After Paul was released from house arrest in Rome, he had promises to keep by first visiting the churches in Macedonia. He wrote this letter to Timothy from there. But while he and Timothy longed to see each other, there were serious problems in Ephesus that needed Timothy’s talents, while Paul struggled with other difficulties in Macedonia.
Ephesus was just beginning to stand as a major hub of Christian religion. Within a couple of years, a revolt in Jerusalem would bring Roman troops, which Jesus had warned was coming. He had told the Christians to flee the city, and a very substantial portion of them gravitated toward Ephesus. Very quickly, it would become the center of gravity for the surviving Apostles. It was critical at this time that Timothy filter the Judaizers out of the church teaching corps.
Paul mentions two primary issues: the old Talmudic mythology and the fascination with genealogical tables. There was a substantial number of false teachers claiming they wanted to teach Moses (AKA, “the Law”), but they really had no idea what they were talking about. Trust Paul to be quite certain of this, having been a disciple of the greatest rabbi still living at that time (Hillel), and on the staff of the Sanhedrin at one point early in his rabbinical career.
Just to clarify, Paul states that the Law was not useless by any means. On the one hand, to follow Christ meant to obey the twin commands: feudal submission to God as Father and Lord, and that sacrificial love of Christ for His brothers and sisters in faith. This was the summary of Moses everyone recognized, and which Jesus taught. By the same token, the details of Moses’ books gave examples of what it looked like to love God and His people.
A heart changed by the power of the Holy Spirit was necessary to fulfill the purpose of the Law of Moses. Before Christ, the Law served as the gateway to that changed heart. Now the Holy Spirit Himself came to dwell in human souls, but the Law was not dead. It still spoke to those who had not yet been spiritually born.
“The Law is good if one uses it lawfully.” The purpose of the Law was to restrain the fleshly nature; that was its lawful use. The heart had no need for it, but the flesh did. Paul goes on to list what serves as an outline of things prohibited in Moses. A righteous person with a changed heart would never want to do those things; they didn’t need to be told. It is instinctive. But those without a spiritual nature have no moral compass; they have only their own fleshly desires. Christians promote a law code that speaks to that fleshly nature.
Paul never forgot what kind of rage filled his soul before God called him. He had been deeply deceived by the Talmudic perversions so that he was willing to fight God, while honestly believing he was doing God’s will. This was such a horrible thing, and it was the same spirit that animated the Judaizers. We cannot turn their methods upon their heads, persecuting and violently oppressing them, but we must show them the mercy God showed Paul. Only the Lord can break through their blindness.
If there was anything Timothy and the believers could do for the Judaizers, shining this blinding light of mercy and truth was it. Thus, it was critical that Timothy set the record straight on the Law. Teach the believers in and around Ephesus the real article, so they could recognize as counterfeit what the Judaizers were offering.
