Paul exhorts Timothy to fight the good fight, and strengthens this exhortation by referring him to the falling away and condemnation of some, two of whom he mentions by name
1Ti_1:18-20
18This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by [in] them mightest war a good warfare; 19Holding faith and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn [be taught] not to blaspheme.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Ti_1:18. This charge I commit unto thee,
ðáñáôßèåìáé
, committo tibi; yet not ut auditoribus proponas (Bengel); for it is obviously a precept for the official life and work of Timothy himself. Here the Apostle, after his more personal disclosure (1Ti_1:5-17), returns to his original exhortation (1Ti_1:3-4), and again directly addresses Timothy, whom he has for awhile lost sight of. The question, what
ðáñáããåëßá
properly means, is differently answered by commentators. It seems best to seek the answer in the clause immediately following,
ἵíá óôñáô
.,
ê
.
ô
.
ë
., and thus to explain
ἵíá
as a particle referring to the object. Thus Matthies, De Wette, Wiesinger, Huther, and others. It is not so much a command, in the strict sense of the word, as a tender, fatherly counsel, that Timothy shall show himself a true soldier of Jesus Christ, and so fulfil the high expectations that were justly cherished concerning him. We notice here that Paul already employs military figures (Otto).
Ðáñáããåëßá
is used of a military command; Xenophon, Hell. 11. Paul, in a Christian sense, assigns to Timothy the command against the heretics.—According to the prophecies which went before on thee. Heubner: “According to the good hopes which thou didst awaken in thy youth—hopes that wise, devout men expressed of thee, and likewise prophetically foretold, as Staupitz in the case of Luther.” Instead of this superficial view, we have every reason to refer these words to the
÷Üñéóìá ôῆò ðñïöçôåßáò
in the Christian Church at the time of the Apostle, and to compare it with 1Ti_4:14; 2Ti_1:6. Prophesyings are here, as always in the New Testament, spoken of as the fruit of a supernatural influence of the Holy Ghost; and we can easily conceive that such utterances were not wanting at the solemn ordination of Timothy to the ministry of the Gospel. These prophesyings went before in him (
ðñïáãïýóáò ἐðß óå
), preceding his entrance upon his Christian course; and Timothy would turn this hope to shame, if he shewed himself untrue to his calling.
Ἐí áὐôáῖò
, in conformity to them. The view, that those prophesyings were the weapons which Timothy must put on for the conflict, seems too artificial, and not strictly Pauline; it is simpler to regard them as the rule which must determine his conduct, or, if we will, as the limits within which he must act.—War a good warfare. De Wette is too general: “That thou, in the conduct of thy office, demean thyself worthily and bravely.” Far more happily Luther: “That thou therein do a knightly work.”
Óôñáôåßá
here does not mean the conflict of the Christian life in general, but the conflict as a leader in the church, which Timothy was to wage specially against the heretics of his day. It is a warfare, in a strict sense of the word, under the banner of the King of kings. For a correct understanding of the figurative expression, comp. 2Co_10:4; Eph_6:10-18; 1Th_5:8; 2Ti_2:3; 2Ti_2:5.—Chrysostom:
äéὰ ôß êáëåῖ óôñáôåßáí ôὸ ðñᾶãìá
;
äçëῶí
,
ὅôé ðüëåìïò ἐãÞãåñôáé óöïäñὰò ðᾶóé ìὲí ìÜëéóôá äὲ ôῷ äéäáóêÜëῳ
.
1Ti_1:19. Holding faith and a good conscience. In the conflict which we wage outwardly against the enemy, our chief concern is with the inner state and disposition of the heart.
Ἔ÷ùí
is here to be taken in the sense of
êáôÝ÷ùí
, as the participial connective denotes the manner in which Timothy must follow the exhortation (1Ti_1:18). That faith is here set forth as a weapon, as Eph_6:16 (according to Matthies), is improbable, on account of the inner connection of
ðßóôéí
and
óõíåßäíóéí ἀãáèÞí
. The Apostle simply means that Timothy shall guard both—that is, shall hold fast, and not renounce them. There is thus the same connection of faith and conscience here as in 1Ti_1:5. Unbelief is with the Apostle not theoretical, but practical—bound with the inward state of our moral life, as is shown by what immediately follows.—Which some having put away, &c. The sense is: through the defilement of a good conscience, some have lost not only this, but also the faith which they before possessed.
Ἥí ôéíὲò ἀðùóÜìåíïé
; which—i. e., a good conscience—some have rejected, as a troublesome creditor whom they will be rid of at any cost.—Have suffered shipwreck.
Íáõáãåῖí
is a word used in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew writers, and common with us to denote severe, irrecoverable losses. It is only found in the New Testament, in its proper sense, in 2Co_11:25, and here in a figurative sense. Should it be thought that the image of a shipwreck had in the preceding
ἀðùóÜìåíïé
passed before the mind of Paul, then a good conscience must be regarded not as the rudder (Mack), but as the anchor (Wiesinger), with whose loss the whole vessel is ruined. The proposition,
ðåñὶ
, c. accus., denotes especially what they had lost in the wreck. “Metaphora a naufragio, sumpta aptissime quadrat, nam innuit, ut salva fides ad portum usque pervenit, navigationis nostræ cursum bona conscientia regendum esse, alias naufragii esse periculum, hoc est, ne fides mala conscientia tanquam gurgite in mari procelloso immergatur;” Calvin.
1Ti_1:20. Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander. Hymeneus; perhaps the same mentioned in 2Ti_2:17. Alexander; probably not the same mentioned in 2Ti_4:14 as
ὁ ÷áëêåýò
, since, in this case, the excommunication would have the appearance of personal revenge; perhaps we should refer it to the Ephesian named in Act_19:33, who, without doubt, was well enough known to Timothy.—Whom I have delivered unto Satan. The formal sentence of excommunication, by which any were separated from the church and given over to the powers of darkness which ruled in heathendom (Col_1:13 and 1Co_5:5). Here, as in the passages just cited, the Apostle seems to point mentally
åἰò ὄëåèñ
.
ôῆò óáñêüò
, as may be inferred from the following
ἵíá ðáéäåõè
.,
ê
.
ô
.
ë
., which, however, should not be regarded as the effect of the ban of the church per se, but rather of a just, divine recompense. That the Apostle here speaks only of what he had done in his own mind (Planck, Matthies), is mere conjecture. The expression admits of no other explanation than that of a fact already completed, which he either for the first time disclosed to Timothy, or for good reasons mentioned again.—That they may learn,
ἵíá ðáéäåõèῶóé
, with the added thought of the chastisement which, in the view of the Apostle, ought to restrain them from a repetition of the blasphemy which, without doubt, they had already uttered against God and Christ. “Facto fidei naufragio, blasphemiæ periculum adest;” Bengel. [The phrase here used may probably have been drawn from the formula of excommunication used in the apostolic church. Alford thinks the delivering to Satan “an apostolic act for the purpose of correction, which might or might not be accompanied by extrusion from the church,” Vide in loco. But the solemn strength of the phrase seems hardly to admit the idea of a lesser penalty. The kingdoms of Christ and of Satan are conceived of as two opposites. Augustine well calls this discipline of excommunication, “Medicinalis vindicta, terribilis lenitas, charitatis severitas.” Ad Liter. Petilian. 3, 4.—W.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. As the life of the individual Christian is a constant warfare, so may the life of an upright minister of the gospel be specially regarded from this point of view; and above all, in the days when error lifts its head boldly and arrogantly, as in the time of Timothy. There is, however, a false lust for strife, as a false love of grace, against which the young minister of the word cannot be too earnestly warned. Striking suggestions as to the way in which he must wage the
êáëὴí óôñáôåßáí
, and guide his official life, may be found in the old, well-known work of J. Valentin Andreä, entitled, “The Good Life of a Righteous Servant of the Gospel,” which is referred to by Herder, in his “Letters on the Study of Theology,” and is still worthy of study. His contrast of the good and bad teacher ought not to be forgotten: “Præceptor bonus ducit, dum malus trahit; lucet ille, hic offuscat; docet ille, hic confundit; regit ille, hic impellit; excitat ille, hic deprimit; oblectat ille, hic angit; format ille, hic destruit. Paucis dicam: nisi præceptor ipse liber, imo bibliotheca, et museum inambulans sit, nisi laboris breviarum et manubrium, nisi linguarum artiumque repertorium et formula, nisi insuper patriæ et ecclesiæ ornamentum audiat, non sapit ad ingenium nostrum. Nam libros repetere et exigere, ad laborem agere et stimulare, præcepta, regulas dictaque obtrudere, cujus vis est; summam rei monstrare, facilitatem aperire, applicationem adhibere, usum docere, exemplo præire, denique ad Christum omnia referre, hoc opus, hic sudor Christianus est, quem nullæ orbis opes rependerint.” See Hagenbach’s “Lectures on the History of the Reformation,” in loco.
2. The Pauline conception of the inner relation of faith and conscience is of the highest significance. As unbelief nearly always leads either to grosser or more refined immorality, so not rarely it begins from an immoral ground, at least when faith existed before. This conception is thoroughly Pauline; comp. Rom_1:21; and, again, our Lord’s own view of it, Joh_7:17. It is a deep mental truth; for it is far too common to represent faith or infidelity as a matter of abstract opinion. Gospel truth is no mere work of the understanding or the memory; the light of the gospel is life, and its work is power. It can only then be grasped, when knowledge and affection and volition are joined, so that the thought has root in the affections, and activity in the will; as, reversely, an action severed from Christian knowledge and affection can never be Christian. It would be interesting to study the history of heresies from this point of view, and to seek the deepest moral ground of the greatest errors. On the other hand, it is obvious that a conscientious, moral life, is essential to the stability of the life of faith. Compare the essay of Ed. Guder on “The Scriptural Doctrine of Conscience;” Theol. Stud, und Kritik., 1857; Otto, p. 98.
3. What Paul says of Hymeneus and Alexander, shows us how highly he valued church discipline, and how much the looseness and indifference of many churches in this respect directly contradicts his spirit and example. Yet it should be noticed, that he only resorted to this in extreme cases, and then solely with the view to effect reformation by such punishment, and to save the soul from eternal harm. The inquisition of the Roman Church is thus as fully condemned here, as the indifference of many members of the evangelical church.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The Christian life, as well as that of every true minister of the gospel, a warfare.—Wo to the herald of the gospel who does not fulfil all that is justly expected of him.—Faith lost, all lost.—The inner connection of faith and conscience, of the religious and moral life.—The shipwreck of faith: (1) How easily one can suffer shipwreck; (2) how disastrous the end.—The sight of another’s apostasy ought to lead us to greater diligence, to greater truth and watchfulness.—Ecclesiastical discipline: (1) Its principle; (2) its right; (3) its purpose; (4) its mode; (5) its limits.—Even the punishment of sin may be transformed into blessing.
Starke: Lange’s Op.: Our spiritual strife does not cease, but lasts as long as we live, for our spiritual enemies never die.—What the eye is to the head, and the heart to the body, the conscience is to faith and to a complete Christianity.—It is very tender, and must therefore be well guarded.—It is not an unavoidable necessity that any should fall away from the grace of God, but rather it is possible and necessary to abide therein to the end (1Co_15:13).—Osiander: The departure of Hymeneus and Alexander from the pure doctrine, shows that some will always fall away, although the servants of the church fulfil their office truly (2Co_11:28). The Romish excommunication is different from the apostolic, as darkness from light; for it does not come from God, but is rather a work of Satan; not against the enemy, but to destroy the friends and witnesses of the truth (Joh_16:2-3).—Heubner: The remembrance of the hopes of a former teacher is a great stimulus, an earnest call to be and to do what others have expected of us.—It is a grave truth: sinful life leads to unbelief; religion becomes doubtful; it is for our interest to doubt. Strive, then, earnestly to abide in communion with Christ—Chastisements are healing messengers of God for the recovery of men.
