11 Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, according to [the] command of God our Saviour, and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 to Timotheus, [my] true child in faith: grace, mercy, peace, from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 Even as I begged thee to remain in Ephesus, [when I was] going to Macedonia, that thou mightest enjoin some not to teach other doctrines, 4 nor to turn their minds to fables and interminable genealogies, which bring questionings rather than [further] God's dispensation, which [is] in faith.
5 But the end of what is enjoined is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; 6 which [things] some having missed, have turned aside to vain discourse, 7 desiring to be law-teachers, not understanding either what they say or concerning what they [so] strenuously affirm. 8 Now we know that the law [is] good if any one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this, that law has not its application to a righteous person, but to [the] lawless and insubordinate, to [the] impious and sinful, to [the] unholy and profane, to smiters of fathers and smiters of mothers; to murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers; and if any other thing is opposed to sound teaching, 11 according to the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:1-11
Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:1-4
(Read 1 Timothy 1:1-4)
Jesus Christ is a Christian's hope; all our hopes of eternal life are built upon him; and Christ is in us the hope of glory. The apostle seems to have been the means of Timothy's conversion; who served with him in his ministry, as a dutiful son with a loving father. That which raises questions, is not for edifying; that which gives occasion for doubtful disputes, pulls down the church rather than builds it up. Godliness of heart and life can only be kept up and increased, by the exercise of faith in the truths and promises of God, through Jesus Christ.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:5-11
(Read 1 Timothy 1:5-11)
Whatever tends to weaken love to God, or love to the brethren, tends to defeat the end of the commandment. The design of the gospel is answered, when sinners, through repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ, are brought to exercise Christian love. And as believers were righteous persons in God's appointed way, the law was not against them. But unless we are made righteous by faith in Christ, really repenting and forsaking sin, we are yet under the curse of the law, even according to the gospel of the blessed God, and are unfit to share the holy happiness of heaven.