¹⁷ Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the one and only God, be honour and glory to the ages of the ages, Amen.¹⁸ 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, ¹⁹ keeping faith, and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. ²⁰Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme (1Tim1:17-20)

Again, I have highlighted points for comment in the context of the broader benign providence being presented. This is perhaps one of the clearest indicators of Paul’s monotheism in the sense of there being one Person who is God (μόνῳ Θεῷ), and He is invisible (v1). The apostle never refers to Jesus as God, rather He is the Lord and Master. But He is also the incarnated Word, the only begotten of the Father and (prior to His incarnation) consubstantial with the invisible God, yet “for our sakes He became Man”. However, God’s elect are already partakers of the divine nature and in due course shall be co-inheritors OF God, WITH Christ (Rom8:17). “Christ” means One who has been anointed;  He sits at God’s right hand. Once resurrected or if alive at His coming, those who have been prepared for it (the elect) shall be reclothed in a glorious body and shall be Christ’s kith and kin, His corporate Spouse i.e. absolutely like their Lord and Master, for they shall be without sin.

Not just Paul

This is not a Pauline quirk: the writer to the Hebrews declared, “(Christ) who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from One ; for this reason (Christ) is not ashamed to call them brothers (Heb2:11). Likewise John, “Beloved, we are already the sons of God, and it has not yet been revealed exactly what we shall be: but we know that when (Christ) shall appear, we shall be like Him” (1Jn3:2). But we could never be in any substantive sense like or consubstantial with the  “immortal, invisible, the one and only God (v1), apart that is from reflecting His nature, which for the elect should in measure already be happening (Eph5:1 μιμηταὶ= imitators, not merely followers).

A theology of glory

This is unashamedly a theology of glory (that Luther detested), albeit predicated by a theology of the cross, without which such a glorious transformation of sinful children of dust could never have taken place. And if sin had not entered the world, the Word of God would not have be incarnated as a Man to be its Saviour. This emphasis on glorification, together with a recognition of the monarchical status of the Father is necessary for an understanding of a central tenet of the broader benign providence being disclosed. Paul described it in Eph3 as “the fellowship (or administration) of the secret (plan) hidden in God”. Its  practical outworking is Rom 11 vv11,12,15,30, namely that in the current age, elect Gentiles would come to “share an inheritance with those being sanctified” (Acts26:18) as a result of the Jews’ failure in their appointed mission. That had been to be a light to the world  as “God’s kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex19:6).

If Israel had fulfilled its mission, the prophecies of the Old Testament would have stood (e.g. Is60:3; Zech8:23). Gentiles would not in the current age have been “saved” in the gospel sense – i.e. sanctified so as to be fitted for the kind of glory I have been describing (Acts26:18). They would, by acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord, “merely” have had the opportunity to be pardoned, and so like Lazarus and the Mt25 sheep, finally accepted into God’s eternal kingdom.

Paul is rarely if ever taken literally in Rom11 (e.g. v11) because such a scenario (fulness of salvation restricted to Jews and proselytes) would make little sense, if (as most understand it) gospel salvation referred to “going to heaven when you die” or avoiding perdition, rather than that to which it truly pertains. That is to be pardoned and empowered to live a holy life, serving and pleasing God even whilst in mortal flesh, in preparation to be joint inheritors with Christ and all that entails (Rom8:17).  

Paul’s drastic remedy

As Paul wrote to Timothy, such a glorious prospect requires “keeping faith, and a good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith” (v19). Such were Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul “delivered to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme” (v20). He did something similar for an immoral believer at Corinth “for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1Cor5:5). I commented on this in an earlier post with which I shall close.

“The verse (1Cor5:5) is variably translated but what the original Greek infers is that the man in question should be handed over to Satan for “DESTRUCTION OF THE FLESH”. This confuses many for they do not understand what Paul means by σαρκός (flesh). He is referring to the physical component of man as a whole (body and brain) that is procreated from his parents. It is that which the apostles Peter and Paul respectively refer to as our tent/tabernacle (2Pet1:13-14) or vessel (1Thes4:4), housing the God-given soul/spirit. As I have been adducing from Scripture it is not the eternal spiritual component but its temporary mortal housing, i.e. the procreated body and brain that is the source of mankind’s problem with sin. As Paul well knew, such was the case with the immoral passions that were dominating the unrepentant member of the Corinthian church to whom the apostle was referring. His drastic solution, which as some commentators have rightly observed is not a timeless injunction for churches but pertained to apostolic authority within their era, was to “deliver the person to Satan”, whom we learn elsewhere has authority over sickness and death (cf. Lk13:16 & Heb2:14).

Contrary to how many interpret the crucial teaching of Rom7:7-25, the “flesh” cannot be referring to the “sinful nature”, for Satan would hardly be in the business of destroying that; rather he would wish to nurture it such that the sinful passions derived from it would continue to war against the soul (1Pet2:11). It rather infers the individual would experience sickness and physical suffering (a la Job) – thus shall that immoral believer  have been salted with fire rather than salt (Mk9:49KJV) – an earlier post explains.

A similar principal may be observed with regard to Christ’s descent into Hades to preach to lost souls: “For this reason was the gospel preached to those that are dead, that having been judged according to men in the flesh, they might LIVE ACCORDING TO GOD IN THE SPIRIT” (1Pet4:6; see also 1Pet3:19-20). Peter’s teaching confounds the many who do not believe God ever gives second chances. But as I explain in my book this is not referring to God’s elect – the future Bride of Christ who must serve the Lord NOW and “put to death the deeds of the body” NOW whilst in mortal flesh (Rom8:13). Nor shall ALL the rest be willing to call on the name of the Lord and be spared from destruction on the “Day of the Lord” that Paul refers to in this passage (v5). For some who like Cain are the devil’s children (1Jn3:12) will never willingly bow the knee or come to serve Christ, the Source and Summit of all that is good. The three soteriological categories indicated here and throughout my writing are not dependant on this or any particular passage of Scripture but can be traced from Genesis through to Revelation. Such I have done in The Little Book of Providence; a free PDF of which is available at the link below.

*The LITTLE BOOK OF PROVIDENCE: a seven-part synopsis of the bible: – available as a paperback from Amazon or FREELY as a PDF file https://richard-777.blog/free-download-of-pdf/

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