41 Chris,

I apologize for being so slow in answering. My time away provided no opportunity for digging into the deep questions.

You frequently make a distinction between ignorant, deceived false teachers and false teachers who know better, but deliberately teach falsely. To support your claim that this distinction is in the context you attempt to contrast the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1:13 with Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Timothy 1:18-20. You claim that Paul was ignorant, but Hymenaeus and Alexander knew better. But this line of reasoning gets you into trouble with Paul.

The problem with your reasoning, Chris, is that Paul goes beyond deceived into deliberate deceivers and even though deliberate deceivers can also be deceived (2 Tim. 3:13), they are uniquely charlatans and as such Paul handed them over to Satan (1 Tim. 1:20). Paul never referred to himself as a deceiver nor did he refer to those who were only deceived as deserving to be handed over to Satan. Paul makes a clear differentiation between those who teach error because they are fully deceived and those who teach error because they are liars and swindlers.

Paul said that he was ignorant and acted in unbelief:

1 Timothy 1:13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;

In contrast the deceivers act in deception, evil and harm. Paul said that Alexander did him much harm (2 Tim. 4:14) and Hymenaeus was one of the ones who lied about the resurrection. These evil men and imposters were never brought into the church to learn the truth. Paul sent them out of the congregation into the hands of satan. So while those who are deceivers can also be deceived (making these ones also ignorant), they are more than deceived. They are deceivers and as such they are treated in a harsh manner.