“These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly,” the Apostle Paul wrote his young protege, Timothy, sometime in the early part of the sixth decade of the first century AD / CE. “But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (I Timothy 3:14-15).
This exhortation from Paul to Timothy has led to many questions over the years – which we will attempt to unpack in this article.
This verse has been cited by some theologians to uphold the authority and standing of the institutional church. This view is favored particularly in the Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Others see this verse as affirming the importance of the church’s role in teaching the revelation of God, most especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, but reject the view that the church itself determines truth.
Authorship
When it comes to understanding the meaning of any text, it’s important to (as much as possible) identify the author as well as at least the approximate time and context of its composition. Unfortunately, there has been considerable disagreement and controversy surrounding these matters when it comes to I Timothy, with a majority of New Testament scholars today refusing to accept Pauline authorship of that epistle. Instead, they hold that I Timothy (along with the other pastoral epistles) was written by later Christians (perhaps as late as the second century) and then falsely attributed to Paul.
The credibility of the text hinges on this debate. If Paul wrote I Timothy, then what he – as an appointed apostle of Jesus Christ – has to say is of vital importance. And since it is part of canonized Scripture, I Timothy is considered divinely inspired and authoritative.
If later Christians penned the pastoral epistles well after Paul’s death, then the early church’s decision to include I Timothy in the official biblical canon is serioiusly undermined since there is no authentic apostolic authorship or connection — one of the criteria for canonicity.
And if the work is falsely attributed, then it is built on a lie – and deserves little to no credibility.
Fortunately, there are NO compelling reasons to reject the early church tradition that cited Paul as the author of the pastoral epistles, including and especially I Timothy. And that tradition is pretty solid.
There is an ancient list of New Testament books called the Muratorian Canon (or Muratorian Fragment). It is dated to about A.D. 180 and features twenty-two (22) of the twenty-seven (27) books we now have in our New Testament. All three of the pastoral epistles (I and II Timothy and Titus) are included and attributed to Paul.
In a future blog post, I’ll go into more detail on this debate. For now, I will simply say that questions raised about the language in I Timothy (the writer uses some words that Paul doesn’t use in his other writings) and other issues cited by critics are not sufficient to overturn early church tradition.
Since we can safely assume Paul indeed wrote this letter, we can therefore interpret its meaning according to what we know of Paul’s theology. Reading the rest of Paul’s letters helps us understand this one.
And since we can safely assume Paul wrote the letter, we can conclude he indeed wrote it to Timothy – the very same Timothy who he mentored as a pastor and who was serving as the head pastor of the Christian church in Ephesus. And this therefore sheds important light on the issues Paul is addressing, which helps us better understand the epistle.
Paul’s Purpose
Paul explicitly states his purpose for writing in verses 14-15:
These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
I Timothy 3:14-15
He hopes to come to Ephesus shortly, and see Timothy personally. But given the importance of these matters, he is sending instructions in writing. He wants Timothy to know how he “ought to conduct [himself] in the house of God.” Of course, Timothy isn’t just a regular church member. This isn’t about how a parent might teach her child proper conduct in the church building or during a church service.
To understand what Paul is getting at, we must remember Timothy’s role. Timothy was the senior pastor of the Ephesian church. When you remember that and then read over I Timothy (complete with its emphasis on the importance of sound doctrine and all it has to say about the qualifications of church leaders), you quickly understand that Paul is telling Timothy how to lead the Ephesian church. He’s telling Timothy how to be a pastor.
When I accepted the call to pastor Sligo Baptist Church in Ohio (the first church I was blessed to serve as senior pastor), I didn’t have years of pastoral experience to fall back on. But I did have Paul. I knew the purpose of the pastoral epistles. Paul used those letters to tell Timothy and Titus how to lead their respective churches. In so doing, I knew I could find my job description by reading those letters.
I encourage all pastors (especially new pastors) to read, study, and meditate on the pastoral epistles — all three of them and every word of them. They are that important!
Obviously, pastors should read and study through the entire Bible. And when it comes to understanding the nature and workings of the local church, the entire New Testament is relevant. Nevertheless, do not neglect the pastoral epistles. They provide all pastors a written explanation of the basis of what God expects from them in leading the people God has called them to serve.
The Meaning of I Timothy 3:15
Focusing in on that fifteenth verse of the third chapter, we must understand Paul’s key terms:
- “house of God”
- “church of the living God”
- “pillar and ground of the truth”
Let’s agree that Paul has more in mind than an actual building when he refers to the “house of God.” This is important, because I hear Christians refer to the church building all the time as “God’s house” or the “house of God.” It’s woven into our everyday lexicon and thus into our minds. This is not what Paul had in mind.
In the Old Testament, the “house of God” referred most often to the Tabernacle or the Temple – an actual location. But in the New Testament, we see a transition. The woman at the well asks Jesus about the proper place – location – to worship God, and Jesus responds:
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
-John 4:21-24
And in his letter to the church in Ephesus (the same church that Timothy would pastor), Paul assures the Gentile believers that they are as much a part of the church as their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ. He writes: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” (Ephesians 2:19).
Clearly, Paul’s use of “household of God” is different from the Old Testament conception of a building. He is using a reference to a physical edifice “house” in I Timothy in the same manner he describes the church as a “body” in I Corinthians. The “household” or “house” of God is the church.
That church isn’t just any church. It’s not just any organization. We are part of something special. We are part of the “church of the living God.”
We don’t serve a lifeless idol or a dead messiah. We serve a living God. An all-powerful, all-knowing, everwhere present, and fully alive God.
And when his use of the phrase “pillar and ground of the truth” is to describe the gravity of our responsibility — the weighty importance of the task we’ve been entrusted with.
The church is God’s church and it is the job of the church to teach and proclaim the truths of God.
This does NOT mean that what the church says is always the truth. It means that the church’s responsibility and duty is to proclaim the truth – specifically God’s truth (and that most especially refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ).
When a church fulfills this responsibility, it has standing and credibility. When it does not, it has no credibility.
Those of us who belong to a church must always remember that our task is to proclaim His truth. Not ours. We are to teach, proclaim, and stand by the eternal truths of God Almighty.
I can’t think of a more worthy purpose or calling.
