Don't Shipwreck Your Faith

January 1st, 2026
by Lance Waldie

1 Timothy 1:19-20 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

An example of two men who had neither ongoing faith nor a clear conscience in their service to Christ were “Hymenaeus and Alexander.” They “rejected,” that is, they deliberately discarded, their faith and integrity (cf. Acts 7:27, 39; Rom. 11:1-2). Either their faith gave way to guilty consciences or their guilty consciences jaded their faith. As is always the case with cult leaders and heretics, their bad theology is the root of their failure. Sometimes they desire so deeply to live according to their flesh that they change their theology in order to permit their immorality. As this appears to have been the case with Hymenaeus and Alexander, they “suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” Thus, doctrine and theology are the foundations for one’s behavior.

Elsewhere Hymenaeus is cited with Philetus, endorsing the false notion of the resurrection being spiritual not physical (2 Tim. 2:17-18; cf. 1 Cor. 15:12). As to Alexander, there are at least four others in the NT (Mark 15:21; Acts 4:6; 19:33; 2 Tim. 4:14). Since the name was common in the first century, it is unknown which Alexander was partnering with Hymenaeus. If he is the same one in 2 Timothy 4:14, then Paul’s excommunication of him had clearly not drawn him back to the faith that he had previously rejected. Their consciences which were to guide them, like a ship’s rudder, had failed them based on their bad theology. As a result, their faith is likened to a ship whose rudder fails to steer it away from danger. The ship thus drifts into a reef, the hull is destroyed, and the ship sinks. Hence, their faith “suffered shipwreck.”

Paul was not in any way rejoicing over the demise of Hymenaeus and Alexander; instead, having “handed them over to Satan so as to be taught not to blaspheme,” Paul was attempting to restore them to the truth. Having refused to repent of their heresies and immorality, Paul had no choice, for the name of Christ was at stake. In Corinth Paul did likewise with the young man who was sleeping with his step-mother and who refused to repent (1 Cor. 5:1-5). Paul did this “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (v. 5). In the case of Hymenaeus and Alexander, their shipwrecked faith had brought reproach upon the church, for they were literally “blaspheming,” that is, perpetually slandering the Christian faith by their immoral behavior. Paul’s disciplinary actions toward them were corrective, not vindictive (cf. 2 Cor. 2:5-8; 2 Thess. 3:14-15), for he desired that they repent and be restored. This is why Paul later tells Timothy to discipline his opponents with gentleness, hoping that God will grant them repentance, embrace Christ, and escape the devil’s snare (2 Tim. 2:25-26). Paul always wanted the enemies of Christ silenced, yet his deep desire was that they turn from their evil ways (cf. Titus 1:13).

Food For Thought
It seems clear that the devil himself is an agent of God under His authority, used by God to discipline His people. The Book of Job attests to this, as does Paul, for his “thorn in the flesh” was a “messenger of Satan” given by God to keep him humble (2 Cor. 12:7). God has always used His own enemies, physical and spiritual, to deal with His chosen people (cf. 1 Kgs. 11:14; Isa. 45:1-13; Rom. 9:15-18). In fact, the NT teaches that suffering is actually valuable, attested to by all mature Christians (cf. Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:6-7). To be sure, Satan can punish the body, but he cannot touch the spirit of man. It was Paul’s hope that by turning Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan—throwing them out of the church and into the worldly realm of the devil—that they would be led to repentance. Historically, some respond positively to discipline, some do not. Yet it is the church’s responsibility to deal with sin in their midst (cf. Matt. 18:15-20).