Our Commitment - To the Healthy Teaching

I. Our commitment to healthy teaching.

On one hand the Bible is enough. On the other hand, God has given teachers to the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11). This is His way of greatly enrichi= ng the believers.

2 Tim 3:15-17 – Since the scriptures are God-breathed, they complete us and fully equip us. They seem to be all we need. But in the very next chapter, Paul= charges Timothy to do the very same things by way of his teaching (2 Tim 4:2-4). This implies that the proper teach= ing is just the God-breathed Word coming through us in a straight way without distortion. The word and the teaching are inseparable, which is why the public reading is attached to teaching (1 Tim 4:13); and teaching with the word of God (1 Tim 4:16; 2 Tim 2:15).

By the word coming straight through m= any different God-given teachers, we will be enriched with many different lesso= ns, experiences, and realizations.

Not just any teaching is a help to the Body of Christ. We have been = charged by the Apostle Paul not to teach differently than “God’s economy which is in faith” (1 Tim 1:4). In the context of 1 & 2 Timothy, Paul identifies these differing= and counter productive teachings.

Myths (1 Tim 1:4) (Greek: = muthos) refers to words, speeches, and conversations concerning such things as rumors, reports, stories (true or false), and fictions.

Unending genealogies (1 Tim 1:14)

Law (1 Tim 1:7) Teachers of the law, = who teach people what to do and what not to do, are different from ministers of Christ (4:6), who minister His riches to others.

Twisted understandings of the faith (2 Tim 2:16-18)

Gnosticism (1 Tim 4:1-3; 6:20) Gnosti= cism was a higher philosophy, a composition of Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian philosophy, plus the philosophy of Christianity, which included the Jewish philosophy. That philosophy, the highest product of human culture, came into the early church, causing considerable frustration. Although philosophy may= be good and the best product of human culture, since it is not the Lord it bec= omes a veil. It must be dealt with.

The different teachings produce resul= ts that are unhealthy.

Questionings (1 Tim 1:4)

Shipwrecked faith (1Tim 1:19) which implies that the Christian life and the church life are like a ship sailing= on a stormy sea (Eph 4:14 and footnote), needing to be safeguarded by faith an= d a good conscience.

Pride, envy, strife, slanders and suspicions (1 Tim 6:4)

The healthy teaching produce/unlock “God’s economy which is in faith” (1 Tim 1:4). Any teachi= ng that distracts people from the goal of God's economy is not healthy. Conversely, any teaching that would focus people on God’s economy is healthy.

Godliness (1 Tim 6:3) – not mere externals related to it like in 2 Tim 3:5; but the power of it.<= /span>

Spiritual health – healthy teac= hing is set against a backdrop of unhealthy things in 1 Tim 1:10.

Glory (1 Tim 1:11)<= /p>

Spiritual nourishment (1 Tim 4:6)

Love out of a pure heart, and out of a good conscience, and out of unfeigned faith (1 Tim 1:5).<= /p>