Lesson for September 26, 2021
The Book of I Timothy
Chapter 1:15-20
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”
Trustworthy is the Greek word “pistos,” which means faithful. It is the work of Christ that secures forever a believer’s relationship with God and provides the potential for the salvation of every human being. It is still a matter of personal volition (free will) whether a person chooses to believe in Christ or whether a person rejects Christ. God does not force anyone to believe.
On the Cross, Jesus died twice. First, He died spiritually as the full and complete payment for the sin of all mankind. On the Cross, Jesus said, “It is finished,” meaning the penalty for sin, spiritual death, had been paid. Because the penalty for sin is spiritual death (separation from God), someone had to pay this penalty. Only a perfect, sinless person (Jesus Christ) could have accomplished this for us. Jesus had to be sinless, had to have the ability to pay for sin, had to be willing to make the payment and had to be related to the person for whom he is paying the penalty. This had to be done in order to meet the requirements of the “Kinsman Redeemer” under the Law of Moses. Remember that Christ obeyed the Law of Moses perfectly (even in His death). (Romans 6:23; Leviticus 25:27, 48; Jeremiah 50:34; Matthew 5:17) Christ’s second death on the Cross was physical. After death, He rose again to conquer physical death. Since we are in union with Christ, we will also conquer physical death. Christ was the first to receive a resurrection body and we will also receive a resurrection body because as believers we are in union with Him. (I Corinthians 15:12-20, 51-57)
God the Father designed the plan of salvation, Jesus Christ carried out that plan and God the Holy Spirit reveals that plan. Jesus Christ was a willing sacrifice and joyfully went to the Cross because He knew what He was going to accomplish for you and me. Never did His resolve to execute the Father’s plan waiver for even a millisecond (including in the Garden of Gethsemane).
Since Paul was such a terrible person as an unbeliever, who persecuted the Church, God used him to show the depths of His grace. Paul’s testimony proves that God never gives up on unbelievers, that He is not willing that any should perish and through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit continually convicts unbelievers of sin, righteous and judgment in order to bring them to Christ. Paul was the worst sinner in the record books (according to him), and he is one of the greatest examples of God’s grace. So, Paul was the product of what grace can do. He is an eternal illustration of the transforming power of Bible doctrine in the soul. More than anyone who ever lived, Paul was a man of doctrine – doctrine was truly his life.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul’s praise was for the fact that he was not too sinful for the grace of God. God is eternal and cannot be corrupted by evil, He is immortal. He is totally free from evil, it is impossible for Him to be corrupted by any creature, and the greatest of all creatures is Satan, the father of evil. God can exercise His sovereignty without compromising His essence. This He does throughout human history. God the Father has never been seen. Jesus Christ in His humanity revealed the Father. God is unique in every sense. Therefore, all honor and all glory belong to God for all eternity.
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning (taught to) you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. Paul was using his authority as an apostle to give a series of commands to Timothy. Timothy had been Paul’s theological student, now he commands him to apply what he has learned. Timothy must remember the accuracy of the Bible doctrine Paul had taught him.
To fight the good fight is a reference to the spiritual battle we are all involved in called the Angelic Conflict. Timothy, as a pastor, would be tested by false teachers and the strength of the doctrine in his soul would be the way he would win the battle against them. Fighting the good fight meant that Timothy was not to give up or give in to pressure from the Judaizers.
Keeping the faith means to have and to hold onto. Timothy had the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and the authority from God that came with the gift. However, Timothy at times had let older believers bully him. This is why Paul told Timothy not to let older believers “despise his youth.” (I Timothy 4:12) Timothy had the legitimate spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and that came with spiritual authority as the pastor of the church at Ephesus. Timothy did not have to take a back seat to anyone, including the false teachers.
There were a couple of men in the church at Ephesus who were in a state of reversionism and opposed to accurate doctrine. They had destroyed their spiritual lives and needed to be removed from the congregation. The first of them was a man by the name of Hymenaeus. He is mentioned twice, here and in II Timothy 2:16-18, “But avoid all irreverent babble and godless chatter [with its profane, empty words], for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their teaching will spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have deviated from the truth. They claim that the resurrection has already taken place, and they undermine the faith of some.” Hymenaeus was guilty of being a gossip, a maligner and was filled with the influence of evil and reversionism. He was a hopeless case because of his blind arrogance regarding the resurrection (the Rapture), saying that it had already taken place. He had succumbed to the false doctrine of the Gnostics.
The second man was Alexander mentioned here, in II Timothy 4:14 and Acts 19:24-26, 32-33. II Timothy 4:14, “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; [but that is no concern of mine, for] the Lord will repay him according to his actions.”
Acts 19:24-26, 32-33, “About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way (Jesus, Christianity). Now a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of [the goddess] Artemis (Diana), was bringing no small profit to the craftsmen. These [craftsmen] he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, ‘Men, you are well aware that we make a good living from this business.’ You see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but almost all over [the province of] Asia, this Paul has persuaded [people to believe his teaching] and has misled a large number of people, claiming that gods made by [human] hands are not really gods at all. Now some shouted one thing and some another, for the gathering was in confusion and most of the people did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd advised Alexander [to speak], since the Jews had pushed him forward; and Alexander motioned with his hand [for attention] and intended to make a defense to the people.”
The Jewish religious hierarchy wanted Alexander to speak against Paul on their behalf, but he was shouted down by the “mob.” Alexander is believed by some theologians to be the one who betrayed Paul to the Roman authorities and gave false evidence against him, so that Paul was apprehended, brought to trial a second time, and executed.
Under Paul’s authority as an apostle, Timothy was told to “turn Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan,” the worst thing that could ever happen to a believer because it could result in the sin unto death. The sin unto death becomes a possibility when a believer turns their back on God and truth over a prolonged period of time. The sin unto death is God’s sovereign decision when and how a believer dies who continues to reject the truth and reaches “a point of no return spiritually.” Only God knows what this point is. How a believer dies the sin unto death may be instantaneously or may be a prolonged illness resulting in death. It is always God’s sovereign decision. It also meant that these two men were to be removed from the church so that they would not influence others with their false doctrine.
To blaspheme means to slander God, to malign the character and the grace of God. Hymenaeus and Alexander, who were believers, were in a deep state of reversionism called blackout of the soul. Having turned their backs on God and His grace policies, these two reversionists were already bringing a lot of trouble on themselves, in many forms, from Satan’s world system and divine discipline from God. They had moved so far away from truth that they lacked the power to recover, due to negative volition in their souls.
Controlled by their sin natures and Human Viewpoint Thinking, the soul of these two believers in reversionism gradually darkened into a state of blackout of the soul. Deliberate rejection of accurate Bible doctrine on a consistent basis led these reversionistic believers directly into evil. Evil was succumbing to satanic doctrine, which had entered their souls through the vacuum created by negative volition. The vacuum was an emptiness or a void in their minds that was going to be filled with something. In this stage of reversionism these believers were operating solely on human viewpoint for life and circumstances and ignoring divine viewpoint. For this reason, they were easily influenced by the doctrine of demons and Satan’s world system. Since their thinking had become totally distorted, they failed to acknowledge the truth Paul and Timothy were preaching and aggressively opposed them. (Ephesians 5:11; 6:12)
In blackout of the soul, a reversionist begins to build scar tissue on their soul, becoming callous to everything that has to do with God and His Word. The buildup of scar tissue is synonymous with the term “hardening of the heart.” Scar tissue results in not being able to recall and use accurate Bible doctrine. (John 12:40; Romans 2:5; II Corinthians 4:3-4) Instability causes a reversionist to become divorced from reality. What they should love, they hate and what they should value in life, they reject as worthless. Priorities are reversed, norms and standards are reversed, and thinking is reversed in this stage of reversionism. At this point they can no longer be distinguished from an unbeliever. These two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who Paul “turned over to Satan” had become “haters and enemies of God,” “antichrists” and “disciples of the devil.” (John 15:23; James 4:4; I John 2:18; 3:8-10)