Correcting False Teachers
Paul reminds Timothy that he left him in Ephesus to charge certain people not to teach differently or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote speculation rather than God's stewardship by faith.
A3s I urged you on my departure to Macedonia, you should stay on at Ephesus to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines 4or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship of God’s work, which is by faith.
Paul says the goal of instruction is love arising from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Some have missed that path and turned aside to empty talk, wanting to be teachers of the law without understanding what they confidently say.
5The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith. 6Some have strayed from these ways and turned aside to empty talk. 7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert.
Paul affirms that the law is good when used lawfully, not as a playground for speculation but as something that exposes the lawless and whatever opposes sound teaching. He gathers a list of such evils and says this accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God entrusted to him.
8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers, 10for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching 11that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.