Paul next balanced his positive encouragement based on God's dealings with himself (vv. 12-17) with a negative warning based on God's dealings with two unfaithful ministers. He did this to challenge Timothy further to remain faithful to God as he discharged his duties. His thought returned to what he had written in verses 3-7.
1:18-19 The command to which Paul referred here is the one contained in verses 3 and 4. He now returned to the subject that he began there. Sometime in the past someone had given prophecies concerning Timothy's effectiveness as a servant of Christ (4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6; cf. Acts 13:2). We have no record of who gave them, when, or where, but Paul referred to them here to motivate Timothy to carry on. Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus (v. 3), but more importantly the Holy Spirit had placed him there.
"Here the believer is cast in the role of a soldier who is ordered out into battle. The weapons of this soldier, however, are not clever argumentation or inescapable logic, things that we might think best suited to debates with false teachers. On the contrary, Timothy is to avoid debates (2 Tim 2:23-25). Nor is the soldier's objective the destruction of his opponent. Appropriate strategy includes instructing, correcting erroneous views and urging repentance (see 2 Thess 3:14-15). The minister's weapons for this fight are the gospel and godly concern for the spiritual condition of the opponent. The goal is to protect the faith of those whom the false teachers seek to influence and, if possible, to win back those who have strayed (1:5). Only the gospel is sufficient for such work, as Paul has just taken great care to illustrate (1:11-16)."48
As Timothy fought the good fight, he should continue to trust God and maintain a good conscience. A conscience, like a computer, programmed with the will of God can be a great asset to the Christian soldier. However if one violates his or her conscience so programmed, that person ignores a warning signal. The results can be disastrous. The conscience is the umpire of the soul. One's conscience enables him or her to feel dishonor, shame, and guilt.
"In the conflict which we wage outwardly against the enemy, our chief concern is with the inner state and disposition of the heart."49
"One man said of his hypocritical pastor, He is such a good preacher, he should never get out of the pulpit; but he is such a poor Christian, he should never get into the pulpit!"50
1:20 Paul cited two examples of casualties of this type with which Timothy was apparently familiar: Hymenaeus (cf. 2 Tim. 2:17) and Alexander (cf. 2 Tim. 4:14). Paul had turned them over to God's discipline because of their determination to continue living in a manner contrary to the will of God. This discipline would come on them through the agency of Satan so that they would repent and stop blaspheming God by their lives.
Handing someone over to Satan may mean that Satan had permission to inflict some illness or disability on the evildoer (cf. Job 2:6).51It may also picture life outside the fellowship of the church as Satan's sphere (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5).52Thus to deliver these men to Satan would mean that Paul had removed them from the church's fellowship and placed them in Satan's realm where they would experience his malice (cf. Acts 5:1-11; 13:11).53These men appear to have been leaders, teachers, and even elders in the Ephesian church. It was very rare for Paul to name names when referring to serious sinners. That he did so here indicates that he wanted everyone to know to whom he was referring.
"It is certainly a disciplinaryor remedialand not a merely punitivepenalty . . ."54
"We should not misunderstand the nature of this process. It was not simply intended to cut out a cancer' in order to preserve the rest of the body, as some churches view it today. Neither is it a practice that the church today can afford to ignore, as if it were an aberration belonging to the Inquisition. Taken together, Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 and 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 reflect the development of a carefully measured process. Each step was designed to bring the erring individual to the point of admission and true change of mind and behavior. Even if the individual persisted in a stubborn refusal to change (like the two mentioned here), the final step of expulsion from the fellowship back into the hostile world was ultimately intended as a means (desperate and last-ditch though it be) of reclamation. To be handed over to Satan (compare 1 Cor 5:5) is to be exposed, without the protection God promises to his people, to the dangers of sin. For some it takes being cast off into the sea to realize the advantages on board ship [cf. Jonah]."55
Hymenaeus and Alexander appear to have been genuine believers in view of how Paul described them here and in his other references to them in 2 Timothy.56Perseverance in faith and good works is not inevitable for the Christian. The many New Testament warnings against turning away from the Lord and the truth should make that fact obvious. There are also examples of Old Testament believers who did not remain faithful to the Lord (e.g., Lot, the Israelites in the wilderness, Saul, Solomon, Uzziah, et al.).
The Greek word translated "blaspheme"(blasphemein) means to "by contemptuous speech intentionally come short of the reverence due to God or to sacred things."57
This first chapter deals with matters of vital importance to every Christian since we are all ministers of Jesus Christ. These matters are specially relevant to church leaders. In the communication of God's Word, our primary responsibility (2 Tim. 4:2), we should avoid speculation and seek to represent God's intention accurately (vv. 3-11). We can face our task optimistically since God has the power to transform even the worst of sinners into the greatest of saints (vv. 12-17). Nevertheless we should be careful not to go against the warnings of our consciences programmed with God's Word as we carry out our ministry.
