AM Bible Study Group; March 12, 2014
Joshua 21
Theme: Paul urged Timothy to protect the purity of the gospel by defending the church from falsehood.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Good theology is vital to defend. And that’s because bad theology hurts people. When God’s people are made to believe wrongly about God’s revealed truth, or when they are encouraged to replace God’s truth with falsehood, or when they are distracted from a pure faith in God’s word by speculations and mythologies, they are deprived of the blessings and the victories God wants them to enjoy through a walk in the truth. And one of the most vital of the roles of the pastor of a church is to protect God’s people from error.
In another of his pastoral letters—in Titus 1:9—the apostle Paul urged Titus to be careful to appoint qualified pastoral leaders over the church; specifically telling him to make sure that each pastoral leader is “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.” Similarly, he warned the pastors of Ephesus in Acts 20:28-30 to, “take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Timothy himself was urged, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16).
In the passage before us today, Paul urges his young colleague Timothy to take up this difficult but necessary task faithfully—and to protect God’s blessings on the church and the gospel it preaches by stopping the spread of falsehood within the church.
I. THE COMMAND CONCERNING FALSE DOCTRINE (vv. 3-4).
A. The very first thing that he stressed to Timothy in this letter was, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine” (v. 3). The doctrine that Paul wanted emphasized is the one that he hinted at in verse 2—”Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.” It’s a doctrine that teaches that God showers His favor on His people on the basis of His grace—and not on the basis of works. Later in this chapter, he will use himself as the great example of the kind of gospel of saving grace he wanted Timothy to protect (vv. 12-17). While Paul was concentrating on other fields of ministry, he urged Timothy to remain in Ephesus and protect the impact of this gospel in Ephesus. It’s interesting to note that when it came to Paul’s charge to Timothy in the original language, it was an ‘urging’—a strong request. But made this a warm and gracious appeal to a fellow laborer. But when it came to Timothy’s charge directly to those who would teach some other doctrine, Timothy was to act with authority and issue a firm “charge”—a strict command!
B. Note that Timothy was to charge “some”. Whoever these “some” or “certain ones” were isn’t said directly—but it the identification “some” is mentioned several times in this letter. It is used for those who had strayed (1:6), who had turned aside from a good conscience (1:19), who would—in the latter times—depart from the faith and give heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons (4:1), and—most horrifying of all—had already turned aside after Satan (5:15). Paul was not afraid to name names when necessary (see 1:20); but perhaps he refrains from mentioning names in this case in order to make the command sufficiently general to be applied to all similar cases.
C. Timothy was to warn these certain ones to teach no other doctrine than the gospel of Christ. But it wasn’t simply a matter of prohibiting bad teaching in an active sense. He was also to warn them in not to passively listen to certain things. He writes, “nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith” (v. 4). In those days, there were some who sought to ‘fill-in’ the seeming ’empty places’ of God’s word—daring to create speculations about things that God, in His wisdom, saw fit not to tell us (see Colossians 2:18-19; Titus 1:14). And what’s more, there was often an unhealthy obsession with genealogies—not in order to find the history of one’s family, but to find short-cuts to spirituality and to declare one’s spiritual pedigree as an advantage over others (Titus 3:9). The results of such things are always shown in the divisions they create. As Paul puts it in the original language, they create “out-of-the-way” searches rather than advance the true “stewardship” of the faith.
II. THE PURPOSE FOR THE COMMAND (vv. 5-7).
A. Many today would characterize such a command as ‘intolerant’ or ‘proprietorial’—as if Paul was merely trying to protect his own reputation and territory. But that’s not the case at all. As he reminds Timothy, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith” (v. 5). Good doctrine advances such things as a pure heart (that is, a heart that is clean before God and others), a good conscience (that is, an inner moral compass that is well-informed by the word of truth), and a sincere faith (that is, a faith that is sincere and simple). And building on a foundation of faith in this way leads to love (see 2 Peter 1:5-7). What a great motivation that is to protect pure doctrine!—because it promotes and protects genuine love in the body of Christ! It’s wrong to try to take a ‘short-cut’ and create an atmosphere of “love” by doing away with a concentration on biblical doctrine. It actually has the reverse effect in the long run.
B. Many, however, had turned away from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith; “from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (v. 6-7). Here, we’re given just a hint of what some of these false teachers were drawing from in order to advance their falsehoods. They were appealing to the law. They were doing this in order to make themselves appear important as “teachers” within the church—but not understanding the proper use of the sacred law that they were abusing. That’s a dangerous thing to do! James warned, “My brethren, not not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). It’s not just harmful to the people of God whenever someone desires illegitimately to be thought of as a “teacher”—it’s also damning to the false teacher!
III. THE CORRECT USE OF THE LAW (vv. 8-10).
A. Paul affirmed to Timothy that the problem was not the law. He said, “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully . . .” (v. 8). The law is a good thing—that which, in itself, is “holy and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). Jesus Himself taught that He didn’t come to do away with it; but rather to fulfill it; that it would outlast heaven and earth, and that no one should speak against it (Matthew 5:17-19).
B. But the law must be used “lawfully”. It is not given in order to make people holy. Rather, it was given to condemn sin—”knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine” (vv. 9-10). The law—rather than make anyone holy—was given in order to condemn us in our sin, and turn us instead into needy sinners who desperately need a Savior from sin. “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). False teachers show their error by how they misunderstand the law—and also show their dangerous nature by how they mislead people away from God’s grace in Christ.
IV. THE CONSISTENCY WITH THE GOSPEL (v. 11).
A. Paul, then, felt a great urgency that Timothy take a stand against those who mislead God’s people—even when they do so with a pretense of teaching the law. He said that this was “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust” (v. 11).
B. This is best seen as related to what he said in verse 5—with verses 6-10 being parenthetical. The purpose was love—according to the gospel that had been entrusted to him. Just as it had been entrusted to Paul, it had also been entrusted to Timothy.
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And that gospel has not just been entrusted to pastors. As Jude tells us, we all are exhorted “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). We must do so! People’s spiritual well-being and eternal destines depend on it. We protect true love in God’s household when we stand for the truth and silence falsehood.
Pray then for your pastor—and stand with him in standing for the truth!