Let us now go on to 1:18-19: “This charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might war the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, concerning which some, thrusting these away, have become shipwrecked regarding the faith.” Brothers and sisters, please note that here it mentions the matter of conscience. This is related to life and spirit. In order to experience life and to live in the spirit, we must take care of the conscience, because it is the main part of the spirit. Therefore, when you take care of the conscience, you take care of the spirit for the most part. When you follow the conscience, you follow the spirit for the most part. Today the Lord is life to us in our spirit, so when we take care of our conscience, we take care of our spirit and live mostly in life. No one can know life and yet neglect the conscience, nor can anyone live in spirit and yet do things in violation of the conscience.
Therefore, although these two books mention the spirit only occasionally, they refer to the conscience frequently. This is because these two books are not concerned with doctrine but rather with experience. If we only talk about the spirit, that is doctrinal. But once we talk about the conscience, that is experiential. This is because whenever you experience the spirit inwardly, you will ask, “Is there peace within me? Do I feel at ease or not? Is there an inner harmony with God?” These are all stories in the conscience. If you take care of the conscience in this way, this proves that you are living in spirit. Therefore, conscience in these two books is simply another way of referring to the spirit. It is speaking of the spirit from experience in a more practical, specific, and real way.
If you like, in your interpretation you may use the words conscience and spirit interchangeably. Thrusting away their conscience, some have become shipwrecked regarding the faith. To thrust away the conscience is to abandon the spirit. When a brother speaks and acts carelessly, this proves that he has abandoned his spirit, no longer being in the spirit or caring for the spirit. However, when he particularly heeds the conscience, he is then living in the spirit. Therefore, Paul seemed to be saying to Timothy, “O Timothy, during this time of decline and confusion, you must learn and practice living in the conscience, that is, living in the spirit, and teach others to do the same thing. Don’t just engage in outward discussions and arguments. Rather, learn to live in the spirit. Practically speaking, to live in the spirit is to take care of the conscience. Once you disregard the voice of the conscience, immediately you come out from the spirit. If so, you have become shipwrecked regarding the spiritual things of God.”
Then in 3:14-16 Paul said, “I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly. But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. And...great is the mystery.” This portion implies that the church is not an organization but the place where the living God dwells. Also, the church is not the support for a great number of doctrines or a great deal of biblical knowledge but upholds Christ as the pillar and base of the truth. Furthermore, the church is a great mystery, which is God being manifested in the flesh. Paul seemed to be saying, “O Timothy, if you know these matters and live in them, you will then truly know how to conduct yourself in the house of God.”
Dear brothers and sisters, what does this mean? Please remember, this is life and spirit. Today it is not a matter of exhorting the elderly ones as fathers or as mothers, nor is it a matter of exhorting the younger ones as brothers or as sisters. Rather, you need to see clearly that the church is the place where the living God dwells and where Christ is being supported and that the church is a great mystery of God. Therefore, you must be a person who is in spirit and who lives in life. When you are exhorting others to be in the spirit and to live in life, the living God is there, Christ is being upheld there, and God is being manifested in the flesh. Therefore, this is a story of life and spirit.
It is a great pity that when the seminary students study these two books, they pay attention only to what the qualifications of an elder are and what the attitude of the Lord’s servants in dealing with the elderly ones should be. These are all superficial matters. What then is the intrinsic matter of these books? It is the spirit of life. We need to learn to remain in the spirit that we may touch life. Only then can we be in the reality of the church and know how to conduct ourselves in the church.
Following this, 6:12 tells us that we need to lay hold on the eternal life, which is the Lord Himself, God Himself. This is the life on which we must lay hold. In other words, we must live in this life. It is not living in interpretations or doctrines but living in the life which we have received. I have briefly pointed out these things to show you that 1 Timothy also speaks about the life in the spirit.
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