1 Timothy 1

The two letters of the apostle Paul to his young associate Timothy together with his letter to Titus provide us with the inspired instruction of this important ambassador of Jesus Christ to  men who are working for the further establishment of the Lord's people.  They give us insight into the challenges of the early church and provide us with many important revelations of the Lord's plan for the ways of His kingdom in all ages.  They are words of an apostle to men who were to receive and follow his instructions as the direction of God for His assembly.  We need to receive them in the same way.

Timothy is living in the important city of Ephesus, working with the Lord's church in that region.  Paul indicates that he is aware of a significant pastoral issue in this church.  Certain people in the church have a tendency to become distracted in their teaching with myths that only yield useless speculations.  They need to return to the core doctrines of the faith that lead people into an appropriate stewardship of the good gifts that the Lord has given them.

The true faith that has been given to us by God has an aim of producing the blessings of love flowing forth in the lives of those who have experienced true forgiveness.  The facts of Christ, His obedience, His death, and His resurrection; these things do something within our souls. They work a new purity of heart within us, our consciences are healed, and our will is enlivened with a new way of faith in our Redeemer who has conquered our guilt.

This is what people need to be taught, but teachers can easily swerve away from these kind of profitable topics.  They may wish to seem intelligent or more relevant.  They get into “deep” discussions of matters that are really fruitless and empty, but which serve the purpose of making them feel like great experts in the Scriptures.

It was particularly important as the message of Christ went forward into the Gentile world that teachers resist the temptation to major in Old Covenant ceremonies and laws that were not really a part of the essence of New Covenant obedience.  When we find ourselves pontificating about things that we do not really understand, or instructing others in ways of obedience that we ourselves do not live up to, we should take a break and consider whether we might somehow be getting off track.

One of the confusing traps here is that people may think that they are still on course because they are so sure that the point that they are making is based on the Bible.  They have something to teach from the Law or from the historical books of the Old Testament, and the point being made may even be true, and yet it is somehow out of place.  It is not enough for us to use the Bible, we must use it rightly, teaching biblical doctrine with a biblical sense of proportion.

Paul contends that the law still has its purpose, to convict the ungodly concerning sin.  It can be dangerous when it is used by those who are in Christ as a source of a better way of righteousness, or as an advantage over those who may be less aware of the Scriptures.  The law should teach us of our guilt before God, and our need for the only Redeemer.  When we have found the perfection of that one Redeemer, we should not think that our progress in obedience will come through the ways of the Law, many of which have come to their completion in Christ.  Our growth as followers of Christ will come by faith that expresses itself in love.  The gospel that saves us will be the same message by which we grow in the fullest obedience.

The knowledge of the Law does not save.  Paul knows this story very well.  He finds his life in Christ by mercy and grace, not through the Law.  As a man who was a persecutor of the church, though extremely knowledgeable concerning the Law, he has become a great example of what God is powerful to do by His grace.  The patience of God with this enemy of the church has inspired many to see the depth of the love of God for those who will draw near to Him in Christ.

Timothy must be inspired by this ministerial example, and so should we.  All of us need to especially be inspired by the fact of Jesus.  If we preach the Word as those who have been set apart for that task, we must not allow ourselves to fall in love with strange doctrinal obscurities, forgetting the saving work of the only-wise God, and falling into lives that are not in accord with a good conscience.  It is our desire to love the Savior by teaching in a way that is most fully biblical, not merely justifying our own unusual thoughts with strange biblical proof-texts, but honoring the King of glory more fully by accurately proclaiming the fullness of His Word of grace.

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1 Timothy 2

Some of the church teachers in Ephesus, self-appointed or otherwise, have gotten off track into speculative doctrines, teachings that do not produce anything like a solid life of faith and obedience.  Paul has reminded Timothy that part of his task there is to address that situation.  Correct teaching and living are not only about what one does not say or do, but also about the positive message and life that is lived out and taught to others who want to worship the Lord.

One of the most important aspects of a life of godliness is prayer.  Those who desire to teach ought to first give themselves over to the breadth of this life of communion with God, bringing our requests before Him, both for ourselves and for others, with hearts that are filled with thanksgiving to God for the gift of His Son. This life of prayer is part of a larger way of living respectfully and quietly as a member of a larger society where there is an honest recognition that not everyone embraces the doctrines of the Christian faith.  That was certainly the case in first century Ephesus, but it is probably true in every age and in nearly every place where the church seeks to peacefully proclaim the message of the cross to those all around us.

Our agenda must not be the overthrow of existing structures of governance, which may vary significantly in different times and places.  That is not the way of peace.  Is there a supreme human ruler to whom God has given authority in some land?  We are those who want to live as peacefully as we can under that provision as much as conscience will allow.  This does not mean that we agree with all the determinations of those who are in offices of power.  It does mean that we are happy to be praying for them, for they hold important positions of divine trust.

We do not wish to be rightly accused of lawlessness and insurrection.  This requires self-control and discretion in speech.  Not everything that can be said should be said.  We should begin by speaking to God on behalf of those who rule our lands.  Is there a way to serve the Lord and follow normal social conventions, showing appropriate deference to those in positions of honor?  Let us discover that good way and pursue it without trying to attract a lot of notice.  We do not need to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves in order to represent Jesus Christ well.

The systems of governance throughout the world and throughout the history of this current age are very diverse.  Our first priority as a church is not civil revolution, but the honest communication, in word and deed, of the message of our Savior.  God desires the salvation of all kinds of people everywhere.  No longer is the communion of the redeemed significantly limited to one race or people group.  We want all sorts of people to be able to give a fair and calm hearing to the Word of the cross without the slightest hint of our undue coercion.  Our Lord Jesus gave His life to be the one Mediator between God and man.  Through His cross, God has been reconciled to man.  Through our proclamation as a church we urge all kinds of people everywhere to give up their unjust fight against God.

The price that was paid for our ransom was the blood of that one Lamb.  This is our testimony, and as the Lord opens up doors for a nation to hear and receive that good Word, He allows His church to discover that the time for some within that place to embrace the Son of God has now come.  This is what Paul experienced as he traveled throughout the Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire, and it is what missionaries have discovered in far-off lands throughout all the centuries of church history.

Therefore, the church that wants to teach the truth, should pray in accord with that truth.  Do we want to teach people that God has sovereignly kept them and saved them?  Then is it too much for us to pray earnestly to God for all things, knowing that He really is sovereign?  This life of prayer and an appropriate and quiet respectability must not be unnecessarily discarded in favor of some disgraceful distraction.  In every culture there are habits of dress, speech, and conduct that cannot be ignored without creating scandal.  If we imagine that this kind of unbounded expressiveness is part of our freedom in the Lord, we miss an opportunity to speak in meekness to those around us, taking our place within the standards of decorum of the place where we live as bearers of the message of the Lord of heaven who came to earth to save people.

One of the ways of upsetting the peace of a society is through insisting on rights that may be against not only local standards of propriety, but even those patterns of order that are from the Lord's work of creation more generally.  Insisting that women have governing rule within the teaching function of the church is something that Paul simply would not allow, and he understood this to be a matter of family and societal order that should be respected everywhere.

In all of these considerations, our goal is not to make a scene, but to try to fit peacefully within the time and place that God has given to us.  It is here and now where we have the privilege to represent the Husband of the church.  He is the Head over His body, and we are to be His holy bride.  It is a wonderful privilege, and not an unwarranted constraint, to respect the order that He has seen fit to establish in His world.  When we understand this, like Eve so long ago, we can reject the suggestion of some inappropriate affront to good order, and embrace the privilege of quietly and patiently bearing the promised seed for yet another generation, with faith, love, holiness, and self-control.  This should be easier for us than it was for her, since the Seed of the woman has already come to earth for us, securing our redemption with His own blood.

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1 Timothy 3

Above any other servant of God over the centuries of church history, there is only one Man who is King, the Lord Jesus Christ.  If there is any government established within His church, we should expect to find testimony about it in His Word.  We are not left without direction on these matters.  Here and in other places we are given the outlines of the way that our one great King would seek to rule over His Kingdom comprised of so many who are united to Him.

In this important chapter in the pastoral epistles we are given God's Word to us regarding two continuing groups of servant-leaders in the Lord's church: elders, who have a special opportunity to serve as spiritual overseers of the people of faith, and deacons who lead the faithful in works of service, order, and mercy.  We read this chapter not only as the instructions of Paul for a specific situation in Ephesus in the first century.  Here we have every indication of the rule for the church in all ages by the Word of God through His apostle.

In any position of authority or duty in the church, we should expect that the character of the King who died for sinners would be generously expressed.  Jesus is the great Overseer and Elder of His people.  Jesus is the Servant and Deacon who cares for our needs.  If anyone presumes to conduct Himself in either of these roles in an arrogant or hypocritical manner, he is out of accord with the leading governing authority in the church, the One who proved His faithfulness through His death on the cross for us.

With that said, it is intriguing how very normal the qualifications are for those who would respond to the good internal desire to be servant-leaders for the Lord Jesus and His church.  They do not need to be showy super-spiritual people.  There is no requirement concerning soaring rhetoric or charismatic personality.  There is no test of the numbers of hour per week spent in devotion, minimum practices of fasting, or demonstrated success in evangelism.  Much of what is stated, both for elders and deacons, comes down to one word: “character.”

The character of church leaders cannot be considered to be proven simply by their own testimony.  It must be quietly demonstrated in a way that can be recognized both within and without the church. This character must also be lived out in their own households.  Here is  a very important proving ground for any who would lead the church  These lists of qualities are selective, and should be applied with some reasonable flexibility.  The single or childless man is not prohibited from serving, or Jesus and Paul could not have been elders or deacons.  But such a man must demonstrate his capacity to lead others in love through other aspects of his life.

Deacons and elders must be men of self-control, not only in speech and behavior toward others, but also in a modest use of food and drink.  Addictive lifestyles are not consistent with the pattern of living necessary for these leading representatives of Jesus.

One difference between deacons and elders, is that elders must be apt to teach, while deacons must hold to the faith with a sincere conscience.  The point is that teaching is not so definitively connected to the office of deacon as it is to the office of elder, but sincere believing is necessary for all who would serve in either capacity.  Some elders may be comfortable teaching in counseling settings, and be gifted in working with individuals and couples.  Others will thrive in the work of public teaching of large numbers of people.  The essence of the requirement is in godly teaching of spiritual matters.  The way that this essence is expressed in the church can admit of great variety depending on gifts, needs, and the desires of the men called to serve. 

The qualifications listed here for wives of deacons should be applied to all those who would have leadership roles in the church and not just for the wives of one office or another.  The relationship of marriage must be conducted in such an honorable way, so that it is plainly evident that a leading man has so clearly loved his wife, helping her to thrive in her own right, for our Lord is the best of all husbands to the bride with which He is united, the church.

Great indeed is the mystery of this union between the One Savior, and the many who are His beloved bride.  In this union is the great secret of true godliness for the church, so necessary for her to be a pillar and buttress of Christ's perfect truth.  What He has done; His time here below, His resurrection as the new Man, and His reign in heaven after His ascension; He did united to us.  What we do now; our proclamation of His Word throughout the world, our believing and following of that Word; and our finally being taken up into glory when our days here are done; we do as those who are united to Him and empowered by His Spirit.  Leaders in the church must understand that their gifts and fruitfulness, and even their character as those who are new creatures in Christ, come not from their own natural greatness, but from the power and love of the One in whom they now have found life and service, and in whom all things in heaven and earth shall one day be united.

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1 Timothy 4

The mystery of godliness has been revealed to us in Christ: The One is united to the many, and in Him we have life.  Some have not found that message to be sufficiently engaging.  They have returned to old spiritual habits that will only distract the church from those things that are of first importance.  While this is disappointing, it should not be that surprising to us.  Jesus warned us about this, and apparently so did the Apostle Paul as part of his training of Timothy for the important work that he is doing in Ephesus. 

We live in that period of time after the resurrection age has been revealed in Christ but before all of the blessings of that coming time have been experienced and fully enjoyed by all of the many who are united to our great King.  During this period, we are following the Word of God revealed to us by the apostles and prophets of the first century church.  They warned the church (and we have the evidence of their warnings in the gospels and letters of the New Testament) that imposters would lead many down false pathways, and that some in the church would depart from the faith and be devoted to lies that are promoted by demonic hosts.  What would these evil powers be peddling?  Would they seek to lead everyone into witchcraft or into abuses against themselves and others around them?  That is not the warning of this chapter.  Paul says to his younger associate Timothy that some would push forms of false spiritual and clean-looking behavior that involve the denial of the Lord's good gifts of creation.

These false leaders would be forbidding marriage, and urging people to abstain from the good gifts of food and drink.  While there is no doubt that all of creation can be used in evil ways, that does not somehow make the creation itself evil.  Restrictive rules of outward denial may appear to be spiritual as some measure spirituality, but the truth is that a well-cooked and well-presented meal, for which people thank God, and which is eaten with joy is far more spiritual than a philosophy of living that seems to demean the goodness of what the Lord has made for our enjoyment and health.

It is of great importance that Timothy, and others he is training, not see this kind of radical Christian asceticism as just one of many alternative ways of living faithfully in this world for the King who gave Himself for us.  This philosophy of holiness is rejected as empty and powerless.  The church needs to pursue ways of true godliness, of real self-denial, of actual Christ-likeness, and not the cheap substitute of an old branch of Greek philosophy covered over with new Christian wrapping paper.  Any “gift” of that kind of false and showy monkishness is not just an alternative of Christian living, but a strongly-rejected false substitute for real self-denial.

Real godliness is about living a life where creation is valued as a gift of God, where people are treated with appropriate dignity, and where sacrificial love is expressed as the true living out of your faith.  This is what self-discipline is about as a Christian rather than the promotion of the practice of saying “no” to everything that normal people find enjoyable.  Heavenly-mindedness is entirely consistent with an appropriate use and enjoyment earth's gifts that come to us from the hand of God, and should not be construed as some strange rejection of the good things of this world as too worldly.  Our efforts should be expressed in our service to those in need, especially in the Lord's church, but overflowing from the family of God to the broader community of people who are still image-bearers of God, even if they reject the Christian faith.  Our God is the Preserver of all of creation, and the Redeemer of all kinds of people throughout the world who have come to call upon His Name.

A good minister must teach these things.  He must hold to the true spiritual life of godliness that flows from the death and resurrection of Jesus, but he must also protect the flock of God from habits of life that will only distract them from the matters of first importance.  The way to do this is through the reading, teaching, and preaching of the Bible.  This ministry of the Word is neglected by those who have come to see the pathway of holiness as something that they are free to come up with on their own, or through the traditions of their community of faith.  As we look at all the varied faith groups who confess together their belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and who love the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation, we will quickly discover that all the branches of the Lord's church have their own traditions.  What they share in common is the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments.  These books need to be the source of our unity in ministry and teaching.  Our traditions will divide us, but the Word of God, reasonably interpreted within the bounds of our most ancient statements of faith such as the Apostles' Creed, will unite us as we grow in our understanding of the Lord and of the mystery of godliness.

This way of living in the Word is not only for the people in the churches where we serve, it is especially for those who minister to these beloved members of the Lord's body.  As long as we live in this world, we never graduate from needing God's Word contained in the Scriptures.  If they want to be kept by the Lord, and to make real progress in godliness, it is only right that ministers should be reading and obeying the Word for themselves before they ever would claim to teach anyone else.  This should be a regular check on our teaching.  Do we believe what we tell others to believe?  Do we do those things that we tell others to do?  If we do not, we must not presume to speak to others as the Lord's representatives, laying burdens on others that we ourselves throw off.  Let us teach and preach the freedom and power of the cross, and hear that word ourselves, and let us walk in the joy and obedience that Christ has won for us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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1 Timothy 5

The Lord's messenger needs an awareness of the people he serves.  Are you working with an older man who may be new to the faith?  You cannot treat him like a child.  You need to talk to him with respect.  God has placed us within families.  One of the many benefits of that life of community is that we have some understanding, however excellent or unfortunate, of what it is like for a son to live with a father.  Timothy has a father.  There is some indication that he did not share the faith of Timothy's mother and grandmother.  Nonetheless, Timothy knew how to talk to his father with respect, as a superior.  These kinds of societal conventions are not ignored in the church, but embraced and followed, provided that they do not contradict the Word of God.

This rule is important in dealing with all kinds of people.  Do you understand something of what it is to have a mother, and brothers and sisters?  If so, let this knowledge help you in maintaining pure relationships with people in the church.

This appreciation of common sense cultural norms is so important for those who will be leading the church.  Family structures are not to be dismantled just because people have come to faith in Christ.  As an example, children and grandchildren need to remember their responsibility to their elders when their parents and grandparents become destitute.  If a family simply cannot help, then the church may consider stepping in as an expression of the Lord's special care for His beloved household.  That does not mean that every destitute person in the church should necessarily be put on the list of those who are supported by the contributions of God's people.  Is a widow (or someone else in great need) truly alone?  Is she devout and known for her service of others?  Or is she a person who is lazy, and who is trying to take advantage of the generosity of others?  Above all, if there are family members who can be the first line of support they should do so.  People understand that kind of duty outside of the church, and when we come to see the truth of Christ's death for sinners, there is no reason to assume that we need to forget standards of societal decency and expect others to pay for our poor and needy relatives.  To ignore these family bonds is to be worse than an unbeliever.

There is an important principle here that goes beyond money.  Coming to faith in Christ should not mean the elimination of normal family duties,  Others in our circle may not want to be associated with us, but for our part, we should be very aware of the needs of our loved ones, and treat them in accord with that good title.  They are loved ones.  Government support, and disassociated family bonds through too much moving away can make these sorts of situations more complex.  If it is still possible in a world where choice is king, and where it is so normal for family members to choose to be too far away from one another to help, leaving so many with too few ties of affection and duty, we might try to recapture what we can of the Lord's design of family and community in our own lives.  In the absence of that, many people are going to feel very alone in the day of their troubles.

We do have a sense from these verses that Paul and Timothy's world is a different one than ours, and I suspect that heaven is a different world from ours as well, where the joy of special ties in the Lord's household are not eliminated, but are celebrated.  Perhaps that might explain why in Jeremiah, the Lord says to “Rachel... weeping for her children... because they are no more.... There is a hope for your future,... and your children shall come back to their own country.”  I wonder what that means?

In any case, there is a clear indication in Paul's instructions to Timothy that the church should not be too quickly considered a complete family replacement, giving to new Christians too convenient an excuse to abandon those whom God has given them in the bonds of family affection.  No, the Christian church should pursue the same kind of commendable character qualities that we would like to see from our spiritual leaders (see chapter 3).  We should all be diligent in our work, maintaining a good report within our families and communities.  When we do worse than unbelievers in living and working with our own households, we open the door to accusations against the faith that really are slanderous, since some will assume that our laziness, selfishness, and rudeness to our relatives must be a result of our following Christ.

Particularly those who serve as elders, and especially those elders who are being supported by the church so that they can devote themselves to preaching and teaching, have a special responsibility to set the standard in showing forth the love of Christ in our family lives.  While we should not entertain accusations against our leading men without some reasonable testimonies of sin, when our elders do betray Christ and the faith by the way that they live, they should not be treated as privileged men of power who are allowed to hide their abusive patterns.  The Father of our heavenly household has shown His abiding commitment to holiness and love in the cross of Christ.  We must be those who imitate this life of love and blessing with holiness, so that we bring no disgrace upon the one Name by which we have been saved.

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