1 Timothy 6:3-4 – Daily Diligence as the Grist of Discipleship
From 1 Timothy 6 – 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
Tim Keller cautions in God's Wisdom for Navigating Life, "If you’re not doing work, and work in which you can take pride, you’re being cut off from part of your humanity." He predicts graphically, "There will be an atrophy of your soul."
With similarly discerning x-ray technology, the inspired apostle Paul must have seen the same thing in 1 Timothy 6:3-4. Those whose teachings distract from the value of honest, submitted work before a watching world, Paul knows, are doing both their witness and themselves great damage. The atrophy in their souls is that once evidenced by and temporarily distracted from by their argumentative spirit.
God has granted us souls which would be latched on and fixated. If they would not sleuth out His glory in the God dependency necessary in daily business, they will find something else to provide juice for their existence. Paul already warned Timothy in the book's fifth chapter that young widows without daily household work to do instead depend on the church will seek their soul's sustenance from gossip. Stereotypical and maybe sexist as that might sound, inspired Paul allows for equal opportunity depravity as the text continues.
The old are as susceptible to the soul's willing distraction as are the young. Men are as susceptible as women. Spiritual leaders are as susceptible as those on the margins of society. Unwilling to engage in Eugene Peterson's definition of discipleship as steady obedience in the same direction, the wandering soul is a danger to itself and others.
Even someone is grounded in Christ and secondarily in Paul's teaching asked him if he is not immune. Knowing this, knowing how ready even Timothy's supple soul is to be distracted, Paul issues a blaring warning of danger.
These aren't to be won, he tells his young charge. They are to be avoided. They are a human incarnation of the serpent's question in Eden, offering what appears to be spiritual discussion as manipulation and distraction from the work God gives us to do. By this, the soul atrophies. By avoiding this and by insisting on seeing God at work in the day's portion directly in front of us, we grow to be like Christ.
Tim Keller cautions in God's Wisdom for Navigating Life, "If you’re not doing work, and work in which you can take pride, you’re being cut off from part of your humanity." He predicts graphically, "There will be an atrophy of your soul."
With similarly discerning x-ray technology, the inspired apostle Paul must have seen the same thing in 1 Timothy 6:3-4. Those whose teachings distract from the value of honest, submitted work before a watching world, Paul knows, are doing both their witness and themselves great damage. The atrophy in their souls is that once evidenced by and temporarily distracted from by their argumentative spirit.
God has granted us souls which would be latched on and fixated. If they would not sleuth out His glory in the God dependency necessary in daily business, they will find something else to provide juice for their existence. Paul already warned Timothy in the book's fifth chapter that young widows without daily household work to do instead depend on the church will seek their soul's sustenance from gossip. Stereotypical and maybe sexist as that might sound, inspired Paul allows for equal opportunity depravity as the text continues.
The old are as susceptible to the soul's willing distraction as are the young. Men are as susceptible as women. Spiritual leaders are as susceptible as those on the margins of society. Unwilling to engage in Eugene Peterson's definition of discipleship as steady obedience in the same direction, the wandering soul is a danger to itself and others.
Even someone is grounded in Christ and secondarily in Paul's teaching asked him if he is not immune. Knowing this, knowing how ready even Timothy's supple soul is to be distracted, Paul issues a blaring warning of danger.
These aren't to be won, he tells his young charge. They are to be avoided. They are a human incarnation of the serpent's question in Eden, offering what appears to be spiritual discussion as manipulation and distraction from the work God gives us to do. By this, the soul atrophies. By avoiding this and by insisting on seeing God at work in the day's portion directly in front of us, we grow to be like Christ.
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