No Different Doctrine - The Household of God - Part 2
No Different Doctrine
1 Timothy 1:3-7
Immanuel – 8/17/25
I wonder if you’ve heard the news: we live in a confused age. Our society is disoriented, and in our confusion we are increasingly divided. Largely, that’s because our society has chosen to abandon biblical truth, and now there is no moral mooring to discern what is good. Society proclaims to be good what the Bibles teaches us is wrong.
And this is a dangerous place to be. As the Lord says through Isaiah:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” -Isaiah 5:20-21
It grieves me to see society’s confusion seeping into the church, mixing with our teaching, mutating and disfiguring and causing cancerous divisions. There’s confusion about doctrine, new age myths mistaken for truth, foolish speculations, vain discussions. So many teachers in the church, wise in their own eyes but without understanding, are selling bitter water and calling it sweet.
But it’s no surprise. Nothing is new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Paul charged Timothy to confront similar strains of confusion in the Ephesian church, threatening to break it apart.
But before we dive into all that, let’s do a brief contextual review. Timothy is a young disciple of the Apostle Paul. After years of working together – spreading the gospel, planting churches, facing relentless persecutions – Timothy has become Paul’s right-hand-man. In the course of Paul’s second and third missionary journeys, he and Timothy planted a church in Ephesus and spent a significant amount of time building up that church.
In case you missed it last week, Ephesus was the Roman capital of Asia; a political, economic, and religious powerhouse. It boasted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Temple of Artemis. Ephesus was a stronghold for immorality and paganism.
We don’t know exactly when, but at some point, as Paul and Timothy were making their way to Macedonia, they received word that false teachers had infiltrated the Ephesian church. Pagan practices were also beginning to seep in from the city. Upon learning this, Paul sent Timothy to confront the false teachers and restore order to the church. Not long after sending Timothy, Paul sent a letter – the letter we call “1 Timothy.”
And in this letter, Paul immediately reminds Timothy of his purpose in going to Ephesus.
Read vs 3
As I said, Paul and Timothy were heading towards the northern parts of the Aegean, traveling towards Macedonia. They learn about what is going on in Ephesus. I imagine a deeply troubled Paul, pulling Timothy aside for a private meeting. In this meeting Paul urges Timothy – meaning there is urgency, seriousness, pressing need. “Go to Ephesus and content for the faith!”
Charge Certain Persons
Now Timothy is in Ephesus, and Paul is urging him to continue in that same work. And that work is to charge certain persons. But what this really means is that Paul is issuing the charge. Timothy is Paul’s mouthpiece, taking Paul’s apostolic charge and calling the Ephesians to obey. Timothy is in Ephesus with apostolic authority.
We will get the heart of Paul’s charge is in verse 5, and that’s where we’ll spend the majority of our time. But before that, Paul tells Timothy to contend with “certain persons.” In verse 20 Paul names two of these “certain persons”: Hymenaeus and Alexander. By calling them “certain persons,” Paul intends to debase and humble them; for he has charged Timothy to cut them down as teachers in the church.
These “certain persons” were dangerously teaching different doctrines. Let me be crystal clear, “different doctrines” means heresy. Leaders and teachers in the Ephesian church were heretics. And like Paul writes in verse 20, they were making shipwreck of people’s faith.
Did you catch that? Different doctrines/false teachings/heresies make shipwreck of people’s faith. Any teaching which departs from true doctrine is therefore straight from the pit of hell. As Paul writes in chapter 4:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. -1 Timothy 4:1-3
Paul was describing his moment in history, which he called the “later times.” And in those “later times” the teaching of demons would proliferate in culture and infiltrate the household of God. He says this, because that’s exactly what he observes in the Ephesian church.
Certain persons, by teaching different doctrines, were actually propagating the teachings of demons. And the goal of the demonic is to shipwreck people’s faith. Or, like Peter describes,
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:8
Teaching of demons. Shipwrecked faith. Satanic devouring. Different doctrines must be killed, lest those heretical doctrines kill. Do you understand why Paul is filled with such urgency in charging Timothy?
Let’s consider the content of these “different doctrines.”
Read vs 3b-4
Paul does not say exactly what heretical teachings are being promoted by “certain persons,” but we do know it was a tangle of myths, genealogies, and speculation. And from various places in this letter, we can infer that the heretical teachings were a strange blend of Judaism, paganism, and Christianity.
Ephesus was a city of myths: gods and demi-gods, heroes and monsters, woven into fanciful and impossible stories. The people of Ephesus both loved their myths and worshipped their false gods. It’s no surprise some of this eked its way into the church.
Ephesus had a significant Jewish population. In fact, the first place Paul preached in Ephesus was its synagogue (Acts 18:19). Some of these Jews became believers – or so it seemed. They brought their myths and speculations related to Jewish genealogies into the church.
We find many genealogies in the Old Testament – the Old Testament is, of course, the Jewish scriptures. In Paul’s day there was a popular Jewish book called the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees pretends to be divinely revealed, but it was developed in the 2nd century BC by a Jewish sect called the Essenes. The book of Jubilees imaginatively expands upon Scriptural genealogies and stories, spending exorbitant time on fallen angels, Nephilim, and obscure biblical figures like Enoch.
Some of the fanciful stories in Jubilees claim man and animal spoke with one other in Eden, angels taught Abraham how to speak Hebrew, and God revealed a rigid calendar system to Moses on Sinai – a calendar system called Jubilees. But even more dangerous (or demonic), the Book of Jubilees is exceedingly legalistic, rigidly placing law above grace. Thus, Jubilees teaches a different doctrine and a false gospel.
Jewish converts in the Ephesian church mixed with former pagans, both raised in separate cultures of myth, and you have the perfect breeding ground for heretical teachings based on myths, genealogies, and speculations.
(Parenthesis)
Before moving forward, two things about Paul.
1. Paul argues, uses logical steps to develop complex points.
2. Paul loves to use long and complex sentences.
Paul’s writings are complex and take careful thinking to understand. Even Peter understood this, writing in his second letter:
Our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him…There are some things in them that are hard to understand. -2 Peter 3:16
Therefore we need to think carefully when we read Paul, taking time to digest his words.
(Close Parenthesis)
False teachings – based on myths, genealogies, speculations – run counter to the stewardship from God that is by faith, as we see at the end of verse 4. In other words, we Christians have a responsibility given by God which we receive by faith; and false teaching undermines that stewardship.
That is a complex thought, so we need to unpack it.
Stewardship by Faith
If you have received the gospel, you have received it by faith. You have heard of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and believed it. You have heard that Jesus holds the keys to life and death, with all authority in heaven and on earth, and you have trusted him for abundant and everlasting life. You receive these gospel truths by faith.
And if by faith you have received these truths, God has given you a gospel stewardship. Stewardship means supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or household. Gospel stewardship means you have a responsibility both personally and corporately.
Paul immediately elaborates in the next verse.
Read vs 5
Corporate stewardship = love. Personal stewardship = pure heart, good conscience, sincere faith. First let’s look at the personal stewardship of the gospel.
A pure heart. In biblical terms, the heart is your emotions, intentions, and desires. Scripture teaches is that it is with the heart which we call upon the Lord (2 Timothy 2:22). But it is only a pure heart that can relate to the Lord. As Jesus said:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” -Matthew 5:8
Only the pure in heart will see God. But Scripture also testifies:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
-Jeremiah 17:9
We are born with sick hearts; and all our lives they deceive us into pursuing destructive sins. Our world proclaims a false and heretical gospel when they preach, “Follow your heart.” But it is the gospel that allows us to see our hearts are desperately sick, and Jesus is the great healer of hearts.
Listen to what the Apostle John writes.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. -1 John 3:2-3
When you trust in Jesus, God rips out your stony heart and replaces it with a beating, living, fleshy heart – a pure heart. And God is the one who does this, not you. But you still have a stewardship over your pure heart, because we still wrestle with temptation and doubt and failure.
So continually preach the gospel to yourself. With the promises of Scripture, remind yourself that love of God is far better than the fleeting pleasures of earth. Believe that everything is a loss to you, compared to knowing Christ Jesus and being found in him. Trust that a heart wholly given to Jesus will be completely, thoroughly satisfied, even if you pass through the fire. Trust God with your heart. Preach the promises of God to yourself, stewarding the gospel, and uphold the pure heart you have been given.
Listening to false teaching deceives the heart and leads it astray.
A good conscience. Conscience is like a tool used by your heart, helping you discern what is right and what is wrong. But a conscience does more than help you understand this intellectually, you understand it in your heart. When you do something wrong, and your conscience lets you know about it, you feel it in your heart. It can be so strong it makes you feel sick. And if you’ve done something that is legitimately good, your conscience causes you also to feel it, and your heart sings.
So if you are guilty, your conscience is constantly reminding you, sounding off alarm signals, and your heart feels fearful and burdened and anxious. But in chapter 3, Paul tells Timothy it is faith in Jesus that clears the conscience (1 Timothy 3:9).
When Jesus went to that cross, all the sins for which you are guilty, were placed upon him. When he died, our guilt died with him. As Paul writes to the Romans:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
-Romans 8:1
How do we steward this gospel truth? When guilt wells up, and you again feel unworthy, like God is disappointed in you, preach the gospel to yourself!
“The shed blood of Jesus covers all my sins – past, present, and future – and because of him I am innocent. I trust in what Jesus did, and God promises me his favor rests upon me. I am his beloved child! Oh faltering conscience, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!”
And then, with a cleared conscience, listen to your conscience. Don’t do things that you know are wrong, that produce feelings of guilt, that would make you feel separated from the love of God. The Holy Spirit uses your conscience to help you understand what is good. Listen! This is how we steward a good conscience with the gospel.
Listening to false teachings dulls and burdens the conscience’s ability to sense good and evil.
Sincere faith. Faith is the activity of believing, and we believe something because we are convinced it is true. Think of a dog. If that dog has a loving owner, the dog knows food comes from the owner – it always has. It has learned to trust the owner. When it feels the rumble of hunger it runs up to its owner, fixes its eyes on the owner, wags its tail. Maybe it even brings over the food dish. And because it trusts the owner to feed it, and because it acted on that trust, the owner gladly satisfies the dog with food. As he has done before, so he will do again.
And if a pet owner knows how to satisfy a dog’s hunger, how much more will our Father satisfy the souls of his trusting children? Sincere faith remembers all the good God has done before, how he has come through again and again, how he has been faithful even when we were faithless. Grasping to these gospel truths, sincere faith runs to the Father, fully trusting he will satisfy the hunger and thirst of our soul.
As Jesus said,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” -Matthew 5:6
Sincere faith is not passive. It is again choosing to remember all that God has done for you, and how he has never left you nor forsaken you. Sincere faith takes hold of gospel truths and applies them to the heart, the conscience, to the mind, and to the works of a person.
False teaching confuses faith and corrupts it, replacing sincerity with hypocrisy.
Personal stewardship of the gospel results in a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. And, as verse 5 says, when we steward our heart, conscience, and faith with the gospel, love pours out of us. Notice how Paul says, love is the aim of his charge. Yes to all the personal stuff, but your heart, conscience, and faith are meant to erupt in love.
And love, by definition, is oriented towards others. Paul gives us one of the most soaring descriptions of love:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. -1 Corinthians 13:4-6
How beautiful when a person overflows with love! How inviting is a church abounding in love! The aim of gospel preaching and teaching is to enter the heart and purify it, hit the conscience and cleanse it, and increase sincere faith. The inevitable result is love.
Gospel preaching results in love. False teaching has a very different effect.
Read vs 6-7
False teaching of different doctrines causes both its proponents and adherents to swerve away from purity of heart, goodness of conscience, and sincerity of faith. They are left loveless, wandering into vain discussions. Vain is the opposite of love. It is egotistical and empty, self-centered and self-righteous.
And doesn’t that fit? The egotistical and self-righteous love to be teachers. With great confidence they make their assertions, sometimes using lots of Bible verses, sometimes using lots of stories, and they have no idea what they are talking about. They teach a different doctrine. It is the teaching of demons, and it shipwrecks faith.
There are countless “different doctrines” alive and well in our day: modalism, prosperity gospel, word of faith gospel, little gods theology, false prophecies and false prophets, and so many more – all of them demonic heresies.
Then there are worthless speculations which Christians engage in – not heretical, but certainly vain and unhelpful: America’s place in biblical prophecy, was Jesus more capitalistic or socialistic, why the King James Version is the best translation of the Bible, which current leader is the antichrist, and on and on.
I love what Paul writes.
“Knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. -1 Corinthians 8:3
And most significantly, Paul means gospel love. We love because he first loved us. The true doctrines of the gospel hold us in his love, and causes that love to flow out of us.
It is impossible to keep track of all the false teachings, all the false teachers, and all the vain discussions out there. Our best safeguard is to steward gospel truths by faith. Know what the Bible says. If anyone adds to Scripture, do not trust them. If anyone tries to diminish what the Bible says, do not trust them.
If you spend time with God’s word it becomes more desirable than gold, sweeter than honey, the reward of your soul. Also, time in God’s word reveals dangers, and allows to sense bitterness before you even taste.
The same is true for the teachers you listen to, and whether they steward the gospel or teach “different doctrines.” I know you are here listening to me; and I pray I steward well the word of God. But I know most of you lend your ear to preachers on YouTube and elsewhere. Take care how you listen, lest you ingest the teachings of demons.
False teachers look godly, just as Hymenaeus and Alexander once did. False teachers are exciting, funny, powerful; but their confident assertions are filled with ignorance. False teachers are clever, subtly building themselves up in your mind. And in their vanity they swerve from the gospel, careening themselves and their listeners into a devastating shipwreck.
What was true in Ephesus is true today. Take seriously the gospel stewardship God has given you. Faith understands you have a responsibility both personally and corporately.
Read vs 5
