Haiti, Zwingli and the Word of God

Think carefully about the following propositions.

1. Grace Community Church has bought 80 Bibles for the Haitian Pastors and their leadership teams.
2. Most of these men never had a bible before.
3. This fall trip we are planning to help train these men.

Are you excited yet? If not, think about if the Bible was not a commodity in your community. Consider trying to be a Christian without easy access to the scriptures, online sermons, bible study tools, house churches, and email access to the elders. Meditate on how precious the gospel truths are. Now pray about how God could bless these Haitian churches through their relationship with Grace Community Church. God could do amazing things on this trip.

In preparation for our trip down there, Dave Kirk encouraged the Haitian pastors to lead their men through 1st and 2nd Timothy. Here are some of the things I pray the Haitian pastors are thinking about in training their men.

In the last chapter of 1st Timothy and the first chapter of 2nd Timothy, Paul encouraged to Timothy to follow Paul's teaching and guard the Gospel from those who wish to destroy or distort it.

1 Timothy 6:20
O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”

2 Timothy 1:13-14
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

John R. W. Stott
Timothy is to 'guard' it. Paul has addressed precisely the same appeal to him at the end of his first letter (6:20), except that now he calls it the 'good', literally the 'beautiful', deposit. The verb (phylássō) means to guard something 'so that it is not lost or damaged' (AG). It is used of guarding a palace against marauders and possessions against thieves (Lk. 11:21; Acts 22:20). There were heretics abroad, bent on corrupting the gospel and so robbing the church of the priceless treasure which had been entrusted to it. Timothy must be on the watch. (p. 44, The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus (The Bible Speaks Today)).

In chapter 2 of 2nd Timothy, Paul wanted Timothy to protect the Gospel by passing it onto faithful men.

2 Timothy 2:2
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

John R. W. Stott
Here, then, are the four stages in the handling on of the truth, which Paul envisages: from Christ to Paul, from Paul to Timothy, from Timothy to 'faithful men', and from 'faithful men' to 'others also'. This is the true 'apostolic succession'. Certainly, it would involve men, a line of 'faithful men' at that, but the succession from the apostles is to be more in the message itself than in the men who teach it. It is to be a succession of apostolic tradition rather than of apostolic ministry, authority or order, a transmission of the apostles' doctrine handed down unchanged from the apostles to subsequent generations, and passed from hand to hand like the Olympic torch. This apostolic tradition, 'the good deposit', is now to be found in the New Testament. Speaking ideally, "Scripture' and 'tradition' should be interchangeable terms, for what the church hands down from generation to generation should be the biblical faith, no more and no less. And the biblical faith is the apostolic faith. (pp. 52-53, Guard the Gospel: The message of 2 Timothy (The Bible speaks today) )

A little later in chapter 2 of 2nd Timothy, Paul pressed Timothy to be a diligent workman of the scriptures.

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

In chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy, Paul pointed out to Timothy that the Bible was inspired. It could be used for both maturing in Christ and correcting doctrinal error. The Bible was key to what a pastor needed not only for himself to grow in Christ, but to equip his congregation for good works and to mature the members of the body in Christ.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

John R. W. Stott
Paul now goes on to show the profit of Scripture relates to both creed and conduct (16b, 17). The false teachers divorced them; we must marry them. The NEB expresses the matter clearly. As for our creed, Scripture is profitable 'for teaching the truth and refuting error'. As for our conduct, it is profitable 'for reformation of manners and discipline in right living'. In each part the negative and positive counterparts are combined. Do we hope, either in our own lives or in our teaching ministry, to overcome error and grow in truth, to overcome evil and grow in holiness? Then it is to Scripture that we must primarily turn, for Scripture is 'profitable' for these things. (p. 103, Guard the Gospel;: The message of 2 Timothy (The Bible speaks today))

Paul was telling Timothy to pass the truths of scriptures down to the next generation. Paul was writing please do not add man-made traditions and please do not take away anything from scripture: Pass the Gospel truths to your men.

This pattern of finding faithful men to pass on the truths of God's Word to future generations can be found not only in Jesus's and Paul's ministries, but is repeated throughout church history. For example, Augustine trained his followers. Martin Luther kept his professorship of theology throughout his life and even trained his students and colleagues at the dinner table, on walks, and just daily conversations (see The Table Talk of Martin Luther ). The following quotes show how two other reformers fulfilled 2 Timothy 2:2 in their ministries.

Timothy George on How Zwingli Trained His Men
Finally, there was the furtherance of Bible study in the institution of the "Prophecy." Beginning in July 1525, at seven o'clock in the morning in summer (eight o'clock in winter), on every day except Friday and Sundays, all of the ministers and theological students in Zurich gathered into the choir of the Great Minster cathedral to engage in an hour of intense exegesis and interpretation of Scripture. Zwingli opened the meeting with prayer:

Almighty, eternal and merciful God, whose Word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path, open and illuminate our minds, that we may purely and perfectly understand they Word and that our lives may be conformed to what we have rightly understood, that in nothing we may be displeasing unto thy majesty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The text of the day was then read in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, followed by appropriate textual or exegetical comments. Zwingli or another of the ministers delivered a sermon on the passage in German. The sermon was was heard by many of the laity who stopped by the cathedral on their way to work.

The name Prophecy was taken from 1 Corinthians 14, in which Paul referred to the gift of prophesying or the telling forth of the Word of God for the edification of the church. The influence of the Zurich Prophecy was enormous. It was a kind of theological seminary where ministers, missionaries, preachers, and teachers received a thorough grounding the Scriptures. This in turn became a model for Reformed academies and seminaries throughout Europe and was not without influence in the founding of Harvard College in New England in 1636. In addition, numerous biblical commentaries, including several by Zwingli himself as well as the famous Zurich Bible, emerged from the sessions of the Prophecy. (p. 133, Theology of the Reformers )

Philip Hughes on How Calvin Trained His Men
Calvin’s Geneva was something very much more than a haven and a school. It was not a theological ivory tower that lived to itself and for itself, oblivious to its responsibility in the gospel to the needs of others. Human vessels were equipped and refitted in this haven…that they might launch out into the surrounding ocean of the world’s need, bravely facing every storm and peril that awaited them in order to bring the light of Christ’s gospel to those who were in the ignorance and darkness from which they themselves had originally come. They were taught in this school in order that they in turn might teach others the truth that had set them free. (http://www.calvin500.com/calvin-the-educator/)

I have spent some time talking to younger generations of Christian leaders in the Iowa City area. I have spent a limited time with a few of the Haitian pastors. The wealth of theological resources we have in the United States overwhelm me. We have online sermons, online tools and online seminaries. We have solid books on theology, devotion, and counseling being published almost daily. Our elders are college educated, well-read, and have access to other pastors through a variety of media.

The Haitian pastors are not educated, have hardly any resources, and feel isolated. The differences between the local churches in Iowa City and the local churches in Luly and Williamson, Haiti are staggering; however, one of the needs of both churches is the same: we both need generations of young men who fear God and study the Word of God for themselves. We need godly men who can be trained, entrusted with the Gospel and then defend it against false teachers. This not a criticism of either our leaders or the Haitian pastors, but a continual need that the Church at large has. Passing on the deposit of truth is a biblical mandate for all Elder/Pastors.

1. Pray for wisdom on how we can train the Haitian pastors to train the next generation.
2. Pray for spiritual discernment. We just don't know the doctrinal stance or the spiritual standing these pastors have.
3. Pray this Haiti mission team will be a blessing in all our endeavors to the Haitian people.
4. Pray for the mission team's physical and spiritual protection on the trip.