As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. 1 Timothy 1:3
A family that had ten children lived in a home on the banks of a river that would freeze over each winter. Every winter, as the ice would begin to form along the river banks, the father sternly warned his children never to go out onto the ice. One winter morning, three of the children decided to cross the river on the ice as a shortcut on the way to school. The others objected strongly, reminding the three of their father’s warning. But the three scoffed at the warning, saying some of their friends had safely crossed the river the day before, and that the ice was safe. As they started out, the children noticed the ice near the shore was thick, so they began running confidently toward the other side. But the ice in the middle of the river was not nearly as thick, and the weight of the running children caused the ice to crack. The children plunged into the cold waters, and were never seen again. Too late, they learned that there was great danger in listening to their friends instead of to their father. In our text, Paul is reminding Timothy to warn the Christians in Ephesus against teachers of doctrines that were contrary to the Word of God.
There are great perils in teaching and following doctrines that are not supported by the Scriptures. We see the effects of these dangers among the denominations around us. Churches that ignore the Scriptural pattern of Assembly government are often led astray into the ideas of a particular man or woman. Churches that open their doors to charismatic doctrines find themselves having to ignore the rest of Scripture to justify their confusion practices. Churches that reject the clear teachings of the Bible regarding the dispensations deprive themselves of the comforts associated with God’s plan for His people. So it is very important that we learn what the Bible teaches, and that we add nothing to it nor take anything away from it.
Paul would later instruct Timothy to ‘hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me’ (2 Timothy 1:13). He would also instruct him concerning his teachings, ‘the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also’ (2 Timothy 2:2). The apostle knew that teaching sound doctrine would preserve the Lord’s people from spiritual error. This applied especially to the doctrine of the Gospel, because if the Gospel is wrong, everything else will be wrong too. It also applied to all of the foundational doctrines of the faith, those truths that are most surely believed among us. Only by believing those doctrines, and by faithfully teaching them without watering them down or compromising them in any way, would those doctrines be preserved among us.
May God preserve us from those who would teach other doctrines, and bless us with those who would teach the Word of God. – Jim MacIntosh