"And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle--I am telling the truth, I am not lying--and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles."
This verse, is in essence Paul's conclusion to v5-6. In those verses he states a point, and here he gives you the outcome or reason for the point being made as well.
As I walked, I was again struck by the continuation of the idea of "the only". In verse 5, Paul says there is "only" one God, then "only" on mediator. In verse 6 he tells us that there is only "one ransom" for all of man. Here he finished that theme by stating that these things are the "only" purpose to which he was called.
This really had me thinking, Paul is trying to make some absolute, non-debatable points to Timothy. He is lying out the "only truth" "only salvation" and "only mission" to which he has been called and I would arguable all believers have been called to testify. We don't like absolutes much any more. In fact, I know I often try to live my life in general without making to many absolute statements. Paul is saying that belivers need to be absolute about certain things are things are them. Especially to Timothy here, I believe Paul is making the point that while "other" ideas might exist in the world, they should not in the church. In your flock Timothy, these truth really are "only" truths. There is not tolerance in the church for outside opinions. Do not tolerate them. Do not entertain them. Do not let others in your flock entertain them. You are people of "only on God" "one Savior" "one Salvation" "one purpose". This is a great reminder.
To this, Paul was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher. I am going to get back to these, but I wanted to address Pauls strange add in during the middle of the verse.
"I am telling the truth, I am not lying!". At first I read this and I almost hear the voice of my kids. "I didn't punch Joelle. I promise, I'm not lying.". Like any good dad, I generally don't believe them and place them in timeout, but what is Paul doing. This seems like an odd place to throw this in. We know Paul often times had to defend his minsistry. I wouldn't of thought he would have had to do this to Timothy but he thinks he does. Right in the middle of a statment about his calling.
First, it is clear from the first chapter and a half that young Timothy is dealing with a lot of strong, probably older personalities in his flock. Paul starts the book with a warning about false teachers (Probably because Timothy was dealing with them) and then also at the end of the chapter calls out two believers who were leading outwardly sinful lives. As a young pastor, he might even have several older men vying for the ear of the young pastor for various reasons. Here Paul feels the need to defend his trustworthiness and calling so Timothy knows among all the voices, which one to hear.
This got me thinking about the world we live in. Young belivers often hear so many voices, from the world, but even different voices from within the church. I have seen that here at the school. Who should they trust, who do the follow. Regretfully, I think often the one that tells them what they want to hear, the one that involves the least sacrifice, and the one that makes things "the easiest" on them. Paul is telling Timothy to avoid these voices and listen to one he knows who has been called as a "teacher of the true faith". I wish it were so easy, but few of us have a Paul and many are looking for a "true" voice. I think this is a topic for more meditation and Scripture searching later.
Back to Paul's calling. I think this goes right along with Paul's giftedness, but he has been appointed (I like to think of it as hired by the blood of Christ) to be a voice of evangelism, leader in the church, a teacher of what is right and true. What a calling. Not every believer shares the same calling as Paul (especially Apostle), but every believer through his giftedness is called to this same "purpose" Paul describes at the beginning of the verse.
No comments:
Post a Comment