Bible Phrasing: 1 Timothy 1:18–20

Verse 18 takes up the charge to Timothy from early on in verse 3. Timothy is charged to protect the church at Ephesus from false teachers. But Paul gives other reasons why Timothy should persist in defending the church from aberrant teaching.

1) First, Paul reminds Timothy that the work of protecting the church is in line with "prophecies previously made" about him.

• The purpose of the prophecies is to propel Timothy to wage the good warfare. 
• By defending the church from false teaching, Timothy is fulfilling the prophies made of him. 

2) Second, Paul reminds Timothy that the work of protecting the church relies on faith and a good conscience. In other words, faith and conscience form of unity of the genuine Christian experience. 

• The manner in which Timothy is to wage the good warfare is by 1) holding faith and 2) holding a good conscience. 
• Without these two indispensable tools, the waging of 'the good warfare' will likely not succeed. 
• Faith and conscience are inseparable realities that allow a Christian to be faithful. 
• Without faith, the conscience cannot function properly. 
• With the conscience, how can faith be authenticated? 

3) Third, Paul reminds Timothy of what might happen when people reject one aspect of the genuine Christian experience.

• Paul makes a general observation that when people reject 'this' (the antecedent is 'a good conscience'), some have made a shipwreck of their faith. 
• Without the conscience, faith is shipwrecked. 
• Paul informs Timothy of how Hymenaeus and Alexander rejected the work of the conscience in their lives. 
• Paul handled their rejection of the good conscience by handing them over to Satan. 
• When Paul speaks of 'handing over to Satan' he likely has in mind a formal process of church discipline. cf. 1 Corinthians 5:5. 
• Presumably, Paul views Satan as an agent for disciplinary correction in the case of Alexander and Hymenaeus. 
• Paul may also be highlighting an important reality: when people reject the genuine Christian experience, they desire to be outside of God's authority. So, in accordance with their desire, Paul 'hands them over to Satan' for the purpose of showing them their foolishness. Given the purpose clause at the end of 1:20, this seems highly likely. 
• The purpose of this handing over to Satan is that 'they may learn not to blaspheme.' 
• Hymenaeus and Alexander committed the sin of blasphemy,
• As earlier in 1 Timothy 1, Paul identifies with their sin of blasphemy, which resulted from his ignorance and unbelief. 
• What is different in regards to H and A is that they were presumably Christians who were blaspheming -- something that Paul did in his ignorance and unbelief, not while he was a Christian. 
• Paul believes the remedy to their blasphemy is 'handing them over to Satan'