Paul had just finished his testimony concerning his salvation. God had saved him even though his sin was great. Paul was now an example of God's saving power.
Paul referenced his command to Timothy which he had made earlier. This command was to charge those who were teaching wrongly not to teach what they are teaching. Paul then encourages Timothy again.
Paul speaks of prophesies which were made about Timothy. The language used here would allow two possibilities of interpretation. These prophecies could have been about Timothy or they could have led Paul to Timothy. The balance of the argument leans toward the former since Paul urged Timothy to wage war based upon these prophecies. It is thought that these prophecies were given during Timothy's ordination. While Timothy was waging war against these false teachers, he was to make sure that he was holding to the faith and had a clear conscience.
One thing which is interesting here is that Paul talks about the "good" warfare. There is a good fight which must be waged, but there is also a bad fight which some will wage. What is the difference? There are those who like to fight and they will fight about anything. Churches have split over silly arguments which should never have divided brothers and sisters in Christ. Other churches have swept things under the rug which should have been fought over. The gospel is so important that a church should never compromise on this no matter what the consequences will be. There are other doctrines which must be kept at all costs without compromise. It was this for which Paul was exhorting Timothy to fight.
The false teachers had rejected "this." The word "this" is singular. This has led some to believe that Paul was only saying that they had rejected a good conscience. So, they had ignored the stings of their conscience and twisted doctrine to satisfy their lusts. Paul states that they had made something shipwreck. There is debate as to what this is. It could refer either to their faith or the faith. Many modern versions have that they shipwrecked their faith, while many commentators say that they have shipwrecked the faith. The Westcot and Hort rendering of this verse does not make this possessive but shows it with the article. 19 ἔχων πίστιν καὶ ἀγαθὴν συνείδησιν, ἥν τινες ἀπωσάμενοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐναυάγησαν· (Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek (Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009; 2009), 1 Ti 1:19.) Therefore, I would agree with the rendering of them shipwrecking the faith. This verse is not saying that these false teachers had lost their salvation. In fact, they probably did not have it in the first place. Their love for immorality led them to twist doctrine to the point of shipwreck. These were dangerous teachers.
Paul names two of these teachers, Hymenaeus and Alexander. These were examples of the bad teaching which was going on in the Ephesian Church. Paul handled them by excommunicating them. He says that he handed them over to Satan, which is the same language which he used in 1 Corinthians 5:5 for another man who was excommunicated. This man was delivered to Satan for blatant sexual sin. Most view this passage as Paul putting them in the realm of Satan where they will be exposed to his attacks. In other words, they will not enjoy the security and protection of being around other believers, but will face him on their own. In each case of Paul delivering someone over to Satan, it was for remedial purposes.
How then can we apply this passage to our lives? I have a few suggestions.
- Doctrine needs to be joined with practice.
- There is such a thing as good and bad warfare.
- We should put effort into fighting things which matter.
- Those who teach false doctrine rarely have an intellectual reason for it but some other, ulterior motive.
- With that being said, we must watch ourselves that we are not justifying our own sin by twisting Scripture.
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