Respectability
Day 644, Sunday, May 17
1 Timothy Chapter 1 – 3:13
1 Timothy differs Paul’s writings we have already read in a couple of major ways.
First, it is addressed to an individual, Timothy, rather than to a church. It is in the form of advice to a younger colleague.
Second, many sholars question if it was written by Paul, a question that is also raised about 2 Timothy and Titus. It may have been written by one of his followers, even after his death.
Whether written by Paul or by someone else, it appears to have been written much later than his uncontested letters and has a different tone. While the earliest letters were strongly evangelistic and later letters concerned about active persecution, 1 Timothy chapters 2 and 3 are very concerned about respectability and proper order in worship. There is less expectation of an early return of Christ and more concern about maintaining the church into the future.

Even the references to Jesus seem more distant and formal than in other letters. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” is a lot tamer than many of the ways Paul has referred to Christ’s mission.

1 Timothy 1:10 contains one striking phrase that’s easy to pass over. The author presents a list of the things that evil people do. It’s a pretty typical list compared to ones we have seen before with one exception: “slave traders” are included in the list of sinful people.
While we’ve seen a lot of scriptures advocating treating slaves well and with respect, this is the first time we’ve seen that they Christian church considers slave trading—and, by extension, slavery—as a sin alongside murder, sexual immorality and the like.

Sunday meditation

Psalms 119:145-152
I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord, and I will obey your decrees. I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes. I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws. Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law. Yet you are near, Lord, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.

Prayer focus
Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.