The two Epistles to Timothy were written during a time of the church’s degradation. These two books are full of light; several extraordinary, new, and fresh terms are used. For instance, 1 Timothy 3:15 mentions “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” Here we can see that the church is a house and also a pillar and base. In ancient times buildings were supported by pillars, which were held by bases. Paul said that the church is such a pillar and base to bear the truth. The church being the house of the living God indicates that it is related to life, and the church being the pillar and base of the truth indicates that it is related to reality. In a time of the church’s degradation, what is needed is life and truth.
What we need today is not forms, activities, movements, organization, vain doctrines, or empty knowledge but only life and truth. In the church life we need to pay our full attention to life and truth, or reality, which are both Christ Himself. To withstand the shaking of storms, the churches in the Lord’s recovery need the solid foundation of life, but they also need the pillar of the truth. We must not only be living but also properly equipped to speak the truths.
We first need to know the meaning of the word truth in the Bible. The same Greek word in the New Testament is translated as “truth” or “reality” in various places. John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” The law was given; reality, or truth, came. John 8:32 says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” The Lord said in 14:6, “I am the way and the reality and the life.” Verse 17 mentions the Spirit of reality. Finally, 17:17 says, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” It is clear from these cases that truth in New Testament usage means not doctrines or principles but reality, actual fact.
John 1:17 contrasts the law and reality. The Old Testament age was a time of law; the New Testament age is a time of reality. What is in the law is not reality but only a shadow. The term the law and the prophets is used in the New Testament to refer to the Old Testament—Genesis through Song of Songs being the law, and Isaiah through Malachi being the prophets. The law refers especially to the five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy. What is mentioned in these books is shadows and types. For instance, Genesis 2 mentions the tree of life, but John 15:1; 11:25; and 14:6 reveal that Christ is the real tree of life. Genesis 3:15 prophesies of the seed of the woman, who will bruise the head of the serpent. These words, spoken by God after man’s fall, were the first preaching of the gospel. Eve probably thought that this prophecy was fulfilled with the birth of Cain. However, the real seed of the woman, Christ, was born of the virgin Mary. The shadow is in Genesis 3; the reality is in the New Testament.
The Passover lamb is first mentioned in Exodus 12:3. In John 1:29, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The lamb in Exodus 12 was only a shadow; the real Lamb of God is Christ. In Exodus 25 through 30 God commanded the children of Israel to build a tabernacle for Him. The fulfillment of the type of the tabernacle is revealed in John 1:14, which says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Christ is the reality of the tabernacle. Furthermore, the burnt offering, meal offering, sin offering, trespass offering, peace offering, and free will offering described in Leviticus are types of Christ, who is the reality of all the offerings.
Furthermore, the real life, light, love, holiness, and righteousness are Christ. Apart from Christ, these are mere empty terms. A person’s name is empty and meaningless until the person himself appears. Likewise, the law was empty until Christ, who is the reality, came (John 1:17). The Jews dealt with the empty law for fifteen hundred years. When Christ came, the reality of all that their forefathers had studied appeared. The person of Christ is the reality of many otherwise empty terms in the Old Testament. This illustrates what is meant by truth in the New Testament—that which is real. Christ is the one reality in the universe.