Shipwrecked! Not good.

Scripture Read: 1 Timothy 1:18-20  This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, ¹⁹ keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. ²⁰ Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Application: There is much in this section we should consider. After Paul admonishes Timothy to fight the good fight, he turns his focus to warn about what some in the body have done. The description is difficult to take in. The outcome is even worse. We also need to take heed of these descriptions and warnings, because none of us are beyond falling into sin. The words Paul uses here bring a vivid picture of what they have done to the faith, they rejected:

Reject - ἀπωθέω apōthéō; to push, thrust, drive. To thrust away from oneself, cast off, repel, reject (Acts 7:27, 39; 13:46; Rom. 11:1, 2; 1 Tim. 1:19)^[1]

They suffered shipwreck:

Suffer shipwreck:  

ναυαγέω nauagéō: one shipwrecked, which is from naús, a ship, and ágnumi, to break. To make shipwreck or to be shipwrecked, in 2 Cor. 11:25 Paul mentions among the many grievous sufferings and afflictions which he underwent in his work as an apostle the fact that he was shipwrecked three times

(τρὶς ἐναυάγησα). Acts 27:9 ff. refers to one such incident, though the apostle cannot have been thinking of this. We have no idea when Paul had these experiences; this shows how defective our knowledge of the details of his life in spite of Acts and his epistles, and it also shows how exciting the life and work of the apostle were.

1 Tm. 1:19 uses ναυαγεῖν figuratively. Timothy must fight the good fight of faith. Because opponents have not done this, their life of faith has suffered shipwreck. The apostle knows of no Christian life which does not involve serious and manly moral striving. Without this there is both theoretical and practical aberration. The life falls victim to both error and perversion of conduct, in other words: περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐναυάγησαν.)^[2]

Consider what they did to their trusting belief in God:

~ They thrust Him away, they repelled away from God.

~ They did not fight to keep their faith. We cannot trust and then go to sleep.

We must embrace You Lord and stay focused on You, fight off those things that would try to weaken our trust in You and Who we know You are. Proactive mistrust of You and passive belief in You will lead to us losing our walk with You. We need to actually do the opposite – instead of pushing You away, we need to embrace You even when we do not understand everything. Instead of accepting the worldly view of the way things are, we need to go deeper in our reasoning and learn to trust You is more than we do, this will cause a fight within our minds and flesh.

Meditation Questions: Are you happy with everything in your walk with the Lord? What needs to change or be improved? What are your plans? How have you fought your flesh when it comes to your faith? How have you fought the world to keep your faith? What does that show?

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

^[2] Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.