Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Wednesday June 1, 20111 Timothy: 1 Timothy 4:2-Paul Identifies The Judaizers As The Agency Used By Satan To Influence Pastors In Ephesus To Abandon The FaithLesson # 75

3. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4:1.

4. This evening we will study 1 Timothy 4:2.

5. 1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. (NASU)

6. 1 Timothy 4:2 is not describing certain pastors in Ephesus who were described by Paul in chapter one but rather, he is describing the Judaizers who he describes in verse 2 as “liars.”

7. They are the human agency used by Satan to lead these pastors astray by their demonically inspired teaching.

8. This is indicated by the description of the teaching in verse 3 that is described in verse 1 as doctrines of demons.

9. 1 Timothy 1:3-4 and 7-10 also indicate that the heresy in Ephesus was clearly Jewish in nature and thus the result of obeying the Judaizers’ teaching.

10. The Judaizers promoted the Law and the pastors in Ephesus in 1 Timothy 1:7 are described as wanting to be teachers of the Law.

11. In 1 Timothy 1:3-4, these pastors were occupied with Jewish myths based upon an incorrect interpretation of the genealogies of Genesis, which would also implicate the Judaizers because of their emphasis upon the Law.

12. So the pastors in Ephesus who were in apostasy are described in 1 Timothy 4:1.

13. This apostasy was predicted several years before as indicated by Paul in this verse and this prediction is recorded in Acts 20:28-30.

14. In 1 Timothy 4:1, he reveals that the kingdom of darkness is behind the Judaizers teaching which led these pastors away into apostasy.

15. Now, in 1 Timothy 4:2, he presents the human instrument used by the kingdom of darkness to teach these pastors in Ephesus false doctrine.

16. The Judaizers are being described in verse 2, which is indicated by the description of the teaching which involved forbidding marriage and abstaining from certain foods, which is exactly what the Judaizers promoted.

17. They strictly adhered to the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law.

18. Therefore, in 1 Timothy 4:2-3, Paul is describing the human agency that the kingdom of darkness employed to lead these pastors in Ephesus away from the gospel and the way of godliness and into apostasy, which corresponds to the prophecy in Acts 20:28-30.

19. Remember Paul, through the Spirit, told the pastors in Ephesus in Acts 20:29 that after his departure savage wolves would come in among them and not spare the flock of God.

20. In Acts 20:30, he warned these pastors that from among their own selves men would arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

21. The Judaizers are the wolves mentioned in Acts 20:29 who would come in and not spare these pastors in the sense that they would devour these pastors with false doctrine, which would result in some of these pastors speaking false doctrine.

22. This all came to pass as Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:1.

23. Therefore, in 1 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul is describing three different groups of individuals: (1) The pastors in Ephesus who obeyed the teaching of the Judaizers (verse 1a) (2) The fallen angels who were the ultimate source behind the teaching (verse 1b). (3) The Judaizers who were the human agency employed by the kingdom of darkness to propagate their evil teachings (verse 2).

24. “By means of the hypocrisy of liars” is composed of the preposition en (ἐν), “by means of” and its object is the dative feminine singular form of the noun hupokrisis (ὑπόκρισις) (ee-poe-kree-seece), “the hypocrisy” which is modified by the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective pseudologos (ψευδολόγος) (psev-thah-low-goce), “of liars.”

25. The noun hupokrisis means “hypocrisy” and is used to describe the Judaizers whose teaching influenced certain pastors in Ephesus to teach false doctrine in fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Acts 20:28-30.

26. The hypocrisy of the Judaizers is illustrated by their abstinence from marriage and abstaining from eating certain foods that are prohibited in the Mosaic Law.

27. By this abstinence they are attempting to appear to people as religious and holy.

28. They were not what they appeared to be.

29. Hypocrites are two-faced and deceptive.

30. They try to conceal their true identity and their secret sins by wearing a “mask.”

31. Externally their conduct may seem very moral or religious and righteous but it is all an act.

32. The hypocrite is never the person he or she pretends to be.

33. Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines hypocrisy, “a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not possess; a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.”

34. The Judaizers thus made a pretense of being spiritual, which they were not and they did this in order to receive public approval.

35. Romans 12:8 and 1 Peter 2:1 prohibit the believer from getting involved with hypocrisy.

36. 1 Peter 2:1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. (NASU)

37. Romans 12:9 Your divine-love must continue to be characterized as being without hypocrisy. All of you continue to make it your habit to detest that which is evil in character. All of you continue to make it your habit to be devoted to that which is good. (My translation)

38. In 1 Timothy 4:2, the noun hupokrisis is the object of the preposition en, which is a marker of means.

39. This indicates that in fulfillment of the Spirit’s prophecy in Acts 20:28-30 certain pastors in Ephesus allowed themselves to abandon the Christian faith not only by being occupied with deceitful spirits, specifically doctrines originating from demons but also “by means of” the hypocrisy of liars.

40. This prepositional phrase is introducing the intermediate agency that the ultimate agency, the kingdom of darkness employed to influence these pastors to abandon the faith.

41. The adjective pseudologos is used as a substantive and refers to one who utters falsehood rather than truth.

42. Thus, as Fee points out about the word, “The translation ‘liar’ could be somewhat misleading, since it implies a deliberate attempt to state as fact what one knows not to be true. The Greek word implies simply that they are saying things about the gospel that are not true; that is, they are speaking falsehood rather than truth.” (Fee, Gordon, D., New International Biblical Commentary: 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus; page 98; Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, Massachusetts, 1984, 1988)

43. The word is a genitive of production indicating that the hypocrisy is “produced by” those who speak falsehood, i.e. the Judaizers.

44. They produce this hypocrisy by abstaining from marriage, which originated from the Essenes who were Jewish and practiced asceticism.

45. They also produced this hypocrisy by abstaining from eating certain foods, which originated from the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.

46. 1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. (NASU)

47. “Seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” is composed of the genitive masculine plural perfect passive participle form of the verb kausteriazo (καυστηριάζω) (kuff-stear-ee-ah-zowe), “seared as with a branding iron” and the articular accusative feminine singular form of the adjective idios (ἴδιος) (ee-thee-oce), “their own” and accusative feminine singular form of the noun suneidesis (συνείδησις) (see-nee-thee-sees), “conscience.”

48. The noun suneidesis means “conscience” and speaks of that aspect of the human soul where the Christian’s norms and standards reside, which are to be based upon the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God.

49. It is used of the collective conscience of the Judaizers.

50. The conscience of the unsaved Judaizer would be insensitive to the Spirit and thus ineffective because they had rejected the gospel for eternal salvation over and over again.