The Pillar and Bulwark

Like a lot of the mainstream denominations, the United Methodist Church which baptized and ordained me, is going through a rough patch.  The crisis is not so much an internal theological crisis as it is one which is being precipitated by the changing sexual values of the society around it.  I keep reading the Word for a way forward midst all the uncertainty and confusion.  The other day I ran across one of those verses which seemed to have leap-from-the-page powers.  It was from I Timothy.  "...I am writing...that...you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth."  (I Timothy 3:14-15)

 

Several things seemed to be doing some leaping and the one that jumped the highest was the phrase, "the church of the living God."  Those words serve to remind me and, perhaps, others that the church does not belong to any single one of us, or any single gathering of us, but to the living God.  It is His Church and not really ours which is, of course, how we like to talk about it.  Since it is the church of the living God, it only seems logical to assume that what we understand to be the inspired Word of God should have some bearing on how we think about it and how we do its work. 

 

But, there was at least one other phrase which I found ruminating worthy. "...the pillar and bulwark of the truth."  The word "bulwark" is not commonly used today and refers to a wall of strong defense.  The word "pillar" points to an upright structure, perhaps, one which gives support to the bulwark.  Such is how the church of the living God is described as it confronts external and internal controversy.  The church is not just the pillar and bulwark of truth, but the pillar and bulwark of "the truth," which is, of course, the truth revealed to us through the sacred Word.