The Subversive Gospel in a Polarized World (Part 1)

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David Pao
Thank you. And my job is first and foremost to be the John the Baptist bill. And so I’m going to introduce the topic, and he is going to get to the content of the material. And I also would like to have us read one paragraph in First Timothy really well. And then also maybe to have a renewed understanding of the entire book of First Timothy, all within what 40 minutes or so. And my hope is to be able to read First Timothy in light of the background in the first century, and to recognize the subversive power of the gospel, my basic assumption in reading any text is that if it is revelation coming from God, there has to be surprising elements. It has to be providing a critique to what I do and how I think so subversive in the sense of being a self critique at the same time changing my mind and seeing the world and looking at the gospel, the powerful work of God, in context. So I’m going to focus on first Timothy and providing a reading really quickly and allowing us to rethink the purpose of the entire book, most of us recognize that First Timothy part of the pastoral epistles. Most of it was assumed that this is a manual for the church how to do church, a handbook of the church in the second century or so, we have the meritorium fragments indicating that that’s probably the purpose of First Timothy providing a handbook in the 18th century. We have the term pastoral epistles that this is a handbook for the church, but then quickly we recognize that there are unique vocabs in the work, and also in First Timothy one three, where you find Paul warning the people of God of the false teachings in the church. So many will move away from the abstract a contextual reading into a much more contextual reading of the book, saying that this is in response to a particular set of false teachings, and that is quite helpful, allowing us to have a particular framework of reading, First Timothy, but in emphasizing that this is contextual, the danger is that this is only applicable in a particular scenario. This may not be relevant for the universal church. And most important of all, there’s many vocabs in this. Particular letter there seems to go beyond in response to the false teachings. And there’s many secular vocabs used by the author. And some would claim that because of the use of the secular vocabs or the mainstream vocabs, this may not be written by Paul. And then you have then the third reading accommodation, reading, a recent consensus in critical scholarship, is to say that this is not written by Paul, but Paul is simply accommodating to mainstream Greco Roman culture. There you find self control being one symbol of accommodation. Instead of the powerful work of God, you have self control. You have submission being the key word they based on the unique vocabulary and syntax of Paul or the author, to say that this may not be written by Paul, and here I propose a radically different reading to say, not only is it not accommodation, it is actually subversive. It is written by Paul using the vocabs of the second century, or the mainstream vocabulary of the second century, they existed in the first century. There you find the author, Paul himself, providing a strong critique of the surrounding culture. And there we can point to numerous possible readings. And I want to focus on one paragraph and one particular theme. So tonight, if you can remember anything I say, I hope that you remember one paragraph in chapter six, and there you find a pretty generic paragraph on the use of wealth command those who are rich in the present age not to be haughty, proud, and set their hope on uncertain riches, but set their hope on God, who is a benefactor of all. So that seems to be a pretty concise critique of the misuses of wealth, and that’s all good and find but then you also have in the earlier paragraph, remember now the paragraph verses 17 and 19. Then we jump to the earlier part of the chapter nine to 10. You find Paul already introducing the theme of wealth. There you find in the middle of the paragraph, the well known statement, the love of money is a root of all evils. So in two paragraphs, you find Paul profiling a critique of the use of wealth or the misuse of wealth. But what is surprising is that interfering or interfering, that those two paragraphs, you have a long paragraph on Jesus dying on the cross. Not quite sure why you have that paragraph so you have money is the root of all evil. And then you have a long paragraph on Jesus giving the good confession in front of Pilate. And then you come to your dosology At the very end to him be honor and eternal power. And then you find Paul going back to wealth. Why? Why do you have the bracketing material on the very practical teachings on wealth, and then you have the center, center on Jesus dying on the cross. How is that relevant? So my goal tonight is to get back to that particular paragraph, to look at the structure of chapters. Chapter Six, there you find the first part on the love of money, the third part on those who are rich, but the center on Christ dying on the cross with the good confession. How is that relevant? Why do you have the center being Jesus dying on the cross? So that is where my goal is tonight. But we’ll start from the very beginning. To start from the beginning, when we talk about subversive gospel, we need to know what Paul is subverting against. So be reading several paragraphs from the secular literature, all of them portraying the emperor or the one in control being the ultimate benefactor. So we will be reading the lens through the lens of benefaction to read the entire first Timothy. It’s not the only lens, but with the limited time that we have, we’re using that particular lens, benefaction, and on the left column, I’ll be extracting. In vogue caps from the paragraphs to look at what are some of the vocabs used in the benefaction system. And then eventually we’ll be reading First Timothy to see how Paul is reusing the same set of caps for its own purpose. Now, building on the secular material, we begin with the famous pyrene inscription, glorifying honoring Augustus being the Emperor. Here you find several important vocabs. And to highlight those vocabs, I have the Greek term next to it there. You know what terms I’m trying to emphasize. So you have the benefit, he might benefit humankind, and he is the savior. So Terre describing Augustus, being the savior. And then you have the Epiphany, appearance of Augustus. And there you have the birthday of the god Theos applied to Augustus. Augustus being the god the Savior, the one who’s going to appear at the end. Bring Good tidings, Evangelion, gospel

David Pao
vocabulary that we are familiar with in the Gospel material, you find that in the secular inscription describing who Augustus, the emperor was savior, Soter, Theos, God, epiphany, appearance, proclaiming Evangelion, the gospel. He is a benefactor of all benefiting humankind. So that will be a key foundational document for the reading of Augustus, or the Imperial propaganda that we find. Building on that set of vocabs here you have already in Aristotle talking about benefaction, the men who have gained the position of king. The king is basically the benefactor of the city. This is the definition of a king of Emperor, according to Aristotle, the ultimate, ultimate benefactor of all the one providing benefits for the city. And then concerning Nero, in the inscription, you find Nero, likewise was being called the Savior and the benefactor of the entire inhabited world, so quite consistent with the portrayal of Augustus Nero was likewise a benefactor and savior of the entire world. Building on that vocab, now we have Augustus writing about himself, describing that he is the high priest now adding a note to Augustus, he won’t dare to claim to be a king. He won’t dare to claim to be the Emperor, but he will have every single other title applied to himself, the high priest, God, Savior. So bypassing the mistake of Julius Caesar, he would not claim to be king and emperor, but basically, he is using all the existing titles and applying that to himself. An important one is a high priest. He’s a mediator between God and humankind. So you have then a list of vocabs on the left, adding to it, high priest and he was also the father, noting that the entire Roman Empire is basically a household. You’ll be using the household metaphor for the entire empire to emphasize that he is the father of all the parent, the one holding all authority over the household, so the father of the Fatherland. And he made a note that he was given that political title when he was pretty young, and now being old, he is the Father. So that’s Augustus. Now moving to Ephesus, closer to where you find First Timothy being written about. There you find vocabulary of grace and Thanksgiving apply to the benefactor. So by means of the favor grace of Caesar Augustus, where he gave freely, using charisma, the same verbal form. Form of grace. So Grace coming from God, freely given. So those are also part of the Imperial propaganda that we find in the first century. And then we come to the term again, God and Thanksgiving. And I want to highlight the word piety in the middle of it, eusebia. Eusebia, the word piety is a political term. It’s not about a person you know, being nice and kind or praying and fasting, but it is about one who’s willing to worship the God of the state being pious. Piety in the first century is a political term, and the church, earlier on, was accused of lacking piety because they are not worshiping the Imperial God. So piety, eusebia is important term. And there you find in the inscription, also attached to Augustus Tiberius and the benefactor of all, attached to the Imperial cult. And adding to it, we’ll come back to that paragraph in chapter six, honor and wealth will be part of the benefaction framework. So the benefaction system, according to Aristotle, consists of lovers of honor and lovers of money. There you find the phrase appearing later on in First Timothy. So now we have that set of vocabs, and I would like to have us read First Timothy in light of that set of vocabs to see what Paul is telling us. Yes, Paul is providing a handbook for the church. Yes, Paul is responding to the false teachings. But I think Paul has a greater agenda in mind, and that is a theocentric one, a Theo centric one promoting Yahweh, the God of Israel, being the ultimate benefactor of all, not the Emperor, not Artemis, but God himself is a benefactor. So a re reading of First Timothy, focusing on that set of book gaps starting from the first paragraph chapter one, one to 11, the very beginning, in verses one and two, you find Paul evoking the language of benefaction from Paul, an apostle of Christ, by the command of God, our Savior. It’s very unusual to find Paul describing God to be the Savior. Often he will talk about Jesus being the savior. But in First Timothy, using benefaction language, he would say that, no, it’s not anyone else, but it’s God Himself being the soteria, the Savior and of Christ, our hope, Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father. God is the Father and Christ, our Lord. And then concluding that paragraph in verse 11, this is the glorious Evangelion gospel. So at the very beginning, you find in Asia Minor, find Paul providing a strong response to the secular manufacturing system. A footnote on Asia Minor. Some of you may know that when we talk about Imperial cult, we are basically not talking about Italy or Rome. The strongest Imperial cult can be found in the outlying areas like Asia Minor and the provincial governors they are trying to use Imperial framework for their own benefits, trying to compete and to be the leading voices in a particular province, to say that we are the ones who are really the High Heart fans of the Roman emperor. You find Ephesus in particular, competing with Pergamum, and Ephesus will say twice, we’re allowed to build the provincial Imperial cult in our own city, surpassing Pergamum. So you find in the provincial competition going on using the Imperial cult, and that is exactly what we find in the outlying areas, and those who are living in those areas are being forced to worship the god the Emperor of Rome. So here you find Paul writing and addressing Timothy around the Asian minor Ephesus area using the same set of vocabs, and that’s in chapter one, one to 11. Do. Then in the Thanksgiving section, in verses 12 to 20, you find the same set of caps, I’m grateful to God, and by the grace of God, so you find Harris being emphasized, and Jesus, Christ is the one coming to save sinners. He is also Savior. God the Savior and Christ being also the soltaire, then out of the blue, almost, you find the dosology. And now we understand why, and this is important in that system to the eternal King, the only God be honor and glory, forever and ever, not to any competing powers, but to God himself. So you find that dossology laying the framework for the entire book. So that’s chapter one. Moving to chapter two, one to seven. There you have prayers for the kings

David Pao
in Kings. It’s important to note that you find Paul saying that, yes, you pray for the Kings, but you don’t pray to the kings. You don’t pray to the Roman emperor, but he can pray for the Roman Emperor because there’s only one God and there’s only one savior. So pray for the king, but there is only one God, and He is our Savior in verse three. And there is one God and one mediator. There is only one high priest between God and humanity, Christ, Jesus himself human, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. Christ is the king, not because of power and might, but because of his death on the cross. Quite a different way of illustrating how to save the universe, not by power and might, but by dying on the cross. Ransom for all the all is also important. And in verse seven for this, I was appointed a herald. The term is not simply a preacher, although Caruso is to preach, but the technical term here is cherus A Herald. Herald is the ambassador of a king. You find Paul precisely in First Timothy, calling himself the Herald, because he is serving a king. This is Imperial language, and he will identify himself not simply as a slave of King, but also a herald of the king. So verses one to seven, laying the framework, there is only one God and Savior, there is only one benefactor and there’s only one Mediator, Jesus Himself. Now to the difficult paragraph in two, eight to 15. I’m not going to get much into it, but it’s an interesting paragraph. In talking about the role of women, first, Paul would talk about dresses, the clothings of the women. Why? Because the clothing of a person will indicate her status, and here, likely the women, they were functioning as benefactors and spreading false teachings. So Paul would be dealing with the benefaction part first in nine to 10. But with you, do not dress yourself with gold and pearls, but with good deeds, good deeds, those are benefaction language, and it’s proper for women who profess reference for God. So Theos and sabia is like eusebia the same word group piety, the piety not towards the state, not towards a particular system, but God himself. So women submit to the god you’re worshiping. And you’re not a benefactor, but you are worshiping a benefactor. And that is important point. Moving to chapters. Chapter Three, you find the household of God. Household language is important, as in the Roman system, to highlight who exactly is a householder, who exactly is the one in control. So in the household of God, there are stewards, overseers, there servants deacons, but there is one in control. There is a householder. Let me begin with one to seven. If someone aspires to be the officer of overseer. He desires a good work. Again, you find good work appearing off. 10 in First Timothy, that is benefaction, language and deacons, not greedy for gain, but now on the householder, on Jesus Himself. Paul will talk about piety, but not towards the Roman emperor, but piety, focusing on Jesus, the King who appeared in flesh. He is the one in control. He is the one the benefactor of all, the one that we are worshiping. It’s interesting for Paul to define piety with the enthronement formula. There, I don’t have time to get into it, but 14 to 16, you find a period in flesh being proclaimed and all that. And that is enthronement formula, a king will be appointed and proclaimed and received by the entire world. And there you find the three parts applied to Jesus, the King, being appointed, being proclaimed and received by the world. He is the king of all and that for the author, is the true piety, not the competing secular ideology, but Jesus Himself being the king and piety in that sense, is a political sense, but will fit right into what Paul is saying, that Jesus is the one in control, and there is no distinction between secular and sacred. Jesus is the King of all using political terminology and then moving to a human household, there you find Paul focusing on the young and the old and the slaves. But note the surprising language applied to all three groups. For the young in the ancient times, you honor the elder, you honor the Father. But here you find Paul saying, Do not Let no one despise you because of your age. In light of the gospel, you don’t honor the older folks. Yes, you do, but you honor those who are worshiping God. So if you are a servant of God, Let no one despise you. And that is honor and shame language applied in the benefaction system. And the surprise is that you know even the younger ones, you have to be honored if you are honoring God. And then you find the surprising part, you will save yourself and your hearers ascribing almost Savior status to the young Timothy. No, this is not heresy, but this is to challenge the Savior language in the benefaction system in the Augustan era, saying that, no, not that honorable Emperor being the soteria, but even the young and inexperienced preacher like Timothy, he can be the savior. No, it’s not. He is not really the Savior. He is proclaiming the Savior. But he will say, you will save yourself. Is a strong reaction to the secular ideology by saying, the gospel will save you, not the honorable father of the Roman household. So you find, in a striking way, surprising way of describing the young Timothy challenging the secular ideology of time. What were the widows and the elderly do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as your own father. Again, father being an honorable term, the older folks do not despise them. They are honorable ones. They are the Father. And what is more surprising is using the term honor, applying to the least honorable in first century, and those are the widows without their husbands. They do not have they don’t do not participate, do not participate in the same beneficial benefaction system in the same way. But then what Paul is saying, no honor them. They are the objects of your honor. It’s not simply the husbands, it’s not simply the father, but even the widows. What were the slaves? And this is perhaps an even more surprising way of talking about slavery, using benefaction language. But who exactly is a benefactor here? They must serve all the better, since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved using good service, technical term for good deeds. You. Benefaction language, but now saying that we are benefiting from the slaves and they are our benefactors, they became the benefactor. This is heresy to the Roman system. How can a slave be a benefactor? There’s only one benefactor of all. And there’s Roman emperor and Paul is saying no, only the younger ones, under the widows, older folks, but also the slaves. They are our benefactor, and we are benefiting from those benefactors. A pretty consistent portrayal of the subversive gospel reverting the power system of the time. Now we come to paragraph that we have in chapter six on wealth. Paul, beginning in verse 10, the love of money is the root of all evil, and then 1718,

David Pao
do not be haughty, rely on God. Let me focus on the second paragraph, the longer paragraph, the first part provided three reasons against the misuse of wealth. Reason number one and three, those are pretty common in ancient Greco Roman moral philosophers number one, rely on present age. Relying on a present age, this is basically an argument against short term investment pretty familiar in the ancient times you look at long term investment. So for Paul, long term investment would involve the kingdom of God. So if you are focusing on a present age, you are focusing on short term investment, and the audience will be quite familiar with the first argument against against the use of wealth. Let me jump to the third argument. They will be they were also quite familiar with the third argument, uncertain. Riches do not set your hope on the uncertainty of the thing that you’re buying, there has been intense discussion among the moralists as to what wealth can purchase that can have certainty, that can have security. We know that money is useless unless money can buy us security, long term security. Some will say, well, health is stuff that we can rely on. And some will say, Well, no, health can only last for several decades and you’ll be gone. And someone said, Well, what about a statue? I can step a set up a statue for myself in the marketplace, and that will last a long time. So the uncertainty of riches is a familiar argument as well. How can we pick a more secure long term investment? So argument number one and three, those are pretty familiar to the ancient audience, but the second one is a bit surprising. Do not be haughty or proud. That is the argument that you will not find in ancient Greco Roman moral philosophers when they will talk about wealth, because the whole point of having wealth or money is to be the benefactor. The whole point of being a benefactor is to be proud, is to have that particular status. And then you find Paul saying, Well, if you are acting like a secular benefactor, then you are considering yourself a benefactor, and not recognizing that God is a benefactor of all so here you find Paul moving from the three arguments and to setting a hope on God who richly provides us with all good things. And there you find God portrayed as a benefactor, the worst temptation of having money is not uncertainty, is not short term investment, but is worshiping the wrong god and wrong worshiping the Wrong benefactor. And then he will find Paul saying, no, there is only one God, and God is a giver of all good things. Apart from God, there are no good things to be given. So tell them to do good, to be rich, not in money, but in good deeds, and in First Timothy. To be rich in good deeds is to be participating in the preaching of the gospel in the household of God. So here you find a pretty interesting and strong argument against the use of wealth. Argument number one and three is not surprising, but argument number two is surprising because it’s arguing against the entire manufacturing system. In ancient times, it’s not difficult to be good and kind, because in doing good, your status will be elevated. And Paul, again and again, will say no, in doing good, you should be not elevated, but you should be submitting yourself as you have it in Romans 12, consider another person as more exalted than exalted than you are. If you can be good in doing so, then you are worshiping the right God. So here you have a pretty interesting, concise, but powerful argument against the misuse of wealth in verses 17 to 18. But what about the intervening material in 11 to 16? Why do we have a long paragraph on Jesus dying on the cross? Let’s look at the vocabs. Being used and used in that long paragraph, you will find a repeated use of the term good and also the related benefaction term, make your good confession in the presence of many, as Jesus did making a good confession before Pontius Pilate, what is he doing? There a benefactor is the one who is doing good. And in the midst of talking about benefaction, he points to Jesus being the ultimate benefactor, ultimate model of a benefactor, ultimate example of a benefactor. He is the one doing good. But instead of exalting himself, the good things that he did was a good confession in the presence of Pilate, the one dying on the cross became the ultimate benefactor, not exalting himself, but becoming a slave and dying on the cross. So I command you to obey this command without fault or failure until the appearing now you find the appearance language of our Lord, Jesus, Christ. And then Paul, cannot help himself, but will go on to a doxological Conclusion concerning this benefactor, the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, to Him be honor and eternal power, and then he’ll go back to wealth. So in the midst of talking about wealth, he decided to use Jesus as a model, as an example, the one giving a good confession, the one doing good, not to exalt himself, but to die on the cross, but in return, he was exalted by God, became the king of kings, the Lord of lords, with eternal honor and power. So we come to the end of our re reading of First Timothy. What is first? What is First Timothy about? There are numerous answers, and they are all correct. But tonight, at least, I hope to provide this additional answer, this that this is a systematic reaction to the secular ideology proclaiming that there is only one God. It’s not simply a contextual reaction to the false teachings. It’s not simply a practical church manual. It is, but then it is a theocentric vision of what God is, ultimate benefactor of all and how Jesus became the Benefactor by doing good, not exalting himself, but by dying on the cross and to him, then be all glory and honor. This is one example of what we meant by the subversive gospel, challenging all secular ideology and affirming squarely on one God and one object of our worship. There goes the intro. Now is the content given by Bill.