Study to be quiet
This exhortation invites you to ponder the passage that occurs at the end of 1st Timothy, chapter 3. The passage is important because it reveals one of the main reasons for the writing of the letter which is, “how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God.” Allow me to explain how I came to examine this passage more closely. I was struck by a passage from Paul: “And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1 Thess 4:11). This passage was even more intriguing in the NIV which renders it, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody”. The study notes at the bottom of the page in the NIV shed some light on its purpose for these words being written. There it says that “some Thessalonians, probably because of idleness, were taking undue interest in other people’s affairs as Paul reports, “For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies” (2 Thess 3:11).
The Apostle exhorts men to work with their hands, because the Greeks in general thought that manual labor degrading and fit only for slaves. Early Christians took seriously the need for earning their own living, but some of the Thessalonians, perhaps as a result of their belief in the imminent return of Christ, were neglecting work and relying on others to support them. I have found these themes and currents running all through the Scriptures, and consequently it prompted me to explore more fully the idea of “study to be quiet and to do your own business.” Quiet comes from the Greek word, “hesujthazo” which means to keep quiet in a way that is restful. I found another very similar word which is used interchangeably in the Diaglott, the word “silence”, as in:
“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (2 Tim 2:11-12).
The word “silence” is the Greek word, huchia, which means in a similar way to “be in silence” by exercising her quietness through stillness. Both words seem to suggest a lifestyle that does not try to agitate or stir up trouble for the purpose exercising their own will, but instead doing the will of God in love and peace. This struck me as being a behavior in a form of godliness with contentment. If we read 1st Timothy, it reveals for us what the opposite of godliness is so that we might contrast it:
“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim 6:3-6).
On the other hand Peter tell us the characteristics of a Godly life which are:
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 1:5-8).
Thus, according to Young’s Concordance, godliness then is “piety and a reverential fear or worship” of the Almighty God in Heaven. Desiring a better understanding or knowledge of the behaviors of a Godly life is what helped me to make the connection with the passage in 1st Timothy.
“These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Tim 3:14-16).
In the house of God
Nobody who means business about discipleship can be indifferent to the proposal. It may be argued that the passage does not teach us anything about behavior in the house of God; it merely declares the need for right behavior. In my studies on this passage I discovered a book by Bro. Dennis Gillett’s entitled, “May You Know It to be True”, which examines this passage very closely and I wish to attribute many of my thoughts to Bro. Dennis. He adamantly believes that this passage teaches us about our behavior in the house of God.
He states, “I am here to say that it does teach us something and it is the purpose of this little meditation to notice it. Notice the words which follow the phrase ‘the house of God’— ‘which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth’ ”.
The Apostle Paul is not speaking of those few believers in Ephesus, but the whole company of the redeemed, the collection of all believing souls in every place and every age.
Pillar
Think of the word ‘pillar’. There are two possibilities.
- The great pillars you see in the White House or Lincoln Memorial which are designed to support the roof;
- Alternatively a great column, elevated to make some form of declaration like certain dignitaries in front of a governmental building. These are considered to be a founding father of a city, state or country. I think the one that stands out in my mind the most is the statue of Saddam Hussein, which I saw being pulled down by the US military in Bagdad.
I believe it is this second kind of pillar that the Apostle Paul has in mind. There were many such in Rome and Timothy would see similar things in Ephesus: monuments designed to signify some memorial or elevate some philosophy. The word ‘ground’ refers to the thing upon which the column rests. Bro. Gillett in his aforementioned book believes that the right word is ‘plinth’. The idea and purpose of the plinth and the pillar, according Bro. Gillett, is that some object or some truth or fact may be elevated so that the attention of men may be drawn to it. In Washington D.C. there is a great plinth upon which sits Abraham Lincoln with inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, and his Second Inaugural Address, both dedicated to his efforts to keep our nation united in times of radical divisions. On the other hand it may be like the Michigan City Lighthouse. Here, the building is a pillar erected upon a foundation, finally resting upon a breaker wall — but the whole purpose of the elevation is the flashing of the light.
When you sail upon the Hudson River to enter New York City you are usually awed by the Statue of Liberty. The statue elevated upon a column, resting on a plinth, looks out to sea and is intended to proclaim a great idea — that this is the land of the free. Originally, the torch was intended to let the statue act as a lighthouse. Now thinking of all this we can come fairly to our conclusion. The ground and the pillar – the plinth and the column – are of no use apart from what they reveal. Secondly, the statue, the light, the proclamation, is in need of the plinth and the column in order that they may be seen. There is interdependence, an interrelationship between the column and the thing to be revealed. A column built for a statue is an empty useless thing unless the statue is placed upon it. If the lighthouse does not flash the light, it is merely a useless structure that is nonfunctional. When the writing on the pillar is obliterated it cannot tell its story and though it may be kept for sentimental reasons, it has ceased to have any real value.
But also that statue must have the column if is to be seen; the light must be elevated if it is to warn and illuminate: the word written must be in a position where it can be read and understood. Therefore, the ecclesia is the medium which God has instituted to proclaim the Truth. The Truth is to be elevated by the ecclesia to a height at which men may see it. If the light is to cut through the darkness it must have height; if the word is to be proclaimed it must have an instrument for its proclamation.
When the Apostle says “the Pillar and ground of the truth”, what does he mean?
Well, notice what follows in the next verse, verse 16 – the analysis of the mystery of godliness, which is the manifestation of God among men In other words the Truth is embodied in a person. God’s final and all-inclusive word is revealed in His Son.
He is the light of the world. It is the work of the ecclesia to reveal Jesus Christ to the world — to flash the light, to proclaim the message, to announce the declaration.
The ecclesia, the means of salvation
When you think about it carefully the inferences are startling. God has chosen the ecclesia, made up of human beings, to be the means of revealing His Son to the world. Just as the purpose of the pillar depends upon the pillar, so God depends upon the ecclesia. Jesus Christ has chosen no means himself, except through his own ecclesia. The great central figure of God’s purpose is hidden unless the ecclesia does its work. The Light came into the world and was focused and centralized for a little while, but then passed out of human sight and is no longer shining, apart from the shining power of God’s word proclaimed by God’s ecclesia in the world. This was the situation in the New Testament ecclesia.
But let us not miss the other side of the interrelationship. The ecclesia, apart from the person of Christ, is a useless structure. If the ecclesia does not reveal the person, if the light does not flash, if the word is not proclaimed, if the character is not unveiled — then the structure itself is an empty thing — of no use and no value.
Observe from the word of the apostle Paul what the purpose of the ecclesia is: to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ — the mystery of Godliness, and his purpose. It is not to solve the problems of the nations, not to initiate legislation for the spread of democracy, not to advance scientific or medical research, not to enunciate moral codes.
Its work is to proclaim the Gospel of the King, and his Kingdom, to call men to repentance and faith, to warn men against the dangers of sin. It is a force for good which will make no truce with evil for the sake of peace or through fear of consequences. In the midst of the chaos, uncertainty and opposition, it is a force to proclaim the master principles of the Kingdom of God, and its eventual establishment in the world upon the ruins of human government at the coming of the King. To put it plainly — there is a person the world needs to see. There is a light which mariners need to discover. There is a famine for the word of God and men dying for want. It is the work of the ecclesia to face the issue because it has the remedy.
Remember that all this is in harmony with the works of the King himself. He once said to his men: “Ye are the light of the world.” He is the Light of the world but for the time being he has committed it into the hands of the ecclesia, to throw back the frontiers of darkness and illuminate the way where broken men are groping in the gloom. “Ye are the salt of the earth”. He alone has the power to halt corruption, but instrumentally he has committed it into the hands of the ecclesia — his antiseptic influence being used to cleanse and purify in the little world where the disciples move, The ecclesia of the Living God — that is a God who is active and at work in the midst of men through His own people, chosen to be fellow workers with Him — the pillar and the ground of truth.
Here is the word of exhortation. With all reverence does it not fill you with awe? Bro. Gillett writes in his book, “In the final analysis it becomes a personal matter. What the ecclesia is, you collectively are. Your spirit will decide whether the ecclesia is really the pillar and the ground of truth.”
The proclamation is powerless to save unless it is reinforced by the lives of men and women who live as they preach. We preach the Truth but are we passionately concerned to live and walk in Truth? Our preaching is sound but does our life deny it. Bro. Dennis writes,
“Do not be offended, but I am compelled to say that I am amazed at the trivial reasons disciples give for tempering the Truth in their own lives. In the minds of the unsaved the message lacks force unless it has behind it the witness of souls who believe in it and have proved its power. Think of it another way. The message of pardon ought to be backed by the testimony of men and women who are pardoned. It is the pardoned man who preaches the Gospel, the man who lives in the power of God’s forgiveness — the man therefore who is forever humble — the reverent man who knows in his deepest heart that he owes everything to divine grace; the man who, standing by every pool of Bethesda, is moved by impotence of crippled humanity — the man whose motive is compelled by love”.
Individuals make up the ecclesia
Let us not beat about the bush. The person revealed to the ecclesia is proclaimed in the individual members. This assembly today is full of gifts and graces — full of skill and talent — given by God so that we may be the pillar and the ground of truth. We must therefore be careful to send into the highways and byways, into the places of commerce, into the places of professional life, into the working ways of this society, men and women who themselves love the Truth, observe the divine law and are ready to reveal to other men the love of God which has inspired it.
Another gem of Bro. Dennis’ thoughts on this subject gives a sad but significant point for us all to consider and cautiously weigh in our own life where he writes, “Let me get down to the details of the moment. It has happened that sometimes disciples have had the opportunity to proclaim the Truth, but then they had to remain silent because if they had spoken they knew that their own lives would have invalidated the very words they ought to have said”.
The Apostle John uses an interesting expression:
“I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father” (2 John 4).
The Apostle John’s vision of truth extends through the wholeness of our character — how closely tied our ways are to the fundamental idea of truth. Another thoughtful observation that Bro. Gillett reports in his book is that:
“Sometimes a man would do anything rather than perjure himself in a court of law and yet his whole life is a tissue of small untruths. We hate the false calumny but sometimes we are half pleased with false praise. You see you cannot by some careful statement of theological truth make yourself true if the very habit of your life is false. The character cannot be gilded as gold by mere words if underneath it is but tinsel. Life becomes fictitious and the sorrow is that at last it will pass into your religion, and the pillar which ought to be strong and clear and true becomes an anachronism and a failure.”
So in this solemn time of breaking bread there are questions we ought to be asking ourselves. “Putting it bluntly”, as Bro. Dennis puts it, “there is a person the world needs to see and the questions are these:
- Am I helping to show him to the world or is he being devalued in me?
- Am I helping to flash the light across the dark deep or are these poor men and women being left to flounder through my neglect and indifference?
- There is a famine for the word of God everywhere; hungry souls are dying for lack of life-giving food; am I, having the very remedy for starvation, leaving the word of God unused and therefore impeding the work of God?”
I would like to close the exhortation with one last quote from Bro. Dennis Gillett which well illustrates the issues of this exhortation.
“So then, when you take time and prayer and patience to lead the unsaved towards the light of Truth, when you show the light of the world to the prevailing darkness, when you halt the spread of corruption by your antiseptic influence, you may be more and more what God intended you to be — the pillar and the ground of truth. Is there a better moment than now to resolve upon a rededication of your life to this high calling? In this solemn moment of bread breaking, when you are alone with your Redeemer, come what may, will you resolve to show him to the little world in which you move”?
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One