October 19-October 25

Lessons from Paul’s Letter to Timothy
Wole Okunade Ph.D.
St. Louis, Missouri

The first letter of Paul to Timothy was motivated by a concern for false teaching and lack of good leadership in the Ephesian Church. The church was embroiled by endless, irrelevant, divisive controversies and meaningless talks. False teachers spent time in twisting the truth of the bible, engaging in meaningless discussions and promoting trivial and divisive controversies. Their desire was to make name for themselves. Leaders were greedy and often committed blunders. It was on this basis that Paul gave his fatherly advice to Timothy warning him against the false teachers and giving him advice on how to select good leaders in the church. He reminded Timothy of what is central to our faith. “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners….. those who believe in Him receive eternal life” 1 Tim 1: 15ff. Any teaching besides this is false and must not be entertained!

Paul also gave instructions about worship, true riches and how to treat the elderly, widows and servants. He encouraged Timothy to teach the truths of God’s word and to live by example. “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young, but be an example to the believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity”. (1 Tim 4:12). This is a sound advice not only for Timothy but for every Christian and particularly the young adults. We should be living examples in our words and actions.

To those who look for satisfaction in wealth and material things, Paul has this to say - “godliness with contentment is itself great wealth” (1 Tim 6:6). That sounds like Jesus’ teaching in Luke 12:31-32 and Matthew 6:33. If we must grow spiritually and have personal fulfillment in life, then we must honor God and center our desires on Him and be content with what He is doing in our lives.

The second letter emphasized the centrality of Jesus for salvation and the importance of the Scripture. With the work of the Holy Spirit, the Scripture equips us to be and remain faithful to God in all situations. Timothy was taught the Scriptures right from his childhood and he was reminded not to forget what he was taught particularly by his grandmother and mother. This is a challenge to us parents and grandparents. How much time do we devote to the study of the Scripture? How much time do we spend teaching the Scripture to our children? Remember Proverbs 22:6! We need to make the study of the Scripture a daily practice to gain knowledge and wisdom. Paul says that “All Scripture is “inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work” (2Tim 3:16-17).

To remain grounded in the service for God and to endure difficult days, we need a strong foundation built on our Lord Jesus Christ. As good soldiers of Christ we must not get entangled with the cares of this world. We should pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love and peace and, like Paul, we must not be ashamed to preach the good news and be “willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen” (2Tim 2:10).

[Wole Okunade is a chemistry professor. He currently researches at the center for Human Nutrition, Dept of Internal Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis. Wole serves as a deacon at Mcknight Road Church of Christ where he coordinates the Prayer Ministry and World Bible School Program. He and his beautiful wife Bose are blessed with three wonderful children.]