(18c) …that by them you may wage the good warfare…
Paul has just sought to encourage Timothy to keep going after his responsibilities on the basis of prophecy that was made about him when they made him a pastor. When he struggles, doubts, or is afraid, God wants him to look back at what he’d said about Timothy and his ministry through his being appointed to it.
And now he says that he wants him to remember what God said so that he’ll ‘wage the good warfare.’ That means that as Timothy discharges his pastoral duties, it will be hard work. He has to wage war. It will be consuming.
And it’s war – it involves conflict, pain, and loss.
But it’s good. Ultimately, Timothy’s responsibilities deal with the salvation of souls – the entrance of real people into God’s coming kingdom. He is to proclaim and apply all of the Gospel to all of the lives of all of his church.
And it’s hard work, painful work… and so he is to look back on what God said and strive forward through conflict and loss for the sake of God’s glory.
(19a) …holding faith and a good conscience.
And this is what it looks like for Timothy to wage the good warfare. I’m unsure if by ‘holding faith’ God means that pastors be trusting God or if he means that pastors be holding to ‘the faith,’ that is, the right doctrines.
I think that it probably means both. One cannot hold the right doctrines rightly without personal trust in them and the God who taught them. On the other hand, one cannot have a real and true faith in God without knowing and believing what he’s said in Scripture.
All that said, Timothy was to hold to and trust in the correct doctrines that God has taught.
He’s also to hold a good conscience, meaning, he’s to protect himself against sin. His life is to be pure. He is to strive for holiness.
So what is Timothy’s life supposed to look like as he preaches the Gospel? Having a deep personal trust in what God has said and pursuing holiness of life.
(19b-20) By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Here Paul gives us the dire consequences of not bearing the responsibility of holding faith and a good conscience. Here he is probably talking about the good conscience part specifically. And he says that a failure to pursue holiness and godliness is like being shipwrecked – and so safety is gone and passage into God’s Kingdom appears to be gone as well.
Paul mentions two specific men here, who apparently were saying things that were bad. In 2 Timothy 2:17-18, we see that these two men were telling people that the resurrection of the dead had already occurred. This may be what Paul was talking about.
That said, is there any sharp division between what is believed and what is practiced in somebody’s life according to God’s word? No. And so Paul ‘handed them over to Satan’ for their own benefit – to regain a holy standard of life, pleasing to God. He gave them out of the Church and into Satan’s world so that they would see what they were missing in God’s promises and presence. (See 1 Corinthians 5). He did this so that they would learn and repent.
All that to say, Paul here is saying that the way of not holding faith and a good conscience is the path to destruction – and that Timothy was to trust God’s teachings and pursue holiness with everything he had. And that is what his life was to look like as he discharged his ministry in God’s Church.
To summarize,
1) We’re to serve God’s church with the Gospel though it cost us everything
2) We’re to serve out of the courage given to us by God’s word
3) We must pursue right doctrine and holy living as we minister in God’s Church
4) There is great danger for us, and ultimate destruction, if we don’t
Prayer:
Father, these are weighty words. It is a scary thing to think about straying from the faith that you have taught us in Scripture. But in that very same book, you’ve made promises about salvation. You’ve promised to radically change the lives of those who trust in you by trusting in your Son and his cross work. So change me. Give me memory of your promises about eternal life through Jesus’ blood and resurrection. Give me strength to be holy and believe what you’ve taught. And give me boldness and courage to continue to wage war against anything that would oppose the Gospel, despite what it cost me.
To do things for you that cause me pain, I need to remember your promises – that it’s worth it. Remind me, Father! And give me strength to obey your commands.
In Christ’s name I pray, amen.
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