Survey
of the Letters of Paul: 1 Timothy
1:20
And they drew Alexander - Who this Alexander was is not known. Grotius supposes that it was “Alexander the coppersmith, who had in some way done Paul much harm 2 Timothy 4:14; and whom, with Philetus, Paul had excommunicated [disfellowshipped]. He supposes that it was a device of the Jews to put forward one who had been of the Christian party, in order to accuse Paul, and to attempt to cast the odium of the tumult on him. But it is not clear that the Alexander whom Paul had excommunicated [disfellowshipped] was the person concerned in this transaction. All that appears in this narrative is, that Alexander was one who was known to be a Jew, and who wished to defend the Jews from being regarded as the authors of this tumult. It would be supposed by the pagan that the Christians Were only a sect of the Jews, and the Jews wished, doubtless, to show that they had not been concerned in giving occasion to this tumult, but that it was to be traced wholly to Paul and his friends. ~Barnes Notes |
Still now with the quoted verses of the first
paragraph of 1 Timothy 1:20 commentary above:
Where Alexander the Coppersmith is mentioned:
2 Timothy 4:14
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord
reward him according to his works:
2 Timothy 2:18
Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the
resurrection is past already; and overthrow the
faith of some.
I want to look at the commentary on 2 Timothy 2:18
Who concerning the truth have erred - To
what extent they had erred is unknown. Paul
mentions only one point - that pertaining to
the resurrection; but says that this was
like a gangrene. It would certainly, unless
checked, destroy all the other doctrines of
religion. No man can safely hold a single
error, any more than he can safely have one
part of his body in a state of
mortification. Saying that the resurrection is past already - It is not known in what form they held this opinion. It may have been, as Augustine supposes, that they taught that there was no resurrection but that which occurs in the soul when it is recovered from the death of sin, and made to live anew. Or it may be that they held that those who had died had experienced all the resurrection which they ever would, by passing into another state, and receiving at death a spiritual body fitted to their mode of being in the heavenly world. Whatever was the form of the opinion, the apostle regarded it as a most dangerous error, for just views of the resurrection undoubtedly lie at the foundation of correct apprehensions of the Christian system; compare the notes at 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. Let us read this reference in 1 Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. We are going to want to look at the commentary on verse 17, "ye are yet in your sins" if Christ has not been resurrected: Ye are yet in your sins - Your sins are yet unpardoned. They can be forgiven only by faith in him, and by the efficacy [power or capacity of] of his blood. But if he was not raised, he was an impostor; and, of course, all your hopes of pardon by him, and through him, must be vain. The argument in this verse consists in an appeal to their Christian experience and their hopes. It may be thus expressed: (1) You have reason to believe that your sins are forgiven. You cherish that belief on evidence that is satisfactory to you. But if Christ is not raised, that cannot be true. He was an impostor, and sins cannot be forgiven by him. As you are not, and cannot be prepared to admit that your sins are not forgiven, you cannot admit a doctrine which involves that. (2) you have evidence that you are not under the dominion of sin. You have repented of it; have forsaken it; and are leading a holy life. You know that, and cannot be induced to doubt this fact. But all that is to be traced to the doctrine that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. It is only by believing that, and the doctrines which are connected with it, that the power of sin in the heart has been destroyed. And as you “cannot” doubt that under the influence of “that truth” you have been enabled to break off from your sins, so you cannot admit a doctrine which would involve it as a consequence that you are yet under the condemnation and the dominion of sin. You must believe, therefore, that the Lord Jesus rose; and that, if he rose, others will also. This argument is good also now, just so far as there is evidence that, through the belief of a risen Saviour, the dominion of sin has been broken; and every Christian is, therefore, in an important sense, a witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, a living proof that a system which can work so great changes, and produce such evidence that sins are forgiven as are furnished in the conversion of sinners, must be from God; and, of course, that the work of the Lord Jesus was accepted, and that he was raised up from the dead. ~Barnes Notes And overthrow the faith of some - That is, on this point, and as would appear on all the correlative subjects of Christian belief; compare 1 Timothy 1:19-20. |
Whom I have delivered unto Satan - On the meaning of
this expression, see the notes on 1 Corinthians 5:5.
Quoted verse:
1 Corinthians 5:5
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
And now the verse's commentary:
Unto Satan - Beza, and the Latin
fathers, suppose that this is only an
expression of excommunication [disfellowshipping].
They say, that in the Scriptures there are
but two kingdoms recognized - the kingdom of
God, or the church, and the kingdom of the
world, which is regarded as under the
control of Satan; and that to exclude a man
from one is to subject him to the dominion
of the other. There is some foundation for
this opinion; and there can be no doubt that
excommunication [disfellowshipping]
is here intended, and that, by
excommunication [dissfellowshipping],
the offender was in some sense placed under
the control of Satan. It is further evident
that it is here supposed that by being thus
placed under him the offender would be
subject to corporal inflictions by the
agency of Satan, which are here called the
“destruction of the flesh.” Satan is
elsewhere referred to as the author of
bodily diseases. Thus, in the case of Job,
Job 2:7. A similar instance is mentioned in
1 Timothy 1:20, where Paul says he had
delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to “Satan,
that they might learn not to blaspheme.” Quoted verse: Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. For the destruction of the flesh - We may observe here that this does not mean that the man was to die under the infliction of the censure, for the object was to recover him; and it is evident that, whatever he suffered as the consequence of this, he survived it, and Paul again instructed the Corinthians to admit him to their fellowship, 2 Corinthians 2:7. Quoted verse: 2 Corinthians 2:7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. That the spirit may be saved - That his soul might be saved; that he might be corrected, humbled, and reformed by these sufferings, and recalled to the paths of piety and virtue. This expresses the true design of the discipline of the church, and it ought never to be inflicted but with a direct intention to benefit the offender, and to save the soul. Even when he is cut off and disowned, the design should not be vengeance, or punishment merely, but it should be to recover him and save him from ruin. In the day of the Lord Jesus - The Day of Judgment when the Lord Jesus shall come, and shall collect his people to himself. ~Barnes Notes |
That they may learn not to blaspheme - It cannot
be supposed that Satan would undertake to teach them
not to blaspheme, or that Paul put them under him as
an instructor on that subject. The instructions of
Satan tend rather to teach his followers to
blaspheme, and none in his school fail to be apt
scholars. The meaning here is, that Paul
excommunicated [disfellowshipped] them, and
not improbably brought upon them, by giving them
over to Satan, some physical maladies, that they
might be reformed; compare notes on 1 Corinthians
5:5 [we did this above]. It is not entirely
clear what is meant by blaspheme in this place;
compare notes on 1 Timothy 1:13 [part of this
lesson above]. It cannot be supposed that they
were open and bold blasphemers, for such could not
have maintained a place in the church, but rather
that they held doctrines which the apostle regarded
as amounting to blasphemy; that is, doctrines which
were in fact a reproach on the divine character
[emphasis mine]. There are many
doctrines held by people which are in fact a
reflection on the divine character, and which amount
to the same thing as blasphemy. A blasphemer openly
expresses views of the divine character which are a
reproach to God; an errorist expresses the same
thing in another way - by teaching as true about God
that which represents him in a false light, and, to
suppose which, in fact, is a reproach. The spirit
with which this is done in the two cases may be
different; the thing itself may be the same. Let us
be careful that we hold no views about God which are
reproachful to him, and which, though we do not
express it in words, may lead us to blaspheme him in
our hearts.
Note: The word "reproach" means:
1. to express disapproval of.
2. criticism of.
3. disappointment in (someone).
4. as a noun, blame, rebuke, disgrace or shame.
Let us now finished in the Treasury of Scriptural
Knowledge:
I have delivered unto Satan.
Matthew 18:17 -part of the Matthew 18
Process
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto
the church: but if he neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a
publican.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication
among you, and such fornication as is not so much as
named among the Gentiles, that one should have his
father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned,
that he that hath done this deed might be taken away
from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in
spirit, have judged already, as though I were
present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are
gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Notice the commentary on the latter part of verse 4:
With the power of our Lord Jesus Christ-
This phrase is to be connected with verse 5.
“I have determined what ought to be done.
The sentence which I have passed is this.
You are to be assembled in the name and
authority of Christ. I shall be virtually
present. And you are to deliver such a one
to Satan, ‘by the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ.’” That is, it is to be done by you;
and the miraculous power which will be
evinced in the case will proceed from the
Lord Jesus. The word “power” dunamis is used
commonly in the New Testament to denote some
miraculous and extraordinary power; and here
evidently means that the Lord Jesus would
put forth such a power in the infliction of
pain and for the preservation of the purity
of his church. ~Barnes Notes |
2 Corinthians 10:6
And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
Let us explain this verse with the commentary:
And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience - Not with the temporal sword,
as the civil magistrate, but with the
spiritual one; meaning either censures and
excommunication, which a faithful minister
of the Gospel, with the suffrage of the
church, has at hand, and a power to make use
of, for the reclaiming of disobedient
persons; or rather that extraordinary power
which was peculiar to the apostles, of
inflicting punishments on delinquents, such
as what was exercised by Peter upon Ananias
and Sapphira, by the Apostle Paul on Elymas
the sorcerer, the incestuous person, and
Hymenaeus and Philetus, and which still
continued with him; it was ready at hand, he
could exercise it whenever he pleased, he
only waited a proper time: when your obedience is fulfilled - till they were thoroughly reformed from the several abuses, both in doctrine and practice, they had fallen into, and were brought into a better order and decorum, and appeared to have been in all things obedient to the directions he had given; being unwilling, as yet, to use the awful authority he had from Christ, lest any of the dear children of God, who were capable of being restored by gentler methods, should suffer with the refractory and incorrigible. ~John Gill |
2 Corinthians 13:10
Therefore I write these things being absent, lest
being present I should use sharpness, according to
the power which the Lord hath given me to
edification, and not to destruction.
That they many learn.
1 Corinthians 11:32
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the
Lord, that we should not be condemned with the
world.
2 Thessalonians 3:15
Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a
brother.
Revelation 3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous
therefore, and repent.
Not to blaspheme.
Acts 13:44-45
44. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole
city together to hear the word of God.
45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were
filled with envy, and spake against those things
which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and
blaspheming.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous
times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those
that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof: from such turn away.
Note: In thinking about this I see this
manifested in at least two ways.
1] by those attending early on who were never
converted or what we refer to as falsely converted.
2] by those fallen away and generally still
attending somewhere in the Body of Christ. We
may see more bitterness and persecution from these
than the others.
Revelation 13:1
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a
beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and
ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon
his heads the name of blasphemy.
Revelation 13:5-6
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking
great things and blasphemies; and power was given
unto him to continue forty and two months.
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,
to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them
that dwell in heaven.
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