1 Timothy 1:3–7:
“As I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings, not to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan that operates by faith. But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have strayed from this and turned away to empty discussion. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or the things they insist on so confidently.”
To have strayed means you have followed shining objects. You have followed a path of reasoning and exploration that has led you to this position Paul warns against. But that is not my main focus here. My aim is to ask: what is now the aim?
He says the aim of our instruction (he lists three things in verse 5) is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.
So the priority is love. The aim is love. The question is: how is this teaching going to help me to love God? We need to have that as the litmus test, if you understand what I am saying. We need to judge: how is this engagement going to lead me to love God more and love my neighbor? It is “love from a pure heart.”
And of course: what is this teaching teaching me?
Is it teaching me greed?
Is it teaching me the love of the world? Am I being programmed to love the world? Am I being programmed for the things of this world? Am I being programmed for “the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions” (1 John 2:16)? Is that what is being mirrored to me as what I am supposed to be like?
James wrote in James 1 that we should not be forgetful hearers, but doers of the word (James 1:22–25). But what if the “word” I am hearing is lies, and I am trying to position my heart not to be forgetful? I don’t want to forget it. I don’t know it is lies. I don’t know it is harmful to me, but I want to position my heart not to be a forgetful hearer of the words I’m hearing, and I want to be a doer of that word. Then I am being roped into more and more lust of the flesh. I am not being steered in the direction of being like Christ, who is the picture of the love of God to us. That is not what is happening to me.
So I am not being changed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). I am being changed into greed. I am being made to stray away from the truth. Whatever Paul is talking about here is very serious. He had to say, “Timothy, I need you to go there and make sure these people stop.”
Maybe you are a gentle person and don’t want to be confrontational, but you need to be in this matter. You need to put your feet down and tell them to stop this kind of preoccupation, because they have strayed from the truth, and everybody listening, if they are not wiser, will also stray from the truth and be caught up in the flashiness of it all.
“Love from a pure heart.” How is my heart being transformed? Am I loving God more? Is the glory of Christ being presented to me? Am I being made to set my heart on things in heaven, or am I being made to set my heart on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1–2)?
“Love from a pure heart”—that is what we want. That is the aim. That is what we want to push, as far as Paul is concerned, and he is sending Timothy to emphasize it. The aim is important. What is he aiming for?
Rather than wasting our time trying to engage with all the tiny details of people who think they must preoccupy themselves with myths and varied false teachings, “rather than God’s redemptive plan that operates by faith,” rather than a focus on Christ—and so they stray into empty discussion—we should not just join them in that empty discussion.
No. Where are we going with this exploration? What are we aiming for?
Paul is calling us back—calling us back to the priority of love from a pure heart. What are the heart issues we need to deal with? That is it. The heart issues people may not see on the outside, but God sees. The heart issues.
God bless you.