1 Timothy 2:5-7 – The Gospel is for all

The first few verses of 1 Timothy 2 called us to pray for everyone because God wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (vv.1-4). From verse 5 onwards, Paul continues this ‘zooming out’ from focussing on his own salvation (1:12-15) and look to the bigger picture, just like you might rapidly zoom out on Google Maps from your address to see an image of the whole world from space.

The Gospel is not just about the Lord’s grace to Paul, but to all people. Paul states that there is only one God and only one mediator between God and men (v.5). Salvation may have come from the Jews, but it cannot only be for the Jews. Paul knew this from the time of his conversion as God revealed to Ananias that Paul was God’s “chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles” (Acts 9:15).

In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul explained God’s salvation plan: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Here, Paul unpacks his soteriology (theology of salvation) a little more by stating that Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all men” (v.6), echoing Jesus’ own words in Mark 10:45. On the cross, Jesus ransomed us from Satan’s grasp. Through faith in Christ and the grace of God, we are rescued from the realm of sin and brought into the holy and righteous realm of the one true God. Baptism, the sacrament of faith, is comparable to the Exodus as we, like the Israelites, are led from slavery into freedom. Jesus has won the victory over sin for us and we can stand firm in him against the devil’s tactics and temptations.

This is indeed good news! Paul says that it was “for this purpose” that he was “appointed a herald and an apostle…and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles” (v.7). For us too this is the reason why we are Christians, chosen and sent by God to bring good news to a dying world. This is the centre of all that we believe and all that we do. Without grasping and being transformed by Christ’s redeeming death, everything else is meaningless.

We can fall into the trap of thinking that we can ‘pick and choose’ our mission, whether it be ecumenism or creation care, church growth or global partnerships, spirituality or social justice. There are so many valid and worthwhile things that can, if we are not careful, override the main thing and lead us astray.  The main thing is Christ crucified and risen. Our prime mission – just like Paul’s – is to proclaim that good news to all people. 

Book Review: The Screwtape Letters

When did you last hear Satan mentioned in church?

If it was in the last month, you’re probably within a minority in the British church today.  The devil may have fallen off of the church’s radar in recent decades, but Satan still prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We still need to heed Peter’s advice to be “alert and of sober mind.”

C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters were first printed in The Guardian (how times have changed!) and then published as a book in 1941. There have been endless reprints for the book has a timeless quality.

The 31 letters give us an amusing and powerful insight into the devil’s tactics. We see Uncle Screwtape, a senior devil, writing advice to his young demon nephew, Wormwood. Only a few pages in, Wormwood’s “patient” becomes a Christian and Screwtape has to do all he can to help Wormwood save this man from “The Enemy.” Wormwood tries to undermine the patient’s view of the church to make him someone who unhappily hops from church to church, unable to see beyond the flaws of his brothers and sisters. Wormwood attempts to focus the patient’s attention on his tense relationship with his mother to test his Christian character.  Wormwood fights to make his patient waste time, to be distracted from good and worthwhile work. And so it goes on…

The part which always strikes me is how Screwtape calls Wormwood to focus on the small sins:

You will say these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. (Letter XII)

So much to think about, reflect on and pray for!

 

Exposition: 1 Timothy 1:1-7

Every one of Paul’s letters – without exception – begins with Paul asking the reader(s) to be given grace. Every one of Paul’s letters – without exception – ends with Paul saying ‘God’s grace be with you’ (or something to that effect). I am grateful to John Piper who argues that Paul knows that God’s grace is imparted by God’s word. Through Paul’s divinely inspired writings, Timothy will be freely nourished and taught by God himself. 

We know that Timothy travelled with Paul and that he considered Paul his mentor. This letter to Timothy deals with three main concerns. The first is a warning against false teaching in the church. The false teaching appears to be that the physical world is evil and that one can only attain salvation by special secret knowledge, by not marrying and by avoiding certain foods (1 Tim. 4:3-5). This is Gnosticism. Secondly, the letter contains instructions about church administration and worship, with a description of the character that church leaders should have. And Finally, Timothy is advised how to be a good servant of Jesus Christ. 

Here in chapter 1, Paul is urging Timothy to stay put in Ephesus in order to deal with the issue of false teaching, “myths and endless genealogies” (v.4). These myths have promoted speculations and pride (1 Tim. 6:4) and their proponents have failed to realise that the Gospel message can only ever be accepted on the basis of faith, which God wants all men to receive (1 Tim. 2:4). Instead of being distracted by such meaningless talk, the focus must be on “advancing God’s work.”

What is this work?

“Love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (v.5).

A Gnostic worldview despises the physical world and fails to see God’s goodness and love shining through the cracks of its fallen-ness. 

The lesson for us is that faith must be rooted and expressed in love. Knowledge must lead to a changed heart and a changed life. I am reminded of Paul’s famous plea in 1 Corinthians 13: We may be able to speak the language of humans and angels, be an inspiring preacher, have all knowledge and secrets, have faith to move mountains, and give away everything we have, yet if we do not have love, it does us no good. 

For Paul, love is the main thing. Jesus stepped down from the glory of heaven to be born in a stable amongst the animals because of love. Jesus taught and pleaded and healed because of love. Jesus bore our griefs because of love. Jesus was pierced for our transgressions because of love. Talk is meaningless without love. Love saves us from arrogant and contemptuous thinking. Love saves us from condemning that with which we do not agree. We would do well to be reminded of this in our own churches when divisions plague us.

The church members in Ephesus want to be teachers of the law, but “they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm” (v.7). Why do they not know? Because they do not love. And because they do not love, they do not understand what it means to be the church.