“Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have shipwrecked the faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.”
We have come to the end of the first part of Paul’s letter to Timothy. If you were to look at an outline of 1 Timothy, the heading for chapter 1 would be something about “Instruction Concerning Doctrine” or “Charge Concerning Sound Doctrine.” Or it might be “Warning About False Teaching.” But what you will also notice is that most of Paul’s teaching on these topics comes at the beginning and the end of the chapter.
As I read one of the commentaries, (Andreas J. Köstenberger’s 1-2 Timothy & Titus), he mentions how similar the beginning and ends of the chapter are. As I read through the chapter again today, I noticed the structure of the chapter. In verse 2, he greets “Timothy my true son in the faith.” In verse 18, he again addresses him as “Timothy my son…” Verses 1-6 and 18-20 are where Paul is charging Timothy with the instruction on sound doctrine. Verses 7-17 are a break in the middle, where he discusses the law (verses 7-10), his testimony (verses 12-16), and a doxology (verse 17).
Now back to the parallel structure of the beginning and end of the chapter. In verse 5, Paul writes, “Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.” In verse 19, “… having faith and a good conscience…” And lastly, in verse 6, “Some have departed from and turned aside to fruitless discussion.” And also in verse 19, “… some have rejected these and shipwrecked the faith.” I think it is so interesting how Paul ties these two sections together!
Let’s dig into the passage. The first thing we see is that there has been prophesy about Timothy. Paul says he is giving Timothy this instruction for the church. We get a little more information about this later in the letter. “Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders” (1 Timothy 4:13-14). We will get into more of his ministry when we get into this chapter, but we see that it was prophesied that he had the gift of teaching through the elders laying hands on him.
Paul is reminding him of this here so he can fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience. In Paul’s letter to Ephesus, he exhorted his readers to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Here is another thing that we need to remember when we are fighting the good fight. We need to also have faith and a good conscience. As John Barry writes in the Faithlife Study Bible, “These two always seem to travel together (cf. 1 Tim 1:5; 3:9). Strength in the one is always combined with strength in the other. So also is failure in the one correlated with failure in the other.”
He goes on to say that some have rejected these and have shipwrecked their faith. Paul goes on to name Hymenaeus and Alexander as two of the false teachers. I want to mention something here. Do you notice that Paul is not afraid to name names? He calls them out. This is something that many of us are afraid to do. We are told that we should not call out other Christians because it makes us all look bad. Mike Winger has the Bible Thinker YouTube Channel where he answers questions, researches topics, and teaches people to think biblically. I recently saw this comment on his Facebook page when he called out a false teacher. “This does nothing for the Kingdom of God.” I am wondering if they would have said the same thing about Paul. False teachers do great harm to the Kingdom of God, and it is our job to call them out!
Hymenaeus is most likely the same person that he mentions in 2 Timothy. “Avoid irreverent and empty speech, since those who engage in it will produce even more godlessness,and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them” (2:16-18). Alexander may be the same one that Paul names at the end of 2 Timothy about doing him great harm, but Alexander was a common name at that time so we can’t be sure. He then writes, “… whom I have delivered over to Satan, so they may be taught not to blaspheme.” Paul writes something similar in his first letter to the church at Corinth. “When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:4-5). Notice here that it is an excommunication from the congregation. Dwayne Litfin writes in his commentary, “Paul viewed the congregation as a haven and protection for believers without which they would suffer painful disadvantage. This excommunication was designed to chasten the two apostates.” This was designed to be a remedial action in hopes of repentance.
Fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, just like Timothy. And if you have gotten off track, it is not too late to make corrections. The best way to avoid false teaching is to know what the real teaching is! Read and study your Bible. Pray. Find a solid, Bible-believing church and get involved.
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 