In vv 20-21 Paul talks of vessels made of gold and silver, and those made from wood and clay; looking at the Christian community I think we all tend to see more paper plates than fine china, and to be perfectly honest I think that fact tends to be one of the things that keeps people away from the Church. However, in Paul's address to Timothy we find that we can't run away from the mess of the Christian community. There is the fact that this letter was written to Timothy who just so happened to be a leader of the 1st. century church. But I don't think that lets all us lay people off the hook.
The two foremost issues that can be derived from this passage are those of "quarreling over words" and outright divergent beliefs (vv.14-18). Now at first glance I have to admit that this idea of quarreling does not seem like that big of deal to me. But when it involves a church community I think there are some things that we need to face as church goers. In the second half of v. 14 Paul says that such things "do no good, but only ruin the hearers." The following notion comes to mind. When we quarrel over minor details we do so solely because we want to be right. A few years ago my wife and I went on an outreach trip through Europe, and I would say that this was a major issue for some of the people on the team (myself included). We were so focused on being right about things that we failed to care for the people around us. Putting food preferences, thoughts on global warming, or historical trivia that nobody in their right minds would care about over the feelings and well being of each other we would pull out what I call the "truth stick" and just beat each other about the head until the discussion ended. More often than not I think we hurt each other's feelings just to be right about something really unimportant. Bolstering our pride at each other's expense, the community within our outreach team was ruined. So it is with the church.
Moving on from there, we have to recognize that in claiming absolute knowledge we could be setting ourselves up for something that is far, far worse. In vv.15-18 Paul brings up two people: Philetus and Hymenaeus. Rather than getting into the theological trappings over their beliefs I think it serves us better to look at their example as the logical result of continuing in this "quarreling over words". I can understand why that might sound extreme, but in elevating your opinion over your brother's you are, in essence, elevating yourself as well. If we continue in that way for long enough, we begin to automatically give credence to every thing we think, and consequently eliminate any possibility for a source of truth outside of ourselves. Be it sermons, or the Bible itself. In the midst of the this mess we have Timothy, and God's promise to be faithful to his children.
I see the seal of God's Foundation that Paul refers to as containing two elements of God's interaction with us. The first "The Lord knows all who are his..." pertains to our justification as believers. Because our entrance into God's presence is based on the merit that Christ attained on our behalf our salvation is quite simply out of our hands. That instant this morning when you woke up and dreaded seeing your boss, or cursed your spouse in your heart for not cleaning yesterdays dishes; those particular sins have already been atoned for at Calvery. Even the false beliefs that we've all had have been atoned for! What a great reminder would have been to Timothy in the midst of his ministry conflicts. We are justified, and as secure as even Jesus himself is, because God does not change his mind. Moreover, in light of Philetus and Hymenaeus we can see that God is not shaken by false teaching. That being said, we can't run off and do whatever we want; Paul goes on to say "let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." Being justified through our faith in Jesus, we are subsequently transformed into his image(or sanctified). To put it plainly: sanctification is the process through which the Christian increasingly becomes more and more like Christ. For us fallen folk, that involves a lot of confession and repentance, and it doesn't necessarily always look like we want it to.
In conclusion; it's important to bear all of this in mind when thinking of the church. It's a mixed bag to say the least. But God has it in control. For those of us in the midst of congregational living we need to be patient with each, having the faith that God is as present in the church as we are (if not more so). When correction needs to be addressed remember that we would not be able to bring correction if we hadn't once been corrected as well.
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