The two Epistles to Timothy were written while the church was in degradation. These two Epistles stress that we need to know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul says, “If I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” Timothy needed a word from Paul regarding this matter at a time of the church’s degradation. Because there is a situation of confusion and division in the church today, we too need to know how to conduct ourselves in the church.
In this chapter we will focus on four important terms found in these two Epistles. First Timothy 1:4 mentions the first term, God’s economy. Then 3:15 uses the expression the pillar and base of the truth. Truth is the second important term in these two Epistles (2:4, 7; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18, 25; 3:7-8; 4:4). The third important term is godliness. First Timothy 3:16 says, “Great is the mystery of godliness.” In these two books the word godliness is used nine times (2:2; 3:16; 4:7-8; 6:3, 5-6, 11; 2 Tim. 3:5), and the word godly is used twice (1 Tim. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:12). The fourth important term that we will consider is healthy teaching (1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3) or healthy words (1 Tim. 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13).
First Timothy 1:3-11 reveals that there were different teachings in the church even in the first century while the apostle Paul was still on the earth. Paul and the other apostles who were one with him all taught one thing—God’s economy (v. 4). God’s economy was the teaching of the gospel (v. 11). The main teaching that was different from the teaching of God’s economy was the teaching of the law. Verse 7 mentions “teachers of the law.” The teaching of the law was not unscriptural; it was very scriptural, for the law was given by God through Moses and was taught for fifteen centuries by many Old Testament teachers. However, in the New Testament to teach the law is to teach something different from the teaching of the gospel, the teaching of God’s economy. Therefore, Paul said to Timothy in verse 3, “Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things.”
There is a debate among Christian leaders today concerning the matter of different ministries. Some accuse us of not accepting others’ ministries. This is not true. We first need to learn what the ministry is according to the Word of God. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers are gifted persons with different functions. However, they do not have different ministries. The different functions are not different ministries, for verse 12 mentions “the work of the ministry.” These verses indicate that although there are different gifts and functions, there is only one work and one ministry. Thus, according to the New Testament, there is only one ministry; there are not many ministries. It is not scriptural to say, “You have your ministry, and I have my ministry.” In the early church the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers all had one ministry.