What is a shipwrecked faith?

[Christownsme]

In 1 Timothy 1:18-20 Paul is saying

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.



1. What is a shipwrecked faith?
I understand the passage in Timothy to be about a believer who has rejected his faith and good conscience. Paul has sent them over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme.

2. There must be hope for them, right?
Paul writes "that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

3. What type of blasphemy is this?

 

[buchalady]

In Scripture a heretic is deceptive, vain and corrupt. No well-meaning, sincere person who is doing his best to understand God's word and to teach it faithfully however wrong their interpretation, can be a heretic.

2 Timothy 2 shows that these men were "upsetting the faith of some." They were intentionally deceiving the faithful.

 

[gideons300]

In 1 Timothy 1:18-20 Paul is saying

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.



1. What is a shipwrecked faith?
I understand the passage in Timothy to be about a believer who has rejected his faith and good conscience. Paul has sent them over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme.

2. There must be hope for them, right?
Paul writes "that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

3. What type of blasphemy is this?

It would seem to me from this scripture that a man's shipwrecked faith is a man that once sailed correctly but who refused to listen to his conscience. When we violate our conscience the fist time over an issue the Holy Spirit is dealing with us on, the conviction is huge, is it not? We ask for forgiveness and sail on. But what happens if we do the same thing again, and then again? Each time, the conviction is less and less and we eventually have a name that we liveth but are dead.

Think of Samson, a mighty man of God. He was tempted to give up the secret of his strength, his nazarite vow to not cut his hair. But instead of running from the source, he played around with his sin again and again, getting weaker and weaker until finally he revealed the true secret to his strength and had his hair cut in his sleep. He awoke imprisoned, blinded and forced to grind corn for the enemy.

This is very close to sinning willfully, but we argue that grace covers us and cannot fail, right? We can always ask forgiveness, we say confidently, and we can! BUT, and this is a big but, we do not realize when we do this what is happening to our faith. It weakens as we sail closer and closer to the rocks on the reef, until finally our faith is made null. We still may confess the same truths outwardly, but inwardly, we have not kept our conscience pure and the result is we are imprisoned in unbelief. We have fallen from grace.

Can a man be rescued from such a state? Absolutely, as did Samson. But the lesson is a hard and painful one with no guarantees. The danger is that eventually we enter presumptive grace, which is a trap, a deception, where we are found planning on asking forgiveness BEFORE we even sin. That is willful sin where we are no more covered by the blood for we no longer believe, no longer truly repent. We are just going thru the motions, deceiving ourselves.

Thank God we have a forgiving God. But let us never take it for granted. If God cut off Israel, His chosen people, for their pride and unbelief when their long awaited saviour walked in their midst unrecognized, how much easier shall it be for God to cut off us, who were grafted in if we do the same thing, ignoring the lessons given us?

I had a preacher one time say to me "I believe in the eternal security of the believer. Just stay a believer." That pretty well sums it up. Our faith, our trust in our Lord, is a precious thing, more precious than gold. Do we treat it that way, guarding it from the enemy or are we carelessly living with a "double-eye", one foot in the world, one foot in the kingdom, sailing closer and closer to the reefs that threaten to shipwreck us, tempting the Lord, seeing how far we can stretch His mercy shed through the blood of the cross? We are to set our affections on things above, not on the things of this earth, with a single eye, for it is only then that our whole body will be full of light.

I pray this helps a bit.

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[NeverEnder]

gideons300:

Thank you for posting this.

I have been considering the idea of a shipwrecked faith lately, actually.

I have recently come back to the faith after a period of being "shipwrecked"; Not that I was lost in sin, but just lost. Lost from my connection with God/Jesus, lost from the word.

-Matthew-

 

[gideons300]

gideons300:

Thank you for posting this.

I have been considering the idea of a shipwrecked faith lately, actually.

I have recently come back to the faith after a period of being "shipwrecked"; Not that I was lost in sin, but just lost. Lost from my connection with God/Jesus, lost from the word.

-Matthew-

Welcome home. If I had a fatted calf, we would have ribeyes tonight.

Angels are rejoicing.

Many blessings,

Gideon

 

[paul1149]

A healthy conscience is a monitor of how well we are being faithful to what we believe. So if we abandon our conscience, we stop walking according to our faith. We still believe, but our actions don't reflect that fact, and we lose our power to witness. Thus, faith, though still alive, has been shipwrecked. It is out of touch and in need of rescue.

The two men Paul mentions must have abandoned their consciences on some important matter, and now were doing and/or saying things that blasphemed Christ, probably to justify themselves. As such, they had placed themselves under satan's power. Paul acknowledges this, but the clear implication is that the sorrows they have opened themselves up to are for their sanctification, not damnation. See 1Cor 5/2Cor 1-2 for an expanded parallel instance of this dynamic in action.

 

[amandadun]

A shipwrecked faith is a faith that has been set on a course, but has deviated and hit some rocks.

 

[Christownsme]

A response from my pastor:

Paul is talking about some of the leadership of the church at Ephesus. He mentions Hymenaeus and Alexander by name; these two men had purposefully and intentionally walked away from Biblical faith and their Spirit-led conscience. That is what they “rejected.” They were way off course spiritually (yet knowingly and willingly), and as a result, they cracked up (“shipwrecked”). 2 Timothy 2:17-18 gives us some of the specific details regarding Hymenaeus.
Their actions demonstrating knowing, intentional deviation from Biblical faith; they were teaching heresy. This is not an issue of backsliding. This is an issue of church leaders teaching a false gospel. And they knew it. And this is why Paul took the action he did.

This makes a lot of sense when you read 2 Timothy 2:17-18

...and their talk lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.