23/11 READING 3 - 1Timothy 6

The evils of a desire to be rich are seen in the temptations to which it leads (vv. 9-10). Notice it is 'the love' of money, and not money itself, which is the root of all evil. Then Paul outlines an exhortation to his "own son in the faith," Timothy (vv. 11-16).

As a godly man he had to pursue higher and nobler objects; to follow after righteousness, and to fight the good fight of faith. Only by taking up daily the fight against the fleshly instincts, would he be encouraged by the assurance that the blessed and only Potentate would, at the appointed time, place the crown on his head (see 2Tim. 4:8).

The duty of those who had riches either by inheritance, or by business (vv. 17-19) are listed carefully by Paul. They are not to be proud; or trust in riches, but only in the living God. With their blessings they were to do good works; therefore the sum total is, as the elect of God, to show forth His characteristics every minute of every day, that by so doing they might inherit eternal life.

In the final verses (vv. 20-21), the apostle gives a charge to his genuine son, Timothy, who is to observe these things, and not to be turned from them by any of the arguments and objections of the flesh. He had to ignore the so-called worldly wisdom, or the pseudo-science that endeavours to disprove the divine record.

Timothy was to avoid the profane and vain babblings, of those who reject the sound and proven teachings of the "fathers of the faith," but instead to uphold all that had been "entrusted" to him from the apostle himself. It is an important principle to be followed today.

Thus, the challenge of worldly opportunities or ecclesial service is brought to the fore in this concluding chapter from a spiritual "father" to his "genuine son in the faith." Paul commences by reminding Timothy of [1] the attitude servants should adopt: vv. 1-2. It is vital to see that this quality is particularly applied within the environment of the ecclesia, as a reflection of the ordinary workplace, for "brethren" are mentioned as worthy of greater respect.

Then Paul shows [2] the attitude to be adopted for the perverse: vv. 3-5. Contrary employees (especially those in the service of Christ) need to be avoided, for generally association with such will bring the Truth into disrespect. Strifes of no value, and contention for personal pride, is an animal quality, and to be discarded by the believers. Then Paul details [3] the value of contentment: vv. 6-10. Godliness is the quality of manifesting the character of God; of God manifestation. By this means comes contentment, and "great gain."

Then Paul outlines [4] The practical manifestation of verbal witness: vv. 11-12. Note the contrast: "flee" and "follow after." One is negative; the other positive. [5] The solemn charge committed to Timothy: vv. 13-16. He receives the formal command of a superior. [6] The charge committed to others: vv. 17-19. Timothy must pass on the trust of the gospel to others to uphold and maintain the Truth. [7] Summary of the appeal: vv. 20-21.

A vibrant, urgent and earnest appeal to Timothy; a responsibility that must be upheld in these last days. — GEM, Logos

www.logos.org.au

1 TIMOTHY 6

1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

Chapter 6 is all related, though the relationship may not be immediately apparent. It is about slavery, and godliness, and contentment, and riches, and the good fight of faith, and finally and above all, defending and preserving that glorious treasure entrusted to our care.

The common theme throughout is that present conditions and circumstances -- either of handicap or privilege -- from the extremes of abject slavery on the one hand to abundant riches on the other -- are utterly unimportant, and not to be either rebelled against or sought. Life is too short.

The important thing is GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT. Not just godliness, not just contentment, but godliness with contentment. A faithful life; and a joyful, peaceful, thankful mind.

This chapter is the complete opposite -- the complete rebuttal -- of the common, natural philosophy of life. The natural mind rebels against slavery and poverty, and desires freedom and material possessions. This is the highest ideal of the natural mind -- the "Great Society."

The Scriptures do not condone slavery. But neither do they seek to destroy it, any more than they seek to directly destroy any others of the vast multitude of inequities that make up natural human society.

The purpose of God is, at the present time, concerned with something on an entirely different and vastly higher plane --

PREPARING A PEOPLE FOR ETERNITY BY ADVERSITY.

And, in God's wisdom, slavery and poverty are sometimes part of the general, evil, human background that God is using to develop character and shape His determined ends.

Slaves are told to count their owners worthy of all honour. This is galling to the pride of the flesh, but as the command of God, faithfully obeyed, it is strengthening to the spirit.

Anything that contributes to pride and self-satisfaction -- possessions, position, knowledge, power, prestige -- hinders in the Way of Life.

Anything that contributes to humility and self-abasement and recognition of weakness and need -- slavery, poverty, low position -- helps in the Way of Life.

To the "wise" of the world, this is incomprehensible folly.

Bro Growcott. Grace, Mercy and Peace.

2 And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.

3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

à'If any man teach otherwise...'

By what means shall a community, based on the truth, preserve the truth in purity in its midst?

Obviously by the means indicated by Paul and John, that is, by exacting of all who are in it an implicit adherence to the things, facts, principles, points, tenets, or whatever else they may be called, which go to make up the truth in its entirety and by refusing to associate with those who oppose or refuse to endorse any of its elements.

The ecclesia is not a place for argument; it is for worship in agreement. When a man requires to be argued with, his natural place is outside, and if he will not go outside, separation must be enforced by withdrawal on the part of the rest.

Division is the inevitable concomitant of an uncompromising adherence to the truth. Peace purchased at the cost of compromise is doubly dangerous.

The truth is the standard and must alone be allowed to rule.

Bro Roberts - 'Contending for the Faith'

àThose who are indifferent can easily afford to ignore disagreement, and to preach cordially of the virtue of "agreeing to differ." This is no characteristic of the Ecclesia of the Living God. It contends for the Faith once delivered to the saints, and obeys Paul's command to "turn away" from the perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds.

Bro Roberts

Messiah in the Psalms

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore Elohim hath blessed thee for ever. (Psalm 45:2)

4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

We know, by experience, how readily "fellows of the baser sort," pretending to great conscientiousness, and zeal for religion, busy themselves, for the promotion of their own wicked purposes, in defaming and bearing false witness against men whose lives are devoted to the propagation and defense of the truth.

Eureka 13.13.

5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. (cp. Rom 16:17: Gal 1:6-7)

What does this phrase mean -- "supposing that gain is godliness" -- and what connection does it have with the general line of exhortation about slavery?

It is this: they confused the aim and purpose of the Gospel -- which is godliness -- with the aim of present human betterment and improvement of social conditions. This is sacrificing an eternal betterment for a mere temporal one.

Their course, though well-meant, would at best bring only present, external, material betterment; and in the endless upheaval and striving for present good, the eternal purpose would be confused and lost.

The basic principle involved is a vital one, and one we all need to learn lest we well-meaningly fall into the same diversion of effort and attention. It is, this --

Accept all outward conditions as they are -- evil and good -- and concentrate directly and continuously on the eternal, spiritual work of preparing a holy people.

The aspect of riches, into which he goes next, is the other side of the same picture. The natural desire and tendency is to accumulate money and possessions, for various real and supposed motives of "taking care of their own" or doing great and spectacular things for the Truth.

This, if we are not very careful, leads again to confusing gain with godliness.

God's work is primarily with the poor, and He chooses weak and poor instruments for the purpose that the glory may be of God and not of man. He sends the 30,000 home, that the 300 with Gideon may manifest THEIR faith and HIS glory in victory.

We must keep bringing ourselves back to this -- the simple, personal work of each individual, day after day -- not the great well-financed and well-organized schemes.

The Truth is a very simple, individual, personal thing -- passed on in joyful zeal from person to person -- radiated in personal example, personal dedication, personal holiness.

Look at the example of Christ. Look at the example of Paul. This was the living power that swept the Roman Empire in the early centuries, and this is the work we have to carry forward each individual one of us, in this our brief day.

Bro Growcott. Grace, Mercy and Peace.

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

CONTENTMENT: absolute, total happiness with things as they are; freedom from the folly and frustration of unsatisfied (and usually illusionary) desire. Contentment, not because things are "ideal," but because they are exactly as God's love and wisdom wills them to be at the moment.

Contentment, not that they stay as they are, but that they are moving in the direction they are going -- "working together for good to those that love God." This is the assurance that underwrites godly contentment.

Without it, "contentment" would be a lunatic's pitiful self-delusion. Happiness is full, thankful enjoyment of that which is. Unhappiness is desire for that which is not. But "that which is" must be seen as the great, eternal "IS" of which God is the center and meaning.

Contentment is not stagnation or indolence or indifference. It is intensely alive and vibrant and active. Paul "yearned" and "wept" and "strove" and "agonised" -- yet he was joyfully content in the most hazardous and miserable and destitute of circumstances

'Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.' (Ph. 4:11).

Contentment is bedrock, inner peace with God, desiring nothing but the glorious privilege and honour of serving in the great work of God among men. "Godliness with contentment is great gain."

Bro Growcott - Search Me O God

...a quiet attendance on the common occupations of life is part of the life of a saint. Upon this it may be asked, Wherein does the life of a brother of Christ differ from the life of an industrious decent sinner? We have the answer in the motive power of a saint, and the objects to which he applies the result of his labour. Paul defines the first in saying.

"Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, serving the Lord Christ."

The whole economy of a true brother's life is on this foundation, so that, with him or her, affairs of business or the house are a channel of service to the Lord. They are attended to in the spirit of service to Christ. But again it may be asked, how does this performance of them—say, attending to business for a livelihood or having a care of the household for the comfort and health of those who are in it—how does a saint's attendance on these things differ practically from the decent neighbourly managing creature of the present world?

The answer is to be found in the difference of the underlying motive and the ultimate object for which they are performed. In the case of a person living without God and without hope, business and the house are looked after for present gratification and well-being, without reference to Him by whom all things consist.

God is not in all their thoughts. House and family and business are all in all. A saint, on the contrary, attends to those things as part of a life-service to God. Then there is this great difference:

"Having food and raiment." the saint is "therewith content."—(1 Tim. 6:8.)

He does not aim to be rich, knowing that "they that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition."—(Ibid.)

If he is industrious and scheming in business, it is not that he may lay up treasure on earth, but that he may have to give to them that need (Eph. 4:28), and wherewith to exereise the part of a "good steward of the manifold grace of God" (1 Pet. 4:10), that being faithful in the "few things" of "uncertain riches" (Matt. 25:21; 1 Tim. 6:18), he may be afterwards worthy to share in that higher trust which the Lord will extend to his faithful servants at his coming in power and great glory.—(Luke 19:17.)

Not that all who profess the name of Christ carry out these principles, but these are the principles of the household, and the principles upon which the house will be judged at last, without respect of persons. The maxims of carnal prudence will be at a discount when the Lord has returned. Faith is the foundation principle of the house of God, and without faith it is impossible to please Him. Therefore, let every man see to it while the account is still running.

Sunday Morning 62

The Christadelphian, 1875

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

The mind of Christ, and certainly the example that he gave us, is that we should be content with the bare necessities of life, and beyond that point should concentrate ALL our labour and time in the service of God. He gave us an example to follow, and he gently but very pointedly reminded us that:

"The servant is not above his Lord."

The apostles who followed him, and lived as he lived, call our attention to his example in this respect.

And even the bare necessities must not be our primary concern, for that is lack of faith:

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you."

We seem to be speaking more of restrictions -- what we should not do, rather than that we should do, but this is not really the case. The biggest harm in many things of the flesh simply lies in the fact that they fill the mind and take the time and effort and attention from spiritual things.

We are called upon to be positively spiritual, to be CONSTRUCTIVELY spiritual -- to "always abound in the work of the Lord." We are not called upon to be just negatively spiritual just to not do things forbidden -- we are here to work actively and to the fulness of our strength in the works of God.

In many things the positive will crowd out the negative if the positive gets big and strong enough.

We must not only "always abound in the work of the Lord" we must WANT to do so, we must be lovingly and gratefully anxious to do so. God insists upon, not just all our strength, but --far more important -- all our heart and soul.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.3.

8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

àWe live in a luxury unknown to all previous generations. To what extent are we justified in allowing ourselves to be swept up into this modern treadmill? Let us pray for enlightenment

and guidance in this matter, that we do not find to our sorrow that the cares of this life have won their bitter victory in the end.

"I will pull down my barns and build bigger" {Ik. 12:18)—how deep does this folly go? Would Christ find it in our hearts too? Have we found it "necessary" to build a bigger barn?

For example, and this is only an example, for it applies in so many ways: we may be quite justified in spending God's money for an automobile, and God's time and strength in getting that money (for all we have is God's), for under modern conditions an automobile can contribute effectively to the overall usefulness of our lives in God's service (and that is the ONLY justification for anything)—

BUT—can we justify spending God's money for a better one than three-quarters of our worldly neighbours find quite adequate?

The same with our houses. Whose money are we spending? And what is our real purpose in life? For everything we do must be in harmony with one purpose, if we sincerely seek salvation. Are we princes, or pilgrims? We cannot be both. These questions are for each to consider and decide. If we will face their implications, we shall find that they apply to every

aspect of our lives.

Are the cares of this life—those-so pleasant, self-chosen, self-gratifying cares—choking out the fruit, cutting into time and effort that belong to the work of God?

Bro Growcott - Our call to holiness

The things of the flesh are the things of this present life food, raiment, shelter, entertainment -- all human and natural activity -- the natural daily round of possessing and enjoying. The things of the flesh also include all natural thoughts, reactions, emotions, desires, affections, pleasures, etc.

Some of the things of the flesh are good and some are not. Those that are good are those necessary for the continuance of our life and maximum usefulness to God. Whatever does not contribute to this is a harmful detriment.

Where does the line of necessity come? Where does necessity end, and unfaithful stewardship and misusing our Master's goods begin?

It is not for us to say in individual cases, but we are sure that the Scriptures, frankly faced, leave no doubt that the line of duty cuts lower and deeper than most of us desire to live.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.3.

9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

TO engross ourselves in business under the plea of making money to assist the truth, is dangerous. To do so at the expense of actual duty is sinful. God could easily divert the wealth of the whole world into the channels of the truth if He so willed But He does not, though He will at the right time.

For the present, He has a different work, that of preparing men for His glorious Kingdom. In this work we can become co-workers with Him. We are to regard ourselves as strangers and pilgrims, to esteem riches as a snare (1 Tim. 6:9), and prosperity as dangerous (Prov. 30:8, 9).

Our aim should be to serve God without distraction: an aim not compatible with unnecessarily involving ourselves in the cares and anxieties of commercial life. No amount of money made and applied to the service of the truth will excuse from certain clearly revealed duties, to wit, daily reading, attendance at the meetings, exhorting one another, proclaiming the word, visiting the sick, etc., etc.

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian, Mar 1888

Paul M Hart

Yes- but being comfortable means being able to assist others...

"Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations".

Yes. Wise use of surplus will be accounted as sowing to the spirit.

But danger! Foolish use of riches will prove destructive 1 Tim 6: 9. Covetousness, self indulgence and spend thrift habits are as leaven - destructive of sincerity and truth. Hence

"give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me" Prov 30: 8

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;

14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

The elohal superintendence of the affairs of the "thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers" of the world, is clearly revealed in the book of Daniel. In the fourth chapter of this prophet it is declared that the matter set forth therein was revealed to teach

"the living that the Highest One is the ruler in the kingdom of men, and that He giveth it to him whom He shall please, and sets up over it the lowest of men."

Besides this it shows, that though the ruler or Lord, He does not administer the government alone, but associates with Himself others, styled irin "watchers," who are, like Himself, kaddishin, "Holy Ones."

...Our Elohim shall come and not keep silence; a fire before His (Yahweh's) faces (the Elohim) shall devour; and around Him it is very tempestuous.

Phanerosis - Angelic Supervision Of World Events

16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Immortality, in an underived sense, belongs only to God; He alone is naturally deathless and inherently immortal.

The Christadelphian, Mar 1873

Who only hath immortality

The Arch-Elohim said that the man had become LIKE one of themselves in the matter of knowing good and evil. This also is an argument for his likeness to a plurality of persons; and it further shews that the Elohim were once in a condition similar to man after he had transgressed.

The Lord of the Elohim himself declares that they also had been experimentally sensible of evil, for this is the idea expressed by the Hebrew word YADA, to know, which the LXX translate by eidew, eideo. In short, it is credible that none of the Elohim of the Only Potentate's dominion were created immortal, but earthly, or animal, like Adam.

The Eternal King is the only Being who is originally immortal in any sense, hence it is written that He "only hath immortality." The immortality of all other intelligences is derived from Him as a reward for the "obedience of faith."

Just men at the resurrection of the First Fruits will be equal to the Elohim. Shall we say that these "Morning Stars and Sons of God" did not attain to the spiritual nature by a progression similar to man, seeing that He "who was made so much better than they," even Jesus, the "Bright and the Morning Star," was made perfect through sufferings?"

Have they had no trials to endure, no probation to pass through for the refining of their faith as gold is tried? It is credible, rather, that they were once animal men of other spheres; that in a former state they were "made subject to vanity not willingly;" that while in the flesh they believed and obeyed God with the self-sacrificing disposition afterwards evinced by Abraham; that their faith was counted to them for righteousness; that they succumbed to death as mortal men; that they rose from the dead, and so attained to incorruptibility and immortality as the Elohim of the Invisible God.

Our mundane system is but the pattern of things in other worlds, which may, ere this, have attained to that perfection which awaits the earth, and probably an illustration of what may even now obtain in other planets where the inhabitants have not yet progressed beyond the animal and probationary era of their history.

Our angels, or Elohim, those I mean of the heavenly hosts to whose superintendence terrestrial affairs are consigned until the Lord Jesus shall assume the reins of government -- not all the Elohim, but those of them related to us -- "always behold the face of God," and minister His will towards the sons of men. This is their glory -- a part of their reward. He sent them to form and fill the earth with living souls. They executed their commission according to His purpose.

Behold, then, the consummation. Mortal and corruptible beings like ourselves become Elohim, mighty in strength and framers of new worlds, of which the planet we inhabit, even in its present state, is a grand and glorious specimen.

"Behold," says Jesus, once an infant at the breast, powerless in death, but now endued with all power, "I make all things new." He will educe, from the things which exist, a new and magnificent world as a fit and appropriate habitation for His companions, redeemed by His blood from the sons of men. This is the destiny set before those who shall become "equal to the angels" by a resurrection to eternal life.

Elpis Israel 1.6.

It is the "Father-Spirit" that Paul refers to in 1 Tim. 6:16, whom no man hath seen in His unveiled splendour. Veiled in flesh, "the Vail of the Covering" (Exodus 35:12): he that discerneth him who spoke to Philip, "saw the Father" (John 14:9; 12:45). But, veiled or unveiled, the Father-Spirit is substantial. Speaking of the Unveiled Father-Spirit, Paul says in Heb. 1:2, 3, that the Son is the Character of his Hypostasis, rendered, in the common version, "express image of his person."

The Son is the character or exact representation, and the Father is the hypostasis. In reference to the former, the Father says, in Zech 3:9:

"Upon One Stone there shall be Seven Eyes; behold I will engrave the graving thereof (that is, of the stone), saith He who shall be hosts."

The graving engraved on the stone is termed, in Greek, character, an impress wrought into a substance after some archetype or pattern. The archetype is the hypostasis, so that hypostasis is the basis or foundation of character; wherefore the same apostle in Col. 1:15, styles the character engraved the "Image" of Theos the Invisible (eikon tou Theou tou aoratou).

Phanerosis - One Deity in Multiplicity

Father dwelling in light from whom emanates the Spirit of His own substance, filling all space, and constituting the basis of all creative developments, and yet with which he is essentially one, and by it, consequently fills heaven and earth in consciousness and power... The Spirit of God fills the universe, and all things exist by means of it. Without it, there is no power of any kind.

Bro Roberts TC THE OPERATIONS OF THE DEITY

The Christadelphian, May 1870. p143-151

Paul affirms the plurality of Gods, and Moses shows that they existed before the creation of man.

But then, both Paul and Moses teach that there is One who is surpreme over them all. This is AIL, who created them, and who is alone to be an object of adoration, not with the blank amazement of superstition but of an adoration in an earnest belief of His promises, and willing and loving obedience to His commands. Of this supreme God it is that Paul and Jesus say: "There is none other God but one." He is the only Head of the universe, who will permit none to take precedence of himself in the affection and adoration of His creatures.

He does not, however, manifest Himself to all the intelligences who reside in the sun, moon, stars and earth, through the same medium. To us on earth, He presents Himself, not through Gabriel, but through Jesus as the medium of manifestation -- incipient manifestation, for the manifestation is not yet complete --

"To us there is but one God the Father out of whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Anointed, on account of whom are all things, and we through him."

Down to the third verse of the second chapter of Genesis, the creation of all things is affirmed of "God", that is of Elohim or Gods. But from the fourth verse to the end of the third chapter, where the divine power is mentioned, it is not simply "God" but "Lord God", that is Yahweh Elohim. The common version would merely indicate by prefixing Lord to God, that the Lord God was the supreme God. But if this were admitted, we should be unable to reconcile the saying of John, and Jesus, and Paul, who all declare that "no man hath seen God at any time" (John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Tim. 6: 16).

Now Adam and Eve saw and conversed with the Lord God; and multitudes saw Jesus. But we remark that "Lord God" is not used by Moses to express POWER IN-CREATE UNVEILED, or Ail; but as a word-combination synonymous with "Spirit of God" of Gen. 1:2, or literally Ruach Elohim, spirit of Gods or mighty ones -- the "One Spirit" veiled in the mighty ones through whom He made all that was made.

Phanerosis - The Memorial Name

Immortality is neither innate nor disembodied. "The Deity only hath it," Paul says; and he only bestows it upon obedient believers of the truth as it is in the Jesus he preached; and that bestowal is upon men and women bodily existing; and by clothing their bodies with incorruptibility and deathlessness after resurrection from among the dead.

Eureka 9.4.11.

Immortality

The testimony of Scripture concerning it.

"God only hath immortality."—1 Tim. 6:16.

"When this mortal shall have put on immortality."—1 Cor. 15:54.

"Immortality," athanasia, is a word signifying deathlessness; hence we are taught that the only deathless being in the universe is "the Incorruptible God," ho aphthartos theos,

"dwelling in the light, whom no man hath seen, nor can see."

The Invisible God was never deathful nor subject to death; but all other intelligences of the universe have, or will be subjected to death, or to something equivalent to it. Their immortality is bestowed at some time subsequent to death; but His, who is the Life of the Universe, is underived; for He is from everlasting to everlasting deathless.

The testimony that "God only hath deathlessness," teaches that the immortality or deathlessness of men and angels dates from a change or resurrection from the death state.

At this crisis their "mortal body" puts on deathlessness, so that thenceforth "they die no more." To constitute them deathless their bodies must become "incorruptible"—aphtharsia; for a corruptible body cannot be deathless or immortal.

Aphtharsia is the substratum of Athanasia; that is, Incorruptibility is the underlay of Immortality. Incorruptibility is not immortality; but without incorruptibility, immortality cannot be. Hence Immortality is something more than incorruptibility. It is "Life and Incorruptibility"—zoe kai aphtharsia—combined.

Incorruptibility has regard to physical quality of body, which may be living or inanimate. A diamond may represent an incorruptible body; but because incorruptible, it is not therefore living or deathless. An immortal body, however, is necessarily an incorruptible body; because immortality cannot be without incorruptibility.

God though "a spirit" is also a body; for he is styled "the incorruptible God," and incorruptibility is scripturally affirmed of body. Immortality is life manifested through an incorruptible body; and is the opposite to mortality, which is life manifested through a corruptible body. Such is the immortality brought to light by Jesus in the gospel of the kingdom—"mortality swallowed up of life."

The supposition of deathliness and deathlessness co-existing in the same body, or of an "immortal soul" in mortal flesh, is pagan foolishness; and implies ignorance of "the truth as it is in Jesus." It is the Spirit of God that makes alive; the flesh profiteth nothing.79 Hereditary immortality is a fiction of the carnal mind, at once revolting to reason and the word of God.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, May 1851

17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

Think Not Highly Of Yourself

Get your mind off yourself! You are totally unimportant. You can BECOME important -- eternally important to God -- but it will never be by thinking about yourself. It will only be forgetting yourself, and setting your mind totally on God and on others.

Thinking of yourself shrinks your mind smaller and smaller until at last it shrivels and dies. Thinking about God and others expands your mind more and more until at last it bursts into glorious, eternal Life and Beauty.

God's Way is the only way. Beware of the great diabolos-deceiver: your own desires.

Bro Growcott - Search Me O God

The respectable and the learned are surrounded with the views and influences from the very cradle, which bring men into bondage to the traditions and practices of the world, and withhold them from the enlightening power of the testimony of God.

The poor are no better off so far as the positive tendency of their surroundings is concerned; but in their poverty, they are at least free from some of the impediments that beset the path of the well-to-do, and their minds are more flexible to the divine bent than where riches foster pride and harden the heart.

Thirteen lectures on the apocalypse

As soon as a man gets a large sum, his absorbing idea is how to make it more, and when he gets that more, he still enlarges his schemes that he may enrich himself indefinitely. The more he gets, the more scrubby he becomes. The idea of saving takes possession of his mind, and paralyses every noble impulse and defiles, with the ungraciousness of stinginess, even the little acts of goodness he squeezes, with much effort, out of his dry soul.

It is the case of the man with the barns over again. The same story is told in every generation. Men lay up treasure for themselves but are not rich towards God. They spend little or nothing for him. They have no faith in laying up a store in heaven against the time to come; and, at last, in every case, comes the event of the terrible words,

"Thou fool, this night is thy soul required of thee;"

and the fool dies and is laid in the bed of corruption for the worms to feed sweetly on him, while his precious hoard is squandered by other hands.

The only wise, wholesome, and scriptural policy is the one prescribed by Peter when he says,

"As every one hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

Christ makes our faithfulness in this matter the measure of our fitness for position in his kingdom, saying,

"If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?"—(Luke 16:11.)

These lessons may be disregarded now, and men may slide along in the security of their selfish prudences, regardless of the voice of Christ commanding a God-like course; but the day is near when these commandments will ring in their ears with a terrible and appalling force.

Christ comes to render to every man according to his work, of which he will judge by the standard of his own word. When the dead awake, we shall know he is in the earth, and the living will tremble who have lived in pleasure and been wanton, and nursed their fattening hearts for the day of slaughter, while the poor among men, and the rich, who have given themselves a living sacrifice to God, will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, saying,

"Lo, this is our God: we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

—Editor.

Sunday Morning 62

The Christadelphian, 1875

18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Christ means to say that as men cannot in the nature of things retain the wealth they have,—seeing they are bound to part company when death comes, the course of wisdom is to so use them that when the day of reckoning comes, everlasting results may come from them instead of results of destruction, which are the usual results, for, as he says,

"How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God."

The Christadelphian, July 1898

20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Committed to thy Trust

We are prepared to accept "the co-operation of the intelligence of scripturally-enlightened brethren and sisters," in getting up the Ambassador. We desire such co-operation, and as a matter of fact, we avail ourselves of it, so far as it is within reach in a useful form; but this policy must be kept strictly subordinate to the interests of the truth, the interest of the reader, and the interest of the Ambassador.

It would not be conducive to any of these interests to publish everything that sincerity may put on paper. Sincerity is sometimes ignorant, and sometimes unable to use itself to the profit of others. We are obliged to exercise the degree of supervision, necessary occasionally to hold back the productions of such a state of mind—productions written from the best of motives, but too feeble to be effective for good, too flimsy and hypercritical to be useful, or too narrow (and perhaps a little mistaken) in the apprehension of the subject dealt with, to be profitable.

The Ambassador of the Coming Age, Aug 1867. p227

The Oriental Philosophy

Orientalism is denominated, not philosophy, but "science falsely so called," by Paul in his letter to Timothy. The votaries of it were numerous in Persia, Syria, Chaldea, and Egypt. Of this science there were many sects. It has been thought worthy of remark, that, while,

"the Greek and Roman sects of philosophy were much divided about the first principles of science, all the sects of the oriental science deduced their tenets from one fundamental principle."

This science supposed that,

"The origin of evils, with which the universe abounds, was to be found not in God, whom they viewed as essentially good and benevolent; but as there was nothing beyond or without the Deity but matter, therefore matter is the centre and source of all evil, and vice. That matter was eternal and derived its present form, not from the will of the supreme God, but from the creating power of some inferior intelligence, to whom the world and its inhabitants owed their existence.

Some imagined two eternal principles from whence all things proceeded, the one presiding over light, and the other over matter; and by their perpetual conflict, explained the mixture of good and evil that appears in the universe.

Others maintained that the being who presided over matter was not an eternal principle, but a subordinate intelligence, one of those whom the supreme God produced from himself. They supposed that this being was moved by a sudden impulse to reduce to order the rude mass of matter and to create the human race.

A third sort fell upon another system, and said there was a Triple Divine Principle or a triumvirate in which the Supreme Deity was distinguished from the material, and from the creator of this world. The Supreme Being they supposed to be a radiant light, most pure, different from the immensity of space, called the Pleroma.

The eternal nature, having dwelt long in solitude, produced from itself two minds of a different sex, which resembled the Supreme Parent in the most perfect manner. In process of time, from these two proceeded a celestial family. These were called Eons. How many of these there were was not decided. The creator of this world they styled Demiurgus.

"Man they considered a compound of terrestrial and celestial nature; of the evil principle of matter, and of divinity. Those who subdue the evil principle that propels them to sin against the Supreme, ascend directly to the Pleroma: those yielding to the evil principle shall be sent after death into other bodies, until they awake from their sinful lethargy.

In the end, the Supreme God shall come forth victorious, and, having delivered from their servitude the greatest part of those enslaved souls, shall dissolve the frame of the visible world, and involve it in ruin. After this primitive tranquility will be restored in the universe, and God shall reign with happy spirits in undisturbed felicity through endless ages.

Such is a brief outline of the opinions current among the Gentiles elaborated by the thinking of the flesh, darkened by ignorance of the divine testimony, and sin, in the last days of the Mosaic world. It was a hash, well and truly designated by Paul, "philosophy and vain deceit," vain babbling and oppositions of science, falsely so called."

No one professing the faith, who received them in whole or in part, could avoid being spoiled by them. It was the commingling of these fleshly thinkings with the word of God that corrupted the faith of Israel: and afterward the doctrine of the apostles delivered to both Jews and Gentiles.

They faithfully discharged their mission, but "false brethren" who "had pleasure in unrighteousness," who desired to popularize the truth, that they might be zealously affected by the simpletons they deceived, mixed it up with these crotchets of the flesh, and out of the offensive mixture presented to the world the mess of stuff "the spirit spued out of his mouth," in the early part of the fourth century.—Revelations 3:16.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1861

21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. (The first to Timothy was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana.)

The Temple Glory of the Age to Come

Lecture by the Editor.

THE temple that Solomon built was large for the times that had gone before. But it was small by comparison with the temple shewn to the prophet Ezekiel, whose dimensions we have already looked at—a mile square, with range upon range of pillared halls and arches of an altitude towering to 120 feet.

The attention of Sir Christopher Wren (the architect of St. Paul's, in London), was once called to the specifications of Ezekiel's temple, and he is said to have remarked that the erection of such a gigantic fabric could only be undertaken by a government having despotic control of the world's industrial resources. Perhaps he did not know that such a government would exist when the time came for its erection.

The question of where material is to be found for the erection of such an edifice need not distress when we realise that its erection will be the work of Him who has already asked with powerful reason

"Is there anything too hard for Yahweh?"

Nevertheless, it is interesting to note a probable provision against this time of need in the geological construction of the eastern hill range of Jerusalem. Here there is a vast supply of white limestone of a marble-like lustre and hardness. How this supply is to be got at seems suggested by that cleaving of the Mount of Olives that is predicted to happen on the arrival of Christ.

"His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east: and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, towards east and towards west; and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south."

Such a convulsion as this must lay bare the vast reserve of splendid building material that is hidden near by. The smoke and thunder of "the war of the great day of God Almighty" having cleared away, then, the first scene presented to view is the slow rising of this magnificent pile on the site of so many past divine wonders—on the spot that saw Melchizedek's priesthood: that witnessed Abraham's obedient offering of Isaac: that beheld David's reign and Solomon's glory: that saw the destruction of his beautiful temple some 500 years afterwards; its faint reproduction by order of a Persian monarch, and finally the presence, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ.

Crowds of glad and busy workmen, under wise and merciful overseers, will finish the glorious, the gladsome work, till there stands at last, under the smiling heaven, the vast and noble frame of a building eclipsing all feats of human architecture, as much as the glory of its builder will outshine that of all potentates ever known to human story.

Remembering that its general resemblance, as we survey it from a distance, is that of an immense altar, we may pause here for a moment to note a beautiful correspondence with some former transactions between God and man. When Israel came out of Egypt, the first thing made was the tabernacle with its appurtenant altar service: afterwards came the settlement in the land, and the building of cities.

When, in David's reign, Israel's sins called for a judicial visitation which destroyed 70,000 men, and threatened the destruction of Jerusalem, the building of an altar on the threshing floor of Auranah on Mount Moriah was the first thing ordered, after which, on that very spot, came the temple and the glory of Solomon.

When Judah returned from Babylon, in the days of the Persian Cyrus, and found the land all desolate and Jerusalem a heap of burnt rubbish, the first thing they built was the altar; afterwards the temple; and then, the city. When a Gentile comes to God in reconciliation, the first thing is his induction into the Christ-altar in being baptized into the death of Christ. Afterwards come the privileges of the House of God and eternal glory.

And here now, in the kingdom of God, the first thing after the scathing and devastating judgments that teach the world righteousness, is the uprearing of an altar-edifice as a house of prayer for all people. The significance of this peculiarity we may find in the purpose to which an altar is applied. It is a structure contrived for the offering and the burning of sacrifice, and sacrifice is the appointed form by which the sacrificer acknowledges his unworthiness of life and favour.

The use of the altar is a confession of sin and the admission that death is our just award. It is the recognition of God's supremacy and holiness, and of human subordination and dependence. The altar is therefore the symbol of the sinner's humiliation, and of the exaltation of God's mercy.

This being so, we may see the significance of the altar being always in the front of God's dealings with man. It is a proclamation of the fact that life and comfort and glory are only permissible to man when he humbles himself before God in the recognition of his own unworthiness, and in the thankful acceptance of His glorious mercy.

Though the population now upon the earth are impervious to this purifying and ennobling sentiment, the day is coming when it will joyfully prevail wherever the human species is to be found. Mankind will then be as interesting and attractive as they are now hideous and repellant in all countries of the globe.

The Christadelphian, Aug 1890

Godly Resolutions

Our Loving heavenly father, In the name of our Lord Yahoshua Anointed we offer our thanksgiving to THEE

"WE will hear thee speak."—Ps. 85:8.

"WE will sing unto thee O Yahweh as long as we live."—Ps. 104:33.

"WE will run the way of thy commandments."—Ps. 119:32.

"WE will never forget thy precepts."—Ps. 119:93.

"WE will meditate on all thy works, and talk of thy doings."—Ps. 70:12.

"Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil."—Ps. 23:4.

"We will freely sacrifice unto thee."—Ps. 54:6.

"We will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy."—Ps. 31:7.

"Our  tongues shall speak of righteousness, and of thy praise all the day long."—Ps. 35:28.

"Thou art Yahweh, our  refuge and fortress: our Elohim in whom we trust."—Ps. 91:2.

For WITH THY HELP we will be perfect before thee, through the merciful provision of the precious blood offering of thy holy one our high priest and faithful mediator in heaven, they beloved son.

amen

Gospel Prayers

Our Loving heavenly father, In the name of our Lord Yahoshua Anointed we offer our thanksgiving to THEE 

"Show us thy ways, O Yahweh; teach us thy paths, and lead us in thy truth."—Ps. 25:4, 5.

"Keep us as the apple of thine eye; hide us under the shadow of thy wings"—Ps. 17:8.

"Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just."—Ps. 7:9.

"Arise, O Yahweh; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy sight."—Ps. 9:19.

"Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem."—Ps. 51:18.

"that the salvation of Israel may come out of Zion."—Ps. 53:6.

"Let Elohim arise, let thine enemies be scattered; let them also that hate thee flee from before thee."—Ps. 18:4.

"Arise, O Yahweh, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations."—Ps. 82:8.

"Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself."—Ps. 80:15.

"Peace be within the walls of Jerusalem and prosperity within thy palaces."—Ps. 122:7.

"Arise, O Yahweh, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy."—Ps. 132:8, 9.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

"Satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."—Ps. 90:14.

"Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth."—Ps. 77.

"Send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me to thy holy hill."—Ps. 43:5.

"Come, Lord Yahoshua."—Rev. 21.

In his name we offer all our thanks and praise to thee our loving father in heaven

Amen

The Christadelphian, Oct 1876

The power of death destroyed

Heb 2: 14

It has been objected that the putting-away of sin cannot have been the putting-away of the mortal nature, because Christ rose with the same nature, and it is said that the same infirmities clung to him until he was changed to immortality.

There is no evidence, however, that Jesus rose from the dead with the same infirmities that he had before he died: it is simply assumed, and we have quite as much reason for assuming the contrary; but as we do not desire to base any argument on a mere supposition, we pass it by.

As to Christ having risen with the same nature that he died with, this of course is admitted, but this fact is no proof that the sin he put away was not sin in the flesh, for the necessity for destroying sin in the flesh lay in the fact that it had the power of death, and that power had been destroyed in him when he rose from the dead.

So that even though he rose in the same nature that he had before his death—and even if his nature was in precisely the same condition—the power of sin over him had been destroyed, and God could then change him to immortality, so that his victory over sin might be thus perfected or perpetuated.

The body of sin, or the devil, having been destroyed, a way was thus opened for its destruction in others on their availing themselves of the appointed way, viz., immersion into the death and resurrection of Christ, by which they obtain the remission of sins, and a title to the redemption he obtained by his death and resurrection—using "resurrection" here in its fullest sense, as including resurrection to immortality.

The consistency of this plan may be seen in view of a principle exemplified in certain passages of Scripture, namely, that the removal of the punishment for a sin implies or involves the forgiveness of that sin. For instance, when God had decreed the death of Hezekiah, and then, in answer to Hezekiah's prayer, permitted him to live, Hezekiah said,

"Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back,"

i.e., blotted them out.—(Isaiah 38:17.) The case of David also is perhaps to the point. When he had sinned "in the matter of Uriah the Hittite," and God sent Nathan to charge him with it, "David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said unto David,

"The Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."—(2 Sam. 12:13.)

Then, again, when Christ was about to cure the palsied man, he said to him, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee;" and when some of the Scribes said, "This man blasphemeth," Jesus said,

"Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house."—(Matt. 9:2–6.)

This would imply that the disease from which this man was suffering was a punishment for sin, and that the removal of the disease carried with it the forgiveness of his sins. Let us now apply this principle to the matter in hand. Death is the punishment for sin; Christ has "abolished" death, and therefore on men associating themselves with this abolition, by union with Christ, death is accounted as being prospectively abolished in them, and this therefore carries with it the forgiveness of their sins.

In bearing the condemnation resting on the sin-nature, of which Christ, in common with the rest of the race, was a partaker, and in being raised from the dead, the power of sin was destroyed, while at the same time God's law was not set aside, but was upheld in him, and therefore, on the basis of that destruction of sin, God can consistently forgive those who, believing "the truth," recognise that the evils resulting from the breaking of His law have been removed in Christ, and that they can obtain redemption through him alone—on their manifesting their recognition of this fact in the appointed way. Hence we read in Col. 2:10–13:—

"Ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power: in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (or made alive) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses."

The Christadelphian, Sept 1876

 the holy thing she bore was called a Son of Deity, and named JESUS (Luke 1:35, 31).

Thus,

"the Logos became flesh, and dwelt among us," says John, "and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth;" for "the law was given through Moses; the grace and the truth came through Jesus Anointed" (John 1:14, 17).

Now, "Theos was the Logos," says John; that is, Deity was the Word; and this Word became flesh in the manner testified.

Eureka 1.2.2.

If it be argued that Thus is referring to 30 years after the birth the following proves that not to be so...

The mystery of godliness is practically exhibited in the incarnation of the Word in the conception and anointing of Jesus; in the perfecting of his body at its resurrection, when Deity in Spirit was as visible to the apostles as Deity in Flesh had been to them before the crucifixion.

Eureka 2.0.

THE WORD MADE FLESH - DIFFERENT STAGES

S.B.‭—‬We have duly received,‭ ‬in common with you,‭ ‬a copy of Friend Jardine's second letter to the Editor of the‭ ‬Christadelphian,‭ ‬in response to our review of his first.‭ ‬We think it unnecessary to make it the subject of reply.‭ ‬We must refer to our review as containing all the answer required.‭ ‬The only point requiring notice is where the writer is able to quote from an early production of Dr.‭ ‬Thomas's,‭ ‬in support of his contention that the Word was not made flesh till the baptism of Jesus.‭ ‬This is best answered by the following quotation from a letter written by the Dr.‭ ‬in‭ ‬1870:

‭ "‬My faith and hope are what they have been for years,‭ ‬only that they are‭ ‬enlarged,‭ ‬strengthened and increased,‭ ‬because I have obeyed the exhortation of the apostle,‭ ‬and added to our faith knowledge‭"—(‬Christadelphian,‭ ‬August,‭ ‬1870,‭ ‬p.‭ ‬237.‭)

On the principle expressed in this extract,‭ ‬the Dr.‭ ‬came to see that the manifestation of God began with the birth of Jesus,‭ ‬and was perfected in two subsequent stages—his anointing of the Spirit and his resurrection.‭ ‬He was consequently able to say,‭ ‬only a year or so after writing the words quoted by Friend Jardine.

‭ "‬There was no Word made flesh till the birth of Mary's Son.‭"

The Christadelphian p581 ‭March 1, 1875