What does First B Jackson teach about 1 timothy 3?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on 1 Timothy 3 grows out of the series running through the New Testament in the order it was written, and it keeps returning to the anchor from 1 Timothy 1:5: that the aim of the whole letter is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. When Pastor Mark and Pastor Ray each worked through the qualifications for overseers in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, both of them were careful to say the list is not about sinlessness. Being above reproach means that when an accusation is examined in its full context, the charge does not hold. The qualities that follow, being a one-woman man, sober minded, self-controlled, hospitable, and able to teach, are a picture of what above reproach looks like in ordinary life. The Greek word for hospitality combines brotherly love with the word for stranger, the same root that gives English the word xenophobia, so an overseer is supposed to be the opposite of someone who fears outsiders.
Pastor Carl and Pastor Ray both carried the chapter into its closing verses, 1 Timothy 3:14-16, where Paul shifts from instruction to something more personal. He has been writing so that Timothy will have it in writing if Paul is delayed, but the goal of all of it is summed up in verse 15: knowing how one ought to behave in the household of God, the church of the living God, which Paul calls a pillar and buttress of the truth. The teaching at First B has pressed the point that behavior and belief are not separate. If someone says Jesus loves you and then cuts you off in traffic, their actions undermine what they claim to believe.
Verse 16 moves immediately to Christ, which both Pastor Carl and Pastor Ray read as Paul's whole point. The lists of qualifications serve a larger reality. Christianity is about Christ, and the faith comes first, with works following. Embedded in verse 16 is an early Christian hymn, likely a refrain quoted by Paul within roughly thirty years of the resurrection: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Whatever its exact structure, the song moves from the incarnation to the ascension and covers the full arc of what Jesus did.
Taught from 1 Timothy 3:1-7 · 1 Timothy 3:14-16 · 1 Timothy 1:5 · Luke 10:33-35 · James 2:17-18
The passage taught · 1 Timothy 3:14-16
14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly;
15 but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- May 13, 2018 The Mystery of Godliness A Wyoming pastor reflects on 1 Timothy 3:14-16 and an early Christian hymn about Christ, inviting his congregation to share the songs of faith they hold onto in hard times.
- May 13, 2018 Great Indeed Is the Mystery of Godliness Paul's letter to Timothy lands on three verses, a hymn, and a question: what song do you hold onto when life is hard or full of joy?
- April 29, 2018 Above Reproach: The Elder's Noble Task Pastor Ray walks through 1 Timothy 3, examining what Paul says an elder must look like and why those qualities matter for the health of a local church.
- April 29, 2018 A Noble Task The pastor walks through 1 Timothy 3:1-7, examining what God requires of church overseers: a life above reproach, marked by humility, faithfulness, and genuine care for others.