1 Timothy 1 Commentary
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were a formidable opposition to the earthly ministry of Christ Jesus. The risen Christ (the Holy Spirit) had the same opposition. Paul constantly fought these forces.
Remove humans from the enemy camp and you have wrong teachings or deception on the table. It’s the same commodity that the serpent sold in Eden. Satan had new salesmen that Timothy needed to deal with. They taught falsely and misled the believers in Ephesus.
Paul’s testimony speaks volumes. According to the law, he is no where near salvation. The law is simple: Obedience leads to salvation while disobedience or violation leads to punishment. Paul should be punished but he is not punished. Instead, mercy rules. The ‘worst’ sinner finds salvation. He is an example of what the new era means.
Even when wrong teachers, the Judaizers, show up, the goal is display love and not punishment – as would be the case under the law.
Saints deal with this opposition by disciplinary action. Stop the rot! Don’t entertain it. Don’t agree peace terms with it. Stop it. False teachings must be stopped. They don’t represent the heart of the LORD.
We can know how to interact with sinful situations: Love the sinner but hate sin. They must be rebuked out of love. Deception must be stopped.
The mission of Christ Jesus is simple: rescue the offenders. And no offender is bad enough to miss out on the generosity of Calvary. To insist on the law, as the way to salvation, is to ignore the Jesus rescue effort that the LORD has provided. But how dare! We must never ignore Christ Jesus. There is never any other way.
Indeed how dare! Christ Jesus is way to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, and the only true God. We ascribe honor and glory to His name. Deception markets and distributes another road map but it is all fake. Timothy is ordered to put back the Jesus map on the shelf!
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