Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120701.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Timothy: God's Ministry Roles For Church Leaders And The Local Church
Part XVI: Understanding A Church Leader's Biblical Way To Relate To Other People
E. A Local Church's Godly View Of False Teachers
(1 Timothy 6:3-6)
  1. Introduction
    1. False teachers have long been a problem to God's people: their teachings are not only errant, but harmful if followed, and false teachers manipulate so as to make others think their ministries are good.
    2. For the church's benefit, Paul described false teachers and taught how we are to view them as follows:
  2. A Local Church's Godly View Of False Teachers, 1 Timothy 6:3-6.
    1. Paul implied a description of a true, upright teacher in 1 Timothy 6:3 (as follows):
      1. True, godly teachers in the local church teach doctrines that "join, fall in with (proserchomai, Wm. Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles (NTC), 1974, p. 195) "healthy, sound" (hugiaino, Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1967, p. 839-840) teaching, or instruction that "is reasonable and appeals to sound intelligence," Ibid.; 1 Timothy 6:3a.
      2. True, godly teachers teach doctrines that align with the words of Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 6:3b.
      3. True, godly teachers in the local church teach doctrines that align with godliness especially relative to the good "fulfillment of human relations" (eusebeia, Ibid., p. 326; cf. eusebes, Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, 1973, 172), 1 Timothy 6:3c.
    2. Conversely, Paul clarified a false teacher presents another kind of teaching (heterodidaskaleo, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 314, where the prefix hetero- from the adjective, heteros, means different in kind as OPPOSED to allos which means another of the same kind, Ibid., Trench, p. 357). This other kind of teaching then is opposite the characteristics of the good as it (1) does not align with what is reasonable and appealing to sound intelligence, (2) it does not align with the words of Jesus Christ and (3) it does not align with godliness relative to leading people to fulfilling good human relationships, 1 Timothy 6:3.
    3. Accordingly, such false teachers are "blinded with conceit" (tuphoo, Ibid., p. 838; Ibid., Hendriksen), knowing nothing, but "having a morbid craving" (noseo , Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 545) for "controversies and word-battles," Ibid., Hendricksen; 1 Timothy 6:4a.
    4. Such controversies and word-battles lead to a host unedifying cause-effect behaviors, 1 Timothy 6:4b-5:
      1. They lead to envy, jealousy (phthonos, Ibid., p. 865), for as one party in the altercation eventually can not answer the other's intellect, he envies the victor, Ibid., Hendriksen, p. 196; 1 Timothy 6:4b.
      2. These outbursts of envy lead to discord, strife (eris, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 309), where envy blossoms into open, continual strife between the parties involved, Ibid., Hendriksen; 1 Timothy 6:4c.
      3. This yields abusive words (blasphemia, Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 142; Ibid., Hendriksen), 1 Tim. 6:4d.
      4. The abusive speech in turn spawns evil conjectures or false suspicions (huponoia with poneria, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 854 and 697) between those involved in the strife, Ibid., Hendriksen; 1 Tim. 6:4e.
      5. In summation, the local church is left witnessing "mutual altercations between men depraved in mind and deprived of the truth," Ibid., Hendriksen; 1 Timothy 6:5.
    5. The driving motivation behind the ministry of false teachers is their belief that their impressive external expression of "godliness" (eusebeia, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 326) is a means of great gain (porismos, Ibid., p. 699) with a sufficient livelihood (autarkeia, Ibid., p. 121-122), 1 Timothy 6:6.
Lesson: Where (1) godly teachers teach views that are reasonable and appealing to sound intelligence, views that align with Christ's words and with a godliness that leads to good human relations, (2) false teachers teach another KIND of instruction that does NOT align with sound intelligence, that does NOT align with Christ's words and that does NOT lead others into fulfilling human relationships. (3) Rather, they are blinded by conceit, they know nothing and have a morbid lust for controversies that yield relationship problems. (4) Their motivation for ministry is a lust for money as they think their external "godliness" will impress others financially to support them, leading to great financial gain!

Application: May we thus discern good from false teachers, and heed the good but not the bad!