The Ground & Pillar Of The Truth (1 Timothy 3:15)

These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14–15, NKJV)

Rome claims that 1 Timothy 3:15 means that the authority of the Bible is derived from the Church, as it the contents of the canon requires an ecclesiastical authority to determine said contents.  Without the Church, so the argument goes, believes around the world would be awash in a sea of uncertainty.   This argument is used to undermine the Protestant concept of Sola Scriptura.  

In short, Rome’s apologists are trying to argue that since Rome declared what they believe to be universal canonical Scripture, the Church is a necessary & sufficient warrant for the authority of Scripture. In truth, Scripture precedes the covenant community.   

Some will even argue that the Sanhedrin was divided over the contents of what we call the Old Testament, insinuating that the Church was necessary in order to settle the matter. The fact that there was disagreement over the contents of the OT canon between the Pharisees & Sadducees isn’t proof that Rome is required to properly adjudicate the contents of the OT.    You may as well state that the OT canon depends on the authority of Rome and / or the recognition of an ecclesiastical authority in order for the Word of God & its meaning when correctly understood to be binding on the hearts & minds of any single person or any group of people as if God isn’t in the background doing Himseif what ecclesiastical authorities have yet to do correctly or incorrectly. 

First, Paul writes that he is writing so that his readers will know how to live.   The text outright states that the epistemic warrant for godly behavior is the written Word — not what an ecclesiastical body says about its meaning,   

Moreover, the text of 1 Timothy 3 deploys an architectural metaphor for the Church defined not as a set of authorized individuals who set policy for one or more generations,  but rather as a community bound together by covenant who are as a whole the column supporting the weight of a building and the “ground, “a support, bulwark, stay of the truth.   The truth itself exists independently of the existence of the church.   The church is the support structure & guardian against the erosion & collapse of the truth but it (the Church) would not exist without the existence of the truth. 

How so?  The Truth (vs 14) preexists the support structure (vs 15).  It comprised the land & its resources without which the architecture (the foundation of the house & the lumber in its walls) cannot exist.  

Romans 1 puts it this way:  The purpose of the created order is to testify to God’s existence, attributes, & authority.   After the Fall, human beings chose to suppress God’s image & authority & supplant their own, looking to images drawn from the created order in relation to faith (Worship Ethics/Theology) & practice (Morality, Sexual Ethics in particular, &, as we see as Romans 1:18 - 32 unfold all other ethical principles.   Then society after society collapsed. 

In other words,  Scripture, without which the Church would not exist, inheres in the mind of God.   The Church is an artifact of the created order, & therefore, not required for the Bible to exist.   It’s proper contents inhere in God’s mid,  k God’s mind is necessary, reasoned, & principled — thus God’s mind & His self-expression constitutes a non- arbitrary epistemic warrant for Faith & Practice independently of the existence of each & every ecclesiastical authority & covenantal community that has ever & will ever exist.   The Church generally constitutes a reasoned, principled epistemic authority— but never has & never will constitute a necessary one.   

Therefore, if what Rome’s apologists aee teaching about 1 Timothy 3:15 is true, it is at odds with what Romans 1:18 - 32 very clearly states about the nature of Truth & the manner in which we are to reason.   

God bless us all, each & every one, and “Go & sin no more.” 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Romans 1:18 - 32 & Leviticus 18

  Paul is following the basic outline of a suzerain covenant in general     & the outline of Lev. 18 in particular.   Shema & Decalogue (Rom. 1:18 - 20)  God’s Image testifies to His attributes & Law.    God created people. His temple bears His Image & runs according to his Law & Gospel.    This corresponds to Lev. 18 : 1 & 2. A - Rom.    1:18 - 19.  God’s wrath falls on those who suppress His image.   B - Rom 1:20  - For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made so that people are without excuse.  What is the teleological intent of the created order?    To serve as an epistemic warrant on par with God Himself? No!  It’s purpose is to serve as a pointer to God who is Himself the only sufficient epistemic warrant for all faith & practice....
Read more

Favorite Fallacies & Homosexuality

Thesis - The tradition bound view on homosexuality commits a number of logical, epistemic, & exegetical fallacies.  1-  Is - Ought Fallacy  - Human anatomy is said to provide    a blueprint for sexual ethics.  We examined this in my previous article.  A moral “ought” is derived from a physical “is.”  The disputant makes an illicit leap from what is to what ought to be. A classic example is the way some homosexuals defend their sexual ethics by appealing to their biology/genetics.  2 -  Vicious Circularity   - Human anatomy & physiology are raised to the status due a non-arbitrary epistemic warrant.    A non-arbitrary epistemic warrant must be necessary, reasoned, & principled.  In truth, the body is unnecessary to deduce sexual ethics. By way of contrast, God’s nature is definitionally necessary, insofar as God is a necessary being, &, since God is infinite, eternal, & unchangeable in being, w...
Read more

Covenant Theology In Outline Form (Part 11)

Isaiah 6:1- 13 Shema   In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Historical Prologue   And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the  Lord  of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and...
Read more