J. P. R., a Brazilian correspondent, desires help on "the vessels to honor and to dishonor " in 2 Tim. 2; and suggests that an answer to certain questions be given in help and food, for the consideration of all.
With the Editor's permission, I would like to quote a portion of his letter, as also two statements recently put forth in an English periodical, and then what seems clear to my own mind, asking that all be carefully weighed in the presence of God.
J. P. R. writes:"I am sending you an article dealing with the much-discussed passage in 2 Tim. 2:19-22. . . . Until this very moment, I used to regard this passage just as Mr. F. W. Grant comments on it in his Numerical Bible (which please see); but now I see there are others that see things just in the other way. Still I humbly confess the impossibility of my understanding how we can keep company with some who, while not doubting their being children of God, deliberately remain practicing things which are pure iniquity, without thereby being defiled too. It seems to me there are some points in which moral separation cannot be reached without being personally separated too:not that my desire is to live without the circle of my brethren; only it is because I want to follow my Lord outside the camp, even if it be that I found myself alone with Him."
The extracts follow:
(1) " ' If a man therefore purge himself from these' does not mean one or more servants of Christ separating from other servants, for that would tend to fill with pride and conceit the separatists, besides contravening Rom. 14:4-' Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth.' Neither does it mean one or more or many children of God separating themselves from other children of God-the subject of fellowship or association of persons not being under review in the context. What is reviewed, however, is the servant of Christ's own moral and spiritual condition, as in i Tim. 5:22-'Keep thyself pure'; and as in the context, ' Shun profane and vain babblings' (2 Tim. 2:16)."
(2) "Take the whole chapter, and note that the letter is addressed to an individual, 'Thou, Timothy, my son'; it is not addressed to a church.
"Among other instructions, very special stress is laid on the necessity of avoiding vain babblings, words to no profit, false teaching, as not only harmful, but increasingly so, and sure to gender strife.
"The false teaching is indicated, and the false teachers named.
" This is, without doubt, the subject of the chapter from verse 14 onward.
'' Now I would ask your readers to cover up verse 20 and read the passage through without it, and in my judgment it is very plain, and needs no comment.
"What Timothy, and you and I, are to do is to purge out from ourselves the false teaching, etc. The ' from these' refers to the vain babblings, etc., and not to a brother, or vessels.
"Verse 20 is simply a parenthesis to explain the metaphor used.
"If 'a man' purge 'himself from these, the ' man' and ' himself' are both in the singular, as also is 'a good soldier,' verse 3, 'a man,' verse 5, 'the husbandman,' verse 6, 'a workman," verse 15.
"The word 'purge' should be 'purge out,'and is only once used in Scripture besides this instance- ' Purge out . . . the old leaven ' (i Cor. 5:7).
" Now the injunction to ' purge out' must refer to something within, and I suggest it would be impossible to have a literal or metaphorical vessel in one, and it could not therefore be purged out.
"Further, the vessels to honor and the vessels to dishonor are coupled together, and if the 'from these' refers to one, it refers to both; but surely it refers to neither.
"Those who take this passage as an injunction to put away a brother, have need of the caution to rightly divide the word of truth.
"The sword is a lethal weapon, and it is a dangerous matter to handle it by the point instead of the hilt."
Having then the "new light" on this passage clearly before us, let us seek grace to candidly examine once more both the scripture itself and the comments made upon it.
And first, I venture to say that a number of years ago, if any intelligent brethren among those separated from human ecclesiastical systems, had been asked for their authority for thus walking apart from others, they would have turned unhesitatingly to 2 Tim. 2:19-22. The wonder now is that, having since learned that this passage " does not mean one or more servants of Christ separating from other servants," and "neither does it mean one or more or many children of God separating themselves from other children of God-the subject of fellowship or association of persons not being under review in the context"-they have not the candor to return to the systems they have left, nor frankly own their error in having done so. This has already, I know, been done by some; but why not by all who hold the new teaching ? In all the Christian systems there are vessels to honor and to dishonor mixed up together. According to this view there is no word from God warranting separation from them. Yet many have so separated, and on account of this very scripture. Now they learn that their position is unwarrantable and untenable. What remains but to return to the mixed company and frankly confess, "We were hasty and pharisaic in our action; pride and conceit were at the bottom of our separation from you; forgive us, and receive us once more into your number " ?
This would at least be consistent, and would-if carried out by all-blot out, at least, one or more of the unhappy divisions of Christendom. The "separatists " would be absorbed in the more liberal sects, and the added light enjoyed by those once gathered out on the ground of 2 Tim. 2:19-22 would be carried inside, and brethren would get a hearing who are now denied it.
As long as this is not acted upon, I fail to see the consistency of the views held with the position taken; for those who write as above are, many of them, utterly unable to go on with the conditions described.
On many occasions I have heard the interpretation given in the above extracts by well-known evangelists and teachers who, by maintaining a place inside the established denominations, avoid much of the reproach attached to the living of the truth they hold. "Just consent to be called a –, by taking out a membership in — church (though you never attend but once in a year, or even less), and you will have recognition among all denominations, and be able to do so much more good," said a well-meaning clergyman to me on one occasion. But I pointed to 2 Tim. 2:21, and he was silent.
But now let us examine the passage in detail. And in so doing we will not place a finger over verse 20, but let it stand out in all its helpfulness and solemnity.
The apostle has been directing Timothy's attention to the evidences of increasing apostasy. He warns against striving about words* (verse 14), profane and vain babblings (verse 16), and points out two men, Hymeneus and Philetus, in verse 17, who have given themselves over to these unholy speculations, and have thereby, though accepted by many as Christian teachers, overthrown the faith of some. *Brethren need to remember this. It is the truth for which we are to stand, not particular forms of expression. The very word "atonement" may mean one thing to one, and another to some one else, while the great fact of atonement may be precious to both alike.* And this is but the beginning, as the next chapter shows, for "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (3:13).
Now I apprehend that the first verse of chapter three follows verse 18 of chapter 2 in an orderly, connected manner. The apostle sees in Hymeneus and Philetus the beginning of the awful harvest of iniquity soon to nearly smother everything that is of God. Go on with these men, listen to them, fellowship them, endorse them in any way, and you will soon lose all ability to discern between good and evil, to "take forth the precious from the vile."
But ere depicting the full character of the rapidly encroaching conditions, Timothy is given a word for his encouragement and instruction as to his own path when things reach a state where it is impossible longer to purge out the evil from the visible church.
" Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord* depart from iniquity" (or, lawlessness) (verse 19). *See the Revised. It is the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ.* Here is faith's encouragement, and here too is the responsibility of faithfulness. Faith says, " Let the evil rise as high as it may-let lawlessness abound, and the love of many wax cold-let all that seemed to be of God in the earth be swallowed up in the apostasy-nevertheless God's firm foundation stands, for Christ has declared, ' Upon this rock I will build Mine Assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it' "!
But this brings in responsibility. Am I to go on with the evil-protesting, perhaps, but fellow-shipping it still-though it be in a reserved, half-hearted way ? Surely not. But how dare I separate from it? In so doing, will I not be separating from dear children of God and beloved servants of Christ? How can I so act ? Am I more holy than they ? Will it not be conceit and pharisaism for me to withdraw myself from that which, while I admit it is being rapidly corrupted, nevertheless embraces many who are as truly Christ's as I ?
Ah, brethren, these are solemn questions-heartrending questions too. Many of us remember the days of anxious, prayerful concern, the sleepless nights, filled with painful thoughts, they gave us. But we turned to our Bibles, and we read, "The Lord knoweth them that are His"! and about that we had peace. It was too hard, too bewildering, for us to distinguish those who were really His from those who were not. We were glad to leave it with Himself.
Then we read, "Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."
Our aroused, sensitive consciences responded at once to that. We must not only keep ourselves pure (that comes in farther on), but we must depart from-step outside of-the sphere where lawlessness was holding sway.
And then, once more, the wrench became hardest when we thought of leaving loved saints behind, who could not, or would not, see as we did. And this led us to carefully consider verse 20:
"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor." The picture is surely plain. In a house of wealth-a mansion-there are vessels to honor, of gold and silver, for use upon the banquet-table, and carefully cleansed after each season of use, then set away by themselves on the proper sideboard, or in the pantry, ready when wanted again. But there are other vessels in the same house composed of very different materials, and for very different uses. There are vessels of wood and earth, used in the kitchen and in other parts of the house, often allowed to become exceedingly filthy, and at best to be kept at a distance from the valuable and easily scratched or polluted plate upstairs.
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (verse 21). The parable is here applied. The vessels are seen to "be persons. And just as valuable plate might stand uncleansed and dirty with a lot of kitchen utensils waiting to be washed, and then carefully separated from the vessels for baser uses, so Timothy (and every other truly exercised soul) is called upon to take a place apart, to "purge out himself" from the mixed conditions, that he may be in very deed "a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work."
The master of the great house brings home a friend. He wishes to serve him with a refreshing drink. He goes to the sideboard looking for a silver goblet, but there is none to be seen. A servant is called and inquiry made. Ah, the goblets are down in the kitchen waiting to be washed and separated from the rest of the household vessels. He is indignantly despatched to procure one, and soon returns with a vessel purged out from the unclean collection below; and thus separated and cleansed, it is meet for the use of the master.
Now apply it to the Church and people of God. Is there any difficulty ? Surely all is plain, and one
would think that only self-will could mistake the implied instruction. But the objector says, "The vessels to honor and the vessels to dishonor are coupled together, and if the 'from these' refers to one, it refers to both; but surely it refers to neither." On the contrary, it surely does refer to both-if both be mixed together.
As another has observed long since, there are here three classes:First, vessels to honor unpurged; second, vessels to dishonor; third, vessels to honor separated and ready for use.
"Flee also youthful lusts:but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (verse 22).
It is not enough for the silver goblet to be kept apart from the kitchen vessels; it must be kept polished and bright among the others of its kind. So at once Timothy is warned against anything that would stain the separated vessel, and make it unfit for use. He is to flee those fleshly lusts that war against the soul:keeping a sharp watch upon the beginnings of self-indulgence, he is to preserve his vessel in holiness unto the Lord. Position alone will not do. There must be concern as to condition also. Otherwise he may indeed become like the Pharisees, and be a mere formal, conceited separatist, supposing that a place upon the sideboard makes him a vessel fit for use, while tarnished and defiled by lusts and impurities. Let him look well to his state of soul.
Nor need he go on alone because separated from the mixture he has left behind. He is called to "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
Here great care is needed, for undoubtedly many grievous divisions have resulted from a failure to place due emphasis upon "righteousness." This the servant of the Lord is called to follow first of all. Then due weight will be given to faith, love, and But I must not pursue this at greater length, for the question related only to the vessels. H. A. I.
"BE MUCH IN PRAYER."