1 Timothy 1.9a-The Mosaic Law Does Not Apply To Those Who Are Already Declared Righteous Through Faith In Christ But For Those Who Are Unsaved
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 2, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:9-10-The Mosaic Law Does Not Apply To Those Who Are Already Declared Righteous Through Faith In Christ But For The Unsaved
Lesson # 18
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:1.
This evening we will study 1 Timothy 1:9a, which records Paul teaching that the Mosaic Law does not apply to those who are already declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ but is for those who are saved.
Tomorrow we will note 1 Timothy 1:9b-10, which presents a vice list that serves to characterize the unsaved.
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. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. (NASU)
“Realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person” is composed of the nominative masculine singular perfect active participle form of the verb oida (οἶδα) (ee-tha), “realizing” and the accusative neuter singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος) (oo-toce), “the fact” and the conjunction hoti (ὅτι) (owe-tee), “that” and the nominative masculine singular form of the noun nomos (νόμος) (no-mose), “law” and the third person singular present passive indicative form of the verb keimai (κεῖμαι) (kee-meh), “is made” and the emphatic negative adverb ou (οὐ) (oo), “not” and the dative masculine singular form of the adjective dikaios (δίκαιος) (thee-kay-oce), “for a righteous person.”
As was the case in verse 8, the verb oida in verse 9 means, “to know as an accepted fact, to affirm as an accepted fact.”
It indicates that what Paul is going to teach about the Mosaic Law in verses 9-11 is a commonly accepted doctrine and the correct application of it.
The word means “to affirm an accepted fact” in the sense that what Paul is asserting about the Law in verses 8-11 is inspired and confirmed by the Holy Spirit and accepted by the apostles.
The participle form of the verb is an “epexegetical participle” meaning that it is defining the action of the main verb and usually follows it.
Here it follows the verb eimi, which is omitted by Paul in the apodasis of verse 8 due to his use of the figure of ellipsis though it is implied.
The verb eimi in verse 8 means “does, as an eternal spiritual truth, exist in the state of being.”
Therefore, in verse 9 Paul is defining or explaining more explicitly why the Law is useful if one makes use of it lawfully.
Once again as was the case in verse 8, the noun nomos here in verse 9 refers to the Mosaic Law and specifically to the moral code or Ten Commandments even though the word is anarthrous.
This is indicated by the fact that this hoti appositional clause in which the word appears is defining verse 8, which presents the spiritual principle that the Law is useful if one makes use of it lawfully.
Also, the anarthrous construction of nomos appears in other places in Paul’s writings for the Mosaic Law.
The anarthrous construction of nomos is emphasizing a particular aspect of the Mosaic Law, namely, the moral code or Ten Commandments.
This is indicated by the fact that the first three couplets are offenses against God that correspond to the first four of the Ten Commandments and the remaining vices, which are offenses against people, correspond to the next five commandments.
The verb keimai is used as a legal term and means “to establish” for a particular purpose and is used of course with respect to the Law.
The word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which should be translated accordingly with an emphatic sense such as “by no means.”
Therefore, with these two words Paul is saying that “by no means” was the Law “established” for believers but rather for unbelievers.
This verb forms a word play with verb antikeimai, which appears in verse 10 and is translated “is contrary to.”
The present tense of the verb is a “gnomic present,” which is used for a general timeless fact or spiritual axiom, or an eternal spiritual truth.
This indicates that the Ten Commandments are “an eternal spiritual truth” by no means established for the Christian but the unsaved.
The passive voice of the verb is a divine passive since the book of Exodus records God establishing the Law by giving it to Moses on Mount Sinai for the nation of Israel.
In 1 Timothy 1:9, the adjective dikaios functions as a substantive and refers to the Christian and describes their state of possessing the “absolute” righteousness of God through imputation as a result of exercising faith alone in Christ alone.
It describes those sinners who have been declared justified as a result of receiving the imputation of righteousness as a gift the moment they exercised faith alone in Christ.
It speaks of the positional stage of transforming the Christian into the image of Christ.
The adjective dikaios does not refer to the Christian living in the righteousness of God or in other words experiencing divine righteousness but rather it refers to the positional aspect of righteousness.
In other words it refers to the state of the sinner who possesses divine righteousness as a result of being declared justified by God as a result of receiving the gift of righteousness through imputation the moment they exercised faith alone in Christ alone.
This is indicated not only by the meaning of the word, which is emphasizing the state of possessing righteousness but also because Paul is contrasting this word with the unsaved.
In the adversative clause, he presents a list of sins that are in violation of the Ten Commandments and characterize the unsaved.
The Law was designed to reveal God’s holy character, man’s sinful condition and lead the sinner to Christ.
The Christian, i.e. the justified sinner is already convinced that they are a sinner and have come to Christ.
Thus, they benefited from this purpose of the Law.
The unsaved have not.
Thus, when Paul presents the vice list in verses 9b-10, it is a list of sins that characterize those who have not yet responded to this three-fold purpose of the Law.
Paul is saying that those who have already been declared righteous have no need for this three-fold purpose of the Law.
However, those who are characterized by the lists of sins in verses 9b-10 still have need of the Law since they have not yet come to Christ, which the Law was designed to lead them to.
Therefore, the unidentified pastors in Ephesus who were attempting to be teachers of the Law and were teaching adherence to the Ten Commandments were misapplying the Law by emphasizing obedience to the Law as the basis for the Christian way of life.
1 Timothy 1:9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers. (NASU)
“But for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers” is presenting an emphatic contrast between the Christian’s relationship to the Law and the relationship that the unsaved have with respect to it.
In this adversative clause Paul employs a rhetorical device known as a vice list in order to make clear to the Ephesian church, which particular group of people that the Law benefits.
This vice list does not emphasize sin but a certain group of people, namely the unsaved in contrast to the Christian who is righteous through faith in Christ.
This list identifies the unsaved as benefiting from the three-fold purpose of the Law.
This vice list corresponds to the Ten Commandments, i.e. the Decalogue.
Specifically this corresponds to nine of the Ten Commandments.