Daniel Viezbicke
A succulent sits on my desk at church. I bought it years ago because I wanted something to break up the monotony of my office, as well as something to symbolize my ambitions in pastoral ministry. Crassula ovata—so my horticulturalist wife told me—was easy to care for and started small before growing into something much larger.
Perhaps most importantly, it could weather my occasional failure to give it water. How? Its roots, like all succulents, are resilient. For it to mature to something resembling a tree instead of a house(office?)plant, its roots need tending through regular watering, exposure to sunlight, and potting in good soil.
In 1 Timothy 1:5, Paul presents a similar picture of the fruit of the Christian life and, indeed, a picture of a pastor’s ministry. The long fruit of Paul’s ministry and the fruit of Timothy’s ministry as a pastor in Ephesus can only take place when the three roots of that fruit are cared for: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5).
Where does real love come from? The roots of love are:
- A pure heart
- A good conscience
- A sincere faith
Table of contents
The danger of dead roots
The aim of Paul’s charge to Timothy is love (1 Tim 1:5).
But there’s a specific context in which this love is to play out: confronting false teachers so that they don’t destroy their faith or the faith of others.
Shipwrecked faiths
Looking at the immediate context in 1:3–4, Paul charges Timothy, or gives him a mission, to confront false teachers (see also vv. 6–7). Then in 1:18–19, Paul instructs Timothy that he will wage this good warfare—completing this assignment given to him—by holding onto faith and a good conscience. Paul contrasts this with false teachers who had departed from faith and a good conscience and so had shipwrecked their faith (1:19–20).
So in this specific context, Paul is asking a truth-loving pastor, Timothy, to confront other teachers who are believing and speaking falsehood. Timothy is to act like a bulwark, intervening before they destroy the church even further.
From dead roots to blasphemy
How can you tell a plant is dying? What are the first signs? The aforementioned jade plant—which does nothing suddenly—would wilt slowly. But if you touched the soil, you could immediately feel how dry it was long before the leaves began to wither. Likewise, the fruit of a shipwrecked faith is only the result of an uncared for, dried-out soul.
What is the result of corrupting one’s soul while nonetheless teaching others to love God? Blasphemy. The two false teachers that Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 1:20 had apparently learned to blaspheme God as a result of their shipwrecked faith, and Paul had “given them over to Satan”—likely a metonym for excommunication based on 1 Corinthians 5:5—so that their souls might be saved.
The fruit of a shipwrecked faith is only the result of an uncared for, dried-out soul.
Why are false teachers—and their souls—so important that Paul would write to Timothy about how to move towards them? The shipwrecked faith of a teacher distorts the image, the picture, of God to those under their teaching.
This reminds us of Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. The elders of the church should watch themselves lest someone rise who will teach destructive heresies (Acts 20:30). What kind of heresy? That which will corrupt heart, conscience, and faith, and in so doing will kill love. The faith of a false teacher is shipwrecked because of the backdoor vulnerability of a corrupt conscience (1 Tim 1:19–20).
Out of love for those with withering, corrupted souls, Paul instructs Timothy to move toward them with love and truth. And for that to take place, Timothy must pay attention to his own soul.
The 3 roots of love
In 1 Timothy 1:5, Paul identifies these three roots of love that Timothy must attend to. These three roots are admittedly intertwined. But we can nonetheless attend to what each conveys.
1. “A pure heart”
As Philip H. Towner explains, “[T]he heart was regarded as the locus of the human personality and origin of the emotions and intentions.”1 Accordingly, Jesus says that the only way to see God is out of a pure heart (Matt 5:8). Indeed such people are the most blessed of all on the earth, Jesus says.
Perhaps contrary to popular wisdom, purity of heart not only has to do with motivation for love, but it has to do with the ability to love. Because those who are pure of heart can see God (Matt 5:8), their greatest joy and motivation, they can then rightly see their neighbor—even their enemy, the false teacher in their midst.
2. “A good conscience”
Paul’s teaching elsewhere on a bad conscience proves instructive for what he means here. A seared conscience (1 Tim 4:2 ) is the opposite of a properly operating conscience. Burnt and unfeeling, they are deadened and cannot respond properly to God’s Word—sometimes reacting against him, sometimes just ignoring him.
How does one sear their conscience? Apparently, they lie and play the hypocrite before they embrace the falsehoods for themselves (1 Tim 4:2). A good conscience, by contrast, would be one that embraces truth and lives in light of it.
3. “A sincere faith”
The seared conscience in 1 Timothy 4:2 is also accompanied by insincerity, which contrasts a “sincere faith” in 1:5. Notice that the same phrase shows up in 2 Timothy 1:5 as well, where Paul attributes Timothy’s sincere faith to his Jewish mother and apparently Jewish grandmother who raised him in the faith.
What does this entail? A sort of single-hearted belief in God, a genuineness that emerges from the heart and animates the hands to love and good works.
These three roots—a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith—give way to love in pastoral ministry, Paul says.
Attending to one’s soul
Now if the end goal is love, and the means to it are purity of heart, conscience, and faith, how might we go about attending to these roots? In fact, this is the most important question a pastor can ask himself: Is my soul dry and uncared for? And how would I know if it were?
All three find expression in singleness of purpose. As the psalmist cries out, “unite my heart to fear your name” (Ps 86:11)—words that are constantly on my own mind and lips. One who possesses these qualities is not unstable and double minded (Jas 1:8), but instead stable and single-hearted.
But how does that unity, that integrity, take place? Just before his prayer for a united heart, the psalmist asks God to teach him so that they might walk in truth (Ps 86:11). Teaching in the truth is essential to unity—and purity—of soul.
The author of Hebrews agrees:
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb 4:12–13)
Notice again the importance of receiving truth. This work waters ground, softens hearts, strengthens faith.
So the question emerges: How do you make your heart soft so it might soak in the nourishing water? First, you have to avail yourself of the water, and then you find others to help you in the work.
1. The watering work of the Word
The Scriptures are filled with pictures of God’s Word as water. Sometimes this water is for cleansing (e.g., John 17:17; Eph 5:26), but sometimes we find a picture of nourishing and growth.
For instance, Psalm 1 likens the righteous person to a tree by streams of water that grows and flourishes with great fruit. The analogy he builds points to continuous meditation on God’s law—his words—so that they might flourish. Note the motivation for the righteous person: They delight in God’s law. This inward motivation acts as water in their life and makes it fruitful.
But perhaps more pertinent to the context of 1 Timothy 1:5, consider Paul’s subsequent words to Timothy in 4:16: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Pastors must watch over their own souls and what they’re teaching if their ministry will be effective. But watering the roots of the soul is the essential pre-ministerial work. We must be committed to teaching what’s true, including to our own ears and hearts.
Watering the roots of the soul is the essential pre-ministerial work.
As Proverbs 4:23 puts it, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” So too we might say out of the pastor’s heart flows the springs of life for those under their care.
2. Find other gardeners for your soul
This watering work can be multiplied as one enlists the care of others.
At the end of his life, Paul writes again to Timothy, encouraging him to continue the work he’s begun at Ephesus. In contrast to the many who sadly left Paul (2 Tim 4:10), he eagerly wanted his son in the faith to stay the course marked out for him.
In a passage that would undoubtably remind Timothy of Paul’s previous charge, Paul writes, “Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Tim 2:22; emphasis added). Paul encouraged Timothy to find other people who call on God with a pure heart (in contrast with those in 2 Tim 2:23–26 who are engaged in foolish controversies apparently out of an impure heart). In short, run from your sinful passions and find others to help you run towards God.
This work of tending to one’s own soul is not purely an individual exercise. We ought to enlist others to water our souls. Are you a pastor? Do the work of finding others to help care for your soul. If need be, raise up other pastors. If you’re in seminary, find others who will study your soul so they can apply the water of the Word to you. I’m privileged to serve as a pastor alongside two others who went to seminary with me a decade ago. It’s a rare blessing. Having other soul-gardeners has helped me to endure many a dark night.
But this side-by-side watering is not always easy. A good question to evaluate yourself with is: When was the last time someone delivered a hard truth to me from God’s Word? If no one speaks such truths to you, maybe they’re afraid to do so. Or perhaps you’ve insulated yourself from such grace in your life because you’re afraid. But the one whose heart soaks in the life-giving water of the Word fears God, not mere mortals, enabling him to heed the words of mortals when they come in the name of the Immortal One.
So soak those roots, dear pastors and pastors-in-training, to be better prepared to love those God has put in your care.
Daniel Viezbicke’s recommended resources on pastoral soul care
Faithful Endurance: The Joy of Shepherding People for a Lifetime (audio)
Regular price: $19.95
Pastor, Jesus Is Enough: Hope for the Weary, the Burned Out, and the Broken
Regular price: $11.99
The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians
Regular price: $13.99
The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership
Regular price: $3.99
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- Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 2006), 115.
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