Stoned-Campbell Disciple

Good afternoon from the Land by the Bay. After doing our morning Psalm reading (Pss 126-130), I took the opportunity to read a little in 2 Timothy and Titus. As I read Timothy, especially, thoughts from the Psalms kept shaping how I read Paul. It was an instructive though unplanned exercise.

When we read all of 1 Timothy and then go on to 2 Timothy, we get the feeling that Timothy’s situation has gone from bad to worse. Reading the second letter it is not a stretch to say that Paul is worried about his “son in the faith.”

There are a number of images that, I think, distort our “hearing” 2 Timothy (as they do 1 Timothy). The biggest false image is that of Timothy as basically an insecure teenager. This is hardly the case. Timothy is Paul’s son because Paul converted, and circumcised him. He is a younger compared to Paul, not because he is a 17 year old kid.

If these letters are written in the mid AD 60s (I realize a number of scholars date them considerably later), Timothy has been in ministry with Paul for over twenty years. He has been sent by Paul on missions to deal with troubled spots like Corinth (Ephesus is not Timothy’s first rodeo). Timothy has even cowritten several letters with Paul (2 Corinthians; Philippians; Colossians; 1-2 Thessalonians; Philemon). So, Timothy is not a green behind the ears padawan learner. Recognizing Timothy a “combat veteran” of ministry highlights the seriousness of the situation that Timothy is in.

I have come to believe, to make a generalization, that in 1 Timothy, Paul is concerned about the church in Ephesus. In 2 Timothy, Paul is concerned about Timothy not so much the church.

Paul’s Concern for Timothy

Paul’s model for ministry, it seems to me, is the righteous sufferer in the Psalms and the prophets. It would serve us well to have Psalm 55 and the life of Jeremiah in our minds as we work through 2 Timothy.

Psalm 55 could be prayed by both Timothy and Paul. And both are living the ministry of Jeremiah.

Paul opens his letter to Timothy by talking about heritage. We often miss it, or I have many times, in our social setting, but this is an appeal to honor by Paul (honor was a major social value in the Greco-Roman world). Paul says, basically, in 1.3-12, Timothy you have a family name to live up to. Paul says that he serves God “as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience.” Timothy has the same Jewish heritage in his mother and grandmother. Timothy comes from a family with a history of steadfastness and faithfulness. Indeed Timothy has a “sincere faith.” Timothy has a family tradition to live up to.

Based on that heritage (an honorable Jewish heritage), Paul exhorts Timothy, “fan into flame the gift of God.” This surely refers to Paul’s plea in 1 Timothy 1.18f where Timothy was set aside for this kingdom task. This plea sounds considerably different when directed to a tired, frustrated and possibly ready to throw in the towel twenty+ year veteran, than when filtered through the false image of Timothy as late teen or possibly twenty something young man. The life has been sucked out of Timothy!

Then Paul returns to himself as a “model” sufferer. Paul is not ashamed to suffer and neither should Timothy. Suffering is not a badge of dishonor but of honor, when done in the tradition of the prophets and the Messiah himself. Timothy is exhorted to “not be ashamed” and to “join with me in suffering.”

It is important to remember the social context here. Paul’s suffering is only in part at the hands of non-believers. As in Psalm 55, it is the people who have gone to worship, people who we thought were our friends, that have become the instruments of suffering in both Timothy and Paul’s life. This is why Paul tells Timothy that his friends Phygelus, Hermogenes, Onesiphorus and Demas have all deserted him. It is as if Paul is telling Timothy … “DON’T YOU GIVE UP ON ME TOO!“

Fellowship in Suffering in Ministry

Paul has koinonia with Timothy in these struggles. But he is not ashamed and neither should Timothy be.

Rather than be ashamed, Timothy needs to be true to his heritage and be strong in the message of the Gospel. Paul uses the phrase “pattern of sound teaching” (1.13). With advance apologies to some, this phrase is not about church structure (or the doctrine of the church). There is not an iota about church structure in 2 Timothy. The sound/healthy teaching is how the Gospel transforms our life by God’s “purpose and grace” (1.10).

This phrase, “sound teaching/healthy teaching” occurs right after Paul’s plea for Timothy to have fellowship with in suffering.

“Join me in suffering FOR THE GOSPEL, by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (1.9-10).

A few verses later, Paul tells Timothy, “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2.1).

Again Paul exhorts, note again the connection to suffering,

“Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead, descended from David.
This is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship,
even to the point of being chained like a criminal” (2.8-9).

Resource from Timothy’s Heritage

Paul pointed Timothy to the message is found in the Scriptures he learned from his heritage in his youth, the Hebrew Bible (likely in Greek translation) (3.14-16). These were almost certainly learned from his mother Lois and grandmother Eunice (1.5). Timothy will find the resources for faithfulness in deal with the conflict and the courage to carry on in the Scriptures that he was raised with.

So Paul addresses, again, in the second half of chapter 2 those factions in the Ephesian church that are destroying it, while seemingly killing Timothy. From 2 Timothy 2.14 down to 2.26 notice the massive emphasis on arguing, contentiousness and fighting. The words we often quote, devoid of context,

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2.15)

This statement is sandwiched between statements on abusive fighting (v.14) and “godless chatter” (v.16). Correctly interpreting the Scriptures is directly connected to not fighting. Those who want to use Scripture for wrangling are incorrectly handling the word of truth. Paul mentions, as examples, the infamous Hymenaeus again and adds Philetus (who probably are either elders or teachers in the Ephesian church). These men are listed as types of false teachers who are full of “godless chatter” on the resurrection. But the major emphasis, the thrust, in 2.14-26 is an expansion on what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.7f. There are, apparently, those who desire to be teachers of the Bible but refuse to do the work to properly understand its message. So Paul says,

“Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions” (1 Tim 1.6-7).

Lots of people, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, want to be teachers, but simply do not understand the Bible. Here we learn that the improper use of Scripture leads inevitably to religious fights. Paul tells Timothy (who knows the Bible) “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments” (2.23). A statement that comes just a few verses after being told to correctly handle the word of truth.

Timothy’s Difficult Situation

The purpose of Scripture is to transform us into loving servants of the Lord. It is not to turn us into rabid sectarians. The goal of God’s commands is in fact “love” (1 Tim 1.5).

The horrific description of the last days in 3.1-9 is not a prediction of the “end times.” It is a description of Timothy’s present. Paul and Timothy were living in the last days. The language,

“lovers of money,”
“abusive,”
“ungrateful,”
“unholy,”
“form of godliness,”

could easily have been said by Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk about God’s people who love the “forms of religion,” but could care less about loving and sacrificing for one another.

The language in 3.1ff, therefore, describes God’s people not unbelieving pagans. It is not pagans that have a form of godliness yet deny its power. That distinction belongs to the Ephesian church (cf. Rev 2.1-7). Second Timothy 3.fff is a description is of people who have turned the Bible, and therefore the church, into a war zone (again 3.1 comes on the heels of 2.14-26, Paul did not break these chapters apart).

And Timothy is caught smack in the middle of this congregational war.

Authority of the Jewish Scriptures for Ministry

So Paul returns, with Timothy, to the use of Scripture. Precisely because Timothy has the Hebrew Bible he should know that those serving the Lord will, like Paul himself, “be persecuted” (3.12). When Timothy reads those Hebrew Scriptures that equip the “man of God,” that it is God’s people not the pagans who typically persecute him (just read Jeremiah!). Even Sirach knows, “my child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing” (2.1)

But Timothy also knows, because he has a heritage, that Scripture makes us “wise unto salvation.”

This is traditional Jewish scriptural language itself. The Psalms tell us that the torah of the Lord makes “wise the simple.” In the Scriptures, that Lois and Eunice taught Timothy as a child, Timothy will be “thoroughly equipped” to do what he is supposed to do, and endure what he needs to for the sake of the kingdom. He will be able to “keep [his] head in all situations” and “endure” to the end (2 Tim 4.5). (For more on the very traditional Jewish way in which Paul describes the Hebrew Scriptures see my article, 2 Timothy 3.16: The Spiritual Gift of Wisdom unto Salvation in the ‘Old Testament.‘)

He will be faithful, even as his mother and grandmother have been faithful. He will be faithful, even as Paul is faithful.

Paul is being poured out as a sacrifice. And in the final analysis, Timothy will not abandon Paul (and the faith) as had his other companions. Not only did they desert him but some have done him “great harm” (4.14). So Paul is showing Timothy he has a name and heritage to live up to. But sometimes we can pray Psalm 55,

“But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the
house of God …

My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
His speech is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords”
(Psalm 55.13, 20)

Sometimes it is not the unbelieving world that does the minister in. The sad truth is, sometimes, it is churches that bring about their destruction.

Conclusion

Paul is seriously concerned about his friend Timothy. He does not want Timothy to become a Demas. How do you survive ministry in a hostile situation?

• Remember your heritage.
• Remember your Messiah message.
• Remember you have fellowship and communion in suffering.
• Remember the Scriptures of old by seeing your own life in, and through, them.

Of course “remember” is a basic word in the Bible for being “faithful.” Paul is, to use an image that I do not think is stretching it, stressed out over Timothy and his situation. Paul’s solution is to remind Timothy that he is part of a Story that is far larger than himself.

May you and I also remember that we are part of a Story that is as large and grand as the universe itself.

Shalom.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 26th, 2019 at 12:39 pm and is filed under 2 Timothy, A Gathered People, Bobby's World, Church, Exegesis, Hermeneutics, Holding On, Journey, Ministry, Preaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.