A Plea Against Biblical Ignorance (1 Tim. 1:7)

"...desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm," (1 Tim. 1:7, NKJV).

In verse 5, Paul stated that the commandment of God was to love each other from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. One of the consequences of not loving in this way was that some had turned aside to idle talk and had strayed from the faith (v.6).

Verse 7 states that another consequence of not heeding sound doctrine was that they desired to be seen as teachers, but because of the lack of their knowledge of doctrine they had no idea what they were even teaching.

I think a good number of our Southern Baptist churches have men who desire to be teachers of the Bible but are ignorant of what they speak because they are not biblically literate or they do not know the chief doctrines of the faith. Pastors everywhere should reinforce doctrine in their churches so that our they are not filled with teachers who do not possess the unenviable attribute of "ignorance on fire."