Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120219.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Timothy: God's Ministry Roles For Church Leaders And The Local Church
Part IV: Discerning The Incorrect Versus The Correct Use Of The Mosaic Law
(1 Timothy 1:7-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the greatest errors in the history of Christendom that dates back even to the Apostle Paul's time has been the wrong use of the Mosaic Law. Invariably today, as it was in Paul's day, errant teachers try to use it to promote some false spirituality derived from its teachings when that was never God's intention.
    2. 1 Timothy 1:7-11 beautifully, concisely reveals the right use of the Mosaic Law, and we view this passage for our edification and our proper use of it in our era (as follows):
  2. Discerning The Incorrect Versus The Correct Use Of The Mosaic Law, 1 Timothy 1:7-11.
    1. In 1 Timothy 1:7, Paul critiqued the false teachers Timothy faced at Ephesus for their desire to be teachers of the Mosaic Law as in Judaism, but for their failure to "gain insight into" ( noeo, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 720; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 542) neither (mete, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T. ; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 521) what they were saying (lego, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 469-471) nor (mete, see above) concerning the things they "confidently affirmed" ( diabebaioomai, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 180).
    2. Paul then stated that "we", Paul, Timothy and other godly teachers, knew that the Law was good providing one used it "in conformity to law," nomimos (Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T. ; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 543), or as God intended the Law to be used, 1 Timothy 1:8.
    3. To explain, Paul noted the Mosaic Law was not enacted for the righteous as thought the false teachers who proudly promoted a false spirituality through their teachings of the Mosaic Law (1 Timothy 1:9 with 6:3-4), but rather to minister condemnation, revealing man's miserable failure to attain God's righteousness in his own effort, 1 Timothy 1:9-10:
      1. The Law is for the "lawless" (anomos) who did what they pleased with no accountability to God, William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles (NTC), 1974, p. 66. (1 Timothy 1:9a)
      2. The Law is for the "insubordinate" (anupotaktos), Ibid., 1 Timothy 1:9b.
      3. The Law is for the "impious" or "irreverent" (asebes), Ibid., 1 Timothy 1:9c.
      4. The Law is for "sinners" (hamartolos), those who had "missed the mark or goal of their existence . . . the conscious glorification of God," Ibid., p. 66-67, 1 Timothy 1:9d.
      5. The Law is for the "unholy" (anosios) those "careless of their duties" to God, Ibid., p. 67, 1 Tim. 1:9e.
      6. God gave the Law for the "profane" (bebelos) who "trample on that which is holy," Ibid., 1 Tim. 1:9f.
      7. The Law is for those who violate the first four commandments on exalting God and His holiness (Ibid., p. 68; 1 Tim. 1:9f), for violators of the fifth commandment who murder their parents (Ibid.; 1 Tim. 1:9g), for murderers in general who violate the sixth commandment, for the immoral and sodomites who violate the seventh commandment on adultery (Ibid.; 1 Tim. 1:9h-10a), for kidnapers who violate the eighth commandment on stealing (Ibid., p. 69; 1 Tim. 1:10b), for liars who violate the ninth commandment (Ibid.; 1 Tim. 1:10c), and for all else that is contrary to sound doctrine, 1 Tim. 1:10d.
    4. Indeed, the Mosaic Law was designed to be in conformity to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which gospel was entrusted to Paul, that demanded man believe in Christ as a hopeless sinner that he might be saved by God's grace versus his own efforts to be righteous, 1 Timothy 1:11:
      1. In accord with what he wrote in 1 Timothy 1:9-10, Paul elsewhere argued extensively that the Mosaic Law was never intended to save, but to condemn all men to drive them to Christ, Galatians 3:19, 23-26.
      2. That conforms to the glorious gospel of Christ, 1 Timothy 1:11, for Christ's gospel asserts the sinner can not be saved by his works, but that he must cleave in God's mercy to the substitutionary atonement of Christ for sin to be given eternal life and forgiveness as a gift of God's grace, Romans 3:21-26!
Lesson: For effective leadership ministry in today's local church, we must realize and teach that the Mosaic Law is not the means for acquiring eternal life or spiritual growth, but that it critiques our sin to drive us to Christ that we might gain and live God's righteousness by God's power in glory to Him!

Application: May we adopt this right view of the Mosaic Law and teach it to edify the Body of Christ!