“We know that the Law is good, if one should use it lawfully, understanding this: the law is not put into place for the just, but for the lawless and unruly, and ungodly and sinners, for unholy and profane and patricidal and matricidal and homicidal, for sexually immoral, homosexual, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to healthy doctrine, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”

(1 Timothy 1:8-11)

What is the opposite of heterodoxy? The opposite of heterodoxy is “healthy doctrine.” Heterodoxy leads one into endless speculations and myths; healthy, or orthodox, doctrine leads one into ideas and thoughts that rightly reflect the gospel of our glorious and blessed God. How do we know the difference? Heterodoxy leads one into lawless behavior. Healthy doctrine does not. 

What we have in these verses is just one of many lists of behavior that is contrary to Christian living. Behavior like this, the law condemns. It is lawlessness and thus, sin (1 John 3:4). This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but it broadly covers the sins that the heterodox teachers seem to be either promoting or are (at least) permitting. As such, it is meant as a clear directive that if you find a pastor or church leadership giving permission to these behaviors, you should flee, for these are heterodox teachers who will lead you away from healthy doctrine.

What “makes the list” as it were? It is for those who are lawless. In other words, it is for those who reject the law of God or think that it does not apply to them. Similarly, it is for the unruly. In Greek, the notion of being unruly refers to someone who considers themselves to be independent or a law unto themselves. These unruly are those who are not ruled by the law of God and who are not ruled by a standard greater than themselves. When Jesus met the Centurian, a “man under authority,” he marveled and proclaimed that he had not found a faith like the Centurians in all of Israel (Matthew 8:5-13). 

Why did Jesus marvel? He marveled because this gentile demonstrated a faith that was in submission to the law of God and he found that faith in a gentile. True faith does not run rampant and it is not an individual thing. True faith is in submission to the Word of God and it is in submission to the Confessions and Creeds that have been developed by the church councils across the ages so long as those confessions and creeds are faithful to the Biblical text. In a world where independent churches have become commonplace, Paul’s words stand as a clarion call for repentance and a return to the ancient creeds and confessions of the church as well as for submission to the Word of God.

The next body of people that Paul lists are those who are ungodly. Only the fool, we are told, proclaim that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Recognizing that idols have no real existence (Psalm 96:5; 1 Corinthians 8:4), this applies to idolaters as well as to those who are atheists. What follows next in Paul’s list are sinners — those who would pursue sin rather than righteousness. Those who would do so, John tells us, are children of the Devil (1 John 3:8) and those who believe that they can pursue sin and that God will not judge, these God says he will never forgive (Deuteronomy 29:19-20).

Next, Paul speaks of those who are unholy. Holiness means being set apart for God’s purposes; thus, unholy refers to setting oneself aside for the pursuit of things that dishonor God. What follows, in turn, are the profane. In Greek, the notion of being profane means that one is so amenable to anything that one stands for nothing of substance. How often that describes Christians in this world who do not wish to chance offending someone. How many sermons never address sin and the need for repentance, but are instead, simply encouraging little motivational bits? This is profane in the Biblical sense of the term.

Next, Paul speaks of murderers…those who seek to kill their fathers, their mothers, and their fellow man. Remembering that when we are angry with someone in our heart, we are guilty of murder (Matthew 5:21-22), these words ought to convict us all. Next come those who are sexually immoral. This refers to any form of sin, heterosexual, homosexual, or auto-erotica. One who sits in front of pornographic magazines or internet sites is just as guilty by Paul’s standard as the one who actually commits fornication. Paul drives his point home by speaking not just of sexual immorality, but doubles down by speaking of homosexuality. There are some who would argue that since the term used here — ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoites) — specifically refers to male homosexual activities, that lesbian activity is not included. Yet, since the masculine is commonly used to speak of all people without exception and since the Bible also addresses female homosexuality (see Romans 1:26), it can be easily concluded that this activity, too, is condemned by God and it is permitted only by those who teach heterodox doctrine.

The final grouping are that of kidnappers, liars, and perjurers. The first, most commonly, was the way the slave trade was operated. Thus, one should not be surprised that Christians largely worked to abolish the slave trade in more recent eras and the ancient world as well. Liars bear false witness and perjurers bear false withness to a court, usually for the purpose of financial gain. Both are sins before God.

And “things like these” is the reason that God gave the law. While Christians are judged by grace and no longer the law, it is true, that does not mean that Christians are to jettison he law. Without the law, how would we know how to live? Without the law, how would we know what doctrine is healthy and what is heterodox? Without the law, to what would we submit? Without the law, on what basis can the church councils meet to make judgements that will be brought to bear on the whole church? Christians are not antinomians, we are not against the law. Praise be to God that we are not condemned by the law because we are in Christ (Romans 8:1), but the law teaches how to live as ones who are grateful to God for His saving work. Thanks be to God for that law.