1 Timothy 6:3-5: False Teachers
2021-11-20
1 Timothy 6:3
“If any man teach otherwise.” The context of this verse tells us that the “teaching” of interest is a larger scope than the previous two verses. The apostle has reiterated throughout the epistle for Timothy to teach and exhort the people everything written so far.
Someone may teach otherwise, which means they do not consent to “wholesome words.” What are “wholesome words”? They are defined as “even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6:3). The word “even” is inserted by the translators to indicate that the phrase is identifying “wholesome words.”
Herein is a subtle truth: All the words of the Bible are “the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
The Apostles were just as the Old Testament prophets, who spoke the word of the Lord. The words that Paul gave to Timothy were the Word of the Lord.
The doctrine is also mentioned here, “which is according to godliness.” Doctrine points a Christian to more godliness. Salvation is not “fire insurance,” but a way to transform a sinner into a holy person by the rebirth.
Why do we have the Word of God? Because otherwise we would be left to subjective experience and opinion. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). We need the sure pillar of truth, a source of truth, that we can return to repeatedly to be sure that we know what is right and what is not. It is an unchanging goalpost that we can rely on.
If we did not have the Word of God, one person can say that one thing happened to him, and another can say another thing, both being contradictory. Who is right?
However, there are people who intentionally teach contrary to the word of God as given by the apostles. If they are teaching something else, then what they are teaching is based on someone’s subjective experience and opinions. We see this fleshed out in 1 Timothy 6:4-5.
1 Timothy 6:4-5
The false teacher is “proud.” He must be, because God is saying one thing through His word, and this false teacher is teaching something else. “Yea, hath God said” (Satan said this in Genesis 3:1). The false teacher is presumptuous enough to say that his experiences, ideas, and opinions are as good as God’s Word. That is extreme pride.
The false teacher knows nothing. If it is not grounded in the Word of God, it cannot really be passed off as real knowledge because it originated with himself.
The false teacher painstakingly asks worthless questions and argues over the wrong things. The result is strife. He makes people suspicious of others and causes division (“evil surmisings”).
You get unregenerate men arguing over topics that miss the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 6:5). The filioque controversy comes to mind. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father only, or the Father and the Son? This was an element of the great schism between the eastern and western churches. They excommunicated each other. Each side considered the other a heretic. Do you think that agreeing on this subject is something we should divide a church over? Can this even be fully known from the Scriptures? They are “men of corrupt minds.” They are going to argue over this matter, yet neither side can decide that it is a bad idea to worship Mary, which is a clear-cut matter. They are “destitute of the truth.”
The false teacher says that gain is godliness. This is your prosperity preacher. You can guess why false teachers like to teach this lie: it sells. If you can convince people that they can get money and security from God, you can get them to do anything. It is a way to control them and steal from them. It is an animistic principle. People want to control God, gods, angels, spirit beings, etc. so that they can get what they want or need. The false teacher, who is much like a shaman, gives the illusion that he can get what people want for them.
We must withdraw from that crowd. Some of these celebrity prosperity preachers often have a doctrinal statement that makes them look like they believe the real Gospel. Real Christians can get caught up in this, which hijacks the entire mission of Christianity and the hope of the future for temporal gain.