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Click below to listen to the sermon being preached - Apologies for my croaky voice, I was battling a cold:

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.[1]

In his introduction to 3 John, the American Presbyterian Gresham Machen (who died in 1937) wrote, “Despite its individual address and private character, the Third [Letter] of John is not an ordinary private letter. Like all the books of the New Testament, it has a message for the entire Church.”[2] I believe this is a very true saying. While it is undeniable that what we now know as 1 Timothy was originally written by Paul to a young man called Timothy who lived some two thousand years ago, we should not for one moment think that its relevance to us today is limited.

In this sermon I am endeavouring to pick up from Mr Fairful’s sermon a fortnight ago, in which he introduced us to the encouraging promise, “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”.[3] In his sermon, we were reminded of Paul’s miraculous conversion and left with those great words of encouragement, “Those who fear God cannot save them would do well to remember the case of Paul”.[4] What a wonderful way with which to end worship on that Sunday, and indeed what an encouraging way to begin our sermon this evening.

For, in our short reading, we were presented with a rather worrying declaration concerning Hymenaeus and Alexander. These two men are clearly in great trouble and while we can’t be certain of exactly what they’ve done, we can give it a pretty good guess.

In 2 Timothy 4. 14, Paul writes, “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds”,[5] while a couple of chapters earlier in 2 Timothy 2. 16 we read that Hymenaeus engaged in “irreverent babble,”[6] meaning (as we see two verses later) that he “swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened.“[7] Ellicott explains that this “resurrection”, far from being the resurrection of Christ, which we would all say has “already happened”,[8] was actually referring to the resurrection of dead men and women at the last day, which Jesus described in John’s Gospel when He said “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement.”[9]

This false belief, says Paul in v19, means that they have “made shipwreck of their faith”,[10] they have hit the rocks and are floundering. In many ways they are so close and yet, with one misguided move they have left the safety of the open water and crashed into the immovable object. They are going down. It is Hymenaeus and Alexander, says Paul one verse later, who need to “learn not to blaspheme.”[11]

I don’t know about you, friends, but I found this word, ‘blaspheme’, an interesting one. For false belief is not what I usually associate with blasphemy. No – my normal experience of blasphemy is walking down Sauchiehall Street late at night, or sitting behind a group of schoolchildren on the bus! My general exposure to blasphemy comes with people swearing and cursing, saying “Jesus Christ” more than a Nun in a Convent.

As a good academic, my first response to this was to turn to the dictionary, to define my terms as it were. The Oxford English Dictionary defines blasphemy as “Speech, thought, or actions displaying contempt or irreverence for God, sacred or holy things or people, or religion”,[12] and this would appear to agree with my thought. However it is interesting to see how this definition includes “contempt or irreverence for… holy things”.[13]

Perhaps you’ll recall, from our recent sermon series on Daniel, how King Belshazzar commanded that “the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.”[14] Just as we know deep within ourselves that taking the communion silverware from church along to the pub and asking the barmaid to pour us a pint in them would be wrong, even though they’re just bits of silverware, would be disrespectful to God, so too Belshazzar taking the silverware from the temple and using them in his orgy/party was also wrong. And not only was it wrong: it was blasphemous.

Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments, instructs us “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”,[15] with the warning that “the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”[16] This is a clear instruction, and warning, to us that using names such as ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ in inappropriate ways is just unacceptable to the Lord. After all, God’s Name is supremely important, and we should not be invoking it as a swear word. Just think how wrong it would be to use your grandmother’s name in a swearing session, then think how wrong it is to use the name of the Lord God in a similar way.

However, blasphemy is about far more than saying ‘OMG’. We know this a) because Paul describes Hymenaeus’ false belief as blasphemy, but also because of something Paul said about himself only a few verses earlier. In 1 Timothy 1. 13, we hear Paul say “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.”[17] Here Paul is describing the life of Saul, his former self – Saul as we know was a nasty piece of work, giving his all to persecuting Christians and stamping on the fledgling faith. However, Saul was also a devout Jew. Paul tells us in Philippians that he was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the Church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”[18] Paul would never in a million years have taken the name of God in vain, any more than he would have eaten pork or broken the Sabbath.

Blasphemy, as we can see from the case of Hymenaeus, is also the act of misappropriating the name of God, applying it to things that God would never condone. It is the act of saying that God would or wouldn’t accept a certain behaviour or belief. In Hymenaeus’ case, the blasphemy was declaring or teaching that the bodily resurrection of the dead, which we believe will not happen until our Lord Jesus returns, has already happened. While we’ve no reason to believe that Hymenaeus was saying ‘OMG’, or shouting ‘Jesus Christ’ when he stubbed his toe, his blasphemy was just as real, and just as dangerous.

I wonder, friends, and I talk to myself as much as you this evening, whether we have ever known ourselves to misrepresent the faith? To, perhaps, put a gloss on our faith, maybe to make it more palatable to others around us? Perhaps we have tried to tone down some of the absolutes of the faith to make it sound more easy-going? Maybe, in a misguided attempt to encourage people into the faith, we have underplayed some of the more challenging beliefs we hold. There’s no doubt, I confess before you all, that at times I have been guilty of this – in trying to make the faith of Christ more easily acceptable to outsiders, I fear I have misrepresented parts of it. I have, therefore, blasphemed. Maybe you have too. The question I should ask myself, as Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. 15, is have I “rightly [handled] the word of Truth. [And have I avoided] irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.”[19]

That is something of a challenge for us, isn’t it; for what may have begun as a well-meant attempt to encourage people towards Christ risks leading to “more and more ungodliness”.[20] This is why Paul, indeed why God, is so firm on blasphemy – for it is a canker that, says Paul, “will spread like gangrene.”[21] It is my sincere prayer that, as I speak tonight, the Lord would help keep me on the path of truth and righteousness, and that should be the prayer of all of us as we look towards the coming week, that we may present the Gospel in an unabridged, unadulterated form. This echoes Paul’s instruction to Timothy in 1. 3, to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.”[22]

Perhaps, if you are like me, you found it a little difficult to understand what Paul was meaning when, in v20 of our reading, Paul explains that he “handed [Hymenaeus and Alexander] over to satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”[23] In my mind this raises a lot of questions. On a first read, a perfunctory glance, it does sound like Paul has given up on them, he has transferred them to satan just as a call-centre operative would transfer your call to another department to get rid of you!

One commentator suggests that, when Paul declares he had “handed them over to Satan,” it meant that “he had stayed away from them so God could deal with them. The point of Paul’s action is not to punish, but to inspire repentance and reconciliation”.[24] Another commentator, who compares this to a reading from 1 Corinthians (which we will see in a moment) explains that “the reason Paul metes out such a harsh apostolic judgment is [for] the benefit of all those involved. The church would be purified, and the erring individuals would be brought to repentance. The goal for the man in Corinth was that he would submit to God and be saved from spiritual ruin. The goal for Hymenaeus and Alexander was that they “be taught not to blaspheme”.”[25]

One further commentator questions whether Paul was actually referring to the Jewish, and indeed historically Christian, practice of excommunication. Explaining this, he writes,

According to synagogue practice, if a man was an evil-doer he was first publicly rebuked. If that was ineffective, he was banished from the synagogue for a period of thirty days. If he was still stubbornly unrepentant, he was put under the ban, which made him a person accused, debarred from the society of men and the fellowship of God. In such a case a man might well be said to be handed over to satan.[26]

In 1 Corinthians we have another example of someone being handed over to satan – where Paul writes, “you are to deliver this man to satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”[27] This was in response to a case of incest discovered in the Corinthian church. Perhaps the idea was that the church should pray that, through some sort of earthly suffering, “he might be brought to the senses of his mind.”[28]

However, lest this sermon should become full of doom and gloom, let us return for a brief moment to the sermon of a fortnight ago, where we were reminded of those encouraging words in v15, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”.[29] In this verse Paul describes himself as “the foremost”,[30] and yet he was shown great mercy at the hands of a great and merciful God. This should give anyone hope, but perhaps especially the friends of Alexander and Hymenaeus. If God could have mercy on Saul, that great murderer and opponent of the Christian church, if Hymenaeus and Alexander would only come to their senses He would have mercy on them too. “Those who fear God cannot save them would do well to remember the case of Paul”.[31]

Amid all the talk of Hymenaeus and Alexander, satan and blasphemy, it would be understandable if you thought this sermon was one of doom and gloom – yet another reminder of how sinful we are, how much we fail God, ourselves, each other, and that’s it. However, friends: do not despair. For woven through our reading is a greatly encouraging thread which just needs unravelled.

You see, alongside the warnings about Hymenaeus and Alexander, the peril of blasphemy and the handing over to satan, is a piece of positive encouragement. Paul instructs young Timothy to continue to “wage the good warfare, holding faith in good conscience.”[32]

As in v5, so here in v19 Paul links thoughts of “faith” and “good conscience”[33] together, showing their inseparability. Timothy is to “wage the good warfare”[34] and, when we consider all of the talk we’ve already covered, we can see why Paul uses the phrase “warfare”![35] However, let us not fail to notice what he wrote in the previous verse, where he explained that this was all “in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you”.[36] In these nine words we see a very interesting story being told. For prophecies to have been made about Timothy in this way, there would have been “a meeting of the prophets of the Church.”[37] It is interesting that, only this week in our Bible Study, we explored Ephesians 4 and saw that God “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry”,[38] and it is clear that this equipping is taking place here. Clearly this group of prophets had met together to discern how God was directing them to deal with the “situation which was threatening the Church and [evidently] came to the conclusion that Timothy was the man to deal with it.”[39] This happened also in Acts 13 where the fledgling Church had to discern whether to take the Gospel message to the Gentiles, or keep it for the Jews. Timothy “had been marked out by the Prophets as the man to deal with the situation in the Church. It may well have been that he shrank from the greatness of the task which faced him, and here Paul encourages him with [a few] considerations.”[40]

Firstly, Paul explains that Timothy has been chosen for the task, not by men, but by God. It would have been one thing if Paul had simply instructed Timothy to perform this role – but this instruction came from God, through the gathered Prophets.

History tells us of a similar thing happening to John Knox. He was a lecturer in St Andrew’s and people had urged him to become a preacher. But he utterly refused, alleging that he would not run where God had not called him.[41] However, the group felt that the Lord had revealed that it was God’s will for John Knox to become a preacher, so gathered together in prayer and concluded that they had to publicly charge him with the call.[42] This they did on the following Sunday. While those who gathered in prayer would never have described themselves as prophets, it is clear from the annals of history that John Knox was a man called by God to preach, yet to begin with he did not want to answer the call. It took a group of people, gathered together, waiting on the word of God, to discern what the next steps should be. Knowing that he had been chosen by God for the task gave Knox the fiery confidence to bring about reformation in Scotland.

In a not too dissimilar way, Paul says to Timothy, “You have been chosen; you cannot let down God and man.”[43] When God calls us to a responsibility or task, let us take confidence from the knowledge that God has chosen us for that specific purpose. We may not have councils of prophets any more, but it is still the responsibility of the Christian to wait on the Lord and seek to do His will.

But what has Paul actually entrusted to Timothy? He has sent him to “wage the good warfare”,[44] but has not left him defenceless. For in instructing him to fight, Paul has entrusted to him the weapons of “faith and a good conscience”.[45]

Looking at these in reverse order, we can consider what a good defence a “good conscience”[46] is. Even on a mundane level, we know that when we do something right, it makes us feel good about ourselves. When we do something wrong, something sinful, once the initial rush has disappeared, it leaves us feeling bad about ourselves, unclean. As Christians, when we are following the wise instruction of God, obeying His laws and clinging on to Jesus, we can do so safe in the knowledge that we are doing the right thing. Jacqueline and I found this especially helpful when we moved up here. We lost a number of friends thanks to our move – some people who didn’t approve of Jax marrying me in the first place, some people who didn’t approve of us moving so far away from all we knew – yet we knew, deep down, that it was what God had called us to do. And, through the difficulties that have followed, the ups and downs of a Christian life, we have found such great comfort and solace in the knowledge that, whatever the world thinks of us, we know that we’ve made the decisions we’ve made in accordance with what we feel God has called us to do.

Linked to this, Timothy the Christian soldier is to take “faith”.[47] This may seem an obvious instruction, and perhaps it is, but let’s consider how desolate our lives would be without faith. I can stand here this evening and confidently say that I do not fear death – and I can only say this because I believe in a God of eternal life. I can say, with the Psalmist, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”[48] When we consider the warfare in eastern Europe at the moment, those soldiers fighting for Ukraine’s freedom are fighting in the faith that they will succeed – of course they are! If they didn’t think that they would succeed, they would have given up months ago! So too, as a Christian, we have the great encouragement of faith-fuelled hope which tells us that, whatever is going on around us, God’s will WILL come to pass.

All around him, Timothy was seeing people struggling and failing. He had just been warned about two notorious wrongdoers, and been tasked with rooting the problem out in his church. He was a young man, thrust into a position of responsibility, and great was the price at stake. Yet Paul was encouraging him to hold fast to Jesus his Saviour. As Machen said, “Like all the books of the New Testament, it has a message for the entire Church.”[49] The message is not just for Timothy, it is for you and me as well, friends – those of us sitting in Church, and those of us watching at home. It is a message of encouragement, an encouragement to hold fast to our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

So, if you are listening to this and are an elder or church leader (as Timothy was), you may feel discouraged when you hear stories of yet another fallen pastor, another preacher embroiled in some scandal or other. You may feel disheartened if people aren’t responding to the Gospel message in the way you pray they would. Be encouraged, and hold fast to Christ.

If you are a young person (as Timothy was), you may be discouraged when you are around fellow young people, in school, college, university, work, who don’t believe. You may be tempted to live and behave as they do, tempted to be as they are. You may see them having great fun in their indolent and ungodly lives and, who knows, from time to time may give in to the temptation. Be encouraged, and hold fast to Christ.

If you are a new Christian (as Timothy may well have been, given his age), you may be discouraged when you have your first, second, third, twentieth setback in the faith. You may have come to faith with other people but be discouraged when you see that they have fallen away or “made shipwreck of their faith.”[50] Be encouraged, and hold fast to Christ.

If you don’t fall into any of those categories, but are a Christian (as, indeed, Timothy was!), you may be discouraged when all around you you see society turning away from Christ. As you look at the Scotland of old, the ‘Land of the Book’, and see how far we have fallen. You may have children or other family members who do not believe. You may not think you are doing enough to witness to other people. You may not think your prayer life is up to scratch. You may even wonder whether it is all worthwhile. Friends, be encouraged, and hold fast to Christ.

‘But how’, I can hear you crying in your hearts, ‘in this world of despair and darkness, can we be encouraged, and hold fast to Christ?’ For this I need you to indulge me in yet one more illustration:

Back down in Essex, my father has a little boat. It’s about 17’ long, painted bright yellow. It is moored just off the coast of an island town called Mersea. When he returns from a sail, he ties it to a bouy which is anchored to the sea bed. He gets back on to dry land and trusts that the bouy will hold fast. In good times and bad that little boat remains attached to that little bouy, which is attached firmly to the ocean bed. As the sea rises and falls, as the sun scorches and the wild winds blow, the little boat remains firmly anchored to its place. Not once in all the years he has owned the boat has it slipped its mooring.

Let us remember the words of Hebrews 6. 19 (you are seeing my Boys’ Brigade side coming out now!), where we read “We have [Jesus] as a sure and stedfast anchor of the soul”.[51]

I leave you with this thought, friends – in the crazy world in which we live, are you clinging on to your anchor in Jesus Christ? Are the winds blowing all around you? Are the currents threatening to drag you out to sea? Take Paul’s advice, cling tight to your “faith and [a] good conscience”,[52] hold firm to your anchor, for Jesus Christ is a sure and stedfast anchor of our soul, and He will never slip.

And now to Him alone be all glory, this night and forevermore. Amen

Works cited:

Barclay, William. Timothy, Titus and Philemon. Rev. ed. The Daily Study Bible. Edinburgh: St Andrews Press, 1975.

Fairful, John. ‘1 Timothy 1. 12-18’. Sermon, Dowanvale Free Church, 26 November 2023.

Knox, John. The Works of John Knox. Edited by David Laing and Wodrow Society. Book, Whole. Burlington: TannerRitchie in collaboration with the Library and Information Services of the University of St Andrews, 2010. https://go.exlibris.link/09L2kR74.

Machen, J. Gresham. The Literature and History of New Testament Times. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, 1915.

Oxford English Dictionary. ‘Blasphemy, n., Sense 1.a’. Oxford University Press, July 2023. Oxford English Dictionary. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7152497048.

  • [1] 1 Timothy 1. 18
  • [2] J. Gresham Machen, The Literature and History of New Testament Times (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, 1915), chap. 36.
  • [3] 1 Tim. 1. 15
  • [4] John Fairful, ‘1 Timothy 1. 12-18’ (Sermon, Dowanvale Free Church, 26 November 2023).
  • [5] 2 Tim. 4. 14
  • [6] 2 Tim. 2. 16
  • [7] 2 Tim. 2. 18
  • [8] Ibid.
  • [9] John 5. 28-29
  • [10] 1 Tim. 1. 19
  • [11] 1 Tim. 1. 20
  • [12] Oxford English Dictionary, ‘Blasphemy, n., Sense 1.a’ (Oxford University Press, July 2023), Oxford English Dictionary, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7152497048.
  • [13] Ibid.
  • [14] Daniel 5. 2
  • [15] Exodus 20. 7
  • [16] Ibid.
  • [17] 1 Tim. 1. 13
  • [18] Philippians 3. 5-6
  • [19] 2 Tim. 2. 15-16
  • [20] Ibid.
  • [21] 2 Tim. 2. 16
  • [22] 1 Tim. 1. 3
  • [23] 1 Tim. 1. 20
  • [24] https://www.bibleref.com/1-Timothy/1/1-Timothy-1-20.html
  • [25] https://www.gotquestions.org/Hymenaeus-and-Alexander.html
  • [26] William Barclay, Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Rev. ed, The Daily Study Bible (Edinburgh: St Andrews Press, 1975), 53.
  • [27] 1 Cor. 5. 5
  • [28] Barclay, Timothy, Titus and Philemon, 54.
  • [29] 1 Tim. 1. 15
  • [30] Ibid.
  • [31] John Fairful, ‘1 Timothy 1. 12-18’ (Dowanvale Free Church, 26 November 2023).
  • [32] 1 Tim. 1. 19
  • [33] Ibid.
  • [34] Ibid.
  • [35] Ibid.
  • [36] 1 Tim. 1. 18
  • [37] Barclay, Timothy, Titus and Philemon, 49.
  • [38] Ephesians 4. 11-12
  • [39] Barclay, Timothy, Titus and Philemon, 49.
  • [40] Ibid.
  • [41] John Knox, The Works of John Knox, ed. David Laing and Wodrow Society, Book, Whole (Burlington: TannerRitchie in collaboration with the Library and Information Services of the University of St Andrews, 2010), 186, https://go.exlibris.link/09L2kR74.
  • [42] Ibid.
  • [43] Barclay, Timothy, Titus and Philemon, 50.
  • [44] 1 Tim. 1. 18
  • [45] 1 Tim. 1. 19
  • [46] Ibid.
  • [47] Ibid.
  • [48] Psalm 118. 6
  • [49] Machen, The Literature and History of New Testament Times, chap. 36.
  • [50] 1 Tim. 1. 19
  • [51] Hebrews 6. 19
  • [52] 1 Tim. 1. 19