Secondly, the community is the pillar and bulwark of the truth. The use of these terms may
have been suggested by the previous metaphor, namely, the word for household, which as noted is literally
“house.” Both pillar and bulwark are basic parts of a building,
making sure that the building is structurally stable, with bulwark referring to a horizontal support at the bottom (the
foundation), and pillar referring to
the vertical support in the building, holding up the roof. Of these two terms, bulwark has caused more difficulty,
since the Greek word can mean “support,” “foundation,” “firm base.” The
question then can be asked: is the church the protector of the truth, or is it
the foundation and ground of the truth? These two things are not mutually exclusive,
however. Considering the situation of the church during the time of the writing
of the Pastoral Letters, it was very important to emphasize the role of the
church as the guarantor of the truth in the midst of conflicting claims and
erroneous teachings. In many languages it will be helpful to begin a new
sentence at the pillar and say, for
example, “This church supports the true teachings, just as the foundation and
post (or, pillar) support and insure the stability of a house” or “These
believers support the true teachings just as the foundation and post insure
that a house stands firm (or, doesn’t fall down).”(Daniel C. Arichea and Howard
Hatton, A Handbook on Paul’s Letters to Timothy and Titus [UBS Handbook
Series; New York: United Bible Societies, 1995], 80, emphasis in bold added)
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