My assignment this morning is to talk about developing talents. I have chosen to extend my use of the word “talents” to include the virtues, so that I can talk about developing what the New Testament calls godliness. To begin with, I should like to call your attention to First Timothy, chapter four, verses seven, eight, and nine:
Train yourself in godliness, 8 for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.
Godliness is probably a central theme within the Pastoral Epistles, where it occurs six more times in First Timothy, then once each in Second Timothy and Titus. Elsewhere in the New Testament, it occurs once in Acts and four times in Second Peter.
Let us begin with the last sentence, which tells us that Paul’s advice on godliness is “sure and worthy of full acceptance.”[1] First, this affirmation occurs only three times in First Timothy, each time associated with a major element of Paul’s advice. Second, it marks what Paul says as important. In its own context it carries the same weight as do the “verily, verily” sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Third, it places what Paul says in opposition to the old wives tales and profane myths taught by the false teachers that Paul has earlier warned Timothy against. Timothy and the rest of the faithful within his congregation can rely without hesitation on Paul’s advice to train in godliness, and perhaps we can, as well.
What, then, is godliness? Here we come to a major challenge in our attempt to benefit from Paul’s sure and worthy advice, for virtues in general tend to be dependent on their historical and cultural context. Godliness is no exception to this rule. In many modern translation of the New Testament the Greek word behind godliness is translated as piety. Modern definitions of piety suggest that we understand piety as a reverence for God and religious obligations. In the Hellenistic world, however, godliness was a much more profound virtue.
Recent Comments