Hypocrisy and lack of love is an accusation that I’ve often heard spoken against the church in general and against individual churches in particular.
Paul tells us why this could be true.
He says it is because of a lack of preaching of the true Word of God (1 Timothy 1 v 5).
In verse 3 Paul exhorts Timothy to speak out against people teaching a heretical message and not the true Gospel.
He is telling Timothy to ensure that the true Gospel is preached, the Gospel of grace, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If he adheres to this i.e. ensures that the true Word of God is preached, he will see love (charity) displayed and will see a lack of hypocrisy (1 Timothy 1 v 5).
The opposite of teaching the Gospel of grace is teaching the law (1 Timothy 1 v 6 and 7), and from the previous verses we can see a danger of this.
Teaching law (or not the true Gospel for new covenant believers) will results in hypocrisy and a lack of love; that is a powerful truth.
Paul commands Timothy to ensure that no other doctrine, other than the grace of Jesus, is preached in the church.
He is that concerned about the preaching of law and other perversions of the Gospel.
This is a warning that he gives elsewhere in Scripture, in Galatians 1 v 6 to 9 and 5 v 1 for example.
What we hear preached and taught in church is so important, anything other than the true Gospel, the Gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, should set alarm bells ringing.
Grace is the only way!
Speak this out today….”Thank you Lord for the one true Gospel, the Gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ”.
1 Timothy 1 v 5…..Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned
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