Avoiding dead ends

Scripture Read: 1 Timothy 1:1-4 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, ² To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. ³ As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, ⁴ nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

Application: What does this mean? Paul is making it clear that Timothy is to take a vocally firm and even aggressive stand against false teaching. It is not a matter of “just teach the truth”, he is to directly instruct others not to teach false doctrine. This is a move of confrontation. Many in the Body of Christ shy away from this, yet I see this as clear and firm as any other command of scripture. The key here is the reason that Paul gives such a stern command. He is not saying questions are bad, but questions for questions sake, or just to cause confusion? Questions that lead to only more questions, and end only in questions? What profit is in that? Paul gives us an expanded answer in 1 Tim. 6:3-5 This may be what many in the world consider good “philosophy”, to spend time composing questions leading nowhere, with no conclusion. However, it makes for lousy living! Even You, Father bring a conclusion to the questions we will never answer with Deut 29:29! Paul affirms that we need to be involved with teaching that which “furthers” the plan of God. The word “administration” is about stewardship:

οἰκονομία oikonomía;  to be a manager of a household. The position, work, responsibility or arrangement of an administration, as of a house or of property, either one’s own or another’s - It is the divine purpose which is said to be administered. The meaning is the administration of God’s saving purpose pertaining to the fullness of the times. ^[1] The correct reading is oikonomian (οἰκονομιαν), made up of oikos (οἰκος), “house,” and nomos (νομος), “law,” the compound word meaning “household economy,” in the sense of the administration of the affairs of a household. The word here refers to the scheme or order of salvation as devised and administered by God, the method of operation of God’s salvation in the life of the believing sinner. The words, “which is in faith,” speak of the fact that faith is the sphere or element in which this salvation operates. Thayer in his lexicon offers the following translation: “which furnish matter for disputes rather than the (knowledge of the) dispensation of the things by which God has provided for and prepared salvation, which salvation must be embraced by faith.”^[2]

Paul is instructing Timothy to denounce time in “so called” study about nothing that leads nowhere. We are to immerse ourselves in teaching that is from the plan of God and engrafted through faith. This causes growth and answers any questions that God has supplied an answer to. Father, time is valuable, let us not fall into the trap of the enemy and squander our time learning nonsense! We need to keep our eye on the gospel and Who You are, not get caught following false ideas that appear “deep”, but in reality are empty paths to dead ends. What we learn should impact our life or it really is useless.

Meditation Questions: What kind of teaching attracts you? What impact has it had on you? Do you become over involved in questions that have no answer? What does that show? Do you think the enemy wants to keep you busy doing things and studying things that accomplish nothing eternally? If no, why? If yes, how should you handle your time then? If we believe we really are stewards of the things of our Lord, who will hold us accountable?

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^[1] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

^[2] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (1 Ti 1:3). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.