I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the house[hold] of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth [1 Timothy 2:15].
Paul gives us a profound, God-centered definition of the church as the house[hold] of the living God. The living God is the true God whose revelation of Himself is the truth. Paul informs us that the church is the pillar and support of the truth. Question: “What collapses if and when the church fails to be the pillar and support?” The title to this article already provides the answer to my question. The truth.
The Church: The Foundational Support of the Truth
A pillar and support is what supports a building, its foundation. Paul envisions an edifice erected upon a foundation. The edifice is the truth, and the foundation is the church. The truth requires a foundation if it is to be erected among men. Without the church, the truth collapses and men find themselves in a situation described in Isaiah 59:14-15a,
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Yes, truth is lacking.
Notice, however, that Paul speaks of “the” truth, not “a” truth, or “my” truth, or “some” of the truth, but “the” truth. Does Biblical Christianity have something true to say on “the hot-button issues of our day” like evolution, abortion, the dissolution of the family, etc.? Yes. A Biblical world-view positions us to approach the whole spectrum of knowledge in the fear of God, from the vantage point of wisdom. I’m adamantly pro-life and pro-creationism. I believe that the truth of God’s verbal revelation does not conflict with the truth of God’s work of creation. But is the church the pillar and support of the pro-life movement or of creation-science? Paul says that the church is the pillar and support of THE truth.
The Truth Concerning Jesus Christ
The truth entails confessional, doctrinal truth concerning Jesus Christ. This is evident in that as soon as Paul writes the words, the truth, what the Spirit brings to his mind is likely an ancient church confession of Christology [v.16].
By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.
The truth about Jesus Christ is articulated in these three confessional couplets. Each couplet succinctly expresses an aspect of doctrinal Christology encompassing Jesus’ incarnation to His exaltation.
But to assert that the truth is Christological, is to situate the truth in Jesus Christ Himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life [John 14:6]. The truth is confessed in propositional assertions about Jesus. The truth is personal and alive. We confess the truth of the living God who is the incarnate, resurrected, exalted and living Lord Jesus. The church is the pillar and support of the truth as it is in Jesus [Ephesians 4:21], in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [Colossians 2:3]. The church is the pillar and support of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. Without the church, the truth of the Word of God concerning the gospel of God will collapse.
The Truth Concerning the Holy Spirit
The truth upheld by the church not only concerns the person and work of God the Son, but also the person and work of God the Spirit. The gospel heralds the good news that the legal status of repentant, believing sinners is changed in the court of heaven because we are freely justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It is also good news that, in union with Christ, we have been given the gift of the Spirit, who, having regenerated us, indwells us and effects our maturation in grace and holiness. Christ not only changes our legal standing in His presence, He also changes us by the presence and power of the Spirit. He is at work in us, liberating us from the power of our sin, actually changing us, and conforming us into the likeness of Christ Himself. The idea of being a Christian and still being enslaved to our sin is not “good news!” Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit!
The church functions as the pillar and support of the truth as it is in Jesus because the church is indwelt by the Holy Spirit who unites us to the living Jesus and enables us to live in and for Jesus. The church’s Christ-glorifying doctrine and life are essential if we are to uphold the truth as the pillar and support of the truth. If the church is not doctrinally sound and livingly united to Jesus Christ, the truth will crumble and collapse. It is as Christ’s church that we function as the pillar and support of the truth. The integrity and promotion of the truth is dependent on the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the church. If we are living in a day in which truth has stumbled in the street, we are compelled by 1 Timothy 3:15 to inquire about the strength of truth’s pillar and support.
Convictions Which Confess the Truth
The truth requires a community of committed disciples to confess and proclaim it. We may have deep personal convictions as individual disciples, but we need each other if we are going to be effective in erecting the edifice of truth in our generation. The truth needs the church to be its pillar and support.
Without an audience of those who know God…theology dies as surely as art dies in the absence of art lovers. And the church should be this audience… The question, therefore, is whether the Church has a mind for theology… There can be no theology worthy of that name that is not a theology for the Church, a theology in which the Church actively participates, in which it understands itself to be theology’s primary auditor. The Church is the place where biblical knowledge must be learned, developed, and applied. The Church is the context in which God and His Word should receive their most serious thought. [David Wells, No Place for Truth (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993), 291-2913].
A church which allows its confessional, doctrinal truth to be compromised, is a church that will live in a culture in which truth has stumbled in the street.
Conduct Which Conforms to the Truth
Paul writes so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God [1 Timothy 3:15]. The term conduct encompasses the entirety of the believer’s life. Our union with Christ is lived out in our union with Christ’s brethren. We bear the name of Christ in every aspect of our lives. It is as Christ’s church that we learn of Him, and are progressively transformed into His likeness as the Spirit makes the means of grace effective in us. The Word of God equips us to serve Christ faithfully in all of our stewardships and the practicalities of life.
As Jesus is the truth, we too are to be embodiments of the truth. Our personal integrity and piety, our marriages and family life, our work-ethic, our civil citizenship – all the spheres of live are lived under the Lordship of King Jesus whom we serve together as His subjects, His church.
The truth is to be known. The truth is Jesus. We know Jesus by the Spirit of truth [John 16:13] because the Spirit is the truth [1 John 5:7]. The truth is to be lived. We are to practice the truth [1 John 1:6]. The church is the pillar and support of the truth.
Counter the Collapse of Truth with Biblical Churchmanship
If ours is a day of extensive confusion about the truth, that is a symptom of compromised churchmanship. When our churchmanship is compromised, the truth is jeopardized.
Scripture knows nothing of a professed believing disciple of Jesus who lives disconnected from the local community of his/her fellow disciples. In the New Testament, to be a Christian is to be a churchman. As a community of Jesus’ disciples, we are entrusted with the Word of God, the worship of God, and the well-being of the people of God. The living God, the risen Christ, dwells in our midst! When we live as communities of truth and love, we will proclaim the gospel of God and sanctify the name of God.
How can we stem the tide of today’s pervasive moral and theological confusion? Resolve to conduct yourself as the house[hold] of God, the church of the living God. Be a committed churchman, a vital living stone in the pillar and support of the truth. Be salt and light in this deceived generation. Live a life of true love in a time when lawlessness increases and the love of many grows cold. Declare and demonstrate the truth as the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.