In the past few weeks, folks submitted over 50 questions to be considered for Sunday morning messages.  While I can't address all of them in a 5 week series, I will respond to a number of them from time to time here on my blog.  So, here we go . . . . . . .

“The passage I was wondering about is in 1 Timothy 1:18-20.  Could you explain to me whether or not you believe they were born again believers. It sounds like if they were handed over to Satan they had lost their eternal salvation.  Some folks I was talking with were using this as a proof text for people who had lost their salvation.”

The passage in question tells us the following:

 “Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.”  (1 Timothy 1:18-20 NIV)

Your question has three issues that should be addressed.

1. Were Hymenaeus and Alexander believers?
2. Is this a “proof text” for a person losing their salvation?
3. What is the passage actually talking about?

1.  Were these two believers?  The text does not directly tell us.  This is important, as it impacts question #2, which we will get to in a minute.  Let’s assume for the point of discussion that they are;  they are at the very least seen as influential men in the local church.  It would seem quite likely that they had made some profession of faith, but this is ultimately an assumption/conclusion that we draw.  They most likely were;  the text just doesn’t tell us clearly.

2.  Seeing that the text does not give CLEAR, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt statement that these two were believers, it is a poor choice to use as a proof text.  The premise of a proof text is that it gives clear proof.  To INFER something from a text, and then to turn around and use it as “proof” is counterproductive;  it weakens your point.  Simply stated, this passage doesn’t offer proof of the concept that a true believer can “lose his salvation.”  An obscure passage such as this one, must yield to clear passages, such as Romans 8:35-39 and Ephesians 1:13-14.  These passages (and others) lead me personally to the opposite conclusion;  one who sincerely places their faith/trust in Jesus as their Savior is saved utterly, a salvation that cannot be lost, because it is God who does the saving, not me.

3.  So, what is the passage actually talking about?  Paul is speaking of disciplining two who evidently were “shipwrecked in their faith” (v. 19).  What is this and how did this happen?  Paul tells us;  they didn’t hold on to (practice) their faith, or hold on to a good clear conscience.  They “rejected” sound doctrine, and biblical godliness.  People hold to bad theology, in part, to justify their wrong behavior, and Hymenaeus and Alexander were guilty of this.

Paul’s response to this is telling:  he “hands them over to Satan” (v. 20).  What does this mean, exactly?  Paul gives us a great clue in another part of the New Testament.  He does the same thing to a man in the Corinthian church (I Cor. 5:3-5)  who was involved in gross sin.  The purpose of this is critical:  the goal was not punishment, but restoration.  To be handed over to Satan was to be put out of the church, and in doing so, removing the protection of God’s hand over them, which they experienced in the local church.  Satan could more easily attack them from this position (think of a sheep separated from the flock, with a wolf lurking about).  Yet the goal was to have the individual “come to their senses” spiritually, repent of their error and sin, and be restored.  This is precisely what happened to the man in Corinth (II Cor. 2:5-11).  And this is Paul’s goal here in I Timothy.  To teach them “not to blaspheme” is to correct them in their belief and practice, spiritually and not to judge them for eternity. 

So, Hymenaeus and Alexander were likely believers, who had fallen into sin, and were influencing others to follow in their way (1:7).  Paul rebukes them, and removes them from the church, for the purpose of their ultimate correction and restoration.  The account no where deals with the eternal status of men, but rather with those who are in need of personal correction, because we serve a gracious Heavenly Father who desires that his children believe in and practice the truth.