Often we talk about the people of God as being like a building. Paul double downs on this with the idea of not just a house, but what is in the house. See what he sees –there are bowls that have flour for bread, others with oil for dipping. Some have water for washing. Some bowls are made of wood and are used for serving grapes and figs yet other bowls are made of gold and exist only for beauty itself or of silver that perhaps hold precious objects like rings and jewelry. There is a jar, a bowl, a vessel that houses the special scrolls of scripture, and there is also a chamberpot which must be regularly emptied.

What, exactly, kind of bowl are you in the household of God? That is the question at the heart of these lines I have translated from II Timothy.

II Timothy 2:20-26

20. In a great house there are not only bowls of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some dishonor.

21. Now, therefore, if anyone should purify himself from these things, to be consecrated as an honorable bowl, useful to the homeowner, ready for every good work,

22. then flee youthful desires; pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those people who call upon the name of the Lord from a clean heart.

23. You must avoid foolish and ignorant speculation because it is a breeding ground for conflict.

24. Yet it is not necessary for a servant of the Lord to fight, but to be kind to everyone, a gifted teacher, and one who tolerates bad people.

25. Teaching those who are in opposition with gentleness, for God may give them repentance to know truth

26. and so come to their senses, away from the devil’s trap where they were held alive to do his will.

Verse 21 is an aorist subjective which indicates a mood that I might describe best as ‘iffy-ness’. Often translated with ‘should’ or ‘could’ but I’ve chosen ‘if’ in this instance. The idea is, I think, of a chamberpot filled with awful, odorous, unclean contents that wants to clean itself out, to purify itself, it can become more than a chamberpot. If it should so desire.

Paul is anthropomorphizing an inanimate object as if it had agency to describe us. We are like chamberpots, filled with pollutants called sin. But, we can change and become a vessel of gold that holds something precious.

Not only is the bowl purified, it is consecrated, made holy, honorable, and useful to the homeowner, who is clearly a representation of the Lord himself. This transformation is supernatural and comes from the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus, but it is also a discipline, as the chamberpot, you and me, take an active role in the process of cleaning ourselves up. There are actions we must take.

The first one he mentions here is to run away from youthful desire. It is easy to think of sexual sin here but that is too easy. Certainly that is part of it, but the emphasis upon ‘youthful’ might simply mean to be an honorable vessel requires maturity. Growing up is the first part of following Jesus. Stop acting like a spoiled, entitled, selfish child.

The second step would then to be to belong to a community who is pursuing the eternal biblical virtues of peace, love, faith, and righteousness. Transformation is not done alone. This kind of change only comes in the context of community. Grow up and join up seem to be what Paul is elucidating as necessary for us to stop being a stinking poopy pot and become a glowing golden goblet.

A third step is to live in this community without being odious and confrontational. You don’t have to fight. There is always an option. The servant of the Lord doesn’t have to fight, and indeed likely should not. Instead, he or she must teach and speak in a patient, kind, tolerating kind of way even to those who are foolish. The point is, God might through your work open their eyes to see and so be raised up out of the chamberpot themselves. The language of verse 26 calls the chamberpot a trap of the devil. People are trapped, captured, and kept alive in the cesspool of their own making. We can help them.

So, we grow up, join up, and raise up. This is the process for change, but it is not linear. I find I am always working at growing up for I am ever an eight-year old boy or a seventeen-year old hothead. The work of staying in community is very hard and the temptation to flee to the comforting destruction of isolation ever woos. I grow weary of repeating myself over and over to people about the right things and the wrong things. It is exhausting. I think that is why Paul is reminding Timothy of it. Timothy knows these things, but he must be reminded.

We do, as well.