1 Timothy 1:9 Commentary and Bible Study

The ultimate purpose of the gospel is holiness before God and in his presence. There is a use of the law that is for a righteous man, but he focuses on the first use of the law: ‘Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man.’ Paul says this in opposition to the unlawful use which the false teachers made of the law: as a way to gain favour with God. He is pointing out that these teachers are not using the commandments in the correct way. If you're going to teach the law of God – in this case the Old Testament and the commandments – the lawful way to teach it is in such a manner that it brings people under conviction of sin. The law is intended not for the righteous, but for the lawless and disobedient. Now if these preachers had been preaching their Old Testament passages lawfully – without embellishment, without adding to them, without turning them into fables and stories, but in such a manner that people by the blessing of God were brought to see their sinfulness and to repent before him – then that would be the correct and the righteous use of the law, and that is how it's supposed to be preached. We who are converted know this, he says, that the law is made for the unrighteous, and the list that he gives roughly follows the Ten Commandments, but expressing them in a more pointed way, and emphasising a particular application of them. The law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless, the people who feel not bound to any moral principles or law. They have cut themselves free. The lawless and disobedient: those who pointedly rebel against God's Commandments. The law is not intended as a viable means of conversion as some thought; only grace can save us. ‘The ungodly’ translates the Greek, which means irreverent – no reverence for God. He is not in their minds. There is not the slightest caution in their heads because of him. They are determined not to believe in him, to get rid of him. Like the posters that were once put up on the buses, they say, ‘There is no God, so enjoy yourself. Do whatever you want to do.’ ‘And for sinners’ – those who miss the mark, is the Greek original. They miss the whole point of life: made by God and for God, made to know God, to enjoy God, to have his power and blessing, to have eternal life with him. They have missed it all. What failures we are. We think, ‘I'm free. I'm not a believer in God, I'm free. I manage myself and my life.’ No, we are fools. We have missed the whole purpose and point of creation and life, and we are grovelling about on a material earth, as poor limited creatures. We have missed the standards, the principles, the rules, the laws, that God requires of his created people. We have become unholy people, our minds polluted with images and hateful thoughts and proud notions and lies. The garment is ruined and soiled. That is the state of my heart and my mind and your heart and your mind without the forgiveness of God. ‘Unholy and profane.’ What an intriguing word! It is hard to see how else the translators could have dealt with this. It translates a compound Greek word, which when used as a noun means a crossed threshold, or a threshold walker. It means your soul and your heart has a wide-open door and anything can cross the threshold. Any temptation that comes in, any foul thought, any rotten thing can get in and out and you've no door, no restriction, no barrier. You are an open door to all the filth and the muck and the trample of ungodly feet. ‘I'm just a free and easy-going person.’ No, a weak person at the mercy of everything. ‘For murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers.’ This is his treatment of the fifth commandment. Have you murdered a parent or a loved one? Did you know that the murder sin goes far beyond the taking of life? The taking of life is the head sin in the family of murder sins. This sin includes neglect of parents so that you murder their happiness and their joy and their peace. If anybody has neglected a loved one, whom they have had a duty to care for, they have committed the murder sin and taken away a person's hope and reason for living. Terrible murder sins are going on all the time. Then comes the sixth commandment: literal man-slayers, literal murderers.