Chapter 4

The doctrine of godliness

1. Definition.

a) Godliness is a word in the New Testament derived from two different Greek words: e)usebeia and qeosebeia. Both mean duty toward God and both are technical for the balance of residency in the soul. By balance of residency in the soul is meant: When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ we are born again as royal family of God. So God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us and this is the escutcheon or the sign of the royal family. Then we have in the soul (when we start) the filling of the Holy Spirit, and that lasts until the first time we sin, at which time we lose the filling of the Spirit. When we rebound — 1 John 1:9 — we are again filled with the Holy Spirit. We start out with minus doctrine in the soul and the minus has to become a plus. The daily function of GAP eventuates in balance of residency between the filling of the Holy Spirit and maximum doctrine resident in the soul. This is also known technically as experiential sanctification, but we are studying it under the title “godliness.” So godliness means our duty toward God. The second noun, qeosebeia also means “reverence for God.” They are both very technical words with a slight difference in the meaning. E)usebeia is actually the establishing of the balance of residency in the soul through the function of GAP. Qeosebeia is the result of this in occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

b) Godliness therefore refers to the balance of residency and becomes a synonym for experiential sanctification — phase two sanctification or occupation with Christ.

c) Godliness is based on the escutcheon of the royal family or the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit.

d) Godliness is that balance of residency in the soul of the believer whereby he is filled with the Spirit and possesses maximum doctrine in the soul as a result of the function of GAP. This also produces maximum category #1 love.

e) Godliness, then, is the status quo of the super-grace or mature believer. The second noun qeosebeia indicates his occupation with Christ.

2. The establishment and human authority is necessary for the function of godliness — 1 Timothy 2:2.

3. Godliness is also related to knowledge of doctrine — Titus 1:1.

4. Therefore godliness demands discipline — 1 Timothy 4:7.

5. Godliness is profitable for time and eternity — 1 Timothy 4:8, SG² and SG³.

6. The basis for godliness is the strategical victory of Jesus Christ in the first advent — 1 Timothy 3:16.

7. Godliness is distorted by reversionists under the influence of evil — 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 3:2-5.

8. The great gain of true godliness is found in 1 Timothy 6:6. Contentment is capacity for life, for love, for happiness, for blessing, based on inner doctrine.

9. Godliness is attained under the principle of living grace — 2 Peter 1:3. Godliness is a Christian virtue — 2 Peter 1:6,7; 3:11.

In chapter four we deal with Church Age apostasy. The chapter is divided into three points:

a) The evil attack of apostasy, verses 1-5.

b) The doctrinal defense against apostasy, verses 6-10.

c) The pastoral counterattack against apostasy, verses 11-16.

Verse 1 — the source of apostasy. “Now” — the adversative use of the post positive conjunctive particle de. It emphasises a contrast between the strategic victory of Christ in the first advent and the Satanic offensive which goes on during the Church Age and results in apostasy. This is very important. Satan has launched a great offensive since the strategical victory of Christ. He is the source of the attack of apostasy against the royal family of God. The attack originates from his policy as the ruler of this world. The policy is known in the Bible under the nomenclature of the word “evil.” Evil is the policy of Satan. This verse will teach the principle that Satan administers his policy of evil through creatures (angelic creatures) and doctrines. Satan has his doctrine just as the Church has its doctrine.

“the Spirit” — the nominative neuter singular of the definite article and it is used as a demonstrative pronoun to match the nominative neuter of the word pneuma, used here for the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. It is preceded by a definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun to emphasise the importance of the ministry of the Spirit in this Church Age. It should be translated, “But that same Spirit.” What is means is, “that same Holy Spirit who vindicated the incarnate Christ.” In 1 Timothy 3:16 we have seen the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in sustaining and vindicating the humanity of Christ during the period of the first advent. The Spirit’s ministry of vindication is directed towards each one of us as believers. In other words, toward the royal family of God. It is accomplished by the formation of the canon of scripture, its preservation , and its communication through the pastor-teacher of the local church.

“speaketh expressly” — present active indicative of the verb legw. The present tense is a static present, it represents the communication of the Holy Spirit as a part of the permanent record of the Bible. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit is the communicator producing the action of the verb. He communicates to the apostle Paul, the human author of 1 Timothy chapter four. God the Holy Spirit so communicated to Paul that without waiving his intelligence, his individuality, his literary style, his personal feelings, or any other human factor, God’s complete and coherent message is recorded with perfect accuracy in the Koine Greek, the very words of the scripture bearing the authority of divine authorship. The indicative mood is declarative for the dogmatic assertion of verbal plenary inspiration. Legw here means to make a very clear, lucid, explicit report — “explicitly reports.” The word “expressly” is an adverb, r(htoj, which means explicitly.

“that” — the conjunction o(ti is used after words of speaking, reporting, communicating. It is used to express the content of the report.

Now here is the report.

“in the latter times” — one of the most abused, misunderstood words in the epistle. Most people think the latter times either refers to the Tribulation or the end of the Church Age, but “latter times” refers to each generation actually. We have the preposition e)n plus the locative plural of the adjective u(steroj. U(steroj is used as a comparative adjective and the comparison is between the Church Age and the Age of Israel. Then we also have the locative of kairoj. Kairoj means an age or a dispensation here. Sometimes it means time, it usually means an epoch of time. Here it means a period of time or a dispensation. It is in the plural, so “in latter periods of time,” literally. It refers to every generation of the Church Age. The plural covers not only the dispensation of the royal family of God but the conclusion of the Age of Israel which is known as the Tribulation. In other words, this prepositional phrase e)n u(steroij kairoij covers the period between the two advents of Christ. In every generation between the first advent and the second advent there will be apostasy, that is the Satanic offensive which follows the glorification of Christ at the right hand of the Father. The strategic victory of Jesus Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father after His resurrection calls for all of the energy, all of the genius of Satan, and all of his vigour. His vigour is unlimited, he attacks every generation from the time of the day of Pentecost all of the way to the second advent. No generation escapes. Satan is vigorous in his attacks of apostasy.

It is noteworthy that the great apostasy which continues throughout the Church Age is perpetuated beyond the Rapture to the Tribulation. This prepositional phrase does not refer to the end of the Church Age. Apostasy or reversionism runs concurrently with the super-grace attainment and status throughout the Church Age. Every generation has two options: To follow the line of Satan — apostasy, evil, reversionism — or to follow the plan of Christ after salvation, the concept of the function of GAP, the inculcation of Bible doctrine. There never has been a generation in the Church Age which did not have running simultaneously both the Satanic attacks of apostasy and the divine plan, the option of going to the high ground of the super-grace life. The two states coexist and conflict throughout this dispensation. There will always be those who are influenced by evil in every generation; there will be those influenced by doctrine in every generation. This is the characteristic of the epochs between the advents, and it is also taught in Matthew 24:6,7.

“some” — the nominative masculine plural from the indefinite pronoun tij. The indefinite pronoun is used to express categories. It expresses a certain category, in this case the category is the royal family of God, believers in this dispensation — “some [believers].” This is talking about the attack on believers.

“shall depart” — the future middle indicative of a)fisthmi. Some believers will become apostate, is what it means. The word a)fisthmi means to stand away from, to revolt, to abstain from, to depart, to withdraw, to fall away from, to become apostate. The verb defines apostasy for us. Apostasy is some form of rejection of Bible doctrine. This means rejection of Bible teaching from your right pastor. This in effect becomes reversionism and is tantamount to being influenced by evil. The future tense is a gnomic future, it states the fact of apostasy or reversionism anticipated under the conditions when the believer rejects Bible doctrine and comes under the influence of evil. The middle voice is an indirect middle, it emphasises the believer as the agent producing the action. The middle voice sets up a very close relationship between the subject and the verb. In fact the subject becomes involved with the verb. The believer who rejects doctrine inevitably falls into apostasy. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. Apostasy will occur throughout every generation. The indicative mood, then, is the reality of this great Satanic offensive and the fact that some believers fall into it.

“from the faith” is the ablative of separation from the noun pistij, used here for what is believed, i.e. doctrine. It should be translated, “from the doctrine.”

Translation so far: “But that same Holy Spirit who vindicated the incarnate Christ explicitly reports that in latter periods of time [between the advents of Christ] some believers will become apostate [will revolt against doctrine].”

Verse 1b — “giving heed” is the present active participle of the verb prosechw. It means to apply the mind to a thing, to concentrate on something, to adhere to something, to be occupied with something, to pay attention to something. The present tense is a pictorial present, it connotes a picture of events as in the process of occurrence. Also it is known as a static present, representing this condition as constantly existing under conditions of reversionism. The active voice: the reversionistic believer produces the action of the verb, he is under the influence of evil and therefore produces the action. The participle is circumstantial. It should be translated either “paying attention to” or “concentrating on.”

“seducing spirits” — the dative plural of reference as well as the dative disadvantage from the adjective planoj plus the noun pneuma. This refers to fallen angels who communicate Satanic doctrine and also act as Satan’s teachers for the dissemination of the policy of evil. Remember that Satan has his pseudo pastors, those who are effective in communicating his doctrine. This is how people get converted to becoming liberals, bleeding hearts, how they become sincere do-gooders. “Seducing spirits” is better translated “deceitful spirits.” They are teaching demons, they are described as the messengers of Satan in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

“and doctrines of devils” — the word for “doctrine” is the dative plural of reference as well as the dative of disadvantage in this case of didaskalia which means the teaching ministry of doctrine, it means the communication of doctrine. It is correctly translated either “teachings” or “doctrines.” With it is the ablative plural of source from the noun daimonion, and it should be translated “demons.” Demons is the accepted word for the fallen angels under the function of Satan. So we have “deceitful spirits and doctrines from demons.”

Translation: “But that same Holy Spirit [who vindicated the incarnate Christ] explicitly communicates, that in latter periods of time [the time between the advents] some believers will become apostate [depart from, fall away from, revolt against, abstain from, withdraw from] doctrine, paying attention to deceitful spirits and concentrating on doctrines from demons.”

Note that the verb prosexw is repeated to clarify the meaning of the Greek text. The word occurs only once but we have two objects of prosexw, so it is repeated in this way: “Paying attention to [prosexw] deceitful spirits and concentrating on [prosexw] doctrines from demons.” Since prosexw means both to pay attention to and concentrate on it is apropos to repeat it because both the demon teacher and the false doctrine are linked together. Two great doctrines are involved in this last phrase: the doctrine of reversionism and the doctrine of evil. Concentration on doctrines from demons indicates the believer in reversionism under the influence of evil. It is one of the latter stages of reversionism. Paying attention to deceitful spirits is the last stage of reversionism. Concentration on doctrines from demons begins when the mataiothj or the vacuum opens into the soul.

Now we move on to the apostles of apostasy in verses 2 — “Speaking lies” is the ablative of source plural. It is from a compound, yeudologoj, and it can be translated “liar.” The translation should be, “From the source of liars.” These false communicators, these Satanic preachers, are liars.

“in hypocrisy” actually comes first in the Greek text — e)n plus the instrumental of u(pokrisij. It is transliterated rather than translated in the KJV. U(pokrisij means to speak from behind a mask, to be an actor as in Greek drama. “By means of hypocrisy from the source of [human] liars.” This is talking about a congenital liar, a pathological liar, a person who would rather lie than tell the truth.

Notice

1. The liars who use hypocrisy to lead the royal family into apostasy are the human agents of Satan. In the previous verse we had the angelic agents of Satan, demons. In this verse we have human agents, the liars who use hypocrisy to lead the royal family into apostasy are the human agents of Satan.

2. These human agents might be classified as the apostles of apostasy.

3. They exist in every category of the human race, from the highest to the lowest walk of life.

4. Politicians, followed very closely by religious leaders, generals, admirals, judges, educationalists, psychologists, students, rabble-rousers, can all be apostles of apostasy and have been in our history. They all have one thing in common when they are in this category, they are under the influence of evil, they are under the policy of Satan.

“having their conscience seared” — the perfect passive participle of the verb kausteriazw. It means to be branded with a branding iron. It should be translated, “having been branded with a branding iron.” The branding iron is evil. The perfect tense is the intensive perfect, emphasising the existing results of being branded by evil. The passive voice: the apostles of apostasy receive the action of the verb, that is, their conscience is branded with a branding iron, Satan’s policy of evil. This is a causal participle. With this we have the phrase “their conscience” — the accusative singular of the definite article used as a possessive pronoun plus the accusative singular of reference from the adjective i)dioj, meaning one’s own, and the accusative singular of reference from the noun suneidhsij for “conscience.” It should be translated, “their own conscience.”

Translation: “By means of hypocrisy from the source of [human] liars; who because their own conscience has been branded with the branding iron of evil.”

Asceticism

1. Asceticism is lack of capacity for life, austere self-denial as a means of gaining the approbation of God.

2. Two forms of asceticism were used in the attack upon Ephesus. Prohibition of marriage, and along with it, prohibition of sex, and prohibition of any food that tasted good or looked good or was good. So it was to live minus sex and normal eating. These were the two forms of asceticism in Ephesus because Ephesus had once been a hell-raising town with a hell-raising population. This meant a whole lot of people who had lived it up for a long time and then went in the opposite direction to make it up to God by way of asceticism.

3. The result of this was twofold in Ephesus. Salvation came from abstinence in sex and good food; spirituality came from abstinence in sex and good food. Good food stimulates the palate, sex stimulates the body. Anything that stimulates is wrong, says the ascetic. If it’s fun, if it’s a pleasure, if it’s stimulating, it’s wrong.

4. The prohibitions regarding food and sex actually had their origin in ascetic gnosticism. That means that later on the representatives of ascetic gnosticism in history are people like Marcion, Saturnius, etc. They were uncomfortable in a sensuous world controlled by the demi urge, therefore to get comfortable they said you must abstain from certain foods and sex. They claimed this on the basis of the fact that each one of us has a soul, which they called an eon, and the eon is trapped by the world of the demi urge — which they called the God of the Old Testament — and you must break out into the heaven of plhrwma. And the only way that you can get your eon out of your body and into heaven is to starve your body and keep your body away from sex or anything that is stimulating. There were many groups, organisations of people, in Israel at this time and that actually spread throughout the ancient world. The Pharisees were the theological legalists. The Saduccees were the rationalistic legalists. The Zealots were the hippie-type revolutionists. Then there were the reactors to everything in society called the Essenes, and they went out into the desert and practiced these various forms of asceticism.

Verse 3 — “Forbidding” is the present active participle from the verb kwluw. It means to hinder, to prevent, to forbid. The present tense is a descriptive present for what was going on at the moment. The active voice: the apostles of apostasy, these false teachers representing the Satanic viewpoint, produce the action of the verb by teaching, by evangelising, by leading away, by seducing spiritually members of the flock in Ephesus. The participle is an imperative use of the participle but it is the imperative as a prohibition. It should be translated, “They forbid.”

“to marry” — the present active infinitive of the verb gamew which means to marry. This is the Greek word for marriage with emphasis on sexual relationship. This is the substantive use of the infinitive, so that it is used as an object of the participle and therefore should be translated like a noun. “They forbid marriage.” Ascetic reversionism rejects the legitimate expression of sex in category #2 love. It becomes, therefore, a form of legalism to gain the approbation of God. These people thought they could get God’s attention by not having sex, based on the reaction to the sexual excesses which always exist in heathenism. Many of these people were reacting to the famous phallic cult of the ancient world.

There were two categories of people who taught this. Those who taught that you can’t go to heaven if you ever have sex. The second thing was, you can go to heaven if you have sex but you’re going to be “out in the cotton fields picking cotton in heaven” if you do. Furthermore, God will never bless you in time, they said in their apostasy.

“to abstain” — the present middle infinitive of the verb a)pexw which means to hold one’s self away from something. It has an intransitive use meaning to be estranged. It has an active meaning, to receive a sum in full or to give a receipt for money. The middle voice use is to keep away from something or to abstain. Since this is a present middle infinitive it is correctly translated by the word to abstain or abstinence. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present which denotes what has begin in the past and must be continued into the present time. It says, then, that you must continue to abstain. The infinitive is a substantive use of the infinitive and therefore better translated commanding abstinence. “They forbid marriage and command abstinence.”

“from meats” — the ablative plural of separation from the noun brwma which means food, any kind of food. This introduces the principle of salvation, spirituality, and maturity by works. This is all legalism as well as apostasy.

In the middle of this verse we have the reputation of ascetic reversionism. With the word “which” in the middle of the verse we are going to see a short statement of reputation. It goes through half of verse 3 and all of verse 4. It was say in effect, “What I have just taught you about what they teach is all wrong. They are wrong, out of line; they are apostate.”

“which” is a nominative neuter plural from the relative pronoun o(j whose antecedent is brwma in the plural for food — “which foods.”

“God” — o( qeoj, “the God.”

“hath created” — God created food for man. The word for “create” is the aorist active indicative of the verb ktizw. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It takes the occurrence, for example, of animal life being created on the fifth and sixth days of the earth’s restoration and gathers it into one entirety. Asceticism is rejecting what God provided for man’s health and blessing physically. The active voice: God the Son produced the action of the verb. The indicative mood is doctrinal and historical reality.

“to be received” — a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of metalhyij which means taking or receiving. Genesis 9:3.

“with thanksgiving” — the preposition meta plus the genitive singular from e)uxaristia. Meta is the preposition of association. We call that “grace” or thanking God for the food and asking it to be sanctified so that whatever impurities exist will be set aside, and that even impure food or spoiled food will be for the nourishment of our bodies. The taking of food can be a pleasure as well as a necessity.

“of them which believer” — the instrumental plural of the definite article plus the instrumental plural of the adjective pistoj. It means “by dependable believers.”

“and” — the ascensive use of kai, translated “even.”

“know” — prefect active participle of e)piginwskw which means maximum knowledge of doctrine; it is the verb that goes with its cognate e)pignwsij, doctrine resident in the soul. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect which is the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect. It represents the status of maturity or super-grace in a very vivid and realistic way. Emphasis is placed on the existing status of spiritual maturity by the one who is blessing the food. The active voice: the mature or super-grace believer produces the action. The participle is circumstantial for believers who have followed the colours to the high ground, who have established the command post of doctrine resident in the soul.

Translation: “They forbid marriage, and command abstinence from certain foods, which the God has created for receiving with thanksgiving by faithful believers, even those who have full knowledge of the doctrine, with the result that they have maximum doctrine resident in the soul.

Verse 4 — “For” is the causal conjunction o(ti and it means “Because.” It explains everything in the previous verse.

“every creature” — the nominative neuter singular from paj for “every,” plus ktisma for “creature.” Ktisma means everything created. It is a reference to the animal world here. There is no such thing as any kind of meat that is not fit for human consumption. Some meat is better than others.

“of God” — the ablative of means from qeoj. It is correctly translated, “by God.” The ablative is not the regular case for expressing means, it is only used to express means when it is accompanied by the implications of origin. The absence of the definite article emphasises the perfect quality of the creator who knows exactly what He is doing in providing animals for food.

“is good” — the predicate nominative of kaloj. This is a neuter form to indicate food. It means good for food. This not only knocks out asceticism but it also indicates that God has provided in His grace all kinds of creatures for food.

“and nothing to be refused” — kai o)uden, i.e. nothing in the types of animal life; “to be refused” is a nominative neuter singular from the adjective a)poblhtoj. This is the predicate adjective and it means to reject something as unclean. The verb to be is inserted because of the fact that we have a predicate adjective type of construction.

“if it be received” — the present passive participle of lambanw. It means to receive food in the sense of eating it. The present tense is an aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time, the present time being the point of eating. The passive voice: the believer receives the food by eating. The participle is conditional as correctly translated, “if the food is received.”

“with thanksgiving” — meta plus the genitive singular of e)uxaristia. That means don’t eat without sanctifying it.

Translation: “Because everything created by God is good for food, and nothing is to be rejected as unclean, if the food is received with thanksgiving.”

Verse 5 — “For” really is “for” here, the post positive conjunctive particle gar. With it is the principle that actually applies when you are facing food: it is sanctified. Here is the reason for your prayer before eating.

“it is sanctified” — the present passive indicative of a(giazw. The present tense is the perfective present, it denotes the continuation of the results. The result is that the food, even if it is somehow dangerous, is now without danger and the food is turned into nourishment. The passive voice: the food is the subject so the verb receives the action of the verb. It is set apart for the physical nourishment of the body as well as protection of health. The indicative mood is declarative for reality. When a person says grace before meals he sanctifies or sets apart or consecrates the food. This means that whatever may be injurious or harmful is set aside and the otherwise dangerous food is rendered harmless, and at the same time rendered nutritious.

“by the word of God” — dia plus the genitive of logoj is “through the agency of the Word.” The genitive of qeoj is a genitive of source or an ablative of source — “from God.” The word from God has promised that animal and plant life will sustain and nourish the physical body so that human life can be maintained during the course of the angelic conflict. Genesis 1:29,30.

“and prayer” — this is the completion of the prepositional phrase. It is also the object of the preposition, the genitive singular of e)nteucij which is an intensive prayer of intercession.

Translation: “For it is set apart for nourishment through the word from God and prayer.”

Principle

1. Bible doctrine guarantees both spiritual and physical food.

2. The prayer or saying grace of the super-grace believer removes the problem of impurities in food.

3. The principle of grace before meals is also found in 1 Samuel 9:13.

4. Jesus Christ offered prayer before eating the loaves and the fishes — Matthew 14:19; 15:36.

5. Paul on ship board offered prayer before meals before the seamen ate — Acts 27:35.

The doctrine of reversionism

1. Definition.

a) Reversionism is the negative status of the believer in phase two. The believer is negative toward doctrine. He is called a reversionist, he is called apostate, he is called many things. He is under the evil.

b) Reversionism is characterised by two principles: negative volition toward Bible doctrine and resultant failure under GAP, and resultant carnality resulting in a life of perpetual discipline — Hebrews 12:4-15.

c) Reversionism is recession from any stage of spiritual growth, partial or complete; or even a retreat from super-grace status.

d) Reversionism is lack of spiritual growth. It is neglect of Bible doctrine which is the only means of spiritual growth.

e) While super-grace is the progressive state of the believer in time, reversionism is the retrogressive state of the believer in time. In other words, you never stand still. You are either moving forward or going backward.

f) Reversionism in the believer is analogous to apostasy or being under the influence of evil.

g) Reversionism in the unbeliever is rejection of or departure from the laws of divine establishment. So there is an unbeliever reversionism as well.

h) Reversionism must be distinguished from carnality in the same way that spirituality must be distinguished by maturity. There is a difference between spirituality and maturity, even as there is a difference between reversionism and carnality.

i) Spirituality is an absolute status whereby the Holy Spirit controls the soul of the believer. Super-grace is a relative status involving maximum growth or maturity.

j) Carnality is also an absolute state of being out of fellowship through sin. Reversionism is a relative state of varying degrees of spiritual failure.

k) The carnal believer is positive toward doctrine, or can be, but the reversionistic believer is always negative toward doctrine. The carnal believer recovers from his carnality in the instant that he rebounds. The reversionistic believer takes many years and sometimes never recovers.

l) Reversionism is a technical theological synonym for being influenced by evil. Remember that evil is the Satanic policy, reversionism is the result of that Satanic policy influencing a believer. God blesses the believer influenced by doctrine; God disciplines the believer influenced by evil.

2. The mechanical stages of reversionism.

A. The first stage is the reaction stage.

a) First of all, the presence of reactor factors in the life causes the believer to react. These factors include many things: disillusion, discouragement, boredom, inability to cope with loneliness, frustration overcome by self-pity. All of these things have a way of causing reaction unless you have doctrine in the soul to meet these situations. Maximum doctrine resident in the soul causes the individual to meet any exigency in life but minimum or no doctrine means that you fall into the reaction factors.

b) It includes rejection of the authority of your right pastor — one of the first things to go, personality hang-ups with members of the congregation or the pastor, hypersensitivity, lack of objectivity under rebuke or reprimand.

c) It includes mental attitude sins such as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, arrogance, guilt complex — all mental sins that work into the picture.

d) It includes operation vengeance or getting even, which in effect is seeking to build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness.

e) The reaction stage includes distractions which lure the believer from the routine of the consistent perception of doctrine. There is the “social-sexual” distraction, pleasure, entertainment distractions, family distractions, health distractions, gossip distractions, policy distractions (when I canned the choir we lost half the choir).

f) Part of the reaction stage, but not quite as common, are such things as drug addiction. People under the influence of narcotics and drugs of one kind or another, from glue sniffers all the way to cocaine simply cannot GAP it. Mental illness: neurotics and psychotics. Academic or mental incompetence can distract from consistent learning of Bible doctrine — you don’t understand so instead of sticking it out you say to Hell with it.

B. The reaction to reaction, which is a frantic search for happiness. You go out somewhere else and show how happy you can be without doctrine. This includes:

a) The function of the reactor factor in the life of the believer resulting in moving toward a frantic search for happiness.

b) The frantic search for happiness becomes the alternative to the daily function of GAP and the accepted solution for the frustrations resulting from reaction.

c) This frantic search for happiness follows the trends of the old sin nature. The trend toward asceticism leads to the false emphasis on experience — so-called victorious life decisions, conferences, emotional stimulation, pseudo-tongues, holy rollers, legalisms, getting involved in works programs, spirituality by self-denial, faggot-on-the-fire one-shot decisions, and all kinds of energy of the flesh activities including tabooism (giving up anything that’s fun).

e) The trend toward lasciviousness, which includes drunkenness, debauchery, chasing, seduction, becoming users of narcotics and drugs (apart from medicine), female nymphomania, homosexuality, lesbianism, etc.

C. Operation boomerang. A frantic search for happiness intensifies the original reaction.

D. Emotional revolt of the soul. The emotion is the female part of the soul designed to respond to the right lobe or the heart. The body has male and female hormones. Whether you are a man or a woman you still have both types in your body. The soul has male and female parts. The male part is the heart or the right lobe with its frame of reference, it’s memory centre, vocabulary storage, categorical storage, norms and standards (called conscience), and launching pad. This is the right man or the male part of the soul. The female part of the soul is called the emotion. The female part of the right woman is a responder to what you have in your right lobe (where you do your thinking). This is the responder to what you think. This is the concept of this fourth stage. The heart or right lobe of the soul is equivalent to the right man while the emotion is equivalent to the right woman. In effect, emotional revolt of the soul is tantamount to the emotion fornicating with the old sin nature instead of responding to the right lobe.

The old sin nature has an area of weakness which produces sins, and area of strength which produces human good. It has a lust patterns and it has trends. All of this is a part of the picture. The old sin nature is constantly trying to seduce the emotion away from the right lobe. When this occurs you have holy rollers, for example. They are nothing more than emotional rejects. Emotion has no doctrinal content, no mentality, no character. Emotion is a responder, it can only respond to what doctrine is found in the right lobe. And when the emotion fails to respond to the right lobe and revolts from it then you have the fourth stage of reversionism. Once emotion revolts it becomes the aggressor, it loses all capacity for life, it becomes distorted and a tool for the old sin nature. In Revelation 2:23 we have a description for emotional revolt — “… I am he who searches the emotions and the right lobe, and I will give each one of you according to your deeds.” Influence by doctrine versus influence by evil.

The emotion of the reversionist resists Bible doctrine and Bible teaching — 2 Corinthians 6:11,12; Romans 16:17,18.

The emotional revolt of the soul causes the emotion to respond, then, to the old sin nature. The emotion takes over the dictatorship of the soul. It becomes the aggressor, it neutralises doctrine in the soul, and eventually it causes doctrine in the right lobe to dry up. The emotion becomes a tyrant, it shuts out doctrine, it short circuits the grace apparatus for perception, it causes every portion of the soul to malfunction. Believers who live by emotions or use their emotions for the criterion are apostate, they are under the influence of evil, they are disoriented, they are degenerate, reversionistic. They are under discipline, they will wind up under the sin unto death.

This does not imply that there is anything wrong with emotion, far from it. There is nothing wrong with emotion. Emotion is the manner in which we express our capacity for life, it is the way in which we respond to so many things that we enjoy. Emotion always responds to what you have in your frame of reference. None of us want to be without is, but none of us want it as a dictator.

E. Negative volition toward doctrine. (These stages overlap to some extent) The characteristics of negative volition are:

i) Indifference or apathy toward Bible teaching, toward right pastor-teacher.

ii) Too busy for Bible teaching — any old excuse will do.

iii) Antagonism or personality hang-ups with regard to the pastor or his authority, or both.

iv) Antagonism or personality conflict with other members of the congregation.

v) Failure to use grace provision for GAP. This includes the assembly at the local church, failure to rebound, lack of respect for authority, poor manners, lack of concentration, no poise, no objectivity.

vi) Inability to handle prosperity.

vii) Disorientation to the factors of living grace. This includes: under living grace God keeps the believer alive in the devil’s world by a number of ways — food, shelter, clothing, transportation, everything necessary to assemble to hear the Word of God taught.

F. The blackout of the soul. We are now dealing with something that starts in the left lobe, the nouj which is translated “mind.” The right lobe is called in the Bible “heart” — kardia. Blackout starts in the left lobe, scar tissue starts in the right lobe. Both have a starting place and they spread throughout the soul.

The stages: Negative volition produces a vacuum in the soul called mataiothj. Through this vacuum comes the doctrine of demons. All of the doctrine of demons — the demons are the communicators in the vacuum system — is the communication of evil. Evil then comes into the left lobe and blacks out the entire soul. You get strict human viewpoint, Satanic viewpoint, liberalism, bleeding hearts, antiestablishment, anti-authority, etc. Many of the things we are brainwashed into thinking are wrong are actually biblically right, they are not wrong at all — e.g. serving in the military. Through this vacuum, then, we have the doctrine of demons, being influenced by evil. This results in becoming religious, liberal, human viewpoint, social action, getting involved. All of this is a part of being influenced by evil. A believer cannot be demon possessed. He can be evil possessed. The infiltration of Satanic doctrine or demon influence leads to the blackout of the soul — Ephesians 4:17,18. G. Scar tissue of the soul. This refers to the freezing of the valves of the right lobe or the heart. The heart or the right lobe has a number of valves to circulate thinking. In the frame of reference there are two valves. One is on each end of the memory centre. This valve goes down into the chambers where the conscience, the norms and standards, are stored. The other valve goes up into vocabulary storage where new words develop the basis for new thinking. Next door to that is categorical storage which is the result of increasing vocabulary and getting technical vocabulary. Then all of these have valves which lead to the launching pad where we make application of doctrine. When all of these valves freeze then doctrine can no longer be circulating and doctrine, as it were, atrophies and hardens into scar tissue of the soul. John 14:20 — “He has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their right lobe, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive by means of the right lobe, and be turned around, and I should restore them.” Scar tissue of the soul or hardness of the heart rejects, for example, military preparation and de-emphasises national defense — Proverbs 21:29-31. Hardness of the neck is insubordination to the point of revolution. Scar tissue of the soul is related to this negative volition — Jeremiah 7:25-27.

H. Reverse process reversionism. This is the antithesis of super-grace. The believer in reverse process reversionism cannot be distinguished from the unbeliever. As far as his pattern of life, his thinking, his viewpoint, or anything about him, there is no way that he can be distinguished from an unbeliever. In this final stage the believer reverses the object of his love, his attention, his occupation. He becomes enamored with pseudo objects compatible with his spiritual condition. In category #1 love he seeks personal glory — blind arrogance rather than occupation with Christ. In category #2 love, false lovers instead of the right man or the right woman. In category #3 love he has false friends instead of true friends. He has no capacity for life and so all of the objects are completely reversed.

3. There is discipline for reversionism, discipline at every stage of reversionism.

a) The first stage of discipline is called “warning.” It is designed by God to give the believer warning against his spiritual condition. It is the type of discipline found in the first four stages of reversionism which are the reactionary stage, frantic search for happiness, operation boomerang, and emotional revolt. This stage includes both adversity and prosperity. You have things to earn you. You might have prosperity and then have it removed. You might have success and have it removed, have something that you value very much and then have it removed as a reminder that God is still in heaven making sovereign decisions and that any blessings that really count must come from Him. Revelation 3:20 is a passage on warning discipline.

b) Intensive stage, for those who reject the Lord knocking on the door of the life by discipline. Prosperity is removed and the person moves into a totally miserable situation. Sometimes the prosperity is not removed but the person is so miserable that the types of prosperity he possesses are meaningless to him. Psalm 38:1-14. This is also the category of strong delusion which is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

c) The final stage of discipline is dying discipline, equivalent to the sin unto death. Reversionism is the cause for the sin unto death, as per Jeremiah 9:16; 44:12; Philippians 3:18,19; Revelation 3:16. The relationship between negative volition toward doctrine and the sin unto death is spelt out very clearly in 1 Chronicles 10:13,14.
4. The principle. It is found in the corrected translation of Galatians 5:4 — “You reversionists have become a casualty [ineffective, useless, or neutralised] from Christ, whoever are being vindicated by means of the law; you have drifted off course from grace.” So reversionism is drifting off course from grace. The principle of reversionism drifting off course from grace implies that the drift leads to shoals, to disaster of one type or another.

5. The categories of reversionism.

a) Phallic reversionism — 2 Corinthians 12:21; Ephesians 4:19; 5:5; Colossians 3:5; Revelation 2:14, 20-23.

b) Legalistic reversionism — Colossians 2:16-18; Hebrews 5:11-6:16.

c) Monetary reversionism — Ecclesiastes 5:10-16; James 4:13,14; 5;1-6; Revelation 3:14-20.

d) Alcoholic and narcotic reversionism — Isaiah 28:1-9; Galatians 5:20, farmakeia referring to those using drugs.

e) Antiestablishment reversionism — hippies, longhairs. Romans 1:18-32; Hosea 4:1-7.

f) Mental attitude reversionism.

g) Verbal reversionism — James 5:9, 12.

h) Psychotic reversionism.

6. Biblical nomenclature for reversionism.

a) Drifting off course from grace — Galatians 5:4.

b) Being the enemy of the cross — Philippians 3:18.

c) Uncircumcised of heart — Jeremiah 9:25,26.

d) Failing of the grace of God — Hebrews 12:15.

e) A tortured soul — 2 Peter 2:7,8.

f) An unstable soul — 2 Peter 2:14.

g) Leaving your first love — Revelation 2:4.

h) Fallen — Revelation 2:5.

i) Lukewarm — Revelation 3:15,16.

k) Shipwrecked — 1 Timothy 1:19.

7. The profile of the reversionist — Psalm 7:14-16.

8. The contamination of reversionism — Hebrews 12:15.

9. Psychosis and reversionism — 2 Peter 2:15-19.

10. Reversionism eliminates the special blessing paragraph for time and eternity — Hebrews 3:10-12.

11. Hebrew reversionism — Hebrews 5:11-14. In 6:1-3 we see that reversion recovery is impossible apart from the daily function of GAP from the field of basic doctrine; 6:4-6, reversion recovery is impossible when religious reversionism is perpetuated in the life.

12. Reversion leads to perversion — Romans 1:26,27; it produces national disintegration — Romans 1:29-32; Hosea 4:1-6.

13. Reversion intensifies suffering — Psalm 77:1-10.

14. The doctrine of reverse process reversionism is covered in its mechanics, its definition, its details, and some of its activities.

In verses 6-10 we have a doctrinal defense against apostasy.

Verse 6 — “If thou put in remembrance” is a present middle participle of the verb u(potiqhmi. In the active voice this means to lay down, to risk something. In the middle voice is means to point out something to someone in order to do something for someone, to teach something to someone from the position of authority. Here it means to teach with authority. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what should habitually occur in every local church. Every pastor should study, study, study, so that he can teach with authority. It is impossible to teach with authority unless you study. The middle voice is the indirect middle emphasising the agent, the pastor or guardian of the local church, as producing the action of the verb. In other words, the middle voice sets up a very close relationship between the subject and the verb. Once a man enters the ministry and has his own congregation his life and most of his time should be devoted to studying the Word of God. The participle is an instrumental participle and therefore it is incorrectly translated in the KJV. The first words in this verse are “By teaching the brethren.” That is the responsibility of the pastor-teacher.

“of these things” — the accusative neuter plural direct object from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. This word emphasises the doctrinal content of this epistle. This is the primary function of the pastor-guardian of the local church. He cannot accomplish it without studying. He cannot be a student of the Word without many years of preparation — not simply his own academic preparation, not simply his own spiritual growth, but everything that goes to make up his self-discipline and consistency of study. This means that his own congregation as members of the royal family of God are insulated from evil and able to advance. First there is a defense perimeter established and then from that there is an attack. But you must be on balance before you take the offensive. Any time an offensive is launched there must be stability. You must have initiative from a stabilised situation. The same thing is true of every generation: it is the stabilised congregation that finally makes the attack. It takes a lot of doctrine from which to launch the attack. Every great attack in history has been launched from a stabilised perimeter. We have an instrumental participle and it should be translated, “By teaching these things.” The demonstrative pronoun emphasises doctrine. There is no substitute for doctrine, there never will be.

“thou shalt be” — the future active indicative of e)imi. The future tense is a gnomic future for a statement of fact or performance rightly expected when the pastor is faithful in the function of study and teach. The active voice: the pastor produced the action in fulfilling his communicative ministry. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“a good minister” — kaloj diakonoj. Kaloj is the key here. As an adjective here it means honourable. No pastor can be honourable unless he teaches the Word all the time.

“nourished up” — the present passive participle of the verb e)ntrepw. This is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes what happened in the past from studying the Word and continues into the present time. The pastor can never stop being a devoted student of the Word of God. The passive voice: the pastor himself receives spiritual growth from his own study of the Word. He is an exception to the rule. The congregation gets its spiritual growth by listening to the teaching of the Word, he gets his by studying. This is a circumstantial participle and it should be translated, “constantly being nourished.”

“in the words” — the locative plural of logoj here means “principles”; “of faith” — the ablative singular of source from pistij for “doctrine,” what is believed or doctrine.

“By teaching these things to the members of the royal family of God you will be an honourable minister of Christ Jesus, constantly being nourished in the principles from the doctrine.”

“and” is not correct. It is sometimes translated that way. It is the conjunction kai but it is the ascensive use and is translated “even.”

“of good doctrine” — the ablative singular from the adjective kaloj and it should be, “even from advantageous [or honourable] doctrine.” Didaskalia is the word for “doctrine” here and it means teaching or doctrine.

Principles

1. The adjective kaloj means both desirable and advantageous. Doctrine is more desirable than anything in life, and for the royal family of God doctrine is more advantageous than anything in life.

2. Doctrine is advantageous to the believer as the means of the tactical victory of the angelic conflict. The tactical victory comes at the point of super-grace when God can provide paragraph SG².

3. Doctrine is advantageous in glorifying God.

4. Doctrine is advantageous in spiritual growth and fulfilling all the objectives of this life.

5. Doctrine resident in the soul has every positive spiritual advantage as well as protecting the believer from apostasy.

6. This means that doctrine is kaloj, advantageous in protecting the believer from divine discipline, the influence of evil and failure. We are designed for victory, we were never designed for failure. The only reason that we are failures is because we fail to take in doctrine. Sin is not the issue in the Christian life, it is doctrine versus evil, it is what you think: being influenced by doctrine or influenced by evil.

“whereunto” is the dative singular from the relative pronoun o(j and it should be translated “on which.”

“thou hast attained” — the perfect active indicative from parakolouqew. The word means to follow with the mind, to concentrate on, to make something one’s own. The perfect tense is the intensive perfect emphasising continual results and faithfulness in the function of GAP. The active voice: the pastor produces the action in initiating to the congregation with that which is a blessing to them. The indicative mood is potential indicative used in a claim of obligation. Every pastor is obligated to communicate doctrine to his congregation.

Translation: “By teaching these things to the brethren, you will be an honourable minister of Christ Jesus, constantly being nourished in the principles from doctrine, even from advantageous doctrine on which you have concentrated, with the result that you possess it.”

You cannot teach what you do not know; you cannot communicate what you do not possess; you cannot give what you do not own. The pastor must own doctrine in his soul, it must be his personal possession before he can give it to his congregation.

Principles

1. No minister is qualified for the pastorate or guardianship of the local church until he has saturated himself with doctrine. It is a continual process, he never quits studying.

2. This means the intense function of GAP under the strictest academic discipline.

3. Until the man who has the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is a man of doctrine he is not qualified to function as the pastor-guardian of the local church.

4. Doctrine is the key to the pastor’s life because doctrine is the key to the function of the royal family.

5. Bible teaching from the pulpit, then, is the only defense against Church Age apostasy and the only hope for our country.

6. Therefore the pastor must constantly exegete, teach, verses by verse in an expository manner. This means there is no substitute for the communication of the Word of God.

7. There is no protection against apostasy apart from the daily function of GAP. That demands that the pastor take the initiative and be aggressive in communicating God’s Word.

The doctrine of the importance of doctrine

1. Definition. The word “doctrine” itself means teaching. Bible doctrine is the content of Bible communication by teaching and instruction. Doctrine is the communication of Bible subjects based upon exegetical analysis from the original languages, context analysis, classification of subject, and teaching which analyses and interprets every passage in the Word of God. Doctrine is what the Bible teaches. Grace in the genius of God, doctrine is the manifestation of His genius.

2. Biblical nomenclature.

3. The legacy of believers is Bible doctrine — that is, the believer’s legacy in time. Psalm 138:2.

4. In His dying breath Jesus Christ made doctrine the spiritual legacy of the royal family of God — a comparison of Luke 23:46 and Psalm 31:5. “Into your hands I deposit my Spirit Father, for you have delivered me, O Jehovah, God of doctrine.” Doctrine was the great motivator of our Lord during the first advent and during His saving ministry on the cross.

5. Bible doctrine preexisted the human race — Proverbs chapter 8 records how Bible doctrine was with God in eternity past, before the creation of the universe.

6. The attitude toward doctrine determines whether the believer is blessed or disciplined in time. A continuous positive attitude means to be influenced by doctrine. A continuous negative attitude means to be influenced by evil. Therefore attitude toward doctrine determines whether the believer is blessed or disciplined in time — Proverbs 8:33-36. The real issue is doctrine versus evil. Doctrine is a system of thought; evil is a system of thought. A thought can make or break you. What you think is more important than what you do. If your thinking is doctrine then you go on to blessing and glory. If your thinking is evil then you go from one stage of discipline to another until you have died the sin unto death.

7. Therefore doctrine is the basis for the distribution of super-grace blessings — Isaiah 53:12. The daily function of GAP means maximum doctrine in the soul. This means following the colours to the high ground, establishing a command post of Bible doctrine resident in the soul, setting up you own inner dictator, having the great blessings which come from maximum doctrine in the soul, which come from maturity. God is free to give you your own paragraph SG² with its spiritual blessings, its temporal blessings, and its dying blessings. Really the only reason that you are still alive right now is so that God can bless you. We are left here to take in doctrine so that God is free to bless us, so He is free to provide us on the basis of our doctrinal capacity.

Isaiah 53:12 — “Therefore I [God the Father] will distribute the plunder of victory [SG², SG³] to him [to Christ at the right hand] because of the many [believers of the royal family], then he [the glorified Christ] will distribute the plunder of victory [SG² and SG³] to the great ones [super-grace believers of this dispensation], because he [Christ] poured out his soul to [physical] death; prior to this he was identified with the offerings for sins [spiritual death]; because he himself carried the sin of the many, and about the offering for sin [basis of saving grace] it caused to fall upon him.”

8. Doctrine, then, is the basis for the distribution of surpassing blessing [SG³] for eternity — Hebrews 11:9,10 cf.. 11:13; James 1:25 cf. 2:12,13.

9. Principle: Bible doctrine must be more real than empirical knowledge — 2 Peter 1:12-21. What the Word of God says must become more real than what you see, taste, touch, smell, hear. If there is a conflict then the Bible is always right. Bible doctrine is the criterion for the royal family as well as the means of blessing.

10. Lack of Bible doctrine destroys a nation — Hosea 4:1-6.

11. Bible doctrine is part of the principle of living grace for phase two. Under living grace God keeps us alive to take in doctrine, to move to the high ground and to receive blessing.

12. The plan of God is both advanced and vindicated through Bible doctrine — Isaiah 53;10; Romans 3:4. 13. The pastor or communicator of doctrine establishes the balance of residency in the soul of the believer. The principle of residency is threefold. It includes the indwelling of the body by the Holy Spirit — 1 Corinthians 6:19; the indwelling or controlling of the believer’s soul by the filling of the Spirit, and the indwelling of Bible doctrine by means of GAP. We call this the balance of residency or GAP. Bible doctrine is transferred from the canon to the believer’s soul by Bible teaching from authorised personnel — right pastor. The purpose for this transfer of doctrine from the written page to the right lobe of the believer’s soul is to establish balance of residency whereby God can be glorified in the life, whereby He can bless you, whereby He can provide you everything apart from cosmos diabolicus.

So the Holy Spirit has chosen in this dispensation to work through the Word. The vacancy of doctrine in the soul creates a demand for Bible teaching for the function of GAP. The daily function of GAP creates a balance of residency and the pastor communicator is the key in that communication.

14. Therefore the importance of the consistency of GAP — Hebrews 10:25, 35,36; Colossians 2:6,7.

15. The results of doctrine in the soul are many:

a) It produces confidence in time — Job 5:24-27; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Hebrews 10:35.

b) It produces the divine viewpoint of life, it gives the dynamics of soul before anything else — Isaiah 55:7-9; 2 Corinthians 10:5.

c) It orients the believer to the plan of God — Isaiah 26:3,4; Romans 8:28.

d) It produces stability of mind — James 1:8

e) It is the basis for divine guidance and the execution of the will of God — Romans 12:2,3.

f) It leads to occupation with Christ, the capacity and ability to love God — Philippians 3:10; Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 12:2,3.

g) It attains and holds super-grace status — Philippians 3:12-14.

h) It attains surpassing grace blessing in eternity — Hebrews 11:9,10,13; James 1:25; 2:12,13.

16. There are many synonyms for doctrine in the soul:

a) The language synonym — chakmah and e)pignwsij. These two words both means the same: maximum doctrine resident in the soul.

b) The theological synonym — James 4:6, meizona xarin. It is a comparative and should be translated “greater or super grace.” Super-grace is a synonym for maturity.

c) The priestly synonym — Hebrews 13:10, “altar of the soul.”

d) The building synonym — the edification complex [ECS], Ephesians 4:12,16.

e) The time synonym — redeeming the time. Toward God — Ephesians 5:16-18; toward the unbeliever — Colossians 4:5.

f) The central control synonym, the dictatorship of the soul — Ephesians 6:10.

g) Three military synonyms: Putting on the full armour from God — Ephesians 6:11-18; following the colours to the high ground — Hebrews 12:1,2; establishing a command post of the soul — Colossians 2:5-8.

h) The crucifixion synonym — Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27. “Take up your cross” is Bible class attendance in spite of evil, in spite of opposition, in spite of disillusion, in spite of distractions. “Follow me” is the daily function of GAP.

i) The chemical synonym: salt of the earth/land — Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34; Colossians 4:6. Salt is that doctrine resident in the soul of the super-grace believer that preserves the nation, the city, the community, the business, the organisation.

j) The sanctification synonym: Godliness — 1 Timothy 6:3,4; 2 Peter 1:3. This is known as the balance of residency in the soul between the filling of the Spirit and maximum doctrine. This, too, is a synonym for maturity.

Verses 7 — the defense of spiritual growth. “But” is the adversative use of the conjunctive particle de, correctly translated “but.”

“refuse” is a very strong verb, the present middle imperative of paraiteomai. The word means to excuse one’s self, to decline, to avoid, to reject, to refuse. Reject is the strongest word and the correct translation here — “But keep on rejecting.” The present tense is a pictorial present, it depicts the action in the process of occurrence. The middle voice represents a deponent verb, middle in form and active in meaning. The reflexive concept of this verb comes from the meaning of the verb and not from the middle voice. The imperative mood is a mood of command.

What do you have to reject if you are going to grow up, if you’re going to glorify God, if you’re going to defend against evil, if you are going to establish a stabilised defense perimeter from which to launch a counter attack against Satan? You must have spiritual growth, you must have Bible doctrine for that spiritual growth. In verse 6 we saw the Bible doctrine you must have. In verses 7 we now see the results in spiritual growth, and we have a negative approach. If you are going to grow up spiritually you have to refuse something, you have to keep on rejecting something — “profane and old wives’ fables.”

“profane” — it is an adjective, the accusative plural direct object of bebhloj. As an adjective it is translated here “profane.” But remember it is in the plural, we have no such English word as “profanes.” It means also, “desecrated.” It denotes a place which may be entered by anyone, a place where trash can came in. In other words, it means no an exclusive club. Bebhloj means a desecrated place because the peasantry can come in. In the Koine Greek the word became technical for Gnostic doctrine, for any false doctrine, for any false system. It came to mean eventually any system of legalism. You must reject as profane any legalism. Bebhloj means where the stupid peons go. And where do the stupid peons go? Where there is false doctrine. We are royalty and royalty does not cater to peasants. We are catering to peasants when we get into legalism, false doctrine. Bebhloj is forbidden to royalty. As long as you carry the cobwebs of peasantry in your soul you can never move into the beauty of the aristocracy in the palace, and there are blessings in the palace for you. The word bebhloj is used here not just for Gnostic type reversionism but every type of reversionism, and the Bible says keep on rejecting it.

“and old wives’ fables” — and it is really not an old wives’ fable at all. The connective conjunction kai is correctly translated “and.” The word for “old wives” is grauj and it means “old woman.” It is the accusative plural direct object from grawdhj which comes from grauj. It is literally, “old women’s fables.” And what is an old woman’s fable? They called an old woman a grauj and it was a sort of an insulting term, and they called anyone who acted like an old woman grawdhj. There is nothing wrong with being grauj but there is everything wrong with being grawdhj. A male who is grawdhj means that he is simply a petty, effeminate type person. It also means silly and absurd. The adjective here means characteristic of old women or something which is only fit for old women.

“tales” — muqoj, which is a story, a legend, a myth. “Myth” is actually taken from muqoj. This refers to any system of false doctrine which brings the believer under the influence of evil. Remember that evil is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world. When a believer in reversionism goes into this he has accepted evil, which is called here “myths and tales fit for old women.” The lack of discernment which comes from being under the influence of evil and resultant susceptibility to any type of false doctrine — but especially the false doctrine which appeals to the emotion or the approbation lust — is the meaning of this phrase. Timothy is being bullied by old women of the church who are apostate and reversionistic and under the influence of evil. These women have succumbed to very deceitful and sometimes very sweet hypocrisy.

This is the negative side. You as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ advancing in Bible doctrine must have wisdom from that doctrine. Wisdom means discernment. You will be people smart, you will be very wise to detect false doctrine. You will have a built-in warning system when any type of false doctrine is presented and therefore you will never fall into the system of grawdhj, a silly old woman. Not all women are silly, but a silly old woman can be taken in by anything or anyone.

Now we have the positive side, “and exercise” — the adversative use of the post positive conjunction de and it means “but” rather than “and,” plus the present active imperative of the verb gumnazw. This is where we get our word for gymnasium. It actually means “exercise.” It means to be in a system of exercise that constitutes training for something. The present tense is a present tense of repeated action, it has strong linear aktionsart. The action is also iterative representing the function of the pastor for successive intervals for the rest of his life. The pastor must be in constant spiritual training. The active voice: the pastor produces the action of the verb by studying and teaching. The imperative mood is a command to all pastors.

“thyself” is the accusative singular direct object from the reflexive pronoun seautou. When the action expressed by the verb is referred back to its own subject it is called a reflexive. Here we have the reflexive pronoun, the action is referred back to the pastor. Once a man who has the gift of pastor-teacher starts studying and teaching he must do it for the rest of his life.

Principles about gumnazw

1. This verb for exercise is used because it requires great self-discipline to be consistent. This verb applies to pastors only.

2. The pastor must consistent in his exegesis and analysis of the Word of God. This is a part of his spiritual training.

3. The verb gumnazw means to exercise naked. The Greeks did not wear clothing. This implies that the pastor-guardian of the local church is naked before God, he has no merit in himself.

4. God in His matchless and perfect grace has provided the means to dig out of the scripture the meaning of any specific passage so that it can be communicated.

5. While the pastor has great authority in the local church he is helpless, therefore the beneficiary of grace.

6. The pastor must be a drudge, he must be a plodder. He must do so in self-discipline. He must persist in the daily study of the Word of God no matter what.

7. He must not be distracted by tradition — calling up all of the sick people in hospital, calling on people, etc.

“unto godliness” — the preposition proj plus the accusative of e)usebeia. Proj plus the accusative also means not only means face to face with godliness but for the purpose of godliness. This is what it means here. Proj plus the accusative is used often to state an objective or a purpose. So it should be “for the purpose of godliness.”

Translation: “But keep rejecting profane [or reversionistic] myths and tales fit for old women, on the other hand be exercising yourself for the purpose [or objective] of godliness.”

Conclusions from verse 7

1. Nourishment from Bible doctrine in the previous verse emphasises the analogy to the body absorbing food to be sustained and produce energy.

2. The believer must absorb the spiritual food of doctrine for the sustenance of his spiritual life and spiritual energy.

3. This spiritual energy must be used in spiritual exercise for spiritual growth, spiritual development, spiritual strength. We are here to become strong spiritually, that is an issue in the angelic conflict.

4. The believer develops the spiritual muscle of super-grace status through the constant, consistent exercise of the function of GAP. Your daily intake of Bible doctrine under the function of GAP is analogous to an exercise program that keeps you physically fit and in good health.

5. While the previous verse emphasises the defense of Bible teaching, this verse emphasises the result of Bible teaching in spiritual growth.

6. The command to Timothy applies to all believers. Our defense against apostasy and the influence of evil is the constant function GAP — spiritual exercise resulting in great spiritual stamina, resulting in the coordination of the super-grace life.

7. The emphasis of this verse is exercise which demands total self-discipline as well as the understanding of the objective.

8. For the pastor like Timothy the daily function of GAP is self-discipline, plodding, studying and teaching. The pastor’s studying and teaching is the intense spiritual exercise which is beneficial to him and to his congregation spiritually, just as physical exercise is beneficial.

9. For the royal family in the congregation of the local church there must be self-discipline. This self-discipline is analogous to exercise — assembling to attend Bible class, concentrating on the teaching of the Word of God, good manners [silence, not disturbing, not moving], concentration, poise, objectivity, persistence in spite of distraction or disillusion. All of this is the spiritual exercise that takes each one of us to the high ground of maturity.

Verse 8 — the importance of spiritual growth. “For” is a post positive enclitic particle gar, it is used as an explanatory conjunction. It reminds us that there is an analogy between the previous verse and this one, and physical exercise is used as the illustration. “For example” or “For you see” is a more expanded translation of gar.

“bodily exercise” — the adjective nominative feminine singular of the word swmatikoj which means something pertaining to the body, referring to the body. With it is a noun, the nominative singular of gumnasia. It means exercise, training, a vigorous system of physical training.

This is a reference to physical exercise, setting up an analogy.

A few moments are necessary for examining the concept of bodily training. No matter what you do for exercise, categorically there are only three systems. a) There is the respiratory system [heart/lungs] — leg-lungs system of exercise. This is represented by running or by running sports. This is good for the respiratory system. b) Coordination. This is exercise used in sports — skill type of stamina. c) The muscle-building type which provides strength, symmetry, definition.

All systems require strong motivation and strong self-discipline. That is, to be consistent, to be persistent.

“profitable” — the present active indicative of the verb e)imi which means “to be.” The present tense is a customary present, this is what you would expect from exercise. It is the active voice: the one who enters into physical exercise. The one who enters into physical exercise is the one who will be benefited. The indicative mood is a declarative indicative for a dogmatic fact of reality. The word “profitable” is a combination of the present active indicative of e)imi plus a predicate nominative, w)felimoj which actually means “beneficial.”

“little” — there is no word for “little” here. It is a prepositional phrase, the preposition proj plus the accusative singular of the adjective o)logoj which means “with reference to a few things.” Physical exercise is beneficial with reference to a few items. For example, health, strength, physical beauty, athletic success, coordination, stamina on a job. This passage does not deny the benefits of exercise but limits them. It is limited to, for example, it is beneficial for a short time — you have to do it again. The point is we are now setting up an analogy by contrast. While exercise has limited benefits in time spiritual exercise has eternal as well as temporal benefits. You GAP it today, tomorrow, the next day, throughout your life time, you are going to have the most wonderful blessings spiritually — occupation with Christ, maximum category #1 love, capacity for life, capacity for blessing, capacity for happiness, you are going to share the happiness of God, have a wonderful life in material and temporal blessings. So limited exercise has limited benefits in time, spiritual exercise — the daily function of GAP — has benefits day by day and forever and ever. Your spiritual exercise is more important than anything that you do in life. This will be the basis for blessing and capacity in life and fantastic, indescribable blessing in eternity.

“but” — now we have the definite article used to further the analogy. It should really be translated “on the other hand.” We have two definite articles, h( h( and then the adversative conjunction de. There is an analogy but a contrast. Physical exercise has time benefits which are limited but spiritual exercise has temporal plus eternal benefits which are non-limited.

“godliness” is spiritual exercise — e)usebeia. This is spiritual maturity emphasising balance of residency between the filling of the Spirit and maximum doctrine resident in the soul. It comes through the daily function of GAP. E)usebeia is the result of a lifetime in the royal family of God under the daily function of GAP. “is profitable [beneficial]” — e)imi plus w)felimoj again; “unto all things” is another prepositional phrase, proj plus the accusative plural of paj which means “with reference to all things.” All things in time and eternity.

Principle: There is no aspect of life which is not benefited by spiritual exercise, the daily function of GAP. Godliness or super-grace is more important than health, muscles, strength, stamina, athletic ability. All facets of life, whether adversity of blessing, are benefited from spiritual exercise. For the royal family of God spiritual exercise is more important than physical exercise and obviously more beneficial.

“having” — present active participle of e)xw which means to have and to hold. The present tense of this participle is a static present, it represents a condition which perpetually exists. The active voice: Godliness or spiritual exercise to the point of maturity produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial.

“promise [of benefit]” — the accusative singular direct object from e)paggelia, and it actually refers to the benefit, so “promise of benefit” — in two areas. Notice the two areas.

“the life that now is” — there is the spiritual blessing, the temporal blessing, prosperity blessing and the dying blessing. This is a descriptive genitive singular of zwh which refers to the function of life; plus the genitive of reference of the definite article, plus the adverb nun — “for the present time.” There is no area of life where God will not bless the super-grace believer, and that is spiritual exercise. Spiritually there is no way to get around this, there is only one way to get there — Bible doctrine in the soul.

“and of that which is to come” — the genitive of reference of the definite article. The definite article is used as a demonstrative pronoun. There is the present active participle of the verb mellw and it means something about to come — “and for the life about to come.” In other words, mellw is used here for future, eternity, decorations and rewards for all eternity.

Translation: “For on the one hand the training of the body [physical exercise] is beneficial with reference to a few things in life: but on the other hand, godliness [spiritual exercise resulting in super-grace] is beneficial with reference to all things in life, having promise of benefit for the present time, and for the life which is about to come.”

Principles

1. Physical exercise is beneficial in time; spiritual exercise is beneficial for time and eternity.

2. Physical exercise is beneficial in limited areas of life — health, strength, physical beauty, athletic achievement.

3. Spiritual exercise is beneficial in every aspect of life, providing capacity for life, blessing for life, glorifying God.

4. Physical exercise has some benefit but spiritual exercise has maximum benefit.

5. Self-discipline in spiritual exercise — the consistent function of GAP — is infinitely superior to self-discipline required for physical exercise.

6. Spiritual exercise is the daily function of GAP resulting in maximum growth, the super-grace status.

7. Physical exercise is only beneficial in time but spiritual exercise is beneficial for time and eternity.

8. Physical exercise is the key to certain functions in life but spiritual exercise is beneficial in every function of life.

.Verse 14 — “Neglect not” is the present active imperative of the compound verb a)melew. The a is a negative, the impersonal verb melh means to care or to be concerned. Put together it means not to care, to neglect, to disregard. It should be translated here, “Stop neglecting.” The present tense is a retroactive progressive present denoting what Timothy has failed to do in the past, a failure which has continued into the present time. The negative mh plus the active voice indicates that Timothy should stop neglecting his spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. The imperative mood plus the negative is called the imperative of prohibition. It is something that is prohibited to all pastor-teachers, and that is neglect or disregard for the spiritual gift and its function in the communication of the Word of God.

“gift” is the objective genitive singular from the noun xarisma (which has been abused in modern times). The word belongs to the pastor-teacher only as far as the Word of God is concerned. It means something that is freely and graciously given. It means a favour bestowed by one who is wiser than the recipient. Obviously, because every pastor believer is responsible to God, God is wiser than any pastor-teacher will ever be or ever could be. It is a specific reference, then, to the pastor-guardian of the local church.

“that is in thee” is simply made up of three words, tou e)n soi. Tou is an objective genitive of the definite article, it belongs with the noun xarisma. Then follows the preposition e)n plus the locative of the personal pronoun su. When this is put together it is translated, “resident in you.”

Steps involved in becoming a pastor-teacher

1. At the point of salvation, at the point when a male believer puts his trust in Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit in His perfect wisdom sovereignly bestows the spiritual gift of pastor-guardian to certain members of the royal family — male types only. This does not means that they will ever function as a minister, as a pastor-teacher of a local church; it means they should.

2. If the individual after salvation is exposed to good consistent Bible teaching in a classroom situation [local church], resulting in enough doctrine resident in the soul for awareness, then he will reach the second stage. Between stages one and two many, many men lose out. Very few men ever get to the stage of awareness of the proper way which is spiritual growth through the proper function of GAP.

3. Awareness of the gift leads to aspiration. This is the first serious step that demands preparation. In the early church the pastor was always trained by gifted men in his own congregation. We live in the 20th century. Certain practical and academic preparation is generally, though not always, followed.

4. Completed preparation and transition. This is the confusing stage because the Lord may or may not open a local church immediately. Some men get a church and it is not their right church. They are led to the wrong church. This church is a special training ground for some men. This will only last for a brief period until the man is emitted at the other end a wiser person. This church is made up of kookoo clocks and weirdoes, legalists, bullies, etc. and this is a threshing machine to put the finishing touches on some pastors. So the Lord may provide a temporary small congregation for further training.

5. The pastor receives his right church. This is where the congregation are generally responsive to and positive to the teaching of doctrine from their own right pastor. This doesn’t mean that it is just one long honeymoon, there is going to be a lot of differences of opinion. This is the stage in which the pastor begins the hardest and most rewarding work of his life — exegesis, analysis, communication. This is where he settles down to be a very strong student of the Word, and it is also a danger stage because enthusiasm with regard to his early messages often misleads the pastor into thinking that he has already arrived and therefore should write books, have a tape ministry, etc.

Somewhere the pastor is generally examined, tested, and ordained by his own local church or a church of his choice. This ordination is the public recognition of his spiritual gift and it is the local church then saying in effect, We recognise you, local pastors all recognise you. This ordination, then, becomes public recognition of what the Lord has done in the life of a pastor-guardian. It is also a constant reminder that he must never neglect the gift by failing to consistently teach the Word of God to his congregation. The ceremony, therefore, becomes a daily reminder that as a recognised and ordained pastor he has continuous responsibility to teach Bible doctrine for the rest of his life on earth. He has no excuse to avoid it, he must do it for the rest of his life.

The tragic thing at this point is that there is another issue. When a man is ordained he himself says in effect, I believe that there is only one elder in any local church — one ruler. Any man who believes in plurality of elders should never be ordained.

“which” is a relative pronoun o(j referring to the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher; “was given” — Timothy had the gift. This is the aorist passive indicative of the verb didomi. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist, it views the giving of the spiritual gift in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The passive voice: Timothy, and all pastors, received the spiritual gift totally apart from human merit or ability. As xarisma indicates this is both a gracious and undeserved provision from God. The indicative mood is declarative, it views the action of the verb from the standpoint of reality. There must be in every generation X number of men who function as pastor- teachers. They are not called prophets because prophets means an unfinished canon of scripture. They are not called priests because in this dispensation every believer is a priest.

“thee” is a dative singular indirect object as well as the dative of advantage from the personal pronoun su.

“by prophecy” — dia plus the accusative plural from profhteia. Plus the accusative always means “because of” or “for the sake of.” It should be translated, “for the sake of prophecies.” Timothy had previously learned doctrine, and prophecies refers to doctrine which Timothy learned from Paul which had not yet been reduced to writing. This is also brought out in 1 Timothy 1:18 where Paul says, “I am depositing this order with you, student Timothy on the basis of previous prophecies...” Under the hermeneutical law that the meaning of a word in context is determined by its first usage the plural of profhteia in 1 Tim. 1:18 as well as here refers to doctrines which had not been reduced to writing as yet.

“with the laying on of the hands” — after Timothy had passed his courses there was the laying on of hands. This is a prepositional phrase, meta plus the genitive of e)piqesij. Here it means “associated with the laying on of hands.” Like baptism the laying on of hands represents the principle of identification with like kind. Pastors lay their hands on the ordained person to indicate that they recognise him as a fellow member of the ministry. Deacons of his local church lay their hands on him to indicate that they recognise his spiritual gift. Identification of gifts, aspirations of the ministry, preparation for the ministry, readiness for the high office of pastor-guardianship are then recognised by pastor or pastors in the area and a council of deacons in that local church.

“of the presbytery” is the ablative singular from the noun presbuterion. In this singular it means a council involved to recognise this. The council must be made up of those who are recognised as pastors. The ablative is not the regular case used in the expression of means but it is ablative of means here. When ever there is an ablative case used to express means it means that the origin or source is involved. In other words, those who possess the authority recognise one who is qualified to possess that same authority. The ordaining council therefore must include at least two pastors and the administration of a specific local church. The modern use of the word “presbyterian” or any other denomination by that name has nothing to do with this passage.

Translation: “Stop neglecting the spiritual gift residing in you, which was given to you for the sake of prophecy [doctrine previously learned], associated with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.”

Verse 15 — “Meditate” is the present active imperative from meletaw which means to care for, to bestow thought on, to take care of, to think about, to meditate, to cultivate. Here it means to cultivate. Once you are recognised your responsibility for the rest of your life is cultivation. The present tense is a customary present for what is reasonably expected from the pastor-teacher of the local church. By receiving remuneration, by receiving help from a local congregation in the priestly function of giving he is free to devote his time to cultivating exegesis, expository teaching of Bible doctrine. In this way Timothy will stop neglecting the spiritual gift which is resident in him. The active voice: Timothy must produce the action of the verb. The active voice: all men who have reached this stage must produce the action of the verb. This is a command, therefore translated “Be cultivating.”

“these things” is the accusative plural direct object from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. This calls special attention to a designated object, in this case the designated object is found in verses 13 & 14, namely studying and teaching of the Word of God.

“give thyself wholly to them” — this is a present active imperative of e)imi plus a prepositional phrase e)n plus o(utoj. It should be translated “keep on being in these things” or “occupied with these things.” In other words, the pastor’s life is study-teach, study-teach, study-teach. This is more than occupation it is an inescapable preoccupation with the principle found in verses 13 & 14. The pastor must be persistent, he must be preoccupied with doctrine, doctrine must be an obsession.

“that” is the conjunction i(na — “in order that”; “thy profiting” — prokoph means advancement: “in order that your advancement [progress].”

“may appear” — present active subjunctive of e)imi. That subjunctive is very potential, it depends on whether you study or not. Studying is the key to everything. With it is the adjective faneroj — this is where the congregation receives the blessing from your study in communication: “might be conspicuous” or “might be apparent.” This is a perfective present tense, it denotes the continuation of existing results of diligent study of the Word of God. The active voice: the subject is prokoph, spiritual advance, progress. The subjunctive mood plus the conjunction is not only for a purpose clause but to indicate this is only potential. Any time that a man who has this gift and is so recognised discontinues his study of the Word of God he loses his personal advancement in the Word and his congregation loses with him.

“to all” — to all of the pastor’s own congregation.

Translation: “Be cultivating these things [keep on being occupied with these things], in order that your progress [spiritual advance] may be conspicuous to your entire congregation.”

We need to notice three things that are very important in our passage.

The doctrine of godliness [review]

1. Definition. Godliness is derived from two nouns, e)usebeia and qeosebeia. Both words mean duty to God, they both are technical for the balance of residency. Both nouns actually refer to occupation with Christ, reverence for Christ.

2. The establishment and human authority is necessary for the function of GAP and resultant godliness — 1 Timothy 2:2.

3. Godliness is related to knowledge of doctrine — Titus 1:1. Full knowledge of doctrine is according the standard of godliness.

4. Therefore godliness demands discipline — 1 Timothy 4:7.

5. Godliness is profitable for time and eternity — 1 Timothy 4:8.

6. The basis for godliness is the strategical victory of Jesus Christ at the first advent — 1 Timothy 3:16.

7. Godliness is distorted by reversionists under the influence of evil — 1 Timothy 6:3-5.

8. The great gain of true godliness — 1 Timothy 6:6.

9. Godliness is attained under the principle of living grace — 2 Peter 1:3.

10. Godliness is a Christian virtue — 2 Peter 1:6,7; 3:11.

The doctrine of surpassing grace

1. Definition. In eternity past as part of the divine decrees, the basis for glorifying God in the angelic conflict, two special blessing paragraphs were designed by God the Father for every believer. One is temporal, the other is eternal. One pertains to time and one to eternity, both are related to the believer’s growth in time. You do not get one in eternity for anything you do in eternity, both paragraphs are related to the believer in time. Both of these paragraphs were designed in eternity past as a part of the doctrine of divine decrees. Paragraph SG² is blessing in time; paragraph SG³ is blessing in eternity. Both are related to the function of GAP in time. What you are doing in time is to build up blessing for time and eternity. Everyone gets blessing in eternity but this is referring to special blessing that is unique to you as a believer. The mature believer is known as the super-grace believer. Maturity is based on maximum doctrine resident in the soul through the daily function of GAP.

2. The eternal holy city is designated as the surpassing grace reward and blessing for those in the past who have been great: patriarchs and leaders of Israel — Hebrews 11:9,10,16,23; Acts 7:20; Revelation 21:2,10-11.

3. Crowns are used to designate surpassing grace reward and blessing for the royal family of God. The word “crown” is stefanoj and it means “wreath.” For the Romans it was a wreath of gold oak leaves, a decoration for honour. There were also two other types of stefanoj. The highest decoration of all was the one that Julius Caesar won. He won all three of the stefanoj type decorations. So they gave him a title that went with it: Emporator, which meant that he now held the highest decoration that Rome could give. So stefanoj is a military term, a term that connotes the highest decoration for the royal family of God.

The stefanoj of life is found in James 1:12. It is one which belongs to every believer who reaches super-grace and holds the high ground. This is the wreath of life, it is connected with all kinds of future blessings in eternity. To hold until death means that every believer who does in the royal family will receive this stefanoj. Cities are related to the rewards of Old Testament saints, but stefanoj is related to those who seize and hold till death brings them into eternity.

The stefanoj of glory is the highest decoration available to the pastor-teacher. This is a special decoration for faithfulness in the communication of doctrine on the part of those who have the spiritual gift. It is inevitable that diligent and faithful study will lead to super-grace and this perpetual study will eventuate in the wreath of glory — 1 Peter 5:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:19,20; Philippians 4:1.

The stefanoj of righteousness is another surpassing grace reward for eternity. It is simply, again, holding the high ground. It involves another set of rewards in eternity which are not distinguishable simply because they are not revealed in the scripture.

In Hebrews 11:5,6 we learn that the key to surpassing grace is attitude toward doctrine in time. In 2 Corinthians 5:10 we learn that Jesus Christ will give these decorations to those who have earned them in the future after receiving a resurrection body. There is an application from this: Therefore we are not to judge the spiritual life of another believer, we let the Lord do it at the judgment seat of Christ. There is in 1 Corinthians 3:11-16 a special reference to the crown of glory, not directly but in the function of the pastor-teacher. In Hebrews 6:7-12 the fact that the reversionistic believer, the believer who is negative toward doctrine, will not have any reward in eternity. He will be minus all decorations. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 — the reversionistic believer can lose both his super-grace blessings, his surpassing grace blessings, and can arrive in eternity without any rewards. But he cannot lose his salvation. Loss of reward for eternity does not mean loss of salvation, it means that you miss something that God designed for you in eternity past. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 — the apostle Paul used the Isthmus Games to dramatise the judgment seat of Christ.

Verse 9 — “This is a faithful saying.” It is not a faithful saying, it is simply the title of a hymn. Pistoj o( logoj is the name of the hymn, Paul’s favourite. It means “faithful is the word” or “faithful is doctrine.” This title occurs five times in the pastoral epistles — 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; Titus 3:8; 2 Timothy 2:11. This means that quoting a line from a hymn five times in these epistles give the hymn great significance. And at least this portion of the hymn is a part of the Word of God and a part of divine revelation to us in the 20th century. Each time that Paul quotes from the hymn he quotes from a different part of the hymn. This fragmentation, along with all of the others, emphasises something different. We can take the five fragments of the hymn and put it together and begin to see that the whole realm of doctrine was sung whenever they sang this hymn. For example, in 1 Timothy 1:15 where we have the first fragment of this hymn that faithfulness of the Word is related to saving grace. So there is a portion of this hymn that deals with salvation. We have seen from 1 Timothy 3:1 that the faithfulness of doctrine, or the Word, is related to honourable aspiration in becoming a pastor-guardian of the local church. In 1 Timothy 4:9 we see the faithfulness of the Word related to the exhausting work of the function of the pastor.

“and worthy of all acceptation” — this is a quotation, a refrain, from the hymn. This same refrain was also found in 1 Timothy 1:15, but not in 3:1. It is kai pashj a)podoxhj a)cioj — “and worthy of unqualified acceptance” is a better translation. “All” is a descriptive genitive of paj and it is really “unqualified.” While paj means “all,” in the descriptive genitive it means “unqualified.” There is also the descriptive genitive of the noun a)podoxh, and with a)cioj it means worthy of acceptance, and with paj it means unqualified acceptance.

Translation: “Faithful is the word and worthy of unqualified acceptance.”

This is a reminder to each one of us that there is no spiritual growth apart from doctrine, no spiritual advance in life apart from doctrine resident in the soul. Therefore the only attitude that we can take toward Bible doctrine is unqualified acceptance.

The fragmentation of the hymn

1. This fragment from the ancient hymn was the refrain sung by the congregation to indicate their positive volition toward Bible teaching, their acceptance of the authority of their right pastor-teacher.

2. This phrase from the hymn represents what every member of the royal family of God must think of Bible teaching.

3. This represents the mental attitude of the believer who is positive to doctrine and functioning consistently under GAP.

4. This phrase represents the importance of doctrine in spiritual advance, spiritual growth, and blessing.

5. The next verse emphasises the results of the consistent function of GAP and occupation with Christ.

6. Occupation with Christ is the believer’s defense against apostasy, evil, and reversionism. Occupation with Christ is a maximum intake of the Word leading to the spiritual advance of maturity, and the mature believer with doctrine resident in his soul is insulated against evil and reversionism.

Verse 10 — “For therefore” is e)ij touto gar. The post positive conjunctive particle gar is used to make an explanation. It is explanatory and correctly translated “for.” The preposition e)ij plus the accusative neuter singular of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj — o(utoj is a demonstrative pronoun which calls special attention to and emphasises the importance of spiritual exercise in the royal family of God, the importance of the daily function of GAP. “For because of this” — that is, benefit from the daily function of GAP or spiritual exercise and resultant super-grace status.

The grace provision for learning doctrine

1. The formation and the preservation of the canon. There would be no intake of doctrine, no inhale of the Word, no spiritual growth, no paragraph SG², no paragraph SG³, were it not for the fact that God has graciously preserved the canon of scripture all of these centuries. This includes the mechanics of inspiration, the faithfulness of God in protecting the written canon against all Satanic attacks. The result is quite obvious. Here in the 20th century the believer has an intact canon of scripture. It is preserved in the original languages so that the meaning of any passage is as perspicuous today as it was in the day in which is was written and originally taught. So over a period of 2000 years we have exactly the same thing that God the Holy Spirit gave to the human author, the apostle Paul.

2. The divine authorisation of a classroom. The classroom today is called the local church. The local church is a classroom for learning Bible doctrine and therefore is the place of assembly for all members of the royal family in a specific geographical area. There is always more than one local church in any geographical area. The prescribed organisation is very simple. There is first of all a pastor as the absolute ruler and policy-maker, deacons as administrators of the policy, and a congregation to be benefited through the teaching of the Word of God. All worship is centred around learning doctrine and therefore there must be very strict academic discipline. When the royal family assembles to take in the Word of God each member of the royal family is a student without portfolio from the time the teaching begins until the last Amen. The only right of a student without portfolio is to learn and everything must contribute to his learning. The continued existence of local churches where doctrine is taught is a matter of grace in every generation of the Church Age. In spite of the fact that the local church has often failed in apostate generations and in spite of all of the attacks against it, in spite of the formation of denominations on the one hand and service organisations on the other hand, the local church continues to be the only means of spiritual growth.

3. Whenever there are positive people in a geographical area God will anticipate that by preparing, and will at the right time, providing a right pastor-teacher for that geographical area.

4. The royal priesthood of the believer. Any congregation of believers is very special because they are royalty. In this dispensation there exists a universal and a royal priesthood of believers, and the purpose of this priesthood is for privacy and reception of doctrine. Each believer must have doctrine resident in his soul and must grow in grace through the intake of doctrine. Therefore each royal priest must live his life as unto the Lord, to ensure his privacy, to avoid bullying, to give him a chance to learn doctrine, he enters the congregation with others, sits down, maintains his privacy and receives his instructions. There is no such thing as one on one or person to person teaching or sharing in the local church.

5. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The aristocracy of the believer’s priesthood is related to the ministry of the Holy Spirit from the time of salvation.

6. The provision of the human spirit. The unbeliever is dichotomous, having only a body and soul. When a person is born again and becomes a believer he becomes trichotomous — body, soul, and spirit. Adam lost the human spirit at the point of his fall. He recovered it by salvation. We are born dichotomous, we become trichotomous. The human spirit is added as a means whereby doctrine is taken from the left lobe of the soul and transferred to the right lobe where it is usable. Romans 8:16 is the mechanics of transferring that doctrine.

7. The laws of divine establishment. Under the laws of establishment the nation protects the freedom and privacy of the local church. This is the importance of the principle of freedom through military victory and the importance of true law enforcement in a national entity. The system of authority that exists through the laws of divine establishment is the basis for the orderly function within the local church. Establishment demands respect for authority of all kinds. The believer who rejects the authority of the police officer will reject the authority of the pastor-teacher. The believer who rejects the authority of the school teacher or the coach or the boss will reject the authority of the pastor-teacher. Therefore the very function of the laws of establishment promote the principle of respect for authority which is necessary to focus attention on the biblical communication of the pastor-teacher.

8. Human anatomy. All functions of anatomy are grace as they relate to the intake of thought, whether it is oxygen in the blood or sugar derivatives which go to the neurons in the brain. These are grace systems of assimilation.

“we both labour and suffer reproach” — the word for “labour” is a present active indicative of kopiaw which means to become weary, to become tired, to work hard. It means to work hard to the point of exhaustion. This is something that should be a very ordinary experience for any pastor-teacher who does his job right. The most exhausting work in the world is mental labour. It means to become mentally fatigued from extensive study, extensive concentration. The present tense is the retroactive progressive present, it denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. Paul’s intense study of doctrine and continuous study into the present time is noted. The active voice: the pastor-teacher produces the action of the verb. He produces it by plodding, plodding, plodding. There is no shortcut to getting there. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the fact that many pastors do study and teach to the point of exhaustion. And if you study and teach this way it is obvious that people are not going to like it or understand it.

“and suffer reproach” — present middle indicative from a deponent verb, a)gonizomai, which means to compete in athletics, it means to fight, to contend. The cognate noun a)gwn meant a stadium or a place where athletic games were held. While the verb originally had an athletic connotation it finally came to mean any kind of a conflict. Actually it means combat. So the point here is that every pastor who is faithful in his studying and teaching has entered into the combat of the angelic conflict. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes what was begun in the past continuing into the present time. The middle voice is deponent, therefore active in meaning. It indicates that every pastor who does his job right is in the centre of the angelic conflict in his generation. The indicative mood is declarative for reality of a continued conflict as a pastor is faithful in the principle of study and teach.

Translation so far: “For because of this benefit from spiritual exercise and resultant super-grace status, we work hard to the point of exhaustion, and we keep on contending [and idiom which means actually to hang in there tough].”

“because” is the causal use of the conjunction o(ti and it gives the reason for the pastor-guardian working hard to the point of exhaustion and hanging in there tough.

“we trust” — the perfect active indicative of the verb e)lpizw which means to hope, but it doesn’t mean hope in the modern connotation of the word. Hope is confidence, especially in the perfect tense. Hope in the aorist tense means expectation, but e)lpizw or hope in the perfect tense means confidence, absolute confidence. So we have the phrase, “because we have confidence.” The prefect tense is a dramatic perfect. This is a rhetorical use of the intensive perfect, the intensive perfect says the action is completed and the results continue. In other words, the action of confidence has been completed at the point at which the believer reaches super-grace. Once he reaches spiritual maturity he continues to possess confidence as long as he continues to have maximum doctrine resident in the soul. The active voice: Paul is producing the action, and Paul refers to himself and all future pastor-teachers who reach to high ground of super-grace, who keep on studying and keep on teaching. The indicative mood is declarative, it expresses the verbal idea from the viewpoint of dogmatic reality. Paul has had maximum doctrine in his soul, he continues to study, he continues to increase that doctrine.

“in the living God” — the preposition e)pi plus the locative of qeoj. With this is a present active participle used as an adjective, zaw, correctly translated “living.” E)pi plus the genitive emphasises contact and it would be translated “at” or “on.” E)pi plus the locative emphasises position — “in” or “upon.” E)pi plus the accusative emphasises motion or direction, therefore it would be translated “on” or “over.”

In other words, the true motivator for the pastor-teacher, and eventually the true motivator for his congregation, has to be occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Occupation with Christ actually comes through maximum Bible doctrine in the soul.

The doctrine of occupation with Christ

1. Definition and description. Occupation with Christ is the highest spiritual function of the royal family in time. It is category #1 love carried on by the mature believer. Occupation with Christ or category #1 love is maximum in the mature believer. Maximum doctrine in the soul causes the believer to have maximum love toward God. The representative and the manifest person of the Godhead is Jesus Christ and therefore occupation with Christ is a synonym for maximum category #1 love. Therefore occupation with Christ is a maximum expression of category #1 love. Deuteronomy 6:5 commanded the Old Testament saints to have occupation with Christ. The same thing is found for us, royal family, stated in a different way: Hebrews 12:1,2.

2. Occupation with Christ begins at the point where the believer enters super-grace. When a believer GAPs it daily, follows the colours to the high ground, establishes a command post of resident doctrine, and holds on the high ground, this is the point at which he enters into occupation with Christ as a part of paragraph SG² — Colossians 3:16,17.

3. Occupation with Christ also glorifies Christ — Ephesians 3:19-21. You can’t love Christ unless you know Christ. True love demands that you know the object of your love.

4. The means of occupation with Christ is the daily or consistent function of GAP (Grace Apparatus for Perception, the intake of doctrine through the spiritual grace system set up in the Word). The persistent perception of doctrine accumulates maximum doctrine in the soul. It transfers doctrine from the printed page to your own soul and the part called the heart. This maximum doctrine resident in the soul is the basis for spiritual maturity known as super-grace. The basis characteristics of super-grace begin with the principle of occupation with Christ or maximum category #1 love. Jeremiah 9:23,24; Ephesians 4:20; 3:18,19.

5. Occupation with Christ eliminates the superficialities of human celebrityship — Philippians 3:7,8.

6. Occupation with Christ also motivates the pastor-teacher to communicate doctrine so that the royal priesthood reaches its objective — Hebrews 6:10.

7. The mechanics of GAP produce the dynamics of occupation with Christ — James 1:19,21; 2:20-23.

8. The illustration of occupation with Christ is found in the doctrine of right man, right woman — Ephesians 5:25-33.

9. Occupation with Christ is related to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict — Colossians 3:1,2.

10. Characteristics of occupation with Christ include:

a) Occupation with Christ is the basis for the super-grace believer contributing to national blessing — Deuteronomy 30:15,16,10.

b) Occupation with Christ produces combat courage and victory in battle — Joshua 23:10,11.

c) Occupation with Christ is the basis for preservation in time of testing — Psalm 31:23,24.

d) Occupation with Christ is the basis for stability and great happiness — Psalm 16:8,9.

e) Occupation with Christ results in super-grace blessings — Psalm 37:4,5.

f) Occupation with Christ is the basis for strength under pressure — Hebrews 11:27.

g) Occupation with Christ avoids fatigue — Hebrews 12:3.

“who” is the relative pronoun o(j and it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have our confidence as members of the royal family of God.

“is” — the verb to be, e)imi in the present active indicative. The present tense is linear aktionsart, it calls for an understanding of the situation that has always existed. This is a static present, there never was a time and there never will be a time when Jesus Christ is not the saviour of all men. He is unique, He is the God-Man. The active voice of the verb: the Lord Jesus Christ produces the action. The indicative mood is declarative for an absolute and dogmatic principle of doctrine.

“Saviour” — swthr refers to everything that Jesus Christ did on the cross; “of all men” means that Jesus Christ, when He was on the cross, was judged for all members of the human race. This particular phraseology actually deals with one aspect of salvation known as the atonement. He is the saviour of all men.

The doctrine of the atonement

1. Definition.

a) Atonement refers to the efficacious work of Christ on the cross on behalf of mankind.

b) Atonement as a noun means reconciliation after enmity or controversy.

c) A second definition means satisfaction or reparation made for a wrong or injury.

d) The actual verb to atone has various related meanings, such as to be at one, to be in accordance with, to make amends or to make reparation, to make up for errors or deficiency, to reconcile or bring into fellowship.

In the Old Testament we have a verb, kaphar, which means to cover. It was actually used in the sense of the day of atonement when the high priest would carry the blood of an animal sacrifice into the holy of holies and sprinkle it onto the mercy seat so that the blood was now covering that golden throne. Then righteousness looked down and was satisfied, justice looked down and was satisfied, and this was also called kaphar or atonement. So the Hebrew foreshadowed the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in providing for eternal life. So in the Old Testament God forgave and restored where sins were covered by the blood of animal sacrifices.

The true basis for atonement was not found in these animal sacrifices, they merely portrayed by training aids the ministry of Christ on the cross. The animal sacrifices were actually used as a cover for sin until God the Father could be propitiated by the work of God the Son on the cross. So atonement in the Old Testament refers to animal sacrifices — the Levitical code actually, but the atonement in the New Testament refers to the actual saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The two concepts are actually brought together in one passage in Romans — 3:23-26. Ultimately atonement must be defined as the efficacious saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

2. The atonement is said to be unlimited. Unlimited atonement means that when Christ was judged on the cross He died for all. it is only beneficial to the one who appropriates. Appropriation only comes through personal faith in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:14 — “… that he died for all.” He didn’t die just for the believer, He died for the entire human race. Cf. 1 Timothy 2:6 — “… ransom on behalf of all”; 4:10 — “… who is the saviour of all men.” Titus 2:11 — “… bringing salvation to all men.” Hebrews 2:9 — “… should taste death on behalf of the entire world.” So atonement extends to every person in the human race. 1 John 2:2 — “… and not for ours only but also for the sins of the entire world.”

3. Unlimited atonement eliminates sin in the unbeliever’s indictment at the last judgment. When Christ died on the cross He was judged for the sins of the entire human race. At the cross human good was rejected, not judged along with sins. Sins have been judged on the cross, human good was not judged. Human good will be part of every unbeliever’s indictment at the last judgment. Since sins have been judged they cannot be judged again. Revelation 20:12-15.

4. The unbeliever is indicted at the last judgment because he did not believe in Christ while on earth.

“specially of those that believe.” The word “specially” is a superlative, malista. It is the comparative of mala which means most of all, above all, or especially. This is the superlative, it marks out a certain category of beneficiaries of the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, only believers benefit. Christ died for all, the beneficiaries are those who appropriate. This is described in the last phrase, “of those that believe.” This is not actually a phrase in the original, it is a genitive plural from the adjective pistoj. Pistoj has a substantive meaning here and should be translated “believers.” This is both a genitive of relationship to indicate that only those who believe in Christ have eternal life. It also is a descriptive genitive to indicate the category of the human race who benefit from unlimited atonement or the saving work of Christ on the cross. The absence of the definite article in the Greek emphasises the quality of mankind who believe in Christ. The quality is royal family of God forever. The quality is based upon the 36 things that each one of us receives at salvation, 36 indestructible things.

Translation: “For because of this benefit from spiritual exercise, we work hard [to the point of exhaustion], we hang in there tough, because we have confidence in the living God [Jesus Christ], who is the Saviour of all men, especially of believers.”

Principles

1. While Jesus Christ is the potential saviour of the entire human race, He is the real saviour of those who believe.

2. The pastor’s work to the point of exhaustion with constant and consistent plodding, hanging in there in the principle of studying and teaching, is emphasised because salvation means a royal family. A royal family means the necessity for spiritual growth; spiritual growth comes from Bible teaching.

3. As a result of this process of communicating doctrine in the local church classroom the believer royal priest becomes mature in status quo occupation with Christ.

4. This is category #1 love or occupation with the person of Christ. At the same time we receive super-grace blessings. This category #1 love or maximum doctrine resident in the soul also protects the royal family from apostasy, evil, reversionism, bleeding-heart do-gooders, religious cranks, legalistic Pharisees, etc.

5. Protection from apostasy and blessing from God are two sides of the same super-grace coin. God keeps us in this life after salvation to bless us. This blessing comes when we reach the super-grace status.

6. This verse anticipates the next paragraph in which the pastor-guardian of the local church, through his teaching ministry, counterattacks apostasy.

7. In the angelic conflict defense is not enough, there must be the offensive. Good defense means stability to launch the offensive.

8. To win a victory the royal family of God in each generation and attack, attack, attack. Attack is only possible when the pastor-guardian communicates, when the congregation responds with positive volition, and they take the high ground by following the colours of Bible doctrine.

The doctrine of category #1 love

1. Love comes from three categories: category #1, toward God; category #2, toward right man or right woman; category #3, friendship. In addition there is an obligatory relaxed mental attitude toward all members of the royal family known as “loving the brethren.” This is a mental attitude that does not necessarily have any overt manifestation.

Category #1 love is the believer’s capacity to love God and to respond to God’s love based on Bible doctrine resident in the soul. This is the believer’s capacity, then, based on doctrine. When a believer reaches maturity, known as the super-grace status, this category #1 love is called occupation with the person of Christ. The command to category #1 love is found in Deuteronomy 6:5. It must be remembered that it is impossible to achieve any love for God apart from Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is the sole source of capacity for love, and this must be Bible doctrine resident in the soul. So apart from the daily or consistent function of GAP it is impossible to love God in time.

2. The means of category #1 love. Since God is invisible and since at the same time God is the object of category #1 love we must see and love Him through the Word and/or Bible doctrine resident in the soul. The reversionistic believer is incapable of loving God because he lacks doctrine in the soul, he lacks capacity for love, and he is under the policy of Satan’s known as evil. The immature believer does not love God because he too lacks doctrine in the soul. In other words, you cannot love God unless you know God, and you cannot know God unless you have GAPed it long enough to transfer pertinent doctrine. You cannot have doctrine in the soul, then, apart from the daily function of GAP. 1 Peter 1:8; Ephesians 3:18,19. Hebrews 6:10 tells us that this is a pastoral function, i.e. the communication of doctrine by which to grow up. 2 Timothy 1:13,14.

3. Category #1 love sets up a standard for grace — Psalm 119:132; 31:23.

4. Category #1 love is the basis for super-grace blessing — 1 Corinthians 2:9; Psalm 37:4,5.

5. Category #1 love is the basis for both personal and national blessing — Deuteronomy 30:15.

6. Category #1 love motivates combat courage and military victory — Joshua 23:10,11.

7. Category #1 love provides strength in adversity and pressure — Hebrews 11:27;12:3.

8. There is a special curse on believers who fail under category #1 love — 1 Corinthians 16:22 (Cursed until the Lord comes, i.e. cursed until the Rapture). This dramatises divine discipline for those believers who are inclined to neglect Bible doctrine.

9. Witnessing must be motivated by category #1 love — 2 Corinthians 5:14.

10. The description of Category #1 love is found in 1 John 4:15-19. “Perfect love” is maximum category #1 love.

The new paragraph is the pastor-guardian counterattack

Verses 11, the modus operandi of the pastor since the pastor is the key in the counter offensive. The counter offensive has to do with the communication of doctrine, the responsibility of the pastor-teacher.

“These things” — the accusative neuter plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. The demonstrative pronoun always calls attention with special emphasis to a designated object. Here it emphasises the doctrinal teaching of the pastor-guardian of the local church. The accusative is used for the direct object of two verbs. “These things” refer to doctrines from the Word.

“command” is a present active imperative from paraggellw which means to give orders, to command, to instruct. No pastor can give orders every day unless he is thoroughly prepared to do so. The ability to give the right order in any profession always depends upon maximum understanding of that profession. Giving a proper command always requires knowledge, understanding, in relationship to the specific profession. The pastor-teacher cannot fulfill this verse of giving commands unless he is prepared by diligent study of the Word of God. The second verb deals with the actual function of GAP. In the mechanics the pastor has the right and the authority to demand certain things of his congregation. He has the right to demand privacy for each member of his congregation. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what habitually occurs of may be reasonably expected to occur. The pastor has the right to demand privacy for each member of the royal family, manners, concentration, that people behave themselves in the assembly. The active voice: Timothy by interpretation must produce the action of the verb. This verb applies to every pastor-guardian of every local church. The imperative mood is the imperative of command.

“and teach” — present active imperative of didaskw. Remember that didaskw does not means sharing, it means one person is the expert and everyone else is a student without portfolio; and that the opinions of students is not important, it is the communication of the policy-maker, the pastor-teacher. So didaskw means one man communicating to a group under strict academic discipline. This, again, is the mechanics of the function of GAP. Again we have a customary present that indicates that this teaching denotes the habitual activity of a pastor. It is what is expected to occur. The pastor-guardian of the local church produces the action of the verb. And again, this is the imperative mood of command.

Translation: “Command and communicate these things.”

This verse is made up of two verbs which actually give two separate public functions of the pastor-teacher. The first verb, “command,” is related to the pastor using his authority academically to focus attention on his teaching. Didaskw is using his authority to teach. a) He must command attention; b) he must communicate doctrine. In teaching the Word of God both authority and communication are involved. No pastor can teach without authority. His communication of doctrine is monologue, there is no place for sharing or dialogue. The pastor is the only one who has the authority to communicate and therefore the pastor’s policies and opinions derived from the Word of God are the only ones that count. Every member of the congregation must have confidence in the pastor’s judgment or move on.

Verse 12 — the authority and leadership of the pastor. “Let no man despise” is an adjective, mhdeij. It is used as a substantive here and it means “no one.” With it is a present active imperative from a compound verb, katafronew. Kata means “down” here; fronew means to think. To think down means to despise, to scorn, to treat with contempt, to care nothing about someone’s authority, to disregard authority. And the command is, “Let no one disregard your authority.” The present tense is a tendencial present used for an action which is not taking place. In other words, everyone despises Timothy’s authority. He is a wimp who has been shoved back in a corner and the church is going crazy. So it represents here, then, the idea of what is intended, not what is happening. The active voice: the congregation should not produce the action of the verb, namely treating the pastor with contempt because he is young, or disregarding his authority because he is young. The imperative mood is the imperative of command, it is the imperative of prohibition.

“thy youth” — this is an objective genitive of neothj, telling us that Timothy is still very young. Older people have a tendency to reject the authority of those who are younger. So a better translation : “Stop permitting anyone to reject your authority because you are young.”

“but” — a strong adversative conjunction, a)lla. It sets up a contrast between a pastor being pushed around by his congregation and a pastor properly exercising the authority of his high spiritual office; “be thou” is not a correct translation, it is the present middle imperative of ginomai which means to become something you were not — “but keep on becoming.” The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what habitually occurs or may be reasonably be expected to occur. The middle voice is the indirect middle, it emphasises the agent as producing the action of the verb rather than as participating in the results of the action. Generally the middle voice describes the subject as participating in the results of the action of the verb. The active voice emphasises the action; the middle voice emphasises the agent. In this way the middle voice relates the action of the subject more intimately to the verb. The imperative mood is the imperative of entreaty, it carries the force of urgency. Since the imperative is the mood of volition it expresses an appeal to Timothy’s volition or will as well as an appeal to him in that area. It is the appeal, then, to Timothy’s volition.

“an example” — a predicate nominative from tupoj [from which we get the word “type]. Tupoj means a pattern, a model or an example.

“of believers” should be “to the believers” — the genitive plural of pistoj plus the definite article.

“in word [doctrine]” — e)n plus the locative of logoj. The pastor must be an example in doctrine. Logoj often means “word,” it means “thought,” it means a lot of things. But here it means principle of doctrine. The e)n and the locative together mean “in doctrine” and there is no definite article, it emphasises the quality of doctrine. The pastor-guardian should lead the advance and the function of GAP, having the greatest inner resources of doctrine through his own personal diligent and even sacrificial study of the Word of God. This does not go as far as to say that the pastor should ever become a counselor. When that happens the pastor starts leading your life. You get to depend on him and in that case you are not living your own life, he is living it for you. That is wrong.

“in conversation” — e)n plus the locative of a)nastrofh, which means way of life. Here it means grace way of life.

“in spirit” is not found in the original MSS.

“in charity” — e)n plus the locative of a)gaph. This means “in relaxed mental attitude.” It means in the filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces this a)gaph — Romans 5:5.

“in faith” is e)n plus the instrumental of pistij and should be “by means of doctrine.”

“in purity” — e)n plus the locative of a)gneia. A)gneia is used primarily for purity of mind. In the translation of the Septuagint it denotes cultic or ceremonial purity. It only occurs twice in the New Testament, here in verse 12 and once in 5:2, and both times it refers to purity of mind or occupation with doctrine leading to occupation with Christ. A)gneia as purity of the mind is in contrast to a common word for purity, kaqaroj which is used for purity of life or moral purity. Kaqaroj can apply to a believer or an unbeliever but a)gneia is a specific category of believers only.

Translation: “Let no one look down on your youth; but keep on becoming a pattern to the believers in Bible doctrine, in the grace way of life, in love [filling of the Spirit], by means of doctrine resident in the soul, in the sphere of purity of mind.”

What does this mean?

1. Purity of mind through Bible doctrine resident in the soul means that doctrine must be the motivator of the pastor — just as doctrine must be the motivator of anyone in the royal family.

2. Through purity of mind through Bible doctrine resident in the soul the pastor establishes his authority in the local church without abusing his authority [without bullying].

3. Abuses that a pastor could fall into include blind arrogance, approbation lust, omnivorous ambition.

4. Most pastors today want to start at the top — publishing of books, tape ministry, etc. These people lead with their ambition, they lust for approbation in the field of the ministry, and it destroys them.

5. No pastor can properly exercise authority over his congregation without doctrine in his own soul producing purity of motivation which completely neutralises pride, ambition, jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, pettiness, and academic dishonesty.

Verse 13 — the word “Till” is a temporal conjunction, e(wj. This particular conjunction means “until” in modern English and it is used to denote the end of a period of time.

“I come” is the present active indicative of the verb e)rxomai. This is the ordinary verb for coming. The present tense is tendencial for an act which is intended but not taking place. Paul intends to come but he has not come as yet. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb in the sense of his desire to come back to Ephesus after he is finished with his fourth missionary journey. The indicative mood is declarative indicating the reality of Paul’s intentions — which were never fulfilled, by the way.

“give attendance” — present active imperative of the verb prosexw. The present tense is a customary present for what is reasonably expected of any pastor whose time is free to study. The word means to turn one’s mind on a subject, to pay close attention to it, to devote one’s self to a subject. It therefore comes to mean concentration — “be concentrating on.” Timothy and all pastors of the Church Age are to produce the action of the verb. This is the imperative mood of command. It is inevitable that the life of the pastor must be a life of concentration on the teaching of the Word of God.

“to reading” — dative singular of the definite article plus a dative singular of a noun, a)nagnwsij. This is a compound: a)na means “again and again”; ginwskw means to “know.” When the two words are put together it means to go over a passage again and again and again. It means actually to exegete, to analyse, to break down a passage point by point, word by word, and actually put it all together. The noun is the dative of advantage as well as the dative of indirect object. It is to the advantage of the local congregation to have the pastor study, analyse, exegete, and come up with the exact interpretation of every portion of the Word of God. Therefore it should be translated so far: “Until I come be concentrating on the exegesis.”

Principles

1. Exegesis is the interpretation of the Bible on the basis of grammatical, syntactical, and etymological analysis of each context. Exegesis can only be accomplished when a student knows the original languages. Whenever you analyse an English text you are analysing a translation.

2. The result of exegesis is expository teaching of the Word of God.

3. Every pastor must be a master, then, of the original languages or must be dependent on someone who is.

4. The Bible cannot be interpreted in translation. The translation may be wrong, therefore the interpretation will also be wrong.

5. In other words, no interpretation can be any better than the translation from which it is taken.

6. To know what the Bible is really teaching one must therefore be a master of biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek, as well as a student of the ancient world.

7. The foundation for preaching an teaching doctrine is correct and accurate exegesis of the original languages of scripture.

8. To become a master of these languages and a good student of the Word of God takes many years of diligent study. It is a life of concentration, not an occasional concentration.

9. The pastor must have time. This is provided through the congregation giving as unto the Lord and the remuneration which results. This is in keeping with the command of the Word of God that a pastor’s time should be free so that he can concentrate on the teaching of the Word of God.

“to exhortation” is a dative singular of advantage as well as a dative of indirect object from paraklhsij which means comfort, encouragement which comes from doctrine which has been transferred into the soul. Doctrine is never an encouragement or comfort or blessing until it belongs personally through the transfer of the daily function of GAP.

“to doctrine” — dative singular of advantage as well as the indirect object of the noun didaskalia. It means teaching, instruction, or doctrine.

Translation: “Until I come be concentrating on the exegesis, the encouragement-comfort, the teaching of doctrine.”

Principles

1. All of these things are tied into the basic and fundamental concept of the pastoral modus operandi — study and teach, study and teach.

2. Exposition or public analysis of the scripture, comfort-encouragement and doctrine make it possible for the royal family to mature spiritually so that they can glorify God in their royal priesthood.

3. Note what is omitted from this verse. There are seven very important things omitted:

a) There is no reference to “programism.” Church programs are never, never in order. A program is a system to take a weak pastor and try to give him a backbone.

b) There is no reference to raising money. It is not the job of the pastor-teacher to run around begging for money.

c) There is no reference to friendliness gimmicks or operation lonely-hearts.

d) There is no reference to psychology and counseling.

e) There is no reference to establishing a social structure in the church.

f) There is no reference to choirs and big music programs.

g) There is no reference to plurality of elders, rotating the pulpit between arrogant, egotistical, power lust laymen.

The doctrine of GAP

1. Definition: GAP is an acrostic, it represents the principle of grace apparatus for perception. This is simply a grace system for perspicacity in the field of Bible doctrine. The Bible was designed to be understood. The Bible is a revelation from God. It is not obscure, it is not abstruse, it is not designed to be mysterious and not quite comprehensible. The Bible is designed to be understood, every portion of the Word is designed to be understood. You cannot understand some portions until you understand simpler portions but the Bible is all locked together is a perfect system, and there is no part of the Word of God that cannot be understood by someone. GAP is the system, the spiritual IQ of the royal family of God.

2. There are three systems of perception:

a) Rationalism which is a meritorious system of perception. Reason is the source of knowledge superior to and independent of the sensory system. Reason becomes the norm or criterion for reality under rationalism. Rationalism, then, is the adherence to the supremacy of reason in matters of belief and content. The subjection of Bible doctrine and scriptural interpretation to the test of human reason rejects the principle of dogmatic authority just as grace rejects legalism and legalism rejects grace.

b) Empiricism, learning by observation and experimentation. The reality of this system of perception lies in the function of the senses, relating their observation to the lobes of the brain. Key words are: experience, observation, and experimentation providing the basis for reality and perception.

c) Faith, learning by accepting the authority or the criterion or both. Reality of the unseen. Faith is a system of thinking but it is a non-meritorious system of thinking. Faith is the means by which we learn anything from 70 to 95 per cent of everything we ever learn. Faith is building knowledge on the basis of an absolute authority or an axiom, whether it is God exists or one plus one equals two. The validity of faith depends upon the criterion or the object of faith. In salvation the object is Jesus Christ the only saviour. In the function of GAP the object is the content of the scripture, specifically Bible doctrine, promises, principles, the absolute criterion of the Word of God.

3. There is a distinction between human and spiritual IQ. Human IQ is not a factor in learning Bible doctrine. Resident doctrine in the soul is called in the Hebrew, chakmah, and in the Greek, e)pignwsij. These two words indicate the principle of non-meritorious perception. Spiritual IQ, then, is the amount of Bible doctrine resident in the soul, the amount of chakmah, the amount of e)pignwsij.

4. The exclusion of human IQ from the function of GAP. Human IQ has often been considered a fact in learning doctrine and this is a myth. It would imply that low IQ believers would be handicapped in learning doctrine. However, in eternity past God found a way through His grace for every believer to learn doctrine totally apart from human ability and human IQ. For this reason at the point of salvation every believer receives not only the ministry of God the Holy Spirit but a human spirit corresponds so that he can assimilate all the doctrines of the Word of God — 1 Corinthians 1:19-2:16.

5. The grace provision for learning doctrine:

a) The formation and preservation of the canon of scripture. Were it not for the fact that the canon was formed and then preserved down to the present moment there would be no textbook. This simply proves that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world, for since the ascension of Jesus Christ and the completion of the canon of scripture Satan’s main objective is to discredit the Bible, distort the Bible, get the Bible away from the royal family.

b) The divine authorisation for the local church which is the only way any of us will ever grow up. The Bible is the textbook, the local church is the classroom. Only in the classroom of the local church can the royal family under strict academic discipline grow spiritually.

c) The provision of the right pastor. Everyone has a right pastor. This is the means of spiritual growth. The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher involves both authority and ability to communicate doctrine in the local church by means of monologue.

d) The provision of the royal priesthood of the believer. We are royal family as of the moment of regeneration. As members of the royal family of God we are also a priesthood. As a royal priesthood it is imperative that we be briefed, that we clued into actually what it is all about in the Church Age, as quickly as possible. In order to recognise the privacy of the believer’s priesthood and to establish a system of objectivity in grace perspicacity every believer priest has privacy as he assembles himself with other believers in the local church. This privacy must be guaranteed by the leadership and the authority of the pastor so that each believer can concentrate as a novice, learning doctrine, advancing to the high ground, without distraction and without interruption.

e) The ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

f) The provision of the human spirit. The human spirit is the means of transferring doctrine from the left lobe to the right lobe. Doctrine in the left lobe is mere academic understanding, doctrine in the right lobe is the utilisation of the dynamics of the Word of God. Romans 8:16,17. Reality comes in this relationship: the Spirit to the spirit.

g) The laws of divine establishment. Under divine laws of establishment national government is responsible to protect the freedom, the privacy of the local church. The first function of freedom is known as religious liberty. Under this principle there must be a separation of church and state. A second law is also pertinent which is freedom through military victory. Military victory guarantees the perpetuation of freedom, the perpetuation of evangelism in that national entity and the perpetuation of the function of GAP in the function of the local church. A third law which is pertinent is the function of law — the judge on the bench, the police officer on patrol. The fourth law is the principle of human authority. The pastor-teacher has the authority in the local church. Any person who rejects the authority of parents, teachers, coaches, bosses, etc. will also resist the authority of the pastor-teacher to their own spiritual detriment.

h) The principle of grace in human anatomy.

6. The first target for GAP is receptive comprehension. The first thing you do when you come into church is to listen to what is taught. Whatever is taught to you goes into the left lobe, called the nouj, where you may understand. There the information resides but it is absolutely of no use. It is the transfer of this information to the right lobe that counts. That is why we have the human spirit as a processing area. Doctrine must go into the human spirit and then it must go up into the right lobe, the frame of reference, and from there it is properly distributed under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. There is a real challenge in this field, found in James 1:19-25. We are to become not just hearers of the Word but doers. A hearer is a person who gets the doctrine in his left lobe; a doer is a person who gets the doctrine in his right lobe, who transfers it over there.

The primary result of GAP is spiritual advance, spiritual maturity, spiritual growth, reaching maturity as a believer. Maturity is best expressed in a number of different biblical synonyms. We have already noted the language synonyms, e)pignwsij and chakmah — maximum doctrine in the human spirit and in the frame of reference. There is a theological synonym found in James 4:6 — “He gives more grace.” Actually, it is “greater grace” and should be translated literally, “super-grace.” There is also a priestly synonym, “altar in the soul” — Hebrews 13:10. Bible doctrine resident in the soul is the altar of the royal priesthood on which he offers his priestly sacrifices. First you must have an altar before you can offer sacrifices, you must be a mature believer before you can utilise properly Bible doctrine. Another synonym is a building synonym, the edification complex of the soul. There is a time synonym, redeeming the time or purchasing time which comes from maximum capital. Maximum capital is maximum doctrine in the soul — Ephesians 5:16-18; Colossians 4:5. Another synonym is a central control synonym, the dictator of the soul. The dictator is inner residency of Bible doctrine through the consistent function of GAP — Ephesians 6:10. The inner rule of His endowed power is maximum doctrine in the soul. Bible doctrine resident in the soul becomes the inner dictator causing the believer to become spiritually self-sustaining, independent of human viewpoint, bad advice, independent of evil, of reversionism, of legalism, of religionism. Doctrine in the soul becomes the basis of discernment in life. There are many military synonyms. Putting on the full armour from God — Ephesians 6:11-18; following the colours to the high ground — Hebrews 12:1,2; establishing a command post in the soul — Colossians 2:5-8. There is a crucifixion synonym which has nothing to do with Jesus on the cross, it has to do with the Roman custom of crucifixion. The Romans, long before Jesus went to the cross, crucified over a million people. Crucifixion was a well-known and well-established system of capital punishment among the Romans. So when Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me,” it refers to Bible class attendance, the daily function of GAP in spite of opposition and in spite of distraction. “Follow me” is the daily function of GAP eventuating in maturity — Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27. A chemical synonym is salt. The salt of the land is the believer with maximum doctrine in his soul. In the ancient world salt was a means of preservation. Salt as a preservative means that a believer with maximum doctrine resident in his soul, or a number of believers with maximum doctrine in their souls, are the basis of preserving a national entity. There is a sanctification synonym known as godliness.

Other results of GAP include reversion recovery. This is the removal of scar tissue from the soul, freedom from the influence of evil, the cancellation of divine discipline. Another result is the glorification of God in the angelic conflict through the attainment of super-grace status or spiritual maturity. This attainment results in super-grace blessings. All of these blessings are the result of the daily function of GAP. Another result equates the royal status of the believer with the function of the royal priesthood. Normal function of the royal priest begins at the point of spiritual maturity or establishing the altar in the soul. Spiritual maturity or super-grace, then, begins at the point when any believer has maximum doctrine in his soul as a result of consistent, faithful function of GAP. Another result: GAP leads to the principle of occupation with Christ and other capacities for life. Inner residency of doctrine results in capacity for love, especially category #1 love toward God. No-one can love God unless they know God and therefore knowing God comes from the inculcation of Bible doctrine. This same residency of doctrine in the soul produces capacity for love in other categories — #2 and #3. It produces capacity for happiness, capacity for life, for blessing.

Another result of GAP: It provides maximum influence in history. The super-grace believer has a maximum impact on thinking in his own generation. Furthermore, super-grace believers are the basis for preserving blessing of everything with which they are associated. For example, they bless their family being associated with them. Their business is blessed by association. Organisations in which they take part are blessed. City, State, or nation are blessed because they are related to it.

Another result: It provides the basis for bona fide production. Super-grace believers are qualified for Christian service, no-one else really is. He produces divine good in contrast to human good, he is insulated from evil and pseudo Christian activity. He has discernment to see through the phonies who are running loose and therefore he avoids that type of service.

Maximum doctrine in the soul becomes the basis for eternal reward. Paragraph SG³ glorifies God forever. Your rewards in eternity do not glorify you, they glorify God. They glorify God and you are benefited, that is the grace way.

“Neglect not” — present active imperative of the compound verb a)melew. The a) is simply a negative; the verb melh is an impersonal verb, it means to care, to be concerned. When put with the negative it means not to care for, not to neglect or disregard. It should be translated, “Stop neglecting.” The imperative is translated “Stop neglecting.” The present tense is a retroactive progressive present, denoting what Timothy had failed to do in the past, a failure which was continued into the present time, and a failure about which he is warned. The active voice plus the negative mh — the negative mh is out of context as to its usual meaning — is really set up here to be a prohibition, but the active voice plus the negative mh indicates that Timothy should stop neglecting his own spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. Here is a case of where he is the right pastor for that congregation. If that had not been so Paul would not have left him with this key congregation at this time in church history. But Timothy, even though he is the right pastor, is neglecting his responsibility. The present active here implies that Timothy is not consistently teaching the Ephesian congregation which is entrusted to his care. The imperative mood plus the negative mh indicates a prohibition.

“the gift” — xarisma refers to spiritual gifts in the royal family of God and not to talent in the human race. It means literally, freely and graciously given, a favour bestowed. It is a specific reference to an technical principle: spiritual gifts. It refers here to the gift of pastor-teacher which is the highest extant gift in the Church today.

The doctrine of spiritual gifts

1. Definition.

Spiritual gifts is derived from the world xarisma meaning something which is graciously bestowed by God. Spiritual gifts are a part of the distribution of spoils as a result of the strategic victory of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father. The strategic victory was accomplished by Christ bearing our sins on the cross, by providing salvation, dying physically, three days later being resurrected, ascending, and being seated at the right hand of the Father. Being seated at the Father’s right hand broke the back of Satan and the strategic victory in the angelic conflict has been accomplished. As a result of this there are spoils of victory, and those spoils of victory include spiritual gifts. In other words, we are royal family of God. Never before in history was there such a distribution of spiritual gifts, never did spiritual gifts exist before. Remember that everything hinges on understanding the royal family of God. There are spiritual gifts but like all of the spoils the exploitation demands doctrine in the soul. There are many categories of spiritual gifts. Some are revealed, some are not. Enough are revealed for us to know the full realm of the subject. In the Church Age spiritual gifts are the Father’s organised witness to grace in salvation as well as the dividing of the spoils from the great strategic victory of Jesus Christ. When the believer receives Christ as saviour God the Holy Spirit gives him a spiritual gift. But it isn’t necessary to know right now, or perhaps at any time, what that spiritual gift is because it functions automatically at any time that the believer has matured to the point of super-grace.

2. The subject of distribution. The initial distribution of spiritual gifts began at the time the royal family was formed, i.e. at the beginning of the Church Age. The spiritual gifts were provided by the victorious Christ and the doctrinal account of this is found in Ephesians 4:8-11. The subsequent distribution of spiritual gifts during the Church Age is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit who in effect has computerised the situation, so that in every locale at any given time every spiritual gift necessary for the function of the Church is present. There may not be the exploitation but it is all there. In other words, this is a divine function of the omniscience of God the Holy Spirit. The principle is found in 1 Corinthians 12:11. These gifts do not depend upon human ability, morality, talent, achievement; but they are a sovereign decision from God the Holy Spirit.

3. The principle of function. At amy point of the Church Age each spiritual gift in any geographical area is necessary for the function of the royal family in that area — 1 Corinthians 12:27-31. All spiritual gifts function through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit related to doctrinal content of the soul — 1 Corinthians 13. Functional spiritual gifts also depend upon maximum doctrine in the soul, as per Romans 12:3. The true perspective regarding spiritual gifts is found in 1 Corinthians 12.

4. There are two categories of spiritual gifts: party gifts and permanent gifts. The party gifts were a part of the celebration. The celebration took place in the pre canon period of the Church Age. The fact that a royal family of God existed on the earth called for an extensive party. The party was made up of a diversified set of spiritual gifts. But that party has been over for nearly 2000 years. Once the canon of scripture was completed the party gifts were removed. For the gift of tongues the party was over in August of AD 70. For the other spiritual gifts, like apostleship, the party was over in AD 96 when the last line of the book of Revelation was written by the apostle John. We now had a completed canon of scripture and the royal family settled down in every generation to whip Satan tactically, just as our Lord whipped him strategically, and to fill in the time until the great activity of the second advent at operation footstool. So we have now settled down to the type of life that the Lord has provided.

There were certain gifts which were given for the party that no longer exist. They include the gift of apostleship, the gift of tongues, the gift of healing, the gift of miracles; none of those temporary gifts that existed in the pre canon period. The temporary gifts are gone. They were necessary to take up the slack in the Church Age until the canon was completed and circulated. Once this had occurred it was all over.

There are permanent gifts, however, and these exist in every generation of the Church Age and will continue to do so until the Rapture of the Church. The permanent gifts are mentioned in many passages — Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 help us with the classification of these gifts.

5. The time of distribution. All spiritual gifts were distributed for the first time after the resurrection, ascension, and session of Jesus Christ — Ephesians 4:8. They were given for the first time on the day of Pentecost when the dispensation of Israel was interrupted and the Church Age began.

6. The abuse of gifts. This is merely a recognition of the fact that many people have tried through emotion, through some psychological problem, some system of pseudo activity, to perpetuate the party or the temporary gifts. When anyone claims the temporary gifts beyond AD 96 that person is reversionistic and in the realm of apostasy.

7. Communication gifts are very important. The surviving communication gifts are twofold. One is outside of the church and one is in the church. Inside the church is the pastor-teacher. The authority for his gift is found in Hebrews 13:7,17. The purpose for his gift is found in Ephesians 4:11-13. The other communication gift is evangelism designed to be outside of the church, designed to lead people to Jesus Christ. This particular gift does not carry any authority in the local church.

“that is in thee” — tou e)n soi. The objective genitive singular of the definite article tou belongs with the noun xarismoj — “Stop neglecting the spiritual gift in you.” The definite article simply indicates that it is resident. The preposition e)n plus the locative singular from the personal pronoun su, and the best way to translate this is simply, “Stop neglecting the spiritual gift resident in you.”

This brings us to the steps from salvation to the pastorate for any male believer who has this gift.

Step #1 is salvation. At the point of salvation God the Holy Spirit through His divine sovereignty bestows the gift of pastor teacher on certain male believers, apart from any merit on their part. It is bestowed apart from his cognisance. No one is aware at the moment of salvation that he has the gift of pastor-teacher.

Step #2. The man who has the gift of pastor-teacher at salvation must immediately get into a congregation where the Word of God is taught, not “the church of his choice” which could be the weirdest place in town. He needs to go somewhere where doctrine is taught. The reason for this is that he needs to grow up to the point of recognising the gift he has. The only way he can grow spiritually is to GAP it daily, so exposure to Bible teaching in the classroom of the local church results in enough doctrine resident in the soul to become aware of the gift. So stage two is awareness. Between salvation and awareness there must be spiritual growth which produces the awareness, not emotional type activity.

Stage #3 is aspiration. 1 Timothy 3:1. Aspiration provides motivation to go into training.

Step #4 is awareness and aspiration leading to preparation — academic, even military training, etc., being under discipline.

Step #5 is completed preparation and transition. This is the confusing stage because the Lord may not open a local church immediately, the pastor is not fully prepared, and the pastor has to cool his heals for awhile. Or, the Lord may provide a temporal and rather insignificant job or a small congregation, full of mean people, bullies, etc. This is further training for him. God deals with each pastor candidate in a different way at this point, there is no standardised procedure, but there is an transitional procedure for every pastor.

Step #6 is where the pastor finally receives his right church. This is where the congregation is generally responsive to and positive toward the teaching of doctrine by their own right pastor. This is the stage at which the pastor begins his hardest and most rewarding studying of his life. This is also a danger stage because enthusiastic response to his early messages often misleads the pastor to thinking that he has arrived.

Somewhere in stages five and six the pastor is generally examined, tested by his own local church. If he passes he is ordained, either by his own local church or the church of his own choosing for ordination. This is public recognition of his spiritual gift.

Step # 7 is really a stage in which at some time there is an ordination service. It is this ordination service which is about to be mentioned — the significance of it, the reality of it, the authorisation of it. It is a bona fide ceremony in the history of the Church Age.

“which was give” — the word “which” is a relative pronoun, o(j. It refers to the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and it indicates that it was not earned or deserved nor worked for, and that there is no such thing as a standardised type of pastor. The spiritual gift is a matter of grace like every other blessing in the Christian way of life; “was given” is the aorist passive indicative of the verb didomi, the ordinary Greek word to give. This is a culminative aorist tense which views the spiritual gift as given in its entirety, but the point of the entirety is the end of the entirety, the results. That is why it is called a culminative aorist. It views the spiritual gift in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of results. The results are the various stages of growth, awareness of the spiritual gift, the preparation; everything that is necessary to finally bring a man to his right congregation as a pastor-teacher. The passive voice: Timothy and all pastors of the Church Age receive the action of the verb, totally apart from human merit or human ability. There never was a pastor who earned or deserved the right to be a pastor. The indicative mood is declarative, it view the provision of the spiritual gift at salvation from the viewpoint of an actual reality. The Holy Spirit has computerised a system, He knows how many congregations there will be in any part of the world at any time, and He has made provision for pastors for every hungry congregation positive toward doctrine.

“thee” refers specifically to Timothy. It is a dative singular, a dative of advantage, it would be translated in modern English by the word “you.” It is su, a personal pronoun referring to the fact that Timothy was given the proper spiritual gift, sovereignly bestowed by the Holy Spirit at salvation, and that since that time he has undergone a tremendous amount of preparation.

“by prophecy” — the preposition dia plus the accusative of the noun profhteia. Dia plus the accusative should be translated “because of prophecy.” The principle goes back to 1 Timothy 1:18 where we have the same word. We have to go on the principle that there it meant doctrine taught to Timothy while a student. Therefore it has the same meaning here under the hermeneutical principle that the meaning of a word in context is determined by its first usage. The first usage was in 1 Timothy 1:18, and now we have it again here in verse 14 where it means the same thing. Dia plus the accusative can also be translated “for the sake of prophecy.” This is actually the academic study that Timothy had under the apostle Paul. He has previously learned eschatology under Paul. So the phrase, “for the sake of prophecies” means because of previously learned doctrine in the classroom. Timothy must not neglect his spiritual gift, he has been trained for it and properly prepared; something has happened to him since his preparation.

Now something else is added. There came a time when there was a special ceremony in which a local church and a group of pastors recognised that Timothy had the gift of pastor-teacher and in their recognition they really launched him. Paul says, in effect, “you have forgotten this ceremony.” This ceremony was called then, as now, ordination.

“with the laying on of hands” — a part of the ordination ceremony. The preposition meta plus the genitive of e)piqesij means “associated with the laying on of hands.” This is actually the ceremonial part, the climactic point of the entire ceremony where the pastors present who have been involved in the interrogation and the representation of the church through its board of deacons place their hands upon the individual’s head, and he prayed for an recognised by the ceremony. Laying on of hands is like baptism, it is an identification principle. It represents the principle of identification with like kind. Pastors lay their hands on the ordained person to indicate that they recognise him as a fellow member in the ministry. Deacons lay their hands on the ordained person to indicate they recognise the work of God in bringing this person from their own local church to the point of being ready for the ministry. In effect this ordination says: “We the members of the local church recognise that this individual is qualified to function as a pastor-teacher.”

“of the presbytery” — presbuterion. The ion suffix indicates it is a council of pastor-teachers. The council must be made up of those who are recognised as pastors — there must be at least two, this is in the plural — the ablative singular for the council but there are at least two people in the council. The ablative is not the regular case for setting up or expressing means, the instrumental case expresses means. Whenever you have an ablative doing it it has a special meaning in the Greek which is necessary for interpretation. It may be used to express means when there is an implication of origin or source. Those who possess the authority recognise the one who is qualified to possess the authority and the ordaining council do not have the authority over the person, they merely indicate that he now has the same authority. It is a sort of a welcome-to-the-club type of thing. Those who possess the authority recognise, then, one who is qualified to have the authority. That is what is meant by the phrase, “by a council of elders.” The ordaining council therefore must have at least two pastors. Again, the deacons represent the local church on the ordaining council while the pastors represent the office of the pastor-guardian. Neither the modern use of the word “Presbyterian” nor any denomination has anything in the world to do with this passage or with the Bible. The local church was designed to be autonomous and independent, never to be under any kind of a hierarchy, and never to lean on anyone else.

Translation: “Stop neglecting the spiritual gift resident in you, which was given you for the sake of prophecies associated with the laying on of hands by the assembly of elders.”

Verse 15 — the pastor is supposed to make progress. This progress is in the field of study and teach.

“Meditate” is the present active imperative of the verb meletaw. Meletaw means to care for, to bestow careful thought on, to take care, to think about, to cultivate. It can even mean to meditate but here it means to cultivate. It should be translated “Be cultivating.” The present tense is a customary present for what is reasonably expected from any pastor-teacher. By receiving remuneration from a local church his time is properly devoted to cultivating. He exegetes the passage, he studies it, he teaches. As a result of teaching doctrine his congregation grow in grace. In this way Timothy will stop neglecting his own spiritual gift when he starts cultivating. Cultivating means breaking ground. He has to study the passage and break the ground. It means planting. He has to be able to find the classified doctrines in other areas that help to illuminate the passage. He has to get the exact meaning of the passage, the exact purpose of the passage, and how it relates to everything else in the context. The imperative is a command. The active voice: this is what pastors do.

“these things” — the accusative plural direct object from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. The demonstrative pronoun calls special attention to a designated object. In this case the designated object is found in verses 13 and 14, namely the study and teaching of the Word of God on the part of the pastor-teacher.

“give thyself wholly to them” — a pastor’s life must be occupied with these things. Present active imperative from the verb e)imi, the verb to be. This is a static present” keep on giving yourself wholly to it. But it doesn’t say that, it says, “keep on being in these things” — e)n plus the locative of the same o(utoj again. It should be translated “in these things.” This is an idiom meaning “keep on being occupied with these things.”

“that” — purpose. The conjunction i(na which indicates a final clause. A final clause denotes an objective, a purpose, a principle. Here we have a purpose.

“thy profiting” — the noun prokoph which actually means progress, furtherance. With it is a personal pronoun.

“may appear” — the present active subjunctive of the verb e)imi, the verb to be. With it is a predicate adjective faneroj. Altogether it says, “in order that your progress might be conspicuous [or apparent].” The verb to be here, e)imi, is in a perfective present tense and it denotes continual results. The result of studying should be teaching, teaching, doctrine so that believers can grow. The active voice: the subject is prokophj, spiritual advance through study of the Word. The subjunctive mood indicates that this is a purpose and it is for all pastors.

“to all” — it is to the benefit of the whole congregation. The dative plural indirect object. In this case it refers to Timothy’s congregation in Ephesus. it is quite obvious that Timothy is not studying and not teaching.

Translation: “Be cultivating these things; keep on being occupied with these things; in order that your progress may be conspicuous to all your congregation.”

Verse 16 — “Take heed.” The present active imperative of e)pexw means “Keep on paying close attention to.” In other words, Timothy is warned that if he doesn’t discipline himself God will do it for him. The customary present: what may be reasonably expected of any pastor who loves the Word. Both Timothy and all pastors produce the action, says the active voice. And it is a command.

“unto thyself” is a reflexive pronoun, used to refer the action of the verb back to the subject. It is the dative of indirect object, it means it is of interest to Timothy and all pastors to discipline themselves so that God doesn’t have to do it.

“and unto doctrine” — in addition to self there is the importance of being occupied with doctrine. This is the dative singular indirect object from the noun didaskalia. Didaskalia plus the definite article means “to that doctrine.” It emphasises the importance of doctrine, that doctrine is the only things that is beneficial to a congregation.

“continue” is the present active imperative of the verb e)pimenw, and it means to persist. Here is where the pastor must be a plodder. We have a static present used for a condition taken for granted, a condition which should always exist. The active voice: the pastor produces the action. The imperative mood is a command. A better translation would be “persist in these same things.”

Then we have an explanation. The word “for” is a post positive conjunctive particle gar, it means we are entitled to an explanation as to why a pastor’s job is not to run around and call on people, to raise money, to handle all the administration himself, but his responsibility is to study and teach.

“for in doing this” — the present active participle of poiew describing the modus operandi of the pastor-teacher. The present tense is static, he must keep on doing this. The active voice: all pastors do it. This is an instrumental participle — “for by doing this.”

“thou shalt both save” — the future active indicative of swzw does not refer to salvation, it refers to deliverance. It means that the members of the congregation are going to be delivered from many, many things. They are going to be delivered from disaster, delivered in their daily walk and daily life. They are going to find deliverance in great prosperity apart from cosmos diabolicus, they are going to have capacity for life. This is called a gnomic future, it states the fact of deliverance from evil, apostasy and reversionism, as well as the performance of deliverance. The active voice: the pastor by plodding, by studying and teaching, is going to bring his congregation to this point of prosperity. The indicative mood is declarative for the dogmatic fact of reality that when a man stands still in one place and studies and teaches he delivers himself and his congregation.

“and them that hear you” — the congregation. This is an articular present active participle of a)kouw. A)kouw means a lot more than just listening, it means to listen under strict discipline.

Translation: “Keep on paying close attention to yourself, and to that doctrine; persist in these same things: for by doing these same things you will be delivering both yourself and the ones [in your congregation] who consistently hear you.”