The Good Fight

1 Timothy 1

Introduction

Fight the Good Fight

Timothy is urged to stay (1 Tim. 1:3, 18).

Remaining seems to be a difficulty that Timothy is needing urging to heed.

Confronting is not pleasant work. One would much prefer speaking to a receptive audience.

So Paul urges and even adds the word command in v. 18.

Instruct certain men (1 Tim. 1:3, 20; Acts 20:29-30).

False doctrines don’t just swirl around in the either.

They are taught by men.

Those men need to be identified and confronted.

I don’t mean every case of every word spoken out to be prosecuted like a federal case. But neither can we stay in the hypothetical world when real teachers of false doctrine are at play.

Remember the words of God (1 Tim. 1:18; cf. Jer. 1:4-8).

We don’t know what prophecies were made concerning Timothy but we do know about some other places where God called men to do his work.

Whatever they were, they were words that could give confidence and courage.

We do not have such specific words and we ought to be careful about appropriating words meant for a specific individual.

But where God calls men to do His work and uses words meant to build them up in that work, we find those words remain for us to be encouraged as well.

We too stand on promises that are no less secure though they are less specific to me.

Fighting well (1 Tim. 1:18-19; 1 Cor. 10:3-4).

The imagery of warfare is one that needs tremendous balance.

On the one hand, the obvious take away is that there is a fight and we need to engage. This rebukes the unengaged “nice guy” approach that “doesn’t really get involved” in the “issues”.

On the other hand, we don’t fight like the world and that isn’t even talking about physical weapons (though that would be out too here).

We fight in ways that maintain our loyalty to the king and a clean conscience about our words and deeds.

Remember the goal (1 Tim. 1:5).

Our goal is not to crush or humiliate our enemies.

Our goal is to teach people about being sincere Christians.

This will help guide our approach and offer some of that balance we were just speaking of.

False Doctrines

Teaching something different (1 Tim. 1:3).

The word for strange or false here is a word that includes the prefix “hetero” which of course means different.

Different from what? Well, of course, different from what had been taught.

Now, of course, Paul isn’t saying from what has been taught the longest or what has been taught the most frequent is the standard but rather his own instruction (Gal. 1:8-9).

Mere speculation (1 Tim. 1:4, 6-7).

The myths here are not Greek mythologies but much more likely to be Jewish traditions that were added alongside the Law to offer enhancements.

The genealogies in these works would provide supposed special knowledge and insight into stories that offered few details from Moses.

These additions would challenge the most obvious meanings of the original text.

This is rampant today. We have just changed the name of our mythology to “Ancient Near East customs”.

We find a scrap here or there that indicates some particular practice or thought process in the time of a Biblical writing and if that practice or thought process contradicts the Bible story in some way, we take the scrap and set aside the word of God.

These are not the sorts of speculations that only satisfy curiosity, but of the sort that destabilize the notion that we can ever truly know what any text says.

The administration of God (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9).

God has a plan and has communicated that plan.

What we need to know, we have been told.

He didn’t mean for us to spend all of our time wandering off the path He set in place, especially when we use that divergent path to negate the actual one (Deut. 29:29).

Teachers of the law (1 Tim. 1:7-10; Lk. 5:17; Acts 5:34).

These teachers are the same as those who would set aside the Law when it suited them.

Paul says, “no, it means exactly what it says.”

All of this additional information does nothing to set aside the straightforward teaching of the Law.

I really can’t help but see parallels with modern day “teachers of the law” who see in the law and the prophets support for every modern social concern of theirs meanwhile explaining away clear condemnation of sin at every turn.

As Paul says (and Jesus before him), “they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”

Paul’s Example

Paul points to his own conversion and work as an example (1 Tim. 1:12).

By doing so he highlights his (and therefore our) unworthiness in the work (1 Tim. 1:13-14).

This helps him (and us) maintain the focus of the work (1 Tim. 1:15-16).

And it is all in service to the King (1 Tim. 1:17).

Conclusion

I have a job to do. It is not mine alone but it is certainly mine to do.

I am thankful to be working with a group of people who share that goal and support that work.

But if you are here and not a Christian, understand that all the teaching we do is toward the aim that you might become one and become one sincerely.

Whatever efforts we make at teaching clearly the whole counsel of God, we make to bring you to love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere allegiance to the King.

Would you be persuaded to that end today?