FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST SEPTEMBER 16,2001 1Timothy 1: 12-17
Title: “All Christians have a mission.”
Most scholars believe that, after Paul’s death, one or more of his disciples wrote the Pastoral Epistles 1Timothy, 2Timothy and Titus. They reflect a situation described by some as “early theology of the Christian church.” By that time the church has been around for a while. The first generation of Christians has had children and grandchildren and passed on the faith to them. At least, where the Church has been established for a while the challenges have changed. Settled down somewhat, the communities are more concerned with the long haul and less concerned with the imminent Second Coming of Christ. They are more organized, functions are delineated, sacraments are more or less regularized, and internal matters, along with personal spiritual growth, have become more prominent. At least, in 1Timothy and Titus there is more space devoted to church offices bishops, presbyters, deacons and widows, than one would find in the letters of the historical Paul. Paul has become more myth than man and is honored as an example of sanctity, to be emulated and imitated, more than as a preacher to be listened to and thereby moved to conversion. For the most part, the conversions have taken place a long time ago. Now the challenge is perseverance and avoidance of false doctrines. Faith has now become the “deposit of faith,” a body of doctrines, even though faith as a personal relationship with the Lord is still central to its meaning. In the Pastoral Epistles Paul is claimed to be saying things he never would have said in his earthly lifetime. His successors use his name and teach in his place and name, much as Moses’ successors have done throughout the ages, much as the Twelve Apostles’ successors have done. The authors are not so much putting words in Paul’s mouth as they are applying his words to new situations, putting Paul’s words, if you will, in their mouths and speaking with the same authority as he. Thus, though we would prefer that ancient writers use our standards of reporting and attribution, we should not be too put off by pseudonymous writing, a practice quite common in the ancient world, not meant to deceive but to achieve respect and recognition. The Pastoral Epistles take the position “This is what Paul would say if he were alive.” Neither should we be put off if the details of his journeys as stated in the Pastoral Epistles are not exactly consistent with what we find in Acts or in Paul’s authentic letters for that matter. What God wants to reveal to us matters more than the human or literary vehicle used to convey the message.
In verse twelve, I am grateful to him who has strengthened me: In verse eleven, Paul is said to have been entrusted with the, preaching of the, gospel. He constantly went back to that starting point in his life, his conversion from persecuting Christians and his commission to preach. Constant reflection produces growing and expanding awareness of what Christ has done and is doing for him. That produces a state of constant gratitude. Paul recognizes that his powers, his effectiveness and his personal salvation are all from Christ. The historical Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter seven verse twenty-five, said as much when referring to his opinion regarding virgins. He considers himself as “one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.” “Trustworthy” there and here translates Greek pistos, which as a noun can also mean “believer.”
In appointing me to the ministry: That the Lord would forgive him his sins was one thing. That he would trust him and entrust him with anything, let alone the ministry he was doing, was quite another, a marvel really.
In verse thirteen, I was once a blasphemer…a persecutor and an arrogant man: Paul never forgot his sin and never wanted anyone else to forget it either. If remembering it, forgiving is not forgetting, made him grateful, reminding others of it would strengthen their confidence that the Lord could do the same for them.
I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief: “Ignorance” is a Lucan theme and the Pastoral Epistles are very “Luke-friendly.” Luke attributes what the people did to Jesus as a result of ignorance. It is not, however, the ignorance of not knowing at all, the inculpable kind. It is the ignorance of arrogance a hubris Paul just admitted to, choosing or preferring to ignore the data, especially lest it require a change in one’s personal life. Despite Paul’s “ignorance,” Christ called him and calls everyone, no matter his or her present spiritual condition.
In verse fourteen, the grace of our Lord has been abundant: “Lord” refers primarily to Christ without excluding inclusive reference to God as Father. “Lord” was a term originally reserved for God, in religious speech, but Christians used it for Christ to indicate his equality and identity with God. “Grace” is the same word used in verse twelve, “grateful” or “thanks,” Greek charis. This Greek word becomes in Latin c[h]aritas, “charity,” the Latin word for Christian love. Paul would know this since Latin-speaking Romans and their military and civil servants were everywhere in the Empire. “Abundant” is really “super-abundant” in the Greek. The historical Paul was fond of hyperbolizing language to describe God’s grace.
Along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus: The Lord’s grace not only forgives and strengthens as in verse twelve, but brings the believer into a sphere that can only be described as “faith and love.”
In verse fifteen, this saying is trustworthy: This is a formula, used five times in the Pastoral Epistles, similar to “Amen, I say to you…” in the Synoptics. It is a marker for something important. Ancient writing did not have quotation marks so it used such formulas instead. Having reflected on his own personal experience, Paul goes on to apply the same reality to all, seeing it as a general principle, true in his case, potentially true to anyone else’s.
Deserves full acceptance: This means full personal appropriation and application to one’s self.
Christ Jesus came into the world: We are more accustomed to hearing this kind of language in Johannine writing. By the time the Pastoral Epistles were written this sort of language, the pre-existent Christ becoming incarnate, would have become part of the common stock of phrases to capture the experience of Christ and to teach and explain it to others.
To save sinners. Of these I am the foremost: The point is that if Christ could save Paul, the first of the worst, a “perfect example,” he can save anyone else. He spells this point out in verse sixteen; Paul can be a source of encouragement to sinners. Having imitated him in sin, so to speak, they can imitate him in repentance.
In verse seventeen, honor and glory forever: The historical Paul would easily lift into praise of God when his consciousness, focused on what Christ did and does. Such heightened consciousness overwhelms him. We have undeserved life eternal with God as a result of the work of Christ. “King of ages” means both “eternal King” or “king in and of the eternal realm” or “always and forever king” and also “king from the beginning of time, of all the ages of time and humanity.” God is further specified as having attributes no one else has. He is unlike humans in that he is “incorruptible” and “invisible.” He is unlike other gods in that he is the “only God.” As such he deserves “respect and honor” and “attention to his presence and glory” in a way no one else does. “Amen,” “Amen means is derived from the reflexive form of a verb meaning “to be firm,” it signifies that that is the truth, a truth to which everyone can attest, everyone can second.
Sermon
Meeting Jesus made Paul conscious of sin, personal sin. Up to that point he arrogantly, if ignorantly, assumed that, as a practicing Pharisee or, might we substitute the word “Theologian”?, he had earned his way into God’s favor. Well, his encounter with Jesus on his life’s journey, on the road to Damascus to stamp out heresy and blasphemy and God knows what else, he got his come-uppance or come-downance in his case. Humans do not like being convicted of sin and it is true that it is not a pleasant experience. Yet, in the presence of the Lord, awareness of sin is not only unavoidable, it is undeniable. Jesus breaks through our walls of denial. Paul never let himself forget the moment. He kept his memory “green,” as did Peter. And he used the experience to help others, personally embarrassing though it was. He would do anything to help others, because that is what Christ did for him. He did it out of gratitude. Everything he did subsequent to meeting Christ he did out of gratitude. All Christian ethics is gratitude-in-action. Being conscious of personal sin can be a “put down” and eat away at self-respect unless one is simultaneously conscious of having been saved from it- not by one’s own doing but by Christ, a savior, our savior, a power outside of ourselves and beyond our resources.
Consciousness of present sin can be a morbid affair, but consciousness of forgiven sin is cause for rejoicing. It also rejuvenates the sinner, renews the sinner’s enthusiasm for fidelity, and, in giving witness by telling others about one’s own repentance, inspires others to do likewise. The grace of the Lord is more than adequate. Grace, that is to say God himself, is, indeed, the only antidote to the corruption, the relentless wearing down and wearing away of the human spirit, which sin brings in its wake. Now that the Church had settled down somewhat and become a trans-generational “religion” rather than a revolutionary movement, the heroes of that revolution, like Peter and Paul, needed to be “domesticated” if their lives were to have any role to play for the new and more settled generation(s). Hagiography, that is, writing the lives of the “saints,” will now stress not the virtues of the missionary, the pioneer, the traveler, but the virtues of the settler and the settled. The apostle and prophet and teacher model of pioneering leadership gets replaced by the bishop and presbyter and deacon mode of routine administration. We can see this evolving in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In chapter twelve verse twenty-eight, he mentions “assistance” and ‘administration” as gifts of the Spirit, along with apostles, prophets and teachers the latter refer to people, whereas the former refer to functions or “offices.” Church mission now becomes church management. Spiritual charism’s, which informed ecclesial functions, are played down in favor of ecclesiastical functions. Doctrine, and therefore orthodoxy, is equated with faith. All this spells “early theology” and it is not without its negatives. The Pastoral Epistles show us the link between the movement of Christianity and its establishment as a religion. Without them we would be hard pressed to see in the churches of the third and fourth centuries any connection with the churches of Paul’s day. So, Paul is “canonized” in the Pastoral Epistles, even though what is “canonized” is a domesticated Paul, not the firebrand who spread the faith to the Gentiles. Even with the makeover, Paul could never become one of those icons to whom so many people love to devote themselves, the “patron saints” if you will. Who has ever heard of anyone “praying to St. Paul” as they pray to other saints? Even with his makeover, Paul remains a giant of a Christian. He remains a model to be imitated but imitated only in so far as he imitates Christ as he says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”. We may not be able to imitate his missionary behavior. After all, Christ himself was not much of a missionary, if we were to compare him to Paul. He hardly left the confines of Palestine. No, we imitate Paul in his undying and undaunted enthusiasm for Christ and for living in and with Christ at all times, for his fidelity to Christ no matter what the cost or inconvenience. Paul also remains a model to be emulated- if Paul can do it so can I or you.
Of course, there was a price to pay in domesticating Paul, but it was necessary. The Church was in for the long haul. The challenge of the post-Pauline generation was pretty much the same as for all second-generation revolutionaries, that is, how can we make this not only work but last? Most of us are more settlers, that is, settled Christians rather than pioneers. Yet, we can still derive inspiration from Paul and learn to keep enthusiasm amidst our rather “settled” life.
All Christian behavior is an expression of gratitude-in-action.
The trust the Lord puts in us is not as a result of our behavior but of his super-abundant grace.
Christians constantly remind themselves that their sins are forgiven, resulting in gratitude.
Having been treated mercifully, Christians imitate that behavior towards all others.
The lives of Paul and other saints are a source of encouragement, giving us examples of how to imitate Christ in contexts the historical Jesus never specifically encountered.
Settled Christians: When we think of Paul’s missionary efforts, traveling all over the known world and introducing Christ to an unbelieving audience, we can wonder whether our Christian lives mean anything beyond our own personal salvation. We can think to ourselves that his life was so much more meaningful, so much more challenging, so much more interesting and exciting, than ours. However, when we remember that those “settled” people to whom Paul preached and who accepted Christ, remained “settled,” our thinking changes. They did not go off to foreign lands. They stayed where they were and lived “settled” lives. “Settled” in terms of geography, not in terms of challenges. It is not that challenges are absent from the lives of people who live in the same place for long periods of time, even for their whole lives. We all know Christians who have stayed at home their entire lives, never moved, hardly ever left their hometown. Maybe we are among them. They had to translate what Paul preached into lives more or less predictable and routine. Paul did not require them to “follow” him in some geographical sense, but to follow him spiritually, just as Christ did. Even John the Baptist did not require his “followers” to become desert hermits. No, they all require “repentance,” a change in attitude, a challenge to live every moment in the light of eternity and by the power of Christ rather than one’s own. Just because a person is ‘settled” in a geographical place and lives a rather mundane, routine existence does not mean that they need lack enthusiasm for the challenges right in front of them. Stay-at-home moms and dads, retired folks, disabled folks, chronically sick folks, business people, factory workers, anyone with a regular job- all these folks have similar challenges, despite their different “locations.” No matter what a Christian’s state or location in life, he or she still has a mission. The real traveling is found when we enter into another’s psychological space and both influence and are influenced by that “new” environment. First, we have to have Christ alive within us. We, like Paul, have to keep Christ in the forefront of our awareness. Then, we can let Christ, his light and his love, influence the new situation. And really, every situation, every present moment, is new. It is one thing to come into a new town and have so profound an influence on those “settled” there that they change their entire outlook on life. Paul was very good at that. It is another thing to have that same influence, maybe more gradual than dramatic, upon people we see and live with every day. It is the influence of steady example, remaining steady and steadfast amidst all the rather little crises of each day. The message of Christ, as the post-apostolic church soon learned, is not over once we initially accept it. After that, we are in for the long haul. While we never lose sight of the imminent Second Coming of Christ, we also know that we are likely to be around for quite some time to come before he comes again. The challenges is to make the original enthusiasm for Christ last over time and to let the grace of Christ work at all times and in all places, even if those places be the same geographical ones. They are never the same psychological ones. It is sniffing out that difference that enables us to see challenge in repetitive scenarios, such as work, raising children, keeping house, even recreating. Periodically, Paul would settle down in one place, stay for a long period of time, and make friends. Had he not, he would have been friendless and he apparently knew that, even though he had Christ with him always, he still needed friends-in-Christ if he were to be real. Christian life is about stretching the frontiers of the human heart and mind. Unless he stayed put and learned the lessons and conquered the challenges of a routine life, he would never have been able to preach to new groups with credibility. His audiences were always “settlers” who intended to stay where they were geographically but wanted to move to a new psychological and spiritual space. “Settled’ Christians can reflect on Paul’s life and work and derive inspiration from his refusal to be daunted by anything, including ennui, by his replenishing his enthusiasm by reflecting on Christ at all times. Amen.
