18”This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (1 Timothy 1:18–20 (ESV)
The Apostle Paul continued his counsel to Timothy in vs. 19-20. It is to those two verses we pay particular attention today.
The phrase holding faith (ἔχων πίστιν; echon pistin) means to presently and actively possess and retain one’s trust in, commitment to, dependence upon and worship of the One, True God. This includes holding faith in the truth of His written revelation; the Word of God or the Scriptures. Holding faith is holding to God and His truth.
Additionally, the phrase good conscience (ἀγαθὴν συνείδησιν; agathen syneidesin) refers to a positive, moral sensitivity not only to sin, but also to righteousness. It is an awareness of what is biblically right or wrong.
“Timothy is admonished to hold faith, that is, to hold on to it. In warring his warfare against errors and errorists he must keep clinging to the truth of the gospel. The fact that the word faith here in verse 19 means truth is clear from 2 Tim. 2:17, 19. By living and teaching in accordance with this truth, remaining firm and steadfast in the midst of all opposition, Timothy will be obeying the voice of conscience,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.[1]
“Conscience is man’s moral intuition, his moral self in the act of passing judgment upon his own state, emotions, and thoughts, also upon his own words and actions whether these be viewed as past, present, or future. It is both positive and negative. It both approves and condemns (Rom. 2:14, 15)”[2]
It is a dangerous situation when a believer in Christ casts aside truth and a good conscience. To reject (ἀπωσάμενοι; aposamenoi) means to decisively and personally repudiate and refuse to listen to what God’s Word says and means. Paul uses the metaphor of a shipwreck as an illustration of what happens to an individual when such rejection of biblical truth occurs.
“A Christian must be both a good soldier and a good sailor. Now a good sailor does not thrust away or discard the rudder of the ship. The good conscience—one that obeys the dictates of the Word as applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit—is the rudder, guiding the believer’s vessel into the safe harbor of everlasting rest. But “certain individuals” (the Ephesian heretics; see on verse 3) have discarded that rudder. The inevitable result was that with reference to their faith—the truth which they had confessed with their lips; the name of Christ which they had named (see on 2 Tim. 2:17–19)—they suffered shipwreck. If even literal shipwreck is agonizing, as Paul had experienced (Acts 27:39–44; 2 Cor. 11:25), how much more to be feared is religious shipwreck!”[3]
Paul mentioned two such individuals in the Ephesian church: Hymenaeus and Alexander. Who were these two men? They must have been leading heretics among the Ephesian believers. Paul mentioned Hymenaeus again in 2 Tim. 2:17-18 as one who “swerved from the truth.”
The apostle then makes a startling statement regarding his response to these two men; “whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” What did Paul mean by this condemnation?
“This is probably a reference to putting these two individuals outside the fellowship of the church and back into the world—the domain of Satan (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2). Paul uses a similar phrase in I Cor. 5:5,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul. “The purpose of this excommunication, like that in I Cor. 5:5, is not punitive but, by the Spirit’s convicting grace, restorative – that the two would recognize their errors and repent (2 Tim. 25-26; Titus 3:10).”
By this excommunication, these two men would learn (παιδευθῶσι; paideuthosi) or be trained to not blaspheme (βλασφημεῖν; blasphemein). This refers to reviling and despising the Lord.
“Even when this extreme measure was resorted to, its purpose was remedial. Not damnation but reclamation was the object, “in order that they may be disciplined (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25) not to blaspheme.” Here speaks the same loving heart as in 2 Thess. 3:14, 15. The apostle is earnestly desirous that the discipline—the divine pedagogy—imposed may have a salutary effect on Hymenaeus and Alexander. He is hoping and praying that by means of this dire affliction these false teachers may come to see themselves as grievous sinners and may be brought to genuine repentance, so that they will no longer rail at the truth and thereby revile its Author,” concludes Dr. Hendriksen.[4]
A commitment to truth requires to do what is necessary, or even unpopular. This is to maintain the purity of the church at large and individual believers in particular. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.
Soli deo Gloria!
[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 86.
[2] Ibid. 62.
[3] Ibid. 86.
[4] Ibid. 87.
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