1 Timothy

Doctrine (Sound vs. False)

Throughout 1 Timothy the imperative for Paul’s writing is that doctrine is the core of faith. In false doctrine people are lead to their demise as they fall away from Christ… led away from God by sin. This is the one crucial thing that cannot be tolerated by Timothy, for in it is salvation or death. To seek anything less than Christ for salvation is to be lead into demise… for Christ is God’s one true means of salvation. This would be the hill that needs to be battled over… for whoever holds truth holds life. This is the absolute necessity of doctrine… for the truth alone can bring life. If salvation through Christ truly is the only way to attaining heaven and redemption with God the Father… if God really is the only true God… then the ramification of believing in anything else… is death. There is no escaping this… implying that hope alone is found in Jesus Christ.

Timothy knew this well… having been taught by Paul probably time and time again that Christ alone is hope for all peoples. God alone is Savior… there is no hope for eternal life outside of him. The people in Ephesus though were being bombarded by every teaching possible… and were at a constant out of sorts in trying to figure out which teaching really was true. This is where they were confused… hearing this hope of eternal glory with God in Christ… and then hearing so many other teachers pulling them in other directions. Timothy’s charge was a difficult one… to do all he could to see that no one would turn from the truth of Christ. This is the sad truth… some were falling away from Christ and thus falling into God’s wrath. Timothy and Paul both saw this and it broke their hearts that people would suffer eternal condemnation. This letter was a hope to show them that there is no hope outside of Christ… an attempt to bring truth to them and give Timothy the authority to uncompromisingly stand against all of the other false teachings. This was Timothy’s charge… to lay down his life, as Paul so often did, for the sake of the gospel… for the sake of those who would suffer God’s wrath for turning from God’s salvation in Christ.

For us today this truth remains… Christ alone is mediator between God and man. This is either truth or there is no hope for humanity other than in and of ourselves. I definitely don’t think that I can earn a place of righteousness before God… anyone who would think that is an absolute fool. The funny thing is that in today’s culture that’s what we do believe. We believe that God owes it to us to give us what we want and to just hand us heaven. Reality is that sound doctrine leads us into life through Christ. Anything less than the truth of the Scriptures in Christ is heresy and leads to death and destruction. That’s what is amazing about doctrine… the truth isn’t contingent on our opinions or beliefs. The truth is the truth. If the bible is true then the majority of our world is going to hell in a hand basket. This breaks my heart… that we have settled, as the Ephesians did, for what we want… choosing worldly life rather than what God has given us… true life in Christ. This is reality… and sound doctrine is the only thing that can keep us seeing clearly what God truly values. Our present culture has led so many to believe so many false teachings other than Christ’s work for salvation. Our belief system shapes our entire worldview… and though sad, it is true that most people in our present world have chosen to make God what they want him to be rather than seeing him as he truly is. Life is found be taking God at his word and seeking the life he offers. He created us… he has decided what is good and what is evil… we turned away from him… he sent his Son to restore us… and now what do we do? We so easily turn away from our creator… who has come to redeem us. We fail to hold fast to the truth… failing to trust that the truth will set us free. We would rather be ignorant to the truth, believing what we want to believe… what makes us feel “good.” Sadly this turning from truth, from solid doctrine, is leading us away from God… leading us to death.