Judging Between Good and False Teaching, Part 2 (1 Timothy 6:3-12)

How do you know if that book, bible study, teacher or preacher, or website you are looking at is truly a good Christian thing? There are a lot of things that place themselves under the label of Christian. Out of curiosity I looked at what Amazon sells under the label of Christian books and got 80,000 results. 80,000 books all claiming to be good Christian teaching. Then we consider the thousands of Christian podcasts and tv shows. Needless to say, with this many options, I hope that you realize that all that labels itself as Christian is not indeed Christian. 

It is important to realize this because, as we saw a couple weeks ago, you are what you think. What you place into your soul is what you become. You will soon emulate and follow the kinds of teaching you consume. Therefore, it is vital that you fill your mind with good teaching. Further, with the vast number of resources available today, why would you waste your time with resources that are not excellent?

How can we judge between what is good teaching and what is not? How can we tell if that book, bible study, preacher, or website is good or bad? If we are honest, most of us simply judge the matter based on whether we like it or not. It makes us feel good, it aligns with our thinking, it is energetic and entertaining, therefore it must be good. Is this really the best way to determine whether something is good or bad? 

As Paul began 1 Timothy, he presented the characteristics of false teacher, teaching that we should avoid. 1 Timothy 1:3-7 – As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Now, as Paul finishes up 1 Timothy, he returns to this topic. From the foundation of the church, there has been a problem with bad teachers and teaching. As a result, Paul seeks to equip the church with the means to judge between good and false teaching. As we continued in 1 Timothy 6 last week, we observed that Paul presents for us the marks of false teachers. This week we will examine the marks of Godly men. We begin with the final phrase of verse 2.