… ¹⁹keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. ²⁰Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Paul understood shipwreck, having literally gone through it three times, placing it in the same category of being whipped, beaten, and stoned (2 Cor. 11:25). Few survive such a calamity, so he chose this metaphor to describe those who have rejected faith and a good conscience. In the same way that Paul did not die from being shipwrecked, we would affirm that the ones he speaks about will not spiritually die from their metaphorical shipwreck, that is, they will not lose their salvation and be condemned for eternal separation from God. Nonetheless, the warning is dire, for spiritual shipwreck wreaks havoc in the individual’s life as well as in the church if left unchecked.

This rejection involves two things.  First, “keeping faith.” At the end of this letter, Paul speaks again of those who “have professed faith and . . . gone astray from the faith” (1 Tim 6:21). These are those teachers who in their erroneous teachings bring others down with them in the sinking boat. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes about “men who have gone astray from the truth . . . and they upset the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2:18).

To be sure, all of us from time to time hold to erroneous beliefs, thus we keep learning and maturing. But this description seems to go further than that. It speaks of those who propagate their false beliefs with conscious rebellion against the truth. They “have rejected” faith. But they did it consciously, knowing full well what they were doing. A double judgment!

We are reminded of Martin Luther, who was ordered to recant his beliefs in the justification by God that comes through faith. He concluded his defense, “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God.” In other words, he could not in good conscience reject what he clearly saw in Scripture and believed.

Paul gives two specific culprits by name: Hymenaeus and Alexander. In other words, this is not just a hypothetical situation. These would have been well-known to Timothy, and Paul has already excommunicated them (1 Cor. 5:5), not for the sake of destroying them, but so that “they will be taught not to blaspheme.” Drastic error requires drastic treatment so that others will not also go down with the ship.

Lord, convict me of areas of my life where I am acting against my conscience.