In 1 Timothy 3:14—4:5 the Apostle Paul offers a master class in theological method. Many of the themes we have addressed so far at Baptist Dogmatics present themselves in this brief text, which will be the source of our topic in this article
Paul begins by telling Timothy that he writes in order to convey proper conduct in the church of the living God. Paul’s master class begins with God in himself, specifically God’s aseity. The doctrine of aseity teaches that God is life from himself and not from another. A deficient notion of aseity teaches that God is simply uncaused or, even worse, that God’s existence merely serves as a causal explanation for the world’s existence as if creation’s existence necessitates God’s life in the same way that a leak under the sink requires a bucket to catch water. No, God’s life is from him, to him, through him, apart from all things, and dependent upon nothing as God lives in perfect Trinitarian fullness of life and love.
Multiple times in 1 Timothy Paul addresses God’s life in himself. He is the living God (1 Tim 3:15; 4:10) who alone possesses immortality (1 Tim 1:17; 6:16) and gives life to all things (1 Tim 6:13). In our immediate context, the church has for its God the “living God” which Paul elsewhere contrasts with idols who do not possess life in themselves; their existence is not their essence. The true church derives her confidence in the battle against death from her God who has life in himself as to his essence, and, as to the Triune persons, the Father has life in himself and gives to the Son life in himself that he might give life to those who are his sheep by the Spirit of life. Paul’s master class begins with God in himself.
Paul then moves to the works of God, namely redemption. Before Paul discusses the doctrines upon which redemption hinges, he identifies this creedal formula in 1 Timothy 3:16 as “the mystery of godliness.” Mystery should not be seen as that which ends in paradox or contradiction but those truths which are made known by special revelation and received by faith. These truths are reasonable without being normed by or arrived at by reason; thus, mysteries demand to be received in humility. The passive subject neither contains the truths in himself nor could he arrive at these truths apart from God’s gracious revelation, which dictates the manner in which these mysteries should be taught: proclamation. The hearer is slow to speak and quick to listen to all that God has revealed as he humbly receives by faith the great doctrines of the faith. Evidence for this claim may be found in Paul’s own example, he simply utters the truths that the church receives.
Paul considers God’s other outer work, creation. The living God who gives life to all things is the one who created all things and made them good (1 Tim 4:3-4). Redemption occurs in the theatre of God’s good creation.
Thus far we have seen that Paul begins with God in himself and then appropriately considers God’s works of creation and redemption; but there’s more. Paul’s theology is theoretical-practical. The mystery we discussed earlier is a mystery of godliness both in origin and in end. The mystery reaches back into the eternal and immutable decree of God, made known in time and space from the Father through the Son and by the Spirit. The doctrines contained in the mystery find their origin in God but also transform the redeemed into the image of the beloved Son, ending in the worship of God.
Not all hold to or will remain in the faith Paul proclaims. Paul acknowledges that the Spirit testifies that men will depart from the faith. How will this occur? If Paul’s master class teaches us that sound theology begins with God in himself and then appropriately considers God’s works of creation and redemption and ends in godliness, we should see false teachers break away from this pattern of sound words.
The false teachers discussed by Paul are those who fail to appropriately apply systematic and biblical theological categories. Instead of receiving the mystery of godliness that originates and ends in God, these teachers follow the doctrines of demons and deceitful spirits. Instead of conforming to godliness, they are hypocritical liars with seared consciences. How are we to discern these false teachers? Paul states that they will bind men’s consciences by forbidding marriage and requiring abstinence from certain foods. These doctrines of demons reveal a twofold misunderstanding.
First, demonic doctrine misunderstands the relationship between nature and grace. The false teachers fail to realize the inherent goodness of the created order. Marriage is a divine institution given by God and underworld theologians—for the sake of so-called holiness—reject the institution that is rooted in nature and reveals the gospel. Paul, however, reminds us that God created all things “good,” even the institution of marriage. The same is true of food. God gave food to eat and declared all foods clean; therefore, creatures should receive his gifts with thanksgiving and prayer. False teachers withdraw from God’s good design found in nature for ascetic pursuits that fail to mortify the indulgences of the flesh.
Second, demonic doctrine fails to develop a biblical theology that properly differentiates between creation and covenant. Marriage is a transcovenantal institution rooted in nature that will endure among humans until the end of the age whereas specific food laws are tied to the Mosaic covenant. False teachers reveal themselves in their biblical theology as they are unable to interpret transcovenantal institutions and covenant specific laws without damaging one or both and wrecking their own and their audience’s consciences. Themes of continuity and discontinuity cause false teachers to stumble.
These misunderstandings reveal that demonic teachings fail to properly consider the works of God, creation and redemption. Their denial of the inherent goodness of the created order reaches back into their doctrine of the living God who gives life to all things and their inattention to the mystery of godliness reveals an arrogance that refuses to receive the mysteries of the faith. As a result, godlessness issues forth in the façade of piety.
In this text, Paul demonstrates that sound theology begins with God in himself, then appropriately considers God’s works of creation and redemption, and ends in godliness. False teachers are liars with seared consciences, receiving their doctrine from the father of lies through demons while rejecting the mystery of godliness. True theology rightly applies the distinctions between nature and grace while dissecting the differences between creation and covenant, consistently applying biblical and systematic theology categories.