1 Timothy 1:18 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This charge To the Judaizers not to teach differently, or this office of the ministry; I commit unto thee That thou mayest deliver it to the church; according to Or, being encouraged by; the prophecies which went before on thee He refers to some special revelations concerning Timothy, that he should be taken into the ministry, and be eminently useful therein; probably these were uttered when he was first received as an evangelist, (see 1 Timothy 4:14,) and that by many persons, 1 Timothy 6:12. That being assured by them that thy calling is from God, and that his grace and blessing will accompany thee, thou mightest war a good warfare Mightest execute thy office with courage, resolution, and persevering diligence, notwithstanding all opposition and discouragements whatever. Holding fast a true and lively faith In the gospel and its divine Author; and a good conscience That is, walking uprightly before God and man, according to the directions of an enlightened and renewed mind; which Namely, a good conscience; some Απωσαμενοι, having thrust away, or rejected. “It departs unwillingly,” says Bengelius, “it always says; ‘Do not hurt me;' and they who retain this, do not easily make shipwreck of their faith.” Indeed, none can make shipwreck of faith who never had faith. The persons here spoken of, therefore, were once true believers; yet they fell, not only foully, but finally. For ships once wrecked cannot be afterward saved. “In this metaphorical passage the apostle insinuates that a good conscience is the pilot, who must guide us in our voyage through the stormy sea of this life into the harbour of heaven.” Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander Two of the corrupt teachers at Ephesus, whom Timothy was left to oppose; whom I have delivered unto Satan See on 1 Corinthians 5:5; that they may learn not to blaspheme That by what they suffer they may be, in some measure, restrained from speaking evil of the truths of God. The apostles delivered obstinate offenders to Satan, not only for their own reformation, but to strike terror on others. If the offender, in consequence of this punishment, was afflicted with some bodily disease, it probably was removed on his repentance, or after a time. And even though it continued, some of the offenders may have been so obstinate in their wicked courses, that they did not amend. This seems to have been the case with the two persons here named; “for notwithstanding the apostle, after his departure, punished them by delivering them to Satan, they persevered in spreading their erroneous doctrines, 2 Timothy 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:14. At what time the apostle delivered these persons to Satan does not appear; but from his informing Timothy of it as a thing he did not know, it may be conjectured that the apostle did it after he left Ephesus, and was come into Macedonia, probably immediately before he wrote this epistle. And as it was done without the knowledge or concurrence of the church at Ephesus, it was not the censure called excommunication, but an exercise of miraculous power, which was peculiar to him as an apostle.” Macknight.