Post by Admin on May 9, 2019 6:20:40 GMT
Tonight, we embraced the first chapter in the first book of our new discussion topic, the letters Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus. As always when we start a new study topic, we refreshed the purpose of our discussions: to share scripture so that we grow in our relationship to God and among one another; although we learn, we are not subject to a teacher or seeking right or wrong answers.
The background of cosmopolitan Ephesus was reviewed, as the city in which Timothy was assigned to lead the congregation – a city somewhat like Los Angeles of today, full of all types of influences and distractions. Paul’s letter to Timothy opens with the bald statement that local influencers were going astray and deceiving the congregation – and Timothy’s job was to straighten them out. Before reading the chapter, we talked briefly about modern deceptive churches, considering extreme cases such as Jonestown, or the congregation convinced that they knew the date of Christ’s return, in which people sold their belongings and homes and gave over complete control of their lives. We agreed that testing such teachings against scripture would help protect us from deception, along with avoiding personality cults. Turning to the Ephesus congregation, the apparent problem Paul identified there was that false leaders were using Jewish scriptures (the Old Testament) to conjure up interesting stories or debates, and to establish rules and regulations to direct the congregation. Later in our discussion, we speculated that these regulations might have been scare tactics used to dominate behavior and keep people in line. Conversely, Paul is reinforcing for Timothy that love and faith are the methods of Jesus the congregation must employ, not laws. He provides the proof Timothy can use in Paul’s own story, in which under laws he was an inadvertent villain, yet even in the greatest sin God’s mercy, and the effect of love and faith, transformed him. If these New Kingdom methods work on Paul – they will work on anyone!
Other passages of this first chapter of the letter opened to interesting comments. Paul ties faith into conscience in verses 5 and 19, and we first talked about the need to have a conscience for faith to lay seed and grow. We also thought that we need faith, that is confidence in the power of Christ’s sacrifice to render forgiveness, to be able acknowledge our mistakes, make corrections, and take consequences. Instead of hiding our guilt, or covering it up with rules and procedures and religious debate, our faith in God’s mercy allows our conscience to step up and reveal our sins in honesty and humility. The last few verses prompted reactions as well. Verse 18, in which Paul refers to prophecies about Timothy, reminded us of a prophecy each of us bears – to be a child of God and do the work in the world He asks of us. The last verse is a doozy: does Paul order those two men into the hands of Satan, or is he merely predicting what will happen, or is he essentially admitting that he can do nothing to stop their march into Satan’s arms? That is something about which we cannot know the definite answer.
The background of cosmopolitan Ephesus was reviewed, as the city in which Timothy was assigned to lead the congregation – a city somewhat like Los Angeles of today, full of all types of influences and distractions. Paul’s letter to Timothy opens with the bald statement that local influencers were going astray and deceiving the congregation – and Timothy’s job was to straighten them out. Before reading the chapter, we talked briefly about modern deceptive churches, considering extreme cases such as Jonestown, or the congregation convinced that they knew the date of Christ’s return, in which people sold their belongings and homes and gave over complete control of their lives. We agreed that testing such teachings against scripture would help protect us from deception, along with avoiding personality cults. Turning to the Ephesus congregation, the apparent problem Paul identified there was that false leaders were using Jewish scriptures (the Old Testament) to conjure up interesting stories or debates, and to establish rules and regulations to direct the congregation. Later in our discussion, we speculated that these regulations might have been scare tactics used to dominate behavior and keep people in line. Conversely, Paul is reinforcing for Timothy that love and faith are the methods of Jesus the congregation must employ, not laws. He provides the proof Timothy can use in Paul’s own story, in which under laws he was an inadvertent villain, yet even in the greatest sin God’s mercy, and the effect of love and faith, transformed him. If these New Kingdom methods work on Paul – they will work on anyone!
Other passages of this first chapter of the letter opened to interesting comments. Paul ties faith into conscience in verses 5 and 19, and we first talked about the need to have a conscience for faith to lay seed and grow. We also thought that we need faith, that is confidence in the power of Christ’s sacrifice to render forgiveness, to be able acknowledge our mistakes, make corrections, and take consequences. Instead of hiding our guilt, or covering it up with rules and procedures and religious debate, our faith in God’s mercy allows our conscience to step up and reveal our sins in honesty and humility. The last few verses prompted reactions as well. Verse 18, in which Paul refers to prophecies about Timothy, reminded us of a prophecy each of us bears – to be a child of God and do the work in the world He asks of us. The last verse is a doozy: does Paul order those two men into the hands of Satan, or is he merely predicting what will happen, or is he essentially admitting that he can do nothing to stop their march into Satan’s arms? That is something about which we cannot know the definite answer.