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1 Timoteo 1

VBL · Chapter 1/6

1Esta carta viene de Pablo, un apóstol de Jesucristo designado por la autoridad de Dios, nuestro Salvador, y Cristo Jesús, quien es nuestra esperanza.

2Esta carta la envío a Timoteo. Tú eres mi hijo por causa de tu fe en Dios. Recibe gracia, misericordia y paz de Dios el Padre y de Cristo Jesús, nuestro Señor.

3Cuando iba de camino a Macedonia, te pedí que te quedaras en Éfeso, para que pudieras hablar con los que enseñan falsas ideas y les insistieras en que dejaran de hacerlo.

4Ellos no deberían preocuparse por leyendas ni obsesionarse interminablemente en cuanto a linajes. Tales ideas solo conducen a debates sin sentido, y no a una comprensión de Dios mediante la fe en él.

5La razón por la que insisto en esto es para que podamos tener el amor que nace de un corazón puro, de una conciencia limpia y de la fe sincera en Dios.

6Algunos se han desviado de estas cosas, y han terminado predicando cosas sin sentido.

7Tienen ambición por ser maestros de la ley, pero no tienen idea de lo que dicen ni de lo que anuncian con tanta vehemencia.

8Ahora bien, reconocemos que la ley es buena si las personas la usan de manera adecuada.

9También sabemos que la ley no se instituyó por causa de los que son justos, sino por causa de los que son rebeldes e ignoran la ley. Se aplica a personas que no sirven a Dios, que son pecadoras, que no respetan la santidad de las cosas y que son completamente profanos. Es para los que matan a padres y madres, para los asesinos,

10para los que son sexualmente inmorales, para los homosexuales, para los secuestradores, para los mentirosos, para los que son falsos testigos, y para todo aquello que se oponga a las buenas enseñanzas

11que han sido determinadas por la maravillosa buena nueva de nuestro Dios bendito, y que él me encomendó.

12Estoy tan agradecido con Cristo Jesús, nuestro Señor, por la fuerza que me ha dado, y porque me ha considerado fiel, designándome para trabajar para él.

13Aunque yo solía insultar a Dios, y perseguía y abusaba de su pueblo, él me mostró misericordia por causa de mi ignorancia e incredulidad.

14Nuestro Señor, en su gracia, me llenó hasta la saciedad con la fe y el amor que provienen de Cristo Jesús.

15Este es un dicho confiable que todos deberían aceptar: “Jesucristo vino a este mundo para salvar a los pecadores”, y yo soy el peor de ellos.

16Por esta razón se me mostró misericordia, pues ya que soy el peor pecador, Jesucristo pudo mostrar su paciencia infinita como ejemplo para aquellos que eligen creer en él y obtener vida eterna.

17La honra y la gloria sean por siempre y para siempre para el Rey eterno, el inmortal, invisible y único Dios. Amén.

18Estas son las instrucciones que quiero darte, Timoteo, mi hijo, siguiendo las profecías que te han traído hasta aquí, para que puedas pelear la buena batalla.

19Mantén tu fe en Dios y asegúrate de tener una conciencia limpia. Algunos no han querido hacerlo y por eso su fe en Dios ha naufragado.

20Himeneo y Alexander son ejemplo de ello, y yo los he “entregado a Satanás” para que aprendan a no dar una mala imagen de Dios.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul instructs Timothy to combat false teachings in Ephesus and recalls his own conversion as an example of God's mercy. He reaffirms that the purpose of all instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart.

Explanation

Timothy stayed behind in Ephesus as a young leader responsible for correcting strange doctrines, including genealogical speculations and endless arguments that did not build up the faith. Paul, who once persecuted the church, uses his own story as living proof that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace. This personal testimony encourages Timothy to press on despite his youth and the opposition he faced. Today's practical application is to remember that the goal of any Christian teaching should always be genuine love, not victories in theoretical debates.

Fun facts

  • Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire and home to the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which made the local religious environment especially confused and syncretistic.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Timoteo 1:1Paul opens the letter introducing himself as an apostle by the commandment of God. This is the first of two personal letters he wrote to Timothy, a young man Paul had left in charge of the church in Ephesus to organize the community and confront false teachers.
  2. 1 Timoteo 1:2Timothy was like a spiritual son to Paul, who had brought him along on missionary journeys since he was young. Paul opens the letter with his usual greeting: grace, mercy, and peace from God.
  3. 1 Timoteo 1:3Timothy had stayed in charge of the church in Ephesus while Paul continued traveling, precisely to deal with a group teaching ideas different from what Paul had preached there. The whole letter is written in that tone: practical instructions for someone younger handling a community in conflict.
  4. 1 Timoteo 1:4It seems some teachers in Ephesus were spending time on lists of ancestors and speculative stories, perhaps tied to strange interpretations of the Old Testament, that produced more argument than edification. Paul doesn’t spell out exactly what these fables were, he just asks Timothy not to get distracted by them.
  5. 1 Timoteo 1:5Paul sums up the goal of all this correction: it isn’t about winning an argument, it’s about arriving at genuine love, born of a pure heart and a sincere faith, with no hidden agenda.
  6. 1 Timoteo 1:6Some teachers in Ephesus traded this simple goal of love for endless disputes, more interested in winning arguments than in building anyone up.
  7. 1 Timoteo 1:7These teachers wanted to be authorities on the law of Moses, but Paul says not even they understood properly what they were teaching.
  8. 1 Timoteo 1:8Paul makes clear he isn’t attacking the law itself, it is good; the problem is the wrong way these teachers were using it.
  9. 1 Timoteo 1:9This list of behaviors the law condemns includes “menstealers,” which refers specifically to those who kidnapped people to sell as slaves — a serious crime recognized under both Jewish and Roman law. Paul is showing, through a list of extreme examples, exactly who the law is for: to restrain those who harm others, not those who already act rightly.
  10. 1 Timoteo 1:10The list of behaviors the law condemns continues with lying and perjury, all of it contrary to the sound doctrine Paul is defending.
  11. 1 Timoteo 1:11Paul calls this teaching “the glorious gospel of the blessed God,” the message he was entrusted to proclaim, the standard by which all doctrine should be judged.
  12. 1 Timoteo 1:12Paul thanks Christ for having trusted him, someone he saw as an unlikely choice, to carry out the work of the ministry.
  13. 1 Timoteo 1:13Before his conversion, Paul actively persecuted Christians, and that’s how he describes himself here. He credits the mercy he received to having acted, at the time, out of ignorance.
  14. 1 Timoteo 1:14Despite the heavy past he has just described, Paul says the grace of God was exceeding abundant, coming along with faith and love through Christ.
  15. 1 Timoteo 1:15Paul describes himself as the worst example of a sinner, recalling that before his conversion he actively persecuted Christians. He uses his own story as proof that no one is beyond the reach of this message, since in his own view he was the most extreme case.
  16. 1 Timoteo 1:16Paul uses his own conversion as living proof: if even he, who considers himself the worst example, received mercy, that shows God’s patience toward anyone who would come to believe afterward.
  17. 1 Timoteo 1:17After telling his own story, Paul interrupts the letter with a brief, spontaneous burst of praise to God, eternal and invisible, something common in his letters whenever the subject moves him.
  18. 1 Timoteo 1:18Paul turns back to address Timothy directly, reminding him that prophecies had already been spoken over him before, probably at the moment he was commissioned. He asks him to keep waging this “good warfare” with a soldier’s seriousness.
  19. 1 Timoteo 1:19Paul links faith and a good conscience as things that go together: abandoning one can end up sinking the other, like a ship that suffers shipwreck.
  20. 1 Timoteo 1:20This harsh expression was an ancient way of describing someone’s exclusion from the church community — without the protection and care of that community, the person is left exposed to what Paul calls the dominion of Satan out in the world. It isn’t a magic curse, it’s the language of severe communal discipline, applied to two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who had turned away from the faith.

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