No Other Doctrine (1 Tim. 1:1-4)

I've never been one for Scripture memory. Why? Well, (1) I'm lazy, and (2) even though there is much value in memorizing Scripture, I never enjoy learning "parts" of ideas. Therefore, I am making myself memorize Scripture in a way that will make sense to me. Dr. Andrew Davis, pastor of First Baptist Durham, NC has a wonderful (and relatively easy) way to memorize entire books of the Bible. It seems like a chore, but with just a little time and dilligence it can be done. And what a blessing it can be!

I've chosen the book of 1 Timothy to memorize. Because I don't have the best memory and have a nack of proctrastinating, I'm going to use my blogalism to make me accountable. Therefore, six days a week, I'm going to be posting my verse for that day, followed by a short "Charlienopsis" of how the Apostle Paul's words apply to us today. Because I'm already into my 4th day, today I'll cover 1:1-4.

"1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, 2 To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith." (NKJV)

It's interesting to note that Paul claims apostleship via a decree from God our Savior and Jesus Christ our hope. It is clear that the Spirit guided Paul to write this letter or else he was one card short of a full deck. This letter is addressed to Timothy, who Paul calls his "true" son in the faith.

After wishing Timothy blessings in the name of the Father and our Lord, Paul dives right into to the message and a main reason for the letter: Teach no other doctrine! In fact, the NLT says that Paul wanted Timothy to "stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth." Timothy is to rebuke those who are wasting people's time with "endless geneologies," which meant that people were boasting about who they were and from what backgrounds they come from to try to show people how important they were in the faith. Does anything like that happen today? I think I've heard some conversations before that went like this: "Well, my father has been a deacon for 40 years and I was raised in this church," or "My family donated this building to the church so we can't move."

Paul is quick to point out to Timothy that this type of babble causes disputes and tears down, rather then builds up the church. Timothy is to ignore and rebuke these dissenters who are more interested in building up their name rather than building up the name of Christ and likewise grow people in the faith. What word for us to hear today!