1 Timothy 1:5 - Meaning and Application

Here the apostle shows Timothy how to guard against the Jewish teachers, and against others who mixed fables and endless family lists with the gospel. He explains the true purpose of the law, and he also shows the glory of the gospel.

I. He explains the purpose and right use of the law. Its aim is to promote love, for love fulfills the law (Romans 13:10). “The goal of the commandment is love” (Romans 13:8). The main purpose of God’s law is to lead us to love God and one another. Anything that weakens our love for God or for fellow believers works against the law’s true aim.

The gospel, which commands us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us (Matthew 5:44), does not set aside a law whose goal is love. In fact, the gospel strengthens that command. Paul says that even if we had every gift but lacked love, we would be only “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

So those who boasted that they knew the law, but used it only as a cover for stirring up trouble against the gospel, missed the law’s whole purpose. They divided the church and distracted it, while claiming to defend the law. The end of the commandment is love, love from a pure heart, a heart cleansed by faith and freed from corrupt desires.

To keep holy love alive, our hearts must be cleaned of sinful loves. Our love must come from a good conscience, kept clear before God. Those fulfill the purpose of the commandment who are careful to keep a good conscience, out of a real belief in God’s truth, here called a sincere faith. Love has three companions here: a pure heart, where love must live and from which it must rise; a good conscience, which we must guard daily (Acts 24:16); and sincere faith, because true love is without hypocrisy, and the faith that produces it must also be genuine.

Some who claimed to be teachers of the law turned away from this very goal. They set themselves up as disputers, but their arguments became worthless talk. They claimed to teach others, yet they did not understand what they were talking about. If the church is troubled by such people, we should not be surprised, because this has been true from the beginning.

Notice these things. When people, especially ministers, turn away from the great law of love, they will drift into empty argument. When a person loses the main goal, every step after that is off course. Talking that is only noise, especially in religion, is useless for good and often harmful. Yet many people’s religion is made up of little more than empty argument. Those who spend their time in this kind of talk often want to be teachers of others. They desire the office of teaching. It is far too common for men to take the place of ministers when they are deeply ignorant of the very things they claim to teach. They understand neither what they say nor what they confidently affirm.

2. He also explains the right use of the law (1 Timothy 1:8). “The law is good, if one uses it properly.” The Jews used it wrongly, as a tool to split the church and as a cover for their hostile attacks on the gospel of Christ. They even treated it as a way of justification, that is, as a means of being made right with God by keeping it. That is an unlawful use of the law.

We should not therefore throw the law away. We must use it lawfully, especially as a restraint on sin. The misuse some have made of the law does not cancel its usefulness. When a divine command has been abused, we should bring it back to its right use and remove the abuse. The law is still very useful as a rule of life. Though we are not under it as a covenant of works, meaning a system where life is gained by perfect obedience, it still teaches us what sin is and what duty is.

The law was not made for a righteous man, that is, not for one who already keeps it perfectly. If we could keep the law, righteousness would come by the law (Galatians 3:21). But it was made for wicked people, to restrain them, check them, and stop their vice and irreverence. It is God’s grace that changes hearts, but the law’s warnings can still be useful to hold hands still and keep tongues quiet. A righteous man does not need the restraints that the wicked need. At least, the law was not made mainly for the righteous, but for sinners of every kind, whether more serious or less serious (1 Timothy 1:9, 1:10).

In this dark list of sinners, Paul especially names sins against the second part of the law, the duties we owe to our neighbor. He mentions sins against the fifth and sixth commandments, such as those who kill fathers or mothers, and murderers; against the seventh, sexually immoral people and those who practice same-sex sin; against the eighth, kidnappers or slave traders; against the ninth, liars and false swearers. He ends with this: and anything else that is contrary to sound teaching. Some understand this to mean that civil rulers have authority to make laws against such well-known sins and to carry out those laws.

II. He shows the glory and grace of the gospel. Paul’s descriptions are full of meaning, and often each one is worth a whole sentence: here, “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11). From this we learn to call God the blessed God, happy beyond measure in the enjoyment of himself and all his perfect qualities. We also learn to call the gospel the glorious gospel, because that is what it is.

Much of God’s glory appears in creation and providence, but even more appears in the gospel, where it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul saw it as a great honor and a great kindness that this glorious gospel was entrusted to him. That is, he was given the preaching of it, though no man or group of men was given the right to invent it. God alone settled the terms of salvation in the gospel of Christ. But the task of making it known to the world was given to the apostles and ministers.

This teaches us that ministry is a trust, because the gospel was committed to Paul. It is an office of trust as well as power, and trust matters even more. That is why ministers are called stewards (1 Corinthians 4:1). It is also a glorious trust, because the gospel committed to them is glorious. It concerns God’s glory in a very great way. Lord, what a trust has been placed in our hands, and how much grace we need to be found faithful in it.