Bible Buk Namba 54—1 Timothy
Man wea Raetem: Paul
Ples Hem Raetem: Macedonia
Taem Hem Finis Raetem: c. 61–64 C.E.
LONG end long buk bilong Acts, Luke storyim wei wea Paul stap long Rome for weitim result from appeal bilong hem long Caesar. Paul stap long haos wea hem rentim, preachim Kingdom bilong God long evriwan wea visitim hem, “witim barava free wei for toktok, wea no eni samting stopem.” (Acts 28:30, 31) Bat long mek-tu leta bilong hem for Timothy, Paul hem raet: “Mi safa from nogud samting long wei wea mi stap insaed prison olsem wanfala nogud man,” and hem talemaot wei wea hem klosap dae. (2 Tim. 2:9; 4:6-8) Datwan hem bigfala change! Long firstaem, olketa deal witim hem olsem gudfala prisoner, long mek-tu taem, olsem barava rabis man. Wanem nao happen midolwan long taem wea Luke storyim living bilong Paul long 61 C.E., long end bilong tufala year long Rome, and samting wea Paul seleva raetem abaotem hemseleva long Timothy, wea luk olsem hem raetem just bifor hem dae?
2 From hem hard for lukim hao nao olketa leta bilong Paul for Timothy and Titus hem fitim taem wea buk bilong Acts storyim, diswan mekem samfala man wea raet abaotem Bible for tingse Caesar acceptim appeal bilong Paul and letem hem free long 61 C.E. The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible hem sei: “Lastfala verse bilong Acts fitim disfala tingting [hao Paul kamap free bihaen tufala year long prison] winim wei for sei aposol hem dae long prison. Luke strongim point hao no eniwan stopem waka bilong hem, wea showimaot waka bilong hem no finis yet.”a So, Paul raetem Wan Timothy bihaen hem kamaot from prison go kasem lastfala taem wea hem stap long prison long there, or long samting olsem 61-64 C.E.
3 Taem Paul kamaot from prison, luk olsem hem startim missionary waka moa witim Timothy and Titus. Iumi no sure sapos Paul kasem Spain, olsem samfala talem. Clement from Rome raetem (c. 95 C.E.) hao Paul kasem “barava farawe ples long W[est],” wea maet Spain insaed diswan.b
4 Wea nao Paul stap taem hem raetem firstfala leta long Timothy? Wan Timothy 1:3 talem hao Paul arrange for Timothy deal witim problem long samfala kongregeson long Ephesus, taem hemseleva go long Macedonia. Luk olsem, long there nao hem raetem leta go bak long Timothy long Ephesus.
5 For longfala taem pipol acceptim hao Paul nao raetem tufala leta for Timothy and wei wea olketa part long Bible. Samfala Christian man for raet long first century, insaed diswan Polycarp, Ignatius, and Clement from Rome, evriwan agree long diswan, and olketa leta hia stap long list bilong raeting bilong Paul long first century. Wanfala buk hem sei: “Tu-Thri N[ew] T[estament] raeting stap wea garem strongfala pruv . . . So eni toktok wea sei olketa no tru hem olsem idea bilong distaem wea againstim strongfala pruv from firstfala Church.”c
6 Paul raetem disfala first leta long Timothy for markem klia samfala wei for organize insaed long kongregeson. Hem need for warnim Timothy tu for gard againstim giaman teaching and for strongim olketa brata for againstim ‘giaman savve.’ (1 Tim. 6:20) Bisnis taon bilong Ephesus bae switim man tu for lovem tumas material samting and for “lovem selen,” so hem gudfala taem for givim kaonsel long diswan tu. (6:10) Timothy kasem gudfala experience and training for duim disfala waka. Dadi bilong hem from Greece and mami bilong hem wanfala Jew wea worshipim God. Bible no talem klia wanem taem nao Timothy joinim Christian Wei. Taem Paul visitim Lystra long mek-tu missionary gogo bilong hem, maet long end bilong 49 C.E. or start bilong 50 C.E., “olketa brata long Lystra and Iconium givim gudfala report abaotem” Timothy (maet taem hem klosap 20 year or winim) finis. So Paul arrange for Timothy go witim Silas and hem. (Acts 16:1-3) Nem bilong Timothy stap long 11-fala long 14-fala leta wea Paul raetem and long buk bilong Acts tu. Evritaem Paul showimaot interest olsem dadi long Timothy and samfala taem hem markem Timothy for visitim and servem samfala kongregeson—wea pruvim Timothy duim gudfala waka long missionary service and fit for lukaftarem bigfala responsibility.—1 Tim. 1:2; 5:23; 1 Thess. 3:2; Phil. 2:19.
WEI WEA HEM HELPEM IUMI
15 Disfala leta givim strongfala warning for pipol wea askem iusles kwestin and interest long olketa idea bilong man. “Wei for argue abaotem olketa word” hem join witim praod fasin and iumi mas stap klia from diswan, from Paul talem hao samting hia blokem wei for grow olsem Christian, bat hem mekem “kwestin kamap for duim research winim wei for givimaot eni samting thru long God wea join witim faith.” (6:3-6; 1:4) For join witim olketa waka bilong body, olketa samting hia “againstim gudfala teaching wea fitim nambawan gud nius bilong disfala hapi God.”—1:10, 11.
16 Luk olsem olketa Christian long Ephesus wea greedy tumas for selen needim kaonsel for faet againstim wei for aftarem material samting. Paul givim datfala kaonsel. Pipol long world plande taem talem disfala toktok bilong hem, “Fasin for lovem selen hem start bilong plande nogud samting,” bat samfala nomoa lisin long toktok hia! Long narasaed, trufala Christian mas followim kaonsel hia evritaem. Hem minim laef. Olketa mas ranawe from sorre trap bilong wei for aftarem material samting and putim hope, “no long richfala samting wea bae finis, bat long God, wea givim iumi evri samting for mekem iumi hapi.”—6:6-12, 17-19.
17 Leta bilong Paul showimaot Timothy olsem wanfala nambawan example for olketa young Christian. Nomata hem young, hem mature long spiritual wei. Hem trae hard for kamap wanfala overseer and from diswan hem kasem staka blessing long waka wea hem laekem tumas. Bat, olsem evri faithful young minister distaem, Timothy need for ting raonem evri samting hia, givim hemseleva evribit for muv ahed evritaem. Kaonsel bilong Paul fitim distaem, for evriwan wea lukaotem hapi long wei for muv ahed long spiritual wei: “Lukluk gud evritaem long iuseleva and teaching bilong iu. Followim olketa samting hia, from sapos iu duim olsem iu bae sevem iuseleva and olketa wea lisin long iu.”—4:15, 16.
18 Disfala Holy leta helpem evriwan for tinghae long stretfala arrangement bilong God. Hem showimaot hao olketa man and woman savve help for keepim theocratic order long kongregeson. (2:8-15) Then hem minim mark for kamap overseer and ministerial servant. So, holy spirit nao givim mark wea olketa mas followim for kasem spesol privilege olsem. Disfala leta encouragem tu evriwan wea dedicate finis for kasem datfala mark, hem sei: “Sapos eni man trae for kasem waka bilong overseer, hem aftarem gudfala waka.” (3:1-13) Leta hia storyim stretfala tingting wea olketa overseer mas garem long saed long olketa wea young, olo, woman and wei for deal witim problem wea needim samfala witness. For strongim point abaotem wei wea olketa overseer wea waka hard long teaching and toktok fit for kasem respect, tufala taem Paul iusim Hebrew Scripture for minim gud: “From scripture hem sei: ‘Iu mas no stopem buluka for kaikai taem hem duim waka for smasem grain’; and tu: ‘Man wea Waka hem fit for kasem wages bilong hem.’”—1 Tim. 5:1-3, 9, 10, 19-21, 17, 18; Deut. 25:4; Lev. 19:13.
19 Bihaen Paul givim gudfala kaonsel hia, hem talem tu hao olketa mas followim komandment long klinfala wei and wea no garem eni blame ‘go kasem taem Lord Jesus Christ showaot klia olsem datfala King bilong olketa wea rul olsem king and Lord bilong olketa wea rul olsem lord.’ Long faondeson bilong Kingdom hope, disfala leta finis witim strongfala toktok for olketa Christian “for duim gudfala samting, for rich long gudfala waka, for kaen, redi for share, careful for hipimap for olketa seleva wanfala gud faondeson for future, mekem olketa hol strong long trufala laef.” (1 Tim. 6:14, 15, 18, 19) Gudfala kaonsel long Wan Timothy barava helpem iumi!
[Olketa Footnote]
a 1970, edited by H. S. Gehman, page 721.
b The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, page 6, “The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians,” chap. V.
c New Bible Dictionary, second edition, 1986, edited by J. D. Douglas, page 1203.