But the end of what is enjoined is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith;
Paul has just laid a charge on Timothy. This verse states the goal behind it, and answers a simple question: what is all that teaching for?
The Word "Commandment"
The English word misleads. Commentators say Paul does not mean the Ten Commandments here. He means the charge he has just given Timothy.
I am afraid the word "commandment" often gives the English reader a wrong impression. People in the Christian world turn so readily to what we call the Ten Commandments, the ten words of the law, that whenever the word "commandment" comes up, you can expect many — even children of God, who ought to know better — to slip straight back to the law without noticing. That was far from the writer's thought here... What the apostle means by the commandment is the charge he was laying on Timothy, his child in the faith and fellow worker.
Love as the Goal, Not a Means
One commentator draws the same lesson from this verse while writing about the two great commandments:
The man saw that the love which fulfils these two great commandments matters far more than offering all the sacrifices the law required. The sacrifices had their place, but they were only a means to an end. Love is the goal, "the aim of our charge," as 1 Timothy 1:5 tells us. The goal is greater than the means.
The Three Things Described
One writer takes each phrase in turn, and sets them all against idle speculation.
The aim of the charge is not idle speculation. It is love — God's own nature — enjoyed and active. It is purity in the affections, a pure heart that sees God. It is a conscience with nothing on it, happy in God's presence. And then faith: the spirit of dependence on God and confidence in Him. What a bright state to be in before God!
The first of the three reaches outward; the second and third are personal and Godward.
Second comes a good conscience. This one is very personal, while the first takes in other people. To keep a good conscience we must obey what we have learned from God. "A sincere faith" completes the three, and it connects the soul directly with God. It brings God into everything, in simple, genuine confidence that He is supreme.
Where These Come From
These three things have a source, and commentators are clear that it is not the law.
These are the effects of the gospel when it comes home to believers, and the law simply cannot produce them. The law may convict us of the hatred and impurity of the heart. It may prove that the conscience is evil. And it has nothing to do with faith... The law works out wrath, not grace, and so it brings death, not life. This is not because the law is not good and holy, but because man is evil, godless and powerless.
Another writer shows how one produces the next.
A sincere faith in Christ clears the conscience of guilt and produces love out of a pure heart.
A Charge About Condition, Not Achievement
Notice what Timothy is not told to aim at. Nothing here is visible or impressive.
The charge was not to do some great service or make some great sacrifice. It was not doing great things before men, but being in a right condition before God. Love in the heart, "a good conscience" and "a sincere faith" are qualities that God alone can see, though others may see the effect they produce in a person's life.
Faith and Conscience Held Together
One writer follows faith and conscience through this letter, and shows the cost of dropping either one:
In the first chapter he says the goal of the charge he told Timothy to keep, and to press on the saints, was "love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." Later in the same chapter he says, "holding faith and a good conscience," and tells him that some have put away the good conscience and so made shipwreck of the faith... Some have fallen into the great mistake of making everything of conscience and nothing of faith. It is just as great a mistake to make everything of faith and nothing of conscience.
Summary
- Charge — "Commandment" here means Paul's charge to Timothy, not the Ten Commandments. Read it as law and you reverse the whole point.
- Aim — Everything taught in the church is a means; love is the end, and the end is greater than the means.
- Source — Faith in Christ clears the conscience, and a clear conscience sets love free. The law could expose the problem, but never cure it.
- Depth — The goal is a condition only God sees: love, a good conscience, sincere faith. It is not a public achievement.
- Loss — Faith and conscience must be held together. Put away a good conscience and you make shipwreck of faith itself.