| IIIM Magazine Online, Volume 5, Number 32, September 8 to September 14, 2003 |
“...Taking Christian by the hand, the Interpreter led him into a very large parlor, full of dust as though it was never swept. When they had looked at it for a little while, the Interpreter called for a man to sweep. As the room was swept, the dust flew about so abundantly that Christian almost choked on it. Then said the Interpreter to a young woman who stood by, ‘Bring water and sprinkle the room.’ When she had done this, the room was swept and cleaned with ease. ‘What does this mean?’ asked Christian. The Interpreter answered: ‘This parlor is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel. The dust is his original sin and the inward corruptions that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first is the Law, but she that brought water and sprinkled the room with it is the Gospel. Now you saw that as soon as the man began to sweep, the dust flew about so much that the room could not be cleansed, but, instead, you were almost choked with the dust. This is to show you that the Law, instead of cleansing the heart from sin, actually revives and puts strength into it and increases it in the soul, even as it uncovers and forbids it. The Law does not give power to subdue sin. Again, you saw the young woman sprinkle the room with water, and afterward the room was easily cleansed. This is to show you that when the Gospel comes in, the sweet and precious influences of it so affect the heart, ......................that sin is vanquished and subdued, and the soul is made clean through the faith of the Gospel....” (Pilgrim’s Progress, 57-58)
With those words John Bunyan, in his classic work Pilgrim’s Progress, tries to describe something of the relationship between the Law and the Gospel and what happens when you try to use the law in the wrong way. That situation is similar to what is going on in the passage before us this morning, 1 Timothy 1:8-11.
Since we have been away from the letter for 3 weeks, it will be helpful for us to take a minute to remind ourselves of the background and progress of our study. As far as the background is concerned, the main thing to remember is that this is a letter written from Paul - the Apostle - to Timothy, his most faithful and trusted disciple. At the time of this letter, Paul is nearing the end of his ministry and Timothy is living in Ephesus, pastoring the Christian congregation that was launched through Paul’s ministry a number of years before.
As was the case in many of the early churches, the Ephesian Church was not the most harmonious or mature of congregations and Paul is writing to encourage Timothy amidst all that and wants to provide some practical teaching which will promote the good order and functioning of the Church in Ephesus. That is his main purpose: to promote the good order and functioning of the Church in Ephesus.
Crucial to this whole plan of promoting good order in the local church was the need to deal with the matter of leadership. As a result, much of this letter revolves around that issue, both negatively - as false teachers and false teaching are addressed - and positively - as Paul provides some very useful criteria which could be used by Timothy - and indeed all the Ephesian Christians - to discern whether or not certain persons ought to be placed into positions of leadership.
Well, after looking at that bit of background information, we went on to have a look at the first passage, verses 3-7 and saw there how Paul wasted no time in telling Timothy, in no uncertain terms, how imperative it was for him to put a stop to the false teachers who were going around, mis-using and mis-reading the Scriptures and, as a result, were causing quarrels and controversy. Instead of being faithful to the truths that Paul had passed on to them, they were venturing off into some pretty strange ideas and had adopted questionable interpretive practices. All of these idle speculations were only confusing the local believers and getting them all tied up into knots and were not promoting love that, as Paul says, comes from a “pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”.
All of which brings us up to the verses before us this morning where Paul picks up with what he began talking about in those first few verses and gives us further insight into the problems being created by the false teachers in Ephesus. You see, while these people wanted to be teachers of the law and perhaps to be known as teachers of the law, they did not really understand what they were talking about, as verse 7 points out but were, in fact, using the law in an improper way. That’s our subject matter for this morning. Before we look at that, let’s pray together.....
(Father in Heaven , we thank you again this morning for your kindness and wisdom in not only creating a world and placing us IN that world but in also giving us your Word - that we might know how we should live in this world you have made. Lord we stare at these words as those who are far removed from them in time and culture and yet knowing all along that these are not dead words, that this is not just some interesting history but that this is LIVING history and TIMELESS truth. These are your words, words of life and health and peace for us today. Lord help us to hear and overhear them in a way which will produce the results you want to see produced, in a way which will accomplish your plans and purposes. Help us to listen now, expectantly and humbly. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. )
Now as we work our way through the verses before us this morning, we will be trying to answer a number of different questions:
Those are the kinds of questions we will be trying to answer this morning. Firstly, let’s think about the situation that Paul is addressing. And, at the risk of being redundant, let me draw your attention once again to the fact that Paul has already given Timothy instructions about certain men who were teaching false doctrine and who were delving into myths and strange teachings that were somehow connected to some of the OT genealogies. He later on describes these same people as those who “want to be teachers of the law” - but then he goes on to say that they do not know what they are talking about. Then, in verse 8, he says that the law is good “if one uses it properly”.
Putting all of this together, it would seem that, alongside whatever else they were doing, these false teachers were apparently taking “the Law” - which is just Paul’s shorthand here for the moral teachings of the Old Testament - centered upon the Ten Commandments - they were taking the law and using it in an improper or unhelpful way.
Now you may wonder just exactly what Paul is referring to here. What sorts of “improper” uses of the law might he mean? What use or perhaps use(s) of the law would cause Paul to say that these people “do not know what they are talking about”? Well, it would seem that there are a couple possibilities. From what has already been said it would seem that the false teachers were using the law - as they had used some of the OT genealogies (which we talked about before) - as a kind of launching pad for all sorts of speculations and meaningless talk. Perhaps they were engaging in theological, hair-splitting debates among Christians as to how a given law might apply in various and bizarre circumstances. Or perhaps, more seriously, they were wrongly teaching that obeying the law was how a person earned God’s blessing and approval. This was certainly a problem that had surfaced in other churches - like the Galatian church - and it is very possible that this - or something like it - was going on in Ephesus.
So, while we cannot be completely certain - because Paul does not tell us - as to the exact nature of their mis-use and mis-understanding of the moral law it is clear from the passage that, whatever it was, they were getting it wrong and they did not know what they were talking about.
Well, while Paul does NOT tell us precisely how these false teachers were improperly using the law, he DOES say a bit more clearly here what would constitute a proper use of the law. He explains in verse 9 and following that “the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels....” In other words, Paul is outlining in these verses what is a helpful and legitimate use of the law. Now we need to think carefully about what Paul is and is NOT saying here as it would be easy to come to some wrong conclusions.
The most difficult part of making sense of Paul’s language here is understanding what Paul means by the phrase “the righteous” in verse 9. Some of you bible scholars, upon hearing that phrase might immediately think of Paul’s words in Romans 3, quoting Psalm 14, where he says, “There is no one righteous, not even one...” And thinking of that you may wonder if Paul is making a rather pointless distinction here. Why say that “law is not made for the righteous” when, in fact, there are no righteous people to be found? And you would be right in asking that question IF that was the only way the word “righteous” was ever used in the Bible. But it isn’t.
Sometimes the word “righteous” is just the Bible’s word for people that know God. It is a description that refers to their position before God, their relationship with God, and is not a reference to their condition as they stand before him. To put it another way, the word “righteous” is not always used in an absolute sense. For example, Jesus himself uses the word “righteous” in this kind of “non-absolute” way in Luke 5 where, after being criticized for spending time with tax collectors and sinners he responds by saying, “...I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance...”
And so, applying this to the passage before us, one commentator has this to say about the meaning of verse 9, which I think summarizes it quite nicely,
Paul is saying [here] that the law is not given to apply in some mystical way to people who are already “righteous”, i.e., those ALREADY seeking to conform to the law. It is, rather, given to deal with people who are specifically violating its sanctions and to warn them against their specific sins....
Indeed, this is the primary use and purpose of the law, as Paul himself points out in another place, Romans 7:9, NLT,
I felt fine when I did not understand what the law demanded. But when I learned the truth, I realized that I had broken the law and was a sinner, doomed to die....
In other words, the primary function of the law is to reveal sin, to show those who are living in rebellion against God that, in fact, they ARE sinful people, that they DO stand justly condemned by Him. That is the law’s primary, although not only, use. And this is precisely the use to which it was NOT being put by the false teachers in Ephesus. Rather than being outwardly facing, rather than teaching the law in a way which brought conviction of sin and, led people to embrace the hope of the Gospel, these false teachers were using it instead to engage in meaningless debates, and endless speculations and to discuss obscure points of doctrine among those who were already saved - and should have known better.
To use the law in that way, for that purpose, is an improper use of the law. It is to forget the law’s main purpose and substitute something else in its place. It’s like a person taking a brand new computer and, instead of using it for what it was designed for taking it and setting it on the floor and using it as a door stop, or a step ladder, or a paper weight - anything but what it was made primarily for. The law, says Paul, was not given for the primary purpose of engaging God’s people - the righteous - in obscure theological speculations it was given for sinners, to show them their sin and their need of God’s grace and forgiveness.
The other point that needs some consideration comes right on the heels of acknowledging that the law’s primary use is to reveal sin for what it is. You see, once you concede Paul’s point - that the law IS primarily intended for, as Paul says “the rebellious, ungodly and sinful - once you concede that point, you may have another question pop into your head. Some of you may be saying to yourself, “Now wait a minute. Does this mean that the law has no use or value for believers? Is that what Paul is saying?”
And the short answer to that is, NO, that is not Paul’s intent here. For starters, you must remember that Paul is not trying to say everything that could be said about the law and its uses. Indeed, nobody every says everything about anything they say, including you. If people tried to say everything, every time they said anything, they would end up saying nothing at all.
So Paul is not trying to say everything about the law and its uses here. He is honing in on one particular use of the law - it’s main use - and he is doing so precisely because he is addressing a specific circumstance in Ephesus whereby the law was being used in an illegitimate manner. That circumstance controlled what Paul said - and what he chose not to say. To be sure, the law as a revealer of sin and sinfulness, is not intended for the “righteous” i.e., those who belong to God - they already know they are sinful.
But that is not to say that it has no use for God’s people at all. One only has to look at some of Paul’s other letters to see where this is so. For example, if you look at his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 1-2, you will read this,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” - which is the first commandment with a promise, “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth....
Clearly, Paul, with those words, shows an ongoing respect for the moral law. Clearly he sees that it has usefulness and value for the believer - not AS the basis of salvation, mind you - but ON the basis of being already loved, already accepted, already made right with God and set apart in Jesus Christ. So, again, Paul understands that there remains a usefulness to the law for the believer. But that use - as a guide for godly living - is not what he has in view in 1 Timothy. In 1 Timothy he is addressing false teachers who are wanting to be teachers of the law but who show by their use of it that they do not understand it, or what it was given primarily for. They wanted to use it as an object of discussion and speculation, Paul wanted them to use it to confront sin, and so lead people to the Gospel.
Now, having said all of that, and with only a couple minutes remaining, I want to quickly draw your attention to some implications of these verses in the hopes of answering the question of how this passage is useful for God’s people today....
1) Firstly, and even though we did not say anything about it as such, let’s think for a moment about Paul’s “list” in verses 9 and following. As you read through that list - lawbreakers...ungodly....irreligious...those who kill fathers and mothers...murderers....adulterers...liars....etc... as you read through that list it has probably occurred to you that this list seems familiar. And that is because in pointing out these different kinds of sinful people, Paul is basically following the outline and content of the Ten Commandments. There is a pretty tight correspondence between those commandments and the persons that appear in this list, with a couple differences.
What was the purpose of doing such a thing? There are at least a couple reasons. One is that by framing his comments in this way, Paul makes it clear that when he talks about “the law” he is thinking of the moral law - centered on the 10 commandments. Another reason is that by following the 10 commandments outline he is bringing them to mind and, with that, hopefully re-inforcing something else - namely, the reason why those commandments were given in Moses day - not just as a source for speculation and debate but to humble the people as to their sinful state before a Holy God.
And notice, as well, that in highlighting these things once again, Paul shows the on-going validity of these commands as standards of holiness, as perpetual guideposts which make it clear what sorts of behaviors God will and will not be pleased to see in people. And, in making that statement, I simply must say, in light of this week’s Supreme Court decision that the NIV has done us no favors in their translation when, in verse 10 they use the word “perverts” when, in actual fact, the Greek is talking about “men who practice homosexuality” - as the ESV has more helpfully translated it.
I say this not to elevate the sin of homosexual practice above any other sin - Paul certainly does not do that here when he puts it basically on the same level as lying and perjury. Rather I am drawing your attention to Paul’s list to make a point, or a couple points. One is that all that is legal is not moral. The fact that a government declares something permissible does not make it right. All that is legal is not moral.
The other point is to say that right and wrong behavior is not a product of opinion polls and majority decisions but rather of the person and character of God - which is perfect and timeless and which, therefore, cannot and will not change. I highlight the matter of homosexuality only because this is something which, in my lifetime, I have watched society do a complete 180 degree turnaround on this subject - in my lifetime. Society’s views on this matter have changed. But God is not moved by opinion polls. Morality is not decided by majority opinion. And that means that if we are going to use the law properly - to convict of sin and lead people to the Gospel - then we need to be prepared to call sin what God calls sin - regardless of what the governing authority has said.
2) A second implication of these verses is, rather obviously I think, that we too need to be careful that we do not fall into the same trap as the false teachers - using the law of God in an “unlawful” or “improper” manner. There are several ways this can and might, and in fact DOES happen in the church today.....
A) We use the law of God improperly when we treat it as a way of being made right with God, as if by keeping it we have earned God’s grace and forgiveness, as if by keeping it we have somehow put God into our debt and He now owes us something - forgiveness, eternal life, blessings and happiness, etc. When we see Christian obedience as anything other than the loving, grateful, natural response of a person in whom the Spirit of God dwells, when we see it in any other way, we have misunderstood the law and that for which it was intended.
B) We use the law of God improperly when we perhaps stop short of thinking we have earned our salvation, and yet we treat godly living as a means to being more pleasing and acceptable to God, as if God loves me more when I have 5 quiet times than he does when I only have 2.
C) We use the law of God improperly when we are more concerned with debating it or discussing it or speculating about it than we are with actually using it as God’s loving tool for continually bringing about a deeper and deeper repentance and thus, a deeper and deeper dependence upon the grace of God in the Gospel - in ourselves and in other people.
D) We use the law of God improperly when we succumb to the pursuit of “mere morality” and try to achieve the goal of Christ-likeness through mere self-effort, by simply trying harder RATHER THAN letting the law of God - and our falling short of it - always lead us back to the deeper Gospel issues behind our sinfulness - our pride, our fear, and our idolatry - in short, our failure to believe God and to trust all that Jesus has done and IS for us.
3) A third and final implication of these verses is what they say to us about leadership and, in particular, about the task of choosing good leaders for our congregation. As we are preparing to elect elders in this congregation, and as we think about the responsibility of setting apart men who will not be false teachers but will be trustworthy and faithful leaders among us - as we think about that we need to think about it with regard to this particular issue. We need to set apart leaders who understand the relationship between the Law and the Gospel. We need to set apart leaders who will not be prone to mis-use the law, who are not legalistic, and who are not given to endless and meaningless theological debates. We need to set apart elders who want to keep the main thing the main thing, who want to see sin confronted - in themselves and in the world - and who want to see that confrontation result in people embracing the liberating truth of the Gospel. We want to have leaders who are models of repentance, who show by their life and action that they are teachable, that they are continually being shaped and formed by truth, that they understand that repentance is a lifelong process and who are learning daily to confront the deep Gospel issues to which the law is meant to take us.
These are the kinds of men we need to be setting apart to lead and guide us in the days and months ahead. And these are the sorts of things you need to be much in prayer about.....