1 Timothy Episode 4: Deacons and the Church

Paul describes the church as the “pillar and foundation of the truth” of Jesus and gives the qualifications and rewards for the service of deacons in a church.

- Podcast Transcript - 

Wes

Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you're interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today's episode. This is episode four in our 1 Timothy Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled Deacons and the Church, where we'll discuss 1 Timothy 3:8-16. I'm Wes Treadway and I'm here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we're looking at today?

Andy

Well, we're going to talk about the qualifications for deacons. And deacons are one of the two roles that are set up as we see at the beginning of Philippians, as Paul writes to the overseers or elders and deacons. Some people really wonder what role deacons have in the life of the church. We're going to talk about that. But in this text, it talks about their qualifications, kind of a filtering for what kind of individuals can be deacons. And, also, the end of the chapter talks about, I think, the whole purpose statement for the pastoral epistle, this 1Timothy, which is how people ought to conduct themselves in God's church. And then the beautiful statement about the mystery of godliness of Christ. So, it's a great section of scripture we're walking through today.

Wes

Well, let me go ahead and read the verses that we'll discuss: 

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. 

I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess is the mystery of godliness:

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.

The word deacon comes from the Greek diakonos meaning servant, or more specifically, waiter, like a table waiter. Jesus himself is called a deacon in Romans 15:8. Why is it vital for deacons to understand their role as servants in the life of the church? And why do you think the Lord established the office of deacon given that all Christians, all of us, are called on to be servants in the life of the church?

Andy

Well, that's what makes it somewhat challenging because we are all servants. And as a matter of fact, the role of servanthood is celebrated so beautifully when Jesus talked about whoever wants to be great among you must be a servant. And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. And so the idea of an aspiration to serve, to find ways to lower yourself, like in Philippians 2, the servant attitude of Jesus. He humbled himself and made himself nothing, being basically servant to God and servant to everyone. You think about the number of times Jesus is sitting with his disciples, and somebody with a need comes and says, “Please come and lay your hands on my daughter or come lay...” And he says, I'll go. And he gets up and goes, he's just servant to everybody. And that was Jesus. And also there's some indication in one of Jesus' parables that the master will be willing to get up and dress himself and serve his people even in the heavenly realm.

So, Jesus, I could actually picture him pouring drink and serving table up in the heavenly feast because servanthood itself is so celebrated and honored in heaven. It's a good thing to serve others, to meet needs, whatever they may be. So, yes, all Christians are called on to serve, and yet we have this office called servant. It's kind of official servant people. And so, I think the point is that they have a role to play in the life of the church, which we'll discuss what it is. They have a role to play, but that role is fundamentally a servant role. Now, there is a question. Why would God set up this office along with the office of overseer, elder, et cetera, and deacon, and how does it function in life of the church? And that is a little bit mysterious. We're going to say, I'll go ahead and make the assertion now, we've talked about it many times. There is no job description for deacons in the Bible. We have no kind of permanent, lasting, careful articulation of what deacons are supposed to do in a church.

Just here, what they're supposed to be, what kind of people they're supposed to be. So, they're filtered by these qualities, but they're not given a job description. Now, everybody knows that studies this topic of the seven that were chosen in Acts 6, to solve an immediate need, which is in no way universal or common. And that is that the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked in Jerusalem, in the predominantly Jewish church in the daily distribution of food, widows being needy, there weren't men to care for them. And so, the church was caring for them. And so there was just this certainty to make certain that everyone in the community was having their needs met. And so these seven men were chosen to make certain that the Greek-speaking widows were not overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Well, that's not really helpful for most deacons in a Baptist church or something like that.

We don't have any Greek-speaking widows. So, then it's expanded traditionally, that's a key word, expanded traditionally to deal with physical needs, meeting physical needs like issues of poverty, benevolence needs or physical things like around somebody's house that may need to be repaired or then within the church, practical physical needs. And that's fine, but just understand that that's a tradition rather than a clear teaching of the Bible. So fundamentally, that's the role that deacons play. And why did God want them? That's a question. But in his wisdom, he has set up these two offices, and I think it's a beautiful thing.

Wes

So, though we don't have that job description, we do have this list of qualifications here in 1 Timothy 3. What is the significance of the list of qualifications for deacons that deacons have to be evaluated by these attributes before they can serve in this role?

Andy

Yeah, it's what kind of person may be a deacon. It's filtering that. And one of the most important things that happened when I came, just to give you a little bit of my history here, First Baptist Church in Durham. First Baptist Church in Durham circa 1998, 25 years ago when I came, was kind of a standard Southern Baptist Church that had a single elder model with a church staff that was hired who reported to him as though he was kind of a boss in a secular company. And then a board of deacons that saw themselves, some of them did anyway, as like a check and balance to the power of the pastor. And their job description was to aid that pastor in fulfilling the ministry of the church. So that's a little murky. And the idea was that they would do anything necessary to do works of ministry.

So, they're almost like what I would call pseudo elders, what we have elders for now. They would have leadership roles, et cetera, and there was a rotating group of them. There are 24 specified by our constitution bylaws. There are eight of them in each class, and they serve for three years. So, it was eight, eight and eight, and you would have eight people rotate off, and then eight others would be voted in. And they were voted in basically in a popularity contest. They just had to have been church members for two years. That was it. And then whoever got the most votes would be the top eight vote getters. But they kept a record of numbers 9, 10, and 11 so that if any of the 24 deacons could not continue to serve then the highest vote getter that hadn't been chosen, he was like an alternate deacon would rotate up.

That was how it was. But there was no filtering. One of the first things I did is say, Hey, let's do 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Let's filter the candidates, and you look at the qualifications which we're about to walk through. So, what kind of people ought to serve as deacons? That's what they did. Now we have a whole different polity now. Plurality of elders and the deacons are there just to serve as the elders define their tasks. So basically, at First Baptist Durham, it is the elders that define the task, the jobs of the deacons.

Wes

So, as we begin this list of qualifications, Paul begins by saying the deacon must be dignified and not double-tongued. What does it mean that deacons are to be dignified and not double-tongued?

Andy

Well, Wes, I think what it speaks to is that as we minister for Christ, our reputation means a lot. And so just like the elders, that there's nothing that could be spoken against these individuals. They carry themselves with dignity. The translation you use, ESV, talks about double tongue. My translation says sincere. I think the idea is what they say is the truth. They speak the truth, and they are honest men. And so, I think that's what it is, that fundamentally these individuals have high character, they're high character individuals. They carry themselves with dignity, they speak the truth, and they can be entrusted with things. Like money, for example, a lot of times deacons are entrusted with collecting offerings and then counting the money and making sure it's distributed properly. So, they carry themselves with dignity in that way.

Wes

And that's actually where Paul goes immediately on the heels of those two qualifications, dignified and not double-tongued. He says they can't be greedy for money, and that they must not be given to much wine. How might those requirements that the deacons not be given to much wine or greedy for money fit together under the heading of self-control?

Andy

Sure, that's a good word. Self-control. They're not enslaved to their pleasures, to their sensual drives. And so, you think about what things pagans want in this world. They want pleasure, they want power, right? They want money. They want experiences. They want sex. They want sensual delights. Christians are called away from that fleshly life in general, but deacons, as with elders, are called clearly to be living a life free from those things. And it seems if they are going to be handling money, that they're not tempted in that way. They're not looking to take God's money, money given to serve the Lord and use it for themselves. So they are people that are not living for that kind of sensual pleasure. They don't get drunk. They're not indulging in much wine. This is not saying that it's wrong to drink any fermented beverage. I don't think you can make that case from the Bible. Jesus changed water into wine, but Jesus never got drunk, ever.

And godly men are self-controlled in the area of wine, and the wine becomes a symbol for just good things in life that you need to use in moderation. Just like honey is, I think, in the book of Proverbs. Eat a little honey. It's enjoyable, but don't eat too much or you get sick, and you'll become addicted to it.  So, the idea is: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything. So, these are individuals that are self-controlled and not enslaved to their drives and their passions.

Wes

Now, Andy, this next verse was actually a part of a recent conversation we had about the filtering of deacon candidates and thinking who might best serve the church in that role. What does verse nine teach us about deacons?

Andy

Yeah, deacons need to keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. So that is they are doctrinally solid. Deep truths of the faith means you're going beyond the milk into the meat. That's what I think of. I think all scriptures, doctrines can be broken into those two categories. Milk and meat. Milk is, are the simple doctrines that are core and essential for your salvation. So simple, a child could get them. There is a God, he made everything, he's holy. He gave his commands. We need to obey them. We've violated his commands, we've broken them, we sin. Jesus came lived a perfect life. He never sinned, died on the cross. All of that's milk, and you can say it again and again, and we'll hear it forever. We'll need it forever. It's the core of the troop. And then you've got meat.

And meat are those harder doctrines. What this text calls the deep truths of the faith. These deacons hold to those things. They believe in the harder doctrines- we would say things like predestination and just the complexities of biblical theology that are not easy to understand, aspects of the incarnation and of the Trinity, and difficult questions like the problem of suffering in the world, pain and suffering and providence, and the doctrine of providence and how God can be sovereign and still have so many hard things happen. And they're holding onto that. Now, the difference between them and elders on these things is they don't have to be able to teach them. The gift of teaching is the ability to articulate these things clearly.

Deacons don't need that ability. They may have it. A deacon could later be an elder, definitely, but it's not required that they're able to articulate the deep truths of the faith with that gift of teaching, but they have to hold it with a clear conscience. In other words, they have no reservations about the deep truths of the faith. They're not holding back and like, "All right, fine, if that's what I have to do to get the job of deacon, I'll do it." No, no, no. They actually do hold these doctrines with a clear conscience, or you could argue their clear conscience has to do with their lifestyle. Like it says, watch your life and your doctrine closely. They're like that. They're individuals that are watching their life and their doctrine closely. They have a clear conscience.

Wes

What is this testing process that Paul commands in verse 10, and why is that vital to the proper functioning of the office of deacon in the life of the church?

Andy

Well, it brings me back to my early days of controversy with many members of the church, when I meddled in how deacons were actually chosen. Remember, some of those individuals saw deacons as a check and balance against the senior pastor's power. So, you think about the separation of powers in the federal government, the judicial, executive and legislative, and there are some pretty clear rules of what the president may and may not do to, let's say for example, make somebody a Supreme Court justice. He does not have that power. He can nominate, but it is the Congress that establishes the Supreme Court justice. And once they're established, then they need to not meddle with their rulings, the separation of powers. Well, I looked on that a little bit in this baptist church. I had no right to get involved at all in the deacon election process, forsooth, may it never be.

But I was like, look, I'm just reading the scriptures here. It says, "Let them first be tested." And so, what I thought it was reasonable for the deacon candidates to do is to give a testimony of their personal conversion, their faith in Christ and their present life with Christ, their walk with Christ now, how they are living and also their desires for service in the life of the church. It seemed reasonable for them in that sense to be tested. Since we're a congregational church, the testing is just having to do that. Having to speak their convictions to the church. So that was an early version of the testing. Now what we do is we have elders that filter deacon candidates and ask the questions necessary to make certain that they hold the deep truth of the faith with a clear conscience, things like that.

Wes

Now, Andy, before we move on to verse 11, at the end of verse 10 says, "Let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless." Can we think of this in the same way that we would think about this word as we find it elsewhere, that they're not perfect, but they're above reproach, let's say?

Andy

Yeah, blameless, above reproach. I think of it in a simplistic way. If anyone who knew them and knew the church and knew the scriptures, knew these things pretty well, and heard their name as a candidate for deacon, nothing would pop in their mind why they couldn't serve. And just keeping it simple, it's like, oh, all right. Yeah, no, no, that makes sense. I think they would do a good job. If everybody says that, then they'll let them serve. So that's what I mean. No, you can't. You're not looking for sinless perfection. 1 John says, "There is no one like that." But you are looking for no eject modes. There's no reason why even the unbelievers that know them in the community as a business person or as an individual, there's no reason that person can't serve as a deacon.

Wes

Grammatically, the Greek for verse 11 could either refer to women or wives. Since it's in the deacon section and begins with the word likewise as verse eight does, it either refers to women, deacons or wives of deacons. Faithful complementarians in churches have landed in different places on the question of women deacons who do not teach or have authority over men like 1 Timothy 2:12 said, but who serve as deaconess under the authority of male elders. With all that in mind, how have you understood and applied this verse, particularly in light of some of the history that you shared with us?

Andy

I think it's just good for pastors who are dealing with the whole counsel of God's word to be honest about texts and questions and with their level of certainty. So, I have a very high level of certainty concerning the milk of the gospel and concerning doctrines like the incarnation of Christ, the Trinity- those things are vital. The virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus. These are essential to our salvation. We have to believe them. And they are mysterious, and he's going to say that in a minute beyond all questions the mystery of godliness is great, it's just infinitely mysterious, but we hold it. At a lower level though there's other things. I would say questions like the difference between believer baptism and infant baptism is lower than the deity of Christ from me. And so, I can accept somebody as a paedo-baptist, a Presbyterian friend or an Anglican, evangelical Anglican friend or evangelical Methodist, then we disagree on baptism.

But I still believe what I believe, and I'm going to do church that way as a Baptist. But you just need to be honest. It's what I call the hierarchy of certainty of truth. The idea that women can serve as deacons is lower for me on the hierarchy of certainty of truth, but I still think it's better. A better interpretation than that verse 11 is speaking about deacon's wives, because that's what you're dealing with. You've got something said about women in some respect in verse 11. It is definitely still in the midst of the deacon section because he goes back to deacons in verse 12 and 13. All right, a deacon must be et cetera. So you're right in the middle of deacon section. So what we've got is big picture 1 Timothy 3, the whole section we've been dealing with here is you've got elders and then deacons, big picture.

Then really you've got elders, 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Then you've got deacons, 1 Timothy 3:8-10. Then you've got something about women or wives, and then you've got deacons some more in verses 12 and 13. You basically have in my geeky algebraic, mathematical way of looking, you've got elders being section A, you've got deacons being section B, then you've got women or deaconesses, B prime I guess, and then you're back to deacons again, B. It's a head scratcher. The kind of silver bullet question that I have, and by that I mean it's kind of a clincher for me on my exegesis of this is why are there requirements for wives of deacons and none for wives of elders? It's hard for me to imagine that this, likewise, their wives section is extending to wives of both deacons and elders.

Because, he goes back to deacons some more, so it doesn't make much sense. Now Paul's not always super linear, logical. He sometimes jumps around a little bit, like in the whole Adam stuff, he begins a sentence that he never finishes. And it happens sometimes. But I think the best way to interpret this is women deacons. And if you say it's just servants that are not teaching or having authority over men, you could well see why there would be women deacons who could minister other women in ways that men can't, and it makes sense to me. Now, the silver bullet, the other way of those that say, no, no, no, deacons need to be men is verse 12. The deacon must be the husband of one wife. A one-woman man. So, the way I understand in my interpretation is verse 11 is speaking to female deacons and verse 12 is speaking clearly to male deacons.

That's the way I understand it, and that's the way we're going to run in this podcast. But I do have a high respect for those that say, look, because of verse 12, the husband of one wife statement deacons are men, and this is talking about wives of deacons, and I don't know why there's requirements for wives of deacons and not for wives of elders. I don't know why. Frankly, I could just have the wives of elders read the wives of deacons passage and say, do that. But there's no good reason to say that they as wives of elders should do that. That's all. I get it. So, this is lower certainty, but in our church at First Baptist Durham, we do have women deacons.

Wes

Well, let's look at the specifics of verse 11. What is the requirement for these women to be serious, sober-minded, and grave, teach us? And why should godly women pursue these attributes?

Andy

Yeah, serious minded. They're not malicious talkers. It says in my translation, they're self-controlled, moderate in their tastes, they're trustworthy in everything. It's just they're serious women, and women who take life seriously. I think in general, both men and women, Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. He came into a world of pain and misery and sorrow and death. You think about Revelation 21:4, "There'll be no more death, mourning, crying and pain." But this world, there is death, mourning, crying and pain. So, we Christians need to be serious about that.

I think about that when I preach, I get up and it's like, no, this is serious. What I'm doing is serious. I don't mind using humor. I love humor, but a little bit. That's not my purpose. I think these women need to be like that. They need to say, hey, life is serious, and we want to minister to hurting people. We want to minister to those that... We want to alleviate suffering. We want to do what we can to make certain the gospel is spread, and the poor are ministered to, and that people's needs are met and that that's what we want to do and they're serious about it. So, I think verse 11 is talking about a serious-minded woman that takes her faith seriously.

"We want to alleviate suffering. We want to do what we can to make certain the gospel is spread, and the poor are ministered to, and that people's needs are met."

Wes

And however we interpret whether this allows or does not allow female deacons, these are beneficial attributes for the women of our churches to aspire to and to pursue as they seek to faithfully serve in the life of the church.

Andy

Yeah, I would say if I'm going to go down the path of this is talking to wives of deacons, that's interesting to me. It's like why would it matter what kind of woman the deacon is married to? Because the deacon's going to be doing the ministry, but let's go with it. Let's imagine for a moment, though it's not my interpretation, that we are talking about wives of deacons. It just shows how significant marriage really is. It shows how important it is that both the marriages of elders and the marriages of deacons be in good order. As verse 12 is going to say, he's a husband of one wife, he, he's a faithful man. He's faithful to his marriage, et cetera. So, what's going on at home really does matter.

Wes

Now, in your interpretation, it seemed like what you were saying, and I thought this was very helpful, is that verse 11 is then addressing women. And verse 12 would be addressing the men. Why is this command here in verse 12, and why is it vital for male deacons to also be excellent fathers as well as excellent husbands?

Andy

Well, it says in the elder section verse four and five, "He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?" It's the same logic here, I think. A deacon must be the husband of one wife, must manage his children and his household well. So, let's imagine that we're going to pick up on the Acts 6 model of seven godly, wise men, and there's some filtering there in Acts 6. They're to be Spirit-filled and blameless and carry themselves well. Why? Because they're going to be entrusted with money, and they're going to be entrusted with some responsibilities.

The women need to eat every day. You can't, "Oh, we forgot the southwestern quarter today." It's like, none of those women got food? Yeah, I'm sorry. We'll do better. No, no, that can't happen. So, we're talking about some serious management here, some administrative skills. So, we need to look at his home and say, does his home run well? Is he caring well for the needs of his family? And if so, then it's a proving ground like it is for elders, a proving ground of deacons. So, he's got to run things well at home. And then he says, those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

Wes 

Yeah, I love that. Verse 13 lays out, essentially, rewards for those who serve faithfully in this office. What's the relationship between faithful service to Christ and great confidence or boldness in faith in Christ?

Andy

Yeah, I think it's similar to what happens when you suffer. And suffering produces character and character produces hope. I believe hope might be a direct equivalence to assurance. So, hope means a confidence that the future's bright. What is that, but assurance? It's similar. I'm going to go to heaven when I die. So, the idea is if I suffer well... This is Romans 5:3-5. If I suffer, well, I know that I'm a Christian. I think the same logic is here. If I serve well, I know that I'm a Christian. I have great assurance in my walk with Christ.

Wes

It's really good. Verse 15 makes it plain that Paul had the church and not the family in mind as he wrote this epistle. What's the significance of this insight for 1 Timothy 2:12?

Andy

Yeah, he's talking about the church, and 1 Timothy 2:12 is talking about, "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority of a man. She must be silent." And so anybody who tries to translate the word woman to be wife and the word man to be husband, which is permissible linguistically in the Greek, but it doesn't make sense in the exegesis of the book. The book is talking about the church, not the family. Now the family is in view in terms of make sure that the elders and deacons have orderly families, but the whole epistle is written for the church, and that the church be functioning well. So, I think this is an interpretive key to the whole book.

Wes

What are the words pillar and foundation of the truth that Paul uses to describe the church in verse 15 teach us about the purpose of the church in the world?

Andy

Sure. I would just say fundamentally the church is given to dispense truth into the world. We are a fountain of truth. All right, that's a very important statement. Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well and says, "Anyone who believes in me, anyone who drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst, but the water that I give him will become within a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14 paraphrase). Like a never-ending source of living water. Well, I'm going to borrow that image now to bring it over to this verse and say, we are to be a fountainhead of truth. You want entertainment, go somewhere else. You want excitement, thrills and spills. Go somewhere else. I'm going to tread on some toes here. You want a smoke machine? Go to a rock concert. Well then what do we go to church for? The truth.

That's what you're going to get when you come to First Baptist. Yes, we're going to get, thanks to you and your team, excellent music, but foundational to it is the truth of the gospel. Everything you do, Wes, when you lead and worship, it's to serve the truth, is it not? Absolutely. It's beautiful and make the truth beautiful. The songs that you sing, they are truth-based, they make the truth beautiful. And so, for me, when I preach, I want to make the truth clear. I want to lay out the truth of the word of God. So, the church does the truth better than anything else in society. Okay? Kentucky Fried Chicken does chicken better than the church does. We had LocoPops, a local business that does boutique popsicles, all right? They're really, really high-end popsicles, great flavor. They're really, really very good. They do popsicles better than we do.

Wes 

That's true. That's why we asked them to do that.

Andy

That's why we asked them to come on in and bring the popsicles. That's what they do. What do we do better than anyone else in society? We do the truth. We are the truth tellers. All right? Now the image here is architecturally the church, God's household, the Church of the Living God is the pillar and foundation of the truth. So pillar and foundation, I know there's different translations. I think ESV has something different. Was it buttress?

Wes

Buttress...

Andy

Okay. The idea is something that supports or structures the truth and all that. Jesus Christ ultimately is the truth. So we are the foundation of the truth and the pillar of the truth. We're the soaring structure of truth, we beautify it, we make it strong. We make it appear powerful. That's what the church does. The church is the foundation and pillar and foundation of truth. Also, it's immovable. You go there and it never changes. You're going to hear unchanging truth.

"The church is the foundation and pillar, and foundation of truth."

Wes

Verse 16 is a beautiful verse. What does the phrase mystery of godliness mean in verse 16? And how does verse 16 relate to verse 15 that we just discussed?

Andy

Yeah, that's a key question. I was going to start there. Thank you for asking that question. Verse 15 and 16 are related in terms of the word truth. What truth is the church the buttress or pillar or foundation of? What truth do we uphold and support this weighty truth? Fundamentally, it's Jesus Christ. He's the way and the truth and the life, and he is a deep, rich, powerful, complex truth. The incarnation is an infinitely mysterious truth. How Jesus could be fully God and fully man, how you could pat him on the back or give him a hug or receive a firm handshake from him. Or hear him chewing and swallowing or hear liquid going down his throat like it goes down your throat when you drink. Or see him die. See him bleed and die, see his back shredded with a flogging and think the whole time he's God, almighty God the Son.

It's mind-blowing. It's hard to even imagine. And so that's the truth we are the buttress or the pillar and foundation of. Christ incarnate, Christ the Lord, Christ crucified, Christ buried, Christ raised again in a human body. That's the truth. Now, beyond all question, the mystery of that truth is great. That's actually an understatement. Beyond all question the mystery is infinite, not just great. It is an infinite mystery, the incarnation of Christ. It is beyond any controversy that that is. And then he walks through aspects of things relevant to Jesus, the Christ. He appeared in a body, all right? What that means is he was preexistent, he was God the Son before he took on a human body, then he became human. It's a change. He took on a human body. He was enfleshed. He was incarnate. That's what enfleshed incarnate means. He appeared in a body. And then it says he was vindicated by the Spirit, and I believe that's referring to his resurrection, but it also referred to his miracles.

I think first the miracles because it’s by the Spirit he did the miracles, vindicating his personhood as Son of God. "So that you may know that I have authority on earth to forgive sins," he said to the paralyzed man, "rise and walk." Vindication. The Spirit's power was there, and he's vindicated. Imagine if he said, “so that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” says to the paralyzed man, “rise and walk,” and the Spirit doesn't show up, and there's no power there. He's not vindicated. But the Spirit was always there working with the Son of God, vindicating him through his miracles. But especially as it says in Romans 1:4, it says, "Who through the spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead." There's vindication by the Spirit. The Spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit, raised Jesus from the dead.

Now, that's an infinite mystery because Jesus raised himself from the dead, and the Father raised him from the dead. There are different verses to that end, but the Spirit raised him from the dead. So, he was vindicated by the Spirit, by his miracles first and then by his resurrection. Then was seen by angels. He was seen at his birth where the angels came to celebrate the incarnation, and then he was there at the empty tomb. An angel in radiant white clothing, white like lightning came down, rolled back the stone and sat on it. He's my favorite angel of all, just sitting on the stone.

Wes

Like waiting for someone to come see what he did.

Andy

With his angelic legs dangling down from the top of the stone, but immense power, just moved this huge boulder by himself. And he was seen by angels, or in John's gospel there are two angels, one at the head and the other at the foot of where Jesus had been laying there. And he's not here. He has risen. They watched him rise, they celebrated, seen by angels. Then was preached among the nations. Paul himself a preacher of the gospel. He said of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a preacher. And so he was preached among the nations- to the ends of the earth people have heard of Jesus. 

“Was believed on in the world”- speaking of the elect who have come to faith in Christ. They heard the message and believed it and then he was taken up in glory. That's the ascension. It says in Acts 1 that he went about a sabbath day’s journey from the city with his onlooking, 11at that point, apostles, and he said, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:8-9 paraphrase) He was taken up in glory.

Wes

It's an amazing passage beginning with the description of the kinds of people who should fill the role of deacon and ending with this glorious reflection on Christ, the truth. Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us today on this passage that we've been discussing?

Andy

Well, going back to deacons, sometimes it's best for us just to accept what God does, and he wants there to be deacons. We shouldn't ask why. We shouldn't ask why we don't have a job description. I think the answer is he's going to leave that to the church to decide. It's a matter of Christian freedom what the deacons can do. He's given enough indications of things that they can do. He's worked through history and in tradition and job description. So, I think practical servant ministries serving the elders as they do in the ministry of the church, I think that's how I understand it. The filtering is important. I think churches led by elders need to filter deacon candidates.

I personally believe as you do that women can serve as deacons. But I understand why some say no, and I think in the end we'll find out the truth of it. But the fact of the matter is these verses are vital. And then the beauty of the statement of the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth gives us a job description. The church is about truth, essentially the truth about Jesus Christ, and that's how the chapter ends.

Wes

Well, this has been episode four in our 1 Timothy Bible Study podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for episode five entitled The Power of Mature Pastoral Leadership in Combating False Doctrine, where we'll discuss 1 Timothy 4:1-16. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.