Combatting False Teachers, Part 1

(3) As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, (4) nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. (1 Tim 1:3-4)

There is an unfortunate fact that every Christian needs to face about the world around us today: wherever God sows His truths for us to glean, Satan sows his falsehood and error. We see verses like John 8:44 about the nature of the devil and think, “that cannot possibly still be happening today, can it?” The easy and quick answer is, “Yes!”

Far too often we think that false teachings and teachers were only a problem in the early church and forget that it is still a problem today. If Paul and Timothy had to confront false teachers, you will likely as well. For some people, like Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, who seem to have a disdain for understanding Scripture, how exactly are they going to refute those false teachers? The Protestant's answer should be, "Scripture."

The Scriptures are full of warnings about false teachers:

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Mat 7:15)
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. (Mat 24:11)
For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. (Mat 24:24)
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. (2 Pet 2:1)

What Paul does in these next eight verses is remind Timothy that there were gullible men within the church that were not able to discern truth from error. And worse, they were teaching others the heresies they were beginning to believe. That means that Timothy understood how to discern their errors because he understood the Gospel of Jesus. And that should be your goal as well. And he also understood the importance of confronting them and even putting them out of the church to protect those that were new in the faith or did not understand the Gospel message that was being proclaimed throughout the world.

Warning Against False Teachers

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, (1 Tim 1:3)

Definition of ‘urged’ - the Greek word, parakaleō { par-ak-al-eh'-o } which, according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary, means “‘to call to one's side,’ hence, ‘to call to one's aid.’ It is used for every kind of calling to a person which is meant to produce a particular effect, hence, with various meanings, such as ‘comfort, exhort, desire, call for,’ in addition to its significance ‘to beseech,’ which has a stronger force.” (Strong's Greek Lexicon - G3870) Louw and Nida define it as “to cause someone to be encouraged or consoled, either by verbal or non-verbal means—‘to encourage, to console, encouragement.’” [1]

‘As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia’ (1 Tim 1:3a)

As mentioned in the introduction, some see this verse as not aligning with the narrative in Acts, but the most natural understand is that Paul had to have been released from his first captivity, as both he and Timothy were in Ephesus prior to Paul departing for a missionary trip through Macedonia. As we will see in verse 20, Paul had already expelled the false teachers, Hymenaeus and Alexander, which also means they were likely elders within the church, men that people looked up to as leaders, teachers, and knowledgeable about the Gospel of Christ. And just as an aside here, this would be an easy proof text for anyone that wants to demonstrate the fact that the church was NOT infallible. How could there be false teachers raised up as leaders in the Church if it was perfect, inerrant and infallible?

Paul was ‘urging’ Timothy to stay in Ephesus. This was a plea from Paul and may indicate that Timothy was considering leaving Ephesus. Was it because he had a planned ministerial trip or was it because he was intimidated by the current situation? He had spent 15 years with Paul, so I find it hard to believe that it was the latter. What we do know is that Paul didn’t want Timothy to leave Ephesus.

‘remain on at Ephesus’ (1 Tim 1:3b)

Paul had a simple request of Timothy, “remain on at Ephesus.” Paul needed to go to Macedonia for an unknown reason, so he had left Timothy there and in charge of the churches in Ephesus. I say churches because the Church at Ephesus was a cluster of house churches in those days, which means Timothy had to visit these house churches and root out any false teachings and teachers perverting the Gospel message, which was the foundation that Paul had laid. And this was much more of a challenge in those days than it would be today since Ephesus was a city of 200,000 to 250,000 people and was the third largest city in the Roman empire, behind Rome and Alexandria. Ephesus was a main hub of both the culture and commerce in western Asia. Along with that culture came a lot of occult activity, so much so that according to Acts 19:13-14, Jewish exorcists lived and practiced there. And as Christianity began to spread in this area and people embraced Christ and became believers, they brought their magic books together and burned them - books that were worth 50,000 pieces of silver (Acts 19:19), a gigantic sum for those days. Another example of the influence of Ephesus on the region, there was a temple to Artemis in the city that was four times larger than the Parthenon. All of this made Ephesus the second more important and influential city that Paul’s missionary trips reached, second only to Corinth. All of this helps to explain how important Timothy and the Ephesian church was to the Apostle Paul. [2]

‘so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines’ (1 Tim 1:3c)

Definition of ‘instruct’ - the Greek word, parangellō, { par-ang-gel'-lo } has the meaning of “to command, order, charge” (Strong's Greek Lexicon - G3853). Louw and Nida define it as “to announce what must be done—‘to order, to command.’” [3]

As you can see from the definition for the Greek word, the meaning is not to teach these ‘certain men’ something, but to command or order or charge them. These were supposedly believers, therefore they were under Timothy’s authority, given to him by Paul. It was a command from a superior authority meant as a demand for their obedience.

As one commentator reminds us, “The church has always had false teachers—they appeared on the scene in the very first generation, within thirty-five years of the church’s birth at Pentecost (A.D. 30–65).” [4] Which is why Jesus and other apostles reminded their flocks in Scripture to be on their guard continually against false apostles, prophets and teachers. (1 Pet 5:8; Mat 7:15; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Cor 11:13-15; Acts 17:11; 2 Pet 2:1, 2:3; 1 John 4:1; 2 Tim 1:13; 2 Tim 4:3; Acts 20:29-30; 1 John 2:18-19)

This verse indicates that Paul did not take false teachers lightly and neither should the church today. The fact that these false teachers were called ‘certain men’ likely indicates there were only a few to contend with and stopping their influence of others quickly was extremely important. The sooner a problem is addressed, the less work it takes to repair any damage they may have created.

These men were also likely elders in the church and there are a number of reasons to believe they were. First, they presumed themselves to be teachers (1 Tim 1:7) and it may be that others thought they were as well. But from Scripture we know that the teaching office was reserved for elders (1 Tim 3:2; 5:17). Second, it was Paul that had excommunicated Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim 1:20), which would seem to imply that it took the authority of an apostle to remove them. It also implies they had some level of power and the congregation, likely a house church, was not able to deal with them. Third, one could read into the detailed qualifications for elders given in chapter 3 that unqualified men were in leadership positions. And lastly, in 1 Timothy 5:19-22, Paul states that sinning elders were to be publicly disciplined.

‘not to teach strange doctrines’ (1 Tim 1:3d)

Definition of ‘not to teach strange doctrines’ - the Greek word, heterodidaskaleō { het-er-od-id-as-kal-eh'-o } means ‘to teach other or different doctrine’ (Strong’s Greek Lexicon - G2085). This Greek word was likely a word that Paul may have created himself as it is a compound word that is only used twice in the New Testament (1 Tim 1:3, 6:3), where the first part of the word means ‘of a different kind’ and the second part means ‘to teach.’ These false teachers were teaching doctrines that were different from what Paul had taught them. What Paul and the other apostles had taught were the teachings that were used to judge all other teachings. Paul was making a very important point as clear as possible: there was only one proper doctrine to teach and they had all received it. These false teachers were perverting that doctrine.

And just to be clear, these false teachers were perverting the Gospel of Jesus Christ that had been entrusted to the Apostles to be proclaimed and taught throughout the known world. And this is an extremely important point for us to keep in mind as we make our way through First Timothy because we see this throughout history. There will always be false teachers and false doctrines trying to make their way into the church (the body of Christ) and into the hearts and minds of believers. And the only way we can oppose those teachings today is by utilizing the Scriptures as our final defense and judge of what is true and what is false, just as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11. Some will propose that the Church (as an institution) should be our source of truth, but with all the manufactured doctrines being taught today that cannot be found in Scripture, the only source for the apostolic teachings we are to believe today are those found in the pages of Scripture. And just to drive this point home more, here is a list of heresies that the church has fought off through the centuries: List of Christian heresies - Wikipedia

Another commentator made this same point but is slightly different way,

The false doctrines under question did not concern areas of conscience—those things which each believer is free to decide based on personal conviction. They [the strange doctrines] undermined [the] basics of faith and belief. Once truth is asserted, Satan quickly introduces what is false in order to bring confusion, distortion, and misbelief. Pluralism has its attraction, voicing tolerance and respect for opposing viewpoints, but it is dangerous when adopted in matters of faith. Not all proposed ‘truths’ can be true. [5]

And one last point: Paul’s command here only makes sense if Timothy is in a position to instruct the believers in Ephesus.

The Types of Errors Faced

‘nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.’ (1 Tim 1:4)

‘nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies’ (1 Tim 1:4a)

Definition of ‘pay attention’ (‘devote’ - ESV, NIV; ‘give heed’ - NKJV) - the Greek word, prosechō { pros-ekh'-o } means ‘to apply oneself to, attach oneself to, hold or cleave to a person or a thing’ (Strong's Greek Lexicon - G4337). Louw and Nida define the word as, “to hold firmly to a particular belief—‘to hold firmly to, to continue to believe.’” [6] All give the same sense for the word in English: we are not ‘to hold firmly to or continue to believe in’ myths and endless genealogies. But I think the NASB and NKJV give better English words for Paul’s usage and meaning in this context.

Definition of ‘myths’ (‘fables’ - KJV) - the Greek word, mythos, { moo'-thos } means ‘a fiction, a fable; universally, an invention, falsehood’ (Strong's Greek Lexicon - G3454).

Definition of ‘endless genealogies’ - First, the Greek word for ‘endless’ is aperantos { ap-er'-an-tos } and means ‘that can not be passed through, boundless, endless’ (Strong's Greek Lexicon - G562). Louw and Nida define the word as “pertaining to a series which has no end—‘without limits, endless.’” [7] The Second Greek word, genealogia { ghen-eh-al-og-ee'-ah } means ‘a genealogy, a record of descent or lineage’ (Strong's Greek Lexicon - G1076). This second word refers to a list of direct descendants.

The ‘myths and endless genealogies’ were the errors that were being taught by the false teachers. J.N.D. Kelly suggested that these,

must have had to do with allegorical or legendary interpretations of the O.T. centering on the pedigrees of the patriarchs. Much of the rabbinical Haggadah consisted of just such a fanciful rewriting of Scripture; the Book of Jubilees and Pseudo-Philo's [Biblical Antiquities], with its mania for family trees, are apt examples. It has also been shown that in postexilic Judaism there was a keen interest in family trees, and that these played a part in controversies between Jews and Jewish Christians. (The Pastoral Epistles [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1987],44-45) [8]

Another commentator concurred on their origin when he wrote,

Exactly what these fables and genealogies involved is not known. They may have had a Gnostic flavor, but were more likely of Jewish origin (cf. Titus 1:14). Whatever their nature, they were empty of any spiritual value and led only to further speculation, questions, and arguments. Such speculations were to be avoided because they did not further God’s plan, which is grasped and implemented not by human imaginings, but by faith. By contrast, human speculations tend to lead off down endless blind tunnels which serve only to confuse and obscure God’s truth. [9]

‘which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.’ (1 Tim 1:4b)

These false teachers were distracting the people of God at Ephesus from the Gospel message that Paul had preached and taught them. They were being distracted from the truth with nonsense that was causing dissension in the church by inciting meaningless speculation and arguments. Satan is always trying to distract us from what is important because we are not a threat if we are chasing doctrines and dogmas that have nothing to do with the Gospel. Why? Because it is the Gospel that brings people to Christ. Only it has the power to change the heart of mankind. ‘Faith’ is not produced by our speculations, nor do they draw anyone to Christ. They end up doing just the opposite - they repel people from Christianity.

John MacArthur made this astute point,

All the myriad religions of the world fall into one of two categories. There is the religion of divine accomplishment, that God in Christ accomplished salvation apart from human efforts. That is the Christian gospel. The other category is that of human achievement, where men attempt to gain salvation by their own efforts in good deeds, ceremonies, or rituals. Every other religion to one extent or another fits into this category. The false teachers at Ephesus, like all other false teachers, offered a way to God which required human achievement. [10]

Even if they did not realize it, these false teachers were pointing believers to shipwrecking their faith. Paul was stressing the importance of Timothy’s mission in addressing these false teachers, just as he did in Galatians 1:6-9,

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! (Gal 1:6-9)

It is so easy to get caught up in doctrines that have nothing to do with the Gospel. God did not call us to be sidetracked by things that have no value for the people around us. Someone cannot be scared into the truth if that subject distorts the Gospel message. For instance, people can get so enthralled with preaching to others about their eschatology (study of the end times) that they completely forget about the Gospel. Eschatology doesn’t save people, the Gospel of Jesus does. The Gospel is about putting our whole faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus, not in the latest speculations about the end times. That doesn’t mean it's not a worthy subject to study, but if it's our only subject, then we have our priorities out of order. There might be nothing wrong with tracing your genealogy, but genealogies do not qualify us for the Kingdom of God. Only our faith and trust in Christ as Lord and Savior does that.

(3) As I urged you when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay on where you are at Ephesus in order that you may warn and admonish and charge certain individuals not to teach any different doctrine, (4) Nor to give importance to or occupy themselves with legends (fables, myths) and endless genealogies, which foster and promote useless speculations and questionings rather than acceptance in faith of God’s administration and the divine training that is in faith (in that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence)—

The Amplified Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), (1 Timothy 1:3–4)

Footnotes

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p. 305.
Summarized from Commentary on First Timothy Chapter 1 | Evidence Unseen
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p. 425.
Ralph Earle, “1 Timothy,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 11 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), p. 350.
Knute Larson, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, vol. 9, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), p. 145.
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p. 371.
Ibid, p. 611.
A. Duane Litfin, “1 Timothy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), p. 731.

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