(1) Repeated words:
false teachings v.3, strayed from these v.6a, turned away to empty discussion v.6b, want to be teachers...but do not understand...the things they insist on so confidently.
1:5 But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.1:6 Some have strayed from these and turned away to empty discussion.
Given the choice of the right doctrine (v.5) they turned away from that. Not only they themselves turned away, they taught others to do so. They insisted confidently on the wrong things that they taught.
(2) 1:4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan that operates by faith.
(NET) Myths and interminable genealogies. These myths were legendary tales characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. See parallels in 1 Tim 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4; and Titus 1:14. They were perhaps built by speculation from the patriarchal narratives in the OT; hence the connection with genealogies and with wanting to be teachers of the law (v. 7).
What falls into the category of false teaching v.3/myths/interminable genealogies v.4a/things promote unseless speculations v.4b? Whatever things that turn us away from the teaching in v.5, "love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith."
(PNTC) For Paul this is love distinguished by a threefold origin. First, it is “from a pure [katharos] heart.” Paul affirms that Christ died “to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify [katharizō] for himself a people” (Titus 2:14; see also Eph 5:26). Believers are accordingly called to “purify [themselves] from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor 7:1). Because of the inner change that Christ effects, Paul knows that believers have an inner sanctum into and through which the divine presence exudes the central divine characteristic of love (see Rom 5:5; 1 Cor 13) through believers’ dispositions and resulting actions.
(NAC) Conscience refers to an individual’s inner awareness of the moral quality of personal actions. In Rom 13:5 and 1 Cor 8:10 conscience serves as a guide to life, but Paul recognized that a conscience can be scarred by receiving imperfect information (1 Tim 4:2; Titus 1:15). In order to develop a good conscience, individuals must fill their minds with God’s message and render obedience to it (1 Cor 8:7–12; 1 Pet 3:15–16).
(NAC) Faith is “sincere” only when it is not mere talk but is genuine trust and confidence in God
Reflection: First, do we ourselves practice love out of these 3 origins? Second, does our teaching lead people to practice love out of these 3 origins? Or our teachings are useless and only give rise to speculations?
Audrey
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