1 Timothy 1:5: Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
In today’s verse, the Apostle Paul is speaking to his beloved protégé, Timothy. The commandment he is referring to Timothy is the importance of teaching correct doctrine. At this point in the early church, people were mixing in fables and other information that was clouding the message and causing disputes among the new believers. Paul recognizes the vulnerability of the new believers, so he wants to make sure that they are getting the truth of God’s Word.
During Jesus’ ministry on Earth, He rarely got angry. However, there was one group of people He clearly had issues with – the Pharisees and the Sadducees. These were the elite religious leaders of the Jews in Israel during His time. Now why would Jesus have a problem with people who supposedly had dedicated their lives to serving God? Jesus knew that these people were supposed to be representing God, and if they were doing it incorrectly or, and more importantly, out of a corrupt motivation, people might translate their teaching as something like, ‘Well if this is the way God is, I don’t want any part of a God like that.’ In other words, they were misrepresenting the person and character of God.
From the beginning, God has taken very seriously efforts to call into question or misrepresent His Word – which is the essence of who He is. Starting with Satan calling into question and then denying God’s warning to Adam and Eve, God has judged those who choose to twist, cloud, modify, or use any motivation to falsely the truth of who He is. He understands how weak minded we as humans are, and we are so easily led astray – like sheep. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, so His sheep are of utmost importance to Him. Therefore, it is easy to understand why He gets angry with those who are in shepherd-like positions when they don’t properly represent His Word and character to His sheep.
Paul lays out a three-fold purpose to the commandment of teaching correct doctrine. Since God is love, then it should come as no surprise that the first motivation for teaching should be that it be done out of love from a pure heart. The Greek word for love in this verse is agape – the kind of love that only God, or one who is filled with and is abiding in God’s Spirit. Presenting the Word of God to people should be treated as if God Himself is speaking to them. Accordingly, a teacher must have a pureness of heart – or his/her motivation for instruction should be out of a desire that is completely void of any selfish, self-serving, or self-glorifying reasons.
The next test of a teacher of God’s Word is his/her motivation from a good conscience. Simply – anyone who desires to instruct God’s flock should have a God-based understanding of what is right and wrong. Moreover, his/her conduct should be reflective of such an understanding. Does this mean only perfect people can teach God’s Word? If that were the case, there would be no one to do the teaching! However, out of his/her love for God should be the strongest desire to live according to what the Scriptures are instructing. God’s grace covers the times we fail, but a teacher whose conscience is entangled with unconfessed and unrepented sin is vulnerable to the enemy to corrupt the motivation to teach.
A sincere faith is the third check for a teacher’s motivation. In other words, do you really believe what you’re teaching? Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The foundation of a relationship with God is faith; therefore, for people to grow in their relationship with God, their faith in Him must deepen. The primary method of building faith in Him is through the reading and the understanding of His Word. Therefore, an instructor of Scripture who lacks sincere faith in its Author is again vulnerable to misrepresent it. As we said earlier, God takes that very seriously. James 3:1 warns, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” Teaching God’s Word is one of the greatest honors a human can have. But it shouldn’t be taken lightly – misrepresenting God is serious business. The sheep need feeding – don’t think God will allow junk food.