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Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2024 Bible Study — Characteristics for Which All Believers Should Strive

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Titus and Philemon

In Paul’s letter to Titus while Titus was on Crete, he gave a description of the characteristics a man must have to be considered for a leadership position in the Church.  A few years ago I realized that when we pay attention to this passage we focus on how to interpret applying this passage to selecting leaders in the Church and not enough on the fact that all followers of Christ should strive to have these characteristics (to the degree to which they apply to that individual).  We should all strive to be blameless.  Those of us who are married should be faithful to our spouse.  Those who have children should strive to raise them to be believers and so that they are not seen as wild and disobedient.  We should not be violent or quick-tempered.  We should be self-controlled and disciplined, upright and hospitable.  Again, while we should not appoint anyone who does not have these characteristics to leadership positions in the Church, more importantly, we should strive to have those characteristics in our own lives.

When Paul wrote to Philemon about Onesimus, who was legally a slave to Philemon who had run away, he writes that he was sending him back because Philemon had legal claim to Onesimus.  Paul does not outright tell Philemon that he should free Onesimus, nor does he in any way write that slavery is wrong.  However, he does tell Philemon that he should welcome Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ.  It seems to me that Paul was telling Philemon that he was not obligated as a follower of Christ to give Onesimus, now a fellow follower of Christ, his freedom, but that doing so would be the better thing to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2023 Bible Study — All Things Are Pure to the Pure, so Seek to Be Pure

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Titus and Philemon

Paul here gives Titus advice on the qualities to be sought in those chosen as leaders of the Church, and that advice is very similar to that which he gave to Timothy.  Paul tells us that those chosen for leadership positions must be blameless.  They must not be overbearing, nor quick-tempered, nor violent, nor given to dishonest gain.  On the other hand, they must be hospitable, self-controlled, upright, and disciplined.  I find it interesting that on both the “must not” list and the “must” list Paul lists two things which are almost synonyms for each other.  He says that they must not be either quick-tempered or violent, and that they must be both self-controlled and disciplined.  Not only are these things synonymous with the other one listed on the same list, they are also almost exactly opposite of the two on the other list.  I think this gives us a good idea about how important these characteristics are in a leader.  I think we can see why Paul thought they were so important in some of his other instructions to Titus.  He tells Titus to encourage others by sound doctrine while refuting those who oppose sound doctrine.  Further Paul tells Titus, and us, that he, and we, should act so as to embarrass those who oppose Christ because they have nothing bad to say about us.  Every time I read the qualifications which Paul lays out for a leadership position in the Church I am struck that each of us should strive to exemplify those qualities.

In the second passage I am looking at today, Paul writes to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, who was, apparently, a slave who ran away from Philemon, his master.  Paul seems to suggest to Philemon that he should give Onesimus his freedom, without using his authority as an Apostle to order it.  Paul also tells Philemon to bill him for any losses Onesimus may have caused him by running away, and perhaps before running away.  I get a hint that Onesimus may have run away from Philemon because he had done something which cost Philemon a lot of money and feared Philemon’s retribution.  Whatever the cause of expense to which Paul refers, he reminds Philemon, and us, of the importance of forgiving those who wronged us.  While Paul reminds Philemon of how Philemon owes him, I think he intends that reminder to remind each of us how much we owe God.  Our debt to God is much greater than any debt which our fellow humans may owe us.  Whatever good we have done them, and whatever harm they have done us, is but a smidgen against the great good which God has done for us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2022 Bible Study — Avoid Foolish Arguments And Those Who Make Them

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Titus and Philemon

In his letter to Titus, Paul reiterates a point which he made in several of the letters which we read before this.  Since we have been saved from living lives of malice, hatred, and sin by God’s grace we should devote ourselves to doing good.  Paul emphasizes that doing good does not save us, does not reconcile us with God.  Rather, those who have been saved do good in response to God’s grace.  So, we should be subject to the rulers and government authorities where we live.  We should slander no one and be peaceable and considerate, gentle towards everyone, always prepared to do good.  We should avoid foolish controversies, arguments and quarrels.  In fact, we should warn those who insist on making divisive arguments twice and then no longer engage with them on any level.  I believe Paul is telling us to deal with those who insist on repeatedly bringing up divisive topics the same way he told the Corinthians to deal with the man who was sleeping with his stepmother.  It seems to me that much that has gone wrong in the modern Church results from a failure to follow Paul’s command here.

When Paul writes to Philemon he begins by praising Philemon’s love of his fellow Believers.  Paul then writes a character reference for Onesimus, a slave who ran away from Philemon.  It seems likely from what Paul writes that, when he ran away from Philemon, Onesimus had either stolen something, or damaged some of Philemon’s property.  Paul asks Philemon to forgive Onesimus his debts to Philemon and welcome him back as a brother in Christ.  While Paul sends Onesimus back to being a slave to Philemon, he indirectly reminds Philemon of what he had written, and almost certainly preached, about how masters should treat their slaves.   In fact, this letter to Philemon seems intended to remind Philemon of Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant.  What Paul writes to Philemon about how he should treat Onesimus is essentially the inverse of how the unforgiving servant treated his fellow servants.  Paul indirectly reminds Philemon that while Onesimus may be his slave, both Philemon and Onesimus were servants to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2021 Bible Study — Live So That Those Who Oppose Us Have Nothing Bad To Say About Us

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Titus and Philemon

Paul writes to Titus that to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted nothing is pure.  Paul goes on to write that Titus should show integrity, seriousness, and speech which cannot be condemned.  Then a little further on he instructs Titus to teach people to slander no one, and to be peaceful and considerate of others.  Paul writes that Believers should be self-controlled and live upright, godly lives.  We should strive to live our lives so that those who oppose the Gospel have nothing bad to say about us.  Paul writes that we should live that way in imitation of God who saved us.  All in all, Paul calls on us to do good because God has saved us and given us His Spirit and to never think that God saved us because we do good.  We should do good because God has saved us and never think that we can be saved by doing good.  Usually I would separate out what I write about Paul’s letter to Philemon, but today I want to connect it to what I just wrote about Paul’s letter to Titus.  Paul writes this letter to Philemon telling him to be kind to his runaway slave whom Paul has sent back to him.  Paul makes the case that Onesimus (which may not have been his name previously) will be useful to Philemon now because he has learned to serve God and will serve Philemon as part of his service to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2020 Bible Study Church Leaders Must Be Hospitable

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Titus and Philemon

I have skipped over the other places where Paul speaks about the qualifications for Church leadership, but I will touch on it today  Church leaders are managers of God’s household and therefore must be men who lead a blameless life. Paul goes into detail on what that means, but there is one qualification he mentions which is not summed up in “blameless life”.  Church leaders must enjoy having guests in their own home.  They must like being around people.  Paul tells us that all of these qualifications are necessary because there are many rebellious people who engage in useless talk and thus deceive others.  I find it interesting that being a good host leads to one being good at countering those who deceive others.

Paul goes on to say that Believers should submit to the government and its officers.  We should be obedient and always ready to do what is good.  It should be noted that this was written by a man who was imprisoned by the government for preaching about Jesus Christ, and who continued to preach even so.  We should not slander anyone.  Actually, I am going to bring up a story about my Mom here.  My Mom was a firm believer in the saying, “If you cannot say anything nice about someone, do not say anything.”  The worst thing I ever heard her say about someone was, “He dresses nice.”  This was in response to me asking her opinion of a man prominent in the Church community (not someone who held any Church offices that I can remember) about whom I had heard some rumors (just rumors that people were spreading rumors about him).  I knew that my Mom knew the man personally, and had likely heard whispers of something inappropriate regarding him.  Hearing my Mom say that about the man was the most devastating put down of the man imaginable, and my Mom had no intention of putting him down when she said it.  “He dresses nice,” was the only nice thing she could say about a man she had known for more than 20 years.  The point of this story was that my Mom always sought to see some good in everyone

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2019 Bible Study –Everything Is Pure To Those Who Are Pure

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Titus and Philemon

In his letter to Titus, Paul reiterates the instructions concerning the qualifications for Church leadership which he wrote to Timothy.  We spend a lot of time discussing what these instructions mean for who we should select as pastors and leaders.  However, I do not think we spend enough time talking about Paul writing that a candidate for Church leadership should enjoy having guests in his home.  I don’t want to spend any time talking about what that means, I think that is obvious.  I just want us to bring focus to that requirement from Paul’s list.  I especially want us to think about it in light of the fact that I have always felt that all believers should strive to meet the qualifications needed to be selected for Church leadership, not that they should strive to be Church leaders necessarily, just to qualify to be Church leaders.

I am not going to write anything explicitly about Philemon today, but I think that Paul’s letter to Philemon contains reference to the theme he mentions at the end of his letter to Titus.  Paul wrote to Titus that to the pure, everything is pure, but to the corrupt nothing is pure.  I do not remember the exact situation, but I remember an instance where my Dad made me aware that a person I trusted was dishonest and not worthy of trust.  My Dad pointed out how the person always saw the worst in others, was always sure that others were lying to them and trying to cheat them.  As best I remember, my Dad had done business with this person and I asked him why he would have done that if he did not trust him.  He told me that we should always give people the benefit of the doubt.  This passage from Titus was one of two he referenced when discussing such things.  The other was Matthew 10:16, where Jesus told his disciples to be as shrewd as snakes, but as innocent as doves.

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December 16, 2018 Bible Study — What You say about others says more about you than it says about them

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Titus and Philemon.

One of the first thing Paul touches upon in his letter to Titus are the qualifications necessary for an Elder in the Church.  I am only going to touch on one part of it, because I think it is a part to which we pay too little attention when we debate this.   Actually, it applies to all Church leaders.  They must be people who like other people, who like to socialize.  Church leaders should be people who enjoy hosting get-togethers in their own homes and elsewhere.<br>

Paul segues from discussing the qualifications of Church leaders to another teaching to which we tend to pay too little attention.   Paul writes, “Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.”  Another way of expressing this is something my Dad told me.  He told me to be cautious of people who constantly thought that others were cheating them.  Such people thought they were being cheated because they were always looking for ways to cheat other people.   On the other hand, people who are honest and trustworthy generally trust others.  When Paul tells us that everything is pure to those who are pure, he is both telling us to modify our behavior and giving us advice on judging the merits of those who speak about others.   Trust and rely on those for whom it is a struggle to say anything negative about others.  Watch closely, and do not put much credence in the accusations they make, those who can give you a catalog of the flaws of others.  Of course, that also means that we should strive to be the former and not the latter.<br>

By reading between the lines of this passage we can learn a few things.  Onesimus was the slave of Philemon.  Philemon was a leader of a congregation which met in his home.  In addition, Philemon became a Christian as a direct result of Paul’s ministry.   Onesimus ran away from his slavery to Philemon and ended up in Rome, where Paul was a prisoner.   Onesimus heard the Gospel from Paul and also became a believer.  For awhile he aided Paul.  Eventually, Onesimus became convicted that he should return to Philemon to make good on his obligations to him, but he was afraid of how Philemon would treat him.  Under Roman law, Philemon was entitled to punish Onesimus severely.    I will mention that slavery as practiced in Rome was different than slavery as practiced in the pre-Civil War American South.  <br>

Having written all of the above, I realized that the main point I want to make about Paul’s letter to Philemon has little to do with any of that.  Paul writes to Philemon that Onesimus had indeed wronged him, but that was before Onesimus came to know the Lord.  Now that Onesimus has come to know the Lord, he has been transformed.  Philemon should forgive Onesimus the wrong he had done him, and Paul would reimburse Philemon for any cost Philemon had incurred because of Onesimus’ actions (with the suggestion that perhaps Philemon should just write them off).  Here is the lesson for us: we should not judge believers by the actions they took before they were saved.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2017 Bible Study — The Qualifications For Leadership In the Church

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Titus and Philemon.

    The core of Paul’s letter to Titus is a description of the qualifications for an overseeing elder in the Church. One thing which I think is often overlooked is that all men should aspire to fit the qualifications given here. If they are married, they should be faithful to their wife. If they have children, they should attempt to raise their children to be believers and to be well-behaved. It was a tragedy of the Church when I was growing up that “preacher’s kids” were known for being wild and disobedient. To the degree that that is still true, it is a tragedy of the Church today. I am not going to list the things which Paul tells us that an overseer in the Church must not be. Instead I want to focus on the positive things he writes that we should require of them. Overseers, and all of the rest of us, should be blameless. They should be hospitable. As Christians we should freely offer hospitality to all that we can. Our leaders should make outsiders feel welcome, and we should strive to follow their lead in that. Paul writes that leaders in the Church must be self-controlled and disciplined. Since that is two different ways of, more or less, saying the same thing it gives us a good idea how important Paul thought it was. Finally, these leaders must be able to encourage others in the Gospel and refute those who oppose it.

    Paul’s letter to Philemon focuses on how a master should treat a slave who is a fellow believer. However, it can also apply to how an employer treats an employee. Paul first recognizes that under the law of Rome, Philemon has authority over Onesimus. However, he also calls to Philemon’s attention that in the Church and the Kingdom of God, Paul had authority over Philemon. However, the entire point of Paul’s letter was that Philemon should treat Onesimus lovingly and as a brother in Christ. So, rather than command Philemon to do as Paul believed that he should, Paul chose to merely ask Philemon to exercise his authority over Onesimus in a manner similar to the way in which Paul was exercising his authority over Philemon. Paul asked Philemon to respect Onesimus as his brother in Christ, just as Paul was respecting Philemon as his brother in Christ. Paul implies that he has instructed Onesimus to obey Philemon even if Philemon does not act according to Paul’s instruction.

Daily Bible Study

December 16, 2016 Bible Study — Church Leaders Need to Be Managers

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Titus and Philemon.

    Paul writes to Titus with clear instructions about installing elders in each of the congregations on Crete. The characteristics Paul describes are ones which we should all aspire to uphold (except for the husband part, not everyone should aspire to being married and women have no need to aspire to being men). Often times when people look at this they fail to see Paul’s focus. Those chosen to be elders in the Church must have shown that they have the ability to manage their own household. That is the reason behind being the husband of one wife and having children who are believers without a reputation for wildness and rebellion. I think there are two parts of Paul’s instructions which are critical. The first is one I have seldom heard anyone talk about when discussing this passage: Church leaders are to be good managers. The second is something to which I think we do pay attention: Church leaders should enjoy hosting others. They should not be people who prefer to be alone most of the time. People who possess both of these, and the rest of the characteristics Paul describes for Church leaders, are not as common as we might like.

    In his letter to Philemon, Paul asks Philemon to forgive Onesimus for any damage which Onesimus may have caused by running away. Overall, it appears that Onesimus ran away because he was a rebellious slave who did not do as he was commanded (me reading between the lines). We do not know why Onesimus was a slave in the first place, but it appears that, after he came to know the Lord he felt that he should return to Philemon (perhaps encouraged in that belief by Paul and others, since Philemon was a fellow believer). When I have heard others comment on this letter they have always emphasized how Paul was willing to make good any loss which Philemon had suffered because of Onesimus. While I think that Paul was willing to do so, I also think that Paul makes it clear that he does not expect Philemon to take him up on it. As he writes this to Philemon, and reminds Philemon that he owes his very soul to Paul, I believe that Paul is alluding to teachings of the Church which derive from Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant from Matthew 18:23-35. Paul is quite clear that he expects Philemon to forgive Onesimus for any wrong which Onesimus had done him and for any damages which Onesimus may have caused him. Paul’s offer to pay for those damages was along the lines of, “But if you are such a poor Christian as to be unwilling to do so, I will pay you for it so that Onesimus need not suffer any more because of his previous mistakes.”