Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Timothy 3:14-16, God's household and the hymn
Paul writes so that, if he is delayed, Timothy will know how people ought to behave in God's household, the church of the living God, and quotes what seems to be a hymn about Christ.
1 Timothy 3:14-16, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul hopes to visit soon, but writes in case he is delayed, so that Timothy knows how God's people should behave in the church, God's household and the support of the truth. He then quotes what seems to be an early hymn that traces Christ's story from his coming in the flesh to his being taken up in glory, a confession of the mystery at the heart of their faith.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-household\/","n":"The household and its head","s":"A household gathered family, slaves, freed slaves and workers under one head, and it was expected to follow that head's religion. When the head turned to a new god, the house often came too.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/house-churches\/","n":"House churches","s":"For their first three centuries Christians met in homes, the way some Jewish groups and private clubs did. A host with a large house gave the church its room, its table and often its protection.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/letters-and-letter-carriers\/","n":"Letters, scribes and carriers","s":"Letters were usually dictated to scribes, carried by trusted travelers because there was no public post, and read aloud to the people they were sent to.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/angels\/","n":"Angels","s":"God's messengers and his heavenly army. Jews of Jesus' day spoke of guardian angels, of the greatest angels standing before God's face, and of angels coming with God at the judgment.","r":""}
Letters stood in for the writer's presence and often announced a visit (the cultural backgrounds notes). Political thought treated the household as a model of society, and the church met in homes, so Keener reads 3:1-13 as working like a household code. Pillars held up buildings, and the truth needed support against the false teachers (Keener). In the popular religions of Ephesus, Wright notes, a mystery was a secret for initiates, sometimes in verses repeated like a charm; here the mystery is announced openly. Some manuscripts begin the hymn with God, but "it is generally agreed that the former is correct", who (Carson, Moo and Morris). Vindicated by the Spirit points to the resurrection (Keener; Wright). Seen by angels means Christ shown in victory to heavenly beings (the ESV Study Bible) or gone ahead to where the angels live (Wright). Announced, Wright adds, is the word for summoning people to obey "a new emperor". Taken up in glory breaks the order of the lines if it is the ascension (the ESV Study Bible); Keener reports a proposal that it means his return; Wright holds that "The lines aren't meant to be in order" but balance in pairs.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on 1 Timothy 3:14
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Timothy 3:14-15 and 3:16
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Timothy 3:16
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, comment on 1 Timothy 3:14-16
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 15, The Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy, Text
