I Timothy for Beginners
The Minister and His Ministry
Stratégie d'enseignement
The focus of this lesson is on Timothy’s responsibilities as a minister. Of special note is the proper response to false teaching and apostacy. The intent of this lesson is to present Paul’s instructions and how we should respond to these threats today.
Résultats de l'apprentissage des étudiants
- Know: Understand our response to threats from false teaching and apostacy.
- Feel: Accept the responsibility to adhere to the truth and help others do so as well.
- Do: Apply the teachings of Paul to help us remain faithful to God’s will.
Corps de la leçon
Questions à discuter
Vous trouverez ci-dessous des suggestions de questions à utiliser pendant la partie de la leçon consacrée à la discussion guidée. Vous trouverez également des suggestions de réponses aux questions pour aider les élèves à saisir les différents concepts. Ces réponses sont fournies pour faciliter la discussion et ne sont pas considérées comme des réponses "justes ou fausses".
(See Chapter 9 introduction)
The deity and resurrection of Jesus – This is the foundational teaching of Christianity. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the Son of God (note: Some denominations and other false religions state Jesus is either a prophet or "a" son of God.) The Bible also teaches that Jesus rose from the dead as prophesied. In doing so, we too can overcome death through Him.
Scriptures to help with the discussion:
The content and preaching of the gospel – the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. Our charge is to teach the true gospel in its purest form.
Scriptures to help with the discussion:
It means to abandon former loyalty and belief; to fall away from a fixed position.
They pay attention to deceitful spirits, doctrines and demons. This is a clear reference to the false teachers. They work as agents of Satan. When we follow them, we also work as agents of Satan, not only jeopardizing our own salvation, but drawing others away from the truth as well.
(Follow-up question – How can this happen to us today? There are many ways, but anything that causes us to lose our focus on Jesus and abandon our faith is a danger leading eventually to apostasy. It is often seen when one follows different teachings than those of Christ and His Apostles, or erroneous teachings claiming to have scriptural authority. Note also that Satan improperly uses God's word to cause some immature believers to fall away. He will take something out of context or teach it in an erroneous way. We must study to ensure that we understand and can vigorously defend the truth.
Paul is referring to our age, the Christian age, in which we live. We must be aware of this and ensure that we don't participate or cause others to fall away. Note also Paul's writing on this subject to the Thessalonians (II Thessalonians 2).
"The" faith refers to the body of teachings that together make up the Christian faith, and not necessarily our belief or faith in our Lord. (See: Jude 1:3; Galatians 1:23; Acts 13:8)
These false teachings remove our focus on what God has given us as blessings and uses restrictions in these areas to establish a "works" oriented manner of gaining salvation thus corrupting the essential teaching of the gospel that we are saved by our faith responding to God's grace. (See Mark 7:18-23; Colossians 2:16; Acts 10:15; I Corinthians 7:1-10; I Corinthians 9:3-5; I Timothy 3:2; Hebrews 13:4)
God expects gratitude, not denial of his blessings. We do this by including in our prayers thankfulness to God for giving His blessings, including the truth of His word. Further, we learn and live faithfully according to God's word. Always remember that God does require perfection, but rather asks us to have faith.
Remember that in context, Paul continued to deal with man-made philosophies and religions such as Gnosticism. He was warning and equipping Timothy, and by extension, ourselves today. False teaching is any teaching (doctrine) that denies, changes or attacks the basic elements of the gospel. This includes adding or subtracting from it. False teachers do this knowingly and willingly.
An erroneous teacher is one who mistakenly teaches something incorrectly through lack of knowledge or incorrect teaching from another. This person is mistaken and seeks to learn truth. Once truth is learned, the error ceases and truth is taught.
We point out what is true from what is false (vs. 6). This necessitates that we understand scripture and seek to properly apply it in our own lives. It goes beyond simple knowledge to include living as God wills (vs 7-12). We preach (teach) God's word as appropriate, and as we are able (vs. 13-14). We also persevere in our ministry.
Note that the word ministry is not restricted to the preacher in the pulpit but refers to anyone who serves. As we serve in our individual capacities, we add to the overall success of the Body of Christ. This includes our responsibility to share the gospel in its purest form with others so they too can begin their faith walk.