BEMA Episode Link: 163: Pastoral Epistles — Timid Timothy & Tough Titus
Episode Length: 23:21
Published Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 01:00:00 -0700
Session 4
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings examine the lives of two very different pastors discipled by Paul—Timothy in Ephesus and Titus on Crete—and hear of their different personalities and how Paul uses each of them in his ministry.

Addendum to BEMA 163 — Marty Solomon, YouTube

Discussion Video for BEMA 163

Walk as Jesus Walked — Ray Vander Laan (Amazon)

TTWMK Faith Lessons on DVD and Digital (Focus on the Family)

Kingdom, Grace, Judgment by Robert Farrar Capon

Transcript for BEMA 163

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 163 Study Notes: Pastoral Epistles — Timid Timothy & Tough Titus

Title & Source Summary

Episode: BEMA 163: Pastoral Epistles — Timid Timothy & Tough Titus
Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings
Topic: This episode examines the three Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus) by exploring the contrasting personalities and backgrounds of Paul’s two key disciples, Timothy and Titus, and how Paul strategically deployed each according to Kingdom principles rather than worldly wisdom.

Key Takeaways

  • Timothy was a mamzer (child of illegitimate birth) from Lystra who was excluded from traditional Jewish religious participation
  • Paul chose rejected individuals as disciples, following Jesus’s pattern of selecting those the world overlooks
  • The Pastoral Epistles are personal letters meant to be shared with church leadership and congregations
  • Paul stationed “Timid Timothy” in Ephesus (high-risk, high-reward) and “Tough Titus” in Crete (low-risk, moderate-reward)
  • Kingdom deployment operates by different principles than worldly wisdom - losing becomes the way of the Kingdom
  • Paul’s assignments demonstrate “left-handed power” where apparent weaknesses become strengths
  • The church is built on dying to worldly wisdom and embracing God’s upside-down methodology
  • Scripture provides both encouragement and practical guidance for those who feel inadequate or excluded

Main Concepts & Theories

The Status of Mamzer in First Century Judaism

In first-century Jewish culture, a mamzer was a child born from an illegitimate union (in Timothy’s case, a Jewish mother and Greek father). This status carried severe religious and social consequences:

  • Prohibited from entering the assembly of God’s people
  • Could not be circumcised under Torah law
  • Excluded from community religious participation
  • Particularly problematic in “Shammai country” regions like Galatia, where strict Torah observance was emphasized

Timothy’s background as a mamzer from Lystra made him a religious and social outcast, which makes Paul’s adoption of him as a disciple even more significant.

Paul’s Discipleship Philosophy

Paul’s approach to making disciples mirrors Jesus’s methodology:

Rejection of Worldly Standards: Just as Jesus chose disciples who “weren’t good enough” for other rabbis, Paul selects those whom the world rejects.

Personal Investment: Paul refers to Timothy as “my true son in the faith,” demonstrating deep personal commitment beyond professional mentoring.

Kingdom Deployment: Rather than matching personalities to circumstances in obvious ways, Paul deploys his disciples according to Kingdom principles that often appear counterintuitive.

The Tale of Two Assignments

Timothy in Ephesus:

  • Second largest city in the Roman Empire (500,000 - 1.5 million people)
  • Headquarters of the early church movement in Asia Minor
  • High-risk, high-reward situation
  • Assigned despite Timothy’s timidity and confidence struggles

Titus in Crete:

  • Small island with difficult pagan population (“liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons”)
  • Lower risk, moderate reward situation
  • Tough personality well-suited for challenging people
  • Worked with “pagan, pagan crowd” requiring strong leadership
Left-Handed Kingdom Power

The episode introduces Robert Farrar Capon’s concept of “left-handed power” in Kingdom work:

Right-Handed Power: Conventional wisdom that matches strength to challenge, experience to opportunity, and confidence to leadership roles.

Left-Handed Power: Kingdom methodology where losing becomes winning, weakness becomes strength, and death brings resurrection.

Paul’s assignments demonstrate this principle by placing the timid disciple in the challenging situation and the tough disciple in the manageable one.

Ecclesiological Considerations in the Pastoral Epistles

The letters address practical church governance (ecclesiology) and polity (church order):

Elder Qualifications: Detailed requirements for church leadership focusing on character over competency Church Discipline: Guidance on confronting false teaching and maintaining doctrinal purity
Personal Encouragement: Individual pastoral care within the context of public ministry

Examples & Applications

Historical Context Examples

Lystra’s Geographic Significance: Paul’s repeated returns to this unimpressive town demonstrate divine guidance over strategic planning. The ruins remain largely unexcavated, emphasizing how God often works through unlikely places and people.

Crete’s Cultural Challenge: The island’s reputation for deception and moral corruption made Titus’s assignment particularly difficult, requiring someone who could “rebuke them sharply” while maintaining pastoral care.

Jerusalem Council Precedent: Titus served as the test case for Gentile inclusion in Acts 15, demonstrating that converts need not become Jewish to follow Jesus.

Contemporary Applications

Leadership Development: Modern churches can learn from Paul’s investment in unlikely candidates rather than only promoting those with obvious qualifications or confidence.

Cultural Contextualization: Different ministry contexts require different approaches, just as Timothy’s encouraging leadership style suited Ephesus while Titus’s directness worked for Crete.

Handling Inadequacy: Timothy’s struggles with timidity and confidence provide encouragement for contemporary leaders who feel unqualified or face self-doubt.

Biblical Parallels

Jesus’s Disciple Selection: Like Paul, Jesus chose fishermen, tax collectors, and other unlikely candidates rather than trained religious professionals.

David’s Anointing: God’s choice of the youngest son over older, more impressive brothers demonstrates consistent divine preference for the overlooked.

Gideon’s Army: Reducing the army size before battle shows God’s preference for achieving victory through apparent weakness.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

Theological Studies
  • Examine the concept of mamzer status and its implications for understanding inclusion in the new covenant
  • Study the relationship between personal inadequacy and divine calling throughout Scripture
  • Investigate how “left-handed power” appears in other biblical narratives
  • Analyze the balance between personal letters and public teaching in pastoral ministry
Historical Research
  • Research first-century Ephesus and its role as a major urban center in the Roman Empire
  • Study Cretan culture and religion to understand the challenges Titus faced
  • Explore Paul’s missionary strategy and why he returned repeatedly to seemingly insignificant locations
  • Investigate the archaeological evidence at Lystra and other Galatian cities
Practical Applications
  • Develop frameworks for identifying and developing unlikely ministry candidates
  • Study how different personality types can be effectively deployed in various ministry contexts
  • Examine contemporary examples of “Kingdom deployment” that challenges conventional wisdom
  • Create mentoring approaches that build confidence while maintaining humble dependence on God
Literary Analysis
  • Compare the pastoral epistles with Paul’s other letters to identify unique themes and approaches
  • Study the personal nature of these letters while noting their intended broader audience
  • Analyze Paul’s use of familial language (“true son”) in developing spiritual relationships
  • Examine how personal encouragement and public instruction are balanced in pastoral communication

Comprehension Questions

  1. Cultural Understanding: How did Timothy’s status as a mamzer affect his religious and social standing in first-century Judaism? Why would Paul’s acceptance and discipleship of Timothy have been particularly meaningful given this background?

  2. Strategic Analysis: Explain Paul’s deployment strategy with Timothy and Titus. How does this demonstrate “left-handed Kingdom power” rather than conventional wisdom, and what principles can modern leaders draw from this approach?

  3. Character Development: What evidence does the text provide about Timothy’s personality and struggles? How do Paul’s words of encouragement address these specific challenges, and what can this teach about effective mentoring?

  4. Contextual Application: How do the different challenges in Ephesus versus Crete require different leadership approaches? What does this suggest about the importance of understanding cultural context in ministry?

  5. Theological Implications: What does Paul’s choice of unlikely disciples reveal about Kingdom values versus worldly standards? How does this pattern connect to Jesus’s own approach to selecting and developing followers?

Brief Personalized Summary

BEMA Episode 163 presents a deeply moving account of how God works through unlikely people in unexpected ways. The contrast between “Timid Timothy” and “Tough Titus” illustrates not just different personality types, but fundamentally different approaches to Kingdom deployment that challenge conventional wisdom.

Timothy’s story as a mamzer - a religious and social outcast - who becomes Paul’s “true son in the faith” and leader of the largest church in the first century is profoundly encouraging for anyone who has ever felt inadequate or excluded. Paul’s repeated encouragement to not let anyone look down on him, to fan into flame his gifts, and to preach the word despite his timidity speaks to the transformative power of seeing people not as they are, but as God intends them to become.

The strategic placement of these two disciples - sending the timid one to the challenging assignment and the tough one to the manageable situation - reveals Kingdom methodology that prioritizes dying to worldly wisdom over obvious tactical advantages. This “left-handed power” demonstrates that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, and that losing often becomes the way of winning in Kingdom work.

Perhaps most practically significant is how this episode reframes inadequacy and confidence issues. Rather than viewing Timothy’s struggles as disqualifying factors, Paul sees them as opportunities for divine strength to be displayed. This perspective offers hope to contemporary believers who struggle with self-doubt while challenging churches to look beyond obvious qualifications when developing leaders.

The episode effectively sets up the pastoral epistles not just as church governance manuals, but as deeply personal letters that reveal God’s heart for using broken, unlikely people to accomplish His purposes in the world.

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