19b) which (good conscience) some having put away (thrust away, push away), concerning faith have made shipwreck:
RSV (not as literal, but shows the meaning here) By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith,
It is so important to keep a good conscience. When we push that aside, we wreck our faith.
When we ignore or toss aside our conscience, we ignore or toss aside God. Obeying God is very often the same thing as obeying our conscience. If we toss aside our conscience and mow over it, we toss aside caring about God, and mow over Him. When we ignore God, it destroys our faith. It's hard to believe in something you are ignoring. Obedience is the fruit of faith. When we don't walk it out we don't really believe it. How can you believe something you aren't willing to follow?
This is a biblical principle that when we violate our conscience, we wreck our faith. For example, we may have a desire to do something, but we're not sure if it's best. If we aren't careful to put the highest value on keeping a good conscience, then we will start rationalizing and trying to justify why it's ok to do what we want to do. In other words, we change around what we believe in. We pervert our beliefs to justify our actions. Once we make up our minds that we are going to do something, we are Guinness's at making up reasons to believe it is ok. Even kids are brilliant when it comes to giving a reason for why they did something they know they shouldn't have done. If we are going to see God accurately, then we need to keep our conscience pure.
Rationalization can be the number one enemy of a good conscience. What makes it so sneaky is that we are to use our minds to think through situations as much as God wants. But once we are willing to step over our conscience we will become mixed up. Obtaining wisdom on the Lord's will becomes nothing more than justifying our own actions.
Once we deceive ourselves, we may even strongly affirm that we know what we are talking about, while being clueless to the will of God
Or we might rationalize away something we are afraid to do, like sharing with somebody. Ironically, we feel much worse (assuming we are saved) when we realize we have blown it than if we had just obeyed God in the first place. If we fail to share with somebody, or we fail to say all God wanted us to say, we can feel really bad afterwards. And it is a serious crime. But when we walk away and we know we have said everything God wanted us to say, our soul is overwhelmed with contentment and joy, even though it may have been a very tough situation outwardly. It really is exciting when we keep a good conscience.
If we aren't careful to keep a good conscience, we start becoming desensitized. We convince ourselves that we don't need to share the gospel very much in tough situations, for example. By violating our conscience, we mess up what we believe. Once we have started slipping, we need to go back and readjust our thinking. God's Word, we are told, will help us do that- so we can have a good conscience.
An example of this is how I became sexually active as a teen. This example comes from my BC days, but it still illustrates the principle quite well. I grew up Catholic, which has a lot of bad doctrine, but I learned enough to know that sex outside of marriage was wrong. I believed that as a youngster. But as my hormones started kicking in, I also knew I wanted to experience that relationship with out waiting for marriage. Once I did, I soon started rationalizing that I wasn't such a bad person. I came up with reasons why it was ok. Because I had violated my conscience, I ended up wrecking what I believed in. I ended up believing something different, which lined up with what I had decided to do. It was a fake faith that wasn't real faith at all.
As a Christian, I haven't always done the best job of listening when someone (like my boss) was giving me advice or correction. Inside I was telling myself that I already knew that, or that they just didn't understand all the dynamics of my situation. I would walk away acting like everything was fine, when in reality I was irritated. I know I shouldn't walk away like that. When I walk away, I know that something is wrong inside. But I don't listen to my conscience, and as a result, everything becomes messed up inside. I mess up my faith. Then I must repent of my pride, and be willing to cheerfully discus the matter, and come back and apologize for the unloving way I listened to them. Even though the other person might not have realized that I was irritated inside, God saw my impatient, prideful attitude.
Once someone understands debt is wrong, for example, they will almost surely have to decide how much they value a good conscience in the site of God. Will they do what they know is right, or will they thrust away their conscience because it seems like they have to borrow?
Sometimes we can't put our finger on it right away, but we have a feeling that something is wrong. For example, we might have a question that we shouldn't do a certain thing. We might say "I have a check in my spirit" about doing such and such. It's important that we pray through this and hold it up against the Word to see if it's just our feelings, or if there is something wrong. Sometimes when we aren't sure what's the right thing to do, and the Word of God shows us the right path, so that afterwards we can do it with a good conscience.
Even our conscience has to be subject to the will of God, and not just be controlled by our feelings. Faith and a good conscience are intertwined together. It takes faith to work through our conscience. We have to trust God to help us work through our conscience and see what His will is. We need to trust Him that He will reveal His perfect will to us. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:17.
If we don't keep faith when we are unsure of what to do, then our conscience will cause us to be double minded, and waver all over the place. At the same time, we can't ignore our conscience, or we will destroy ourselves. Just like we shouldn't ignore stop signs, so we shouldn't keep going and ignore that feeling that something is wrong. Stop. Get wisdom, so that you can act in both a good conscience and in faith. If someone was performing brain surgery on you to remove a tumor, and they weren't sure which part to remove, you would want them to stop and make sure before they kept cutting. Don't thrust away your conscience and keep going when you think something is wrong.
Sometimes we question if our brother or sister is doing something wrong. We might say, "a red flag went up" when you did such and such. Often times the pressure is to ignore this feeling. It often goes against the flow to stop everything and talk about it. We can fear loosing popularity. Or we can fear the resistance the person may give us. But don't violate your conscience just to fit into the moment. Fear God more than you fear that other person. Love God more than you love the pleasure of the moment.
God gives us a conscience to help us out. It's like the little angel that stands on our shoulder and tells us what is the right thing to do. When we reject that, it's like we grab God's little angel and throw him away. Put away has the idea of thrust away, push away, or repel. That's not a nice thing to do to God's gift. No one likes to give someone a gift that they know the other person needs, only to watch them throw it into the garbage can. God have mercy on us for the way we treat His help a lot of times.
When we suppress our conscience, and don't practice what we believe, it messes us up inside. When I knowingly fall into some sin, such as laziness or anger, it pushes me away from God. It's the old Adam scenario. After he ate the fruit, did he come to God or hide from God? He hid. It's the same for all of us. We wreck our faith when we do what we know we shouldn't do. It's hard to look God in the face when we know we have done something wrong. When we push away our conscience, we push away God. We are living for our circumstances, or our pleasures, instead of trusting God.
When we violate our conscience, it's important that we get right back up. God wants to minister grace, mercy and peace. Peace with God is that wonderful relationship where nothing comes between God and us. When we violate our conscience our tendency is to run from God; but instead we should run to God.
Hebrews 4:15-16 (especially 16) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
These people are making their faith shipwreck. (Robertson says "{Concerning the faith} (|peri tên pistin|). Rather, "concerning their faith" (the article here used as a possessive pronoun, a common Greek idiom)" The faith or their faith- either way would end up being true.). Faith is the path to God. It's our vehicle to access God's grace. But these people have crashed. They started the course, but they are not moving towards their destination. By ignoring their conscience they have wrecked their faith. Their faith is feigned. They are faking it, just trying to convince themselves that they really believe. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Their spiritual life is a wreck. This is serious. If they don't overcome it, it can be damn serious.
A conscious is like a traffic light. Green mean go, flashing yellow means check things out, and red means stop. Ignoring our conscience is like ignoring red lights. It won't take very long for us to crash. Other people can be hurt or killed. Our friends and/or we can be seriously hurt. We should look at our conscience as being that important. If we have a warning light go off, we need to figure out what the will of God is about proceeding. It often means stopping what we are doing to obtain His wisdom about what to do next. If someone continually refuses to obey traffic signals, they are unfit to drive. They should have their driving privileges taken away so they won't hurt or kill someone.
This principle is true for all people: lost and saved. We must hold to a good conscience or our spiritual life will be messed up. Then all we have left is to fake it. In a little while, our conscience will become desensitized, and we'll deceive ourselves into thinking that everything is fine. God, please help us not to be deceived. Thank you for your Word that can deliver us from that.
Never having been at sea much, it's difficult to imagine how bad a shipwreck must be. If I were to serve in one of the armed forces, my last choice would be the Navy. I hate the idea of going down at sea. It's such a helpless feeling. At least on the ground you can try to do something, even if it's only to run and hide. But in the middle of the ocean, you are stuck. You can drown, die of thirst, or become shark food. A shipwreck would be horrible. In Christ I could deal with it, but in the flesh you can forget it. These people think they are aboard a ship that can't sink- named the Titanic. If they don't leave their ship they will soon go down into the abyss. Let's do a good job of showing them the lifeboat that God is sending their way. Our part in providing the lifeboat is holding them to the charge, and walking out church discipline when they don't repent (next verse).
(19-20)
Verses 6-7 told us that if we swerved away from love, out of a good conscience and faith that is not faked, then we would end up speaking vain words. We may desire to be teachers, and we may strongly affirm, but we don't know what we are talking about. This is going back over the same principles, summarizing how people miss real Christianity. Once we violate our conscience, and mess up our faith, we can't help but speak against the truth. We will blaspheme God. And we will blaspheme those who take God's side of the issue.
A lot of bad doctrine comes from moral decay. We think a lot of times that it's just intellectual. But more than we realize it stems from not holding to faith and a good conscience. Once we allow the works of the flesh to enter into our life, we can't help but compromise (make shipwreck) our faith, and mess up our perspective (that is, our doctrine) of God. A lot of times people "can't see" the truth because they aren't willing to obey it. They are more concerned with justifying their compromises. Sincere questions are good, but smokescreen questions can be nothing more than forever looking for loopholes to keep from having to obey. Unethical lawyers use loopholes to keep the guilty from being punished. But God doesn't honor man-made loopholes.
These people are in a dire situation. Their life is wrecked. They think they are on the course to heaven but they are going the wrong direction. Confronting them and dealing with their sin is all about caring for them. Paul wants them to be set free. It's the truth that will set them free. It has nothing to do with seeing who's smarter, or who can obtain more followers.
Our job is to help people see clearly what they are choosing. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and people deceive themselves into thinking they are doing the right thing. So we must hold them to the truth, in hopes it will help them experience real (unfeigned) faith.
1:20
Background stuff
Hymenaeus is specifically mentioned in 2nd Timothy 2:16-18 as teaching that the resurrection was already past, and overthrowing the faith of some. We don't know if he was doing that at the time 1 Timothy was written, but at the least he appears to end up being a false teacher that Paul stood against. He was desirous to be a teacher (7). But he didn't understand what he was talking about. He had swerved and wrecked (6, 19). You don't want to follow someone who has swerved and wrecked. It's the both fall into the pit scenario. Our mothers told us long ago not to jump off a bridge just because someone else did. It was because our Mom loved us, that she warned us not to follow certain kinds of people.
We don't know who Alexander was. There are mentions of other people named Alexander, as it was a very common name. There is even mention of one who brought about great harm to Paul. But we don't know of anyone who appeared to be in the community of faith, made shipwreck their faith, and had to be disciplined this way.
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Paul charges Timothy to hold people to good doctrine. Yet in doing this, Timothy must hold on to faith and a good conscience himself. The reason it's so important to hold on to these is that some people ignore their conscience and wreck their faith. Now he tells us two people who have done just that. Hymenaeus and Alexander quit holding to a good conscience, and their faith was wrecked.
There are a few reasons he brings up these people. First of all, it is biblical to warn the church of those who are professing Christ and yet are living in sin. In other words, Paul did it for the benefit of the church at large.
We live in an age where the church world has lost its sense of righteous judgement. Because of this, it is surprising to a lot of us that he's naming names. Yes, Paul is naming names! Somehow when it comes to Christianity, a lot of people think that we should never do that. Could you imagine if our police department operated that way? What if we couldn't report criminals? That would be stupid. We would live in total chaos. I'd like to know a man is a compulsive thief before I leave him alone in my house. If he just stole everything from your house and then you knew he was coming to visit me, I hope you would warn me. We expose criminals so they won't keep hurting other people. And when it comes to God's church, should we not point out who the wolves are before they devour the flock? If we will protect worldly possessions this way, how much more should we care about God's church? It's bad to loose worldly possessions, but how much worse to loose souls.
Once people loose their conscience and make shipwreck their faith, they are going to be a bad influence on the other members of the body of Christ. They will be speaking blasphemy. When people compromise, they are going against the Lordship of Christ. They will set up false standards to justify their rebellion. They will affect others. We all affect each other. They will speak against the truth. And whether or not we verbalize much, our actions will blaspheme the truth that Jesus deserves to be Lord of all. We are greatly influenced by others actions as well as their words. We want to follow the truth, and yet they will speak against it. They will be leaven, holding us back from the race we are running.
If you were on a major league baseball team, you would expect everyone to do their best. You wouldn't want someone who wasn't very picky about their own game, and then on top of that discouraged others from doing their best. No major league team accepts this kind of attitude.
Professional baseball teams work out the fine points of baseball, because they know that it will help them go further. They care about learning every technique, and seeing every error. If a worldly group cares this much about winning a perishable prize, how much more we should care about the church being all God wants it to be. They don't even have the Holy Spirit, and they are able to work out the fine points of excellent baseball.
The attitude of this passage is to help all men see the truth (v. 15, 2:1). Yet we deal with sin differently in the church. We should still have the attitude to hold all men to the truth, but we take it a step further in the church. We are to separate ourselves from those who don't repent (in the church), after walking out Mt 18 (sins that start off private) or 1 Co 5 (public sins, such as publicly teaching God's word). We still tell lost people the truth, but we don't separate from all lost people. For then must we needs go out of the world, because all lost people are in sin. But within the church, we shouldn't even eat with such a one. (1 Co 5).
It's important that we are not gossiping. The difference here is that Paul has done all he could, and they refused to accept the truth. They saw enough to know the truth, but they weren't willing to walk it out. They didn't hold true to what they knew they should do. They ignored their conscience for whatever reason (we come up with lots of reasons to break God's commands) and thus wrecked their faith. God gave them a chance to see their error, and they refused His reproof.
It's important to see that Paul didn't give a bad report just because these people didn't automatically agree with him on some particular doctrine. We see Paul's example to reason with people and work through truth, as long as they were open to learning. But it had become manifest with these people were missing the mark because they weren't holding true to their conscience. We aren't told what the specific issue was. In my mind it could have started out as a doctrinal issue or a moral issue. But in either case, it became apparent that there was a problem with their attitude.
With doctrinal differences, we don't separate over the time it takes to work through the intellectual side of it. That takes patience and love, and we are commanded to have both. (Very often people don't make the effort to work out their doctrinal differences because they lack the love and patience to do so. This is not acceptable with God.) But when we are working through doctrinal differences, we are to separate over the unwillingness to apply the Word. We are to separate once it becomes manifest that we can't agree because of an attitude problem (from which they refuse to repent). If people don't receive good doctrine, after we have taken enough time and done a good job of explaining it, and they can't give a good reason why they won't receive it, then there is an attitude problem on their end. With some people it will take longer to explain things too. That's not really what this is focusing on. But at some point it becomes apparent that they are prideful and stubborn, and unwilling to receive good doctrine.
Having love and patience is not the same thing as backing away from doctrine. God's standard is to hold each other to the truth. We can't teach any other doctrine (3). It is not acceptable that the highly recognized teachers in Christendom teach different doctrines. It is not good enough to just acknowledge the 5 or 8 essential doctrines. This teaching is from Hell. We must not follow people who teach this. If they understood the Word of God and had the right attitude, they would come together and work out their doctrinal differences. Just ignoring differences is not the same thing as unity.
We should not attend a denominational church where they ignore this charge to work out every doctrinal difference. This simply is not acceptable. If part of a local church, even one member, believes something they are doing is wrong, then they must work it out. If we are going to a church that doesn't hold this standard, and we are men, then we must stand up and see if they will receive the truth. We shouldn't just run away without trying to work it out with them. As men we need to let God help us to take a stand against false doctrine. If we try to work through sound doctrine with someone (3), or some group, and they refuse to listen and patiently work through it, then we must expose them. If they don't care about it, and they won't take the time to work out the differences, then we must charge them, that is, tell them they are disobeying God, and move on.
We don't separate from people to spite them. This is talking about love. We separate so that they can receive the help they need. It's easy to part in anger, but it takes God's Spirit to do it in love, for their best. It's hard to do it in love, but true love casts out all fear and allows us to be victorious.
If we were standing next to a road, and we knew the bridge was out just ahead, it would be love to warn those drivers. Could you image someone standing there and watching cars plunge into a ravine without warning them? How unloving that would be! God wants us to warn these people so they have a chance to stop and turn around. God allows U-turns!
Look at maintaining relationships to see more about church discipline.
Secondly, Paul names names for the sake of Timothy. It is sobering to refer to specific people who have wrecked their life. It's one thing to speak of the statistics of unwed teenage mothers. It's another thing entirely when it's your daughter. When it's someone you know and care about, it becomes important to you.
It's tough to walk out the charge to hold people to good doctrine. It takes trusting God and keeping a good conscious to walk this out. It's so easy to compromise. And Paul reminds Timothy what happens if we don't keep a good conscious. It's like he says, "keep a good conscious Timothy, because Hymenaeus and Alexander didn't keep one and they wrecked." And God has handed this letter to you and to me. Don't compromise, or this will happen to you too! (And me too.)
It's like driving a car. When you drive your car on curvy mountain roads, it's important to keep car in its lane, and your eyes on the road. If you take your eyes off the road very long it will cause you drive off the road and wreck. In fact your brother in law Alex had a bad wreck doing just that, and it's not looking too good for him. Don't ignore your conscious, or this will happen to you too.
Thirdly, and on one hand the foremost reason Paul refers to them, is to help Hymenaeus and Alexander. Paul isn't trying to destroy these men. He is helping them. The Accuser will try to make you feel guilty, as if you are doing something wrong. Other people will try to make you feel bad too (as the prophets were persecuted for standing on God's Word). But if we have done all we can and should to help them, then this is the best thing we can do for them. We should not receive this false accusation. A person has no need of a life raft until they realize they are about to drown. God gives us boldness to tell them something is wrong, so they can grab on to the life raft. Remember that the goal is for them to experience love with real faith and a good conscience. These men are delivered unto Satan, to help them learn not to speak against God. When we deliver people to Satan, whether they are teachers or not, it is the most loving thing we can do. Even in this verse he tells us it is for their best. This is the best way to help them learn not to speak against the truth.
Paul has broken fellowship with them, and exposed them, as the scriptures demand. When someone in the church continues to sin after the church has confronted them, then we are to pull back and let Satin mess up their life, in hopes that they will learn not to disobey. It is not like we are pulling them away from God. People act like it is pushing them away from God to break fellowship with them. But they are already rebellious towards God. We are merely helping them see who they are following. If we ignore the problem, we will make it easy for them to continue in sin. That's not love, that's hurting them. By dealing with the problem God's way we are helping them, by giving them the best chance to have fellowship restored. They need to know who they are serving, and why everything is not ok. Paul is having compassion on these men. He wants them to find mercy like he did.
Delivering people unto Satan is putting them out of the protective environment of the family of God. If you are part of a real NT church, then you should be able to identify with NT fellowship. It's wonderful. People love to feel loved. We receive a lot of help in the body. It's easy to think everything is ok because we are in this environment. It's like we have a hedge around us. We aren't exposed to the cold hard environment of the world near as much as other people are. It's the most wonderful family we can have. I bear witness that these next verses are true for my life. Luke 18:28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. 29 And [Jesus] said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, 30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.
Separating them from this environment puts them into Satan's world, where he can show them some of the results of their choices. It's allowing him to mess up their life. Prov. 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. And Prov. 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. And Prov. 13:15 the way of transgressors is hard. There is a cold hard reality of this fallen world. Satan seeks to destroy men. We seek to heal and restore. We don't do anything to hurt them. We only encourage them, as we do all men, to repent and partake of God's blessings. But it is better To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 1Co 5:5. There comes a time when we should take our hands off someone and let them reap what they sow. Truly caring for them means being willing to obey all of God's council (1 Jo 5:2). Once someone refuses to hear the church we should not act like everything is fine, and allow them to fellowship in the body of Christ. We need to hand them over so that they might learn not to stand against the Lord.
When I was lost, I fell into drugs. I remember a period of time where I would only come home every couple of days, and then just to eat, sleep, shower, and change. As I was leaving again I would ask my mom for money. Then one day my mother told me she couldn't keep giving me money, because she realized she was helping me to do wrong. She was right. She was showing me love by cutting me off, so that I could learn to support myself. (The bible says that if a man won't work, he shouldn't eat. When the church helps support lazy people they are hurting them instead of helping them.)
That they may learn has the idea of being disciplined. The Greek word has both the idea of to learn as well as to be disciplined. We use the expression "that'll teach em" not to do such and such. What we mean is that the bad consequences they are reaping from their mistake will teach them, or discipline them, not to repeat their mistake. This isn't the best example, because a lot of times people use this expression without a merciful attitude. With Paul there was nothing but a sincere desire to help them. We sincerely hope that their discipline will help them learn not to fight against the truth. Again, we don't actively do anything to hurt them or spite them. We aren't called to take it in that direction. But we realize that when we put them out of the church we are cutting them off from a lot of protection and wisdom.
It doesn't necessarily mean that someone is lost because we put them out of the church. I don't see Paul saying either way in this particular case. It just means they are unrepentant at that point in time. Sometimes it is temporary, like the person in Corinth who repented after being put out of the church. Sometimes there is no repentance (usually because they weren't truly saved to begin with). And sometimes it will even help the person to become born again, as has happened in our church!
Either we can run our own life, or we can walk by faith and let God be the boss. We can't do both. Any time we keep control of the ship, and lean on our own understanding, we are going to wreck. A lot of people think they are on the right course, but they aren't. God wants us to care enough about them to show them reality. We are to be the lighthouse that warns them of the impending collision. How unloving it is to stay silent, and not warn someone when they are about to crash. Let's be real. Let's help the person in sin see the truth so they might turn. Don't make it easy for people to stay deceived when we can help them see the truth. God tells us the truth because he cares about us and wants to help us.
We must first hold to faith and a good conscious ourselves, and then we must hold others to it as well. It's so easy to slip off of the cutting edge of Lordship, that is, of letting Him have complete control of our lives. When we slip, we are not fulfilling the scriptures to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. We are not giving Him glory and honor.
I see in my life how easy it is to slip off the cutting edge. Jesus told us to be perfect. That has to be our goal. When we fall we have to repent and go after it again. It's so easy to compromise just a little. And because the scriptures tell me about you also, I know it's easy for you to do the same thing. That's why it's so important that we hold ourselves to a good conscious, and faith that's not messed up. That's why it's so important that we hold each other to all the Word of God.
Don't take it for granted that everyone is doing fine in the Lord- even with true believers. Galatia was a true NT church, but it strayed in the lifetime of the Apostle Paul (praise God I believe they repented and got back up at the reproof of Paul). The Corinthians had problems. The churches in Revelations- during the life of the Apostle John- had problems. If you study the history of the early church (non-biblical writings), you will see that they had serious problems. This isn't popular to say, but the so-called church fathers taught some heretical teachings. (Hopefully there were less popular churches that we don't hear about that were doing better). Even in the OT we see the children of Israel reverting back to evil after a godly leader died. The point is that it's easy for all of us to slip.
The law of gravity seems to apply to spiritual life: we slide downhill, but have to work to go uphill. Our nature is bent towards evil. That's why we need the reproof of the Law. On our own we can do nothing to please God. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. To follow God, we have to choose against our flesh. We have to resist temptation. There is a constant battle in which evil presses against us. If you are a part of a true NT church, don't take it for granted that your church will continue on the right path. Paul and Timothy didn't take it for granted, and neither should we. This was serious to them. This is a serious, sobering passage. There is nothing funny or lighthearted about this. This is the burden of the Lord.
Lord, thank you for ministering this truth to us. Please help us to see the importance of obeying you. Thank you for giving us your Word, which is perfect and without error. Help us to rightly divide your Word. And we thank you, that through your Son, we can have these things that we ask.
1:3-16 summary
Paul talks about the need to stand against false teaching: ALL false teaching. It's important to adhere to any doctrine that comes from God. Good doctrine builds us up God's way, with confidence in the truth. In contrast, bad doctrine has no real substance, and leaves us with questions.
And the reason, the goal for standing against false teaching, is to help others experience love: in a pure heart, and in a good conscience, and in sincere faith. If we side step good doctrine, we can not experience these qualities.
If our words don't line up with God's, then they are empty, vain words. Some folks desire to be teachers of the law, but they don't know what they are talking about.
The first thing we need to understand about the law is that it is good, but we must use it lawfully. We need to apply it to our sin first. We need to understand who the law is for. It is for us.
The law is for those who want to disobey. It's for those who take advantage of their parents. It's for liars. It's for people who put themselves above God. In other words, it's for you and me.
The law is for any thing that contradicts healthy doctrine. And healthy doctrine is in accordance to the good news of the glory of the blessed God. It just doesn't get any better than this. If we desire to be a teacher, we need to realize that the good news revolves around the glory of God. We are filthy, but God is glorious. This is the foundation of good doctrine.
Paul goes on to share his testimony. And in so doing, he becomes a living example of what he has just preached. He knows where he came from; and he knows how he became a new creature. He uses the law correctly, revealing his own sin. And he gives the credit, the thanks, for where he's at now to the anointed One, Jesus our Lord.
Paul is caught up with the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world for the express purpose of saving sinners. And he wants others to be caught up with it too. In fact, he encourages others to use himself, Paul, as an example of how wretched man is.
God uses Paul as an example of His mercy. He is longsuffering with us, so that we can be saved unto everlasting life. We deserve punishment, but God holds it back so that we might turn to Him in faith and be saved. God's glory really is good news.
We ought to ask God to help us be as humble as Paul. Paul is living proof of the verse that says to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift us up. There sure is a lot of room for improvement in my life.
An even shorter summary, done by another brother in the church.
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned...
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience . . . (1Tim 1:3-5; 18-19)
What has Paul communicated to us through this letter to Timothy, true child in faith? It is the very point mentioned above, teaching sound doctrine with a good conscience and faith unfeigned. This we should keep ever before our thoughts as we minister the stewardship of the glorious gospel committed to us.
Why is this charge given? It's twofold: showing God's side, and then our responsibility.
First, the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (us). For this cause [we] obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Second, we are in a never-ending warfare against those who proclaim a false gospel from a conscience shipwrecked by impure motives and attitudes made by an act of their will. A good conscience is a daily part of the warfare. Therefore we must know we are to hold on to faith in our daily life or else we will be shipwrecked. We must be in the warfare to get us in the right place in our faith and a good conscience. For faith without works is dead.
The following is a quick summary of the first chapter, designed to be a front & back 1 page handout.
1) Paul was excited to be sent forth (Apostle). Why was he sent? Because God is all about saving people, and Jesus gives us hope (the best is yet to come).
2) Writing Timothy- genuine child in the faith. He wants him to have grace (goodness, help we don't deserve), mercy (holding back the bad we deserve) & peace (no unresolved problems). Good things come from God, who wants to have a relationship w/ us, be our Daddy; and from Jesus who uses His Lordship to minister God's goodness.
3) Letter's purpose: stay put and stand against false doctrine. He uses strong language that we can't allow bad doctrine. Christianity is not getting someone to say the sinners prayer and then moving on. Neither is it running when the going gets tough.
4) Don't base your doctrine on stories; a very common mistake. Nor on other people's person- regardless of how important they seem. And don't allow others to fall for this. These are key roots of bad doctrine. They leave us guessing. We must stand up for His Word, which alone builds us up in faith. Judge all things by His Word.
5) The goal of holding people to good doctrine is love. We're not unloving- we're helping them experience love. God knows what's best for them. He wants them to have love from a pure heart, which is molded by the Word of God. Love from a good conscious, which has a free and open relationship, knowing we are doing everything God wants. It ministers peace. And love out of faith that's not faked. When we don't trust Him, we don't really love Him. Let's remember our goal when we talk to people.
6 & 7 are together. Because they miss verse 5, they're guilty of 6 & 7. They actually desire to teach. But side stepping the attitude God wants them to have they miss it. They may seem sincere, dedicated & confident, but don't be fooled. They don't know what they're talking about. Our doctrine starts breaking down without a pure heart.
8) The law is good. The Word of God is not the problem; the problem is people use it wrongly. They don't know, but we do know- if we know how to use the law lawfully.
9a) Verse 9 separates those who know from those who don't? It separates law-abiding citizens from outlaws in God's kingdom. The law is to show up our sin. If we don't want to see where we are wrong, then we're missing the whole point. The Word is to show up our error and push us to the cross/forgiveness.
9-10) If we understand human nature, we see a dark sinful side. Apart from His help we don't want to fear God and submit to Him. We break His laws. We selfishly use others, and sometimes even wish them harm. We have sexually perverse thoughts. We lie, and then try to cover up our lie. Our wickedness is the opposite of healthy doctrine. We are the problem- He is the answer. That's why we need to hold to His Word. Any area of the Word that we ignore will be filled with our wickedness.
11) Healthy doctrine is according to the glory of God. If we think God is wonderful & we want to be like Him, then we will desire good doctrine. To love God & want to learn more about Him is to love good doctrine. Rejecting good doctrine is personally rejecting God. Also, this gospel is committed to our stewardship. Don't bury your talents.
12) Paul was excited to have the gospel, like he just won the lottery. Excitement generates good results- Paul had great results. We like being saved from death- only reasonable to want this for others. Paul gives all the credit to Jesus, who enabled (empowered), counted (led or commanded), and put him there. All the good came from Christ.
13) All the bad came from Paul. He used the law lawfully, humbly, using his own wickedness for public example. Not only slanderous, but persecuting the Way, thinking they deserved every bit of it. It was mercy because he did not try to understand- he did not trust God. These very things send us to Hell. Saul wasn't the well thought out man of faith he appeared. He was faking it (13b) with evil intentions (13a). He cared more about his little kingdom than truth. That's why he could slander. That's why it was mercy (16). Mercy is holding back punishment we deserve. Paul's not taking any credit for God's mercy. He's giving all the credit to God, in awe of His mercy.
14) Instead of getting the bad we deserve, God wants to give us good things we don't deserve- in great abundance! He wants to transform us and fill us up with love and faith (5). When we have Jesus, we have everything we need, & we will love others.
15) Accept this fully, stake your life on it: Jesus Christ is all about saving people. We are horrible sinners, among the worst, but also know that God wants to fix us. He came to earth just to do that. Great balance of humility and faith/hope. This is the context of this chapter, this book, and this life. This is what it's all about.
16) Paul a pattern of God's mercy. He fought against God, yet God saved him. Pattern of all of us- if we are saved. We thought we were ok, trying to please God on our own- but we were God's enemies. Amazingly He saved us. His mercy and longsuffering is amazing. Show the pattern of confessing sin + excited about forgiveness. Don't show "holier than thou, we've never sinned" pattern. That gospel isn't real life. We need humility to make ourselves examples of God's mercy, which leads to everlasting life.
17) Only fitting response to life changing mercy is Praising God. King Eternal: always in control. Every sacrifice will be worth it 100 yrs. from now. King Incorruptible: does not grow old & lose strength as perishable men. His glory doesn't fade in character or power. Can't be bribed, will never sin. We desperately need good doctrine because it reflects His non-corruptible glory. King Invisible: on a higher plane, decides what is seen. We can't see Him but He's here watching us. Remember this = be more diligent, nicer to others, more loyal to Him. Trust His direction- He sees it all. The Only Wise God: no other source for wisdom. Stories, "sciences", etc. are worthless unless they agree with God. Honor & Glory: epitomizes these. May our lives fulfill this verse and give honor and glory to Him. He is worthy of everything we have. So be it.
18) {18-20 summary: 18 refers to charge: 19 to goal of charge: 20 application of charge} We're accountable for all the truth God has revealed to us, to use it to help others. It's hard to hold people to the pure Word. It's a long-term fight (war). Paul & Timothy aggressively made it happen. Truth is our great weapon. Hold people to it, because it's the power of God to set them free. Don't cower from the battle and let people die.
19a) Hold on to truth with Faith + Good Conscience. Truth helps us experience these things (5). We need to experience them ourselves as we hold others to the truth. Head knowledge is not enough. Faith: this war is much bigger than us, we need to trust in One who has knowledge & power to win. Good Conscience: go all the way without compromise. Trust God and don't compromise. 19b When we violate our conscience, we justify our actions, rationalize away our beliefs. Ignoring our conscience (ignoring God) shipwrecks our faith- messes us up inside. Don't toss your conscience aside. Do not hide- run to God when you sin. Shipwreck is extremely (often damn) serious.
20) If we toss aside our conscience and mess up our faith, we miss real Christianity. We can't help but blaspheme. Why name names? It's biblical to warn the church to protect itself from inside sin. And it's the best way to love these 2 men. Putting them out of the protective Christian environment & into Satan's world (god of this world) is the best way to help them see reality (their life is wrecked) and turn for help.