But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou
oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth [1 Tim. 3:15].
I have selected this as the key verse of this epistle
because 1 Timothy is a book about church order. While he is away Paul
writes, “I’ve written this to you so you will know how to act in the house
of God.”
“The church of the living God”—Paul is speaking to the
church that is
the church.
“The pillar and ground of the truth.” “Pillar” means the
stay, the prop, or that which is foundational. What Paul is saying is that
the church is the pillar, the bedrock—it is the prop and support of the
truth. If the officers do not represent the truth, the church has no
foundation, no prop, and it cannot hold up the truth of God.
Some men purport to represent the truth, but they
actually do not represent the truth in the way they lead their lives. I knew
a deacon once who carried the biggest Bible I have ever seen. Every time you
saw him he was weighed down on one side carrying that Bible. But he was a
man you couldn’t depend upon—there was a question about his integrity. He
hurt the church he served and brought it into disrepute. Paul is writing to
tell the church how it should act so that it can represent and proclaim the
truth of God to the world on the outside.
McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible
Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 5:445