The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture.

Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in Church. These missing verses are also Essential Bible Verses, ones we should study with care and attention. Often, we find that they carry difficult messages and warnings.

Today’s reading is from the English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) with commentary by Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

2 Timothy 2:20-21

²⁰ Now in a great House there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honourable use, some for dishonourable. ²¹ Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable,^[a] he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

———————————————————————————————————————-

In 2 Timothy, Paul has been encouraging his protégé to rid the church in Ephesus of its false teachers who have sprung up from the congregation’s midst.

Timothy was only in his mid-30s at the time. Paul was in his late 60s. Timothy appears to have been cowed by men who are more erudite than he and probably older. Both oratory and age counted for a lot in the Greek-influenced Asia Minor.

Paul wanted Timothy to hurry up and clean up the church in Ephesus so that he could visit the Apostle in Rome, where he languished in prison. This was the last letter Paul ever wrote.

To persuade Timothy, Paul injects analogies along with real life goings-on in the church.

Last week’s post discussed Paul’s consternation at the conduct of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who were teaching a false doctrine about the resurrection. Hymenaeus had been part of the Ephesian congregation and apparently set up his own little community nearby with Philetus as a partner. Paul warned Timothy about the danger of ‘irreverent babble’ which spreads like gangrene and weakens some people’s faith.

In the verses preceding last week’s, Paul cited three analogies to help Timothy do the right thing. He briefly talked about the perseverance of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer. Those were examples to give Timothy courage.

In today’s verses, Paul compares the Church to a great house with many vessels, some of them useful and some of them near worthless. The vessels refer to people in the congregation, particularly leaders, or ministers.

The Apostle says that in a great house there are vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honourable uses and some for dishonourable purposes (verse 20).

Matthew Henry’s commentary says (emphases mine):

Another thing that may comfort us is that though there are some whose faith is overthrown, yet there are others who keep their integrity, and hold it fast (v. 20): In a great house there are not only vessels of gold, etc. The church of Christ is a great house, a well-furnished house: now some of the furniture of this house is of great value, as the plate in a house; some of small value, and put to mean uses, as the vessels of wood and earth; so it is in the church of God. There are some professors of religion that are like the vessels of wood and earth, they are vessels of dishonour. But at the same time all are not vessels of dishonour; there are vessels of gold and silver, vessels of honour, that are sanctified and meet for the Master’s use. When we are discouraged by the badness of some, we must encourage ourselves by the consideration of the goodness of others. Now we should see to it that we be vessels of honour: we must purge ourselves from these corrupt opinions, that we may be sanctified for our Master’s use.

John MacArthur says that, in his youth, he was not fulfilling his own duties as a Christian:

I long to be useful to God. I can say that’s my sole desire. I hope it is with you. But I can remember a time when I wasn’t so useful to the Lord. Even though I was a believer, there were things in my life, limitations in my life and my commitment, that made me more useless that useful. When I think about being useless to the Lord, I go back to my childhood, and I remember my father [a clergyman and son of a clergyman] saying to me on numerous occasions, when he gave me a job to do and I didn’t do it the way he prescribed it to be done, he would say, “Johnny, you’re really just about useless.”

In fact, his favorite expression was, “You’ll never amount to a hill of beans.” And I know that there were times in my spiritual life as well when I was well-nigh useless to the Lord. I was unfaithful to be who I should be, so I couldn’t do the tasks He might otherwise have given me to do. But it’s always been the desire of my heart; in fact, I can say it’s a sole desire in many ways in my life that I would be used of God.

And so he has been used of God, most marvellously.

Paul always examined himself to ensure that he was doing the Lord’s work. He wrote often of having a clear conscience, of enduring to the end, of fighting the good fight for Christ Jesus and the Gospel.

In verse 20, ‘vessel’ refers not only to dishes or cutlery, but anything in the house.

MacArthur explains:

The word vessel – or utensil, as I translated it – is skeuē or skeuos, and it’s a very, very broad term referring to anything that could be called domestic gear. It could be furniture, it could be furnishings, it could be tools, it could be utensils that would be used in a kitchen; just about anything that would fit into a domestic environment.

As we all know from personal experience, we have things that take pride of place in the house and things that we hide from public view because they are too modest or relate to hygiene. As an example of the latter, think about the modern kitchen cabinet that is home to the bin for household waste, completely hidden from view.

What leads Paul to mention this? Let’s go back to last week’s reading and verse 19, a reference to Numbers 16:5:

¹⁹ But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his”, and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

MacArthur expands on the verse, today’s and the earlier analogies in 2 Timothy 2:

… as we looked at verse 19, we said, in verse 19 the apostle Paul referred to the church.

And he referred to the church in this statement: “the firm foundation of God stands.” And it would be possible to interpret that a number of ways, if you just looked at it, and read it without digging a little deeper. But with a little bit of careful study of both context and related context, we find that the firm foundation of God which stands refers to the church. In fact, back in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 15, Paul refers to the church as “the pillar and foundation of the truth.” So, it is not uncommon, even in these pastoral epistles, for the apostle to refer to the church as a foundation for the truth, the foundation of God which stands, the firm foundation.

And I believe it is that, that triggers Paul’s analogy. He thinks of the firm foundation of God which stands – that is, the church – and then, he says, in verse 19, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and refers to election. One of the seals or marks of authenticity of the church is that it is elect; the second seal or mark is that it is abstaining from wickedness. In other words, it is an elect church from God’s viewpoint. It is a righteous church from man’s viewpoint. And so, verse 19, then, introduces the elect and righteous church.

And, then, the analogy picks that thought up: the large house is the church. And in that large house, there are all kinds of utensils, and there are all degrees of usefulness with regard to those utensils. Some are gold and silver, and there’s even a difference between gold and silver; gold is more valuable than silver. Some are just wood and pottery; behind the scenes, not to be seen, not lovely at all. Some are hidden, and some are exposed to as many as possible. That’s how it is with believers in the church.

Some are useful and some are less useful. And some are hardly useful at all, and some are useful only for tasks that no one ever sees. The church is mixed. It’s not just mixed between believers and unbelievers, as in the parable of the wheat and the tares, and the sheep and the goats, Matthew 13 and 24. But the church is mixed with believers who are useful, and well-nigh useless. There are Christians who are not faithful soldiers, as he pointed we are to be in verses 3 and 4 of this chapter. Christians who are not faithful athletes, as we find in verse 5.

Christians who are not faithful farmers, who sow the seed and enjoy the results. Who are not faithful to keep their focus – as verse 8 indicates – on the Lord Jesus Christ, and suffer whatever might come, as he talks about in verses 9 and following. There are those Christians who, by virtue of their failure to live the way they ought to live, are not useful to God – at least, as useful as they might be. So, he introduces to us, then, this picture. The church is a large house. There are many in it. Some are put forth for the noble purposes, and some are hidden behind the scenes for the ignoble purposes.

Now, it goes without saying, that having established that very clear picture, the assumption would be that most of us would like to be used for the noble purposes.

Paul says that those who cleanse themselves from what is dishonourable will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house and ready for every good work (verse 21).

Henry boils it down to sanctification, which should be part of every Christian’s journey. Sadly, many Christians discount sanctification, because it often involves difficult experiences and personal trials:

Sanctification in the heart is our preparation for every good work. The tree must be made good, and then the fruit will be good.

In fact, Christian leaders rarely speak of sanctification these days. Instead, we are mired in easy-believism, that a belief in Jesus as Lord leads to a charmed life in this world. Far from it. Jesus suffered the worst death in human history on the cross for our sins. The Apostles, apart from John, were martyred. St Paul suffered terribly physically and mentally throughout his ministry, yet counted it all to the good.

Returning to verse 21, MacArthur explains what Paul wants and expects from Timothy:

So, Timothy has been placed there to set the church right. And I believe that Paul is writing to Timothy saying, “Timothy, I want you to be maximally useful, I want you to be a vessel to honor.”

… he’s saying, “Timothy, this is what is required of those in spiritual leadership.” But, beloved, that does not eliminate the rest of us, because the reason the leaders are to be like this is that they may set the example, because this is the way God wants all the people to be, too.

There’s no dichotomy there. Leadership is what it is in order that it might set the pattern. Now, I believe there must have been some major struggles going on in the life of Timothy, for the reason that Paul repeats these things over to him so frequently. Having given him all the instruction he did in six chapters of the first epistle, he now seems to go back and repeat some of the very same things; almost as if he is deeply concerned that Timothy come around to being all that God would want him to be.

Anyone who is a pastor or leader in the church, an elder, one who stands in the place of example, must desire to be a vessel unto honor.

MacArthur tells us what is involved in being a vessel of honour — freedom from sin and a willingness to obey Christ:

But what’s involved in that? Well, he gives three modifiers that describe the character of this honorable vessel. Look at them in verse 21. An honorable vessel would be described, first of all, as one that was sanctified. An honorable vessel is sanctified. It’s a perfect passive, literally having already been sanctified – one who is in a settled state or condition of being set apart for the worship and service of God.

Sanctified means to be separated from sin, separated from the world, separated from the flesh, separated from Satan, separated from self-will. A vessel unto honor is separated, in a situation of having already been set apart from sin. So, we could say, then, that the first characteristic of a vessel unto honor is its cleanliness: its purity, its holiness. It has been set apart for holy purpose, as opposed to those that carry the filth of the house away to the waste places. It’s set apart for holy purposes.

And if you want to be a vessel unto honor, you’ve got to get clean. Whatever might defile you has to be washed off, rubbed off, cleaned off. The second aspect of describing a vessel unto honor in this house is that it’s “useful to the Master.” In other words, it’s the kind of thing that is performing its intended function. It is a utensil that is of great use to the one who chooses to use it, here called “the Master.” The Greek word is despotē, from which we get despot, which is a synonym for dictator.

… If we are to be vessels unto honor, we must be sure that we are separated from sin, from the world, from the flesh, from the devil, and we must be equally certain that we are committed to an obedient submissiveness.

This is the heart attitude of one who bows the knee to the Master; and the Master here, obviously, if you compare Jude 4, has reference to Jesus Christ. He is the Master of all the utensils, but sad to say, not all of them are equally useful, for not all of them are equally clean, and not all of them are equally submissive. Thirdly, he says, this vessel unto honor is not only sanctified and useful, but it’s “prepared for every good work.” The idea of prepared here has to do with eagerness. It’s eager to be used.

It has a zeal for noble purposes – agathon, which means intrinsically, inherently good – noble is the way it is often to be translated. In other words, you’re in a condition of offering yourself for noble use. We could call this availability, or eager service. So, that utensil in the house, that article in the house, that instrument, that tool, that furnishing in the house, which is clean, which is submissive, and which is eager to serve, is the honorable one. Those are basic things, aren’t they?

If you want to be a – an honorable vessel, a noble vessel, a useful vessel, and it starts with being separated from sin, it starts by being cleansed, purged, purified, and then, by being submissive to the one who rules over you, and doing whatever it is he asks you, no matter what it is. And also, not doing that reluctantly, but doing that in a spirit of readiness and eagerness. That’s what the idea of being prepared means: having already been prepared. Or a better way to translate that perfect passive: having been put into a prepared condition – or just sitting there waiting to be used.

No reluctance. No attachment to sin, no hesitation to obey, and no reluctance to serve. That is a noble vessel, an honorable vessel. Not all believers are like that. Some hold on to sin, and they’re too defiled and dirty to bring out and use. Some of them don’t want to be submissive and be fulfilling the purposes that God intends. And some of them aren’t eager at all; they’re reluctant to even be called to serve. They’re not equipped by holiness, they’re not equipped by obedience, and they’re not equipped by preparedness for every good work that God might grant them opportunity to do.

Having explained the principles, MacArthur tells us exactly what they entail on a practical level:

You want to be a vessel for honor? You want to be set apart from sin, useful to God, ready and eager to do His work?

Then the first thing necessary is that you “cleanse yourself from these.” What does that mean? What does that mean? The word cleanse is a tremendous word. There is a Greek word, kathairō, from which we get the word catharsis, which means a cleansing. This is that Greek word, kathairō, with a preposition stuck on the front, which always intensifies the verb, and it means to thoroughly cleanse; thoroughly cleanse. So, the first thing he says is if you want to be a vessel unto honor, you must thoroughly cleanse yourself.

… The first exhortation, then, is, one, to stay away from fellowshipping with people who are contaminated. And we say, point number one, then, in being a noble and excellent vessel, one that brings honor to the Lord, is a pure fellowship. The noble vessel, the honorable vessel, maintains a pure fellowship. He stays away from the defiled people in the church.

I’m talking about other people in the church; other believers who are not clean, who are not submissive, who are not eager to serve. You see, sin is a contagious thing, isn’t it? Beloved, you have to watch your fellowship. You have to watch who you hang around. In verse 16, of the same chapter, “Avoid worldly and empty chatter, it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.”

… Evil, sin, defilement, is a disease that is highly contagious; and your associations are so very, very important. And I’m saying, in the church, you cannot put the silver and gold plates in with the stuff that takes out the garbage, and expect the garbage not to get on the silver and the gold. 

… “Bad company corrupts” – what? – “good morals.”

Somewhere along the line, you may have to change your relationships, even in the church; even in the church. In 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, and verse 14: “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame. And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” Don’t associate with him. For one thing, it will contaminate you; for another thing, it will make him feel comfortable and accepted.

Separate for your own purity, and separate so he will have a sense of shame over his own defilement. When God was speaking through the prophet Isaiah, in chapter 52 and verse 11, He said, “Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean; go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.” If you’re going to serve the Lord, you’ve got to stay away from people that contaminate you. In Jeremiah, chapter 15 and verse 19, similarly: “Therefore says the Lord, you – “If you return, then I will restore you.

“Before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman.’” You want to be used by God? Then separate the precious from the worthless. It means a pure fellowship. I don’t want to hang around people, even in the church, who are defiled. I don’t want to hang around people whose lifestyle is a dishonor to Christ, even though they may be brothers and sisters. I don’t want to be around people whose language doesn’t honor Christ. I don’t want to be around people with bitter, critical tongues. I don’t want to be around people whose commitment to God is shallow and cheap …

You take one bitter person, and they’ll defile everybody around them with their defilement. Don’t get near those people, because if you want to be an honorable vessel – useful, set apart, prepared to serve – you have to be in a pure fellowship. The pure fellowship rubs off and keeps you pure. Hang around the clean vessels, you understand that? Not the defiled ones. Secondly, not only does that vessel that would be honorable in the service of the Lord need to have a pure fellowship, but secondly, a clean heart …

That is where, next week, we will pick up the rest of Paul’s advice to Timothy.

Next time — 2 Timothy 2:22-26