The Purpose of the Commandment

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, to Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk... But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully... according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. (1 Timothy 1:1–11)

The purpose of right doctrine is not endless argument but love—from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

The Law Is Good If One Uses It Lawfully

My wife is a nurse in an intensive care unit, and recently she showed me a video that has become a national news story—a nurse in Utah, Alex Wubbels, being arrested by a police officer because she was upholding the hospital's policy and the law itself. The officer was trying to take blood from an unconscious patient, and he was not following the law; she was. That police department in Salt Lake came under enormous scrutiny.

When most people watch that footage, there's a part of us that is infuriated. Each of us has a sense of morality—of right and wrong—and a deep sense of justice. When we see someone using the justice system or their position in an unjust way, it makes us angry. Because that is true, all of us can find agreement with Paul in verse 8: "We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully." Most who watched that video instantly felt the law was not being used properly. We say, "That is wrong. That is unjust."

As an aside, evolutionary theory cannot answer where this deep sense of right and wrong comes from. If you're interested in that topic, I highly recommend C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, a very good read on this internal moral law. Recent books have tried to argue that animals possess a "moral organ," but Psychology Today ran an article saying that's simply not true; what we see in animals does not accord with what we see in humans. Every human being from birth has a strong capacity for moral judgment—and it doesn't take long for it to start. I have four specimen of children, ages eight down to four, and hardly a day goes by in my house without someone saying, "It's not fair!"

Paul's Charge to Timothy

So in the opening words of 1 Timothy, Paul is pushing for a right application of the law, a proper use of the law. Why? Paul had been arrested for preaching the gospel and extradited to Rome to stand trial before the emperor, since he had appealed as a Roman citizen. At some point he was released, and afterward he returned to the churches he had planted in what we now call coastal western Turkey, to a city called Ephesus. Timothy, a young man then in his early thirties, was with him.

When they arrived at Ephesus—a church Paul had planted and pastored for years—they saw it had a lot of problems, issues, and conflict. That's not abnormal. If you've been around church for any length of time, you know there are problems and conflicts, because churches are made up of people, and people have problems. Maybe you came here leaving another church, thinking you'd finally found a perfect church—no, you didn't.

Paul knew he wasn't going to stay long; he was on his way to Macedonia, probably to the church at Philippi. So he said, "Timothy, I want you to stay here and help set things in order." Look at verse 3: "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine."

This is one of the primary roles of a pastor—point one: pastors lead and teach in right doctrine and defend against wrong. Having been a pastor now by God's grace for almost nineteen years, I can say this is not always easy work. Instructing people in what is right and saying "walk in this" is difficult, because none of us likes to receive instruction. Reading between the lines of 1 and 2 Timothy, you can see Timothy was timid and a little fearful of that conflict.

The word "charge" is a military term—commanding someone, giving strict orders. In that culture it was especially hard for a younger man to tell an older person what they could not do. Yet there is a clear leadership hierarchy in the church, and Timothy is left as the commanding officer, told to charge them that they teach no other doctrine.

The Pastoral Epistles and Sound Doctrine

This section of Scripture—1 and 2 Timothy and Titus—is called the pastoral epistles, because they were written to two men pastoring churches: one in Ephesus, another on the island of Crete. The word translated "doctrine" appears nineteen times in the New Testament, and fifteen of those are in the pastorals; eight are right here in 1 Timothy. This entire letter is about sound doctrine.

Paul wanted the church not to teach any "other doctrine"—heterodoxy, anything against orthodoxy—and not to give heed to fables and endless genealogies that cause disputes. The NIV puts it well: that they would not devote themselves to myths or endless genealogies that promote controversial speculation rather than advancing God's work, which is by faith. The New Living Translation says these things only lead to meaningless speculations that don't help people live a life of faith in God.

There is little agreement among commentators about the exact nature of the problem at Ephesus. We could speculate, and probably come to right conclusions, because church problems are usually similar. The specific problem isn't the issue—the outcome is. The outcome is clear: such things promote controversial speculations and lead to meaningless disputes.

Don't Be Jammed Up by Junk Doctrine

Of course such things aren't happening today, right? Unfortunately, they are. What would a myth or speculation that causes disputes look like in our day? Some have been saying that next Saturday, September 23rd, is a really big prophetic deal. In the constellation Virgo, the sun will be in Virgo, the moon at her feet, and a series of planets—Venus, Mars, Mercury, and the star Regulus—in alignment at her head. They tie this to Revelation 12:1: "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars." So, the YouTube videos say, probably the rapture is going to happen next Saturday. Just so you know, I plan on being here next Sunday—so I'll see you there, hopefully.

These are the kinds of things that get into the church and become its focus. They cause controversial speculations and meaningless disputes; they stop the work and purpose God has for His church; they break down godly edification. So, point two: don't be jammed up by junk doctrine.

This is not new. In Acts 1, mere seconds before Jesus ascended, His core disciples asked, "Will you at this time restore the kingdom?" Jesus said, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons... but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me." From the earliest church until now, Jesus has had to remind us of our purpose: go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to observe all He commanded. We so easily get distracted by meaningless disputes about things that produce no godly edification.

The Purpose of the Commandment Is Love

How do we discern whether something is junk or not? Notice the point of sound doctrinal teaching: it brings "godly edification which is in faith." Proper teaching of proper doctrine brings faith and the building up of the church.

Verse 5: "Now the purpose of the commandment is love." Another way to read it: the purpose of the preaching of the Scriptures, the giving forth of sound doctrine, is love. Underline that simple word. And there is a quality to this love—"from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith."

The purpose of what we do when we gather and open the Scriptures is that we would grow, chiefly in our love for one another and for those outside. This is fitting, because the fruit of the Spirit is love. In Galatians 5, Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is love—singularly—and from that follow joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control. The chief evidence that God's Spirit dwells in you is love, because God is love.

In 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, Paul says that if we understand all mysteries, speak with tongues, exercise every spiritual gift, and even give our bodies to be burned, but have not love, it profits us nothing. He ends, "Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." So point three: love is the product of proper doctrine.

Love Is the Fulfillment of the Law

This should be obvious, because love is the summation of the Scriptures. In Matthew 22, a lawyer tested Jesus: "Which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Paul echoes this in Galatians 5: "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And in Romans 13: "He who loves another has fulfilled the law... Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

What This Love Looks Like

As good as it sounds that the product of proper doctrine is love, there is great misunderstanding in our culture about what love actually is. So Paul gives us qualifiers.

First, love "from a pure heart." If you search the Scriptures, you find that a pure heart comes only by faith in Jesus Christ. Acts 15 tells us our hearts are purified by faith. So those who do not know Christ do not have a pure heart, and cannot love in the most perfect form God designed. This does not mean non-Christians cannot experience or display love—they certainly can—but not in its fullest, most perfect form. Just as sex can be experienced outside of marriage but not in its most perfect form as God designed, so love outside of Christ is not its perfect expression.

Second, love "from a good conscience"—a conscience cleared from guilt, shame, and fear. The only way to have that is to receive the grace and forgiveness of God, because all sin is ultimately against God. Every person lives with a sense of guilt and shame because of the internal moral law we've transgressed, and a fear of judgment. When you become a Christian and receive the grace of Jesus, that guilt, fear, and shame go away. As 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear." You cannot perfectly love someone while still carrying guilt and fear—things only dealt with by the cross of Christ.

Third, love "from sincere faith," or as the King James says, "faith unfeigned"—genuine faith without hypocrisy, found only in Christ.

A Barometer for Sound Teaching

If the aim of solid doctrinal preaching is to produce this kind of love, then we have a barometer for whether teaching is sound. If a church is peddling fables, myths, endless genealogies, and spiritual pedigrees, it will produce controversial speculations and meaningless disputes. But if a church preaches sound doctrine, it will result in the growth of pure, sincere, good love from hearts transformed by grace. We can see the produce of it. Point four: sound doctrine promotes genuine faith, cleanses the conscience, and purifies the heart, producing love.

King David had it right three thousand years ago: "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple... More to be desired are they than gold... sweeter also than honey... and in keeping them there is great reward" (Psalm 19:7–11). Why do we gather week after week to teach verse by verse? Because we believe God's Word converts the soul, makes wise the simple, opens blinded eyes, and transforms us into a people who love from a pure heart.

That's why Paul wrote, "Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:13), and "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season... For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers... and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:2–4).

Good Talkers Are Not Necessarily Good Teachers

Back to our text, verse 6: "from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk." The "some" of verse 6 is the same "some" of verse 3. They haven't left the church; they're still there, "desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm." That's a good desire—later in chapter 3 Paul says one who desires the office of an elder desires a good thing. But they've turned aside to idle talk and don't comprehend what they're saying. The NLT says they want to be known as teachers of the law but don't know what they're talking about, even though they speak so confidently.

If you ever take New Testament Greek, on the very first day you'll learn the alphabet, the vowels, and the diphthongs, and by the end of the day you can read Greek aloud and amaze your friends—but you won't understand a word you're saying. It's like last summer on vacation in Oregon. I took my eight-year-old son golfing for the first time. He'd been playing baseball, and the swings are completely different. On the first tee he was swinging like a batter. "Hey, can I give you a few tips?" "No, no, Dad, I got this." Swing and a miss, swing and a miss. For nine holes: "Can I help?" "No, I got this." He knew just enough about a swing to be dangerous. These men knew just enough to be dangerous; they spoke with confidence but didn't understand the reality. They're what chapter 3 calls novices—not bad, just needing to grow.

So never forget point five: good talkers are not necessarily good teachers. There are a lot of people who can give a great talk—and a lot of people in places called churches who have given great talks while leading many people straight to hell. They might have big white smiles and be on TV. I'm not talking about anyone specific.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruit

Why does this matter? In Matthew 7, Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." How will we know them? "You will know them by their fruits." Endless genealogies, speculations, and disputes—or love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. "A good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit... By their fruits you will know them."

Then come some of the most striking, fear-inducing verses in the whole Bible: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

This is not something to be trifled with. The teaching of sound doctrine has eternal consequences. There are people who go to places called churches and receive only endless genealogies and disputes, and on the day they stand before Christ they are in crisis—because they knew some things, but they didn't know Him. That is why we take this so seriously, and why Paul left poor Timothy in Ephesus and said, "Charge them strictly. Warn them that they teach no other doctrine."

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your grace and for Your Word. I pray that You would enable me and the other leaders, elders, and pastors here at this church to always endeavor to do the work of rightly dividing the word of truth, that we may properly give forth sound doctrine. Lord, help us to have the boldness by Your Spirit to warn and charge those who are out of the way—those giving forth what may sound good and tickle ears but does not produce life. Open our hearts to sound doctrine that would come into our lives and produce love, love for one another and for a lost and dying world, that this would be the evidence that we are Your followers, just as You said to Your disciples: they shall know you are My disciples by the love you have for one another. Do that work in us; transform us by Your grace. We praise You, Jesus. And now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be glory and honor and praise from our lives from this time forth. Amen.