Apostasy Series: Paul Predicts the Apostasy of Many Ephesian Pastors Lesson # 3

There are many passages in the New Testament which speak directly to apostasy in the church (cf. Acts 20:28-30; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 1:3-11; 18-20; 4:1-6; 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 1:15; 2:16-18; 3:1-9; 4:1-4; Tit. 1:10-14; 3 John).

In Acts 20:28-30, the apostle Paul prophesied that there would apostasy among the pastors in the Christian community at Ephesus.

This prophecy was fulfilled according to Paul’s statements in First Timothy 4:1-5 since the situation Paul addresses in Ephesus in First Timothy 4:1-5 corresponds to the situation described by Paul in Acts 20:28-30 where certain pastors in Ephesus were obeying the teaching of the Judaizers.

Acts 20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. 18 And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. 24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. 25 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26 “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for 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. 29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. (NASB95)

That First Timothy 4:1 is a reference to the prophecy recorded in Acts 20:28-30 is indicated by the fact that it is addressed to the pastors in Ephesus and warning them that some of their number will in the future speak perverse things, i.e. false doctrine.

This corresponds to the situation described by Paul in 1 Timothy 1:3-20 where certain pastors in Ephesus were obeying the teaching of the Judaizers, who are the wolves in Acts 20:29, and teaching false doctrine and attempting to be teachers of the Law.

Furthermore, 1 Timothy 4:1-5 is further describing the situation in Ephesus at the time of writing where some Christians are falling away from the Christian faith by being occupied with deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons that are propagated by the Judaizers.

1 Timothy 4:3 reveals that the Judaizers were forbidding marriage and prohibiting certain foods because they still adhered to the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law.

Therefore, we can conclude that kairos in 1 Timothy 4:1 is a reference to this prophecy in Acts 20:28-30 because of a comparison of Acts 20:28-30, 1 Timothy 1:3-20 and 1 Timothy 4:1-5.

In First Timothy 4:1-6, the apostle Paul predicts that in later times certain individuals would abandon the Christian faith by being occupied with deceitful spirits, specifically, doctrines originating from demons.

First Timothy 4:1 However, the Spirit explicitly has said and it applies at this present moment that in later times certain individuals will allow themselves to abandon the Christian faith by being occupied with deceitful spirits, specifically, doctrines originating from demons, 2 by means of hypocrisy produced by those who speak falsehood, who have seared their own conscience. 3 Those who forbid marriage. Those who command abstinence from foods, which God the Son created for the purpose of partaking with thanksgiving for the benefit of believers, specifically, for the benefit of those who possess an experiential knowledge of the truth. 4 Because each and every creature produced by God the Son is, as an eternal spiritual truth undefiled. In other words, absolutely nothing is, as an eternal spiritual truth rejected consequently it is always to be received with thanksgiving. 5 For you see, it is, as an eternal spiritual truth sanctified by means of the Word originating from God the Son as well as prayer. (My translation)

“In later times, certain individuals will allow themselves to abandon the Christian faith by being occupied with deceitful spirits, specifically, doctrines originating from demons” refers to the prophecy recorded in Acts 20:28-30.

This is indicated by the fact that it is addressed to the pastors in Ephesus and warning them that some of their number will in the future speak perverse things, i.e. false doctrine.

This corresponds to the situation described by Paul in 1 Timothy 1:3-20 where certain pastors in Ephesus were obeying the teaching of the Judaizers, who are the wolves in Acts 20:29.

These pastors were teaching false doctrine and attempting to be teachers of the Law.

1 Timothy 4:3 reveals that the Judaizers were forbidding marriage and abstaining from certain foods because they strictly adhered to the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law.

Furthermore, 1 Timothy 4:1-5 is further describing the situation in Ephesus at the time of writing where some Christians are falling away from the Christian faith by being occupied with deceitful spirits and specifically doctrines of demons that are propagated by the Judaizers.

Therefore, we can conclude that kairos in 1 Timothy 4:1 is a reference to this prophecy in Acts 20:28-30 because of a comparison of Acts 20:28-30, 1 Timothy 1:3-20 and 1 Timothy 4:1-5.

“In later times” indicates that the prophecy communicated by the Spirit and recorded in Acts 20:28-30 refers to an indefinite period in the future from the time that the Spirit issued this prophecy.

The implication is that of a particular state of affairs in the church, which is described in 1 Timothy 4:1 as that of certain individuals in the Christian community falling away from the Christian faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.

“The Christian faith” is the noun pistis, which refers to the content of what Paul taught the Gentile churches or in other words as a description of the gospel.

It refers to the gospel from the perspective of a body of doctrine or that which is believed by the church.

Thus, pistis is synonymous for the gospel and speaks of it from a different perspective, namely that which the church believes.

“Will allow themselves to abandon” is the verb aphistemi and denotes that these Christians had lost interest in and had ceased from maintaining, practicing or applying the apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel, which Paul in 1 Timothy 1:10-11 says is synonymous with sound doctrine.

This gospel he also describes in 1 Timothy 3:15 as truth and in 1 Timothy 3:16 as the mystery, which is the way of godliness.

This mystery is also identified as the Christian faith in 1 Timothy 3:9.

Therefore, these Christians led by those pastors whom Paul describes in chapter one had abandoned the way of godliness, which is revealed in Paul’s apostolic teaching, which is the gospel and sound doctrine and the Christian faith.

This verb indicates that these Christians were learning and obeying the Christian faith, Christian doctrine but now had done a 180 and were not learning and not obeying it anymore.

The implication is that they were not protected anymore from the lies of Satan’s cosmic system.

The word means that they were renouncing, defecting from, departing from, withdrawing from Christian teaching in order to follow after the demonic teaching of the Judaizers and refers to active rebellion against God.

This term indicates that the pastors in Ephesus whom Paul describes in chapter one and whose teaching he further describes in 1 Timothy 4:1-5 and those who were following them were actively rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ by rejecting His teaching that was propagated through His apostles.

It means that they were not deceived or tricked into rebelling against the Lord, they did it knowingly and willingly.

In 1 Timothy 1:19, Paul describes this abandonment of Christian doctrine as the shipwreck of one’s faith.

This expression describes the spiritual disaster that has taken place in the souls of these pastors in Ephesus who sought to be teachers of the Law.

It speaks of the catastrophic damage to their fellowship with God as a result of rejecting Paul’s teaching and adhering to the false teaching of the Judaizers.

Therefore, in 1 Timothy 4:2-3, Paul is describing the human agency that the kingdom of darkness employed to lead these pastors in Ephesus away from the gospel and the way of godliness and into apostasy, which corresponds to the prophecy in Acts 20:28-30.

Remember Paul, through the Spirit, told the pastors in Ephesus in Acts 20:29 that after his departure savage wolves would come in among them and not spare the flock of God.

In Acts 20:30, he warned these pastors that from among their own selves men would arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

The Judaizers are the wolves mentioned in Acts 20:29 who would come in and not spare these pastors in the sense that they would devour these pastors with false doctrine, which would result in some of these pastors speaking false doctrine.

Therefore, in 1 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul is describing three different groups of individuals.

The first is the pastors in Ephesus who obeyed the teaching of the Judaizers while the second are the fallen angels who were the ultimate source behind the teaching and the third are the Judaizers who were the human agency employed by the kingdom of darkness to propagate their evil teachings.