One of the common laws of reason is the ‘law of causality’ or the ‘law of cause and effect’. Remember that this philosophical tools are not created by philosophers, but like any sciences, this is discovered in order to determine the truth along with its rules and principles to keep the integrity of the science of thoughts.
One of the rules of the law of causality is ‘every effect has a cause’ or ‘all effects has causes’. There are some atheist who invalidates this law by saying that ‘if everything has a cause, therefore the existence of god also has a cause. But this law of reason did not claim this principle, instead, ancient philosophers claims the ‘Theory of First Cause’ by Aristotle and further explained by Thomas Aquinas by saying that God is the first cause of all observable things.
Now, human behaviours are also observable intangible things and Paul is explaining the causes of his sinful behaviours and his apostolic ministry.
Paul is known to be a persecutor of the church and later became a Christian convert not because he found simply the truth, but God divinely revealed himself and called him for a purpose. It is his divine appointment that led him to be one of the useful member of the body of Christ of which many teaching manuscript we are reading right now was written by him under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Our desire to serve the Lord is not simply by means of our own volitions, but like the Apostle Paul, he acknowledged that it is from a supreme authority who called him to such service. He was appointed by Christ, not only that, he was taught and entrusted with the Gospel of which he endured many long sufferings in the entirety of his ministry.
On the other hand, he also explicitly described that the caused of his sins against the church of Christ is his ignorance to the things of God, which is contrary to his known zealousness as pharisee taught in the school of Gamaliel. Indeed, the root of such is his religiosity to Judaism which caused him to be a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But as he described, it was his former life, a thing of his past ignorance.
Philosophy is the handmaiden of theology in the old days. As philosophy simply a tool, it leads the mind to understand what we know. Knowledge alone is not enough, if it is not understood. For the revelation of truth is from the mind caused by divine being to understanding of God, His attributes, His perfect will and His glorious purpose.
Paul’s former life will not come to an end, unless he was given the grace of our Lord, not just little grace but abounding and overflowing grace which encapsulates the inclination to sin and unbelief that makes it irresistible by nature. Such grace of God administered by the Holy Spirit produces its very fruit, the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus.
Our election is a divine privilege, God is calling His people and to save them from their sins. This is what exactly Paul is reiterating to Timothy. And without the grace of God, he is still in the illusion of religiousness causing more harm to soul than restoration. Acting in faith is the product of continuous understanding of the things of God, knowing the truth of Christ, and divine revelation of the wisdom of God administered by the Holy Spirit.
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