1 Timothy: on Christology

1 Timothy on Christology

1. Creedal confession, 3:16. Let us begin with the fundamentals. St. Paul wants to come to Timothy. Yet, preparing the younger pastor for a possible delay, he provides the confessional statement – what should the Church know about godliness. Before we go into text itself, let’s touch on two words: confession and mystery.   

Confession – Greek homologeon, means speaking together out loud. This is what the church should say as a statement of faith. This is what we believe – it should not be changed, adjusted, or improved. Later confessions: Apostle’s creed, Nicaean creed etc. used the very same form – a collection of short statements revealing the elements of doctrinal teaching about God, Christ, Holy Spirit, or Church. We repeat it TOGETHER every Sunday.

The word Mystery reflects the revelatory aspect of our faith. It is given to us, given from above. Therefore, we can recite it, we can study it, we can proclaim it. But we never will come to the full understanding of Who God is, and What exactly happened on the Cross, in the Tomb, and on Resurrection Sunday morning. Both Old and New Testament speak of the mystery – not magic, but mystery – something beyond our understanding (Proverbs 25:2, Psalm 131:1).           

Confession proper:

1. God (!) manifested in the flesh

2. Justified in the Spirit

3. Seen by the angels

4. Preached in/among the nations

5. Believed in the World/Cosmos

6. Taken up/received in glory.

2. Global function of the Christ, 2:3-7. Christ is the Savior of the world. All people are justified and should come to the knowledge of (this) truth. There is a need to differentiate between General and personal Justification. The difference is obviously seen in 1 Timothy 4:10 and 1 John 2:1-2. This passage talks about salvation and justification in a general way – what Jesus accomplished for the fate of the world on the Cross. Note the distinction of to be saved and to know. True knowledge follows salvation. Same as teaching follows baptism – Matthew 28:18-20. These elements of godliness should not be separated, but knowledge doesn’t HAVE TO precede salvation. That’s why we baptize infants – to be saved (1 Peter 3:21, AC V:1-2).      

3. Function of Christ on the personal level, 1:12-17. Regarding personal aspect of Justification, we can see St. Paul’s own example. He describes his actions toward the Church before his conversion as blasphemy etc. (v. 13). His resistance was conquered by the grace of our LORD, providing the faith and love in Christ Jesus. The apostle goes from general to personal – the task for Messiah is “to save the sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (v. 15). Knowing that people like Saul (former name of St. Paul) can be saved, gives us example of God’s patience and encourages us to pray for our “friends” who don’t know about salvation they can enjoy (v. 16).     

4. Christology is complete in training others in godliness, 4:6-11. Let me start with an example of Old Testament saint, Ezra (7:10): three steps – (1) he recognition of the WORD, given to the world; (2) personal “conversion” by studying and doing; (3) teaching others. St. Paul approaches teaching of Timothy in a similar way. We’ve talked about the first two, here is the third: command and teach these things (v. 11). 

Gospel of Mark: Many Healings

 

Many Healings

Text: 1:21 – 3:6. 

Comments: The number of “healing” stories is symbolic – maybe there is a paradigm of 10 commandments behind it, or maybe not.

1. 1:21-28, Jesus heals a man with unclean spirit. We talked about this story last time, but some things should be clarified. Note that Mark talks about “unclean” spirit not an evil one. It doesn’t make spirit “good,” what it does it presents a “specialization” of the spirit. It is not a spirit of sin; it’s a spirit that disqualifies a man from godly worship. In the Old Testament the Israel’s camp should be kept clean (not only tidy) – see Deuteronomy 23:9-14. Worshiping community is the LORD’s Army – therefore, keeping it clean (from within) is the utmost responsibility of the Church. His ‘authority’ is the authority of true King – he talks (teaches) and acts (Mark 1:27).     

2. 1:29-31, Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law. Then He goes from the synagogue to the house – all aspects of life are in submission to Jesus: church, home, and the world (see next stories – city, v. 33 and desolate place, v. 35). When the mother-in-law is restored – she begins to serve (v. 31).   

3. 1:32-34, Jesus heals many. They (?) bring Him people at the sundown – the last moments of a day (see Genesis 1:5b, 8b, 13). When the New day will come, they want to be sure to begin it as a “new creation.” Same as before, Jesus rejects the testimony of demons – He doesn’t want to be associated with them in any way.

4. 1:35-39, Jesus preaches in Galilee, casting out demons. He goes through the synagogues turning them into holy army of the Lord. Jesus says He wants to preach and Mark records that demons were cast out. It’s not a contradiction – for it is not “either/or” scheme. It is plan and result: preaching (His Word) results in cleanness/readiness for service (action).

5. 1:40-45, Jesus heals the leper. Two things: again, leprosy in the Bible is not simply a disease, it’s a sign of uncleanness and, therefore, is treated in isolation (Leviticus 13:46). Leper couldn’t be a part of worshiping community. So, when Jesus restores the guy, from now on he can be a part of spiritual army of the LORD (note, it is a priest who “lifts up the ban,” not a healer, prophet, or a king, Leviticus 14:1-7). As a result: many are coming to Him. Why? They found a way to overcome their isolation… Jesus brings people together!

6. 2:1-12, Jesus heals a paralytic. This story is in some respects a reversed story of a previous visit to Capernaum synagogue (1:21-28). Same city, not a synagogue but a home, but scribes (synagogal authorities) are there. Instead of marveling, they accuse Jesus of blasphemy (2:7). Jesus IN His spirit (same as the guy in the synagogue, lit. 1:23 should read IN unclean spirit) knows what they are trying to do and ruins their plans – by Word and Action!       

7. 2:13-17, Jesus calls Levi. Please note that in a call of Levi Jesus refers to the sick who needs a doctor. So, it is a story of “healing.” Also, Jesus calls Levi by the sea – like Simon/Peter and Andrew, James and John. This will “qualify” him to become a fisher of men, the sinners who want to be righteous, and not those who are satisfied with their own righteousness (2:17).   

8. 2:18-22, Question of fasting. In the presence of Jesus people should rejoice! That’s why in the West liturgical tradition 40 days of Lent do not include Sundays (do your math).   

9. 2:23-28, question of Sabbath. Jesus justifies the behavior of His disciples by referring to 1 Samuel 21:2-17. For a fuller understanding of the Bread of the Presence see Exodus 25:30 and Leviticus 24:5-9. Yet, the main question is who or what has the higher authority. The Man of God is the one who should’ve practiced the authority in the Garden (by kicking off the serpent), now Jesus brings this power back to humanity.   

10. 3:1-6, Jesus heals a man with withered hand. There is a possibility for an interesting parallel with Psalm 137:5 but we’ll save it for another time. Here again Jesus reinstitutes the PURPOSE of Sabbath – to restore a man, to make him about to worship properly – with raising his hands (1 Tim. 2:8). Also, note Jesus’ [holy] anger when He notices the hardening of their hearts (3:5). Their inability and rejection of acting godly did not stop or prevented the execution of His mercy.