1:20

Hymenaeus and Alexander are among these: These men had experienced “shipwreck of their faith” (1Ti 1:19) and were apparently promoting false doctrine. At 2Ti 2:16-18, for example, Paul says that Hymenaeus along with Philetus claimed that the resurrection had already occurred. These men were “subverting the faith of some.” (See study notes on 2Ti 2:18.) Alexander may have been the coppersmith mentioned at 2Ti 4:14, 15 who did Paul “a great deal of harm” and who opposed “to an excessive degree” the message that Paul and his companions were proclaiming. (See study note on 2Ti 4:14.) The expression “are among these” implies that there were already a number of individuals who had not stuck to the faith and who were having a negative effect on some in the Christian congregation.

I have handed them over to Satan: This expression apparently refers to removing them from the congregation. Such action was necessary because the men Paul mentioned were unrepentantly pursuing a willful course of sin.​—See study note on 1Co 5:5.

taught by discipline: Paul here reveals one of the purposes for which unrepentant wrongdoers are “handed . . . over to Satan,” or removed from the congregation. (See study note on I have handed them over to Satan in this verse.) The two men in question had experienced a shipwreck of their faith, and they had to be removed from the congregation so that they might learn “not to blaspheme.” (See study note on 1Ti 1:19.) So Paul has in mind, not only chastisement, but also instruction. As one reference work puts it, “hope remains that they may learn their lesson.”

blaspheme: Or “speak abusively.”​—See study notes on Mt 12:31; Col 3:8.