1 Timothy 1.5-The Result Of Obeying Paul's Commands In Verses 3 And 4 Is Love From A Pure Heart, A Good Conscience And A Sincere Faith
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 25, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:5-The Result Of Obeying Paul’s Commands In Verses 3 And 4 Is Love From A Pure Heart, A Good Conscience And A Sincere Faith
Lesson # 13
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:1.
This evening, we will study 1 Timothy 1:5, which records Paul writing to Timothy that the goal of his and Timothy’s instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, 2 to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (NASU)
Verse 5 presents a contrast between the negative ungodly results of these pastors in Ephesus teaching false doctrine and being occupied with myths and useless genealogies and the positive results of their being faithful in administrating God’s household.
The negative result of the former is that the church in Ephesus will be involved with pointless arguments.
The positive result of the latter is the church will function in God’s love for one another since the result of obeying Paul’s apostolic teaching is love for God and love each other.
“The goal of our instruction is love” is composed of the articular nominative neuter singular form of the noun telos (τέλος) (the-loce), “the goal” and the articular genitive feminine singular form of the parangelia (παραγγελία) (pahr-ahn-ya-lee-ah), “of our instruction” and the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “is” and the nominative feminine singular form of the noun agape (ἀγάπη) (ah-gah-pee), “love.”
The noun telos does not mean “objective” or “purpose” but rather “result” since Paul is contrasting the negative ungodly results of these pastors in Ephesus teaching false doctrine and being occupied with myths and useless genealogies and the positive results of their being faithful in administrating God’s household.
Also, further supporting this interpretation is that the noun parangelia functions as a genitive of product meaning that it is the product of the noun telos to which it stands related.
This would indicate that Paul is saying that the result “which (obeying) this command produces” is love for one another in contrast to pointless arguments with one another.
In 1 Timothy 1:5, the noun parangelia refers to Paul’s prohibition that appears in 1 Timothy 1:3-4, which prohibited a certain group of unidentified pastors in Ephesus from teaching false doctrine and being occupied with myths and useless genealogies.
This is indicated by the word’s articular construction, which is anaphoric referring back to this prohibition.
Related to this is that Paul uses the noun form of the verb parangello that appears in verse 3 suggesting that Paul wants us to see the connection with the prohibition in verses 3 and 4 and his statement in verse 5.
Paul’s use of anacoluthon in 1:3-18 strongly suggests that the noun parangelia in verse 18 is used with reference to the prohibition in verses 3 and 4.
Also, Paul does not use alla but rather de since he wants to show the connection between the prohibition in verses 3 and 4 and his purpose for having Timothy communicate this prohibition to these unidentified pastors in Ephesus.
This would indicate that parangelia is referring to this prohibition rather than the general command to love one another.
Thus, as a result, the noun parangelia not only refers to the prohibition in verses 3 and 4 for certain pastors in Ephesus to not teach false doctrine or be occupied with myths and useless genealogies but also it refers to them being faithful in administrating God’s household.
In 1 Timothy 1:5, the noun agape means “divine-love” and refers to the exercise of divine-love that is produced by the Holy Spirit through the believer who is obedient to the command to love one another since Paul wants the Ephesians to reflect God’s love for them in their relationships with each other.
“From a pure heart” is composed of the preposition ek (ἐκ), “from” and the genitive feminine singular form of the adjective katharos (καθαρός) (ka-tha-roce), “a pure” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun kardia (καρδία) (car-thee-ah), “heart.”
The noun kardia means “heart” referring specifically to the hearts of believers.
The word denotes that aspect of the soul, which circulates thought or mental activity and is where one’s frame of reference and memory center resides.
It is also the place where one’s vocabulary and the classification of thoughts reside as well as the conscience where the norms and standards reside.
A person’s entire mental attitude circulates in the kardia as well as the subconscious where various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located.
Also, it contains the volition, which enables a person to make decisions.
The adjective katharos modifies the noun kardia and means “pure” and refers to the state or condition of the believer’s heart that does not have any known sin circulating in its stream of consciousness.
It refers to the believer who has confessed his sins to the Father and as a result is experiencing fellowship with God and is filled with the Spirit or more accurately is influenced by means of the Spirit.
This prepositional phrase teaches that when the Christian obeys the command to love one another as Christ loved him it is from a heart that is experiencing fellowship with God and being influenced by the Holy Spirit.
“And a good conscience” is composed of the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the genitive feminine singular form of the noun suneidesis (συνείδησις) (see-nee-thee-sees), “conscience” and the genitive feminine singular form of the adjective agathos (ἀγαθός) (ah-ga-thoce), “a good.”
The noun suneidesis means “conscience” and speaks of that aspect of the human soul where the Christian’s norms and standards reside, which are to be based upon the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God.
The adjective agathos is modifying the noun suneidesis, “conscience” and describes the conscience as divine in quality and character because it is in accordance with the Father’s will.
Therefore, the conscience, where the norms and standards reside, is divine in quality and character because the teaching of the Spirit as recorded in the Word are the basis for the norms and standards.
Agathos describes the Christian’s conscience as being intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent because their norms and standards are based upon the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God.
Therefore, Paul is saying in 1 Timothy 1:5 that when the believer is exercising God’s love towards his fellow believer it finds its source not only in a pure heart but also from a conscience that is good in the sense of being divine in quality and character because it is governed by the Spirit and the Word.
This prepositional phrase indicates that loving one’s fellow Christian as Christ loved all men also finds its source in a conscience that is divine good in quality and character.
“And a sincere faith” is composed of the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις) (pee-steece), “faith” and the genitive feminine singular form of the adjective anupokritos (ἀνυπόκριτος) (ah-nee-poe-kree-toce), “sincere.”
The noun pistis speaks of the Christians’ post-conversion faith in the Word of God or in other words, their faith in the Spirit’s teaching that is revealed through the communication of the Word of God.
It does not refer to saving faith or faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation but rather the Christian’s faith in the Word of God since in context Paul is addressing the conduct of Christians as a result of their pastors teaching sound doctrine rather than false doctrine.
Also, in context, pistis is used in relation to the Christian obeying the command to love his fellow believer as Christ loves, which is accomplished by exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God and specifically, the command to love one another as Christ loves.
Obedience to the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God to love one another as Christ loved is the direct result of the believer exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching since obedience to the commands of the Word of God are the direct result of exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God.
The adjective anupokritos means “sincere” and is used to modify the noun pistis and indicates that love for one’s fellow believer originates from a faith in the Word of God that is “sincere.”
It is sincere in the sense that the Christian does not simply talk about loving his fellow believer he demonstrates it by both his words and actions since obeying the command to love one another is the direct result of exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God.
This third phrase means that loving one’s fellow Christian as Christ loved all men originates from not only a pure heart and also a conscience that is divine good in quality and character but also originates from a faith in the Word of God that is sincere.