1 Timothy 1:3-11--Warning Against False Teachers

1 Timothy 1:3-11
English Standard Version

Warning Against False Teachers
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.

8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

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Paul reminds Timothy that he needs to appoint elders to lead the local churches just like Paul had him do in Ephesus when Paul was in Macedonia.  Having a plurality of elders (I believe that's part of what is being taught here and that it's not just plural because of appointing an elder at multiple cities, but because each congregation benefits from multiple leaders for the reasons Paul will state).  First and foremost, Paul is concerned about about false teachers that the people and the elders of the people need to watch out for.  He goes through all the ways in which they can be identified as being false instead of genuine--they turn away from the true gospel, do not treat the Word of God as authoritative, they are always looking for something "new," "fresh," and trendy/flashy.  They have an appearance of godliness, but they have no real substance to their belief because they will go wherever the winds of culture take them.  They are not rooted in anything.

Now it's become an issue that these teachers are not just on the outside, but they have caught the attention and gained some audience from people who were inside the church and their false teachings are leading people astray.  The elders are needed to help put a stop to that situation and correct the errors of the false teachers by teaching the truth from Scripture.  We'll see later that these false teachers don't just have the wrong message they are delivering, but they encourage others to live lives of sin (in fact, this many times is why they want there to be another gospel, because they don't like the true gospel that call them to repent, turn away from sin, and faithfully obey everything that the Lord has commanded of us).

The Law is good in so much as it is a reflection of God's nature and as His Spirit is at work within us, we desire to do the things in alignment with God's character and nature (not our old character and nature).  However, the false teachers are lawless--living as if there is no Law (maybe even teaching others that the Law has no purpose or is something bad (it is not, it is something very good).  They teach others to be disobedient and to live lives that are unholy (live like the common, unsaved person instead of living as one of the people of God that is set apart and "uncommon.").  False teachers want people to like them, so they don't like to do the counter-cultural things that separate God's kingdom from the kingdom of this world.  This ends up leading to all kinds of immorality and and heinous sin from them and those who follow them which should help make it obvious to us that they are not the genuine article.  If somehow we got caught up flowery words and didn't see that they were preaching something different than the Word of God, their lifestyle should make it obvious to us that they are no living under the authority of God, His Word, and His commandments that we find in His Word.

We would be wise to examine those who call themselves teachers, preachers, bishops and elders in our churches today, for these false teachers have gotten into the seminaries and corrupted many from the next generation of leaders and they are at work from within, just like in Israel where those who were called to be priests, prophets, and leaders of the people were the once against the LORD and His Word and leading the people to destruction because they were focused on their own comfort and profit.  We'll see several comparisons between the false teachers of this day and those say of the time of Jeremiah.  Watch out today for false teachers and false teaching wherever you go.