Resurrection in 1 Timothy
(avg. read time: 5–10 mins.)
As with my previous post on resurrection in 2 Thessalonians, I face a similar challenge when writing on the subject for 1 Timothy. Unlike 2 Thessalonians, one of the primary resurrection terms does appear in 1 Timothy—ζάω—but it never has a resurrection sense to it. It refers to God as the “living” God (3:15; 4:10) and to one who indulges in luxury being dead even while she lives (5:6). As such, there is no explicit reference to Jesus’s resurrection or the general resurrection by means of the typical resurrection terminology. But based on what we have covered from Paul and other NT texts in what they have to say about resurrection, I would argue that we can still identify implicit references to resurrection in 1 Timothy.
We have previously noted how Paul described his becoming an apostle in 1 Cor 15 in a kind of resurrection pattern. He is not as strongly suggestive of such here, but here as there he highlights the power of God’s grace. He also highlights himself as an example, being one who received God’s grace in Christ Jesus despite being the foremost of sinners, for all who would come to pledge themselves to Christ for everlasting life (1:16). As we have noted many times, everlasting life is something believers have already, but its consummation is in the resurrection to come. There is no concept of everlasting life in the NT that is divorced from the hope for resurrection. It is only by resurrection to everlasting life, or at least conformation to resurrection by our transformation, that we will receive God’s eschatological action of life-giving that will include his own life. We have addressed this in many places elsewhere, and the basis for this idea appears here in the description of God as “immortal” (1:17). Indeed, Paul will say later in the letter that God is the only one who is immortal. We only have everlasting life because he gives it to us. And his giving that life to us in resurrection and transformation is the completion of his project in making us according to the image and likeness of Christ, including by conforming us to the life that is in him. This is part of the larger work of the transcendent King of the ages, for it goes hand in hand with the kingdom.
Paul quotes a rhythmic saying in 3:16, whether it is of his own composition or something that was circulating more broadly in the NT era, about the mystery of godliness or piety. As we have seen many times before, this saying is meant to provide the foundation of theological indicatives for the ethical imperatives (as illustrated in the build-up in 3:14–15). But this is not necessarily so much because of the pattern of the story. It is rather that this is the confession of the one to whom the faithful are in allegiance, and thus the confession of the same characterizes those who are godly/pious. Abandoning such a confession will ultimately entail following deceptive paths (as articulated in ch. 4), while holding fast to it will ultimately entail sharing in the vindication and exaltation of the one confessed.
I did not include it in my series on the three-stage gospel narrative and gospel summaries in the NT because it is oblique in its references and I was trying to be relatively brief in my surveys of the different texts. I am still not sure if it should technically be considered a gospel summary as such. It is noteworthy that it contains no reference to Jesus’s death, though naturally any reference to his resurrection would imply his death as well.
The description of him being “revealed” or “manifested” in flesh is using the neutral sense of “flesh” as opposed to the negative sense of referring to the sinful, corruptible character of humans in the present age that is most common in Pauline texts. This most naturally refers to his incarnation and is thus implicitly indicating his pre-existence. The rhythmic balancing of this statement also helps to explain why “flesh” is used here because of how often it is juxtaposed with “Spirit,” as in the next clause. This is certainly possible, and I plan to treat the arguments in greater depth another time, but I am not inclined to regard the first two rather starkly different expressions as two ways of referring to the same event. I think they are rather ways of referring to the poles of his life in his entrance into the world and his resurrection that vindicated what he had done in the flesh. To be fair, I do not know that either sense can be dismissed entirely, as the resurrection is Christ’s climactic revelation in the flesh, and the incarnation is the necessary precondition for the resurrection. I simply think that the incarnation reference is more prominent in the phrase.
Christ is also said to have been “vindicated in/by the Spirit.” As with almost all clauses in this saying, it ends with ἐν, which can be translated in various ways, most likely as “in” or “by” here. The word for “vindicated” can also be translated as “justified,” but in any case this is likely a reference to his resurrection. As noted in many other cases (most prominently in Rom 4:25 addressed here), the resurrection effects justification/vindication because Jesus’s resurrection vindicated Jesus himself as God’s action declared him “in the right” despite the appearance given by his crucifixion. The phrasing suggests the Spirit’s intermediate agency in God’s declaration of vindication as the one who was also the agent of Jesus’s incarnation and who indwelt Jesus throughout his earthly ministry to achieve God’s purposes. As the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 8:11), he is also the one who can bring about our justification/vindication by applying what was already accomplished in Christ Jesus (see here, here, here, and here). After all, as Paul has stated in 1 Cor 15:45, Jesus’s resurrection is the means by which he communicates his life to others through the Spirit (and because of the closeness of union between Christ and the Spirit, he can call Christ the “life-giving Spirit” here). Our text, though, does not explain further what is meant here. One would need to rely on texts outside of 1 Timothy for further explanation of this sense of intermediate agency.
The one clause that breaks the repetition of the preposition is the reference to Jesus appearing to or being seen by the angels. This is a simple dative construction that could mean either and the use of ἐν here would not work here to convey the idea. Otherwise, it would suggest that he was seen “in” angels or that angels served as some means for him to appear/be seen. If Paul wanted to convey the sense of being “seen by,” if he used a preposition at all, it would need to be ὑπό plus the genitive, which would further break the structure of using all dative clauses. Apparently, Paul or whoever else constructed this statement (if he is quoting from someone else) decided it would be better to maintain case consistency. Even though it causes a rhythmic discord, the reference is included here to provide a heavenly juxtaposition to the earthly scope of the next clause. That is, he was proclaimed among the nations of the earth, but he was also seen in heaven. The verb in question is the same verb and same form used in Paul’s list of witnesses in 1 Cor 15:5–8. In each case, it can mean “appeared to” or “seen by,” although the latter would be made more obvious by the inclusion of ὑπό plus the genitive form of whoever saw him. His earthly witnesses of his resurrection appearances were his first proclaimers among the nations, but he also has heavenly witnesses in the angels that can attest to his resurrection. There is no other statement quite like this in the NT, but it is obviously something they took for granted. And angels were the first proclaimers of the gospel to the women who visited the empty tomb.
The last two clauses also feature an implicit heaven-earth juxtaposition. On the one hand, Jesus was believed in the world, which is to say people on earth have put their faith in him and declared their allegiance to him. On the other hand, it is said that he was “taken up” in glory. The latter verb (ἀναλαμβάνω) is a word used for Jesus’s ascension in Acts 1 (vv. 2, 11, 22) and Mark 16:19. As I have said before, it is important not to get mixed up here, as the words for Jesus’s resurrection are not used for his exaltation or his ascension, and vice versa. This reference to his exaltation, for which his vindication by resurrection was a precondition, further validates the fact that people have declared their allegiance to him by their faith. He is indeed the King of all to whom our allegiance is owed, and his exaltation is confirmation of who he was all along, even as the resurrection was the vindication of the same.
Similar to our first text is Paul’s assurance to Timothy that godliness/piety is valuable for everything and holds promise for the present life and the life that is still to come (4:8). The reference to the life to come is nothing other than a reference to resurrection life. As we have seen elsewhere (also see here), the resurrection to everlasting life, the life that is to come, validates and vindicates the faithful way of life of the present. In fact, resurrection to everlasting life, or conformation to the same for those who are alive at the time, is what enables that way of life to go on forever. It is because of the promise of resurrection—itself validated and confirmed in Jesus Christ, being the first fruits of the eschatological resurrection—that Paul can assure Timothy that the labors and struggles of the present will prove to be fruitful thanks to the living God (4:10).
The last references to everlasting life in the book appear in 6:12 and 19. As elsewhere in the book, these references to life are expressions of the promise of resurrection. There is no everlasting life apart from resurrection or being conformed to resurrection. Paul further indicates this by linking our faithfulness and making “the good confession” with Jesus’s faithfulness and making “the good confession” (6:12–13). To say that Christ made this good confession before Pontius Pilate is to subtly imply his death, for Pilate was the one who sentenced him. But, of course, Paul also speaks of Christ’s appearance to come in 6:14. What links these two events and supports the promise of validation and vindication for making the good confession is the fact that Jesus, who himself made the good confession, was vindicated in his resurrection. Those who are incorporated into the gospel story by their faithful union with Christ (here signified by the good confession) will receive the same outcome from the God who raised Jesus. This is the God described here as the one who will bring about Jesus’s appearance at the designated time, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light (6:15–16). As God is the one who gives life to all (6:13), he is the only one who is properly called immortal. Those who receive everlasting life receive it from him, for it is his life that they receive. And as in John, his essential life is linked with his essential light, for no one can see him on their terms; he is only seen on his terms, which is through the revelation of Jesus.