READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
Sept 23, 2019
David, is it possible for a believer to embrace unsound doctrine?
Please look at 1 Timothy 1:3-7.
According to this passage, it is possible to stray from sincere faith. Here the apostle Paul instructs Timothy as a pastor in Ephesus to command certain individuals in the Ephesian church not to teach the errors they had already come to embrace. Paul could say that such individuals had strayed from a sincere or genuine faith and had turned away from the truth.
First, the individuals in verse 3 whom Timothy was to command to “teach no other doctrine” were undoubtedly the same ones referred to in verses 6-7, of whom it is said that they had already turned aside to fables regarding the Law. There were already Christians present in Ephesus who had embraced error and were now to be commanded by Timothy not to teach such false doctrine. First Timothy 1:3-7 teaches the sobering reality that it is possible for one who is genuinely saved to embrace false doctrine, which Paul calls “fables” and “idle talk.”
Second, there is no indication from the context that these people were simply professors who never possessed genuine faith in Christ. If such were the case, then in addition to commanding them not to teach their heterodoxy concerning the Law, we would also expect Timothy to be commanding them to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” and be saved (Acts 16:31).
Source Used
Stegall, Tom. Must Faith Endure for Salvation to Be Sure?: A Biblical Study of the Perseverance versus Preservation of the Saints. Grace Gospel Press, chapter 11.
