1 Timothy 1.9b-10-Paul Presents A Vice List That Characterizes The Unsaved
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 3, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:9b-10-Paul Presents A Vice List That Characterizes The Unsaved
Lesson # 19
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:1.
Last evening we studied 1 Timothy 1:9a, which records Paul teaching that the Mosaic Law does not apply to those who already declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ but for those who are unsaved.
This evening 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)
“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 and specifically this corresponds to nine of the Ten Commandments.
“For those who are lawless and rebellious” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the adjective anomos (ἄνομος) (ah-no-moce), “for those who are lawless” and the dative masculine plural form of the adjective anupotaktos (ἀνυπότακτος) (ah-nee-poe-tahk-toce), “rebellious.”
The adjective anomos is describing the unregenerate from the perspective of violating the Ten Commandments in relation to conduct directed toward God.
The adjective anupotaktos is used of the unregenerate and describes “those who are rebellious” or “insubordinate” by rejecting different types of authority ordained by God and also speaks of those who sin against God and is thus related to the first three of the Ten Commandments.
“For the ungodly and sinners” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the adjective asebes (ἀσεβής) (ah-sah-veece), “for the ungodly” and the copulative use of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the dative masculine plural form of the adjective hamartolos (ἁμαρτωλός) (ah-mar-tee-toe-loce), “sinners.”
The adjective asebes is used of the unregenerate and describes them as being “irreverent” or having no reverence for God at all, which is also a sin against God and thus corresponds also to the first three of the Ten Commandments.
The adjective hamartolos is used of the unregenerate and describes their actions or conduct as violating God’s laws and not meeting God’s perfect, holy standards.
“For the unholy and profane” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the adjective anosios (ἀνόσιος) (ah-noce-see-oce), “for the unholy” and the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by dative masculine plural form of the adjective bebelos (βέβηλος) (vev-ee-loce), “profane.”
The word anosios describes the unregenerate as “unholy” in the sense of not being set apart to serve God exclusively and describes the unregenerate’s conduct as not serving God to the exclusion of everything else in their life.
This word is also related to the first three of the Ten Commandments since it is used in relation to offenses against God.
The adjective bebelos means “worldly” describing the unregenerate as being enslaved to Satan’s cosmic system and having no interest whatsoever in the things of God and thus have no godly purpose in life.
“For those who kill their fathers or mothers” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the noun patroloas (πατρολῴας) (pah-tra-low-ahs), “for those who kill their fathers” and the copulative use of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by dative masculine plural form of the adjective metroloas (μητρολῴας) (me-tra-low-ahs), “for those who kill their mothers.”
The noun patroloas speaks of one who murders his father and metroloas refers to one who murders their mother, both of which are an extreme violation of the fifth commandment to honor one’s father and mother.
“For murderers” is the dative masculine plural form of the noun androphonois (ἀνδροφόνος) (ahn-dra-foe-noce), which means “murderer” since it is composed of the noun aner, “man” and the word phoneus, “murderer.”
This word means “murderer” and describes those among the unregenerate who violate the sixth commandment.
“Immoral men and homosexuals” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the noun pornos (πόρνος) (por-noce), “immoral men” and the dative masculine plural form of the noun arsenokoites (ἀρσενοκοίτης) (are-sah-noe-kee-teece), “homosexuals.”
The noun pornos describes those among the unregenerate who commit fornication, which is related to the violation of the seventh commandment and is referred to in other places in the Mosaic Law (Exodus 22:16-17; Deuteronomy 22:22-30; Leviticus 20:20-21).
This noun arsenokoites denotes a male homosexual, a sodomite, which of course is a violation of the seventh commandment as well.
“Kidnappers and liars and perjurers” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the noun andrapodistes (ἀνδραποδιστής) (ah-drop-owe-thee-steece), “kidnappers” and the dative masculine plural form of the noun pseustes (ψεύστης) (sev-steece), “liars” and the dative masculine plural form of the adjective epiorkos (ἐπίορκος) (em-pee-ore-koce), “perjurers.”
This word andrapodistes denotes those engaged in the business of kidnapping or stealing people and selling them into slavery and is related to the violation of the eighth commandment, which resulted in the death penalty (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7).
The word pseustes is used to describe those individuals who are unregenerate in the human race that are liars, which is a violation of the ninth commandment.
This adjective epiorkos is often used as a substantive meaning “false oath, one who swears a false oath, perjurer” and describes an individual who takes an oath and then breaks it by lying, thus, it speaks of one who has committed “perjury.”
“And whatever else is contrary to sound teaching” is a first class condition and is used as a tool of persuasion to have the reader respond to the protasis that there are other violations of the Mosaic Law that were not alluded to in the previous list that would help to characterize the unregenerate.
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that there is any other commandment.”
The response to Paul’s protasis by his Christian readership would be obvious that of course we know there is other commandments that are violated by the unregenerate that he did not allude to in the previous vice list.
The violation of the Sabbath is omitted since the Ephesian church was predominately Gentile who were not given the Mosaic Law as Israel was and the violation of the tenth commandment, which is coveting, which Paul leaves out since he deals with the subject in detail in 1 Timothy 6:8-10.
In 1 Timothy 1:10, antikeimai, “is contrary to” is used of the violation of any of commandments not alluded to in the previous vice list that is opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ’s doctrine and His apostles’, which they received from him.
In 1 Timothy 1:10, the noun didaskalia means “doctrine” and refers to the content of what the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles taught.
This term appears often in the Pastoral letters referring to the content of Christ’s teaching and His apostles in contrast to those who taught false doctrine or doctrine that was not in accord with the Lord’s teaching and His apostles (1 Timothy 4:1, 6, 13, 16; 5:17; 6:1, 3; 2 Timothy 3:10, 16; 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1, 7, 10).
The verb hugiaino means “to be sound” in the sense of being free from error or falsehood and is used to describe Paul’s apostolic teaching in contrast to the false doctrine taught by certain unidentified pastors in Ephesus who were occupied with Jewish myths and useless genealogies of the Old Testament.
Like didaskalia which it modifies, this word also appears often in the Pastorals to describe the soundness of the content of the Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching and His apostles in contrast to those who taught false doctrine and were occupied with myths and useless genealogies and being teachers of the Law (1 Timothy 6:3; 2 Timothy 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1, 2).
These two words appear together in 2 Timothy 4:3 and Titus 2:1 and have the same idea as in 1 Timothy 1:10 referring to accepted and authoritative apostolic teaching that is free from error or falsehood since it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and promotes spiritual growth in the body of Christ.
This is in contrast to the false doctrine taught by these unidentified pastors in Ephesus who were occupied with Jewish myths and useless genealogies and sought become teachers of the Law.