Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - January 3, 2021

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on 1 Timothy 2:1-6; 3;14-16.

You know, it seems that life is full of things we have to do but would rather take a pass on.  Things like filling out your income tax, getting your car inspected and throwing away all of that stuff you saved because you were sure you’d need it sometime in the future.  We all have those kind of demands in our lives.  Sometimes they are repeaters like the income tax and the car inspections, but, sometimes they are one of a kind events.  What are some the difficult things you have to do or had to do?  

In today’s study, Timothy is given a tough job by Paul that I am sure he would rather not have had to do.  To understand Timothy’s problem we need to know more about Timothy and the condition of the church he was to serve. What do you know about Timothy?  Here's a quick biography.

Paul first met Timothy in Lystra which was a province in Galatia.  His father was Greek and his mother was Jewish, but, it appears that he was raised more Greek than Jewish.  When Paul came to town on his first missionary journey, Timothy’s mother and grandmother heard him preach and became Christians.  Timothy was still young but his Mom and Grandmom saw to it that Timothy learned about Christ.  A couple of years later, Paul came back and by that time Timothy had developed into a very active Christian.  So much so, that the local church recommended that Paul take Timothy with him on the rest of his missionary journey.  Since his mother was Jewish, as far as the Jews were concerned that made Timothy a Jew.  The problem was that he hadn’t been raised as a practicing Jew which meant that he hadn’t been circumcised.  Paul was getting a hard time from his Jewish critics, so he thought that it would be easier for Timothy to be accepted by the Jewish church leaders if he was circumcised.

From that point on, Timothy became Paul’s right hand man.  He helped Paul in the writing of some of his letters such as 1 and 2 Thessalonians and 2 Corinthians.  Paul was very fond of Timothy.  In fact, Paul wrote that he loved Timothy as much as he would if Timothy were his own son.  It was because he trusted Timothy so much that he sent Timothy to Ephesus to handle a problem there that was splitting up the church.

Timothy’s job was to take over the running of the church and root out those who were destroying the faith there by filling the members with false teachings.  Who were the teachers who Paul saw as corrupting the church?  Were they outsiders who had infiltrated the leadership of the church with the intent of wrecking the fledgling church?  Were they Greek philosophers whose learning and reputation as great thinkers were influencing the church?  Were these members of the church itself?

It is sad to say that the trouble makers were the ruling elders of the church.  Now, as then, the threat to the church won’t come from the New York Times or saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” at Walmart.  The threat comes from within the leadership of the church when they say that Christianity is but one of many paths to God or Christians are obligated to respect all religions no matter what that religion supports and stands for.  So what were these elders saying that caused Paul so much concern?  

It seems pretty clear that these elders weren’t satisfied with the teaching they had gotten from Paul.  It wasn’t that they denied these teachings.  It is just that Paul wasn’t keeping up with the times.  He wasn’t recognizing that Christianity had to be a part with the new times if it were to survive.  In the first chapter Paul even identifies two of the elders guilty of encouraging a heresy.  What was the heresy - the false teaching?  The heresy that they promoted was Gnosticism.

What was Gnosticism?  We have studied it before, but, for a refresher, here is what it was all about.  Basically, it said that matter was evil and only the spirit was good.  Now this produced problems for Christians because if all matter is evil then God by touching matter would be corrupted.  If this is true, then how could God create the world out of matter and not get corrupted himself?  

To handle this problem, the Gnostics came up with a dilly of a plan for how creation occurred.  This is how it worked.  In order for God to work with matter he had to have only a part of him touch the matter.  This would mean that God would be only half corrupted.  But, a half corrupted God is still corrupted.  Now, if we take the half designated to touch matter and divide it in half, then only 25% of God would be corrupted.  We are getting better at sparing God corruption but no cigar yet.  If we keep taking the part of God that will deal with matter and continue to divide it in half, the corrupted part becomes smaller and smaller.  We can reach a point where the amount is so small that for all practical purposes it is zero.  For instance, if we take a one millionth part, that is one divided by one million, it is so small that it is much closer to zero than it is to one.  The bottom line is that for God to have created the universe, there would be more than a million different touches in the chain of creation.  

OK.  We have bought into this business about matter being corrupt and spirit being the only possible good.  What does that make Christ?  If Christ was a man then he was part of the matter group and, therefore corrupt and that couldn’t be.  How did the Gnostics deal with Christ, God in the flesh, if flesh is evil?  They did it this way.  They said that Christ only appeared to be human.  He was really a spirit.  This idea totally negates the whole teaching that Jesus Christ physically took the sins of the world upon his body, that he died, was buried and then rose from the dead.  Now we can see why Paul was so concerned.  If this heresy remained in the church, there would be no church.  So, Paul's question to the Gnostics was, "What's the matter with you?"

With this background, we’re ready for our study.  It starts with Paul giving Timothy good advice.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 

How does Paul start the verse?  “First of all.”  Paul has gone over with Timothy the Gnosticism problem that was in Ephesus.  Now, he’s going to give Timothy his plan for fixing the problem. And, what does Paul put at the top of the list for combating Gnosticism?  Supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving.  If the plan was to work, these were essential.  They are the cement that ties all Christians together and ties them to God.  If we look at these four things, they all fall under the general heading of “Prayer” don’t they?  Lest’s look at each part and see what is involved. 

(1) Supplications.  What is a supplication? I’ll give you a hint.  It has it’s roots in the word for “supply”. A request to supply something.  But, it is a request with a reasonable expectation that it will be granted.  If I request something from you it means two things.  I need something and I know that you can meet that need.  So, prayer starts with the feeling of need and the expectation that God can fill that need.

(2) Prayers.  Wait a minute.  What’s the difference between prayers and supplications?  Seems the same to me. The difference is that supplications can take place between people - between you and I.  My lawn mower is refusing to run, so I ask you if I can borrow your mower.  that's a supplication.  You see, supplications can be made to people.  It isn’t limited to just God.  But prayers are never used except to approach God.  You see, there are some needs that I have that you can help me with like mowing my lawn.  But, there are also some needs that only God can help me with and that is where prayers comes in - to address those needs with a generous God.

(3) Intercessions.  What are intercessions?  A baseball player is trying to negotiate his contract and management won’t offer a salary he wants.  When neither side will budge, the negotiations end and the problem goes to an arbitrator.  That arbitrator is an intercession necessary to resolve the problem. The arbitrator is acting on behalf of someone else. Intercessory prayers are prayers to God for the benefit of others. We can take our own problems to God in supplications, but take the problems of others to God in intercessions.

(4) Thanksgivings.  Now this is a toughie.  What do you think thanksgivings are about - and don’t say turkey and stuffing? Prayer doesn’t just mean asking God for stuff.  It also means thanking God for the things that he has already done for us.  A lot of time our prayers are an opportunity for us to get something off our chest.  To register a complaint.  God isn’t acting fast enough.  The problem doesn’t seem to be going away.  We have the right to bring our needs to God.  But, we also have the obligation to recognize and thank God for all he has already done for us.

1 Timothy 2:1 for kings and all who are in high places, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

Who should we make these prayers for?  Kings and people in high positions.  Do you want to waste your prayer time praying for Queen Elizabeth?  One thing that always bothers us is Paul insisting that we pray for kings and emperors and everybody who is in authority.  That covers a lot of people who we frankly might not like.  We may disagree hotly with the President or Nancy Pelosi about the virus relief bill, but, as Christians, our prayers should still include them.  In Paul’s day, when the Emperor was Nero who was about as bad as they come in his persecution of Christians, the church considered it an absolute duty to pray for Nero.  The reason for this is that Christians don’t take the position that they are an enemy to anyone much less someone in authority.  Christians just aren’t about making enemies.  Another thing is that all people in authority received their power from God so if God can put him in power who are we to dishonor God’s choice.  So how do we constructively pray for our political leaders or even leaders of other religions when we don’t like their policies?  To make it even harder, how can Republicans pray for Democrats and vise versa?  

Why does Paul tell us to pray for them?

(1) Pray so that we will lead a quiet and peaceable life.  How does that work?  That means that there will be a freedom from war, a freedom from rebellion and from anything that would disturb the peace.  When we look at how Paul tells us to pray like this for our leaders, even our Christian Republican and Democrat leaders sure seem to be falling short of this goal.  Seems like a waste of time.  But God has time and we are praying that God will be the only one who can change their partisan ways. 

(2) Pray so that our life is lived in godliness and dignity.  What does it mean to live in godliness?  To live in godliness is to live with reverence toward God AND men.  This means to respect the special place each person has with God.  Each person on this earth whether they asked for it or not, have the opportunity to benefit from God’s sacrifice of his Son for the reconciling of each person’s sin.  What about dignity?  Dignity means that we recognize that everybody has an honor and grace placed on them by a compassionate God.  You see, by receiving godliness and dignity, it is in our best interest to pray for our leaders.  

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all ---- this was attested at the right time.

Paul ends this portion of our lesson by stating the two greatest truths of the Christian faith.  What are they?

(1) There is one God.  We aren’t living in a world constructed by the Gnostics with all of their in between beings.  We aren’t living in a world with a multitude of gods like the Hindus where the gods might be competing with each other.  We have the sure knowledge that our lives and our world is directed by one being and that one being is a loving Father.

(2) There is one Mediator.  What is a mediator?  A mediator is somebody who stands between two parties and acts as a go-between.  The ancient Jews had mediators in dealing with God.  They were the angels.  For us there is only one go-between who has direct access to God.  Who does Paul identify as this mediator, this man with direct access to God?   Jesus Christ.  He earned that right by giving his life for the ransom of all of us.  

1 Timothy 3:14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, 15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. 16 Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.

What does Paul hope to do?  Come to them soon.  Don’t you feel a little of Paul’s frustration in these words?  Have you ever scheduled something and things keep popping up to delay that project?  You are going to have cook out.  You invite people.  You buy all the hot dogs, rolls, Diet Coke and charcoal you'll need.  The rolls get moldy.  You discover that you didn’t buy enough hot dogs.  And then on the cook out day, it rains.  It is almost like Paul is saying, “I’ve tried to get everything done here so I can get over to see you, but, just as I’m planning to leave, something else pops up.”  This must to have happened to Paul a lot.  So, when he couldn’t visit with a church, what did he do?  The second best thing.  He wrote a letter.  Think about this.  If things hadn’t kept frustrating his plans to travel to churches, we wouldn’t have all of these letters helping with the problems that dog us today.

Since Paul can’t be there in person, he is sending Timothy what?  Instructions.  What will these instruction deal with?  How to behave in church.  Ever have to instruct your children on how to behave in church?  But, you know, it’s hard to see them misbehaving with your eyes closed.

Paul says that without a doubt, what is it about our religion that is so great?  Mystery.  What is a mystery?  An unexplained happening.  For Paul the mystery is how salvation works.  To explain this mystery, Paul quotes from what must have been one of the first hymns sung in house churches.  This is a description of all that Christ represents.  What are the six things Paul lists?  

(1) Revealed in the flesh.  Who is revealed?  God.  What this is saying is that if you look at Jesus, you will see the heart and mind of God in a way that people can understand.

(2) Vindicated in the spirit.  What does vindicated mean? Proven right.  Men took Jesus and nailed him to the cross like a common criminal, but, through the power of the Spirit, Jesus was vindicated in his resurrection.

(3) Seen by angels.  In Jesus’ day people believed that angels and demons floated around every where.  We couldn’t help bumping into them all the time.  This might mean that Jesus brought truth to not only the angels, but, the demonic forces plaguing people.

(4) Proclaimed among the Gentiles.  Jesus wasn’t the exclusive possession of one race.  He wasn’t the Messiah who had come to raise the Jews as a powerful nation, but, a Savior for the whole wide world.

(5) Believed in throughout the world.  When Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection, he had about 120 followers left on Earth.  By the time that Paul wrote this letter, people in every nation had started accepting the salvation that Jesus offered.

(6) Taken up in glory.  The story of Jesus started in heaven and ended in heaven.  In between he lived here on earth with us.  Our claim to salvation rests in the sure knowledge that he is right now in his glory in heaven.

April 15 will come and all of our dread about tax forms will be over for another year.  Whatever month your car falls in, you’ll get new windshield wipers, pay the money, get a new decal on your windshield and forget about it for another year.  But, Paul tells us that the central thing in our life is Christ and we approach him through prayer.  There isn’t any dreading.  God is so open and loving that all thoughts of dread and anxiety fades.  Imagine a world ruled by godly men who have reverence for the one and only God and his Son.  That is something that might even unite congress.