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In the two Epistles to Timothy there are a number of unusual expressions not found elsewhere in the New Testament. First Timothy 3:15 says, “I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” In this verse two aspects of the church are covered: the church as the house of the living God and the church as the pillar and base of the truth. According to this verse, the church is the house not of the holy God, the righteous God, or the almighty God, but of the living God. The living God is full of life. If the church is to be the house of the living God, it must be full of life; it must be a house of life. The church is also the pillar and base of the truth. The house is full of life, and the pillar bears the truth. If we are serious about knowing how to behave in the church, we must know that the church is the house of the living God and the pillar of the truth.
Throughout the years of the Lord’s recovery in this country, the church has been a testimony of life. We thank the Lord that the churches in His recovery are full of life. Although the churches are a house of life, there has been a shortage in regard to the pillar in front of the house. At the front of the temple in the Old Testament were two pillars signifying strength. Without the pillars the temple would not have given the impression of strength. Houses with pillars always convey such an impression. The church should be not only a house full of life but also a pillar of truth. My burden in this chapter is to emphasize the fact that the church must have these two aspects, the aspect of life and the aspect of truth.
According to God’s economy, everything has two aspects. If the church has only the aspect of life, the church is not complete. For example, if I had just one leg, it would be rather difficult for me to stand up, much less to walk. But with two legs I can stand and walk normally.
From the time the Lord’s recovery came to this country, we have laid great stress on life. For example, the one hundred twenty messages of the Life-study of Genesis are all concerned with life. However, we have not adequately emphasized the truth. I take the responsibility for this. Now we need to emphasize truth as well as life.
It is significant that in 1 and 2 Timothy life is not mentioned nearly as often as truth. Truth is spoken of again and again (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18; 3:8; 4:4). The reason for this is that these Epistles were written during a time of degradation. When the church is degraded, there is darkness; and when there is darkness, there is the need for the truth. Truth is the expression of light, just as grace is the expression of love. Whenever light shines, we receive truth. Light shines in darkness. In 1 and 2 Timothy, two books dealing with degradation, truth is mentioned often because during a period of darkness there is the need for the shining of the light, the expression of the light.
Truth is the shining of light. Wherever there is light, there is God, for God is light (1 John 1:5). When the light shines upon us, it becomes the truth. In Romans 8 Paul encourages us to walk according to the spirit, but in John’s second and third Epistles, also written in a time of degradation, John speaks of walking in the truth. Although in his other writings John emphasizes life, in these two Epistles he speaks much about the truth. For example, in 3 John 4 he says, “I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Whenever we are in a time of degradation and darkness, we need the shining of the light so that we may know how to walk in the proper way.
We have pointed out that 1 Timothy 3:15 reveals two aspects of the church—the house of life and the pillar of the truth. During the past sixteen years of the Lord’s recovery, we have devoted our full attention to the aspect of life, paying little attention to the pillar of the truth. For this reason it was possible for certain evil ones to creep in to undermine the recovery. From the first half of 1974, an undermining work has been going on. What deception there has been! Nevertheless, the Lord’s recovery has been preserved because in the past the foundation of life was laid. Because of this foundation, many who had been deceived could quickly turn back to life. If they did not have the foundation of life within them, I do not think they could have turned so fast. Those intent on overthrowing the recovery regard this foundation as the Elden-hall influence. Praise the Lord for the Elden influence! How I appreciate it and love it!
It seems that for a period of time we were carried away to Babylon. This took place in a very subtle way. But now we have been brought back. Hallelujah! We have not been liberated, but we are genuinely free. In less than two months the Lord turned the situation and set us free. Do you know what brought us back from our captivity? It was the foundation of life that had been firmly laid in the past. The enemy touched this foundation, but he could not shake it. Instead, he injured himself. Because in city after city there is the foundation of life, the enemy’s attempt to undermine the churches has not been successful. The churches have been preserved by the foundation of life.
However, because we did not have the pillar of truth, evil things were allowed to creep in. It seemed that there were no police stations and no policemen. Because there was no safeguard of the truth, thieves had an opportunity to steal and to cheat. Now we realize that every local church must be a police station and that every saint must be a policeman. If during the past four and a half years the churches had been police stations and the saints had been policemen, there would have been no way for the thieves to enter in.
Many have been reluctant to act as policemen for fear they might cause trouble. Suppose a robber comes into a bank. On the one hand, he steals the money, but on the other hand, he claims to be one with the bank and to be for the bank. Certainly the bank manager should call the police. But if he does not call the police for fear of causing turmoil, the robber will steal everything. If someone claims to be for the ministry and yet goes about stealing and deceiving, we need to fulfill our function as policemen by checking him out according to the truth. But because we have been short of the truth and short in the practice of the truth, we have not done so. We have paid a big price to learn that we are short of the truth.
Yes, the foundation of life has been laid, but the pillar of the truth has not yet been built up. Therefore, I am burdened to give a number of messages on the truth. If we have both the foundation of life and the pillar of the truth, no evil thing or evil person will be able to creep into the churches. Instead, all such ones and such things will be examined according to the truth.
Suppose a number of brothers come from other places to a certain locality to deal with the situation in the church there. Any saint who knows the truth and who practices the truth should rise up and say, “Stop! This is a hierarchy. What right do you brothers have to come here and carry on like this? Who gave you this authority? This is human organization. If you claim that Brother Lee has sent you, I’ll call him on the telephone to find out if that is true. And if it is, I’ll rebuke him for not acting according to the truth. I have received his ministry for years, but I will not receive it this time if it is not according to the truth.” Even if the apostle Paul were to speak against the truth of the New Testament, we should reject him. We must be faithful to practice the truth. If we see evil deeds but do not function as policemen, then we are not practicing the truth. For the Lord’s recovery we must have not only life but also truth. We all need to be impressed with the absolute importance of the truth.
First Timothy 2:4 says, “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” God desires all men to have two things: salvation and the full knowledge of the truth. In the past we took care of salvation, but we neglected the full knowledge of the truth. Notice that, according to the Greek, this verse does not say that men should come simply to the knowledge of the truth, but to the full knowledge of the truth.
The last part of 1 Timothy 4:3 speaks of “those who believe and have full knowledge of the truth.” Here we see believing, which refers to salvation, and fully knowing the truth. To have the full knowledge of the truth is to fully know the truth. To know the truth in this way is a safeguard.
In 1 Timothy 6:5 Paul says, “Perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth.” Those whose minds are corrupted are deprived, destitute, of the truth. They do not care for the truth. Some have actually said that the later they sleep in the morning, the more spiritual they are. This kind of statement could be uttered only by one who is destitute of the truth. Others have said that the best way to have a solid time on the Lord’s Day morning is to sleep late. Some have even told the young people that since they cannot conquer their flesh, they should let it do whatever it desires. Anyone who can accept such statements is short of the knowledge of the truth.
Someone has even said that we should care only for the Spirit, not for principles. How subtle! Anyone who knows the truth realizes that this means to accept only the Spirit and to reject the Bible, for all the principles are derived from the Bible. It is very dangerous to have only the Spirit but not the principles of the Word.
Perhaps you have heard some say that they would drink my spirit but not take my word. If the saints in the Lord’s recovery had the full knowledge of the truth, they would never accept this kind of word, a word that is an utter falsehood spoken by those deprived of the truth. During the last few years there has been a dreadful shortage among us of the practice of the truth. If we all had practiced the truth, certain sayings and practices would have been questioned a long time ago. We need to learn the truth; we must not be a people destitute of the truth.
After speaking of “cutting straight the word of the truth” and avoiding “profane, vain babblings,” Paul mentions those who “concerning the truth have misaimed” (2 Tim. 2:15-18). Paul likens the word of these people to gangrene, a disease that eats away at the flesh (v. 17).
During a time of degradation some will even resist the truth: “In the manner that Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, disapproved concerning the faith” (3:8). Today such a situation exists.
“The time will come when they will not tolerate the healthy teaching; but according to their own lusts they will heap up to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they will turn away their ear from the truth and will be turned aside to myths” (4:3-4). In these verses Paul warns that during degradation some will turn away their ear from the truth to teachings that please their itching ears. They may enjoy listening to messages that are full of evil entertainment but contain nothing of the truth.
We have pointed out that in his second and third Epistles John emphasizes the importance of the truth. In 2 John 1 and 2 the apostle John speaks of loving in truthfulness, of knowing the truth, of the truth abiding in us, and of the truth being with us forever. In his third Epistle he again speaks of loving in truthfulness and especially of walking in the truth, saying that he has “no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth” (v. 4). The emphasis on the truth in these Epistles indicates that they were written during a time of degradation when many had gone astray from the truth. Nevertheless, there were still a number who were walking in the truth.
In times of darkness we need to walk in the light (1 John 1:7). We have pointed out that truth always comes from the light, for it actually is the shining of the light. Today we need the truth, the shining of the light.
Now we need to see two functions of the truth. The first is found in John 8:32, which says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” The first function of the truth is to set us free. To be deprived of the truth is to be in bondage, in slavery, but to know the truth is to be released from slavery, to be freed. The second function of the truth is seen in John 17:17, which says, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” On the one hand, the truth sets us free; on the other hand, it sanctifies us. It causes us to be saturated with the element of God. It is a very significant matter to have the truth, for it frees us from all negative things and saturates us with the divine element. The more truth we have, the more we are released from bondage and the more we are saturated with the element of God. Eventually, the truth will cause us to be thoroughly sanctified and transformed. Hallelujah for the functions of the truth! How we need the truth in these days!
