Paul writes that “The
overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate,
self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher, not a drunkard, not violent,
but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. He must manage
his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his
dignity” (1 Timothy 3:2-4). Putting flesh and blood on these words and remembering
that this is a letter to a real person in a real church full of real people in
a real community that would have functioned according to the ideals of honor
and shame, then this list of “requirements” appear to be a way to screen out
those that would, according to accepted customs and practices of the wider
community, normally be expected to preside over the meal assemblies of the
church.
Indeed, Paul may very
well have specific people in mind that are subtly addressed and ruled out as
overseers by what is here insisted upon. One may think this harsh, but
the primary concern is the strengthening of the church body, and those who are
possessive of honor and standing outside the church are those that most need to
understand the humility and the embracing of shame demanded by the way of the
cross and the kingdom of the Creator God. One way for such people to
experience shame is for their honor to mean nothing inside the assembled church.
Conversely, it might
very well be the case that Paul is less concerned with making sure that the
most holy or least sinful person (by the popular and not overly helpful way of
thinking) is overseeing the church’s gathering (again, this is not about an
overseer in the way so many are programmed to think), and more concerned that
those that would normally be considered less honorable are the ones that take
up this function, thus making the point that those that society considers to be
more honorable are to be subject, at least inside the assembly that is supposed
to represent the kingdom of Israel’s God to those that are considered less
honorable by that same society. This subjection is not one of a heavy
hand, but it is a subjection rooted in the counter-cultural egalitarianism of
the church. It is by these instructions that the culture is countered,
and through which Timothy and the church are forced to broaden their scope and
manner of thinking.
The directive is
expounded upon, and one can be further convinced that there are, in fact,
specific individuals in mind when going on to read “But if someone does not
know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of
God? He must not be a recent convert or he may become arrogant and fall
into the punishment that the devil will exact. And he must be well
thought of by those outside the faith, so that he may not fall into disgrace
and be caught by the devil’s trap” (3:5-7).
It is helpful to look
at these as being person-specific---directed towards an individuals or small
group of individuals, rather than as ideals left up to subjective
analysis. Since it has been established that Paul is not writing about
pastors or church leaders in the traditional sense of the term or of those that
meet specific qualifications as determined by a council of elders, but rather,
those that are overseeing the meal-based gathering of the church in the home of
one of the believers, functioning as the host of the meal (with this rotating
regularly so that one person does not accrue undue honor or prestige), it is
possible to glean the principle and make the application that is so very
prevalent in the Pauline corpus, which is that of equality amongst believers
and the need for the church to be strengthened, with self-sacrificial love and
the preferring of one another (eschewing honor and embracing shame, as demanded
by the cross) the transcendent ideal to be embodied in the assembly.
No comments:
Post a Comment