The Church and its Message

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Sound Doctrine

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As usual, the first thing that Paul does is establish his authority as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Notice how he became an Apostle, "By command of God, through Jesus Christ." He also establishes the fact that he and Timothy had been called to be ministers of the Word. He wanted to remind the congregation at Ephesus, where Timothy was, of this fact. Christ not only called Paul to be an Apostle but he also was Paul's Lord and Savior and the source of the hope that was in him.

Notice for Timothy, Paul wanted only the best. Grace - Mercy - Peace. Could any one wish for any thing more? So having established his position and the position of Timothy, Paul gets down to the business of the letter.

In this chapter, Paul is appealing to the church to keep a "sound doctrine", a "sound ministry", and a "sound faith". Lets see if we can determine what was going on at Ephesus that was contrary to this. First, how did these people know what a sound doctrine was? Well, God had committed the Word of Truth to Paul and Paul had committed it to Timothy and Timothy passed it along to this church at Ephesus. So they did know the Truth of the Word on which a sound doctrine could be established.

So what was the problem? Paul identifies, in a general way, that the problem was "false teachings" and "endless genealogies". Later on we will see that Titus faced the same problems at Crete. What exactly were these problems? Well they had dug out the Old Testament genealogies in an attempt to establish blood lines as necessary for salvation thus substituting the Gospel Truth with man made doctrine. This was a "false teaching" and instead of producing love and a "no so" faith, it produces divisions and hypocrisy, division between the Greeks and the Jews and hypocrisy among the Jews who somehow after, many years of being dispersed from Israel, thought they could establish bloodlines with their original families. Basically, they were trying to lead believers out of the "liberty" of Grace, into the "bondage" of legalism.

This was being done by those who loved to hear themselves talk, but did not know what they were talking about. Did Paul say that? Yes. Verse 6, "Certain persons have wondered away into vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the Law, but without understanding either about what they were saying or the things about which they were talking."

We, as believers in Christ, must understand the position of the Law in relation to us. We, who believe in Christ, are "justified". Paul says in verse 9, "Understand this, the Law is not laid down for the just." Who then, is under the Law? Simply put, those who have not accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Amongst those would be as Paul suggests, murderers of mother and father, manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites (homosexuals) kidnappers, liars and perjurers.

Is there any use of the Law in the Dispensation of Grace? Yes, the Law convicts the sinner. It will lead the lost sinner to conviction. It will lead the saved sinner, to confession. It cannot save, it can only reveal to the sinner his need either for salvation or forgiveness. The Law diagnoses the problem, the Gospel explains the remedy. To suggest or teach any thing else is contrary to the "Word" as it was revealed to Paul and is not a sound doctrine.

Do we have any thing similar today that we should look out for? Yes, any church, and there are a few, that teaches a doctrine that takes from you complete and eternal forgiveness of all sins, past, present and future, or who limits God's forgiving Grace is teaching a false doctrine. This is a form of legalism, it "grades" Christians and teaches degrees of forgiveness.

Sound Preaching

The second message to Timothy was to preach the Gospel. Paul had taught Timothy thus Paul's testimony was Timothy's message, so here in these verses, we have Paul's testimony.

First, Paul declares what he was before he became a Christian. Paul was a "blasphemer" because he denied the deity of Christ. He denied that Jesus was the Son of God. Not only did he deny Christ, but also he forced others to deny Him. In Acts 9:1 we read that "murderous threats" were the very breath of his life. These threats were pronounced against all Christians. He used political and physical power to destroy the early church. That was when Paul was Saul the Rabbi. One commentary describes Paul at that time as "proud" and "insolent". Another describes him as a man throwing his weight around, his political weight that is. Paul simply sums it up, describing himself at that time as being a blasphemer, a persecutor and one who insulted Christ. This was Saul before he became Paul. Secondly, Paul was saved, and the events of that salvation is recorded in Acts 9:1-9. How does Paul relate it here in Timothy? Verse 14, "The Grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, and I received mercy because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief." Why did Paul believe that it was out of ignorance that he sinned? Is ignorance an excuse before God? No, Paul was simply relating to a Jewish Law that Timothy was familiar with, it said, "If a person sins knowingly, he will be cut off from his people." "But, if he sinned unknowingly, he was allowed to make atonement by making the proper sacrifices. Prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, was ignorance an excuse? Yes, apparently, for Jesus prayed on the cross to the Father, "Father forgive them, for they no not what they do."

Did Paul stop sinning when he became a Christian? No, verse 15 says, "I am (not was) the foremost of sinners." The difference now was that he no longer wanted to sin, but it was sin that made Grace so important to Paul and he thanked God for the mercy and forgiveness that was his in Christ Jesus. This very thought of the Lord's "Amazing Grace", made Paul explode into phrase, "To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever." (Thank you Lord, your Grace amazes me.)

Thirdly, what had Paul become? The persecutor became the preacher, by the Grace of God. The murderer became a missionary. The Lord knew that Paul's conversion was genuine, but what about other people? He became an outcast. Hunted and hated by the Jews and not trusted by the Christians. For seven years he wondered around until Barnabas took him under his wing.

What did God see in this little short Jew? He saw a sincere and faithful man, even when he was wrong, he was sincere and faithful. Paul was dedicated to the understanding that he had and when the Lord enlightened his mind to the truth, he used that same sincerity and faithfulness for the spread of the Gospel.

What did God do for Paul? He entrusted the Gospel to him and enabled him to preach the "good news", indwelled and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Remember, those whom God calls, He equips.

So Paul became a preacher and a missionary but he also became something else. He became an example. His former life, his conversion, his problems being accepted, his tribulations, his life and his ministry, all showed God's perfect patience with people whom He calls to eternal life and to witness. Paul, before he was converted, was typical of today's Israel. One day Israel will see Jesus as Paul saw Him on the road to Damascus. This is prophesied in Zachariah 12:10, "They shall look upon me (the Messiah) whom they pierced." Maybe this was why Paul thought he was "untimely born".

Sound Faith

So besides teaching a sound doctrine and proclaiming the Gospel, Timothy was to defend the faith, a sound faith. Here Paul uses military language, as a superior officer would pass down an urgent command, "This charge I commit to you, Timothy."

It wasn't easy to serve God in pagan Ephesus, but God had chosen Timothy and it was this fact that kept Paul reminding him about. For some reason, perhaps lack of confidence, Timothy doubted his calling. The "charge" to Timothy was to "hold fast" the faith in good conscience. Proclaim the faith in his message and live the faith in his daily life.

A statement was once made of a minister, "He is such a good preacher that he should never get out of the pulpit, but, he is such a poor Christian that he should never have gotten into the pulpit." Paul warned Timothy to "keep his conscience clear".

In contrast, Paul tells Timothy of two men at Ephesus who had not kept their conscience clear. A man by the name of Hymenaeus and another by the name of Alexander. Both were guilty of blasphemy. In Second Timothy, Paul tells us that Hymenaeus was guilty of teaching that Christ had already come and they had been left behind. Alexander was also guilty of teaching some false doctrine.

Now these men needed to be straightened out, but Paul's solution to this problem brought much mis-understanding into the church. His statement, "I have delivered these men to Satan", was partly responsible for the Roman Catholic view of the power of the Pope to condemn people to hell. We must understand exactly what Paul meant by this statement. Paul was urging that these men be disciplined, removed from the fellowship. By doing this, he would be excluded from the protective environment of the Saints and thus make them vulnerable to the attacks of Satan. We know from the study of the Book of Job that Satan must ask God's permission before he can attack the "elect" and even then he is limited in what he can do.

It is not enough for the church just to teach sound doctrine, it must constantly be on the lookout for false teachings. There is an interesting side light to this story, Paul was establishing for Timothy what we call a "job description". Timothy was not called to do what Paul was doing, he was not called to be an evangelists, he was called to be a pastor. As a pastor he was to care for the church, teach them and defend the true faith. Timothy died protesting an indecent heathen parade. Many of our churches are in trouble today because the ministers are not being pastors, they are being involved to much is social affairs and not tending the sheep.

So that is what the message of the church should be, according to Paul, sound doctrine, sound preaching and sound faith.

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