DAILY GUIDE DEVOTIONAL: False Teachers and The Law

 

Text: 1 Timothy 1:1-11

In today's devotional, the holy spirit is warning through the mouth of Paul about the dangers of trading the finished work of Christ made beneficial to man by his faith, for the law which was but a shadow and a tutor. In verse 5 He says; Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned"  and in verse 6, "from which some have swerved and turned aside unto vain jangling".  "Love is the fulfilment of the law" (Romans 13:10) "for it does no wrong to a neighbour". Jesus perfected this love and exemplified it on the cross when he died for mankind bearing the sins of many. Anyone who tries to impose the demands of the law on a sanctified believer is committing an error. This is the onus of the matter here. 

Some false teachers, who do not know but shamelessly claim to know. Ignoramuses, who think themselves to be professors; they were teaching heresies in the then church of Ephesus. Doctrines completely alien to the doctrine of love which Jesus instituted. And our brother Paul needed to stop them on their tracks. So, he appointed Timothy to be in charge. He wanted him to stay in Ephesus and contend for the faith that he has received. Today, the charge is coming to us. We are the present day believers. 

To us the mandate to defend the tenets of our faith has been given. We cannot fold our hands and watch while false teachers continue on the rampage. They destroy the faith of our lord Jesus Christ and reduce it to olive oil and water and handkerchiefs and stickers. They bring back all the old fetish practices of animal sacrifices and all sorts of idolatrous rituals and mix it up with Jesus' name, deceiving ignorant and gullible men. The worst is that pastors in many bible believing churches  now copy these patterns and corrupt the pure worship as  handed down by the apostles.  Today, the message is set before us, it did not start now. It has been there since the time of Paul and the apostles but they fought, they contended and they preserved the faith until it reached us. We therefore must do our own part. 

We must not fail to teach the correct message. We must not allow people to still enslave believers into keeping the laws of Moses as a way of gaining salvation. We must stress on what Jesus has done on the cross as the only means through which man can be saved. We must teach about the enabling grace to live the life of love made possible by our union with the holy spirit and we must use the law rightly to show unbelievers that they are sinners. May God broaden our minds and strengthen our inner man to stand firm in affirming the things that matter. Amen!

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