I Timothy 4:1-5

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared… (vv. 1-2) The words in these verses are stronger than words that I might use in applying Paul’s words to the times in which we live. Yes, I believe many have departed from the faith – so many in those liberal denominations within Christianity, including the Episcopal Church from which we have come. And yes, I believe that there are deceitful spirits – seminary professors who create, follow, and teach liberal doctrines not at all in harmony with traditional Christian beliefs. And yes, I have no doubt that Satan has had his influence in liberal seminaries and denominational hierarchies and that many clergy are led astray and take their flocks along with them. But I have trouble with Paul referring to the “insincerity of liars”. (The NASB has “hypocrisy” instead of “insincerity”.) I believe that these professors, clergy and denominational leaders honestly believe what they are teaching and preaching, that they are mostly sincere in their beliefs. But I don’t believe that these folks have made Jesus the Lord of their lives, that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They are overly worldly, trusting in the doctrines of man instead of seeking and listening to the Spirit. I may be wrong, but I’m more than willing to take my chances with the Lord whom I am blessed to serve.

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 3:14-16

We’ve only got three verses today – but they’re powerful!

… I am writing these things to you so that … you may know how one ought to behave in the … church of the living God… (vv. 14-15) It’s always helpful for me to edit out incidental phrases in Paul’s letters so that I can see exactly what he is saying. And here, although it’s a bit late in the letter (already the end of the third chapter) Paul finally tells Timothy the intent behind his writing to him. As I have noted before, Timothy is in Ephesus, a very pagan city, and the new converts are probably somewhat familiar with pagan worship. Naturally, Christian worship would be very different, as Paul proclaims Jesus’ majesty in the closing verse to this chapter:

He was manifested in the flesh,
    vindicated by the Spirit,
        seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
    believed on in the world,
        taken up in glory. (v. 16b)

These “poetic” lines are a bit confusing – they are not chronological for Jesus’ life. They make more sense if we move the last line two lines up, since He ascended well after His resurrection (… seen by angels).

I Timothy 3:8-13

We saw in Acts 6 that the early church had appointed deacons (although they were not named as such) to serve in more mundane, “earthly” matters. The qualifications for these deacons were few in number, but no less demanding: …pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom… (Acts 6:3). A man (or woman, a deaconess) who is of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom must surely have the necessary qualities for service that Paul mentions in today’s reading!

Paul has a separate verse for deacon’s wives that he does not includes for priests (elders, overseers): Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. (v. 11) Strange that he would have that additional line for deacon’s wives!

There are a couple of other noteworthy items for deacons that Paul does not mention for priests. First, it seems that deacons had to serve a trial period before being fully “ordained”: And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.(v. 10) Seemingly during this probationary period a candidate could be ruled unfit; Paul does not mention the same for priests. Second, although Paul mentions that priests should not be a “lover of money”, for deacons he goes one step further in that deacons should not be “greedy for dishonest gain”. The NASB has an even better phrase, “not fond of sordid gain”. I’m imagining some sort of ranking of the Ephesian men, from those who are most qualified to serve (becoming priests) on down to those who are maybe younger in their faith and possibly too nearly tainted by the Gentile world around them. Recall the riot that broke out when Demetrius, the silversmith led the Ephesian merchants in claiming that Paul was disrupting their trade! (Acts 19:23, ff.)

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 3:1-7

In today’s reading various translations use the term “bishop” or “overseer” in verses 1 and 2. However, I think that Paul is using that term to refer to the head of a congregation, so a better understanding would be “priest”. I draw this conclusion because Paul is writing to Timothy in Ephesus, a rather large city with the possibility of a number of congregations (most likely, house-churches). Timothy himself is already the “overseer” of all the Christian converts in the area, effectively acting as our modern-day bishop. So “priest” makes more sense for today’s reading. It also follows that tomorrow’s reading about deacons would refer to the next level down from the office about which we read today, more argument for today’s office being that of priest.

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. (v. 6, ESV) The NKJV translation uses “pride” instead of “conceit”, which I think helps me/us to relate better. Conceit seems to me to take one step stronger than pride, when someone begins to actively demonstrate his/her pride by talking him/herself up, taking on a different aura. Conceit sounds more devious. I would maintain that we all have problems with pride, but that not everyone is conceited. My thoughts.

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 2:8-15

Taking out all the positives and negatives in verses 9 and 10, here is what we are left with: …women should adorn themselves … with good works. (vv. 9-10, edited) Thankfully, most of the women I know do these very things. We need another two verses for men, with the same ending, good works!

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (v. 12) Both of my Study Bibles argued against a global, for-all-time pronouncement by Paul against female leadership and teaching. Rather, they pointed to time-specific issues in Ephesus – specifically an abundance of false teaching in the Ephesus community and living within the male-dominated Roman social climate – which would lead Paul to write down these restrictions.

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 2:1-7

Another oft-quoted verse: [God] … desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (v. 4)

A challenge for us today: I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for … kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (vv. 1-2) …challenging, especially here in Kentucky where we get it from both sides of the political aisle. If you are a Democrat, you have problems with President Trump. If you are a Republican, you have problems with Governor Beshear. So a suggestion that we need to pray for both Trump and Beshear becomes (clearly) half-hearted for many of us – yes, we can do the supplications, prayers, and intercessions. But “thanksgivings”…!! Pretty difficult!! So read the verses again and decide for yourself!

Paul follows up these two verses with a “lynchpin” truth: For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus… (v. 5) I can’t imagine that Jesus is going to intercede for us in our prayers for Trump and ignore our prayers for Beshear. Neither would He (I’m guessing) intercede in our prayers for Beshear and ignore our prayers for Trump. He knows that both men are in power over us – He put them there: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13:1-2) So, again, read the verses again and decide for yourself!

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 1:12-20

Two verses in today’s reading are widely quoted. First, It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. (v. 15) The last portion of that verse beginning with “among” is often left off when that verse is quoted, since it is referring to Paul specifically. And second, Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (v. 17) This verse is occasionally used as a closing prayer. If I were to quote it from memory, I would have said “the only WISE God” – but I could not find that usage in any translation. We often sing a hymn that begins, “Immortal, invisible, God only wise…”, which is probably why I quote the verse incorrectly.

…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; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant… (vv. 13-14a) These verses provide a solid argument for Paul’s being the author of this letter; I can’t imagine another writer penning these words, acting as if he were Paul! When I read these verses over and over, together with verse 15 quoted above, I hear real penitence coming from Paul. He must have been really sorry for his former life!

Slava Bohu!

I Timothy 1:1-11

Today we leave Paul’s “city letters” behind and move on to his “Pastoral Epistles” to Timothy and Titus for the next month or so. Today, I Timothy. First, an intro to this letter – there are two significant items worth noting. First, there is substantial controversy over whether Paul was the author of these letters, the main argument being that more than 300 words appear in these three letters that do not appear in any of the rest of Paul’s letters that we have. But most conservative Biblical scholars accept Paul’s authorship.

The second item is more compelling – that Paul had a FOURTH missionary journey (after Acts 28), and that these three letters were written while he was on that journey or after that journey when he was imprisoned again. In addition to The Chronological Study Bible I have a NASB Study Bible, published by Zondervan, which has a two-page (half-page each) presentation for this fourth missionary journey, with Biblical references to justify that argument. I will send those pages to you in a separate note. The NASB Study Bible doesn’t do “ifs” and “maybes”; it states clearly that Paul had this fourth journey. That was all news to me. Intriguing!

Slava Bohu!

Ephesians 6:10-23

But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus … will make everything known to you. (v. 21) This verse, together with Paul’s prisoner comment in verse 20 strongly suggests that Paul wrote Ephesians at the same time that he wrote Colossians and Philemon (see Colossians 4:7-9).

I had never known that Paul got his “armor of God” material from Isaiah. See Isaiah 11:5 (v. 14a), Isaiah 52:7 (v. 14b, 15), and Isaiah 59:17 (v. 17) where Paul has four of those pieces of armor directly from Isaiah. I can’t imagine that Paul had Isaiah scrolls with him (like we have the Internet), but it’s clear to me that he really knew his Old Testament scriptures!

Slava Bohu!

Ephesians 6:1-9

Sometimes it’s hard to find anything to say with respect to Paul’s writings. I mean, how can you disagree with Children, obey your parents… (v. 1) or Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger… (v. 4)? Still, we might wonder about Paul’s counsel, Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling… (v. 5a, NASB), wondering if Paul’s advice was an endorsement for slavery or simply a recognition for reasonable living in the context of that first-century institution. Then again, in trying to bring Paul’s first-century writings into our 21^st century lives, we are often encouraged to substitute “workers” for “slaves” and insert his words into our 21^st century workplaces. But in doing so, we again wonder how fear and trembling fits into any 21^st century workplace. As 21^st century workers, can fear and trembling have any place in any work situation? I don’t think so; fear and trembling for workers are out of place today. Instead I would put the burden on supervisors and embrace today’s verse 9: Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with Him. Or, as Jesus put it, …whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:26a-28)

Slava Bohu!