1 Timothy 6:11-21 – King of kings and Lord of lords!

Paul finishes the letter with more exhortations to Timothy, a wonderful doxology about the greatness of our God, some further commands for the rich that includes knowing God’s goodness, and a final charge. Paul urges Timothy to flee from distractions and pursue the Christian virtues, and includes these famous words: “Fight the good fight of the faith.” We are in a spiritual war, and must daily battle against the forces of sin and evil that seek to destroy us. And make no mistake, these forces are out to destroy. As I’ve said, there is no neutrality, no Switzerland in this fight. Every day we wake up, and it’s game on. We need to stop complaining that we are in this war, because all the “stuff” that happens in our life is part of “the good fight.” We are to embrace and welcome the struggle, not wish there was no struggle.

He implores Timothy “to take hold of the eternal life to which” he was called. We are bringing that life which is forever, the God-life, to bear upon our passing days of toil, and it requires taking hold. It does not come easily. He then further ups the charge:

¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

In our secular age, we too easily succumb to the lie that there is such a thing as the “natural world.” Why does the tree grow from the seed we place in the ground? Give up? No, it’s not the seed or the dirt or the water or the sun. It’s God! Why is the leaf green? God! Why does the fly, fly, or the bee sting, or worm crawl, or the fish swim, or the heart beat? God! There is absolutely nothing “natural” about it! When we open up our eyes, what should we see? God! He alone gives life to everything. Elsewhere Paul says, his invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen from what has been made.

The obligation Paul is putting on Timothy is not just before the giver of this life, but before the giver of eternal, spiritual life as well, Christ Jesus, who walked the walk before we ever could or did. He mentions that God will bring about this appearing of the Lord “in his own time.” In case we missed it, God does everything in his time, not ours, and yes, that causes us much consternation, but how dumb is that. As if we had any perspective on anything, and as if he didn’t have perspective on every single thing, from top to bottom, from beginning to end, as is consistent with a being who is all present, all knowing, and all powerful! Better to say with Jesus, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and be on with our business. Then the doxology, which Paul breaks into from time to time throughout all his letters when what he’s saying just blows him away:

God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Words can never capture the greatness of the God who is there, in the words of the title of that great book by Francis Schaeffer. You get the sense that such things as words just can’t carry the burden of describing one so beyond letters or concepts or comprehension. We will never actually see God because he is unseeable. Only in Christ will we ever actually be able to “see” him. Any God who can create and give life to everything is way beyond seeable. Then think about the genius of his plan to allow his creatures, sinful creatures no less, to have a relationship with him, immortal and unapproachable, in Christ! No wonder that is the name above every name.

Then to riches:

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

He has just said wanting to get rich can be harmful, as is loving money, but Christianity isn’t Gnosticism because nothing is bad just because it’s material. Evil is the perversion of created good, so money itself is neither good or bad, it just is. As you can see from Paul’s teaching, it is the disposition of the person that allows us to enjoy something, or turn it into something harmful. Even wanting to be wealthy isn’t bad in and of itself, but becomes so if that is what we are putting our hope in. As long as we are stubbornly focused on God, we can rejoice in God’s provision. Throughout history, some Christians have acted like God wants us to be miserable, and thought that the less we enjoy, the more holy we are. Wrong. He wants us to enjoy!

Those who have been blessed with riches, Paul teaches, are not to see their wealth primarily as a means to their own gratification, but “to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” This was yet another aspect of Christianity that was completely new, radical, and transformational. It only doesn’t seem so to us because we live in a society that has been transformed by it! The idea of philanthropy and charitable giving is a direct result of ideas like this that would have never come from the pagan world. Part of the transformational power of Christianity comes from its eternal perspective on all things that Paul shares in the next verse:

¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

The secular mantra (seen, taught, sold, implied, assumed everywhere) of our age is that this life is the only life that is truly life. That is a lie directly from the pit of hell, and one too often, mainly in subtle ways, we succumb to. I heard the saying long ago that some people are so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good. The fact of the Christian matter, however, is that we need to be so heavenly minded that we can be of earthly good. It is the eternal alone that gives significance to every single thing.

I Timothy 6:1-10 – Paul’s Perspective on Slavery and Money

Next in this very practical letter is Paul’s instruction about slavery. Because Paul never condemned slavery, some people over the millennia concluded that there was nothing morally wrong with owning another human being. Many Christians in the antebellum south argued just this. There are several things to consider when dealing with Paul’s teaching on slaves and masters.

One is that the early church never saw it as their goal to transform society. The phrase much used by too many people (the Marxist baggage makes it dangerous), social justice, would have been on the one hand a foreign concept, and on the other too obvious to even need to be said. Justice is a social concept! For the former, they didn’t have any control on what happened in the wider society, so the focus was always on personal responsibility. Jesus was coming back in the not too distant future, so what’s the point of worrying about social structures, as we might call them. Slavery was as much the natural order of things to them as marriage. They didn’t see it as an immoral thing, so much as an unpleasant thing. Sure it’s better to not be a slave, but if you are, you are. And as Paul said in Galatians, there is no slave and free in Christ anyway. When Jesus proved to be in no hurry to return, this fact of our spiritual existence in Christ would eventually do what the early Christians never intended, transform the world.

Another is that slavery in the ancient world was nothing like the chattel slavery of America before the Civil War. It was not based on race, and was a reality in a world where nation conquered nation, and enslaving part of the enemy was one of the natural spoils of war. Given Rome did a lot of conquering, I’ve read that up to three quarters of the Roman world was populated by slaves. Whatever the actual number, it was a lot. Human beings were never just stolen, like happened to Africans, and brought to another country to be merely property. In fact, slaves could, and many did, eventually purchase their freedom with their work. Freedmen were a significant social class in Roman society. So dealing with this reality, Paul tells Timothy:

All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. ² Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves.

Even in the context of slavery, Christianity was transformational. My mother used this kind of argument on me a lot when I was a kid. Her dad told her that if she went into town and acted badly, that the people wouldn’t think what a rotten little girl she was, but what rotten parents she had! That’s from the old country (Italy in our case) wisdom. When I encounter people of good or bad character, young or old, I think it’s a reflection on their parents. So Paul too is saying in whatever we do, it reflects on God our Father. He’s given us plenty of direction in his letters up to this point to make sure that our God’s name may not be slandered. For me, it is summed up in the greatest commandment, in which can be summed up all the law and the prophets: love.

Next Paul addresses those who teach false doctrines, or heterodoxy in the Greek, which is different than “the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ” and godly teaching. Christianity, first and foremost, is a system of doctrine. In many Christian circles, however, Christianity is all about our relationship with Jesus, and doctrine is an add on, and in some cases looked down on. That was the kind of Christianity I was born-again into many years ago. The problem with such a view is that our relationship with Jesus is based on certain propositional statements that we take as true. If Christ died for us, what does that mean? What does that tell us about the nature of sin, and our nature, and the holiness of God, and his nature? I could go on, but all these questions require answers, very specific answers of a certain kind, and there are many more. There is no relationship with God through Christ without our understanding, and accepting these things. Such people who won’t accept true doctrine are

conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions ⁵ and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

Or as Jesus said, by their fruit you will know them. By contrast, “godliness with contentment is great gain.” Echoing Job, Paul then makes the obvious point that we bring nothing into the world, and can take nothing out of it, so we can be content with whatever we do have. Yes, I’m just as guilty as you are of not being content. Repent! God in Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit can change that in us too.

He then warns against the downside of wanting to get rich, and all the problems associated with that, and why:

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

In Greek, Paul is actually saying, the desiring to be rich. Money itself is nothing, inanimate stuff that is used among people as a means of exchange. The idea Paul is getting at is not that ambition to have more is wrong in and of itself, but that riches as a means to fulfillment, happiness, security, etc. is wrong. It’s putting our hope in riches and not God, in effect replacing God with riches. We’re all guilty of that too, thinking if I just had this or that, then I would be happy, or have peace of mind. First we find our hope, happiness (joy), peace of mind, purpose, identity, meaning, fulfillment in God through Christ, then pursue wealth and a living. Then God will bless, and we can truly enjoy whatever he provides.

1 Timothy 5 – Advice About Widows and Elders

This chapter is more practical advice to Timothy about running the affairs of the church, nothing too exciting. Specifically, it’s about old and young people, caring for the needy, and being upright and productive. He encourages Timothy first to treat young and old as family, “with absolute purity.” The church should care for widows, and this was important in an ancient world without any kind of social safety net, and when most people were poor. He encourages children and grandchildren to care for their own family, and so “to put their religion into practice.” He adds, “for this is pleasing to God.” You might say Paul is just encouraging them to put the 5th Commandment into practice. Then he puts this responsibility in the strongest terms imaginable:

⁸ Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

In an age when excuses for not being personally responsible abound, there is no excuse for the Christian. There is judgement, harsh and direct. While the Christian life abounds in love, mercy, and grace, there is accountability, and consequences for our actions.

Next he addresses widows. He talks about putting the older on “the list,” which we can assume are those who will receive financial and other help. It’s notable that to get on that list, that women had to have lived an exemplary life. Those who’ve lived a profligate life, it seems, don’t deserve the help. Again, we see that living the Christian life is not non-judgmental, as our secular age insists that it should be.

Younger widows should not be put on such a list, but Paul counsels them to marry. If they allow themselves to be idle, nothing good can come from it. Being married and staying busy keeps them from giving “the enemy” opportunity to slander, meaning Satan, because he says, “Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.” Note: Everything has spiritual implications, and everything is binary, good, evil, God, Satan. The illusion of neutrality, so prominent in our secular age, is just that, an illusion. You gotta serve somebody. Also, if a woman is a believer and has widows in her family, she should take care of them, so that the church can take care of those who are really in need. We are our brothers, or sisters, keeper.

Next Paul gives some instructions about elders, specifically that they are worthy of “double honor,” and especially those who preach and teach, another indication that Paul sees knowledge as foundational to everything the church does. He then quotes “Scripture” regarding elders being able to earn a living from their work. What’s interesting about the quotes is that one is from the Old Testament, and one from the New. The quote, taken verbatim from from Jesus, we find in Luke 10:7, “for the worker deserves his wages.” We know that the New Testament wasn’t compiled until well after Paul’s death, but that doesn’t mean the gospels were not constructed before he died. And of course Luke was a close companion of Paul throughout his ministry. What is striking is that at this early date, likely early 60s, Paul considers Luke’s writing as Scripture, on par with Deuteronomy, and the other verse he quoted. Timothy is also not to take accusations against an elder, unless there are two or three witnesses, a very Jewish notion. If any do sin, they must be rebuked publicly, no secret sinning allowed in the church.

Paul then gives Timothy a charge to keep “these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.” This is so important that he declares it “in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels.” It’s that important. Paul is never averse to throwing around his Apostolic authority when it is warranted, and how one of his charges runs his church is important enough to use it. Then he gives him a little practical advice, not to be hasty in the laying on of hands (in other words, conveying authority and mission to others), and to keep himself morally pure. Then this:

²³ Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

Paul was, sorry to my Southern Baptist friends, no teetotaler, and no, he didn’t believe alcohol was only for medicinal purposes. It’s ridiculous that any Christian would ever make such a claim, that we are to abstain from alcohol, but I’ve come across plenty.

It’s also noteworthy that Paul didn’t just heal Timothy of his “frequent illnesses.” We know from Acts that Paul healed, and even raised a young man from the dead, so why not heal Timothy? When we understand how very rare miracles are in the Bible, and their purpose in redemptive history, this will not surprise us. In the long history of Israel, the miraculous only shows up in the Exodus account, and as God’s people eventually make their way into the promised land, at the beginning of the line of the prophets with Elijah and Elisha, and with Jesus and the Apostles. Miracles affirm the God ordained nature of the message, and then once that is established, the secondary causes of nature to back to normal, like using wine for an illness. In other words, Paul had no special power to use miracles in the regular course of his life once the divine imprint of the Apostolic message was confirmed by them.

Finally, he adds that sinful and good deeds are obvious, although not always initially. He’s encouraging Timothy to be wise and discerning because a church leader has to use his judgment when assessing the worthiness of an individual’s character. We live in a moral universe, as I said above, binary, and people are either good or not, fundamentally decent or not. It’s not, as he says, always apparent, but eventually goodness will not remain hidden, and evil found out. We will know the tree by its fruit.

I Timothy 4:9-16 – More Exhortations to Timothy

In the middle of his instructions to Timothy, Paul sees the need to remind him, and us, why he and we ought to do any of this:

⁹ This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. ¹⁰ That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

Note the Trinitarian implications: the living God is the Savior, and our Savior is Jesus. Also, how could he be the Savior of all men, and yet not all men are saved? Possibly Paul has in mind the big picture all, all mankind, not each and every one all, which is likely because he follows that with identifying those who are actually saved, those who trust. Only those who actually put their trust and hope in God as their Savior can be saved, and specifically in Christ. As Paul declares in Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” If a person doesn’t do these things, then he is not saved, and God cannot be his personal Savior.

Then he goes right back to instructions, and that Timothy needs to command and teach these things. Timothy seems to be a bit insecure because he’s young, but Paull will have none of that. The way to overcome whatever it is others might think is to “set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” It’s difficult for people to look down on someone, regardless of their age, whose life is exemplary. He also wants Timothy to focus on what it is that drives the church:

 ¹³ Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.

This, and the celebration of the sacraments, is what make the Christian church Christian! Scripture drives everything. In fact, the only way we even know about the sacraments, what they are and what they mean, are from the Scripture. The reason the public reading of it was so important is because nobody actually owned a Bible. So because everyone today has easy access to Scripture, we also ought to devote ourselves to the private reading of it. Man does not live on bread alone.

It’s also noteworthy that the Scripture Timothy is to preach and teach from is the Old Testament, the only Scripture that existed at the time. The New Testament Canon would be many years in the future. It’s striking to me that the early church was built on the preaching and teaching of the Old Testament, which makes perfect sense because Jesus said to the disciples on the road to Emmaus:

²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Churches that don’t have a solid, consistent focus on the Old Testament are not doing it right. Nor are we if we’re not also immersing ourselves in it as well. From this side of the complete canon, we have the Old Testament revealed in the New, and the New revealed in the Old. I love it when it works that way!

Critical scholars for a long time have confidently declared that the Apostle Paul didn’t write the pastoral epistles, but some other person did in his name. This is called pseudepigrapha, and there are many books and letters written in famous biblical names that are clearly not written by those people, but the pastoral epistles are not among them. There are many reasons, but among them is the next verse where Paul gives a very specific exhortation:

¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

We read in Acts how Timothy was a very important part of Paul’s ministry, and such personal recollections are rarely if ever part of pseudepigrapha, or so I am told. No, the books and letters that became part of the New Testament were early very well attested to be by the authors whose name they claim, and critical scholars reject them for the most arbitrary reasons. He tells Timothy to be diligent, and fully committed to these matters:

¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

There is no “true for you, but not for me” in the Christian church. Doctrine matters, content of the doctrine matters. Christianity isn’t just about my personal relationship with Jesus, but about what it is that makes that relationship possible and viable. The what of the faith, always drives the how. It’s kind of strange that Paul would imply that Timothy has the power to save himself and those who listen to him. Based on the rest of Paul’s letters, he clearly doesn’t mean that in any ultimate sense. He’s just said God is our Savior, but what pastors and teachers do does have real salvific implications. Christianity isn’t wishful thinking, it is hopeful doing.

I Timothy 4:1-8 – Training in Godliness: Everything is God Created is Good

Now Paul gives specific instructions to Timothy, starting with how to deal with the those who “will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” He gives some details about the teachings of these “hypocritical liars” who basically have no conscience, but what stands out to me is how difficult ministry and the Christian life can be. Our Savior promised that life would and could be very hard. He was a terrible salesmen, never once going through the “features and benefits” of being his follower. In fact, he went out of the way to say, you follow me, you will suffer! Thanks, Jesus! After Paul’s conversion, Jesus said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Yet, when “stuff” happens in our lives or ministries, we think, “SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!” No, nothing is “wrong.” It just life in a fallen world in a fallen body living among fallen people in the middle of a spiritual war! That’s all. No problem! It’s almost funny to me how our tendency is to think things should go smoothly, or should not be so hard and frustrating and difficult. Oh, yes they should!

Paul tells us “The Spirit clearly says” these people are coming who abandon the faith, so it is certain. Though he says teachings, he focuses on one specific teaching, a kind of asceticism:

³ They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

This gets to the unique heart of Christianity versus any other religion, but maybe Paul had Judaism in mind, although he doesn’t say. External conformity to arbitrary commands to attain holiness or acceptance before God is foreign to our relationship to God through Christ. Contrary to this spirit, Paul declares:

⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵ because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

Food and drink or marriage, and withholding ourselves from them, are not a means to an end, but an end in and of themselves. God made these things for our enjoyment, not as a means to bribe him. And notice what Paul includes in this: everything, not some things or most things. Whatever God has created. If we can be truly grateful for it, nothing is off limits. The word consecrated is a familiar one, to make holy or sanctify. God’s word and our prayer allows us to set these things apart for holy use, for him, unto him, and through him. What a beautiful way to live, as opposed to turning things into what they were never meant to be. I’ve heard it said that sin or idolatry is turning perfectly good things into ultimate things. If we live in everything before the face of God, we’ll never fall into such distortion.

He then encourages Timothy to point these things out to those he leads, and to “have nothing to do with with fables and old wives’ tales.” Needless to say, old wives’ tales is not a common saying in our day, but both of these have nothing to do with the rock of God’s revelation to us in his word. Anything not grounded on that is speculation. Rather than this, he tells Timothy to train himself to be godly. I think many Christians shy away from such a word as “training” having to do with their faith because it implies work and effort. It’s so much easier to go to church on Sunday, prayer here and there, and maybe open our Bibles every once in a while. Some might think that since this is written to Timothy, a pastor, that such training is mainly for leaders and those in professional ministry. That, however, would not be the case given everything Paul writes in all his letters. So what kind of training is Paul talking about?

The word he uses will be somewhat familiar to us, gumnazó-γυμνάζω, from which we get our gymnasium. It means,  properly, naked or lightly clad, as with an ancient Greek athlete in a sporting event; (figuratively) to train with one’s full effort, i.e. with complete physical, emotional force like when working out intensely in a gymnasium. So we are right to take from this that growing in godliness takes effort, and plenty of it, especially growing in knowledge, as Paul exhorts so often in his letters. And let us not fall into the trap of taking the word godly to mean being more moral, which tends to a fatal externalizing. True godliness is inside out, piety and devotion, an inner reverence and response to what God has done for us, not what we can do for him.

⁸ For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

How many Christians are more committed to physical exercise, the health of their bodies, than spiritual exercise, and the health of their souls? This is especially easy to do in an age that is so suffocatingly secular, where this life is deemed to be all that matters. It isn’t! We’ll all be dead soon, whether we live to 50 or 100, so it makes much more sense to train for forever. And I will quote Paul’s fellow Apostle, Peter (2), so we can understand what is to be the focus of our training:

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

That says it all. True godliness, not the phony moralism that tends to legalism, comes through our knowledge of him! If we want to participate in God’s own divine nature, and escape the corruption of this world, we’ll cling, daily, hourly, minutely, to his covenant promises to we, his people, his very great and precious promises!

I Timothy 3:14-16 – The Mystery of Godliness

Having given specific instructions for how those in church leadership ought to conduct themselves, Paul now gives Timothy the rationale or motivation for applying Paul’s teachings to his church. He tells him he hopes to visit him soon, which probably means Paul wrote this when he knew he’d be getting out of prison in Rome, or already free (we read about his incarceration at the end of Acts). He wrote the instructions in case he gets delayed in coming so that Timothy

will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

This is a fascinating sentence because Paul says the church itself is the pillar and foundation of the truth, not God. You would think God would himself be that, and the church an extension of God, but he doesn’t say that. It’s also interesting that he makes this statement in the context of how people conduct themselves. Perhaps he does so because truth is not an abstract philosophical or intellectual concept in Christianity, or merely assent to certain propositions or facts. It can be those things, but truth itself is much more ensconced in the nature of existence.

We first know this because our Savior claimed to be the truth. Ultimately truth is personal because a person, God in Christ, embodies whatever truth is. C.S. Lewis put it this way: “truth is always about something, but reality is about which truth is. The substance of all reality is truth, and the substance of all truth is Christ. So the list of Paul’s instructions about how to live well is truth, and God has given us his people the responsibility to live truth to the world. That is ultimately embodied in love in the cross, which makes living truth much more doable that if it was founded on mere commands, even if they came from God. Think of it this way, using an example. Telling the truth is “truth,” but so is lying “truth” when you’re hiding your Jewish neighbor from the Nazi’s who’ve come to your door asking if you’re hiding Jews. Love trumps “truth.”

Paul, as he often does when he comes to great Truths, falls into a type of doxology about how great the mystery of godliness is. We’ll see what exactly the mystery is, but as I’ve explained many times writing through Paul’s letters and his use of the word mystery, it is not what can’t be known, but what was not known and is now revealed. In previous times of redemptive history, the mystery would have been inconceivable, but only became conceivable when it actually happen, God himself becoming a man. And the Greek for godliness is critically important, eusebeia-εὐσέβεια, properly, someone’s inner response to the things of God which shows itself in godly piety (reverence). The Jews had always tended to see their religion, their acceptance before God, as external conformity instead of inner transformation. By mere human effort the former is doable, but the latter impossible. Only a supernatural work of God himself in the human soul can turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. And what godliness allows us, his creatures infected by sin, to do, is to ultimately obey the greatest commandment, and fall in love with our Creator. The mystery was likely an early church hymn:

He appeared in the flesh,
    was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
    was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
    was taken up in glory.

Paul doesn’t say who he is, or even say that. He just says, Who was made manifest, made visible, in the flesh. Clearly this is the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah whom he preaches, and appearing in the flesh implies he existed before the flesh. God become man was surely a mystery, and could only be a revealed truth because no first century Jew (or any century for that matter) would or could have made it up. The very idea is absurd, unless it is true. And Paul would have been very last Jew on earth to have made up or believed such a thing. He despised, hated, and killed Christians, until he became one, and only then by an appearance of the one he persecuted. The one he now proclaims.

Being vindicated, or justified, by the Spirit likely refers to Jesus baptism, and that he lived the life we could not live, and died the death we should have died, all in obedience to the Father. He passed the test. Angels ministered to Jesus after his 40 day encounter with the devil in the wilderness. Being preached among the nations could be the declaration of him as Messiah when he came to Jerusalem during the great feasts when people came from all over the known world to worship God. He was obviously believed on, trusted, when he rose from the dead. An actual, physical Jesus coming back to life after his horrific suffering and death on a Roman cross is the only plausible, believable, explanation for believing this mystery of godliness. And we know he was taken up in glory after he’d given his disciples their great commission, and promised them the coming Holy Spirit.

The church itself, from a small collection of petrified peasants, to world changing transforming agents, which grows and transforms to this very day, only has one plausible, believable explanation: the mystery of godliness! Revealed to us, the Truth, about the real nature of reality. We stake our lives, and deaths, upon it. Amen!

1 Timothy 3:1-13 – High Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons

Paul continues his pastoral instruction to Timothy now addressing leaders in the church, overseers and Deacons. These men (some churches believe women can serve in these roles, but that would be hard to square with what Paul said in the previous passage) must essentially be blameless in the conduct of their lives. First the overseer, a word which will sound familiar, episkopé-ἐπισκοπή, properly,oversight that naturally goes on to provide the care and attention appropriate to the “personal visitation.” Anyone, Paul says, that desires such an office desires “a good work.” The list of qualifications speak specifically more to the character than the skills or knowledge such a person must have. I’ll bullet point them.

• He must be above reproach
• The husband of but one wife
• Temperate
• Self-controlled
• Respectable
• Hospitable
• Able to teach
• Not given to much wine
• Not violent but gentle
• Not quarrelsome
• Not a lover of money
• He must manage his own family well
• His children must obey him with proper respect (Paul adds, If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
• He must not be a recent convert (or he may become conceited)
• He must have a good reputation with outsiders

That’s quite a list, and yet another reason Christianity transformed an ancient society in which such a list as requirement for leadership would have been absolutely absurd. We don’t see the strangeness because we live in a culture that’s already been transformed by the influence of Christianity, and thus this seems perfectly reasonable. Those influenced by Greek philosophy might see some of this as reasonable given the love of wisdom (philosophy) was considered the highest form of knowledge. Aristotle even founded a branch of philosophy called ethics, or right living, and much of this list wouldn’t have been foreign to him, but in the ancient world power was valued above all. Might made right. Power was the great ruler. Christianity turned that upside down, and leaders needed to turn that upside down most of all. Notice also that those with rebellious kids need not apply. Good parenting skills, and raising children who are solid in their own faith are critical qualifications for church leaders.

Like overseers, deacons have a similar though smaller list of qualifications. The word, basically meaning a waiter or servant, is not used until Paul mentions a woman deacon, Phoebe, in Romans 16:1, but the concept comes from Acts 6, when 7 were chosen to “wait on tables,” or administer food to the needy Christians. Given Paul says in this passage that, “A deacon must be the husband of but one wife,” it’s likely when he used the word in Romans it wasn’t an official title for Phoebe, but a description of her as a servant. In 16:2 he calls her a patroness or benefactor, so she was wealthy and helped support people in the church, including Paul. Yet those who think women can be deacons might take verse 11 in their favor because Paul says, “Women likewise” must live up to these standards. Some translations read this as “their wives,” and it would make sense given he says they must be married to one woman. And given what Paul said in the previous chapter about male leadership and the created order, the office of deacon being exclusively for men makes sense. And they must be of exemploary character:

¹⁰ They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

This highlights a non-negotiable qualification of those who are or aspire to church leadership: they cannot be morally compromised in any way. That doesn’t mean they are perfect, or expected to be perfect, because they are saved sinners like everyone else in the church, but they must be examples of the Christian life lived well.

A number of times in his letters Paul uses just this word, example, and he encourages others to follow his as he follow’s Christ’s. Church leadership is a challenging balance, and we ought to cut our leaders some slack. On the one hand they do need to be this example, but on the other they must relate as sinners to the sinners they lead. Remember that Paul called himself the worst sinner earlier in the letter, and that he was shown mercy as an “example” of those who would believe on Jesus and receive eternal life. As important as the life example is, the example as an unworthy saved sinner is much more so. Knowing each of us is the worst of sinners saved by thoroughly unmerited grace will keep any of us from being self-righteous legalists, including those who lead us.

1 Timothy 2:8-15 – Women in the Church

Dealing with Arminianism, Calvinism, and the case for Reformed soteriology in the last passage, was much fun. Paul addresses some important church and cultural issues in this passage that will be equally fun. Specifically, women’s role in the church and culture. Remember, this was a bit before the disease we call feminism made it’s way into the world, so some of it is difficult for people infected by that disease to accept. I’m willing to admit that some of what Paul says might be culturally specific to the time, and not necessarily applicable throughout all times and places, but as we’ll see there is some difficulty with that position in the way Paul makes his argument.

Paul addresses just “the men” in verse 8, and “the women” in verse 9 and following. For the men, he exhorts them “to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.” I guess harmony is more of a challenge for men, but women are sinners too, but that’s not why Paul addresses this command to men “in every place.” He likely means men in all the churches where they might read his letter, and since this letter is to Timothy, to any of the churches he might oversee. In the ancient church lifting up hands in prayer was common, especially in public worship, so Paul is saying that men will lead the congregations in worship before God, not the women. We’ll see below why this is not a culturally specific command, but applies in all places and times.

I also want to make a brief hermeneutical point. We should all “lift up holy hands” in prayer, but is Paul saying that is the only proper way to pray? Even in leading worship? Not likely, but there are certain people who take texts like this that make commands as if they were universal in scope. I don’t think anyone would do that with this passage, but it’s easy for some to do with other passages. The point is that we don’t base anything we do or believe on any one passage, but on the whole of Scripture, and the entire scope of redemptive history. Puzzle pieces without knowing the entire picture are easily distorted.

Now to “the women,” and we’ll see why this hermeneutical principle is important as we discuss this passage.

 ⁹ I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, ¹⁰ but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

Is Paul against Jewelry and nice clothes and pretty hairstyles? Are these things and good deeds somehow mutually exclusive? Even before looking to the rest of Scripture about this, common sense tells us absolutely not! Things we wear don’t determine who we are, or what’s the point of Christianity. They do, though, reflect who we are. Jesus speaks of a tree and it’s fruit, that the nature of the tree is reflected in the fruit, and he also says that it’s not the things from outside of a person that go into him that can defile him, but what comes out that is already defiled. In first century pagan culture the vast majority of the people were poor and couldn’t even afford fancy attire, so those who did stood out, and no doubt could use such things in a prideful and arrogant way. Externalities are never to determine our value or worth or purpose or meaning, so humility and modesty are the appropriate attitudes of women, as well as men, of God. Then he gives us the context:

 ¹¹ Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. ¹² And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. 

Needless to say, this is “controversial” in an age of feminism, when men and women are supposed to be equal in every way. Outside of the church this is laughable, but there is a debate inside the church between those who see this as binding for all times, and those who see this as a culturally conditioned command, and thus not relevant outside of its first century cultural context. This debate today is between something called complementarianism, and the other egalitarianism. The article I linked to is a good concise argument for the former as the biblical position, with which I would agree, strongly. The reason I do comes from the next two verses where Paul grounds his command in the order of creation:

¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 

In creation, male came first, then female from male, both declared man made in God’s image. We witness the priority of place in the male in all cultures, places, and times. Most of the manifestations of this created order of things is perverted by sin, but men are bigger and stronger, and naturally lead and exercise authority over women, the physically weaker creature.

What egalitarians want to do, inspired by feminism, is obliterate all these natural, created implications of our being, because they have uniformly been abused since the beginning of time. But as the old saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. The sexuality and gender perversions of our time, mostly among our cultural elites, shows us where denial of the created order eventually leads. What Paul is saying is that the created nature of our beings has implications for how we do church, and women are not to lead and have authority over men. We are all culturally conditioned to one degree or another, so this is not an easy teaching in our day, but it is the biblical teaching. We can make the case from the entirety of Scripture as well, just not here. Then Paul adds these strange words to close out his teaching on this subject:

¹⁵ But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

This a a bizarre statement taken at face value. Saved from what? Through having children? There are quite a number of interpretations, but it is important to read it in the literal Greek to even have a chance at getting at whatever it is Paul might mean. The Greek is not plural, but singular, so it says, “She will be saved, however, through childbearing.” So the the third person plural pronoun in the second clause, they, can’t refer back to she. So given the context, she must refer back to Eve, and it was the promise of the seed who would crush the serpent’s head that promised salvation from sin for the human race. Paul wasn’t saying Eve was inferior to Adam, or women to men, because as he says in Romans, sin came through one man. Adam was clearly accountable for his disobedience. I think what Paul might be getting at is that God took the horror of the fall, and provided a solution through the very sinners through which it came. Women living this kind of life in submission are a testimony to the faithfulness of God! At least that’s my guess.

1 Timothy 2:1-7 – What Does “All” Mean?

This is going to be a fun passage to wrestle with because it’s one of the most misunderstood in Paul’s letters regarding the scope of salvation. Meaning to whom salvation applies. As we’ll see, Arminians think it’s a slam dunk for their position, and they always quote a verse in the passage in isolation, out of context. But before we get there, Paul urges Timothy “first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” Societal anarchy is not the Christian ideal, and we can imply from the purpose of these prayers that liberty is. Christian ideas, like these, would in due course transform Western political philosophy and civilization in profound ways other worldviews could never do. That we could live our own lives the way we see fit with little interference from the state was truly revolutionary, and in due course through the evolution of the British empire America was the result. Then he gets to the fun part:

³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

Before I get to that, Paul affirms that God is our Savior, and if Jesus is our Savior, Jesus is also God. If you read through all 24 instances of Savior in the New Testament, it is used for God and Jesus interchangeably. The divinity of Christ was never an issue and always clearly affirmed in the early church.

Then Paul tells us this this God desires, wants, “all men,” all human beings, to be saved. See, the Arminian pounces, God wants all, meaning every single one, to be saved! Since clearly all are are not saved, they argue, all can be saved, but choose not to be. Ergo, salvation is ultimately our decision, not God’s! When I was first introduced to Reformed theology, or Calvinism, I was a default Arminian. No Christian I had encountered in almost six years in the faith questioned these Arminian assumptions. One is that when Paul uses the word “all” here he means all, each and every one. When I first met my mentor at the time (I was 24), Dr. Stephen Paul Kennedy, he told me, No, Mike, all doesn’t always mean each and every one. I was confused. How could all not mean all! That made no sense; of course all always means each and every one. But this very passage clearly, obviously, refutes that contention. Really? Yep. Paul says next:

⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people—the testimony given in its proper time.

OK, let’s follow the logic. If all always means each and every one, then Jesus was ransomed for each and every human being to ever live, all people. Ransom, antilutron-ἀντίλυτρον, clearly implies a transaction has been made, an exchange, properly, a full ransom, referring to Christ paying the complete purchase-price to secure our freedom (redemption) – i.e., Christ exchanging His eternal righteousness for our sin. If God desires all, each and every person, to be saved, then all, each and every person, is ransomed, and therefore all human beings, each and every one, are saved. And yes, including Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, the trifecta of 20th century evil personified. This is called universalism, Christ’s death applies to all universally, indiscriminately. But since clearly those guys are not, and could never be saved, universalism can’t be true. Arminians are vehemently not universalists.

The problem, though, is that if we posit that Jesus died for all, literally purchased them, just to make salvation possible and not actual, then he could not have actually purchased them, actually paid for their sin. What happened on the cross was actual salvation from sin for God’s people, not possible salvation depending on the choice of the sinner. Jesus was given his name “because he will save his people from their sins.” Not that he will try to save them, or make it possible for them to be saved. He will save them! Thank God it’s not up to me! And Jesus himself said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” His sheep, not his possible sheep. We can also talk about election and predestination to salvation from before the world was even created, as Paul does in Ephesians 1 and 2. Or that we were dead in our sin, and God’s enemies when Christ died for us. Dead people can’t make themselves alive; only the supernatural, sovereign saving power of God does that!

I could go on, but I think the point is clear. Christ died for the specific people he intended to save. Isn’t that fantastic news! It means he died for me. He died for you. We, his people, were with him on the cross when he uttered, “It is finished.” From the Greek word telos, he accomplished the purpose for which he came. In the acronym that got attached to Calvinism, TULIP, this is called limited atonement, also referred to as definite atonement. Christ did not, indeed could not, have died for everyone. For some reason, many Christians have a hard time with this, but to me it makes perfect sense, and is supremely comforting. When God demonstrated his love for us on the cross, it was not a theoretical demonstration that could possibly be true for me if I accept it. When I accept it I can know it’s an actual demonstration for me! I never, ever have to wonder if God loves me!

We also now have a mediator for us, and the Greek is critical here, mesités-μεσίτης, properly, an arbitrator (“mediator”), guaranteeing the performance of all the terms stipulated in a covenant (agreement). Our salvation is rooted in God’s eternal, covenant promises that were revealed to Adam and Eve after the fall, to Noah, then Abram, and affirmed to Moses and graphically represented symbolically in the Exodus. And in the rest of the Old Testament it is affirmed that God is our Savior, not us! We can’t save ourselves! And Jesus at this very moment is at the right hand of God continuing to save us as our mediator before the Father, and will save us unto our glorification. I will take Paul’s word for it:

⁷ And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

I Timothy 1:8-20 – Christ Saves the Worst Sinners

Paul has warned Timothy about false teachers, telling him that they want to be teachers of the law but that they have no idea what they’re talking about. Now he gives a short primer on the law:

⁸ We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.

The law is made for lawbreakers and not the righteous, and then he lays out a series of sins that may have been common in Ephesus, including homosexuality. Paul’s point is that the purpose of the law is to expose our sin. He is very clear in all his letters and teaching about the law that it is never a means to attain favor before God, but to show us our need for a Savior. Since there is not a single person who has ever lived who is righteous, the purpose of the law can’t be telling these people who have never existed how to be more righteous. We know that “according to the gospel of the blessed God,” that the primary purpose of the law is to drive us to Christ. That is the gospel that has been entrusted to Paul.

Then he shares how this gospel has been applied in his own life, and thanks Christ Jesus our Lord that he was appointed to his service. Paus says he was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man. Having people stoned to death is pretty violent. And then he pens these famous words:

¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

That’s quite a statement given there are a lot of baddies, like Nero, in Paul’s world, but I guess persecuting and killing God’s elect, his chosen people, is pretty bad. For Paul I don’t think this was hyperbole, being the worst. This, he says, however, was done for a reason. He was shown mercy, so that in him, “Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” I think we might put it this way, if God could save Paul, he can save anyone! Nobody is beyond reach, beyond the pale. Then in his amazement, he breaks out in doxology:

¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

It’s interesting that of all the attributes of God, Paul chose these three. I have no idea why, but you can’t get any more God-like attributes than these. In theology these are called God’s incommunicable attributes. We are made in God’s image, so he has communicated some of his attributes to us, like love, intelligence, imagination, holiness, etc. There are not three attributes more unrelatable to us than these. We are temporal, mortal, and visible. God lives forever, beyond time, cannot die, is life in himself, and is not able to be seen. That God is the ruler of all things, and he deserves honor and glory forever, which we can now give him because we are his!

He next specifically says that these instructions (I assume what he’s said so far, but primarily what is to follow, which will be very detailed), are given to Timothy “in keeping with the prophecies once made about you.” In case the people in Ephesus don’t know, Timothy was called to his ministry, and I’m sure Paul is reminding Timothy about that as well. He’s all in because he’s been chosen to be all in. In doing these things, Paul says by doing them he “may fight the good fight.” I’m not sure why we’re always surprised by this undeniable fact, but Christianity is a martial religion; we’re in a war! The literal Greek Paul uses says, “that you might war by them the good warfare.” The word for war, strateuó-στρατεύομαι, is properly, to contend, fighting like a soldier in war; (figuratively) to engage in spiritual warfare. There is nothing easy about fighting like a soldier in a war. Nothing. Yet we complain?

He tells him he’ll do this, fight in this good war, “holding on to faith and a good conscience.” Some have rejected these, “so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.” He names two men specifically, Hymenaeus and Alexander. Timothy obviously knew these men, and what this shipwrecked faith looked like. I’m sure Paul is telling Timothy, and others who knew them, that they are a good object lesson in what not to be and do. The Apostolic teaching of the gospel is very clear and simple, what Paul is referring to here as “the faith.” People that stray from that, and over the millennia, and from the very beginning, many have and still do. We are blessed to have “the faith” compiled for us in a book, so it becomes very clear what and when people are rejecting it. Paul doesn’t give up on them because he says, with Apostolic authority, he’s handed them “over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.” If they are teachable they will be back. We call this today church discipline because not everybody who wants to be part of the team deserves to be. We’ll learn more about that in the rest of the letter.