1Ti 1:5  Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

1Ti 1:6  From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;

1Ti 1:7  Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

— 1 Timothy 1: 5-7

As you read the first verse of our post today notice the word “charity.”  If you were to look up the word in the original Greek writing, you would see the word is agape, which means love.  So if we write this again in an easier to understand way, we see that 1 Timothy: 5 reads, “Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”

If one were to really nail down what God’s commandments are all about, they are about love. God gave us the commandments because he loves all of us, so that all of us may lead a good life in righteousness.

Continuing into the remainder of verse 5, there are a couple of other qualities that flow out of the commandment in addition to love – they are a good conscience and unwavering faith. When you do the right thing, even when it is the toughest choice to make, do you feel good? Damn right! Do you sleep well at night? Absolutely! When you see that by following the commandments and doing the right thing influences other people to do the right thing, you conscience is vindicated! You are now motivated to do the right thing with vigor the next time and this is what builds your faith to be strong and unfeigned (which is unaffected by circumstances, people, etc).

Wow! But if you have read our blog, you know that satan is always working to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). Verses 6 & 7 from our post today is a warning for all of us, that there will be people who stray from the qualities mentioned in verse 5 – which are love, good conscience, and faith unfeigned – because they do not follow the commandments but want to be teachers. How can a person who does not follow the law with love, by choice, and faithfully, possibly teach it to others? As stated in verse 7, these false teachers do not know what they are teaching or even how the foundation for teaching it (that is what affirm means in this context).  Somebody who has faithfully chosen to learn the law will have a foundation that affirms what they are teaching.

Read these verses and examine them well. Even the style with which it is written is superb in telling us how to follow the commandment and what is required to be a teacher of it, so that we can kick out the bad ones.