In Ephesus some men had got into the fellowship and were promoting their ideas. They were very sincere and passionate, but they were not spreading truth. They came in as brothers, but wanted to be teachers. They talked with weighty words, but did not have apostolic authority. They were fascinated with minor matters and distracted the church from the major principles of discipleship. The consequences of their energetic teaching were to stir up debate, polarise one believer against another and move the church’s focus away from following and proclaiming Jesus.

Law, of whatever kind, marks out the boundaries. Step over the line and the law is broken, leading to punishment. Keep within the line of the law and there is security and freedom from the fear of punishment. So Paul explained that God’s law is good, because it defined the people whose attitudes and actions are against God’s law. But law can never make people good. All it does is to let people see that they are sinners. Indeed, everybody is a sinner (Romans 3:23).

Unforgiven sinners, who think honestly about their lives, feel bad and condemned. However, the truth of the gospel is so wonderful that they may find it difficult to grasp. The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth from heaven for a single purpose: to save sinners like them. Christ accepted the guilt of everybody in the world and was punished for it, so that they do not have to suffer God’s judgement. All those who believe in Jesus are therefore released from God’s condemnation of their sin.

Timothy had a difficult job. Although most people in the church at Ephesus wanted to hold on to the gospel which Paul taught, other people were being distracted to believe and teach lies. Timothy’s task was to keep the gospel at the centre of the church, exposing wrong teaching and rebuking false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3-7) . So it was essential for Timothy to hold tightly to the truth of the gospel himself. If the teacher should go astray, the whole church would be led away from Jesus.