What Do We Know About Hymenaeus?

Why does Paul refer to him as "shipwrecked?"

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We don’t know much about Hymenaeus, but what we do know isn’t very good.

Hymenaeus rejected what was right.

…having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected…of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Timothy 1:19-20).

Paul encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight (1 Timothy 1:18). This meant he must hold on to faith and a good conscience. A good conscience refers to being able to identify good and evil and then act correctly.

Paul urges Timothy to cling to the right teaching and to live his life according to that teaching.

Hymenaeus had not done this. He strayed from what was right (1 Timothy 1:6) and veered off course.

Hymenaeus was a blasphemer.

How far had Hymenaeus strayed off course? Paul writes that he had delivered Hymenaeus to Satan so that he might “learn not to blaspheme” (1 Timothy 1:20).

To blaspheme means “to speak of God or divine things in terms of impious irreverence” (Mounce). The Jews were said to “blaspheme” when they opposed the gospel of Christ preached by Paul (Acts 13:45).

Because Hymenaeus had rejected “faith and a good conscience” and blasphemed God - his faith had “suffered shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:19). His rejection of God’s teaching and his blasphemy had caused him to become stranded in his faith - like people who are stranded on a deserted island after being shipwrecked.

In Paul’s next letter to Timothy, he describes in greater detail what Hymenaeus’ blasphemy was.

Hymenaeus’ message was unhealthy.

But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus… (2 Timothy 2:16-17)

The impact of Hymenaeus’ message is compared to “cancer” (NKJV) or “gangrene” (ESV). The picture is they are spreading a message that corrupts - much like an infection causes the flesh to rot.

The things Hymenaeus believed and taught were not making people more healthy - rather, it was killing them spiritually and leading them into “more and more ungodliness.”

Hymenaeus had strayed from the truth.

Paul went on to say that Hymenaeus had “strayed” or “swerved from the truth” (2 Timothy 2:18).

The picture here is of someone who once had been on course and was following the right path - but had wandered from the path and lost his way.

How had he strayed from the truth? What was his blasphemy from 1 Timothy?

Hymenaeus overthrew the faith of others.

Hymenaeus “overthrew” (NKJV), “upset” (ESV), “undermined” (NET) the faith of some because he claimed that the resurrection had already happened.

While some in Corinth claimed there was no resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12-19), Hymenaeus taught that the resurrection had already occurred.

The truth is this resurrection will occur when Jesus returns (1 Corinthians 15:50-57). Christians are reminded to endure and continue in the Lord’s work, knowing that the resurrection means our labor in the Lord is not meaningless (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Hymenaeus taught the resurrection had already happened - which meant he undermined people’s faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. Why serve a Savior who isn’t going to resurrect you or give you victory?

Paul was quick to say that Hymenaeus’ message undermined Christians' faith in Jesus Christ. I believe this is Hymenaeus’ “blasphemy” Paul referred to in 1 Timothy 1:20.

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Paul emphasized the importance of “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and proclaiming God’s word (2 Timothy 4:2).

Hymenaeus is an infamous example of what happens when someone fails to rightly divide God’s word and refuses to proclaim what God has said.

We need to know God’s word for ourselves so that we can compare what anyone teaches to what God’s word says.

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. (Hebrews 2:1)