What were Hymenaeus and Alexander’s sin?<\/p>\n\t
“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>\n
“And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some<\/em>” (II Timothy 2:17-18).<\/p>\n
“Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words<\/em>” (II Timothy 4:14-15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Assuming that there aren’t multiple people named Hymenaeus and Alexander being talked about we can see a few hints in the above passages.<\/p>\n
\n
- They had rejected the faith. But this Paul is stating that they no longer believed or taught the doctrines taught by the apostles.<\/li>\n
- The doctrine they were teaching was blasphemous. Blasphemy is defended as, “But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him<\/em>” (Numbers 15:30-31, NASB). Blasphemy is the defiant, willful, purposeful breaking of God’s commands. Thus Paul is stating that their false teaching isn’t due to being deceived but a willful choice to defy what they once knew to be the truth.<\/li>\n
- Hymenaeus was teaching that the resurrection, and by implication the second coming, had already occurred. Most assume this means that he was teaching there was no resurrection from the dead (I Corinthians 15:12), but only a moral resurrection at conversion (as taught in Romans 6:4). Such false teaching would remove any hope in a future life after death.<\/li>\n
- Thus another charge against Hymenaeus is that he was causing other people to lose their faith by his false teachings.<\/li>\n
- Alexander is only said to be strongly resisting the teachings of the apostles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander,…<\/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":[1199,180,1198,179],"class_list":["post-22142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alexander","tag-blasphemy","tag-hymenaeus","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-say-he-handed-over-hymenaeus-and-alexander-to-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":22142,"position":0},"title":"Why did Paul say he handed over Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":14156,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hymenaeus-and-alexander\/","url_meta":{"origin":22142,"position":1},"title":"Hymenaeus and Alexander","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton Found only in Paul\u2019s letters to Timothy, Hymenaeus is an example of a man who once had been enlightened of the truth, tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the partaking of the Holy Spirit and yet found himself shipwreck concerning the faith. It is tragic to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/shipwreck-300x287.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-god-allow-sin-to-get-us-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":22142,"position":2},"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":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":22142,"position":3},"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":8274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-it-possible-to-fall-from-grace-if-you-cant-lose-your-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":22142,"position":4},"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":19974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thank-you-for-the-article\/","url_meta":{"origin":22142,"position":5},"title":"Thank you for the article","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read the scripture in I Timothy about Hymenaeus and Alexander. When I googled to search for more clarity I found this link: Hymenaeus and Alexander. Thanks for the clear explanation! It blessed me! Answer: Happy to be of service.","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\/22142","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=22142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}