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1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. ~ 1 Timothy 4:1-3
The apostle Paul, in Acts 20:28-31, warned the Ephesian elders that false teachers would invade the church. These false teachers were apostate which is when someone departs from the faith they previously affirmed. They depart from the faith because their hearts were never engaged with the Lord in the first place. They never had a personal relationship with God, they never knew Him.
Throughout the history of this world, God has called people into a personal relationship with Him through His written and His living word. The written word is all about the living word. And, Satan and his demons know this, so, they try to lure us away from truth with their lies which are skirted with some of the truth.
In today's text, the Apostle launches into a discussion of the demonic forces that come against the truth. This is the only place where demons are mentioned in the pastoral epistles. In these verses Paul presents the topic of apostasy.
In v.1 we read, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."
The Apostle uses the verb apostēsontai which means “to remove oneself from one position to another.” For the Apostate, this is always an intentional departure. The Apostle was not describing something unintentional, he was not talking about somebody struggling with doubt. This is someone who deliberately rejects the truth that he once affirmed.
An unbelieving heart leads one to depart from the living God. He allows himself to be lured away and seduced away by demonic forces. Most often these forces use everyday things like our felt needs for security or love or attention, and he slowly lures us away until we freely give ourselves to his control. This is not an overnight event. This is why it is so important to keep short accounts with the Lord regarding our forgiven sin.
Here is a person exposed to Christian truth, a person who to some degree affirms a confidence in the Lord Jesus, but because his heart is not truly God’s, he is lured away by the enemy of God. He turns from the truth to the lies of the devil and is drawn away from the true faith unto eternal damnation.
In v.2 we read, "Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron."
These false teachers appear to be good preachers or priests or religious leaders of one kind or another. They may be good on the outside. They may be very religious in their appearance. They may appear to be pure in their motives. They pretend to exalt God whom they don’t exalt at all, but rather they exalt themselves.
One of the marks of a true servant of God is selflessness. He is in the habit of being read by that he reads, and the result is that God defines him. He is immediately known by his honesty and humility because the word of God has done its work on him. As a result, he practices what he preaches. He has not become sinless or perfect, but he sincerely seeks to know and be known by the Word of God.
The Apostle writes in v.2, "whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." False teachers will always be defined by himself and will be carried on in life by their hypocrisy. They do this because their consciences have been desensitized to God, His Spirit and His definitions of all things.
Our conscience is the tool that sends off impulses to affirm or condemn our actions, whether they are in line with God's definitions of life or not, but hypocrites have no conscience. Their conscience has been turned into scar tissue, and no longer do they feel in accordance with God's Word and Spirit.
In fact, the term “seared” is a technical medical term from which we get our English word “cauterized.” The false teacher is so scarred to the point where he can carry on his lie and hypocrisy and seem to have no conscience.
In v.3 we read, "They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth."
The false teachers in Ephesus were majoring on two things, forbidding marriage and forbidding certain foods. In so doing, they combined Jewish legalism with Eastern asceticism. These false teachers taught that an unmarried life was more spiritual than a married life, which is contrary to Scripture. We must always beware of any religious teaching that tampers with God’s definition of marriage.
In addition, these false teachers equated abstaining from certain foods with spirituality. Salvation for them was built on how they denied themselves. Typical of all false religions, they devise human means by which one becomes saved, either by things done or by things not done. Religion puts man on the throne, not God. At its heart religion embraces the conviction that self-denial somehow pleases God.
The central deviation of all religious error is a negative depiction of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment of all scripture. The unseen diabolical forces know Jesus is Lord, so their thrust of error is to divert our attention away from Him. Their goal is to prevent us from bowing our wills to His loving embrace.
Finally, it is the living and the written word of God that softens our conscience toward all that is Him. Reading and being read by Him daily is the key to a vibrant walk with Him. God's goal in our lives is to free us from the bonds of slavery to the enemy. So, when we come to Him though His word and He says something to us that we do not like, we have a choice to allow Him to do heart surgery in us or not. When we are amiable to His heart changing presence in our lives, we will not only maintain a tender heart toward Him, but we will grow in our love for others.
