or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogiesIn the early church, there was a tendency among some to become preoccupied with myths and genealogies. These myths likely refer to fanciful stories or legends that were not grounded in the truth of the Gospel. Endless genealogies may have been a reference to Jewish traditions that placed undue emphasis on tracing one's lineage, possibly to establish authority or spiritual superiority. This focus detracted from the core message of Christ. In the broader biblical context, Paul warns against such distractions in other letters, such as
Titus 3:9, where he advises avoiding foolish controversies and genealogies. The emphasis on myths and genealogies can be seen as a deviation from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (
2 Corinthians 11:3).
which promote speculation
Speculation here refers to engaging in debates or discussions that do not lead to edification or spiritual growth. Such activities can lead to division and confusion within the church. The speculative nature of these myths and genealogies contrasts with the certainty and clarity of the Gospel message. In1 Corinthians 1:20, Paul challenges the wisdom of the world, which often leads to speculation, by highlighting the wisdom of God revealed in Christ. The focus on speculation can detract from the practical application of faith and the transformative power of the Gospel.
rather than the stewardship of God’s work
The term "stewardship" implies a responsibility to manage or oversee something valuable. In this context, it refers to the proper management and dissemination of God's truth and the Gospel message. The stewardship of God's work involves teaching sound doctrine, living out the faith, and building up the body of Christ. This is a recurring theme in Paul's letters, as seen in1 Corinthians 4:1-2, where he describes himself and others as stewards of the mysteries of God. The focus should be on faithfully carrying out God's work rather than getting sidetracked by irrelevant matters.
which is by faith
Faith is the foundation of the Christian life and the means by which believers receive and live out the Gospel. It is through faith that one becomes a steward of God's work, as faith aligns the believer with God's purposes and empowers them to fulfill their calling.Hebrews 11:6 emphasizes that without faith, it is impossible to please God, highlighting its centrality in the believer's life. Faith is not only the means of salvation but also the guiding principle for living out the Christian life, as seen inGalatians 2:20, where Paul speaks of living by faith in the Son of God.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
PaulThe apostle who authored the letter to Timothy, providing guidance and instruction for church leadership and doctrine.
2.
TimothyA young pastor and protégé of Paul, stationed in Ephesus to oversee the church and combat false teachings.
3.
EphesusThe city where Timothy was ministering, known for its diverse culture and religious practices, including the worship of Artemis.
4.
False TeachersIndividuals in the Ephesian church promoting myths and genealogies, leading believers away from sound doctrine.
5.
The ChurchThe body of believers in Ephesus, who were being influenced by false teachings and needed guidance to remain faithful to the gospel.
Teaching Points
Avoiding DistractionsBelievers should be cautious of teachings that lead to speculation and controversy, focusing instead on the core truths of the gospel.
Stewardship of FaithOur faith should be rooted in the stewardship of God's work, emphasizing practical application and growth in godliness.
Discernment in DoctrineChristians must develop discernment to recognize and reject false teachings that deviate from biblical truth.
Faith Over SpeculationThe Christian life is built on faith and trust in God's revealed word, not on speculative or extrabiblical ideas.
Guarding the ChurchChurch leaders and members alike have a responsibility to protect the community from teachings that could lead to division or confusion.
Lists and Questions
Top 10 Lessons from 1 Timothy 1
How do we reconcile 1 Timothy 1:4’s condemnation of myths and endless genealogies with other parts of scripture that rely heavily on genealogies?
What are endless genealogies?
What is the Merovingian Dynasty?
Why do Mormons practice genealogy?(4)
Neither give heed to fables.--These fables ware, no doubt, purely Rabbinical. It was said in the Jewish schools that an oral Law had been given on Sinai, and that this Law, a succession of teachers, from the time of Moses, had handed down. This "Law that is upon the lip," as it was termed, was further illustrated and enlarged by the sayings and comments of the more famous Jewish Rabbis, and in the time of our Lord constituted a supplement to the written Law in the Pentateuch. For centuries this supplementary code was preserved by memory or in secret rolls, and doubtless was constantly receiving additions. It contained, along with many wild and improbable legendary histories, some wise teachings. This strange collection of tradition and comment was committed to writing in the second century by Rabbi Jehuda, under the general name of the Mishna, or repetition (of the Law). Round this compilation a complement of discussions (the Gemara) was gradually formed, and was completed at Babylon somewhere about the end of the fifth century of our era. These works--the Mishna and the Gemara, together with a second Gemara, formed somewhat earlier in Palestine--are generally known as the Talmud. The influence of some of these traditions is alluded to by our Lord (
Matthew 15:3).
Endless genealogies.--Genealogies in their proper sense, as found in the Book of the Pentateuch, and to which wild allegorical interpretations had been assigned. Such purely fanciful meanings had been already developed by Philo, whose religious writings were becoming at this time known and popular in many of the Jewish schools. Such teaching, if allowed in the Christian churches, St. Paul saw would effectually put a stop to the growth of Gentile Christendom. It would inculcate an undue and exaggerated, and, for the ordinary Gentile convert, an impossible reverence for Jewish forms and ceremonies; it would separate the Jewish and Gentile converts into two classes--placing the favoured Jew in an altogether different position from the outcast Gentile.
In the Gentile churches founded by the Apostles, for some years a life and death struggle went on between the pupils of St. Paul and his fellow Apostles and the disciples of the Rabbinical schools. In these earnest warnings of his Pastoral Epistles the great Apostle of Gentile Christianity shows us, how clearly he foresaw that if these Jewish fables and the comments of the older Jewish teachers were allowed to enter into the training of the new-formed congregations, the Church of Christ would shrink, in no long space of time, into the narrow and exclusive limits of a Jewish sect. "Judaism," writes the anonymous author ofPaul of Tarsus,"was the cradle of Christianity, and Judaism very nearly became its grave."
Which minister questions.--Disputings, questions of mere controversy, inquiries, which could not possibly have any bearing on practical life.
Rather than godly edifying which is in faith.--The rendering of the reading in the more ancient authorities would be:rather than the dispensationof God which is in faith; or, in other words, the introduction into Church teaching of these Jewish myths--these traditions of the elders, these fanciful genealogies--would be much more likely to produce bitter and profitless controversy than to minister to God's scheme of salvation, designed by God, and proclaimed by His Apostles.
So do.--The Apostle, in1Timothy 1:3, begins this sentence of earnest exhortation, but in his fervour forgets to conclude it. The closing words would naturally come in here: "For remember how I besought thee when I left thee behind at Ephesus, when I went on to Macedonia, to discourage and firmly repress all vain teaching, which only leads to useless controversy,so I do now;" or, so I repeat to you now. (This is better and more forcible than the words supplied in the English version: "so do.")
Verse 4. -
To give for
give, A.V.;
the which for
which, A.V.;
questionings for
questions, A.V.;
a dispensation of God for
godly edifying, A.V. and T.R. (
οἰκονομίαν Θεοῦ for
οἰκοδομίαν Θεοῦ);
so do I now for
so do, A.V.
Fables (see
1 Timothy 4:7). If the spirit which gave birth to the fables of the Talmud was already at work among the Jews, we have a ready explanation of the phrase. And that they were Jewish fables (not later Gnostic delusions) is proved by the parallel passage in
Titus 1:14, "Not giving heed to Jewish fables." The prevalence of sorcery among the Jews at this time is a further instance of their inclination to fable (see
Acts 8:9;
Acts 13:6;
Acts 19:13).
Endless genealogies. What was the particular abuse of genealogies which St. Paul here condemns we have not sufficient historical knowledge to enable us to decide. But that they were Jewish forms of "vain talking," and not Gnostic, and related to human pedigrees, not to "emanations of eons," may be concluded from the connection in which they are mentioned in
Titus 3:9, and from the invariable meaning of the word
γενεαλογία itself. It is true that Irenaeus ('Contr. Haer.,' lib. 1.) applies this passage to the Valentinians and their succession of eons (Bythus, Nous, Logos, Anthropus, etc. - in all thirty, male and female); and so does Tertullian, who speaks of the seeds of the Gnostic heresies as already budding in St. Paul's days ('Advers Valentin.,' cap 3. and elsewhere), and Grotius supports thin explanation ('Comment.,'
1 Timothy 1:4). But it was very natural that Irenaeus and Tertullian, living when the heresies of Valentinus, Marcion, and others were at their height, should so accommodate St. Paul's words - which is all that Irenaeus does. On the other band, neither Irenaeus nor Tertullian shows that
γενεαλογία was a word applied to the emanations of the eons in the Gnostic vocabulary. The genealogies, then, were Jewish pedigrees, either used
literally to exalt individuals as being of priestly or Davidic origin (as the pedigrees of the Desposyni, or later of the princes of the Captivity), or used
cabbalistically, so as to draw fanciful doctrines from the names composing a genealogy, or in some other way which we do not know of (see the writers 'Genealogies of Christ,'
1 Timothy 3. § 2:1; and note C at the end of the volume).
Endless (
ἀπέραντος); found only here in the New Testament and so one of the words peculiar to the pastoral Epistles, but used in the LXX. for "infinite," "immeasurable." It means either "endless," "
interminable," or, "having no useful end or purpose;"
οὐδὲν χρήσιμον (Chrysostom). But the former ("interminable") is the better rendering, and in accordance with its classical use.
Questionings (
ζητήσεις or
ἐκζητήσεις, R.T.). (For
ζητησις, see
John 3:25;
Acts 25:20; and below,
1 Timothy 6:4;
2 Timothy 2:23;
Titus 3:9; and for the kindred
ζήτημα,
Acts 15:2;
Acts 18:15;
Acts 23:29;
Acts 25:19;
Acts 26:3.) The reading
ἐκζήτησις is only found here.
A dispensation of God. This version arises from the Greek
οἰκονομίαν, which is the reading of the R.T. and almost all manuscripts. The T.R.
οἰκοδομίαν ισ thought to be a conjecture of Erasmus, which, from its much easier sense, was taken into the T.R. Taking the reading
οἰκονομίαν, the phrase, "a dispensation of God which is in faith," must mean the gospel as delivered by revelation and received by faith. These fables and genealogies address themselves, the apostle says, to the disputatious, itching curiosity of men's minds, not to their faith. The substance of them is matter of doubtful disputation, not revealed truth. "
The dispensation"
is better English than "
a dispensation."
So do I now; or, as the A.V.,
so do, is the conjectural filling up of the unfinished sentence which began "
as I exhorted thee." But it is much more natural and simple to take ver. 18 as the apodosis, and the intermediate verses as a digression caused by St. Paul's desire to show how exactly the charge was in agreement with the true spirit of the Law of God.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
[or]μηδὲ(mēde)Conjunction
Strong's 3366:And not, not even, neither?nor. From me and de; but not, not even; in a continued negation, nor.devote themselvesπροσέχειν(prosechein)Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 4337:From pros and echo; to hold the mind towards, i.e. Pay attention to, be cautious about, apply oneself to, adhere to.to mythsμύθοις(mythois)Noun - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3454:An idle tale, fable, fanciful story. Perhaps from the same as mueo; a tale, i.e. Fiction.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.endlessἀπεράντοις(aperantois)Adjective - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 562:Unaccomplished, unending, endless. Unfinished, i.e. interminable.genealogies,γενεαλογίαις(genealogiais)Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1076:Genealogy. From the same as genealogeo; tracing by generations, i.e. 'genealogy'.whichαἵτινες(haitines)Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3748:Whosoever, whichsoever, whatsoever.promoteπαρέχουσιν(parechousin)Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 3930:From para and echo; to hold near, i.e. Present, afford, exhibit, furnish occasion.speculationἐκζητήσεις(ekzētēseis)Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 2214:A question, debate, controversy; a seeking, search. From zeteo; a searching, i.e. A dispute or its theme.ratherμᾶλλον(mallon)Adverb
Strong's 3123:More, rather. Neuter of the comparative of the same as malista; more) or rather.thanἢ(ē)Conjunction
Strong's 2228:Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.[the] stewardshipοἰκονομίαν(oikonomian)Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3622:Management of household affairs, stewardship, administration. From oikonomos; administration; specially, a 'economy'.of God’s [work],Θεοῦ(Theou)Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316:A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.which [is]τὴν(tēn)Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.byἐν(en)Preposition
Strong's 1722:In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.faith.πίστει(pistei)Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4102:Faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness.
Links
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NT Letters: 1 Timothy 1:4 Neither to pay attention to myths (1 Tim. 1Ti iTi 1tim i Tm) 
