Good Conscience Or Shipwreck!

I Timothy 1: 18-20

Paul has written to Timothy to encourage him in confronting false teachers who have been disrupting the church in Ephesus.

(18) This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son,

He instructed him (the word is parangelia, "instruction, charge, command") as a beloved son in the Lord.

in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you,

There evidently were some predictions that were uttered over Timothy at either his ordination or his induction into missionary work.

that by them you fight the good fight,

These sayings were to encourage him to guide him to "war the good warfare" of good against evil in the spiritual realm.

(19) keeping faith and a good conscience,

Timothy will need to be sure to keep his faith genuine and to guard his conscience to not be bent or diluted.

which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

Paul was very concerned that he and his colleagues maintain a good conscience always, because of the serious consequences that would result from permitting any allowances or excuses.

He is pointing out some who have rejected this strict standard, and the result is comparable to a shipwreck regarding the corruption of their faith.

(20) Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander,

He even names two of these by name, so there would be no confusion as to who he is referring to.

whom I have handed over to Satan,

His handing these ringleaders over to Satan could refer to throwing them out of the church, as in I Corinthians 5: 1-5, where he tells those church leaders to remove the immoral man from their congregation.

so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

The purpose of this excommunication is not merely to punish, but was intended to be a disciplinary or remedial measure in both instances.

The man in the Corinthian church was having an affair with his father's wife, and these teachers are teaching deceptive lies to damage the faith of the Ephesian church members. Both are very serious charges, that require stringent measures to remedy.

The Corinthian situation succeeded, as we see in II Corinthians 2: 5-11 that they were to recognize the man's repentance and comfort and forgive him, and welcome him back into the congregation.

Of these two, Hymenaeus is mentioned again in II Timothy 2: 16-18 as still having gone astray from the truth. There are two Alexanders in Scripture; one was a Jew (Acts 19: 34), the other is Alexander the metalworker, who Paul says did a great deal of harm in opposing their teaching (II Timothy 4: 14-15). This was probably the second Alexander, who still hadn't repented.

Paul emphasizes that maintaining a "good conscience" is essential in assuring that our faith remains pure and genuine. This is key. We cannot let any kind of wrong slide by, we are to be very careful about what we think about and approve of.

We certainly don't want our faith to be shipwrecked!

We need to make as sure as we can that our sense of what is right and what is wrong aligns with what God says is right and wrong. Our own feelings are not reliable, and most of us need to re-evaluate our values, because we tend to believe what we're taught as kids, which may not be according to God's truth.

I know I need to saturate my brain with God's word every day, in order to try to have my thinking straight. I know I'll not be perfect in this life, but I do want my conscience to be sound and clear.

O my Father, please teach us Your values, Your thoughts and Your attitudes concerning everything and everyone we encounter in our living every day. Help us to take especial care of what we say, as our words come of what our hearts are overflowing. Remind us to think before we open our mouth and dump out whatever may come, to put Your arm around our shoulder and Your hand over our mouth!

Father, teach us how to love one another as You have loved us! This is not natural to us, Father, we need Your Spirit to lead us. We are desperate to work Your ways into our thinking processes, and receive Your healing of our hearts and minds from all the error and biases and prejudices that have been lurking there.

Show us our hearts, my Father, to root out whatever is still there that conflicts with Your truth; that we might confess it and forsake it, turning to Your pure and righteous ways.

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!