18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may strongly engage in battle,
19 having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have suffered the shipwreck of their faith.
20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I have delivered them to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.
vs. 18 “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may strongly engage in battle,“
“Timothy, my son” - See verse 2, this chapter. This is a personal letter of exhortation and instruction to a close friend rather than to churches in towns or regions.
"prophecies previously made" - These are not recorded in the Scripture, nor by whom. Paul knows Timothy was called to be a leader of the church. A “Calling” is much more than being appointed to serve. God places a “need to be there” in the heart. Mature fellow believers can confirm the person “called” is ready and willing. Secular examples are authors who are compelled to write by an inner drive, or musicians who are compelled to play and perform music. God places this same type of desire and drive in the spirit of those called to serve.
"strongly engage in battle," - Some translations read “fight the good fight.” We are in a spiritual war. (See Eph. 6:12, and other verses.) Satan hates God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because of that enmity, he hates Christians. Not all non-believers feel animosity toward believers. Some do. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, it is because it hated me first.” (John 15:18) Why does the world hate Jesus? He said, “... because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil." (John 7:7) The Apostle John also wrote “See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children - and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.“ (1 John 3:1) Jesus will be with us and protect so ”that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us." (See: Luke 1:71; Psa. 106:10)
vs. 19 “having faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have suffered the shipwreck of their faith.“
"having faith and good conscience" - See also 1 Tim. 1:5. Some translations read “keeping faith...” Paul is encouraging Timothy about two things - stay true to the gospel, and do not do things for which you will have to rationalize. Paul is reminding Timothy that the “ends do not justify the means.” Remain faithful in this spiritual battle.
This would seem obvious - do not do morally questionable things to defend the gospel. For example: Do not tell lies in order to defeat enemies of the gospel. Do not spread malicious gossip in order to denigrate the character of people who oppose the message of Christ. We do not need to defend Jesus Christ’s reputation. Our reputation is to be spotless as we spread the Gospel. Let our consciences be clear! “Clear” or “good” means no conflict with the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is convicting us, it is sin, and no amount of negotiation will make it not sin. We must operate in the power and control of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
“Which some have rejected” - What an interesting turn of phrase! Think about this. There are people in the church whose motivation will use any means available to blunt the message of salvation and abundant life. They do not want to keep to the gospel - Jesus came to seek and save the lost. They don’t mind leading people away from Jesus into a religion of “works”. I have heard a comment, “Christianity is not a belief in a system, but a belief in a person.”
I have been watching “The Crown” (on Netflix) which is about Queen Elizabeth II. The queen and her cadre of advisors continually worry about the behavior of the royal family and the damage scandals would do to the reputation of the queen and the government. They KNOW that damage to the reputation of the royal family can damage the ability to rule, and therefore to the nation. In the same way, our behavior supports or harms the reputation of the church, and therefore of the Lord.
"suffered the shipwreck of their faith" - You may crash your ship of life into rocks and be lost if you stray from the gospel. (Jesus crucified. Jesus resurrected! Jesus saves!) See: 1 Cor. 15:3-4. Good navigation requires the correct information. Whether you're in a car driving through Los Angeles or Seattle, or on an ocean ship you need to know where you are and where you need to be. A wrong turn can cause you to enter the wrong harbor. A wrong turn can put you in a neighborhood you have no business visiting.
I read a book about the development of accurate portable clocks for ships. Sailors had been able to determine their latitude for centuries by sighting on stars thanks to the development of the astrolabe. Knowing where you were longitudinally was much more difficult. It required precise knowledge of the time of day. Being a few minutes off meant you would miss the harbor entrance, or river entrance. An Englishman made a clock that would work on a ship. Pendulum clocks - the most accurate clocks at that time - don't perform well on pitching, rolling ships!). The British Admiralty required a demonstration. During the ‘field’ test run, the timepiece saved the fleet from crashing into a false harbor. This amazing instrument, adopted for use, was one of the reasons the British Navy became dominant on the seas. (See Note 1)
One time I was in Los Angeles for a seminar, and driving from the airport to the hotel, I misunderstood the instruction from the GPS unit, and took the wrong off-ramp. The GPS was able to guide me back to the correct freeway and to the motel.
In another incident, a co-worker and I were in Philadelphia without a GPS. We got lost on the way to Valley Forge. We ended up in an area (I think it was called Strawberry Hill). It was Sunday morning and there was almost no one on the streets except a few people going to church. We stopped at a gas station to buy a map. When we turned in the rental car at the airport, the agent asked if we had a nice stay and where had we gone. We described our adventure. She was appalled and asked, "What were white boys like you doing in that area?" We had no idea we were in a ghetto until she explained it to us.
If you do not have the correct information you can end up where you don't want to be. This is true in your spiritual life as well as travels.
vs. 20 “Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I have delivered them to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.”
- "Hymanaeus and Alexander" - Almost nothing is known about these guys - other than they strayed from the gospel preached by the Apostles. They are also noted in 2 Tim. 2:17, 18. Almost nothing is known about their heresy. The best guess by some scholars is that these were among the first of the Gnostics. From Second Timothy they may have been telling people there was no hope for their resurrection from the dead, because it had already happened and they missed it! This is serious - no resurrection, no eternal life! This background information is pretty sketchy. The problem was serious, and Paul knew enough to censure them.
"delivered them to Satan..." This can't be good. There's no good way to look at this. It is not at all clear what this means. Several commentaries indicated this means 'excommunication' - expelling them from the church (See also: 1 Cor. 5:5). Putting them out of the church into the world - the domain of Satan - may be the meaning. I am not sure how kicking them out 'teaches' them not to blaspheme. How do they learn the truth when they are not where they can hear or learn the truth? Some indicated the delivering might also mean physical illnesses imposed upon them. (Again, this is supposition, with no information to buttress that.)
I can understand not wanting them in the church, teaching false doctrine. Asking them to leave until they get it right also makes sense. "I'm kicking you out of the church until you come to your senses" sounds a lot less scary than "I'm giving you to Satan." The purpose of this action is not just punishment for their actions, but to get them to repent - to “save their souls” (Again, 1 Cor. 5:5) By the way, this has been a troublesome turn of phrase since it was written and discussed by Christian scholars. I checked Ungers Bible Dictionary and Matthew Henry's Commentary, and a couple other commentaries - and it still isn't clear to me.
Note 1: Sobel, Dava. Longitude. Walker Books. 2005.
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END OF CHAPTER
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