Entrust the Word to the
Reliable
2Tim 2:1,2 You then, my son, be strong in
the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have
heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to
reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
While we all may seek to find strength from various things from
food to relationships, what we need to learn is to gain strength
from the grace of God.
"Do
not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is
good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by
ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat
them." Heb 13:9
The most important ideas to propagate are those things of which
the Bible speaks about abundantly, clearly and explicitly. For
many will focus on things which may be unclear or not emphasized
or to read into the Bible ideas which the Bible doesn't intend,
in order to inflate such ideas so as to justify one's
denominational or personal beliefs as being superior to others.
You take, for example, the idea of infant baptism, of which the
Bible never speaks, and yet was considered so important early in
the Reformation that Christians would murder fellow Christians
over that issue. But Paul never said such a thing in the
presence of many witnesses.
A Gnostic view of scripture is to view it as containing hidden
meaning. But that which may have been hidden has been revealed
to all through the New Testament. It is very important to
entrust the teaching of the Bible to those who will keep it
public, emphasizing that which the Bible clearly states. There
came a time when it was entrusted to unreliable men and for over
1000 years the Bible was taken away from the public by those who
replaced what it clearly said with their own ideas.
A person, though even having the spiritual gift of teaching, may
not be qualified to teach unless they are found to be faithful
to the Word. There is a maturing process to become such a
candidate, but all too often there are those assigned to teach
who are yet in the process of developing convictions about what
they are assigned to teach. In fact
"some have wandered away from these (a pure
heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith), and turned
to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but
they do not know what they are talking about or what they so
confidently affirm." 1Tim
1:5-7
Endure Hardship
2Tim 2:3,4 Endure hardship with us like a
good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets
involved in civilian affairs— he wants to please his
commanding officer.
As I commented previously in chapter 1, becoming a Christian is
free, much like joining the US Marines is free. And though it is
quite different than the sense inherent in Militant
Islamo-facism, we Christians are analogous to soldiers. Though
perhaps firemen might be the better analogy. In either case,
Jesus is to be viewed as our Lord. Those who view him as merely
Savior, but not Lord have entered through the window and not
through the door. Since Jesus is Lord we make it our aim to
comply with Him in all things. Jesus is our commanding officer.
We are His "friends" in so much as we obey His commands.
John 15:14 "You are my friends if you do
what I command."
But what would constitute "civilian affairs" to be avoided?
Perhaps that is what Paul was alluding to when he said,
"From now on those who have
wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if
they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those
who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who
use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For
this world in its present form is passing away. I would like
you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned
about the Lord’s affairs— how he can please the Lord. But a
married man is concerned about the affairs of this world— how
he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An
unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s
affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and
spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of
this world— how she can please her husband. I am saying this
for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live
in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord." 1Cor 7:29-35
In other words, there are things what are optional in life -
things which are not bad in themselves, but may unnecessarily
drain our time, energy and resources, making us unavailable for
ministry. So bewareof being engrossed in the temporal things of
this life and missing out on affecting people's eternal destiny.
Devote Youself to the
Ministry
2Tim 2:5-7 Similarly, if anyone competes
as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless
he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer
should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect
on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into
all this.
In chapter 4 Paul will again call upon this analogy of competing
in an athelitic competition.
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
award to me on that day— and not only to me, but also to all
who have longed for his appearing." 2Tim 4:7,8
Though there is the question as to whom we are commpeting
against, seeing Paul desires to see all Christians win the race.
You don't get a sense in his writings that he's competing
against other Christians. So perhaps that's where the analogy
breaks down. Rather it seems here to emphasize the idea firstly
that there are rules to follow. This is not to say that we are
under the regulations of the Law. But rather that there are
general principles to Christian ministry, primary of which is to
comply one's doctrine and practice to that which Paul teaches.
And secondly he uses this analogy to communicate the concept of
devotion. For as an athlete much devote himself to training, so
must those involved in minstry.
Likewise the hardworking farmer works laboriously, and must
follow the rules of farming, sowing in season, watering, and
reaping in season. But in addition Paul adds that such a farmer
be the first to receive a share. This he mentions elsewhere,
such as in
1Tim 5:17,18 "The elders who direct the
affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor,
especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the
Scripture says, 'Do not
muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,'
and 'The worker deserves
his wages.'" And also this passage:
1Cor
9:6-14 "Is it
only I and Barnabas who must work for a living? Who serves
as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and
does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not
drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point
of view? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is
written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it
is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is
concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this
was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the
thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of
sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among
you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we
have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the
contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the
gospel of Christ. Don’t you know that those who work in the
temple get their food from the temple, and those who In the
same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the
gospel should receive their living from the gospel."
So reflect on that!
Unleash God's Word
2Tim 2:8,9 Remember Jesus Christ, raised
from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for
which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a
criminal. But God’s word is not chained.
Whenever the gospel is preached in the Bible the resurrection of
Christ is mention as forensic evidence validating the
propositions of the gospel. For faith in Christ is not blind
faith or wishful thinking. But rather it's based upon the
affadavit of eyewitnesses to the miracles and resurrection of
Christ. Being descended from David is not just a statement if
His humanity, but also refers to Him being the Christ prophecied
in the Old Testament who was to come through the line of David.
Note how Paul starts his epistle to the Romans,
"Paul, a servant of Christ
Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of
God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in
the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human
nature was a descendant of David, and who through the
Spirit of holiness was
declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection
from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom 1:1-4
Paul's main concern, indeed the main concern we Christians
should all have, is that he Word of God be unleased upon the
world. The one thing that has historically hindered
Christiantity is restricting access to the Word of God.
Catholicism did the worse damage of all where for over 1000
years it kept the Word of God in chains and kept populations
illiterate, even speaking the Word in Latin - a dead language -
so that no one would understand it. The most important thing in
Christian ministry is to keep the Word of God accessable and in
a languages people understand.
See to Others'
Salvation
2Tim 2:10 Therefore I endure everything
for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the
salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
The "elect" are those who will obtain salvation through faith in
Christ. Notice the elect are not presumed to be saved apart form
the gospel. For salvation is contingent upon hearing and
believing the gospel. Yet given God's foreknowlege of how people
will respond to the gospel, it could be said that there are
those who are elect, though presently unsaved, but only elect
insomuch as they will inevitably hear and believe the gospel.
That is they are
"elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." 1Peter 1:2
But contrary to a fatalistic hyper-Calvinistic view whereby
when John Ryland heard William Carey talking about becoming a
missionary to India, and told him, "Sit down, young man. When God
decides to save the heathen, He will do it without your
help.", Paul viewed the situation much
differently. Paul did not have a dispassionate fatalistic
viewpoint concerning people's salvation. For God doesn't save
people apart from hearing and believing the gospel.For example
in
1Thess 2:16 he
speaks of Jews
"forbidding
us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved."
The only logical explanation for Paul's attitude is to assume
Paul was speaking of election in terms of God's foreknowledge of
those who would hear and believe the gospel. In other words
there are people who are not elect, but who would have been
elect, had the Christian community not been so lazy and
irresponsible with regards to the ministry of the gospel. How
many people have unnecessarily gone to hell because you were too
busy with other things, too distracted, to be involved in saving
others from hell?
A TrustWorthy Saying
2Tim 2:11-13 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we
will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also
reign with him.
If we deny him, he will
also deny us;
if we are faithless, he
will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
The first conditional clause is the doctrine of
Eternal Security. "Died" is
speaking of a past event, as Jesus said,
"whoever hears my word and believes him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has
crossed over from death to life." Jn 5:24 And consequently
"if we died with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him." Rom 6:8
The second conditional clause is the doctrine of the
Perseverance of the Saints.
Which speaks not of a condition for salvation, but rather
diagnoses whether a person is saved. For while
"those who receive abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life
through the One, Jesus Christ" Rom 5:17, it is also the case that
"he who endures to the end
shall be saved" Mt
24:13, or as Paul puts it,
"By this gospel you are saved, if you hold
firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have
believed in vain." 1Cor
15:2
The third conditional clause speaks not of singular event, such
as Peter's denial of Christ, but of a lifestyle conviction
denying Christ, seeing as the verb in the present rather than
aorist, which in Greek has the sense of characteristic behavior.
This is the converse to the perseverance of the saints, which is
to say, "if and only if we endure in faith to the end".
For the fourth conditional clause, the Greek word for
"faithless" is used seven times in the New Testament. Six of the
seven times it's translated "not believed". And again given the
usage of the Greek present tense here, which indicates lifestyle
characteristic versus a mere singular event or uncharacteristic
behavior, this should more accurately be translated
"If we are characteristically
unbelievers"... If we are unbelievers, He will
faithfully throw us into hell, being faithful to his New
Covenant whereby
"Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the
Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him." John 3:36 You can count on that!