Daily Devotions
1 Timothy
"Desiring to be teachers..."
Text: 1 Timothy 1:7
AN OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT
The apostle Paul sought to help Timothy to understand and assess the false teachers that threatened the Ephesian Church.
“Desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding
neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”1 Timothy 1:7
1. “Desiring to be teachers of the law”
a) This in itself is not a bad desire.
b) It is a good thing to be a teacher of the law.
i) In this instance it is a reference to the Word of God.
ii) Before the era of the apostles, the experts in the law were “the scribes”.
2. The failure of these teachers
a) They had basic problems in understanding the law.
b) They had not fully mastered the fundamentals.
3. Two matters highlighted
a) “Understanding neither what they say”
i) These teachers were merely parroting what they had been taught.
ii) They did not possess full understanding.
b) “Nor the things which they affirm”
i) These so-called teachers may speak with a sense of confidence.
ii) They may affirm what they teach with enthusiasm.
iii) The key problem is of course whether they had fully grasped and understood what they were talking about.
PAUL AS A TEACHER
Paul may well have had in mind his past background:-
1. He trained under the famous teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).
a) However he failed to recognise Jesus as the Christ.
b) He was blinded by ignorance and unbelief (1 Timothy 1:13).
2. He had to relearn many things
He spent years in Arabia (Galatians 1:17) where he must have carefully examined the Scriptures thoroughly. Only when he had a deep understanding of the Scriptures did he became a significant teacher of the Word of God (2 Timothy 1:11).