So, what is a pastor’s job? Yes, it’s important to teach people right from wrong, and in today’s “anything goes” culture, it seems that no truth is too basic to be considered self-evident anymore. But as Paul points out in verses 9 and 10, the Law of God is primarily useful for those who continue in wanton disobedience. For while the Law can help people see their sin for what it is, it doesn’t really provide a remedy for hearts that naturally pull us away from God.

Of course, it is possible for people to go to the opposite extreme. Instead of rejecting the Law out of hand, some people become obsessed with it, indulging in the wildest sort of speculation about its details and adding onto it in an attempt to make it make more sense. In Paul’s time, this took the form of debates about the role of angels in creation or about stories of Old Testament figures that went beyond the clear text of the Bible (v. 4). Today, Christians can just as easily find ourselves sidetracked by arguing about the chronology of the end times or about exactly how God made the world.

But Paul reminds us that the whole point of teaching God’s Word is to encourage “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (v. 5). And that’s because the essential truth of the gospel is that we don’t save ourselves by purifying either our actions or our theology. No, it was Christ Jesus who came into the world to save sinners (v. 15).

And by humbling insisting that he himself is the chief of sinners, Paul gives us an important antidote to both licentiousness and legalism. For someone who knows he is a sinner will of course be open to the sort of correction that the Word of God speaks into our disobedience and rebellion. And someone who knows how deeply sin has twisted his own mind and heart will find it hard to be inflexibly dogmatic, especially about topics on which the Scripture does not speak clearly.

So by all means let us study the Word and teach the Word. But at the same time, let’s make sure we keep the main thing the main thing, fixing our eyes at all times on Christ alone.

I Timothy 1:1-20 (ESV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,
4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,
13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,
14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,
20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.