Page 16 - Pastoral Epistles I & 2 Timothy, Titus

I Timothy 1 - Avoiding False Doctrine

Connect…

At the writing of this lesson, it is the year 2020. According to some, this is the year when predictions of calamity
will come to the world. Here are a few examples:

“World One” – A computer program named “World One,” which was developed in 1973 at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), predicts 2020 to be the year when a series of catastrophic events kick off a 20-year
process of a slow demise of human civilization.

The second coming – According to a 1973 book by astrologer Jeane Dixon, Jesus is scheduled to return sometime
in the years 2020–2037, ushering in the apocalypse. But then again, she also predicted that there would be a
cure for cancer by 1967.

The Viking stone – A team of Swedish researchers recently managed to decipher the writings on a stone slab
dated back to 800 CE. It turned out to be a Viking prophecy about the end of the world due to a “battle with the
weather”—a wording eerily reminiscent of the currently unfolding climate crisis.

False prophets are not new. They existed in the days of Paul. As soon as he would travel to a place and start a
church of new believers, it was not long before false prophets came to these churches to spread their poison of
lies to defeat the Christians. The tactic was to ADD new information to what Paul taught them to pervert his
message. This is Satan’s plan from the beginning: challenge truth with error.

Today, let’s see how Paul instructs the pastors to avoid false doctrines and those who teach lies.

The Lesson ...

Avoiding False Doctrines

1:3-5. Don’t teach false doctrine.
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command
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certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and
endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing
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God’s work, which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure
heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

What is false doctrine?
False doctrine is anything other than the truth.
Some people add to the Gospel. Others create controversies through strange ideas or legalistic
requirements. Then some claim to have some special knowledge regarding faith or God or both.

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