No worse than a pagan

This is your goal in life: to be no worse than the unbeliever? Possibly we should set our sights a bit higher.

A gray mouser relaxes in the hay at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, Romania.

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1 Timothy 5.8

Whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

This is one of the most abused verses in Scripture. People claim it as proof that working a 40-hour week is the will of God.

Let’s examine the verse carefully: What Paul is really saying is this: “If you do provide for your family you are no worse than an unbeliever.” Seriously: isn’t that what Paul is saying? Isn’t he simply noting a minimum standard of decency that all people—including unbelievers—know intuitively?

Is this something we should hold up as a goal for our Christian walk: that we should strive to be no worse than the unbeliever?

One chapter later, in 1 Timothy 6.8, Paul says that “if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.” Jesus says the same thing in Luke 12: If we have food and clothes, it is enough.

What both Paul and Jesus are saying is that a believer who works for more than food and clothing is acting like an unbeliever. So, to put a completely Scriptural interpretation to 1 Timothy 5.8, Paul is saying that a father (materially speaking) must make sure his children have enough to eat and wear. Fine. But both Paul and Jesus say that beyond this is not faith but unbelief.

So, you who say that working 40, 50, and 60 hours is a proof of your faith: take a closer look. Working 40, 50, or 60 hours is a proof of your unbelief!

You, who claim the faith of Abraham, would never leave your home, like he did, or put your son at risk, like he did. You, who are so scrupulous in caring for your family, wouldn’t rise early in the morning to sacrifice your job, much less your children.

In fact, you work because you want to. It gives you pleasure; it gives you money to buy things, it gives you freedom from fear. These are the real reasons. It has nothing to do with Paul. It has nothing to do with Abraham.

It has nothing to do with God.

What Scripture actually says about a Christian’s duty to his or her family is this:

Jesus said that “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple .” Caring for your children to the exclusion of the work of God disqualifies you from discipleship. It is the same thing as a soldier refusing to take orders because they interfere with the soldier’s family life.

If your own family is so important that you refuse to obey the demands of Christ, what does that make you worse than?

Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. He did not say, “No one has greater love than this, than to take care of his family.” The test of a person’s love is not how well he cares for his family. If a person is allowed to refuse the demand by saying “I can’t do it; I have children at home”, then there is no reason for Jesus to have said this.