Articles
“The Aim of Our Charge”
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.
1 Timothy 1:3-7
All was not well in Ephesus. Despite Paul’s warnings to the Ephesian elders years before (Acts 20:17-38), false teaching and disorder now plagued the church. A group of men were teaching myths based on speculations surrounding Old Testament texts (4). These men made “confident assertions” but were “without understanding” (7). Their claims were baseless and their teaching dangerous. It resulted in “vain discussions” (6) and “speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith” (4). The apostle entrusted his young protégé, Timothy, with the difficult task of silencing these teachers and stabilizing the church.
Paul gives the purpose for his command in verse 5: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” The teaching of Paul’s opponents resulted in meaningless speculation. The goal of Paul’s “charge” that they stop their harmful teaching is “love.” Love is the greatest commandment (Mt. 22:34-40; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14), and because “love rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6), Paul cannot stand idly by while error is being taught to the detriment of the Ephesian church.
The heresy being taught at Ephesus, like those being taught at Corinth, was due to an absence of love. There may be an implicit warning for Timothy here as well. While correcting these men, he must remember to do so in an attitude of love lest he fall into the same trap (4:16; cf. 2 Tim. 2:23-26). Timothy must set an example of love before the congregation (4:12) and pursue love in all things (6:11). Let’s turn our attention to Paul’s threefold description of the sources of love. The reigning theme of all three is sincerity. For love to be love it must issue from “a pure heart, a clean conscience and a sincere faith.”
Love comes from a heart cleansed of sin — Whereas the opponents’ minds were “depraved” (6:5), Timothy must love from “a pure heart.” The false teachers were insincere “liars” (4:2), “deprived of the truth” (6:5) because they “persist in sin” (5:20). Timothy must live as one whose heart has been cleansed of sin. The concept of “purity” reminds us of Old Testament rituals of cleansing that made one fit for God’s service. David prayed that God would forgive his sin and create a “clean heart” within him (Psa. 51:10). For Timothy to be effective in his teaching, he must protect his heart from moral pollution.
Love comes from a conscience free from guilt — Whereas the opponents’ consciences were “seared” (4:2), Timothy must love from a “good conscience.” All humans possess a conscience (Rom. 2:13-14), that innate and universal knowledge that condemns wrong and commends right. It is our inner moral compass. However, if we disobey our conscience long enough, it can become “seared” (4:2). That is, through persistent sin, our conscience can become so burnt and desensitized that we can no longer distinguish between right from wrong. There may be a progression at work in those who “reject” (1:19), “sear” (4:2) and “defile” (Titus 1:15) their own consciences. When we ignore the truth of God’s word (“reject”), it has the effect of hardening our conscience (“sear”) until it becomes totally “defiled.” Therefore, Timothy must protect his conscience from guilt by living in such a way so as never to violate it (Rom. 14:20-23).
It should be noted that the conscience is not the ultimate judge of right and wrong. It serves only as a guide (1 Cor. 4:4) and can be either misinformed, as was Paul’s (Acts 26:9), or seared, as was those in Ephesus (1 Tim. 4:2).
Love comes from a faith devoid of hypocrisy — Whereas the opponents’ faith was corrupt (2 Tim. 3:8), Timothy must love from a “sincere faith.” Because the false teachers had destroyed their consciences, they made “shipwreck of their faith” (1:19). Paul lays bare their hypocrisy by pointing out that their true motive for teaching was making money (6:5, 10). Sometimes, Christians teach error but are sincere (like Apollos in Acts 18:24-28). They show their sincerity by taking correction humbly. However, those mentioned here are knowingly and deceptively teaching the church what is wrong. Usually we deceive others only after we have successfully deceived ourselves (2 Tim. 3:13). To counter this, Timothy must maintain a trust in God that is “sincere” (literally, ‘without hypocrisy’). He must be honest with himself and with God, as David was in Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
These verses (1 Tim. 1:3-7) are sobering. They warn us that a church can go off the rails through poor leadership and speculative teaching. We may not all be evangelists like Timothy but we are all responsible for what kind of teaching and leadership we tolerate in the church. “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.” (Mt. 15:14) To keep this from happening, we must continue to love “from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
