SUMMARY
The church discipline PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. More writes about aims to instruct rather than to cut off those disciplined from the community forever.
ANALYSIS
Here and in 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul writes of handing someone over to the adversary (ho satanos in Greek). It is vivid, distressing language, even if the contours of the practice are not exactly clear. In the context of 1 TimothyThe companion on Paul's later journeys for whom two pastoral epistles are named. More, Paul is urging Timothy to be the faithful teacher he knows him to be. Paul mentions two men who provide negative examples of teachers. Hymenaeus is mentioned also in 2 Timothy 2:17, where Paul notes that he teaches (wrongly) that the resurrection of the dead has already happened. We do not hear of Alexander elsewhere, unless the Alexander mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:14 is the same person.
Hymenaeus and Alexander’s work is at cross purposes with the work that Paul calls on Timothy to do. Their work is dangerous enough that Paul has done something to restrain it. At the same time, note that the “handing over” is not an end in itself. Rather, it is how these men “may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Timothy 1:20). Readers of the letter will recall that earlier in this chapter Paul referred to himself as a blasphemer (see 1 Timothy 1:13) and noted that the mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God's mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. More of Christ JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More changed him. Paul envisions these enemies receiving the same life-changing mercy that was available to him when he was a persecutor of the church.
