The Goal of Teaching
Hello All,
This is Arnie Shirley of VIC Ministries in Temecula, CA. This is the start of a blog on the Bible and its application in our lives. This has been a long time coming. I have had a passage in 1 Timothy on my heart for the last year. The passage is from 1 Timothy chapter 1,
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.
5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
Paul wrote the letter of 1 Timothy to encourage Timothy to stand-up to false teachers whose teachings were leading the members of the congregation at Ephesus into useless arguments about God rather than training in God’s provision of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (v3-4).
Then in verse 5, Paul says that the goal of teaching should be “… love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
As we read v 5, a few phrases jump out at me “pure heart”, “good conscience” and “sincere faith”. Let’s look at each of these and determine how they are applied to the goal of instruction in the word.
- The greek word translated “pure” is “καθαρᾶς” (katharas). In this passage it means to be free from moral guilt and implies a morally or spiritually responsible person.
- The greek word translated “good” is “ἀγαθῆς” (agathēs). In this passage this word pertains to meeting a high standard of worth or merit.
- The greek word translated “sincere” is “ἀνυποκρίτου” (anypokritos) and it means to be without hypocrisy.
So what is Paul saying? He is telling Timothy that when done in a way that honors and glorifies God, instruction in God’s word should produce self-sacrificing love towards God and others from a heart free from moral guilt. This freedom from moral guilt comes from the application of the truth of God’s word through which the conscience is made clean towards God. The result of seeing God work to clean the conscience through application of the word produces a growing and increasing faith that is without hypocrisy.
So, this is the goal that the Lord has put on my heart: to present the truth of God’s word in a way that is honoring to God and causes people to love God and others more. I pray that this blog would be a blessing to you.
However, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, the true power of the Scriptures are not available to you. The Bible says that you are an enemy of God. In order for you to be at peace with God the first thing you must understand is that Jesus died for you because you have fallen short of God’s standards, just like I have. You must understand and accept this. Second, you must believe that Jesus died for you because there was no other way to pay the debt you owe to God for falling short of His standards. And third, come to Jesus in faith, believing that He paid your sin debt when He died on the cross, but when He rose again three days later He made it just as if you had never sinned in the eyes of God and you can have the relationship that He wants to have with all those who have put their faith in the risen Savior! Salvation is a free gift from the one true God! I hope that you will accept it!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”- John 3:16
All glory and honor and praise to the only blessed God and Savior, Jesus Christ!
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