of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may be taught by discipline not to blaspheme.
Paul ends his charge to Timothy by naming two men whose faith had gone under. Handing someone over to Satan sounds harsh, so who could do it, and how can it aim at any good?
How the shipwreck began
These two men show the failure Paul has just described. Commentators trace it to the heart, not to a mistake in thinking.
Error does not begin with the head but with the heart. Some sin was cherished; some secret sin had control. They did not judge themselves, and they made no confession. With no good conscience, there was no longer real communion with God, and the shipwreck of faith followed in due time.
The order matters. A good conscience goes first, and faith goes down after it.
The sin allowed may be a very small one. But if it goes unjudged in God's sight, it becomes the start of a very great evil. Once they had put away a good conscience, their ship no longer answered the helm, and they made shipwreck of the faith.
Not ordinary excommunication
Paul handed them over himself; he does not tell an assembly to act. Writers press that distinction hard.
This is not church discipline, or simply putting someone out of the assembly. It is the apostle's own act of power. In fact it is doubtful whether an assembly ever did, or ever could, hand anyone over to Satan without an apostle.
Another writer separates the two acts, then names what all discipline is for.
Let me add that delivering to Satan is an act of power. Putting out a wicked person is a duty that belongs to the faithfulness of the assembly… Paul did it in 1 Corinthians 5, acting with the gathered assembly, for the destruction of the flesh. He did it again in 1 Timothy 1, without any reference to the assembly, in the case of Hymenaeus and Alexander, so that they might learn not to blaspheme. All discipline is for the correction of the person, while it also keeps the house of God holy and clears the consciences of the saints themselves.
Inside the house, outside the world
The act removed a shelter these men had been enjoying.
Satan had already deceived them, but they were not under his rule in a way that let him torment them and make them suffer. In the assembly, Satan has no power of that kind. God protects the assembly, and so does the power of Christ… The apostle handed these two men over to the power of the enemy, and took away the shelter they had enjoyed. He did it by the power given to him, for this is an act of positive power. They had to feel what the one they had listened to was like.
That they may learn not to blaspheme
The purpose clause is the strangest part of the verse: the enemy is made to serve God's aim.
PLACEHOLDER_DO_NOT_USE: first, the importance of maintaining a good conscience, and the results that may follow its abandonment; and second, the way God can use the enemy for the profit (if such an one will learn) of the person delivered up to him… Thus God can use him as a creature in the carrying out of His designs, he himself having no such power over one in the assembly, unless such an one is delivered up to him.
The lesson is meant to be felt, not merely heard.
God allowed these men to come under the power of Satan. Through suffering and anguish of soul they were to learn the true character of the flesh, and to turn to God humbled and broken in spirit.
When the aim is not reached
Both men appear again later, and not as recovered men.
In 2 Timothy 2:17 we see that Hymenaeus, though put out, went further into evil. His teaching was wicked, and another man, Philetus, was linked with him too… Discipline had not restored Alexander either, for Paul speaks of the great harm he did him (2 Tim. 4:14). How solemn that Scripture records these men's names in such a dreadful way! Proper discipline had not yet stopped their blasphemous rebellion, though that was its aim. Sad indeed that an aim so honorable may still fail!
The way to avoid it
The lesson turns back on the reader.
May we learn, dear friend, to judge ourselves in secret before our God, so the assembly may not have to deal with us. If we judge the roots of evil in private, the fruit will not appear above the surface of our practical life.
Summary
- Cause: conscience goes first. A small sin left unjudged breaks communion with God, and faith goes down after it.
- Act: Paul used his own apostolic power here, not assembly discipline. Commentators doubt that any assembly could do the same.
- Loss: what these men lost was shelter — moved from the house God protects into the world the enemy rules.
- Aim: even this was discipline, not ruin. Paul handed them over so that hard experience would break them and bring them back.
- Result: the aim can still fail. Both men appear later, worse than before. Judging ourselves in private is the safer road.