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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - 1 Timothy 1:18 - 1:20
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Ti_1:18-20
18This 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, 19keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 20Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
1Ti_1:18 "command" Paul uses two military terms in this chapter: (1) "command" (1Ti_1:3; 1Ti_1:5; 1Ti_1:18) and (2) "fight the good fight" (1Ti_1:18; cf. 2Co_10:3-6; Eph_6:10-17). This paragraph (i.e., 1Ti_1:18-20) returns to the false teachers' theological issue of 1Ti_1:3-7.
NASB, TEV "entrust"
NKJV "commit"
NRSV, NJB "giving"
This is a present middle indicative of paratithçmi. Paul entrusted the work of the gospel to Timothy (cf. 1Ti_6:20; 2Ti_1:14, just as Jesus had entrusted it to him, cf. 2Ti_1:12) to pass on to other faithful men (cf. 2Ti_2:2).
This term is used of
1. Jesus entrusting Himself to God in Luk_23:46
2. believers entrusting themselves to God in Act_14:23
3. Paul entrusting believers to God in Act_20:32
4. believers entrusting the new generation in 2Ti_2:2
▣ "in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you" Timothy received both spiritual giftedness and prophetic confirmation by the church in Lystra at the time of the laying on of hands (cf. 1Ti_4:14). This phrase can mean (1) "made about you" (cf. NRSV) or (2) "led me to you" (cf. RSV).
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▣ "fight the good fight" Often the Christian life is depicted as an athletic event or warfare, as here. The prophecies concerning Timothy enabled him to continually and courageously fight the good fight like Paul (present middle subjunctive, cf. 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_2:3-4; 2Ti_4:7; 2Co_10:3-6; Eph_6:10-17).
1Ti_1:19 "keeping faith and a good conscience" The good fight involves having and continuing to have (perfect active participle)
1. faith
2. good conscience
Both of these are mentioned in 1Ti_1:5. They are mentioned again because the loss of them is the very reason some members of the church have shipwrecked their faith. Faith could refer to either (1) Christian doctrine or (2) Christian living. Both are crucial.
We learn from 2Ti_2:17 that Hymenaeus was involved in doctrinal deviation (asserting the resurrection had already taken place) and godlessness (cf. 2Ti_2:16). The other named person, Alexander, can not be the silversmith mentioned in 2Ti_4:14 and Acts 19 because he was an enemy of the gospel.
Their rejection of truth and godliness was not due to deception, but willful rejection (aorist middle [deponent] participle of apôtheô, cf. Act_7:39; Act_13:46; Rom_11:1). See notes on conscience at 1Ti_1:5.
▣ "which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regards to their faith" This is a difficult and controversial subject. See hyperlink at 1Ti_4:1. There are so many examples of apostasy in
1 Timothy (cf. 1Ti_1:19; 1Ti_4:1-2; 1Ti_5:14-15; 1Ti_6:9-10; 1Ti_6:21; also 2Ti_2:16-18; 2Ti_3:1-8; 2Ti_3:13; 2Pe_2:1; 2Pe_2:20-21; Jud_1:4). See hyperlink at 1Ti_4:1.
1Ti_1:20 "I have handed over to Satan" This is a very difficult phrase. Biblical precedents are
1. God using Satan to tempt Job (Job_2:6)
2. the Spirit thrusting Jesus into Satanic testing (Mar_1:12)
3. Paul turning a believer over to Satan in order to purify him so that he may ultimately be restored (1Co_5:5)
Notice the stated purpose in 1Ti_1:20 is to teach them not to blaspheme. It may refer to excommunication from the believing fellowship. God's temporal discipline is always redemptive. God uses Satan to test human beings (cf. Genesis 3; Job 1-2; Zechariah 3). In a sense, Satan is a tool of God. It is Satan's rebellion against God, his desire for independence, that makes him evil, not his tempting duties. See hyperlink at 1Ti_3:6.
The use of this phrase implies there is hope for these false teachers and their followers. However, the similar metaphor used for the false teachers in 1Ti_4:2 implies there is no hope for them.
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