charged on the teacher. The words are suitable to one who is receiving a charge. "W Im.I is the end of what I charge on you?" BILYI the giver of the charge; "it is that you have your bemg filled with love." Thi■ is the qualification of the healer of the body: he mu~t be thoroughly interested in the recovery of hlB patients. So it may be said to be the mai11 qualification of the bealer d: the 10ul: he mlll!t he thoroughly interested in the spiritual health of those OB. L 1-20.] THE FIRKT EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 28