2 Timothy 2:14
Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Tidbits. Today, we are in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 14.
And actually, for most of the book up until this point, Paul's been writing just directly to Timothy as a person, as a believer, as a pastor, and saying, here's what you need to remember about Jesus, about your walk with Him, about what Jesus has
done for you, about how you need to persevere. But then now, in this verse, he begins giving Timothy some instructions that he is supposed to do as a pastor.
He says, as a pastor, here's the things that I want you to be doing within your local congregation. And there's a lot of these in 1 Timothy, but so far in 2 Timothy, it's just been about Timothy the person for the most part.
So 2 Timothy 2 and verse 14 says this, remind them of these things, everything that Paul's been saying to Timothy about enduring persecution and hard times, focusing on Jesus and all of that.
He says, remind them of these things and charge them before God not to fight about words. This is useless and leads to the ruin of those who listen. Okay, I want to look at a few of these things.
Remind them of these things.
If you'll recall, just a little bit earlier, when Paul in verse 8 told Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, like put Jesus in the forefront of your mind, now he's saying, I want you to remind to put at the forefront of the minds of the people in your
church there in Ephesus, remind them about these things. Your pastor is, if you will, not necessarily there to give you brand new information, though certainly he may do that from time to time.
The Bible is an amazing huge book with lots of information, and you could spend your whole life in it and still be learning new things. I know that's certainly true for myself. But we always need to be reminded to be brought back to the basics.
Because that is the simplest, the most easily understood things are the most important things for us. Namely, the Gospel, who God is, who Jesus is, what our call is as believers.
So Paul tells him, remind them of these things, make them think about Jesus and the Gospel and their endurance. And he says, in charge them before God not to fight about words.
This word charge is a word that means to make a solemn declaration about the truth of something.
This would be in a court room where you would say, you know, maybe nowadays, okay, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
It is a specific charge that you are required to say something or to do something or to refrain from lying. And he says, you have a mission to give the people of God.
And man, if I know there's a mission that God has for me, I want to know what it is. If there's a solemn declaration, and here it is not to fight about words.
There's a phrase, and I don't know if it would necessarily encompass everything that this instruction entails, but the word would be pedantic.
That is that someone is always kind of doing a gotcha, that it's always, oh, well, yeah, but you said this thing about salvation, or about the angels, or about Jesus, and actually, it shouldn't be this word.
It should be this synonym to that word, because this synonym is actually better, and it gives the full picture, and you are really leading people astray, or things like, okay, no, no, you can't phrase it in this way.
You have to phrase it this other way, because this other way has, perhaps, unique powers. You might see this in some, I want to be very intentional in how I phrase this.
I'll say a more mystical style of Christianity that would say that in specific syllables, or in specific phrases, or in specific word structures, that is where God's power is found.
And so, if you just say things in a certain way, then you get God's power. But if you really mess with the word order, or word selection at all, then God's power isn't in that thing.
There are some people in a variety of church traditions that would say, okay, it's only really God's word if it is in this particular translation.
And for many people in the previous, you know, a couple millennia of Christianity, that's been the word of God is only really found in the Latin Vulgate, or the word of God is only really found in the Septuagint, and not the Masoretic text.
The word of God is only found in, you can look at, you know, the King James version for some people, for the Mormons, for the Seventh Day Adventists. You have the Jehovah's Witnesses that would say, oh, it's only found in the New World Translation.
And so they would say, these words are the only place where God's words are actually found. And Paul here says to tell Timothy, let them not fight about particular words. That's not the point.
The point isn't getting the right synonym or the right syllables. That doesn't help anyone. And in fact, it makes you look so mystical and so superstitious, he says it leads to the ruin.
The word is literally catastrophe. It leads to the catastrophe of those who listen. So can I encourage you, don't be a pedantic person.
Certainly we need to have truth, but truth has synonyms. And we don't always have to have all of the precision of perhaps a perfect theological paper for seminary. And so don't fight with people about words because that doesn't build people up.
Instead, remember Jesus, talk about Jesus, talk about God's Word, and that brings life to others. Thanks for tuning in today. I know I went a little long.
I will do better in the future. Thank you. Have a great day.
