First Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, the three “T” books in the New Testament, are Epistles written by Paul to his two young co-workers, Timothy and Titus. The subject of 1 Timothy is God’s economy concerning the church, the subject of 2 Timothy is an inoculation against the decline of the church, and the subject of Titus is the maintenance of order in the church. These are three aspects of one purpose, that is, to preserve the church as the proper expression of the Triune God.
The three “T” books emphasize the truth. Hence, the word truth is used thirteen times (1 Tim. 2:4, 7; 3:15; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Tim 2:15, 18, 25; 3:7, 8; 4:4; Titus 1:1, 14). Four verses illustrate this emphasis on the truth.
First Timothy 2:4 says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” God desires all men to be saved. However, after salvation a man still needs to come to the full knowledge of the truth. Truth means “reality,” and it denotes all the real things revealed in God’s Word. In the New Testament there are many realities. For instance, the Word becoming flesh is a reality. The Word is God, and the flesh is fallen man. The Word becoming flesh means God coming to be a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3). Furthermore, the Lord Jesus died on the cross to accomplish redemption. His death for the accomplishment of redemption is also a reality. Not only so, He resurrected; this is another reality. He ascended to the heavens, which is also a reality. Christ being life is a reality, His being the life-giving Spirit is a reality, and His being the resurrection is yet another reality.
To know the truth is to know the reality of the crucial points revealed in the New Testament. Instead of knowing doctrine, we must know the truth and obtain reality. The Word becoming flesh is a reality, the Lord’s death and resurrection are a reality, and the Lord being the life-giving Spirit is a reality. Christ being life and resurrection are realities. As resurrection life, Christ becomes our sanctification, He becomes the power to sanctify us, and He becomes our overcoming life. These are also realities.
First Timothy 3:15-16 says, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth...Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh.” These two verses emphasize the church and speak of three main points concerning the church: the church is the house of the living God, the church is the pillar and base of the truth, and the church is the great mystery of godliness. These three points use different phrases to refer to the church, but they denote the same meaning. The house of the living God is the pillar and base of the truth, and the pillar and base of the truth is the great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh.
Paul’s sequence is right; he first speaks of the church as the house of the living God. God lives in this house. The kind of house a person lives in shows the kind of person he is. A house is the expression of the people who live in it. If an American family lives in a house for a month, it will have the expression of American family life; if a Japanese family lives in the same house, it will express the Japanese family life; similarly, if a Chinese family lives in a house, it will express the Chinese family life. This is the reason Paul says that the church is the house of the living God; the living God dwells in this house. This house manifests the truth, reality. This means that the living God, who manifests reality, dwells in this house and manifests Himself through this house. The living God is life, and He manifests life. The living God is sanctification, and He manifests sanctification. The living God is love, and He manifests love. Whatever God manifests is the truth, the reality of the divine things. This is the great mystery of godliness.
John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” When Jesus Christ came, God was expressed; God expressed is reality. God is manifested in the flesh. This refers not only to the incarnated Christ but also to the church as the enlargement of the incarnated Christ. Just as God was manifested in the flesh of Christ in the Gospels, God is manifested in the church, the enlargement of the incarnated Christ in the Epistles. The church as the house of the living God manifests the truth that it upholds. This is the great mystery of God manifested in the flesh.