1 Timothy 1:18-20

Keeping Faith and a Good Conscience.

1 and 2 Timothy have seventy-five commands for us to obey with intention and integrity. One of those commands is found in 1 Timothy 1:18-20. The word “faith” in verse 19 is synonymous with the word “command” in verse 18, so “keeping faith” could read “keeping the command.”

The word “keeping” means to bear or wear the faith/command, allowing it to become part of our person. The faith is the body of doctrines written and preserved in the Word of God for us to obey.

Each of us is to keep this faith with a good conscience. A person’s conscience is well instructed and at peace when it knows and lives the commands of Scripture. Paul also mentions the conscience in 1 Timothy 1 and 3. Each mention is tied directly to the command of Scripture, the instruction of Scripture, and the mystery of faith pertaining to the Word of God and the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Three things are required for keeping faith with a good conscience.

Nurturing Admiration

For the Word

Keeping the faith with a good conscience is practiced by nurturing admiration for the Word of God and the people of God who have taught and lived that Word before us. Paul is entrusting to Timothy this command to teach and instruct the Word to protect the church from false teachers and doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3-5).

Admiring the command requires knowing, understanding, and applying the truth of Scripture. Our personal relationship with Christ and the Word of God is to be valued above all relationships in our home and our church. This command is not just for Timothy, nor is it only for the leadership of Grace, but it is for each one in the flock.

Embracing the sufficiency of this command as our sole rule of faith and practice will nurture the proper admiration for the Word of God entrusted to us.

For Relationships

Keeping the faith with a good conscience is practiced by respecting the relationships with those from whom we have received the command and teaching. The elders and leadership of Grace and those in this disciple-making flock are a Spirit-filled cloud of witnesses who model the living of the command of faith with a good conscience.

Those who have mentored and reared us in the Lord among the flock of God are to be admired, and that admiration is to be nurtured. This is a mutual admiration as we seek to submit to one another in the fear of the Lord.

Embracing Readiness

According to 1 Timothy 1:18, keeping the faith with a good conscience requires a readiness to “fight the good fight.” In this context, the fight comes from within the church. The two men mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:20 had led this doctrinal skirmish. According to the context, the enemy gains a foothold when we fail to live our faith with a good conscience.

We must know the Word of God and apply it within its context to fight the good fight and remain aware of the enemy’s desire to destroy us. This is the command entrusted to us. Many have gone astray because of a poor ability to discern and apply the Scripture according to its context. We at Grace must resolve to properly know and apply God’s Word. Doing this is keeping the faith/command given to us and fighting the good fight. The enemy can take no ground among the flock that teaches and applies the Word of God in its context.

The church is protected when we know the Word of God and teach it proportionally. Keeping the faith is teaching and keeping all of Scripture, the whole Word of God, which is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. Genuine spiritual growth requires this.

Warning by Admonishment

Paul tells Timothy to take heed to himself and also the doctrine (1 Tim. 4:16). We know our own fallenness. Unfortunately, both Hymenaeus and Alexander had to be put out of the church because they ceased to live according to the command and with a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:3-4, 20). There will always be some who will reject the teaching of Scripture within its context and proportionally. The local church must be protected against this.

Paul warns Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21) that there will always be a remnant of unfaithfulness among the faithful. Paul encourages Timothy and each believer that Scripture is sufficient to help us detect and address with love and concern those who misteach and misapply God’s Word.

Keeping the faith with a good conscience is rightly knowing the Word of God so that it drives us to holy living and a pure conscience before the Lord.

Application Points

• Is your life reflecting holiness through the Word of God known by you and being lived among those in your home and your church? In keeping the faith with a good conscience, God would have us be holy as He is holy.
• Are you living and teaching the Word of God proportionally and in its context so that you see genuine growth in Christ-likeness in yourself and those you disciple? God would have us study the whole Word of God and strive to live out the whole truth of His Word by His grace.

Tools for Further Study

Cross References to Explore

• Acts 20, Nehemiah 8

A Hymn to Encourage: “The Church’s One Foundation”

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is His new creation, by water and the word.
From heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

The church shall never perish! Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish, is with her to the end;
though there be those that hate her, and false sons in her pale,
against the foe or traitor she ever shall prevail.