1 Timothy 1:8-11

1:8-11

“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, (9) understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, (10) the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, (11) in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”

Paul makes a sidenote here. He wants to make sure of something: even though these false teachers that Timothy is to correct are misusing the Law – the Old Testament including its rules and regulations – Paul wants to make sure that Timothy knows they’re misusing it. The Law itself is a good thing.

There’s a scary note we have to make here: and that’s that teachers of false things will use God’s word; they’ll just use it wrong. And in doing that, they will contradict God’s word. The pastor, then, must be able to and up to correcting people who are misusing God’s word.

At the end of verse 10, Paul says that all of these evil behaviors are contrary to sound doctrine, and he clarifies what that means by saying ‘in accordance with the gospel.’ In other words, there is a pattern of life that is consistent with believing in the gospel.

Here we see that the Law and the Gospel are not contrary to each other – but that the Gospel teaches us to renounce wickedness (see Titus 2). The Gospel is the power for salvation – including salvation from a slavery to sinning (Rom. 1, 6).

It’s interesting that Paul calls the gospel the ‘gospel of the glory of the blessed God.’ There’s a parallel to 2 Corinthians 4:4 – in which Paul uses the phrase, “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” There, Paul is saying that the gospel is about, in its message, Christ’s glory. When it is announced, the glory of Christ is on display.

If Paul is using the phrase the same way here, he’s saying that the gospel that brings the renouncing of sin, in its content, shows forth the glory of God. And of course sin does not make sense in light of God’s glory.

Also note – Paul calls God ‘blessed’ – even in this statement of doctrine, he can’t help but worship.

And he also makes note of the fact that he’s been given the task of preaching – which we’ll pick up on next time. But he’s about to point out that the preaching is about God’s glory – not his.

Summary
1) False teachers who must be silenced will be using the Bible.
2) There is a pattern of life that is consistent with the gospel, since the content of the gospel is God’s glory.
3) That seeing of God’s glory leads to real life transformation –and love.
4) Our reaction to the gospel should be to call God ‘blessed.’