The two Epistles to Timothy were written when the church had become degraded. In such a time of confusion, Timothy needed these two letters on how to behave in the house of God. I would like us to focus our attention on four terms which recur throughout these two books.
The first is God’s economy, mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:4: “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than God’s economy [Gk.] which is in faith.”
Chapter one of 1 Timothy makes it clear that even while the Apostle Paul was still here on earth, different teachings had come into the church. The main teaching that Paul confronted came from ones “desiring to be teachers of the law” (1:7). The law, as we all realize, was scriptural; it had been given by God to Moses and had been taught for centuries during the Old Testament times. Nonetheless, it differs from the teaching of the gospel, God’s economy. Thus Paul wrote to Timothy in verse 3, “I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some not to teach differently” (Gk.).
The four Gospels present Christ from four different angles; the words and style of writing are different, but the ministry is the same. The Gospels are like four photographs of one person, all taken from a different side. Suppose, on the other hand, Peter had written a record of Moses. We would have to protest that he was speaking differently. He would have been speaking of Moses and the law, whereas Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were speaking of Jesus Christ.
There are those who say that we in the Lord’s recovery do not accept the ministry of others. It is clear from Ephesians 4:11 and 12 that the gifted persons mentioned all had only one ministry, that of building up the Body of Christ. That there is only one ministry is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 4:1 and 1 Timothy 1:12. The one ministry does not imply that the apostles and prophets repeated each other’s words. The four Gospels are indeed different from each other, but only in that they present different aspects of the same thing. In this New Testament period God has raised up many gifted persons with varied functions, but all belong to the same ministry, that of ministering Christ for the church.
Hebrews 1:1 and 2 tells us that God spoke to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. But now “at the last of these days” He has “spoken to us in the Son.” God in the New Testament age speaks only in one Person. What, then, of Paul, Peter, and the other apostles? All the apostles, and we as well, are parts of the Son, members of His Body. When God spoke in the Old Testament, it was through the prophets in many separate speakings, because Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were not in the Son. In this New Testament time the twelve Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, Martin Luther, Watchman Nee, and all of us have been constituted into the Son. Thus, when God speaks in this age through His servants, He is speaking in the Son.
First Timothy 1 tells us that besides the teachers of the law, some were speaking “fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions” (v. 4). Besides the law, there were these two other categories of speaking differently. Let us say that for several years you have been listening to the word that the Triune God wants to dispense Himself into us, that all His riches are embodied in Christ, and that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit indwelling us. You have become bored with all this teaching. Now along comes a talented young speaker, whose messages are full of fascinating stories, or fables. He seems also to have a deep understanding of the Old Testament genealogies. Would you be attracted? This was the kind of speaking that was being heard in Ephesus.
Actually, there are only two categories of teachings. The fables and genealogies are part of the Old Testament things concerning the law; they are either tradition or opinion. The other category is the New Testament economy, Jesus Christ as life for the church.
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