Thursday 27 September 2018

Psalm: Psalm 146

Background

Throughout this letter, Paul’s purpose has been to encourage his young colleague Timothy to overcome timidity in relation to his ministry in the face of Paul’s imprisonment and the continuing threat to the Church. In the first five verses of this final chapter this encouragement takes the form of a solemn charge, inspired by Paul’s expectation expressed in v. 6-8 that he may well face an imminent martyr’s death resulting in Timothy being left entirely to stand on his own feet. The entreaty is made in the name of Christ as the one who will “judge the living and the dead”, a phrase that quickly became commonplace (see Acts 10:45; 1 Peter 4:5) and entered Christian creeds.

The “myths” of v. 4 are false doctrines almost certainly of a Gnostic kind, which was a philosophy that dealt with the problem of evil by attributing the creation and sufferings of earth to a lesser god, and believed that to escape material evil required secret knowledge. Timothy is to resist the yearning for such false teaching by “being sober”, here meaning “remaining calm and unflustered”, and accepting suffering that comes his way. “Evangelist” (one who preaches the true gospel) quickly became a recognised church office (Acts 21:8, Ephesians 4:11) but is clearly also a role fulfilled by a teacher like Timothy in “carrying out ministry fully”.

A “libation” (v. 6; compare Philippians 2:17) is an offering of liquid at an altar – wine was used in the daily Jewish offices of cleansing, though Paul clearly has his life blood in mind as he uses the metaphor. “Departure” was a common Greek euphemism for death, using a term that described a ship weighing anchor or a traveller striking camp. Further metaphors from sports – fighting and running – are used as Paul judges his own earthly ministry faithfully completed. The “crown of righteousness” (v. 8), more correctly a garland, is also an image from sporting achievement, and it best fits Paul’s whole theology to take the sense of “righteousness” as a life completed in a right relationship with God, particularly since it is not a specific reward for Paul but for all “who have longed for his appearing”, or in other words longed for Christ’s future coming.

To Ponder 

• In urging Timothy’s proclamation of the message, Paul urges him to “convince, rebuke, and encourage” (v. 2), terms that relate respectively to reason, conscience and will. To what extents are all three addressed by preaching you hear (in church or online)?
• Would you say that “the time which is coming”, according to v. 3, is in any sense already with us today? What are the reasons for your judgement?
• “He will come again to judge the living and the dead” is part of the Apostles’ Creed. Having noted how Paul uses this fact to solemnly urge Timothy to get on with his job, how do you think this aspect of Christian faith should be present in Christian preaching or informal encouragement of one another in making good choices today?