Pastoral Epistles: Guarding Sound Doctrine (Part 1 of 3)

20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” 21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. 
1 Timothy 6:20-21 

First Timothy is the first of three Pastoral Epistles which also include Paul’s second letter to Timothy and one to Titus. The main purpose of the Pastoral Letters is to address areas of pastoral oversight and while these letters are of great relevance for pastors, it does not mean that they do not possess any wisdom or instruction for all believers. These letters contain shared concerns for things such as: rebuking false doctrines and holding firm sound teaching (1 Tim. 1:8–11; 2 Tim. 1:13–14; Titus 2:1), exhortations for godly living in being an example to the flock (1 Tim. 1:3–7; 2:8–10; 2 Tim. 1:3–12; 2:14–19; Titus 3:1–11), and matters of church polity (1 Tim. 3:1–15; 2 Tim. 2:22–26; Titus 1:5–9). While there are many other shared concerns in the pastoral epistles, we will focus on each of the mentioned items and this article will consider the first, guarding sound doctrine.

One evening on my way home from a wonderful dinner date with my wife, I got lost. My wonderfully, intuitive wife picked up on that fact and gracefully asked if I wanted her to GPS us home. But I’m a man and I have lived in Houston for most of my life, so I had this! I did not. We ended up driving in the opposite direction and added another 30 minutes to our drive. The sad truth is that there are many pastors who are like this. They are going astray and they refuse to admit it. They reject any admonish or rebuke from Scripture or other pastors, denying that they had lost their ways, and refusing to admit that they are in a dilemma. There are many reasons why a person may do this, but none of them justify such carelessness to their life and doctrine.

In the Pastoral Epistles, Paul exhorts Timothy and Titus to guard their lives and their doctrine. In 1 Timothy 4, Paul provides a reason for why this is so important by telling him that “by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers”. Paul impresses upon the heart of all ministers of the Gospel the gravity for holding fast and guarding good doctrine; it is the difference between eternity in Heaven or eternity in Hell for both yourself and your flock. And Paul does not just touch on this, considering only his first letter he implores Timothy to guard the doctrine and to refute false teachers in 25 of the 112 verses; that’s over 22% (1:3-4,7,18-20, 4:1-5, 6, 11, 13,16, 5:21, 6:2-5, 12-14, 20-21)! The authoritative source for truth is not found in our own intellect, opinions, or feelings. The authoritative source for truth is found in the Scriptures and Paul instructs them to take great care over it.

We hold fast to it so that we may bring many sons to glory. We take great care over our lives and guard sound doctrine because those who teach differently “understands nothing” and the consequence is eternally damning (1 Timothy 6:4). And step one is to, with humility and sincerity, immerse yourself in the Scriptures to have it expose the lie you have told yourself. Submit to the Scriptures where it tells you that you are lost, for then you may be found.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

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