His Word Today

¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:11–12 (ESV)

The following excerpt is by Dr. J. Ligon Duncan. He is an American Presbyterian scholar and pastor. He is Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary. Jackson, Miss. He preached this message in 2004.

I. Speak with authority and
instruct your flock with these truths.

II. Prove your office by your
life.

Secondly, notice what he says in verse 12.
It boils down to this: he says, “Timothy, practice what you preach. Let no one
look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and
purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” Or, show yourself an
example to believers. What’s Paul saying? He’s saying practice what you
preach, Timothy. Prove your office by your life. Timothy, you’re young. There
are older and more experienced people in your congregation. It would be
possible for them to say, “Boy, that preacher’s kind of young….” And Paul
says, “Timothy, you show that you have every business being a minister of the
word of God by the way you live. You practice what you preach.”

And he zeroes in on five specific areas. He says, ‘Timothy, first…notice, first…with your speech show that you’re qualified to be a minister of God.’                                                                                                                                    This isn’t his preaching speech, this is his day-to-day speech. In the way that you talk, Timothy, in the respectful way that you talk to people, in the serious way that you talk to people; in the appropriate way that you talk to people, you show with your language that you’re a minister of the gospel.

And, in your conduct, in your manner of life,
show that you are qualified to be a preacher of the gospel.
Twenty-four/seven, with your life outside of the pulpit on Sunday morning and
Sunday evening, the rest of the week, you show with your manner of life that
you’re called to be a preacher of the word of God.

And Timothy, you show with your love.                                                              You show in the way that you serve others in love that you put their interests before your own; that you serve them even at your own expense. You show in the way that you love that you’re a minister of the gospel.

And Timothy, you show by your faith.                                                                     
Does Paul mean your trust in the promises of God, or does he mean your fidelity to
the truth of God? I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to say. Sometimes he uses
this word to mean “faithfulness;” sometimes he means it to be “faith.” Either
would be a true exhortation, wouldn’t it? Timothy, by your faith show that
you’re called to be a minister of the word.

And Timothy, by your purity…and Paul has
especially in view Timothy’s sexual purity.  The way he relates to the
female members of his congregation. As one older minister in the Lord exhorted
me and other younger ministers, he said, “Brothers, love the sisters, but take
no pleasure in them.” Meaning, you love them like a sister in Christ. You
serve them. But do not lust for them. Do not treat them as an object for
your gratification. You love them purely, like a sister in Christ. That’s what
Paul’s saying to Timothy.

And he’s saying, Timothy, you be an example.
Timothy’s preaching, his authoritative preaching, is to be preceded by a life
that exhibits the fruits of that authoritative preaching. He is to practice
what he preaches. And my friends, all true Christian profession shows itself in
how we live. And so, if Timothy is to be an example to us as believers in these
five areas, then we ought to be examples to one another in these five areas. Are
you praying that the Lord would grow you in those five areas? Are you praying
for your brothers and sisters in Christ here at First Presbyterian Church that
they would grow in these areas and be an encouragement to you? And that we
collectively would be a witness to the world that God has done a work in our
hearts, and therefore in us there is appropriate godly speech and conduct, and
love and faith and purity? That’s a good prayer to pray for one another, and
it’s certainly something for us all to aspire to, whether we’re ministers or
not.

Ministers, elders here today, are you striving to adorn your life with this godliness? That’s what Paul’s calling us to do. We have a special burden to strive after this holiness, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:11–12 (ESV)

The following excerpt is by Dr. J. Ligon Duncan. He is an American Presbyterian scholar and pastor. He is Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary. Jackson, Miss. He preached this message in 2004.

What’s a minister supposed to be and do? What is the heart of the ministry of the local church?You know, over the last hundred years in America, there have been more answers given to that question than I can even begin to list for you today. Just about everybody studying the church today agrees that ministers are expected to be more things now than they’ve ever been expected to be before. Historically, the Christian church expected ministers to preach, they expected ministers to lead in worship, and to pastor.

Today ministers are expected to be jacks-of-all-trades: salesmen, fund-raisers, leaders, counselors, therapists, cheerleaders, coaches….and then along the way somewhere, preach every once in a while, disciple and minister to the people of God in times of need. There’s been a multiplication of the expectations on the part of those in the pew for the ministers of the word. That’s just something that sociologists tell us. Everybody seems to be telling us that.

What, then, ought to be the job description of the minister? Paul has something to say about that in this passage today. What ought to be the model, the pattern of ministry in the local church? Again, if I were to list all the options that are out there today, we wouldn’t have time just to list the options! There is a model for how the church ministry ought to be conducted on every…there are ten models on every bookshelf that you find on “Ministry” in a local Christian bookstore. The church needs to be completely remodeled in order to appeal to seekers. No, the church needs to be completely remodeled in order to be welcoming to seekers. And there’s a model for every…there’s a philosophy for church life on every bookshelf–gobs of
different approaches. What, then, should be the pattern of ministry in the local church? Paul says in this passage today what it ought to be. I want you to see six things, very briefly, that he directs to Timothy and to all ministers: six things that have something to say to all of us here gathered under the hearing of the word today. The first thing is this. You’ll see it in verse eleven.

I. Speak with authority and
instruct your flock with these truths.

Paul wants Timothy’s proclamation to be authoritative. The first point that Paul makes to Timothy is that his ministry should be authoritative. He’s talking about authoritative proclamation. Notice what he says in verse eleven: “Prescribe and teach these things.” Some of your translations may say “command and teach these things.” That’s a perfectly good translation. It’s a military word that’s being used. “Command” or “prescribe” here is the word that is used to speak of the orders that are given by a superior officer to inferior officers. Paul is saying to Timothy that his proclamation needs to be authoritative.

Do you realize how counter-cultural that is? I’m told by everybody around me today that the pattern of ministry in the Christian church needs to be changed because people don’t like to be “preached at.” They don’t like a sermon. They like dialogue. They like advice. They’re more into the give and take of therapy than they are in the direct proclamation of a lecture or a sermon. And so, we’re told on every side the way we go about doing church needs to change, because people don’t like that. Well, I’ve got some news for you: people have never liked this!! There’s never been a time when people liked to have their hearts probed. There’s never been a time where people liked to have somebody discover where they have been weighed in the balance and found lacking. There’s never been a time where people liked to be told ‘you’re dead wrong; you need to go another direction.’

And Paul says that’s exactly what people have
always needed, whether they like it or not. So, he says, “Timothy,
prescribe and teach these things.” In other words, in your preaching, be
authoritative. You’re not speaking for yourself. You’re not sharing your
opinions. You’re not burdening people with your own idea about life. You’re
speaking God’s word to them, so be authoritative about it! And you know what?
Because all faithful Christian teaching has with its view the production of a
life of fellowship and obedience to God, it’s got to be authoritative because
we’re not just speaking the word in order to tell you something new or
interesting. We’re not just giving you some fun facts to know and tell.
Christian teaching has in view the transformation of life. And so, it’s got to
be authoritative.

And as Christians, we ought to want to sit under a
ministry that is faithful in the authority of its proclamation. That’s
something that, if the Lord moves you from this place to another place, that’s
something you ought to look for. Not a ministry that’s ‘dialoguing’ with you;
not a minister that’s doing a late-night talk show chat on a bar stool; but
someone who’s proclaiming authoritatively God’s word. That’s what Paul says we
ought to do. This isn’t the opinion of up-tight Presbyterians: this is Paul,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit telling you what God wants in ministry.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:11–12 (ESV)

When the Lord calls an individual into ministry, they initially may encounter some intentional, or unintentional, condescending attitudes by older saints. Certain persons within the church may endeavor to put the minister in their place, so to speak. They may reason their years of ministry, whether volunteer or paid, and life experiences eclipse any talent, abilities or calling the younger servant of Christ may possess. It can also be the case the young minister may believe they know all the answers to all the questions of life and living; even the questions they do not know.  

What is to be the attitude and action a younger servant of Christ is to display to those fellow believers who are older? The Apostle Paul did not leave Timothy, or believers today, wondering what to think and how to act.

Regarding one’s attitude in this situation, Paul wrote, “Let no one despise you for your youth,” The phrase no one (μηδείς; medeis) means nobody and nothing. Let despise (καταφρονείτω; kataphroneito) refers to scorn, and to look down on. Taken together, Paul commanded Timothy to not allow anyone to be condescending to him as their pastor. The reason for such condescension was because of his young age. The words your youth (τῆς νεότητος; tes neotetos) refers to youthfulness.

Timothy may have been younger than most of the believers in the Ephesian church. As an elder and pastor, he was not to allow people to look down on him because of his age. This type of behavior should not happen in the church, but all too often does.

“Elders were highly respected in Greek gymnasia and exercised a ruling function in synagogues and churches, as they had in communities in the Old Testament. Timothy joined Paul before a.d. 50 (Acts 16:1–3). Men entered adulthood around puberty, so Timothy may have been in his mid-teens. Paul is writing in the early sixties, Timothy is at least in his mid-twenties and could well be in his early or mid-thirties; this term for “youth” (KJV) could apply up to the age of forty, although it usually applied especially to someone under twenty-nine. But those who were not elders were often considered inappropriate for leadership positions (cf. 1 Sam 17:33), and many offices even in Judaism became available only at age forty. Most stories about the appointment of young men were made up later to extol prodigies (postbiblical stories about Daniel, Solomon or several rabbis); Timothy’s appointment was thus a rare privilege in his culture.” ^[1]

While it may have been hard for Timothy to dictate the attitudes of others, he could control his own actions. Therefore, Paul commanded him to set the believers an example. Set (γίνου; ginou) is a present, middle, imperative verb. Timothy was to continuously, personally, and obediently behave with biblical character towards fellow believers. Paul called him to be an example (τύπος; typos). This refers to a model, an archetype for people to see and follow.

The model behavior Paul has in mind involves speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.” Speech (λόγῳ; logo) means an individual’s words and the content of their communication. Conduct (ἀναστροφῇ; anastrophe) refers to a way of life and living.  Love (ἀγάπῃ; agape) means a self-sacrificial love of the will. Faith (πίστει; pistei) refers to being committed, dependable, trustworthy and honorable. Purity (ἁγνείᾳ; hagneia) means having no moral defect.

“At first Paul’s instruction that Timothy should not let anyone “despise” (kjv) his youth might seem impossible to fulfill since Timothy could not control the attitudes of others. Yet when combined with the latter part of the verse, the thrust of Paul’s instruction becomes clear. Timothy must not be intimidated by his relative youthfulness or what others might think of it. Instead, he was to demonstrate his maturity by living such a godly life that he would become a pattern for other Christians in every area of his life: speech … life (i.e., “behavior or conduct,” anastrophē; cf. “conduct” in 3:15), love … faith, and … purity. The word for “purity” (hagneia, “moral cleanness”) is used only here and in 5:2.” ^[2]

“Timothy must not permit anyone to despise him because of his youth. He must see to it that he is respected because of his office. But he must attain this end not by “acting big” or bragging about his credentials, but by conducting himself as a man of sage counsel and consecrated, practical wisdom. Respect for the man will mean respect for his office.”^[3]

“Hence, Paul continues, but become the believers’ model in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. In an altogether natural and organic manner he must win the respect of all the believers. Note that Paul does not really say that Timothy should become a model for the believers, that is, for them to follow (see 1 Thess. 1:7; 2 Thess. 3:9), but that ever increasingly he should become a model of what the believers are; and this in five respects:

a. in speech, that is, in personal conversation (for preaching see the next verse).

b. in conduct, that is, in customs, habits, ways of dealing with people, etc.

c. in love, that is, in deep personal attachment to his brothers and in genuine concern for his neighbors (including even his enemies), always seeking to promote the welfare of all.

d. in faith, that is, in the exercise of that gift of God which is the root from which love springs (note: love here probably indicates the horizontal relationship; faith, the vertical).

e. in purity (see also 1 Tim. 5:2), that is, in complete conformity, both in thought and act, with God’s moral law.^[4]

If you have a younger minister on the staff of your local church, treat them with the respect you would appreciate people extending to you; regardless of age. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Ti 4:12.

^[2] A. Duane Litfin, “1 Timothy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 741.

^[3] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 157.

^[4] Ibid.,157–158.

¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:11–12 (ESV)

“Now, in the passage before us today Paul has some words, very personal words, for a man that he knew and loved very well: Timothy. And it would be very tempting for us…and you’re going to hear the “personal-ness” of this message in the pronouns that he uses. He’s speaking “you, you, you, you, Timothy,” and even some of the instructions that he gives are couched in the distinctive personality of Timothy,” explains Pastor Dr. J. Ligon Duncan.

“Timothy was a man who was constitutionally weak, he had stomach problems. He was temperamentally meek, he was given to deference. He had been Paul’s right-hand man, and frankly, he was having a hard time transitioning into the role of leadership where “he was the man.” He was young, and all of those combined to bring about certain characteristics and dynamics in the way that Paul speaks to him in this passage.”

“So, it would be very tempting for us to say, “Well, good. We’re getting ready to listen in on what Paul has to say to one minister, and what this says doesn’t say anything to me today.” You, if you took that posture, would be in the wrong position! Because every word of Scripture is given by inspiration and every word is profitable for you, for reproof and correction and training in righteousness, (2 Tim. 3:16-17).”

“First of all, in this passage what Paul says to Timothy is not only
applicable to Timothy; it is applicable to everyone who is a minister of the
gospel. Secondly, however, even in the things that Paul tells Timothy to do here, there is much that is said about what the ministry pattern of the local church is to be, if Timothy does the things that Paul tells him to do in I Timothy 4:11-16. But finally, you as a believer can learn much about what you are to be and do from this passage to a Christian minister. Why? Because in this passage Paul says, Timothy, you are to do this in order to be an example to the flock. Even though these words in the first instance are spoken to a minister, they’re applicable to every Christian,” concludes Dr. Duncan.

It is imperative for believers in Christ to know what this particular text says, what it means and how it may be applied in our lives. As is the case with this portion of Scripture, so it should be with all portions of Scripture.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Command and teach these things.” Command (Παράγγελλε; Parangelle) is a present, active, imperative verb. Paul gave an order to Timothy, who in turn was to give an order to the believers in the church he pastored. A command is God’s announcement as to what He wants us to do. God commanded Timothy to give a command from God Himself. This was a solemn responsibility.

Paul not only gave a command from God for Timothy to announce what believers in Christ must do, but he also commanded Timothy to teach believers what they must do. The word teach (δίδασκε; didaske) is also a present, active, imperative verb. It means to instruct in either a formal or informal setting.

The phrase these things (ταῦτα; tauta) refers us back to the immediate context of I Timothy 4:1-10. The apostle commanded the pastor to teach what he taught him, which in turn was what the Lord taught the apostle. These things refer us back to the subjects of apostasy, deceitful spirits, doctrines of demons, seared consciences, and man-made requirements. It also includes genuine thanksgiving to God, good servanthood, words of faith and good doctrine, training for godliness, a willingness to toil and strive for biblical truth, and to set one’s hope solely in the living God who alone is the Savior of sinners.  

“Timothy is told to command (or: to keep on commanding) and teach (or: to keep on teaching; both verbs are present imperatives) these things. He must command such things as, “Profane and old-womanish myths shun,” “Train yourself (and yourselves) for godly living” (verse 7). Orders such as these apply not only to Timothy himself but to all the presbyters, yes, and even to all Christians. It is probable that the expression “these things” in connection with “command” refers also to implied commands, such as, “Never reject what God has intended for use, but partake of it with thanksgiving” (verses 3, 4), “Nurture yourself (yourselves) on the words of faith and sound doctrine” (verse 6), “Rely on the living God and on his promise to all who live the godly life and who accept him by genuine faith” (verses 8, 9),” explains Dr. William Hendriksen..^[1]

“Timothy must teach such things as, “Apostasy is coming, in the form of asceticism” (verses 1–3), “That error is an insult to God and to his work of creation” (verses 4, 5), “An excellent minister is one who is nourished on sound doctrine which he transmits to others” (verse 6), “The benefit which accrues from godly living transcends that which results from physical training (verses 8–10).”^[2]

The application is clear. What Paul commanded Timothy to teach is what God commands all believers in Christ to teach. The Lord’s marching orders have not changed. They are still in force. God calls us to obey them without wavering. As we do, we may face toil and strife in this fallen world, who reject the message and the Messiah.

When this happens let each of us be encouraged by the words of our Savior and Lord who said, “¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11–12 (ESV).

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!  

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^[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 156–157.

^[2] Ibid., 157.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 ESV)

The basis for the propositional truth for the worldview of Biblical Theism, and its consequential implications including being accountable to the God of the Bible, stems from the very first verse from the first chapter of the first book of the Bible: Genesis 1:1. This verse is not an archaic, ancient or outdated text having no application to our lives today. Instead, the text establishes the foundation, source and starting point for all the biblical theist believes, and consequentially does, in knowing and living for God the Creator.

To begin with we observe the event of creation. “In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1, ESV). The phrase is one word in the Hebrew (רֵאשִׁית / rēʾšît). It refers to the point in time which is the beginning. It is the beginning of time at the point of the initiation of life that God created.  The word appears fifty times in nearly all parts of the Old Testament. The primary meaning is “first” or “beginning” of a series.

Secondly, we observe the person responsible for creation: God. The word for God is אֱלֹהִים / ʾělohîm. This refers to the One, True God. We should note that though the form is a grammatical plural, the meaning is singular and many sources believe this implies a plurality of majesty or stateliness.

Thirdly, we observe the extent of creation. God created the heavens (שָׁמַיִם / šamayim) and the earth (אֹות, אֵת / ʾowt, ʾēt /אֶרֶץ / ʾeres). The heavens refer to the sky (Psalm 18:10), the universe (I Kings 18:45) and the abode of God (Deuteronomy 14:10). The earth refers to the ground, the whole earth as opposed to a part, countries, regions, districts and the specifically nations, such as the Land of Israel or the Promised Land. The word “earth” occurs 2,400 times in the Old Testament.

The practical implications are significant regarding what the Bible reveals about God the creator.  Here are but a few practical implications to consider.

As creator, we see that God is sovereign, majestic, and intimately involved in creation. This includes when tragedy strikes in this fallen and sinful world. It would be logical and reasonable to assume that Christians, in light of their commitment to the Bible’s teachings of Biblical Theism, would therefore live their lives accountable to God and His Word. Such a life results in seeking to bring God glory by submission before and obedience to His Word and will.

However, a tension increasingly exists where Christians affirm Biblical Theism in principle by what they say but reject it in what they do in by rebelliously rejecting God’s Word. In other words, believers cannot truly affirm Biblical Theism on the one hand while at the same time reject salvation solely in Jesus Christ and live lives which are more in keeping with Atheistic Secularism on the other. It is contradictory or hypocritical to affirm the existence of a personal creator God who is also Savior and Lord but at the same time live in rebellion to the ethical teachings and commands of that very same personal creator God, Savior and Lord.

Therefore, believers in Christ must examine their lives and lifestyle, their ethical choices to see if they are living consistently to their commitment to the personal Creator and Savior of the Bible (God). We must examine our lives, lifestyle and ethical choices to see if in any way they are consistent with Atheistic Secularism’s rejection of the personal creator of the Bible (God). The believer who is truly committed to biblical truth will repent and renew their commitment to the One, True God.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16 – “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:13-16 ESV)

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For ^by grace you have been saved ^through faith. And this is ^not your own doing; ^it is the gift of God, ^not a result of works, ^so that no one may boast. For ^we are his workmanship, ^created in Christ Jesus ^for good works, ^which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

Has God brought you into a covenant relationship with Him through the finished work, the substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection, of Jesus Christ? This is the beginning point of possessing and living eternally in light of God the Creator who is also Savior and Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

The following essay is by Pastor John Piper. He preached this message January 1, 2020. It is entitled He Took Up Arms Against Liberalism: J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).

Liberalism: Another Religion

In the Presbyterian Church of Machen’s day, there were hundreds who would not deny the Confession of Faith, but by virtue of this modernistic spirit had given it up even though they’d signed it. One of the most jolting and penetrating statements of Machen on this issue is found in his book What Is Faith?

It makes very little difference how much or how little of the creeds of the Church the Modernist preacher affirms, or how much or how little of the Biblical teaching from which the creeds are derived. He might affirm every jot and tittle of the Westminster Confession, for example, and yet be separated by a great gulf from the Reformed Faith. It is not that part is denied and the rest affirmed; but all is denied, because all is affirmed merely as useful or symbolic and not as true. (What Is Faith? 34)

When Machen took on modernism, then, he took it on as a challenge to the whole of Christianity. His most important book in the debate was Christianity and Liberalism, published in 1923. The title almost says it all: Liberalism is not vying with Fundamentalism as a species of Christianity. The book is not entitled Fundamentalism and Liberalism. Instead, Liberalism is vying with Christianity as a separate religion. He wrote the blurb for the book:

Liberalism on the one hand and the religion of the historic church on the other are not two varieties of the same religion, but two distinct religions proceeding from altogether separate roots. (J. Gresham Machen, 342)

Modernism to Postmodernism

I don’t think the structure of the modernism of Machen’s day is too different from the postmodernism of our day. In some churches, the triumph of modernism is complete. It is still a menace at the door of all our churches and schools and agencies. One of our great protections will be the awareness of stories like Machen’s — the enemy he faced, the battle he fought, the weapons he used (and failed to use), the losses he sustained, the price he paid, and the triumphs he wrought.

For example, Machen’s life and thought issue a call for all of us to be honest, open, clear, straightforward, and guileless in our use of language. He challenges us, as does the apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 2:17; 4:2; Ephesians 4:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:3–4), to say what we mean and mean what we say, and to repudiate duplicity, trickery, sham, verbal manipulating, sidestepping, and evasion.

“All is denied, because all is affirmed merely as useful or symbolic and not as true.”

The dangers of the utilitarian uses of moral and religious language are still around in our day. It is not unusual, for example, to come across language similar to what I read in the Washington Times when I was first researching Machen’s life. The spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the nation’s largest homosexual advocacy group, told the Times, “I personally think that most lesbian and gay Americans support traditional family and American values,” which he defined as “tolerance, concern, support, and a sense of community.”

This is an example of how words with moral connotations have been co-opted by special-interest groups to gain the moral high ground without moral content. They sound like values, but they are empty. “Tolerance” for what? All things? Which things? “Concern” for what? Expressed in what way? Redemptive opposition or sympathetic endorsement? “Support” for what? For the behavior that is destructive and wrong? Or for the person who admits the behavior is wrong and is struggling valiantly to overcome it? “Community” with what standards of unification? Common endorsements of behavior? Common vision of what is right and wrong? Common indifference to what is right and wrong?

In every case, the standards are not defined. All you have is words driven by a utilitarian view of language where honesty and truth are not paramount. Machen shows us that this is not new, and that it is destructive to the church and the cause of Christ — especially when pastors engage in such duplicity from the pulpit.

His Promise Never Fails

The overarching lesson to be learned from Machen’s life, however, is that God reigns over his church and over the world. His all-inclusive plan is always more hopeful than we think in the darkest hours of history, and it is always more intermixed with human sin and weakness than we can see in its brightest hours. This means that we should renounce all triumphalism in the bright seasons and renounce all despair in the dark seasons.

Our hope for the church and for the spread of the true gospel lies not ultimately in our strategies but in God. Even when the culture degenerates, and once-faithful institutions drift, as they did in Machen’s day, there is every hope that God will triumph. He writes,

That Church is still alive; an unbroken spiritual descent connects us with those whom Jesus commissioned. Times have changed in many respects, new problems must be faced and new difficulties overcome, but the same message must still be proclaimed to a lost world. Today we have need of all our faith; unbelief and error have perplexed us sore; strife and hatred have set the world aflame. There is only one hope, but that hope is sure. God has never deserted his church; his promise never fails. (J. Gresham Machen, 386)

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

The following essay is by Pastor John Piper. He preached this message January 1, 2020. It is entitled He Took Up Arms Against Liberalism: J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).

‘Princeton Seminary Is Dead’

A few years earlier, Machen had left Princeton Seminary to found Westminster Seminary. This time he wasn’t forced out, but chose freely to leave when the governing boards of the seminary were reorganized so that the conservative board of directors could be diluted by liberals more in tune with the denomination as a whole.

Princeton Seminary died, in Machen’s eyes, and out of the ashes he meant to preserve the tradition of Charles Hodge and Benjamin Warfield. So when he gave the inaugural address of Westminster Seminary on September 25, 1929, to the first class of fifty students and guests, he said,

No, my friends, though Princeton Seminary is dead, the noble tradition of Princeton Seminary is alive. Westminster Seminary will endeavor by God’s grace to continue that tradition unimpaired. (458)

Machen’s most enduring response to what he called modernism was the founding of these two institutions: Westminster Seminary (which today is a major influence in American evangelicalism) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (which now, over eight decades later, bears a witness disproportionate to its small size).

Faith and Doubt

Machen met modernism face to face many years earlier, while spending a year in Germany after seminary. As he studied New Testament with well-known German scholars, Machen was shaken profoundly in his faith. Almost overpowering was the influence of Wilhelm Herrmann, the systematic theologian at Marburg, who represented the best of what Machen would later oppose with all his might. He was not casting stones over a wall when he criticized modernism. Machen had been over the wall and was almost lured into the camp.

In 1905 he wrote home,

I have been thrown all into confusion by what [Herrmann] says — so much deeper is his devotion to Christ than anything I have known in myself during the past few years. . . . Herrmann affirms very little of that which I have been accustomed to regard as essential to Christianity; yet there is no doubt in my mind but that he is a Christian, and a Christian of a peculiarly earnest type. (107)

His struggle with doubt gave him patience and sympathy with others in the same situation. Twenty years later, he wrote,

Some of us have been through such struggle ourselves; some of us have known the blankness of doubt, the deadly discouragement, the perplexity of indecision, the vacillation between “faith diversified by doubt,” and “doubt diversified by faith.” (432)

Nevertheless, Machen came through this time without losing his evangelical faith and was called to Princeton to teach New Testament, which he did from 1906 until he left to form Westminster in 1929. During that time, he became a pillar of conservative, Reformed orthodoxy and a strong apologist for biblical Christianity and an internationally acclaimed New Testament scholar.

Duplicity in the Classroom

Machen’s experience in Germany made a lasting impact on the way he carried on controversy. He said again and again that he had respect and sympathy for the modernist who could honestly no longer believe in the bodily resurrection or the virgin birth or the second coming, but it was the rejection of these things without openly admitting one’s unbelief that angered Machen.

For example, he said once that his problem with certain teachers at Union Seminary was their duplicity:

There is my real quarrel with them. As for their difficulties with the Christian faith, I have profound sympathy for them, but not with their contemptuous treatment of the conscientious men who believe that a creed solemnly subscribed to is more than a scrap of paper. (221–22)

He wanted to deal with people in a straightforward manner and take his opponents’ arguments seriously, if they would only be honest and open with their constituents and readers. As it was, however, many modernist professors and pastors were not honest and open.

More to come.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

The following essay is by Pastor John Piper. He preached this message January 1, 2020. It is entitled He Took Up Arms Against Liberalism: J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937).

On New Year’s Eve, 1936, in a Roman Catholic hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota, J. Gresham Machen was one day away from death at the age of 55. It was Christmas break at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, where he taught New Testament. His colleagues had said he looked “deadly tired” at the end of the term. But instead of resting, he had taken the train from Philadelphia to the 20-below-zero winds of North Dakota to preach in a few Presbyterian churches at the request of pastor Samuel Allen.

He had pneumonia and could scarcely breathe. Pastor Allen came to pray for him that last day of 1936, and Machen told him of a vision that he had had of being in heaven. “Sam, it was glorious. It was glorious,” he said. And a little later he added, “Sam, isn’t the Reformed faith grand?”

The following day — New Year’s Day, 1937 — he mustered the strength to send a telegram to John Murray, his friend and colleague at Westminster. It was his last recorded word: “I’m so thankful for [the] active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.” He died about 7:30 that evening.

Insubordinate Presbyterian

Machen was cut off in the midst of a great work — the establishment of Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He hadn’t set out to found a seminary or a new church. But given who he was and what he stood for and what was happening at Princeton, where he had taught for 23 years, and in the Presbyterian Church in the USA, it was almost inevitable.

Westminster Seminary was seven years old when Machen died. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was six months old. The occasion for starting a new Presbyterian church over against the huge Presbyterian Church in the USA was that on March 29, 1935, Machen’s Presbytery in Trenton, New Jersey, found him guilty of insubordination to church authorities and stripped him of his ordination.

The reason for the charge of insubordination was that Machen had founded an independent board of foreign missions in June 1933 to protest the fact that the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions endorsed a laymen’s report (called Rethinking Missions) that Machen said was “from beginning to end an attack upon the historic Christian faith” (J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir, 475).

He pointed out that the board supported missionaries like Pearl Buck in China, who represented the kind of evasive, noncommittal attitude toward Christian truth that Machen thought was destroying the church and its witness. She said, for example, that if someone existed who could create a person like Christ and portray him for us, “then Christ lived and lives, whether He was once one body and one soul, or whether He is the essence of men’s highest dreams” (474).

Thus, Machen was forced by his own conscience into what the church viewed as the gravest insubordination and disobedience to his ordination vows. Hence the beginning of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

‘Princeton Seminary Is Dead’

A few years earlier, Machen had left Princeton Seminary to found Westminster Seminary. This time he wasn’t forced out, but chose freely to leave when the governing boards of the seminary were reorganized so that the conservative board of directors could be diluted by liberals more in tune with the denomination as a whole.

Princeton Seminary died, in Machen’s eyes, and out of the ashes he meant to preserve the tradition of Charles Hodge and Benjamin Warfield. So when he gave the inaugural address of Westminster Seminary on September 25, 1929, to the first class of fifty students and guests, he said,

No, my friends, though Princeton Seminary is dead, the noble tradition of Princeton Seminary is alive. Westminster Seminary will endeavor by God’s grace to continue that tradition unimpaired. (458)

Machen’s most enduring response to what he called modernism was the founding of these two institutions: Westminster Seminary (which today is a major influence in American evangelicalism) and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (which now, over eight decades later, bears a witness disproportionate to its small size).

Faith and Doubt

Machen met modernism face to face many years earlier, while spending a year in Germany after seminary. As he studied New Testament with well-known German scholars, Machen was shaken profoundly in his faith. Almost overpowering was the influence of Wilhelm Herrmann, the systematic theologian at Marburg, who represented the best of what Machen would later oppose with all his might. He was not casting stones over a wall when he criticized modernism. Machen had been over the wall and was almost lured into the camp.

In 1905 he wrote home,

I have been thrown all into confusion by what [Herrmann] says — so much deeper is his devotion to Christ than anything I have known in myself during the past few years. . . . Herrmann affirms very little of that which I have been accustomed to regard as essential to Christianity; yet there is no doubt in my mind but that he is a Christian, and a Christian of a peculiarly earnest type. (107)

His struggle with doubt gave him patience and sympathy with others in the same situation. Twenty years later, he wrote,

Some of us have been through such struggle ourselves; some of us have known the blankness of doubt, the deadly discouragement, the perplexity of indecision, the vacillation between “faith diversified by doubt,” and “doubt diversified by faith.” (432)

Nevertheless, Machen came through this time without losing his evangelical faith and was called to Princeton to teach New Testament, which he did from 1906 until he left to form Westminster in 1929. During that time, he became a pillar of conservative, Reformed orthodoxy and a strong apologist for biblical Christianity and an internationally acclaimed New Testament scholar.

Duplicity in the Classroom

Machen’s experience in Germany made a lasting impact on the way he carried on controversy. He said again and again that he had respect and sympathy for the modernist who could honestly no longer believe in the bodily resurrection or the virgin birth or the second coming, but it was the rejection of these things without openly admitting one’s unbelief that angered Machen.

For example, he said once that his problem with certain teachers at Union Seminary was their duplicity:

There is my real quarrel with them. As for their difficulties with the Christian faith, I have profound sympathy for them, but not with their contemptuous treatment of the conscientious men who believe that a creed solemnly subscribed to is more than a scrap of paper. (221–22)

He wanted to deal with people in a straightforward manner and take his opponents’ arguments seriously, if they would only be honest and open with their constituents and readers. As it was, however, many modernist professors and pastors were not honest and open.

More to come.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

Why are we to toil and strive for the biblical truth of godliness? Why does God call believers to work hard in sharing the gospel of godliness? Why is it believers share the gospel of godliness amidst mockery, hate and rebuke be the unconverted?  

The reason Paul gave an answer to these questions is found in the latter portion of today’s featured biblical text. The church toils and strives for the biblical gospel of godliness “because we have our hope set on the living God.” The phrase we have set our hope (ἠλπίκαμεν; elpikamen) means to place our confidence on God and His promises of truth. God’s truthful promises are based upon His truthful character and nature (Titus 1:2).

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.

The believers’ hope and confidence is on the living God. Living (ζῶντι; zonti) refers to eternal, without beginning or end. God (θεῷ; theo) means the One, True God of the Bible. The Lord of heaven and earth. The creator and sustainer of all He created (Heb. 1:1-3).

He is not only the living God but He is also the Savior of all people. This is a specific reference to God the Father as Savior. Savior (σωτὴρ; soter) means deliverer and rescuer. From what has God delivered all kinds of sinners? God delivers sinners from the penalty, power and eventual presence of their sin and sin’s consequences, guilt and shame. The Bible defines sin as crime (Isaiah 53:5-6), a debt (Matt. 6:12; Col 2:13-15), and an alienation (Rom. 5:6-11; 2 Cor. 5:21-22). God the Father, through the person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross, justifies the sinful criminal, redeems the sinful debtor, and reconciles the sinfully alienated.

God is the only hope for all kinds of people in general. “The general call to repentance and salvation is extended to all people (Matt. 11:28, for we do not know whom God has chosen to save but we do know that He has elected people from every tribe and tongue (Rev. 7:9-17),” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

The phrase especially of those who believe is referring to the specific call unto salvation. The word especially (μάλιστα; malista) means above all and particularly. The phrase those who believe (πιστῶν; piston) refers to the individual who trusts in, depends upon, commits to and worships Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Salvation is God’s gift, in particular to those who trust in His provision in Christ (Matt.22:14; Rom. 8:30). In this case, Paul clarifies that, by all people, he means those who come to believe in Christ. God focuses special, justifying, redeeming, and reconciling grace on those who believe. Those who believe are those God gives the gift of faith (John 6:35-66; Acts 13:48; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 1:29; 2 Peter 1:1-2).

“What the apostle teaches amounts, accordingly, to this, “We have our hope set on the living God, and in this hope we shall not be disappointed, for not only is he a kind God, hence the Soter (Preserver, Deliverer) of all men, showering blessings upon them, but he is in a very special sense the Soter (Savior) of those who by faith embrace him and his promise, for to them he imparts salvation, everlasting life in all its fulness (as explained in connection with 1 Tim. 1:15),” states Dr. William Hendriksen.^[1]

“It is this living God who in Jesus Christ is the Savior! In classical and in Koine Greek the term Soter was used as a designation of various gods (Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Ascelepius), Roman emperors, and leading officials, inasmuch as these were viewed as delivering men from this or that calamity, supplying this or that physical need, or bestowing general health or “well-being.” But according to Paul, back of every real deliverance stands God, the living One. The most glorious “well-being” of all (for the soul but in the end also for the body), and that everlasting, is promised and given by him to all who believe. For them, for them alone, God is the Soter in the sense in which the term is also used in 1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4. Them he rescues from the greatest evil, and upon them he bestows the greatest good. It is in that full, evangelical sense that the term is applied to God also in Jude 25 (and, according to some, also in Luke 1:47).”^[2]

“Though as a title for God Paul did not use the term until he wrote the Pastorals, the idea that God is the Soter is certainly present in his earlier writings, as has been shown (see on 1 Tim. 1:1). It is probable that the closer Paul and believers in general came into contact with the Roman world and with the epithet Soter as applied to its gods and leaders, the more they began to make use of that same term Soter as a designation for the true and living God, basing the contents of this conviction not on anything which the world round about them offered but upon special revelation as given in the Old Testament and in the teaching of the Lord.”^[3]

Has God saved you from the penalty, power and the eventual presence of sin? Has the Lord saved you from the consequences of your crimes, debts and alienation against Him? If so, remember and rejoice. If not, repent and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (John 1:12-13).

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

---

^[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 156.

^[2] Ibid., 156.

^[3] Ibid., 156.

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

What is most important in the life of the local church? What is most important in the life of the individual believer? Is it unity within the church and within the family? Or is biblical truth to be pursued at all costs, perhaps at the expense of unity?

When instructing His Twelve Disciples, Jesus said some provocative words to them, which are found in Matthew 10:34-39.  

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34–39 (ESV)

In the context, Jesus spoke of the divisions the Gospel causes between the unconverted and the converted. This extends to all manner of people groups, and gatherings, including churches.

“Faith not only creates division between one race and another, one people and another, one church and another; it even brings about division in the family, in fact often the sharpest division of all,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.^[1]

It is for the sake of biblical truth believers in Christ toil and strive, even at the expense of superficial, shallow and artificial unity. True unity among believers in Christ is based upon biblical truth. There can be no alternative.

To toil (κοπιῶμεν; kopiomen) means believers are to presently, actively and collectively work hard in the pursuit of godliness (4:6-9). The task will not be easy. This is because true godliness is rooted in the truth of the Gospel, which is attacked and compromised by many; even by those within the church.

To strive (ὀνειδιζόμεθα; oneidizometha) means to presently and collectively work hard for godliness in the midst of insults, reproach, mockery, and other people’s reviling. This also happens within the church. Remember other instructions Jesus gave His disciples.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ (John 15:18–25 (ESV)

“It is true that we are deeply convinced of the truth expressed in the faithful saying, for otherwise we missionaries (I, Paul, and you, Timothy) would not be toiling and striving so hard. That seems to be the connection between verses 7b, 8, 9, on the one hand, and 10, on the other,” continues Dr. Hendriksen.^[2]

“The end or purpose for which Paul and Timothy are toiling and striving is, of course, this, that men from all over the world, be they Jews or Gentiles, shall hear the blessed gospel of salvation, and better still, shall accept it and obtain everlasting life. It is this life, that is, salvation, that God has promised (verse 8).”^[3]

These missionaries labor or toil. They exert themselves to the utmost in the work of bringing the gospel, applying it to concrete situations, warning, admonishing, helping, and encouraging, generally amid great difficulties. Paul uses this word labor or toil with reference to manual labor (1 Cor. 4:12; Eph. 4:28; 2 Tim. 2:6; cf. the noun in 1 Thess. 1:3; 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8) and also in connection with religious work (Rom. 16:12 twice; 1 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 4:11; Phil. 2:16; 4:16; 1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 5:17; and in our present passage). They strive, that is, in the spiritual arena they struggle against the forces of darkness, in order that they may bring men out of the darkness into the light. They suffer agonies. Cf. 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7; then Col. 1:29; 4:12. See N.T.C. on 1 Thess. 2:2.^[4]

Why are we to toil and strive for the biblical truth of godliness? Isn’t it much to do about nothing? Are there not greater goals to pursue as a Christian and for a church congregation? Why did the Apostle Paul place such importance upon this doctrine to his young protégé Timothy?

The answers to these questions are found in the biblical text. It is the latter portion of I Timothy 4:10 we will examine when next we meet. Until then, may the Lord’s truth and grace be found here and in us. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

---

^[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew, vol. 9, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 475.

^[2] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 152-153.

Ibid., 152–153.

^[3] Ibid., 152-153.

^[4] Ibid., 152-153.