What Does the Bible Say About the Church? 1 Timothy 3:15

What Does the Bible Say About the Church? 1 Timothy 3:15

When St. Paul writes his first letter to Timothy, he wants the younger servant of God to know why he is writing.

He tells him, in 1 Timothy 3:15:

“I am writing you about these matters, although I hope to visit you soon. But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God.”

(1 Tim 3:15)

The Church of the living God is described here as a household. If it’s a household, it’s a family, living together, parents and children, each with their own roles. And the reality is, to describe the Church as a household is to teach that there must be someone in charge. A household is not an accidental collection of people who determine their own rules.  

St. Paul continues in that verse:

“The household of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and foundation of the Truth.”

Now, one might read that and think, the Living God is the one described here as the pillar and foundation of the Truth. The phrase “of the Living God,” in Greek--θεοῦ ζῶντος--is in the genitive case, using the word endings Greek uses to express possession. But if God is the one described as the pillar and foundation of the Truth here, then the words for pillar and foundation would also have to continue in the genitive case. But they don’t. Those words are in the same nominative, the subject case, as the word for Church. They are, in Greek-- στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας.

And so, St. Paul here says that it is the Church which is the pillar and foundation of the Truth.

Pillars and foundations are stable things. They are strong and trustworthy. The belief that the Church in ancient times or the Middle Ages fell into serious errors of belief or practice is not compatible with 1 Timothy 3:15.

Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth (John 16:13). And so, if the Church is the Pillar and foundation of the Truth, then whatever that Church came to believe and practice, is true. And it is not a problem if any of those teachings or practices are not always found directly described in the Bible itself. Because, after all, it is the Church that is the Pillar and foundation of the Truth.