CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Timothy 1:8. We know that the law is good.—The “grace and truth” which “came by Jesus Christ” did not abrogate the law. That law had a moral excellence, was indeed an admirable thing, provided that it was used legitimately.
1 Timothy 1:9. The law is not made for.—As we say “is not laid down.” The vices which follow are enumerated first under terms more general, and then more specific. Lawless and disobedient.—R.V. “lawless and unruly.” Both imply opposition to law—the former a more passive disregard of it, the latter a more active violation of it arising from a refractory will (Ellicott). For the ungodly and for sinners.—This second pair of terms points to want of reverence for God, the third to want of inner purity and holiness, the fourth to want of even the commonest feeling (ibid.). Murderers of fathers … mothers.—So R.V., but margin, “smiters.” This seems to soften the word; but if the blow should prove fatal, the crime of manslaughter is aggravated by a parent’s death.
1 Timothy 1:10. If there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.—St. Paul has followed the order of the commandments, making them all bear on human relationships.
1 Timothy 1:11. According to the gospel.—The gospel is more stern than the law against such deeds.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Timothy 1:8-11
The Function of the Law.
I. The law is good in itself.—“We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8). The law is blameless: the blame is in the improper use of the law. The law is the standard and guardian of right, and has no quarrel with the man who obeys its enactments. We spoil the law when we try to improve it. In the Jewish Talmud we read that there was a flute in the Temple preserved from the days of Moses: it was smooth, thin, and formed of a reed. At the command of the king it was overlaid with gold, which ruined its sweetness of tone until the gold was taken away. There were also a cymbal and a mortar, which had become injured in course of time, and were mended by men of Alexandria summoned by the wise men; but their usefulness was so completely destroyed by this process that it was necessary to restore them to their former condition. So when we try to improve the law by overlaying it with what we call the gold of rationalism, but which in truth is the dross and tinsel of human conceits, we injure and divert both its beauty and its usefulness.
II. The law does not avail in producing personal righteousness.—“Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Timothy 1:9). The law regulates the outward life, but it does not touch the heart, until it is planted there as the law of love. But it has in itself no power thus to transform itself: this is done only by the soul being made righteous by faith in Christ. Then the law is not destroyed, but it is rendered powerless by being obeyed. The righteous man is “not forensically amenable to the law,” though he still needs it to show him his lapses and shortcomings, and the requirements of a holy God.
III. The function of the law is to convict the sinner of his manifold transgressions.—“But for the lawless and disobedient … and any other thing contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:9-10). The catalogue of sins contained in these verses includes every kind of transgression. They differ in baseness and violence; but they are all violations of the law; and the root of these evils is in the obstinacy and rebellion of the human heart. The law not only reveals the enormity of these transgressions, but inflicts pains and penalties upon their perpetrators. The gospel is not placed so high above the law as to favour sin: it denounces all sin as “contrary to sound doctrine.” The doctrine that deals with meaningless questions and false interpretations of the law is diseased.
IV. The function of the law is in harmony with the teaching of the gospel.—“According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust” (1 Timothy 1:11). “The glorious gospel of the blessed God” is a striking and suggestive phrase, as though the arrival of the time when the glorious news of salvation was announced to man was an occasion of Divine joy. We say it with profound reverence—the gospel was proclaimed with Divine hilarity. God was happy that man should be at length told of the reality of the Divine blessedness. The law represented God as a rigid, unbending Magistrate—the gospel as a loving, forgiving, joyous Father. In the presence of this glorious evangel, how paltry the distorted, emasculated gospel of the false teachers would appear! There is no real antagonism between the law and the gospel: the law is a preparation for and introduction to the gospel. Both are included in God’s method for saving men. An old divine writes: “It is ordinary with the prophets first to discover the sins of the people and to denounce judgments; and then to promise Christ upon their coming in to enlighten and make them lightsome with raising their thoughts to a fruitful contemplation of the glory, excellency, and sweetness of His blessed kingdom. Isaiah in his first chapter, from the mouth of God, doth in the first place behave himself like a son of thunder, pressing upon the conscience of those to whom he was sent many heinous sins, horrible ingratitude, fearful falling away, formality in God’s worship, cruelty, and the like. Afterwards he invites to repentance, and assures them of God’s willingness to forgive and cleanse—‘Come now, and let us reason together.’ Nathan, to recover even a regenerate man, first convinces him soundly of his sin, with much aggravation and terror, and then upon remorse assures him of pardon (2 Samuel 12:13).”
Lessons.—
1. The law is terrible to the disobedient.
2. The law convinces of sin, but cannot remove it.
3. The gospel as a remedy for sin is a glorious revelation of God.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Timothy 1:8. The Lawful Use of the Law.
I. It is lawful to employ it as a schoolmaster to lead the sinner to Christ.
II. It is lawful to use the law as a rule of life.—
1. The gospel dissolves no relation to God.
2. Obedience is the object of the gospel.
3. The law shall be eternally obeyed.
III. It is lawful to use the law as a test of our spiritual state.—
1. God uses the law for this end, in judging.
2. We may anticipate the judgment.
3. The law the standard by which the believer’s progress is ascertained.—Stewart.
1 Timothy 1:11. A Noble Eulogy of the Gospel.
I. The gospel of the glory of God.
II. This God the blessed God.
III. Through this blessed God the ministry of the gospel is entrusted to a man like Paul.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
The Gospel Glorious.
I. As it is a splendid revelation of the Divine felicity.
II. In the sublime themes it declares.
III. In the grandeur of the moral benefits it confers on man.
IV. In the dignity and power with which it invests its messengers.
The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God.
I. It contains a bright display of the perfections of God.—His wisdom, His power, His justice, His holiness, and His love are all exhibited, and the exhibition is striking and harmonious.
II. It is admirably adapted to the moral and spiritual necessities of man.—Man is ignorant, guilty, polluted, miserable, immoral, impotent.
III. It exerts, wherever it is believed, a mighty influence.—It civilises, reforms, exalts, strengthens.
IV. It has already won signal triumphs.—Contrast the infant Church in Jerusalem with Christendom as it is.
V. It secures eternal happiness.
VI. It combines with the utmost grandeur of result the utmost simplicity of requirement.—It is of faith that it might be by grace.—G. Brooks.
The Blessed God.
I. Let us contemplate the happiness of God.—
1. Its nature is beyond our comprehension, because it is beyond our comprehension, because it is beyond our experience.
2. It consists of many elements. Infinite power, wisdom, and goodness.
3. It is communicated to sentient creatures.
4. It furnishes a lofty and delightful subject of thought.
II. Let us collect some of the practical lessons which the contemplation of the happiness of God suggests.—
1. It teaches us how great God is. He is all-sufficient.
2. It teaches us how great man is. He is capable of friendly relations with Him who is blessed for ever.
3. It teaches us the evil of sin. It has alienated man from the source of all bliss.
4. It teaches us the grandeur of the gospel, whose aim is to make believers partakers of God’s happiness.—Ibid.