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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them
to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19,20).
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January 13, 2013
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Contents:
1) 1 Timothy 1:20 (Tom Edwards)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
1 Timothy 1:20
by Tom Edwards
As we noted last week, Paul shows in 1 Timothy 1:19 that some had
made shipwreck of their faith by not keeping their faith and a good
conscience. He now cites two specific examples of this in
verse 20: "Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have
handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme."
Hymenaeus is thought to have been a major false teacher in
Ephesus. He is also mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17,18, where we
see what he was wrongly teaching: "and their talk will spread like
gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone
astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken
place, and they upset the faith of some."
What exactly did Hymenaeus mean in teaching that the resurrection
had already occurred? If he were talking about a physical
resurrection, wouldn't it be obvious that that had not
happened? And how could one say that? Because of all
that is to happen on the day of the resurrection. For it is
not only a day in which the dead will be raised, but also a day in
which we who are living and remain will also be caught up to meet
the Lord in the air. Jesus speaks of this universal
resurrection in John 5:28,29: "Do not marvel at this; for an
hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His
voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a
resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a
resurrection of judgment." Corresponding with that time of the
resurrection is what Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:50-54: "Now
I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For
this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must
put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on
the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then
will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP
in victory." The phrase "we shall not all sleep" indicates
that this change from the mortal to the immortal will pertain to the
living as well as to the deceased who will be resurrected. Of
course, though all -- the good and the bad -- will be
resurrected, only the saved will receive glorified bodies and
eternal life. The lost, on the other hand, will have an
eternal existence in hell, which the Bible refers to as "the second
death" (Rev. 21:8). So the day of the resurrection will be the
last day of time. After that day, there will be just one great
eternity.
So what was Hymenaeus really teaching when he taught that the
resurrection had already occurred? It has been thought that
his doctrine had been influenced by Gnostic thought, who viewed
spirit as good, but all physical matter, such as the body, as being
evil. Therefore, a physical resurrection was inconceivable for
those who held to that belief. God, who was spirit and good,
would not be able to have anything to do with resurrecting a body,
which was physical; and, therefore, evil. So it is said that
what Hymenaeus taught is the spiritual resurrection of the soul as
being the only resurrection.
It is true that there is a spiritual resurrection of the soul when
one obeys the gospel. For Jesus states in John 5:25,26, "Truly,
truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall
live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to
the Son also to have life in Himself." These "dead" are the
spiritually dead (cf. 1 Tim. 5:6; Eph. 2:1). For He then says,
"Do not marvel at this," in referring back to that spiritual
resurrection, and then speaks of the physically dead being
resurrected in verses 28 and 29.
But even if Hymenaeus was referring to this type of spiritual
resurrection, that had certainly not come to an end in his day; for
here we are, about 2,000 years later, and still seeing that
happen. So there must have also been some other strange ideas
that Hymenaeus had in his resurrection theory that the Bible doesn't
tell us.
But just denying the physical resurrection, in itself, was a serious
matter. According to Romans 1:4, it was by His resurrection
that Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God. And
in 1 Peter 1:3, it is through the resurrection of Christ that we can
be "born again to a living hope." In addition, Peter shows
that the appeal we make to the Lord for a good conscience, by being
baptized, will result in salvation through the resurrection of
Jesus: "And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the
removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good
conscience -- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet.
3:21). As we see here in the NASB, the middle of this verse is
set apart with hyphens. It explains how baptism saves: "not
the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good
conscience." So this makes it clear that the power of
salvation is not merely by getting clean in the water. But,
rather, by submitting to baptism, we are making our appeal to God
for that good conscience. And if we left out this explanatory part,
it reads as follows: "And corresponding to that, baptism now saves
you...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." So our
salvation very much depends on the resurrection of Christ as one of
the necessities.
We can also say that part of believing in Jesus also involves
believing in His resurrection. It was a major theme in every
sermon recorded in the book of Acts -- and that which the apostles
were witnesses of. Notice what Paul says of it in 1
Corinthians 15:1-4: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel
which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you
stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which
I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I
delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He
was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures."
The futility of not believing in the physical resurrection can also
be seen in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20: "Now if Christ is preached, that
He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if
Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith
also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses
of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom
He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if
the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and
if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are
still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ
have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only,
we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been
raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are
asleep." Note that Paul shows that some of them had taught
that there is no physical resurrection, which corresponds to what we
were saying of Hymenaeus' view on the resurrection.
So Paul says of Hymenaeus and Alexander that "...I have handed over
to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme." Some
commentators actually believe that during this period of the
miraculous gifts, that just as the apostles could cast demons out of
people, the apostles could also give people over to Satan in order
that their bodies be afflicted. We do read in Acts 13:6-12 of
Paul commanding Elymas the magician (also known as Bar-Jesus) to
become blind for a time. For he kept interfering and
perverting the right ways of the Lord, as Paul sought to teach
Sergius Paulus the truth. So this is an example of the
opposite of a healing -- an affliction. But we don't see that
Paul actually handed this person over to Satan -- nor where Paul
ever did that to anyone.
Paul shows the reason Hymenaeus and Alexander were handed over to
Satan was "so that they may be taught not to blaspheme." Does
this mean that Satan was actually going to teach them to be good and
not speak evil of sacred things? We can compare this to 1
Corinthians 5:5, where Paul says, "I have decided to deliver such a
one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." This pertains to a
man who had been guilty of incest -- apparently, with his
step-mother. The Corinthians had not dealt properly in this
situation. So now Paul is showing what actions they are to
take. Notice what he goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13:
"But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called
brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an
idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to
eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging
outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM
AMONG YOURSELVES." So they were to withdraw their fellowship
from this man.
But did Paul literally deliver this man to Satan? Or had the
fornicator actually delivered himself there? Consider Romans
6:16-18: "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to
someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you
obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in
righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were
slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of
teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from
sin, you became slaves of righteousness." In obeying the
gospel, the penitent believer is delivered from Satan's domain to
God's, according to Colossians 1:13: "For He delivered us from the
domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved
Son." But when the Christian goes back into sin, he's then
going back into Satan's realm. Even though there were some
Jews who had believed in Christ to some degree, according to John
8:31, yet Jesus points out that these were still of their father the
devil (v. 44); and they wanted to do the desires of the devil.
He was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies.
So the Lord had put these in league with the devil -- though it was
actually they themselves who had done so. What Paul is stating
in the phrase, "to deliver such a one to Satan," would make it
official as to what happened to this person. He is out of
fellowship with God, due to his own sin; and is now back in Satan's
domain.
The phrase "for the destruction of his flesh" doesn't mean that he
was to be put to death, but that any arrogance, disregard of sin, or
rebellion would be put to death -- those things that would keep him
away from repenting. Compare Romans 8:12-14: "So then,
brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh--for if you are living according to the
flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death
the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being
led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." The one
withdrawn from needed to put to death his sinful deeds of the flesh
through repentance and submitting to the gospel. Also
Colossians 3:5,6: "Therefore consider the members of your earthly
body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of
these things that the wrath of God will come." The KJV begins
this with "Mortify [put to death]..." these things. We know
this man in 1 Corinthians 5 wasn't literally put to death because
Paul writes about him in 2 Corinthians 2:6-8, who had apparently
repented: "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was
inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather
forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by
excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love
for him."
So in the case of the man in 1 Corinthians 5:5, delivering that one
to Satan had some good results; but, unfortunately, that wasn't the
case with Hymenaeus. How do we know? Because about 2 or
3 years later, when Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he mentions Hymenaeus in 2
Timothy 2:17,18, as one who had gone astray from the truth and was
upsetting the faith of some by his false teaching on the
resurrection already having occurred. So, at least, up to that
point, he had not yet repented. Some, however, believe that
Hymenaeus had been re-admitted into the church after his
excommunication and again troubles it.
Just as God promised to help the widow, the orphan, and the stranger
of the land (Deut. 10:17-18) -- and sometimes did that through His
own people (Deut. 24:19-21), even so, we can think of God's promise
to discipline those whom He loves (Heb. 12:5-11) and realize that
sometimes that is also done through His people, such as in church
discipline (1 Cor. 5). This, therefore, is another reason for
why we always need to cooperate with the Lord.
And just as God's desire is for the wayward to repent and return to
Him (2 Pet. 3:9; Ezek. 33:11), this should also be our desire -- to
help the fallen be restored. As Paul declares, "Brethren, even
if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore
such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself,
lest you too be tempted." And there certainly is an urgent
need for that. For notice what James writes in James 5:19,20:
"My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns
him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of
sins." Yes, the world needs to be saved from sin -- but also
brethren who have fallen away from the Lord! May we,
therefore, who are Christians, develop within ourselves that
compassionate heart of Jesus for these and others who are lost in
their iniquities.
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-2-
News & Notes
As mentioned in last week's bulletin, Bill Barfield (Linda
Blevins' uncle of Memphis, Tennessee) is going to be transferred to
a rehab center in Slidell, Louisiana. He is 86 years old, on
dialysis, a ventilator, and had also fractured some vertebrae in his
neck from a recent fall. He has been hospitalized since last
March, where it began in ICU and then to a room that would be
somewhere between ICU and a step-down unit. His wife has been
staying with him around the clock. But the rehab center in
Slidell won't allow her to stay the night. So she will have to
find a room or place to rent in the area for about 2 months.
Let those of us who are Christians continue to pray for Bill and
also his wife Wilma.
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel,
for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the
deity of Christ (John 8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent of sins
(Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in
Christ (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water
for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4;
Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith;
for, if not, salvation can be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet.
2:20-22).
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Park Forest
CHURCH OF CHRIST
9923 Sunny Cline Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70817
Sunday services: 9:00 AM (Bible class); 10 AM & 6 PM (worship)
Tuesday: 7 PM (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/go (Gospel Observer website)
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/audioser.html (audio sermons)