“This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme<\/em>” (I Timothy 1:18-20).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe word \u201cdelivered\u201d translates the Greek word,\u00a0paradidomi<\/em>, which literally means a betrayal or a surrender. It means that Paul is acknowledging his failure to keep these two brothers out of sin. It is a public statement that we lost a brother to Satan, so we are letting go in hopes that the misery that will result will teach the person not to willfully disobey God.<\/p>\nThe same word is found when Paul commanded that a fornicator be removed from the membership in Corinth.<\/p>\n
“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus<\/em>” (I Corinthians 5:4-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat is interesting is that this same word is used when a person is cast into prison (Matthew 4:12). That is how Christians view it. They are free from sin (Romans 6:7), but when a Christian returns to sin he is also returning to bondage or imprisonment. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?<\/em>” (Romans 6:16). Thus Satan is looked upon as a jailer and the person who refuses to stay out of Satan’s realm is released to fall back under Satan’s control. But it is done in hope that the person will realize what they lost and return; that he will destroy his fleshly desires so he might be saved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I just read your online article about Hymenaeus and Alexander\u00a0shipwrecking their faith (I Timothy 1:20). Good thoughts. What’s your opinion of Paul’s statement that he had turned these guys “over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme”? Answer: “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[61,235,254],"class_list":["post-16990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-falling-from-grace","tag-satan","tag-withdrawal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22142,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-were-hymenaeus-and-alexanders-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":16990,"position":0},"title":"What were Hymenaeus and Alexander’s sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What were Hymenaeus and Alexander's sin? Answer: \"This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-mean-by-ultimately-these-sins-will-cause-you-to-lose-your-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":16990,"position":1},"title":"What do you mean by \u201cUltimately, these sins will cause you to lose your salvation\u201d?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do you mean by \u00a0\"Ultimately, these sins will cause you to lose your salvation\"?\u00a0 Once saved, always saved. Answer: See:\u00a0Once Saved, Always Saved. Question: Without eternal security then the whole concept of being a 'born again' Christian is meaningless. A person would never know if they are going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":522,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-lose-my-way-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":16990,"position":2},"title":"Can I lose my way to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I lose my way to heaven? Answer: Obviously, Paul thought that it was possible. \u201cNot that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-it-possible-to-fall-from-grace-if-you-cant-lose-your-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":16990,"position":3},"title":"How is it possible to fall from grace if you can’t lose your salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have visited your web site and couldn't find the answer I was looking for. There is one verse in particular which I have a hard time reconciling with the rest of Scripture. I know that you can't lose your salvation (John 10:27-29), but how is it possible to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-god-allow-sin-to-get-us-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":16990,"position":4},"title":"Will God allow sin to get us back?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will God allow sin to get us back? Answer: While a child of God ought not to sin, there is no promise to the Christian that he cannot sin. Instead, we read of Christians who did fall back into the ways of sin. \"This charge I commit to you,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51956,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-giving-a-warning-about-a-false-teacher-be-gossip\/","url_meta":{"origin":16990,"position":5},"title":"Can giving a warning about a false teacher be gossip?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading\u00a0an article written by someone on your website about the subject of gossip. Gossip was condemned by the person who wrote the article. But, what about if you're exposing a false teacher, whether they're well known by others or not? I believe that we should raise awareness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}