1 Timotius 1:19

1:19 To do this ¹  you must hold firmly to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck in regard to the faith.

1 Timotius 4:12

4:12 Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in your speech, conduct, love, faithfulness, ²  and purity.

1 Timotius 3:9

3:9 holding to the mystery of the faith ³  with a clear conscience.

1 Timotius 1:16

1:16 But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that ⁴  in me as the worst, ⁵  Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.

1 Timotius 3:16

3:16 And we all agree, ⁶  our religion contains amazing revelation: ⁷ 

He ⁸  was revealed in the flesh,

vindicated by the Spirit, ⁹ 

seen by angels,

proclaimed among Gentiles,

believed on in the world,

taken up in glory.

1 Timotius 4:9

4:9 This saying ¹⁰  is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.

1 Timotius 5:8

5:8 But if someone does not provide for his own, ¹¹  especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timotius 3:11

3:11 Likewise also their wives ¹²  must be dignified, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in every respect.

1 Timotius 1:14

1:14 and our Lord’s grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus. ¹³ 

1 Timotius 6:2

6:2 But those who have believing masters must not show them less respect ¹⁴  because they are brothers. Instead they are to serve all the more, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dearly loved. ¹⁵ 

Summary of Timothy’s Duties

Teach them and exhort them about these things. ¹⁶ 

1 Timotius 1:11

1:11 This ¹⁷  accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God ¹⁸  that was entrusted to me. ¹⁹ 

1 Timotius 2:15

2:15 But she will be delivered through childbearing, ²⁰  if she ²¹  continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

1 Timotius 3:13

3:13 For those who have served well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves ²²  and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. ²³ 

1 Timotius 6:11

6:11 But you, as a person dedicated to God, ²⁴  keep away from all that. ²⁵  Instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness.

1 Timotius 1:13

1:13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant ²⁶  man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,

1 Timotius 4:3

4:3 They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

1 Timotius 4:10

4:10 In fact this is why ²⁷  we work hard and struggle, ²⁸  because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, ²⁹  especially of believers.

1 Timotius 6:21

6:21 By professing it, some have strayed from the faith. ³⁰  Grace be with you all. ³¹ 

1 Timotius 1:5

1:5 But the aim of our instruction ³²  is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. ³³ 

1 Timotius 2:7

2:7 For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle – I am telling the truth; ³⁴  I am not lying – and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

1 Timotius 6:12

6:12 Compete well ³⁵  for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession ³⁶  for ³⁷  in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timotius 6:20

Conclusion

6:20 O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid ³⁸  the profane chatter and absurdities ³⁹  of so-called “knowledge.” ⁴⁰ 

1 Timotius 5:16

5:16 If a believing woman ⁴¹  has widows in her family, ⁴²  let her help them. The church should not be burdened, so that it may help the widows who are truly in need. ⁴³ 

1 Timotius 1:4

1:4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. ⁴⁴  Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan ⁴⁵  that operates by faith.

1 Timotius 4:1

Timothy’s Ministry in the Later Times

4:1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves ⁴⁶  with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, ⁴⁷ 

1 Timotius 4:6

4:6 By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, ⁴⁸  you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. ⁴⁹ 

1 Timotius 1:15

1:15 This saying ⁵⁰  is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” – and I am the worst of them! ⁵¹ 

1 Timotius 5:12

5:12 and so incur judgment for breaking their former pledge. ⁵² 

1 Timotius 1:2

1:2 to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

1 Timotius 6:10

6:10 For the love of money is the root ⁵³  of all evils. ⁵⁴  Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.

1 Timotius 3:1

Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons

3:1 This saying ⁵⁵  is trustworthy: “If someone aspires to the office of overseer, ⁵⁶  he desires a good work.”

1 Timotius 1:12

1:12 I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry,

1 Timotius 5:7

5:7 Reinforce ⁵⁷  these commands, ⁵⁸  so that they will be beyond reproach.

1 Timotius 1:18

1:18 I put this charge ⁵⁹  before you, Timothy my child, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you, ⁶⁰  in order that with such encouragement ⁶¹  you may fight the good fight.

1 Timotius 3:6

3:6 He must not be a recent convert or he may become arrogant ⁶²  and fall into the punishment that the devil will exact. ⁶³ 

1 Timotius 3:8

3:8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, ⁶⁴  not two-faced, ⁶⁵  not given to excessive drinking, ⁶⁶  not greedy for gain,

1 Timotius 6:17

6:17 Command those who are rich in this world’s goods ⁶⁷  not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain, ⁶⁸  but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.

1 Timotius 5:10

5:10 and has a reputation for good works: as one who has raised children, ⁶⁹  practiced hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, helped those in distress – as one who has exhibited all kinds of good works. ⁷⁰ 

[1:19]  ¹ tn In Greek this continues the same sentence from v. 18, a participle showing the means by which Timothy will accomplish his task: Grk “fight the good fight, holding firmly…”

[4:12]  ² tn Or “faith.”

[3:9]  ³ sn The mystery of the faith is a reference to the revealed truths of the Christian faith.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “but because of this I was treated with mercy, so that…”

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Grk “in me first,” making the connection with the last phrase of v. 15.

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “confessedly, admittedly, most certainly.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “great is the mystery of [our] religion,” or “great is the mystery of godliness.” The word “mystery” denotes a secret previously hidden in God, but now revealed and made widely known (cf. Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 6:19; Col 1:26-27; 4:3). “Religion” (εὐσέβεια, eusebeia) is a word used frequently in the pastorals with a range of meanings: (1) a certain attitude toward God – “devotion, reverence”; (2) the conduct that befits that attitude – “godliness, piety”; and (3) the whole system of belief and approach to God that forms the basis for such attitude and conduct – “religion, creed.” See BDAG 412-13 s.v.; 2 Tim 3:5; 4 Macc 9:6-7, 29-30; 15:1-3; 17:7. So the following creedal statements are illustrations of the great truths that the church is charged with protecting (v. 15).

[3:16]  ⁸ tc The Byzantine text along with a few other witnesses (א^c A^c C² D² Ψ [88 pc] 1739 1881 Ï vg^ms) read θεός (qeos, “God”) for ὅς (Jos, “who”). Most significant among these witnesses is 1739; the second correctors of some of the other mss tend to conform to the medieval standard, the Byzantine text, and add no independent voice to the discussion. A few mss have ὁ θεός (so 88 pc), a reading that is a correction on the anarthrous θεός. On the other side, the masculine relative pronoun ὅς is strongly supported by א* A* C* F G 33 365 pc Did Epiph. Significantly, D* and virtually the entire Latin tradition read the neuter relative pronoun, ὅ (Jo, “which”), a reading that indirectly supports ὅς since it could not easily have been generated if θεός had been in the text. Thus, externally, there is no question as to what should be considered original: The Alexandrian and Western traditions are decidedly in favor of ὅς. Internally, the evidence is even stronger. What scribe would change θεός to ὅς intentionally? “Who” is not only a theologically pale reading by comparison; it also is much harder (since the relative pronoun has no obvious antecedent, probably the reason for the neuter pronoun of the Western tradition). Intrinsically, the rest of 3:16, beginning with ὅς, appears to form a six-strophed hymn. As such, it is a text that is seemingly incorporated into the letter without syntactical connection. Hence, not only should we not look for an antecedent for ὅς (as is often done by commentators), but the relative pronoun thus is not too hard a reading (or impossible, as Dean Burgon believed). Once the genre is taken into account, the relative pronoun fits neatly into the author’s style (cf. also Col 1:15; Phil 2:6 for other places in which the relative pronoun begins a hymn, as was often the case in poetry of the day). On the other hand, with θεός written as a nomen sacrum, it would have looked very much like the relative pronoun: q-=s vs. os. Thus, it may have been easy to confuse one for the other. This, of course, does not solve which direction the scribes would go, although given their generally high Christology and the bland and ambiguous relative pronoun, it is doubtful that they would have replaced θεός with ὅς. How then should we account for θεός? It appears that sometime after the 2nd century the θεός reading came into existence, either via confusion with ὅς or as an intentional alteration to magnify Christ and clear up the syntax at the same time. Once it got in, this theologically rich reading was easily able to influence all the rest of the mss it came in contact with (including mss already written, such as א A C D). That this reading did not arise until after the 2nd century is evident from the Western reading, ὅ. The neuter relative pronoun is certainly a “correction” of ὅς, conforming the gender to that of the neuter μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”). What is significant in this reading is (1) since virtually all the Western witnesses have either the masculine or neuter relative pronoun, the θεός reading was apparently unknown to them in the 2nd century (when the “Western” text seems to have originated, though its place of origination was most likely in the east); they thus supply strong indirect evidence of ὅς outside of Egypt in the 2nd century; (2) even 2nd century scribes were liable to misunderstand the genre, feeling compelled to alter the masculine relative pronoun because it appeared to them to be too harsh. The evidence, therefore, for ὅς is quite compelling, both externally and internally. As TCGNT 574 notes, “no uncial (in the first hand) earlier than the eighth or ninth century (Ψ) supports θεός; all ancient versions presuppose ὅς or ὅ; and no patristic writer prior to the last third of the fourth century testifies to the reading θεός.” Thus, the cries of certain groups that θεός has to be original must be seen as special pleading in this case. To argue that heretics tampered with the text here is self-defeating, for most of the Western fathers who quoted the verse with the relative pronoun were quite orthodox, strongly affirming the deity of Christ. They would have dearly loved such a reading as θεός. Further, had heretics introduced a variant to θεός, a far more natural choice would have been Χριστός (Cristos, “Christ”) or κύριος (kurios, “Lord”), since the text is self-evidently about Christ, but it is not self-evidently a proclamation of his deity. (See ExSyn 341-42, for a summary discussion on this issue and additional bibliographic references.)

[3:16]  tn Grk “who.”

[3:16]  sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[3:16]  ⁹ tn Or “in spirit.”

[4:9]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the saying.”

[4:9]  sn This saying. The literal phrase “the saying” refers to the preceding citation. See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 2 Tim 2:11; Titus 3:8 for other occurrences of this phrase.

[5:8]  ¹¹ tn That is, “his own relatives.”

[3:11]  ¹² tn Or “also deaconesses.” The Greek word here is γυναῖκας (gunaika") which literally means “women” or “wives.” It is possible that this refers to women who serve as deacons, “deaconesses.” The evidence is as follows: (1) The immediate context refers to deacons; (2) the author mentions nothing about wives in his section on elder qualifications (1 Tim 3:1-7); (3) it would seem strange to have requirements placed on deacons’ wives without corresponding requirements placed on elders’ wives; and (4) elsewhere in the NT, there seems to be room for seeing women in this role (cf. Rom 16:1 and the comments there). The translation “wives” – referring to the wives of the deacons – is probably to be preferred, though, for the following reasons: (1) It would be strange for the author to discuss women deacons right in the middle of the qualifications for male deacons; more naturally they would be addressed by themselves. (2) The author seems to indicate clearly in the next verse that women are not deacons: “Deacons must be husbands of one wife.” (3) Most of the qualifications given for deacons elsewhere do not appear here. Either the author has truncated the requirements for women deacons, or he is not actually referring to women deacons; the latter seems to be the more natural understanding. (4) The principle given in 1 Tim 2:12 appears to be an overarching principle for church life which seems implicitly to limit the role of deacon to men. Nevertheless, a decision in this matter is difficult, and our conclusions must be regarded as tentative.

[1:14]  ¹³ tn Grk “with faith and love in Christ Jesus.”

[6:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “think the less of them”; Grk “despise them,” “look down on them.”

[6:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “those who devote themselves to service are faithful and dearly loved” (referring to slaves who serve them).

[6:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “these things teach and exhort.”

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn A continuation of the preceding idea: Grk “teaching, according to the gospel.” This use of the law is in accord with the gospel entrusted to Paul (cf. Rom 7:7-16; Gal 3:23-26). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:11]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.”

[1:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “with which I was entrusted.” The translation is more in line with contemporary English style.

[2:15]  ²⁰ tn Or “But she will be preserved through childbearing,” or “But she will be saved in spite of childbearing.” This verse is notoriously difficult to interpret, though there is general agreement about one point: Verse 15 is intended to lessen the impact of vv. 13-14. There are several interpretive possibilities here, though the first three can be readily dismissed (cf. D. Moo, “1 Timothy 2:11-15: Meaning and Significance,” TJ 1 [1980]: 70-73). (1) Christian women will be saved, but only if they bear children. This view is entirely unlikely for it lays a condition on Christian women that goes beyond grace, is unsupported elsewhere in scripture, and is explicitly against Paul’s and Jesus’ teaching on both marriage and salvation (cf. Matt 19:12; 1 Cor 7:8-9, 26-27, 34-35; 1 Tim 5:3-10). (2) Despite the curse, Christian women will be kept safe when bearing children. This view also is unlikely, both because it has little to do with the context and because it is not true to life (especially life in the ancient world with its high infant mortality rate). (3) Despite the sin of Eve and the results to her progeny, she would be saved through the childbirth – that is, through the birth of the Messiah, as promised in the protevangelium (Gen 3:15). This view sees the singular “she” as referring first to Eve and then to all women (note the change from singular to plural in this verse). Further, it works well in the context. However, there are several problems with it: [a] The future tense (σωθήσηται, swqhshtai) is unnatural if referring to the protevangelium or even to the historical fact of the Messiah’s birth; [b] that only women are singled out as recipients of salvation seems odd since the birth of the Messiah was necessary for the salvation of both women and men; [c] as ingenious as this view is, its very ingenuity is its downfall, for it is overly subtle; and [d] the term τεκνογονία (teknogonia) refers to the process of childbirth rather than the product. And since it is the person of the Messiah (the product of the birth) that saves us, the term is unlikely to be used in the sense given it by those who hold this view. There are three other views that have greater plausibility: (4) This may be a somewhat veiled reference to the curse of Gen 3:16 in order to clarify that though the woman led the man into transgression (v. 14b), she will be saved spiritually despite this physical reminder of her sin. The phrase is literally “through childbearing,” but this does not necessarily denote means or instrument here. Instead it may show attendant circumstance (probably with a concessive force): “with, though accompanied by” (cf. BDAG 224 s.v. δία A.3.c; Rom 2:27; 2 Cor 2:4; 1 Tim 4:14). (5) “It is not through active teaching and ruling activities that Christian women will be saved, but through faithfulness to their proper role, exemplified in motherhood” (Moo, 71). In this view τεκνογονία is seen as a synecdoche in which child-rearing and other activities of motherhood are involved. Thus, one evidence (though clearly not an essential evidence) of a woman’s salvation may be seen in her decision to function in this role. (6) The verse may point to some sort of proverbial expression now lost, in which “saved” means “delivered” and in which this deliverance was from some of the devastating effects of the role reversal that took place in Eden. The idea of childbearing, then, is a metonymy of part for the whole that encompasses the woman’s submission again to the leadership of the man, though it has no specific soteriological import (but it certainly would have to do with the outworking of redemption).

[2:15]  ²¹ tn There is a shift to the plural here (Grk “if they continue”), but it still refers to the woman in a simple shift from generic singular to generic plural.

[3:13]  ²² sn The statement those who have served well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves is reminiscent of Jesus’ teaching (Matt 20:26-28; Mark 10:43-45) that the one who wishes to be great must be a servant (διάκονος [diakonos], used here of deacons) of all, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (διακονέω [diakonew], as in 1 Tim 3:10, 13).

[3:13]  ²³ sn In the phrase the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the term faith seems to mean “what Christians believe, Christian truth,” rather than personal trust in Christ. So the whole phrase could mean that others will come to place greater confidence in them regarding Christian truth; but the word “confidence” is much more likely to refer to their own boldness to act on the truth of their convictions.

[6:11]  ²⁴ tn Grk “O man of God.”

[6:11]  ²⁵ tn Grk “flee these things.”

[1:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “violent,” “cruel.”

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn Grk “for toward this,” denoting purpose. The conjunction “for” gives confirmation or emphasis to 1 Tim 4:8-9.

[4:10]  ²⁸ tc A number of mss (א² D 0241^vid 1739 1881 Ï latt sy co) read ὀνειδιζόμεθα (oneidizomeqa, “suffer reproach”), while the reading behind the translation (ἀγωνιζόμεθα, agwnizomeqa) is supported by א* A C F G K Ψ 33 1175 al. The reading from the verb ἀγωνίζομαι (agwnizomai) has slightly better external credentials, but this verb is found in the corpus Paulinum five other times, twice in the Pastorals (1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 4:7). The verb ὀνειδίζω (oneidizw) occurs only once in Paul (Rom 15:3), not at all in the Pastorals. In this instance, transcriptional and intrinsic evidence might seem to be opposed to each other. In such cases, the external evidence should be given more weight. With some hesitation, ἀγωνιζόμεθα is preferred.

[4:10]  ²⁹ tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, and is thus translated “people.”

[6:21]  ³⁰ tn Grk “have deviated concerning the faith.”

[6:21]  ³¹ tc Most witnesses (א² D¹ Ψ Ï sy) conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the earliest and best witnesses (א* A D* F G 33 81 1739* 1881 it sa) lack the particle, indicating that the letter concluded with “Grace be with you all.”

[6:21]  tn Grk “with you” (but the Greek pronoun indicates the meaning is plural here).

[1:5]  ³² tn Grk “the instruction,” referring to orthodox Christian teaching and ministry in general, in contrast to that of the false teachers mentioned in 1:3-4.

[1:5]  ³³ tn Grk “love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

[2:7]  ³⁴ tc Most mss (א* D² H 33^vid Ï) have ἐν Χριστῷ (en Cristw) after λέγω (legw) to read “I am telling the truth in Christ,” but this is probably an assimilation to Rom 9:1. Further, the witnesses that lack this phrase are early, important, and well distributed (א² A D* F G P Ψ 6 81 1175 1739 1881 al sy co). It is difficult to explain the shorter reading if it is not original.

[6:12]  ³⁵ tn This phrase literally means “compete in the good competition of the faith,” using words that may refer to a race or to a boxing or wrestling match: “run the good race” or “fight the good fight.” The similar phrase in 1 Tim 1:18 uses a military picture and is more literally “war the good warfare.”

[6:12]  ³⁶ sn At some point in Timothy’s life, he publicly acknowledged Jesus as the resurrected Lord, perhaps either at his baptism or his ordination as a minister of the gospel. With this reminder of the historical moment of his good confession, Timothy is encouraged to remain steadfast in his faith and to finish his life as a minister in the same way it began (see G. W. Knight, Pastoral Epistles [NIGTC], 264-65).

[6:12]  ³⁷ tn Grk “confessed the good confession.”

[6:20]  ³⁸ tn Grk “avoiding.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:20]  ³⁹ tn Or “contradictions.”

[6:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “the falsely named knowledge.”

[5:16]  ⁴¹ tc Most witnesses (D Ψ Ï sy) have πιστὸς ἤ (pisto" h) before πιστή (pisth), with the resultant meaning “if a believing man or woman.” But such looks to be a motivated reading, perhaps to bring some parity to the responsibilities of men and women listed here, and as a way of harmonizing with v. 4. Further, most of the earliest and best witnesses (א A C F G P 048 33 81 1175 1739 1881 co) lack the πιστὸς ἤ, strengthening the preference for the shorter reading.

[5:16]  ⁴² tn Grk “has widows.”

[5:16]  ⁴³ tn Grk “the real widows,” “those who are really widows.”

[1:4]  ⁴⁴ sn Myths and interminable genealogies. These myths were legendary tales characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. See parallels in 1 Tim 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4; and Titus 1:14. They were perhaps built by speculation from the patriarchal narratives in the OT; hence the connection with genealogies and with wanting to be teachers of the law (v. 7).

[1:4]  ⁴⁵ tc A few Western mss (D* latt Ir) read οἰκοδομήν (oikodomhn, “[God’s] edification”) rather than οἰκονομίαν (oikonomian, “[God’s] redemptive plan”), which is read by the earliest and best witnesses.

[1:4]  tn More literally, “the administration of God that is by faith.”

[1:4]  sn God’s redemptive plan. The basic word (οἰκονομία, oikonomia) denotes the work of a household steward or manager or the arrangement under which he works: “household management.” As a theological term it is used of the order or arrangement by which God brings redemption through Christ (God’s “dispensation, plan of salvation” [Eph 1:10; 3:9]) or of human responsibility to pass on the message of that salvation (“stewardship, commission” [1 Cor 9:17; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25]). Here the former is in view (see the summary of God’s plan in 1 Tim 2:3-6; 2 Tim 1:9-10; Titus 3:4-7), and Paul notes the response people must make to God’s arrangement: It is “in faith” or “by faith.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “desert the faith by occupying themselves.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “teachings of demons” (speaking of the source of these doctrines).

[4:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[4:6]  ⁴⁹ sn By pointing out…you have followed. This verse gives a theme statement for what follows in the chapter about Timothy’s ministry. The situation in Ephesus requires him to be a good servant of Christ, and he will do that by sound teaching and by living an exemplary life himself.

[1:15]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “the saying,” referring to the following citation (see 1 Tim 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; Titus 3:8 for other occurrences of this phrase).

[1:15]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “of whom I am the first.”

[5:12]  ⁵² tn Grk “incurring judgment because they reject their first faith.”

[5:12]  sn The pledge refers most likely to a vow not to remarry undertaken when a widow is put on the list (cf. 1 Tim 5:9).

[6:10]  ⁵³ tn This could be taken to mean “a root,” but the phrase “of all evils” clearly makes it definite. This seems to be not entirely true to life (some evils are unrelated to love of money), but it should be read as a case of hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point more strongly).

[6:10]  ⁵⁴ tn Many translations render this “of all kinds of evil,” especially to allow for the translation “a root” along with it. But there is no parallel for taking a construction like this to mean “all kinds of” or “every kind of.” The normal sense is “all evils.”

[3:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “the saying,” referring to the following citation (see 1 Tim 1:15; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; Titus 3:8 for other occurrences of this phrase).

[3:1]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “aspires to oversight.”

[5:7]  ⁵⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[5:7]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “and command these things.”

[1:18]  ⁵⁹ sn This charge refers to the task Paul described to Timothy in vv. 3-7 above.

[1:18]  ⁶⁰ sn The prophecies once spoken about you were apparently spoken at Timothy’s ordination (cf. 1 Tim 4:14) and perhaps spoke of what God would do through him. Thus they can encourage him in his work, as the next clause says.

[1:18]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “that by them you might fight…” (a reference to the prophecies which can encourage him in his work).

[3:6]  ⁶² tn Grk “that he may not become arrogant.”

[3:6]  ⁶³ tn Grk “the judgment of the devil,” which could also mean “the judgment that the devil incurred.” But see 1 Tim 1:20 for examples of the danger Paul seems to have in mind.

[3:8]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “respectable, honorable, of serious demeanor.”

[3:8]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “insincere,” “deceitful”; Grk “speaking double.”

[3:8]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “not devoted to much wine.”

[6:17]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “in the present age.”

[6:17]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “in uncertainty.”

[5:10]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “if she raised children.” The phrase “if she raised children” begins a series of conditional clauses running to the end of the verse. These provide specific examples of her good works (v. 10a).

[5:10]  ⁷⁰ tn Grk “followed after every good work.”