PROFILE OF A WRANGLER

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 25, 2025 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sunday Sermon Message
May 25, 2025
1 Timothy 6:3-5

Theme: We must be on the alert to the harm that the ‘continual frictions’ of ‘wranglers’ cause within a church family.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we come to a new division in 1 Timothy.

After having given Pastor Timothy several instructions in this letter about what to teach in his preaching ministry and about how the people of God are to conduct themselves in the church family, the apostle Paul then began to write about what Timothy needed to do to protect his own integrity and usefulness in his pastoral work.

And as we’ve been emphasizing throughout our study of this remarkable New Testament letter, no one in the church family ought to think, “Well; these are instructions for pastors and church leaders. So; why should I pay attention to them? They don’t have anything to do with me.” We should always remember that the things that Paul taught to Timothy were meant to be heard by the whole church family, so that we all will conduct ourselves in a way that truly pleases our Lord.

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Now; to begin this new section near the end of Paul’s letter, we really need to go back to the beginning. It was in the very first chapter that Paul reminded Timothy why he was left in the city of Ephesus in the first place, and what it was that Paul ‘urged’ him to do while there.

In 1 Timothy 1:3-4, Paul wrote;

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith (1 Timothy 1:3-4).

Paul wanted Timothy to protect the teaching and preaching of the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ in the church. It’s the life-transforming message that God has entrusted to the church that leads lost people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Whatever else the church may do in its God-given work, the clear, faithful proclamation and instruction of that wonderful gospel—as it’s given to us in the Scriptures—is to be central to it all. And Paul was concerned that Timothy would stay at his post like a faithful guard and protect it—not letting anyone come along and teach any other ‘seemingly interesting’ doctrines that might draw people away. He warned that those ‘other’ doctrines would end up causing fights and divisions, and would ultimately lead believers away from the things that strengthen them in their faith in Christ.

Some people in Paul’s time may have considered that to be too rigid and intolerant of a standard. And some no doubt think so even today. But Paul went on to tell Timothy,

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm (vv. 5-7).

Paul was emphasizing to Timothy that one of the most loving things he could do as a pastor was to make sure that no other doctrine was allowed to take the place of that precious gospel message—the message from the Bible that declares who Jesus is and what He has done in dying on the cross for us. Those who are led away from the gospel by other ‘novel’ and ‘alluring’ doctrines end up suffering terrible spiritual harm and loss. In fact, when Paul wrote this letter, some had already been led away to their own destruction. Paul went so far as to name names. In verses 18-20, he wrote;

This charge [that is, the command to ensure that no other doctrine be taught] 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 (vv 18-20).

So think of it, dear brothers and sisters! This command was so important that Paul didn’t waste any time in his letter—immediately urging Timothy to keep it. It was the first thing he commanded Timothy to do. In fact, this call to keep true to the gospel of Jesus Christ before the world is the key theme of this letter. If you’ll look at 1 Timothy 3:14-16, you’ll find these words:

These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:

God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory (3:14-16).

And that leads us to the beginning of this new section near the end of Paul’s letter to Timothy. What he basically does is bring Timothy back to that initial command. At the end of 1 Timothy 6:2, Paul told Timothy, “Teach and exhort these things”; that is all the things in chapters 5-6 that he had just told Timothy about how the people of God were to treat one another in the church family—but also everything else that Paul urged Timothy to teach in this letter.

And then, he gave this serious warning in our passage this morning from 1 Timothy 6:3-5:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself (6:3-5).

Very strong words! But given everything else Paul wrote in this letter, you can see why they needed to be said. They were necessary for the protection of Timothy and his own ministry—and also for the protection of the ministry and integrity of the whole church family.

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To illustrate the importance of this, let me share a story from my own experience. It’s a rather painful one to me; but I think it helps to show the danger that Paul was warning about in this passage.

Before I was called to be pastor of this church family—while still attending seminary—I was serving my pastoral internship as the assistant to another pastor in another church. There were many good things I learned from that pastor. But I also learned some very important things not to do. And one of the things I learned was not to place an inordinate amount of emphasis on questionable matters and controversial issues within the church family. That was something that this pastor had a tendency to do. Based on a debatable interpretation of a particular Bible passage, he repeatedly argued that the women in the church needed to wear physical head coverings when they were active in the public ministry of the church.

He drew this from a passage in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, where the apostle wrote that women in the church family who prayed or prophesied in the church needed to show honor to their husbands as their appointed ‘head’ by wearing a covering over their heads when they did so. We’ve discussed this passage before in our church family; and I’ve shared my conviction that this was an example of a ‘timeless principle’ [the honor to be shown toward headship authority] that was being expressed in a culturally ‘time-bound’ way [head-covering]. We’re to keep true to that principle today; but in our time and in our culture, we keep true to it through other forms of expression. But this pastor was insistent that Paul’s words were to be applied literally. In fact, it was something that he brought up in various conversations and in his preaching of various passages of Scripture.

Now, however, churches and individual Christians might interpret that passage, there is one thing that I think we can all pretty much agree on; and that is that it wasn’t meant to divide Christians from one another or to split up church families. And yet, sadly, that’s what was beginning to happen. The pastor’s insistence on this matter ended up creating an atmosphere of contention and ill will that harmed the fellowship of the church. People quit coming, and the church eventually closed down. As the assistant pastor, I felt helpless as I watched it all happen. Marilyn and I were present for the very last meeting of that church … to which the pastor himself didn’t even show up. It was one of the most painful periods of my life; but I can certainly say that I learned from it what kind of harm can come whenever non-essential matters get overemphasized within a church family.

I praise God that—not long after it all—I came here and became the pastor of this wonderful, healing church family. But sadly, the story didn’t end there. I tried to keep informed of what had happened to that pastor. As it turned out, he became the pastor of another church not far away; and it wasn’t long before it closed. And then, after that, he became the pastor of yet another church; and it wasn’t long before that church also closed. I was seeing a pattern. And then, several years later, I received a call from a ministry leader in another church far away on the other side of the country. This ministry leader said that they were considering a candidate who had applied for a ministry role in their church; and as it turned out, it was my former pastor. This ministry leader wanted to follow up on this former pastor’s qualifications; but he couldn’t find anyone else to talk to in any other church where this pastor had served, because they had all closed down. And discovering that I had served at one time under this pastor, he called and asked if he could interview me.

I said that I would do my best; and we talked for a while about my experience under this pastor. I did my best to be respectful and genuinely appreciative of the things I learned from him. But this ministry leader then told me that his act of calling me was really only a formality. He and the other church leaders had already made up their minds not to call my former pastor into this new ministry role. He told me that during the time that this former pastor was in their church, he got into arguments with some of the other church members over ‘women wearing head coverings’.

Whenever I come to this morning’s passage, dear brothers and sisters, I can’t help but think of that sad experience. And there have been others since then. They all remind me of how easy it can be to lose our grip on what’s truly important in the ministry of the church, and to become inordinately focused on non-essential issues to the harm of the church family overall—and to the harm of its primary call to lift up the message of the gospel in unity over the essentials.

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Now; I want to make something very clear. This passage is not saying that we shouldn’t have serious discussions about spiritual matters or doctrinal questions within our church family. One of the things that I love about our church is that we have a strong devotion to the issues that are fundamental to our Christian faith. That devotion helps us to keep the non-essential matters in perspective. We can put it this way: If we’re faithful to keep a good strong grip on the essentials of the faith as they are taught to us in the Scriptures, then we can carefully and graciously discuss non-essential matters with genuine love for one another and without causing harm to our church’s fellowship.

But what this passage does is warn us about what happens when those non-essential issues begin to be treated as if they were essential, and when the essential issues cease to be protected and prioritized. And if you look at it carefully, this passage really warns us, not so much about a particular kind of problem, but rather of a particular kind of person—the kind of person that is prone to stir up such arguments and debates about non-essential issues in a way that harms everyone else.

In the translation of this passage that I’m using, Paul refers to them as producing “useless wranglings”. Other translations have it as “constant frictions,” which, by the way, is a very accurate translation of the word Paul uses in the original language. But I have to confess that I like the name “useless wranglings” simply because it allows me to refer to these kinds of people as ‘wranglers’—not because they wear a particular brand of cowboy blue jeans; but because, in a spiritually disordered kind of way, they seem to thrive on the continual frictions they cause in the church family.

In our passage, Paul is warning Timothy about these wranglers. He warns Timothy—and through Timothy, warns us—that we must be on the alert to the harm that the ‘continual frictions’ of ‘wranglers’ cause within a church family.

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Now; Paul didn’t give us a detailed list of the kinds of things that might cause potential ‘frictions’. If he did that, then, of course, the list would be impossibly long. Instead, it seems that he gives us a profile of what a wrangler looks like—someone who tends to bring about those ‘continual frictions’.  And so, in verse 3, he describes …

1. A ‘WRANGLER’S’ ACTIONS.

He had just gotten through exhorting Timothy to instruct the people of God faithfully in the things that he told him to teach. And then, in verse 3, he said, “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness …” And in those introductory words, he gives us a general description of a wrangler’s destructive actions in the church.

As we have studied together from 1 Timothy, have you noticed how much emphasis Paul has placed on the teaching ministry of the church? That’s because all that we do in the church family—the ministries we engage in and the kind of life we live—must have its basis in good, sound teaching from the doctrines of the Scripture. As Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:6,

If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed (1 Timothy 4:6).

But one of the first characteristics of a wrangler is that that he ‘teaches otherwise’. This may mean that a wrangler is someone who had been in the role of being a teacher legitimately within the church, or it may mean that a wrangler is someone who presumes to teach without the approval of the church’s authority. But in either case, these wranglers pull a gathering around themselves and begin to teach ‘otherwise’ than the things that Paul emphasized to Timothy in this letter ought to be taught to God’s people.

Another characteristic is that they ‘do not consent to wholesome words’, which in the original language means ‘healthy’ or ‘sound’ words. In fact, Paul explains further that they don’t consent to ‘even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ’. The ‘words of our Lord’ may refer to words that He spoke directly in His earthly ministry, which we have preserved for us in the Gospels. But they may also refer to the words that—while not spoken by our Lord directly—nevertheless have the stamp of His authority upon them because they were spoken by the apostles that He commissioned and taught. That would be another way of saying that they’re the words we find in the New Testament Scriptures. In fact, since our Lord is the same Lord in all ages, we can understand this to refer to the words He gave to us in both the Old and New Testaments—that is to say, the whole Bible. These wranglers reveal themselves by how they—in some way or another—dismiss, disbelieve, or discredit the clear teaching of the Bible and by how they themselves do not consent to or submit to them.

And still, another thing that Paul mentions is the manner in which they do not consent ‘to the doctrine which accords with godliness’. In other words, if you look at their lives carefully, you find that they argue with passages that teach how we—as God’s people—are to live holy lives in this world. They find ways to excuse themselves from the sort of sanctified Christian walk that good, sound biblical teaching demands of faithful followers of Jesus. They may not necessarily live in an openly immoral and impure way; but they show themselves to be out of line with the doctrines that accord with godliness by their manifest animosity toward other believers, by their greed, by their contentiousness and argumentativeness in church, and by their bad-mouthing of spiritual leaders.

So; that’s what a wrangler does. Then, Paul goes on to speak of what a wrangler is. In verse 4, he wrote, “he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words …” This describes to us …

2. A ‘WRANGLER’S’ CHARACTER.

First, Paul said that such a person is “proud” or “conceited”. In the original language, Paul uses a very descriptive word and says that they are “smoke-filled”—inflated, as it were, with foul hot air. In other places in Paul’s letters, the same word is translated as “puffed up with pride” or “haughty.” It describes someone who actually believes that they know more than the appointed pastors and leaders of a church, or than the Holy Scriptures that God gave through the apostles as they have been accurately interpreted. They show their pride by the fact that they don’t submit to God’s word or that they don’t repent when they’ve been shown their error.

Then, Paul goes on to say that their prideful view of themselves is mistaken—“knowing nothing”. They’re not really as profound as they think themselves to be, or as they have been able to convince others that they are. For all their arguments and debates, they aren’t really the spiritual experts that they think themselves to be. As Pastor James once put it in James 3:13-16;

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there (James 3:13-16) …

The constant friction that these wranglers produce within the church family—dividing believers, creating ill will, and causing harm—shows that they’re not as wise as they like to think.

And third, Paul goes on to say that a wrangler is someone who ‘is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words’. They have an unhealthy addiction to the non-essential elements of arguments. They don’t enter into debates in a constructive way—that is, in order to find and follow after the truth. Rather, they start debates simply because they get some inordinate pleasure out of having conflict itself. They enjoy disputes over the trivialities of words instead of the discovery of the true substance of things. You can’t seem to say anything to them without them finding fault in just the way you said it.

So; that helps to describe what a wrangler is. They love to … well … wrangle! They get their sense of significance out of starting friction. And then, notice that Paul goes on to show us how we can know a wrangler by what they produce. In the second half of verse 4, he wrote of their disputes and arguments over words “from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicion …” And this speaks of …

3. A ‘WRANGLER’S’ RESULTS.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned;

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit (Matthew 7:15-18).

And so; what are the ‘fruits’ of a wrangler? Paul wrote first that their ‘disputes and arguments over words’ produce ‘envy’; or, as it can be translated, ‘jealousy’. Whereas the life in the church family ought to be characterized by mutual love and the desire to seek what is best for one another, the wrangler’s constant frictions result in believers having resentment toward each other, and in the kind of selfish ambition that makes them want to appear better or smarter or more exalted than one another.

Another fruit of the wrangler is ‘strife’. The strife seems to spring from envy. Altercations and quarrels occur between brothers and sisters in Christ who ought to be united. Sometimes, you notice that such fights and quarrels never occurred in the church until the wrangler came along. Believers become divided from one another as a result of their influence. Groups and cliques develop; and people start to identify themselves with ‘this party’ or ‘that group’ in ways that break up the fellowship and make church an unpleasant place to be.

The strife that the wrangler stirs up begins to show itself in ‘reviling’. The word that Paul used is the Greek word from which we get the English word ‘blasphemy’—the idea of speaking evil of someone that we ought to respect, or reviling someone that we ought to love and honor—digging up their faults and emphasizing them. Gossip starts to spread; and believers start calling one another names speaking abusively about one another.

And the reviling that the wrangler stirs up begins to show itself in evil suspicion. Whereas once brothers and sisters loved and accepted each other—and whereas allowable differences of opinion were tolerated out of a spirit of peace—now motives are questioned, and the spiritual integrity of other professing believers becomes doubted. The harm that a wrangler can cause to the fellowship of God’s people is truly horrible.

And that leads us to notice one more thing. In verse 5, Paul wrote that these things are the “useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain …” This describes to us …

4. A ‘WRANGLER’S’ MOTIVATIONS.

First, notice that they operate as ‘men of corrupt minds’. It’s hard to know how else to put it; but it’s describing someone whose internal thinking has become depraved, and whose moral compass has become warped by improper thinking. Paul presents this in such a form as to describe someone who is in such a state of being that they can’t listen to reason anymore, and simply can’t be talked out of it. You try to show them the wrong that they’re doing and the harm they’re causing; and they simply shrug it off and insist that they’ve got their reasons for doing it … or they snap at you for pointing it out to them.

Second, Paul said that they are ‘destitute of the truth’. This is also put in a manner that describes a complete turning away from the truth of God as it has been given to us in the Scriptures. You can open up the Bible and show them what God says about what they’re doing—and even read this very passage to them; but they won’t listen and won’t submit to what God’s word says. They’re not listening to God any longer, but are listening only to their own wisdom and their own impulses.

And finally, Paul says that they ‘suppose that godliness is a means of gain’; which may speak of the idea of a false teacher who causes division by teaching false doctrines for literal profit, or may speak simply of the idea of someone causing divisions and constant frictions among God’s people—for seemingly godly purposes—simply because it somehow serves their own personal ambitions.

At the end of verse 5, some translations have Paul telling Timothy, “From such withdraw yourself.” Not all translations of the Bible contain those words. But if they were genuine, they’d represent Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to protect his own spiritual well-being and the integrity of his own ministry by not giving himself over incessantly to wranglers in the church. How they should be dealt with is what Paul said to another pastor—Pastor Titus—in Titus 3:10-11;

Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned (Titus 3:10-11).

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; as I said earlier, these words are directed to a pastor. But they’re meant to be heard by all of us. We should cherish the love we have for one another, and even the lively discussions we sometimes have together about the Bible and matters of the faith. But in all of it, we must be on the alert to the harm that ‘useless wranglings’ cause within a church family. It often takes great wisdom and help from the Holy Spirit to tell the difference between what is useful and what is useless. But we must seek that wisdom and be on the alert.

In closing, let me read to you what Paul wrote later on in his second letter to Timothy. They’re words that show us that this isn’t just for pastors, but for the whole church family. In many ways, it’s the perfect commentary to the passage we’ve just studied. In 2 Timothy 2:14-26, Paul told Timothy;

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 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. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will (2 Timothy 2:14-26).

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