2009-05-22
Good Morning Cherished of God,
The Holy Spirit directs me to continue writing about whether or not doctrine matters. We’ve taken a very careful look at MT 7: 1-2, 6 and the parable of the tree and its fruit [MT 7: 15-20]. Now, we are examining some verses on false prophecy against the backdrop of Christ’s words from His Sermon on the Mount on judgment. Last week, we saw the need to move from spiritual milk to meat, maturing toward Christ’s full stature in EPH 4: 13-14. This week, we’ll look at 1 TIM 1: 3-4, 6, “I want you to stay in Ephesus, just as I urged you when I was on my way to Macedonia. Some people there are teaching false doctrines, and you must order them to stop. Tell them to give up those legends and those long lists of ancestors, which only produce arguments; they do not serve God’s plan, which is known by faith…Some people have turned away from these and have lost their way in foolish discussions.”
1TIM was probably written toward the end of Paul’s life from Greece. Paul had been released from house arrest 61 AD, allowing for his travels, was writing to his young associate, Timothy, between 64 to 66 AD. This letter would give Timothy some documentary proof of his authorization as Paul’s representative . Accordingly, much of this epistle is occupied with the personal life and activity of Timothy himself. It stands to reason that after Paul’s first imprisonment at Rome, he visited Ephesus with Timothy. When Paul moved on to Macedonia, he instructed Timothy to stay in Ephesus for a while to teach the word of God and to warn the believers against false teachers . From Macedonia, Paul apparently traveled south to Corinth, and it was perhaps from that city that he wrote this first letter to Timothy. As to these false doctrines, they are likely to be Gnosticism, the belief that only certain people who know the “truth” [from their point of view] will be saved. It also includes the heretical notion that once Christ died, He lost his divinity, and God authorized another person to take Christ’s place. Believers of this false doctrine could rightfully be called the secret society of chosen few. All of their doctrines don’t conform to the Christian faith or God’s will. Legalism is another doctrine in addition to Gnosticism which was false teaching common during that time. While Timothy is tempted to run away from these problems, Paul is telling him to remain on the job showing them up for the lies they were.
Timothy was also exhorted to charge these men not to pay attention to fables and endless genealogies. Some of them could be connected to legends that arose from some Jewish teachers. Others think they refer to the myths and generations of the Gnostics. False cults today are characterized by the same things. I have often written of the difficulties that arise from the Oral Torah, teaching begun by the 1st – 3rd century rabbis in their commentaries on the Law, Jewish cultural practices, and the like. This series of writings were, the Talmud [the Law explained], the Mishna [the law of the land], and the Midrash [stories from Jewish culture]. These books important to Judaism are strictly man-generated, as opposed to the written Torah [in its broad sense, meaning the 37 books of the OT] which is God-generated. The oral Torah is the reason that in ancient Judaism, there were 613 laws, which no one except the part divine, part human Jesus Christ could keep perfectly. God still to this day intends there should be only 10 commandments, as outlined in EX 20: 1-17.
The discussions that arise from false doctrine serve only to provoke questioning and doubts in peoples minds. The do not produce godly edification which is a faith-builder. The entire plan of redemption is designed by God, not to stir up doubts and disputes, but rather to induce faith. When we get down to it, this is exactly what the devil wants to do. He is the “father of all lies” [JN 8: 44] and a sower of seeds of doubt. Timothy was being told that the men in the Ephesian assemblies should not be spending their time devoting themselves to such useless teaching. There were clearly some people who had strayed from the pure teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The expression, “turned aside” may mean either they aimed improperly or missed the mark to idle talk. The bottom line is that the preaching of these false teachers didn’t make men holy. At the time Paul was writing this epistle, the false teachers were in the minority in Ephesus, and he was attempting to keep it that way. Sadly by the time 2 TIM is written, the balance of power had changed, and the false teachers were then in the majority, rather than the minority.
The devil is at work in this. His name, Satan, means “accuser.” But the evil one has many other appellations. He is the tempter, the false angel of light, a deceiver of the highest order. He is cunning and “roams around looking for someone to devour” [1 PET 5: 8]. I bring this up because he searches for wherever man is vulnerable. He is prideful and teaches mankind to be full of pride. Lucifer translated means “the shining one.” Putting all of this together, is it any wonder that the Jews were vulnerable to the teaching of Gnosticism and the oral Torah? Many humans today are unwilling to surrender to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, submit to God, and be faithfully obedient to the Lord. When pride gets in the way, then false teaching is pretty alluring. Are we being discerning? How vulnerable to the evil ones’ fiery arrows are we?
PRAYER: O Lord, I begin today’s prayer with a recitation of MT 7: 1-2, 6, “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and He will apply to you the same rules you apply to others…Do not give what is holy to dogs-they will only turn and attack you. Do not cast your pearls in front of swine-they will only trample them underfoot.” This is being said to remind You that Your teaching is on our minds. We plead for Your wisdom and discernment. PS 51: 6, Sincerity and truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom.” PS 119:125, “I am Your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know Your teachings.” Dearest Abba, we know that You are the only Source for real knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and discernment. We are deeply grateful that You love us enough to be patient, instructive, and compassionate with ones so spiritually impoverished as we are. We do not wish to be the “seeds that fall on a bed of thorns” [MT 13: 22] that hear the message, but allow the worries of life to choke it out. Nor do we want to lay ourselves open to temptation arising from false teaching that may give us momentary comfort, but will not eternally edify us. Our desire is to appeal to the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with truth, thus closing entrance to them by the adversary. We do not want to be open to “wolves in sheep’s clothing” [MT 7: 15] who try to swoop down on us and carry us away from You. We feel the best ways to know Your truth is to know You better through daily study of the Scriptures and an active prayer life. We must learn to be listeners, who once we understand are willing to reach out to others with the truth of Your teaching. You alone are our Savior, our teacher, and our life. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we will continue with our examination of Scriptures against the backdrop of MT 7: 1-2, 6, and MT 7: 15-20. The next one we will take up is 1 TIM 4: 1-3, 6. In the meanwhile, the Holy Spirit reminds me to write about the love that God has for us. If we stop and think about it, we will understand that the Scriptures [OT and NT] and His open pipeline of prayer are two precious tools we have for giving Him a chance to let us know Him better. When we know these things and understand them, and we reverently let Him speak first in prayer while we listen for Him, He is able to allow us through the Holy Spirit to have a better idea of His perspective on the circumstances of our lives. To prepare for the spiritual warfare, of which part is being exposed to false doctrine, we can follow the dictates of EPH 6: 10-18, donning God’s full armor. God gives us effective spiritual weapons- truth, righteousness, readiness to announce the Good News of peace, faith, salvation, and word of God- to be used in prayer. We are told in 2 COR 10: 3-5, “It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons which we use to destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” It would be cruel not to end this with a really comforting notion from God, 1 JN 4: 4, “But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets because the Spirit Who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.” Believe in God’s truths, and we shall all be blessed beyond measure. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn