1 Timothy 6:11-21, The Good Confession

The Theological Declaration of Barmen, Germany, 1934

Observation: At the end of this letter, Paul tells Timothy, a young pastor, to "fight the good fight of faith, and take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." Paul repeats this language of "good confession" again, and ends his letter by saying, "guard what has been entrusted to you." If Christians today feel as though we're in a theological free-for-all, it's nothing compared to the cacophony of ideas that was the first century. Every congregation's beliefs was slightly different, and there were dozens of movements, all claiming Jesus as their inspiration, with very different beliefs. In this context, it was all the more important for Timothy to hang onto the faith which he was taught.

Application: As I reflect on this "good confession," my mind goes to the Confessing Church of Germany in the 1930's, which arose as a dissenting movement against the "German Christians" who conflated Christian ideals with those of the Nazi party. Reading the words of the Barmen Declaration of 1934, I'm struck by how uncontroversial they are--or at least should be--for Christians in any modern society. Only Jesus is Lord. The Church has no earthly leader. The Word of God alone guides the doctrines of the Church, not current political ideas. The Church should not be subordinate to or ruled by the state. These seem like such basic ideas to us today. But he writers of this statement were considered quite doctrinaire and inflexible by many of their contemporaries.

Sadly, we often don't know the value of holding to the "good confession"--of knowing the basic non-negotiables of our faith--until we see in hindsight when they were lost. In the twenty-first century, just as in the twentieth, just as in the first, we need to practice placing Jesus above all other things in our lives, whether it's simple things like how we spend our time, or big things like how we think and talk about our political convictions. Like any other muscle, our ability to confess the faith can atrophy with disuse. And unfortunately, the time when we most need it, when the stakes are higher than we could have imagined, will often show up without warning.

Prayer: God, keep us steadfast in your word. Curb those who by deceit or sword, would wrest the kingdom from your Son, and bring to naught all he has done.