Repudiating Its Power (part 2 of 2)

It is with these things under consideration that one can advance to the third chapter of the letter to Timothy and find Paul referencing those that hold to the outward appearance of religion, while repudiating its power (3:5).  It would probably not be a mistake to equate Paul’s use of “power” here with his conception of the Gospel as power, and find him in rebuke of those that, quite simply, do not preach the message of the Gospel of Jesus (the crucified and resurrected Jesus is Messiah and therefore Lord of all).  These people might very well have spoken of Jesus in certain ways, but quite likely, were leaving out that part of the message about Jesus that caused Paul to resolutely affirm that he was “not ashamed.”  That would have been, without a doubt, the shameful fact of the crucifixion.  Less so, but certainly still, that message about which he was not ashamed would have included the message of the Resurrection---itself a ridiculous and scarcely believable notion. 

It would be relatively easy to understand people going about preaching Jesus’ kingdom ethics and miraculous deeds without reference to the shame and cursing of the crucifixion.  It is just as easy to understand a reluctance to preach the Resurrection, as the physical resurrection of a dead man, especially one that had been crucified, was such a preposterous idea.  A crucified man had been utterly and devastatingly shamed, as had his family and compatriots, which would be so even if he somehow managed to survive the ordeal of a crucifixion.  Frankly, it would be better for that person to die or to remain dead.  Yet it was insisted that this could not be said of Jesus. 

He had both accepted and overcome the shame.  The cross was not something to be avoided, but along with what it implied, it was to be embraced, with it standing as the symbol of the kingdom that Jesus had inaugurated, and the means by which that kingdom was to be established and expanded---going to the places of pain and shame and there showing forth sacrificial love.  Accordingly, Paul has concluded that, in effect, preaching Jesus without the crucifixion and the Resurrection, and therefore not preaching the Gospel in its fullness, was nothing more than repudiation of the power of the Creator God. 

A bit later on, Paul would describe the end result of preaching Jesus without reference to the crucifixion and Resurrection, which would be the propensity to “turn aside to myths” (4:4b), which could serve to turn Jesus into something of a strictly mythological, spiritual figure, in which there is a nod to the fact of His earthly existence and accomplishments, but little more than that.  This Jesus would quite unfortunately not be firmly rooted in history and in an accurate historical context that challenged all of the power structures of His day (and still does), instead, making him into something of a preacher of free-floating aphorisms and “timeless truths,” detached from the fullness of the Gospel message about Him and therefore robbed of His power and significance. 

Having made his point about the turning to myths, Paul goes on to exhort Timothy to “do an evangelist’s work” (4:5).  This brings the reader back to Paul’s consideration of the power of the Gospel and his conception of himself as a slave.  An evangelist is a person who speaks forth “evangelion.”  This is “good news,” or better yet, “gospel.”  In that day, the “gospel” was generally limited to announcements about Caesar.  The person who made these announcements would effectively be a slave, functioning as an evangelist.  In this, Paul is encouraging Timothy to become as he has so often described himself to be, which is a slave, so as to “fulfill your ministry” (4:5). 

That ministry, first and foremost, is the preaching of the Gospel of power---that Jesus the Messiah (the Son of God, Son of Man, and king of Israel) is the crucified and resurrected Lord of all peoples and creation.  This is the Jesus and the Gospel that is to be preached in word and deed with the cross as the guide, which first transforms the hearts and minds and lives of those that embrace the Gospel’s message, while somehow also having power to effect the same in those that hear and see its effects.  Failing to do so---failing to consistently, and without fail, teach and preach the Lord Jesus crucified, resurrected, and glorified---is, in Paul’s estimation, a failure to preach the Gospel, and is nothing short of a repudiation of the power of the Creator God.  One cannot speak of a God of power, or a Lord and Savior, in absence of the message of the crucifixion and Resurrection.  It simply is an impossibility.