2 Tm 3:14-4:5
17 October 2004
“The Word of the Lord”
“This is the word of the Lord.” “Thanks be to God.” How often do we actually think about what we’re saying when we utter those words? Do we really believe that we’ve just heard the word of the Lord?
How about this. “Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die” (Pr 23:13). This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God! There we are—divinely-sanctioned child abuse!
“A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death, their blood is upon them” (Lv 20:27). This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God! So, does the Lord want us to kill mediums? If so, everybody grab a rock, and let’s head to Lily Dale!
And just so you don’t think I’m picking on the Old Testament: “Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord” (Ep 5:22). This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
There are no doubt a number of scriptures that, after being read out loud, sound quite strange. Some of them even make me want to cringe. I would put verse 4 of the second psalm in that category: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision.” This isn’t good-natured, joyous laughter. Oh no! This is mockery at the fate of kings who would oppose Israel.
Our final hymn last week, “Why are Nations Raging,” is based on this psalm. There were a couple of times during the singing of that song when I inwardly cringed. It has a lovely tune, but some of those words seem barbaric, especially in this age of global terrorism. So, unless I get some heartfelt requests, I myself will probably not want to sing that one again!
Continuing with that verse for a moment, I was introduced to it in a nightmarish (and out of context) way as a little boy. I was reading a religious tract entitled, “God Laugh?” It was several pages long; there were a lot of question marks on the cover. It was the basic narrative those things tend to have. All of us are sinners…God sent Jesus to save the world…it’s our choice if we want to follow him. It went on to describe how those who reject Christ will burn in the fires of Hell forever and ever. And then, in blood red letters: God will be laughing! It’s safe to say that I was pretty freaked out by that! And then the tract went on to say that God is love… (So confusion was added to my horror!)
It helps, of course, if we don’t take stuff out of context. We should also think about the very different cultural and historical realities throughout the Bible. Plus, there are various types of literature in the Bible: narrative, poetry, parable, epistle, and so on. We can’t read it the same way we would a newspaper, as a way of gathering facts. Theological statements—statements about God and how God deals with us—do require some element of faith in order to be understood.
I’ve started out by talking about the Bible because it figures prominently in today’s epistle reading. It’s all about a younger person being advised by an elder to hold on to the truth that’s been learned in the scriptures. There’s also a warning about those who will search high and low in an effort to avoid that same truth.
The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy is one of the three so-called Pastoral Epistles. 1 Timothy and Titus are the other two. They’ve been called that because a theme that runs through all of them is advice on pastoral care for congregations. The letters lay out ways that the church should be.
They’re attributed to the apostle Paul, but some things suggest that they were probably written after his death. Like I said when I was talking about Lamentations, I won’t go into great detail. One thing I will say is that, by the time these letters were written, the church had achieved a fair degree of organization. It had even begun installing deacons and elders! (So they were good Presbyterians.)
Anyway, back to what I was saying about the Bible. A question that’s being asked today, with some degree of urgency, is precisely what is scripture? Our reading tells us, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (3:16-17). All right, fine—so what does that include?
With today’s interest in books like The Da Vinci Code and movies like “The Matrix,” with their rather Gnostic leanings, some people feel that the books that make up the canon need to be revisited. I need to explain a couple of things here. The “canon” is the standard used to determine what is scriptural, what should be considered the Word of God.
“Gnosticism” is a broad term that covers a variety of philosophies. It comes from the word “gnosis,” which is the Greek word for “knowledge.” When you boil it all down—and it really isn’t fair to do this—gnosticism says that salvation is a matter of enlightened knowledge, of awareness.
The main candidate for a new addition to the canon, to the Bible, is the Gospel of Thomas. Supposedly written by the apostle Thomas, it’s a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus. It doesn’t tell a story the way the four Biblical gospels do. But there is a degree of overlap between the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas and the others.
Other people say we should reach outside the Christian tradition and include works like the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita, or others. I believe it is important to become acquainted with the scriptures of other faiths, especially in today’s world, in which we are so interdependent on each other. Still, we can learn to respect each other without saying that all scriptures have an equal level of authority. A lot of us would do well to become acquainted with our own scriptures.
If there’s one thing people like to fight over, it’s the Bible. You probably know by now that Banu and I like movies. We’ll watch teen movies, as well—though I tend to avoid the stupid ones! We recently saw the movie “Saved,” starring Mandy Moore and Jena Malone. (I realize that if you’re not aware of the latest generation of actors, those names won’t mean anything to you!)
It’s about a Christian high school, in which some rather un-Christian behavior is going on. When Jena Malone’s character points this out to Mandy Moore’s character, she takes the Bible she’s been holding, whips it at her, and whacks her in the back. At the same time, she’s shouting, “I am full of the love of Jesus!” Jena Malone picks up the Bible and, while showing it to her, responds, “This…is not a weapon!”
But, unfortunately, it is. The word of the Lord has been used for all manner of violence, and it still goes on today. Today’s scripture reading doesn’t go into technical theories of inspiration—and I won’t, either. What today’s reading does do is say what inspired scripture is meant for, what it should be used for. We’ve heard the list given in verse 16. In Eugene Peterson’s version The Message, the list runs: “showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way.”
There’s nothing there about using scripture as a weapon! Even in the face of those who “turn away from…the truth,” the message is to be proclaimed “with the utmost patience” (4:3, 2).
I said earlier that this letter was probably written too late to have actually come from the hand of Paul. It’s only in this one, and the other two Pastoral Epistles, where’s there’s any emphasis on the idea of “doctrine.” Something like that takes time to develop. In the next couple of centuries, the idea of “orthodoxy” begins to emerge. (Stay with me; I’m going somewhere with this!)
People usually imagine orthodoxy…being orthodox…as having sound doctrine, correct thinking. The first part of that is right on the mark. But the word “orthodox” comes from two Greek words. The first one means “right” or “correct.” The second one means “glorify,” “praise,” or “worship.” So, being orthodox is less about thinking the right way than it is about worshipping the right way.
Worshipping the right way is all about loving God and loving our neighbor. We can’t use the word of the Lord as a weapon—at least, we’re much less likely to!—if that’s what we’re all about. On the contrary, we’re “proficient,” as the scripture says, we’re skillful—we’re talented—“for every good work” (3:17). Now there’s an ability! To be talented at doing good. There’s a skill for us to hone!
I will say this about inspiration: the Bible is inspired because in its pages we meet God and ourselves. The Bible shows us many images of God. In the pages of the Bible we meet a God who is intimately involved in our daily life, from taking a shower…to washing dishes…to walking the dog…to hunger among refugees in Sudan…to destruction of the oceans.
The Bible, even with the strange verses I mentioned at the beginning, points beyond its own words. It points to our deepest darkness as well as our deepest desire and longing. It leads us to a place where we can live every day without going insane. It grounds us in the love, mercy, and grace of God. In it, we encounter Jesus.
When we reduce our Christian faith to simply saying the right words and not living in them, we fail to be proficient and equipped in every good work of Jesus Christ. We have more than enough proof of this in the church today.
Worship is not a Sunday-only affair. It encompasses all of life. We are to worship God and only God all the days of our lives. Without immersing ourselves in the words of the Bible, it’s very hard to worship in spirit and in truth. It’s very hard to, as verse 5 says, “carry out [our] ministry fully.” This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!