1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship[] from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,[] liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound[] doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Sound Doctrine rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only doctrine that can produce a truly transformed life.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus”… Was once “Saul, prosecutor of those in Christ Jesus”
If you’re new to the group since we last covered Paul or missed the overview from last week, Paul, before he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-9), was once a Pharisee by the name of Saul who upheld strict Pharisaic traditions under Rabbi Gamaliel. Notably: Paul (Saul) was present in witness to Stephen (Famous for the first Christian Martyr) being stoned for his bold faith at the temple in Jerusalem. Ironic isn’t it?
That was until young Saul encountered Jesus on the road to damascus where he gave his life to the same gospel he swore to destroy. From there we see, now, Paul uses that same boldness to spread the Gospel that saved him, traveling most of Europe and Asia Minor, writing 13 books of our New Testament, spreading the gospel just to die a martyr's death of his own in the end. You can read more of Paul's credentials in Philippians 3:7-8.
“by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,”
Q: When was Paul commanded? What was he commanded?
Acts 9:15
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
…And show him He did indeed.
2 Corinthians 16:21-29
21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,[b] in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
There’s a time and a place to talk about suffering as we go through this letter (especially in 2nd Timothy), all I’ll say for now is don’t think this suffering was reserved for Paul.
Jesus told us in the beatitudes
Mathew 5:11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
And in John 15 we’re informed,
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Yet our Hope found in Jesus Christ, that it’s all for a purpose.
"...waiting for our blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:13)
Then we see Paul refer to Timothy as “my true child in the faith”
Timothy! As we first see in Acts 16:1 “A disciple was there, named Timothy”
Late teens to early twenties, by faith Timothy joined Paul during his second missionary journey. Considering him a son due to his faithfulness like we see in Philippians 2:20-22 saying “there is none like him” and 1 Corinthians 4:17 “my beloved and faithful child.” We’ll learn more of Timothy and Paul's relationship as we continue through the book. But Paul addressing a letter to young Timothy says about all we really need to know for now.
Pauls speaks/prays “Grace, mercy, and peace” for Timothy.
But notice there's no thanksgiving. Similar to galatians, Paul gets to businesses.
3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship[] from God that is by faith.
From the text the first thing we notice is Paul referring to his urge to Timothy to stay in Ephesus. Why? Because there were people in the church teaching false doctrine, devoting themselves to myths and genealogies.
Similar to the analogy Dustin used on Sunday, think counterfeit money. Looks real, same shape, size, color, texture, and all the things to convince you it’s the real deal, only to be fake.
This is what they were doing. And it greatly concerned Paul.
Because like counterfeit money, it can go a long way before ever being found to be fake, to be a fraud.
The word different we see, greek word: heterodidaskaleō (het-er-od-id-as-kal-eh'-o)
Deviation of the truth
Not that they were talking biblically, they were probably using scripture. But they added their own little spin to it. They were philosophing instead of teaching the word as it is, perfect.
Scripture tells us they devoted themselves to myths and genealogies.
The myths the bible talks about, many scholars and commentaries debate on what exactly all their myths were. Later in this book we’ll see some like:
Extreme Asceticism: the practice of severe self-discipline and the avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious or spiritual reasons. We’ll see more of this later when we cover their distorted view of marriage in CH4.
Along with misuse of mosaic law and teaching for profit.
All stimming from the twists they add to scripture to, like Paul says “promote speculation.
Genealogy was their practice of Spiritual Elitism. Similar and most likely suspected to have been carried over from early mosaic law and Judaism.
They do all this instead of as Paul says “stewardship[] from God that is by faith”.
Instead of teaching faith in the sovereignty of God's plan through the Gospel;
They neglect the scripture and take it in vain as something they have to add to to make “it apply to them and their circumstance”.
Doesn’t this sound crazy? It may also seem very familiar. You don’t have to look far to find churches today still doing this. Still speculating, still forsaking the Gospel, still handing out counterfeit faith.
There’s pastors today who add their own little spin to the text to fit what they want to talk about, backed by bad motives and poor intentions.
Churches teaching God's grace as an excuse for sin, teaching faith without repentance, heaven without hell, and ultimately a false sense of salvation and faith.
As we talked about in the overview, this is why it’s good we go through 1 Timothy, along with 2 and Titus. We learn the discernment to know if the faith a church or individual is teaching is counterfeit gospel.
5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
“Love that issues from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith”
Take any kind of plant for an example, let’s say an apple tree.
You don't staple apples onto a tree to make it an apple tree. Apples grow naturally when the tree is healthy.
If the roots are healthy, the trunk is healthy. If the trunk is healthy, the branches are healthy. And if the tree is healthy, fruit follows.
Paul says love is the fruit. But the roots are a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. If we force ourselves to be more loving without dealing with our hearts, we're just stapling fruit onto a dead tree."
The love Paul's referring to comes from these 3 things:
The aim is love.
Pure heart, Q: what does it mean to have a pure heart? Undivided devotion, genuine motives.
Proverbs 4:23
"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."
Matthew 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Good Conscience, Q: What does it mean to have a good conscience?
Got Questions Write: having an internal moral awareness of right and wrong that aligns with God's Word, free from guilt. It is powered by the Holy Spirit and maintained through faith in Jesus Christ, quick confession of sin, and sincere love for God and others.
Acts 24:16 Paul says
"I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man."
Sincere Faith, Q: What does it mean to have Sincere Faith?
Got Questions:
Sincere faith is more than mere talk. It is total trust and confidence in God. A person with sincere faith doesn’t get caught up in empty, useless arguments. He centers his life on correct doctrine, not false teachings. He doesn’t add to, take away from, or contradict Scripture. He stays rooted in the truth of God’s Word—the plain and simple gospel of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
It’s faith that is remembered as Paul said to Timothy in 2 timothy,
“I am reminded of your sincere faith,”
It’s faith that would remain if you were the last one on earth.
In v6 Paul acknowledges that those who “swerve” from these “wander to vain discussion”.
Which is simply discussion amongst the church that serves no purpose and produces no fruit.
Into v7, Paul says they “desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”
My fragile heart couldn’t handle a roast from Paul.
Paul, formerly Saul, THE Pharisee as we covered earlier. Just flat out said they’re trying to be like the Pharisees in sense and have no idea what they’re even talking about. Man just called them out for being wrong and being wrong at being wrong. It’s not just the old covenant either, they were failing to adhere to what Christ taught as well.
But their stance was an issue of the heart leading to a lot of the vain discussion they were having, all of which stemming from the love they lack. They use the law to back their myths, genealogies, spiritual elitism, and ultimately false teaching. But Paul says this is not the purpose of the law!
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,[] liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound[] doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Q: The Law, what do you think of when we bring up what we call “the law” in scripture?
Presumably, most of us say the old testament. 10 commandments. A lot of what we saw Israelites received in the wilderness. But why? We know the 10 commandments are not what save us. So what’s the purpose?
Is there a problem with the law? No! On the contrary there is a problem with you! And me!
Paul says “understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners”
Guess who that is? At the time, it was for the Israelites. For the purpose of the letter to Timothy, it was for the church in Ephesus. And now it’s for you and I!
Paul goes on to call out all kinds of unrighteousness.
“for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,[] liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound[] doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”
How many of us have fallen into one of these categories at one time or another, or maybe even today?
There’s meaning, but as we know righteousness doesn’t come from measuring up by actions. But purpose, what’s the purpose?
I think today we can see at least four bits of purpose from the text.
It reveals God’s holiness and character
It’s a mirror.
James 1:23-25
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
We look at scripture and see how we compare. Oftentimes, we’re in pretty bad shape. And that’s the point! To let the Spirit within us by conviction when we see how poorly we compare, to change us to be more like Christ. If the Law is a mirror, Christ is the water we use to clean the dirt we see when we look at ourselves.
It restrains and calls out evilness.
Like we saw, Paul calls out all kinds of unrighteousness. Most of which are in comparison to the 10 commandments. Like previously mentioned it’s not for the righteous, righteousness we know only comes from our faith in Christ and his righteousness.
“For the unholy and profane” Idolaters and those whose behaviors don’t reflect Christs, For those that don’t respect their parents, for those who murder, the sexually immoral which ties into fornication (having sex outside of marriage), Paul gets specific in saying it’s for the homosexuals, those who enslave others, liars, perjurers (liars with action, not just words), and if your sin was missed good ole’ Paul through a blanket statement to say really “ whatever else is contrary to sound[] doctrine”. No one is safe.
Sound Doctrine. The word for sound here in the greek (hygiainō ) is the same we get for our word hygiene. Tied into the verses above Pauls telling us there is a doctrine that brings healing, and the other that brings sickness. One that brings forgiveness, one that brings wrath. How can you know which one is right? V11. 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” Jesus Christ! Which leads to our 4th observation.
It points to our need for a savior.
As we’ve discussed before in this group, it points to man's need for a savior! There’s 39 books to summarize at the end of the day that man sucks! We can not do it on our own!
What you believe matters! Tell me what you believe about Jesus and his gospel, I can know 90% of your view of the Bible. It determines what you believe about God, the Holy spirit, the church, end times, man…and like Paul's telling us today, what you know about Christ can save you from counterfeit faith.
Have discernment of the teaching you hear, don’t be given counterfeit faith!
Teach from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith.
Look at the mirror that is God's word to reveal the dirty areas of your life the Spirit is working on.