1 Timothy 1:19

“Keeping faith and. good conscience”: Fighting the good fight includes continuing to trust in God and His revelation. “The evangelist must be uncompromising on the matter of sound doctrine” (Kent p. 96). “Keeping”: Steadfast adherence, holding fast. In fighting error the preacher must make sure that he does not lose his own faith. Faith is our shield (Ephesians 6:16) and it guards us (1 Peter 1:5).

1 Timothy 1:19 “Good conscience”: Deviations from the true faith are preceded by violations of the conscience (1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15). “The teacher who knows the truth but teaches falsehood, or allows it to be taught under his jurisdiction, will not have. good conscience” (Reese p. 39). In addition, in fighting error Timothy is not allowed to violate his conscience and fight error in. way that would be sinful and underhanded. When we fight the enemy without, we must always take good care of our inner man.

1 Timothy 1:19 “Which some have rejected”: Rejecting the faith and violating one's conscience is. choice. The term “rejected” means “to thrust it away” and implies. willful resistance to the faith and the voice of conscience. “Failing to heed the conscience, when it was prompting guilty feelings because one has failed to ‘keep the faith' is what these ‘some' have done” (Reese p. 40).

1 Timothy 1:19 “And suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith”: The expression “their faith” may mean either their own personal faith, or “the faith”, the body of faith or belief. There is. “the” in the Greek before the word “faith”. In seeking to pervert the gospel message the result was that their own personal faith was destroyed in the process. “The Christian teacher who does not practice what he preaches will find his faith failing him” (Hiebert p. 46).