We’re going to continue our series in 1 Timothy this Sunday, reading 1 Timothy 1:12-20. 

In our text last week, Paul launched his war on error, describing how the leaders in Ephesus had lost their way and were corrupting the message of the gospel.  The things that he highlighted gave us clues about what was happening with these leaders.  They were reading into genealogies to create some sense of elevation for themselves…a claim to a higher calling and closer position to God.

Since they were making themselves out to be special…Paul bares his own past, and shows what kind of person he had been, and how suitable he considered himself to be a minister of the gospel.  What does he say about his own background in light of his present calling, in v12-17?

In light of leaders trying to elevate themselves, what do you think Paul is trying to get across here?  V15 gives one of the most brilliantly succinct summaries of the gospel and it’s message to the world.  A person could spend a lifetime contemplating that verse, and all of it’s implications. 

Timothy, the one the letter is written to, was a young man Paul had been mentoring.  He’s very likely only in his early 20’s at the writing of this letter. This tells us something about how GOD goes about making someone qualified for the work of His kingdom…and it’s a far cry from the expectations we normally like to place on people.

Paul finishes off the chapter by calling out two guys by name, Hymenaeus and Alexander.  We don’t know anything about them.  Hymenaeus is mentioned again in 2 Timothy 2:17, and the “cancerous” teaching they endorse has to do with the claiming that the resurrection at the end of the age had already happened. The implications of that message could take believers down many different rabbit holes…even to the point of abandoning their hope in Christ. Paul “hands them over to Satan”…that is, he’s not going to try force them into truth…if they want to ally themselves with the enemy of God’s plan, let them go for it.  But he has a reason for letting them go…a goal he’s hoping to see accomplished.  What is that goal, in v20?  What does that tell us about our hopes, even for those who seem to have lost their faith?

The Church isn’t a haven for really good people to get together in and pat themselves on the back for how much better they are than everybody else.  The church is full of messy people who’ve been rescued by the unrelenting love of God through Jesus. 

I hope you can join us as we dig into this section on Sunday!