2 Timothy | Chapter 2 – Scripture Supply

2 Timothy 2:1-6

“Dedication, discipline and diligence”

Vs. 1-2 Three ways to pass the baton

Vs. 3-6 Threefold winning attitudes

2:1-21 BE STRONG Be strong in the grace that is in Jesus

2:1-6 Recalling three examples of grace

2:7-13 Remembering the example of Jesus’ grace

2:22 BE WISE But know this, in the last days perilous times will come

2:22-26 Know what to run from and run to

Introduction

The Christian life was never designed to be a self-centered life, one characterized by self-indulgence. The business of the Christians of every age is to guard the truth which has been entrusted to them. That is what Paul told Timothy in chapter 1 verse 14. In chapter 2 the word “Therefore” in the first verse 2 ought to have an arrow attached to it pointing up to what Paul had just spoken of with regards to “letting lose the lion of the word of God”. There will be some “marketing believers” that will say, “If you do that you will never grow a large megachurch”. But quantity must never have on the altar of sacrifice quality! Jesus set the goal in Matthew 7:13-14 when He said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Vs. 1-2 Three ways to pass the baton

Vs. 1-2 Paul gives three keys to be effective in passing on what was entrusted to us:

Vs.1a “You therefore, my son, be strong..”: The point Paul is making is that you cannot pass on what you don’t possess! The great truth about God’s truth is that it isn’t intellectual truth or head knowledge, it is truth that must be personally applied. If we want to strengthen others we must first strengthen ourselves, Paul tells Timothy.
Vs.1b “In the grace that is in Christ Jesus”: One of the peculiar truths about grace is that it is never available to strong people! That’s why it is difficult for us to appropriate the grace that is in Jesus, we must come to the realization that we are weak in order for Him to be strong. The best way that I know of to come to the realization that you are weak is read the bible, when you do you will be driven to the grace that is in Jesus. This isn’t about making up one’s mind, it is about true confession of our weakness and appropriating His strength. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission once said, “The easiest positions He must give me grace, and in the most difficult positions, His grace is sufficient.”
Vs. 2 “the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”: Truth is CAUGHT not TAUGHT and people need to see it as well as hear it. Timothy had traveled extensively with Paul and he not only heard Paul speak the word of God he saw Paul live out the word of God. He saw the lives transformed by the truths and he had also witnessed the horrible way those who rejected God’s word treated Paul and others and how Paul continued to pray and love those who rejected the truth. But what do faithful people look like? Ray Stedman described 4 traits of a faithful person:

Searching mind: This describes a mind that wants to learn, a person with a searching mind loves to learn, they haven’t tuned out; they aren’t looking to be entertained. No, they are constantly looking to feed their mind, they love to dig into truth.
Humble heart: A person who knows that they don’t know! People who are faithful have set aside their egos as they know that knowledge isn’t given to us so that others will be impressed with what we know. A faithful person wants truth more than they want a reputation.
Evident gifting: Paul didn’t want intellectual hoarders, who wanted to keep secret the mysteries so that folks would be impressed with them. He cultivated people who couldn’t wait to give away what had been entrusted to them.
Faithful spirit: The fourth characteristic is a person who has a track record of the above three qualities. These are the kind of people that aren’t looking to climb the ladder, looking for something better, neither are those who are only interested when it is convenient to them.

The best way to pass the torch on to the next generation is to make sure that those of us who have the torch now are running with it, so we can pass it on. The Christian life isn’t just to BELIEVE it is to be LIVED! In 1950 China kicked out the missionaries and folks felt that the church would disappear under the reign of Communist rule and they were amazed to find that the church had grown 7 fold during the 30 years that there was no window into China.

Vs. 3-6 Threefold winning attitudes

Vs. 3-6 Paul uses three metaphors to describe the commitment of the Christian that will hold fast the pattern of sound words. These three metaphors tell us that it will take the, DEDICATION OF A SOLDIER, the DISCIPLINE OF AN ATHLETE and the DILIGENCE OF A FARMER:

DEDICATION OF A SOLDIER: Vs. 3-4 “As a good soldier of Jesus Christ”: Paul describes two things that makes a “good soldier of Jesus Christ”:

Endure hardship: As soldiers of Jesus Christ we are not on parade we are in a battle. We have a realistic attitude with our duty that understands that to advance we must endure hardship, forgo the pleasures that this life says we deserve. The author of Hebrews describes a host of those who have gone before us enduring hardship as he write specifically of Moses in verse 25 that Moses, “choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked forward to the reward.” We are called to enjoy life in CHRIST, but that doesn’t mean that life in this world will always be enjoyable!
Untangled with this life: A soldier also understands that they can no longer afford becoming entangled with civilian pursuits as their aim is to please the One who enlisted them to service. Interviews with surviving soldiers of the Omaha Beach invasion at Normandy revealed a powerful truth as to why those hero’s faced almost certain death on the beach and as they climbed the cliffs, still nonetheless continued forward. They listed two reasons for the selfless actions that day: Respect and appreciation of their commanding officer and love of their fellow soldiers! The Christian life is not a way of doing special things; it’s a special way of doing everything. Whatever we are doing we do for His honor and glory, as we seek to please Him. Far too many in the church have confused this and have sought at all cost to make this temporary home our permanent residence.

DISCIPLINE OF AN ATHLETE: Vs. 5 “In athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules”: With an athlete we have a different type of motivation which is “biblical ambition”. Every athlete learns to deny themselves certain things they want or even crave because they want to win more than indulge their temporary pleasures. In the Greek games the judges were sticklers in enforcing the rules: Each competitor had to be a citizen of his nation, with a good reputation. In their preparations for their event, they had to follow specific standards, if the athlete was found defective in any manner they were disqualified from competing. If after they competed and won but were found to have broken some rule they were stripped of their crown. Paul knew that there was a crown that awaited him, he had finished his race and was waiting to hear the words of THE JUDGE that would say, “Well done, good and faithful servant enter in!”
DILIGENCE OF A FARMER: Vs. 6 “The hardworking farmer, must be first to partake of the crops”: There are three practical truths about the farmer:

The farmer has to work: If you leave a field to itself all it will produce is weeds.
The farmer needs to exercise patience: The harvest is not at the end of the service or even at the end of the year, it is at the end of the age and we may very well not see the fruit of our labor until we see our Master face to face.
The farmer has earned the right to share in the crop: The laborer is worthy of his reward, just like a farmer so to the servant of Christ. Of even greater value is that the person who shares the word is always the first to be blessed by it.

Far too many Christians have quit serving because they were doing so to get “BLESSED” instead of realizing they had already been blessed. Then when they aren’t “BLESSED” according to their expectations and timing they quit and decide to just sit on the sidelines and watch others. Being a Christian takes long hours and hard work. Like the farmer we rise before the sun and aren’t home until after it sets and our expectation of a harvest for the most part isn’t in this season it is in the one to come.

Having looked at these metaphors that Paul used to speak to Timothy about staying the course of the faith may cause a few of us to want to rethink what we signed up for. Many churches in America have “soft peddled” the faith and now offer “Christian LIGHT” where their motto isn’t “It’s all about HIM” instead it is “All about ME!” I’m blessed to be a part of a fellowship that isn’t like that as you continue to demonstrate a faith that has the DEDICATION OF A SOLDIER, the DISCIPLINE OF AN ATHLETE and the DILIGENCE OF A FARMER.

2 Timothy 2:7-19

“The worker in the Word”

Vs. 11-13 Five encouragements

Vs. 14-19 A battle of words

Introduction

Paul had just finished with the three metaphors of how to “Hold fast the pattern of sound words” when the world is falling apart all around you. If the believer is to leave a lasting impact upon the people around them they will need:

The dedication of a soldier

The discipline of an athlete

The diligence of a farmer

Having said that Paul addresses yet another tactic of the devil and that has not so much to do with “keeping the WORD” but with the “conduct of the WORKER”. Without giving our enemy too much praise he is a master at strategy to defeat Christians and he employs several different tactics to defeat us. With Paul in prison only a few weeks away from being beheaded he offers Timothy encouragement to keep going the right direction as well as things to avoid so as to not get side tracked.

Vs. 11-13 Five encouragements

Vs. 7-13 Remember that Paul is written a personal letter to Timothy as we can see the five very personal encouragements that he offers Timothy:

Vs. 7 Look Again: Paul wants Timothy to chew on those three examples. Dear ones, it’s not only important to know the truth, it’s important to know where the truth fits in your life. The word of God offers more than answers, it offers answers rightly fitted to your life just when you need it! We have heard that it is “The early bird that gets the worm but don’t forget also that it is the 2nd mouse that gets the cheese!” This is why Paul says, “Consider what I say” and “may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”
Vs. 8 Look Up: Paul sets this encouragement up by reminding Timothy that Jesus was the “seed of David”. There are two truths with regards to this statement:

First, Jesus was the fulfillment of a promise to David, that he would have his heir always sit upon the throne. But this promise didn’t look like it was going to be fulfilled, as Jesus the promised heir died before ever making it to the throne. Yet it was this defeat that made His reign everlasting. Saints, since Jesus conquered death to fulfill forever the promise, how much more can we be of great courage that whatever we are facing now will be conquered as well
2nd this reminds us that Jesus was fully man and as such knows exactly what we are going through on every level. When all the doubt and despair comes in like a flood we need only look to our Savior who has gone before us.

Light works best in a dark room! And Jesus’ resurrected power is most visible in a cemetery! Nothing I know of can sustain me in seasons of doubt and despair as much as remembering the resurrection of Jesus.

Vs. 9 Look Out: We can all suffer from spiritual myopathy as we focus exclusively on our circumstances or situations. We must not ascribe the limitations of our situations and circumstances to the truth and work of Christ. To do so is to adopt a defeatist attitude to the work of Christ because we often see the work of God limited by what limits us. Paul couldn’t move outside the dungeon he was in. The Word of God was not hindered by the same cell. Saints the word of God by the Spirit of God is not bound, it is turned loose upon the world we live in and it will not return void.
Vs. 10 Look Upon: Paul tells Timothy that his circumstances were so that others would be blessed. Paul was a syringe in the hand of the Master. The things we go through are part of how the truth must be distributed. For some the truth must become harassed and agitated, shaken and broken for it to have its full effect. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Grace is free to all of us, anybody can take it, but somebody has to be involved in the suffering that made it possible.”
Vs.11-13 Look on Him: The fifth encouragement comes in the form of an early Christian hymn which is a statement that the earthly difficulties are no match to the heavenly victory won us by trusting in Jesus. Some folks use Jesus as a “good luck charm” only to become disillusioned with Him when He didn’t meet their expectations. We are being refined to see if what we see we believe is truly what we believe. Ah but don’t become discouraged because being faithless at times is different than being a fake. When we are faithless, dear ones Jesus remains faithful. Life is a great test track to see if we are willing to let go of ourselves and this world and trust in only Him. These times will require us to have: The dedication of a soldier, the discipline of an athlete and the diligence of a farmer.

Vs. 14-19 A battle of words

Vs. 14-19 There is a great division in this letter to Timothy right here as Timothy focuses more upon the worker and how our enemy tries to keep us off balance. Reading these verse gives me two general observations:

These tactics are aimed at those who are “in the game”. Satan isn’t concerned with those who are apathetic. I can only surmise that he isn’t interested in them because they pose no threat to his self-absorbed kingdom.
These tactics have to do with communication: (vs 14 not to strive about words, vs. 16 shun profane and idle babblings, vs 17 their message will spread like a cancer.) Paul even calls this tactic “word battles” as that is the literal translation of “not to strive about words”. Our enemy is into getting the church to squabble about words, after all he is the prince of the power of the air and the author of confusion and the father of lies. So it shouldn’t surprise us that he seeks to cause miscommunication.

Paul gives Timothy four things to do about word battles:

Vs. 14a Avoid disputing words: Paul makes no reference about whether these words are false or true. Satan wants people to dispute and argue different aspects of what they believe because when people do it keeps them from speaking about Jesus. We get all caught up in when He will return and forget to talk about Him. We don’t have to change our position nor do we have to convince our opponent all we have to do is “stop”. The story is told of Brittan’s Admiral Nelson as he came across two of his officers arguing to the point of about to come to blows when Nelson stepped in between them and said, “Stop!” Then he pointed to the French fleet and said, “There is the enemy!” Paul says that if you don’t avoid this you can count on two casualties:

No Profit: Truth will be the first casualty! There will be no advancement of truth, no gain for the Kingdom. This doesn’t produce unity, it only produces division.
Ruins the listener: The listener will be the 2nd casualty as all the disputes and arguments just closes people’s hearts to want to hear the truth all together.

Vs. 15 Seek God’s approval not mans: The problem with word battles with people is that we are putting all our energy in trying to convince people instead of working hard to have the Word of God transform us. The “Worker in the Word” is employed to win arguments but to be transformed by the word personally. The phrase “rightly dividing” is a Greek word that means to “cut straight” and as a leatherworker Paul knew well the importance of “cutting straight” fabric or leather. I’m not a seamstress but I’ve been told that the key to making a garment fit properly is in the cutting; if you cut too short below the line it won’t fit right and pull, but if you cut too large it will droop and sag. Ah but cut it right and it will fit together and look right. When handling the word of God “cut it right” don’t cut it short so that you have to pull it or stretch to fit over the things in your life. And don’t cut it too long so it bags over you and no longer resembles the word of God. We need to cut straight the word of God so
Vs. 16-18a Don’t get involved in empty words: Paul uses the word “shun” in the Greek means to “walk around” and implies not to get involved idle chatter that leads to arguments. Idle babblings refers to folks who just shot their mouths off, using lots of emotionalism to cover up their ignorance. This kind of thing will spread like a cancer among the church. Paul offers Timothy an example of a cancer that spread in the actions and words of Hymenaeus and Philetus. Hymenaeus we already read about back in Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy where Paul said that he delivered him to satan in order that he may learn not to blaspheme. It appears that the cancer of false teaching had not been completely cut away as it had spread to Philetus who was now spreading the same lies.
Vs. 19 Take a stand on the solid foundation of God’s word: There will always be people and the enemy that will try to get you off tract but there is the solid foundation of God that will keep us in tract. The truth of the word of God will never be altered but Jesus. Paul quotes Numbers 16:19 about the rebellion of Korah during Israel’s wilderness wanderings. Korah, Dathan and Abiram wanted the power and popularity of the people and challenged the authority of Moses. So Moses took the problem before the Lord and suggested they and their families come before the Lord and the people to be examined and when they did the ground opened up and down they went, as God in essence told the people “Any questions!” John said in 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us that it might be evident that they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would have continued with us.”

2 Timothy 2:20-22

“Vessels of honor”

Vs. 20-21 A great house

Vs. 22 House cleaning

Introduction

Last time we were together we spoke of the “Art of holding fast the pattern of sound words”. Paul spoke to Timothy about the kind of effort he would need to put forth to accomplish this as he used the three metaphors:

Dedication of a soldier
Discipline of an athlete
Diligence of a farmer

Next Paul spoke about the importance of right communication and how to avoid getting pulled into wrong communication. Paul continues this topic as he wants Timothy to be all that God wants him to be. There are tons of self-help books aimed at getting the reader to get the most out of their life by diet, exercise, financial planning etc. but here Paul is telling us how we can be more useful to the Master. Dear ones this is not a selfish ambition from God, He has created us to be useful and He knows that we will attain the maximum fulfillment, excitement and satisfaction when we are operating as our Designer intended us too. Paul again uses a metaphor to describe what it will take to be useful to the master. As I read through verse 22 of this passage my mind went back to that old 1978 Kenny Rogers song the Gambler and the lyric that said, “You got to know when to hold them and when to fold them”. Saints if we are going to be useful to the Master we will need to know what to FLEE and what to PURSUE.

Vs. 20-21 A great house

Vs. 20-21 As you look at this metaphor some see that Paul is speaking exclusively of the Church at large but I’m of the opinion that Paul is not writing to Timothy about the church but rather of humanity as every person has been designed as a vessel for God’s use as that was His design from the beginning. That’s not to say that every person is fulfilling their design willingly and that seems to be Paul’s point. The amazing truth is God is so far ahead of all His creation that He can and does use even those in His creation who are at war against Him and determined to destroy the knowledge of Him at every turn.

God even used Satan to accomplish His purposes as well as his cohorts throughout history. In Romans chapter 9 Paul develops this fact even more clearly saying that not only was Moses an instrument of God, so too was Pharaoh who was used by God so that God would show His power was above that of the strongest ruler of the time. God is not limited in His use as He has and will continue to use people to bring about His purposes both in honor and dishonor.

In Jeremiah 27:6 God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant and in Isaiah 45:1 the Lord calls Cyrus King of Persia His anointed. The question isn’t whether or not you are going to be used of God, the question is how are you going to be used of God? What is God going to be using you for if you are willing it will be for a noble purpose if you are unwilling it will be for an ignoble purpose. People learn both ways, there is always a before picture to demonstrate the benefits of the after picture! The world is full of bad examples. In fact you could make the argument that there are far more bad examples than there are good examples and to be quite frank we all have been at times on the “bad example” photo. Paul goes on to say to Timothy that God has two purposes in a “great house”:

Vessels of gold and silver…some for honor: These are utensils to serve, to bless and feed, their material suggests permanence and value as the Owner of the house sees them as His treasure and plans on keeping them to use over and over to bless others by His continual use!
Vessels of wood and clay…some for dishonor: These are instruments in the Owner’s hand as well but their material composition suggests a more limited use, one in which He does not display them and in time will dispose of them. Wood and clay were the paper and plastic of that day.

By this we learn that God sees all humanity as useful but some are for good purposes and some are lessons to the rest of humanity and it is the individual’s free choice to determine what kind of instrument they are. It’s clear they have a choice based upon verse 21 as Paul says, “If anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor..” It’s interesting we have no choice as to whether we are going to be used of God but we do have a choice as to how we are going to be used of God.

God will not set aside a person’s choice and if the person does not purify themselves then they will be used according to their choice. I find it interesting to talk to folks who have been used for an ignoble cause as they often make their ignoble use someone else’s fault but the truth is they made a choice to be used the way they did. And the same is true that a person who is a vessel of honor has made a choice to purify themselves so to be a vessel of honor. There are those that come to Church hear the clear and concise teaching of the Word and though they have heard the scriptures exhortations they don’t apply the truths they have heard and when their life is falling apart they blame God and His church saying, “I’m, a Christian, I go to church I don’t understand why I’m not enjoying the blessings and promises of God, why I don’t have more joy.” You cannot expect good results when you don’t apply the word of God.

You will never inherit the promises of God, never see the activity of God the way He wishes to release His power in your life until you come to Him to be purified! We must choose to say no to the disobedience before God will say yes to the obedience. You have to reject the philosophy of those who are urging you to live for yourself. You cannot go on living as a vessel of dishonor if you wish to be a vessel of honor, hence the words “cleanse himself”.

Yes God will use an unclean vessel but only for dishonor not for honor. The way to honor and usefulness is sanctification as Paul declares that “we will then be useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” I love the truth that not only will it be useful but for “every good” work, that implies a lifetime of adventure in God’s abundant variety of ways in which He can use a person. All of this hangs upon the believer being willing to turn away from wrong attitudes and philosophies and actions.

Vs. 22 House cleaning

Vs. 22 Paul moves on to three specifics of cleansing one’s self to be a vessel of honor. These are all found in verse 22:

Vs. 22a “Flee youthful lusts”: The first step is don’t allow yourself to behave wrongly! When we read the phrase “youthful lusts” our minds immediately think of sexual urges that living in a sexually saturated society like we do would certainly fit the Greek meaning of the phrase but it doesn’t exclusively mean that. Paul is speaking of ALL youthful passions that often propel the youth to be impulsive and impetuous in their actions and attitudes. Often those passions are not only wrong they are hurtful, destructive and evil in the sight of God.

One commentator put it this way, “This refers not only to the sexual temptations and appetites of a young person but also to pride, conceit, dogmatism, the false sense that they are the center of their own universe that also permeates the immature mind.” Timothy as a young pastor was facing an explosive situation in the false teaching and rejection of Biblical truth that was at the church in Ephesus. What Paul was warning against was acting impulsively when he dealt with it. It is never enough for the servant of God to be right, that is only the basement, the penthouse is that as we stand on the Bible for our being right we allow that same truth to dictate our behavior in behaving right as well!

Vs. 22b “Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace”: The second step, is the direct opposite of what Paul had just said in FLEE, as he now encourages Timothy to PURSUE four characteristics of maturity. Each of these four things is well presented in scripture as each of them as you will find many of them in Galatians chapter 5 and the fruit of the Spirit, which tells us that these all come from God and He wants to give them to each of us. The word “pursue” means go for it or go after it.

Righteousness: The word means “right behavior” . Life boils down to choices and one of those choices is “right behavior” trust in God not in yourself.
Faith: Again this is a choice not in whether we will exercise faith or trust but what the object of our trust is in. I have determined in myself that most often my two choices are either God and His Word or myself.
Love: We must choose love even when our flesh is screaming at us, take revenge, make him pay, get even. Choosing love can also mean that we need to confront a person who is grieving God.
Peace: You also must seek peace and reconciliation which encourages and promotes restoration. To not do so is to give place for the enemy to take not only the other person captive but you as well.

Paul says that we need to make those 4 characteristics something that we go after and pursue.

Vs. 22c “With those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart”: The third and final step of cleansing oneself to be a vessel of honor is to surround yourself with those who practice these same things and encourage you to do so as well. Paul calls them those that are of “pure heart” and by the use of this word he is not saying they are sinless. The word “pure” means “cleansed” and suggests that they knew they were not clean hearted but also knew what to do about it. These are the kind of people who see themselves not as better than others but those that know that they are sinners in constant need of transformation. That is why they are good to be around as they are quick to make a long record of rights and a short record of wrongs so that they can help us get back on track. We must keep company with people who are going the same direction.

2 Timothy 2:23-26

“Tongue twisters”

Vs. 23 When to talk, when to not

Vs. 24-26 Six guidelines of behaving right while being right

Introduction

As Paul wrote this letter awaiting his death, he understood that the world that he was leaving behind for his son in the faith, Timothy, was going to become far worse for all believers. Timothy not only was facing adversity from the outside he was facing it from the inside as well as the church was no longer into practicing the truth instead as Paul tells us in chapter 3 verses 1-5 they would have a form of godliness but deny its power. That’s the backdrop to the section we are looking at this morning. How to live in a world filled with conflict and in a church filled with controversy.

If we were to take a poll as to what the hardest things to do in our ministry to others I’m pretty certain that keeping our cool with those who are losing their cool towards us has got to be in the top 5. Paul is going to address this difficult challenge in chapter 2 verses 23-26, so if you are like me and find this a great challenge then you may want to take some notes.

Vs. 23 When to talk, when to not

Vs. 23 The first issue Paul takes up is how to handle what he calls “foolish and ignorant disputes” in the church. I like how the Revised Standard Version describes this as “stupid, senseless controversies.” This clarifies what we believers should avoid doesn’t it? There are those who are so passive who think that this passage is saying to not get involved with any kind of biblical controversy, never take a side on any issue if it creates an argument. Recently an Episcopalian church made headlines as they not only allowed a Muslim Community to hold worship services in their building they also allowed all Christian symbols to be covered or removed as the Imam complained that they found them offensive. In 1 Corinthians 11:19 Paul says that “There must be factions among you (the church) that those who are approved may be recognized.” In other words when controversy breaks out you can tell a lot about who is truly mature and who isn’t. These controversies have helped clarify what truth is and what is important as we see in the book of Acts Chapter 11 when Peter spoke on gentile believers not first having to become Jewish converts before accepting Christ. Paul describes two types of disputes to avoid:

Foolish: The word here in the Greek is the root word for our word moron, which suggests that these controversies are on trivial matters which no matter how long and passionately they are debated they do nothing to advance the Person and work of Christ. People argue over things like the indication of the person who will be the Anti-Christ and have the number 666. These foolish disputes though interesting do nothing to further the person or work of Jesus, instead they just divide the body of Christ and give ammunition to those who are looking for a reason to reject Jesus on the grounds that believers can’t get along.
Ignorant: The word translated “ignorant” is the appropriate translation as it describes a dispute that comes from ignorance. These are the kind of disputes that are based upon ignorance and folks making an argument out of something that we cannot know for certain. These kinds of disputes are common in Israel when considering the exact geographical location of certain events in the Bible. Unless there is archeological evidence that proves a location the best we can do is come up with conjecture. Yet Churches divide over location. These are senseless disputes that we should just avoid, that go along the same line as which translation is the best.

It is important that we understand that discussion is fine but disputes and division is not!

Vs. 24-26 Six guidelines of behaving right while being right

Vs. 24-26 But what about biblical areas where there are attacks on the validity of the word of God, or moral and social issues addressed in God’s Word? How are we to deal with issues that we cannot just disagree agreeably with? Paul gives Timothy 6 guidelines of how to behave right while being right (1 negative 5 positive)!

Vs. 24b “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel..”: This one is put in the negative and speaks to what we shouldn’t do even if we are right, we must not be argumentative. We are not out to win arguments, we are called to be involved in winning souls. We need to be willing to listen, examine and discuss not put down and discredit
Vs. 24c “Gentile to all”: The next 5 are put in the positive, starting with the exhortation to be gentle or kind to ALL. We must treat people that disagree with TRUTH with respect and kindness otherwise the truth that we possess will get lost in our wrong actions. The word “gentile” comes from a word that is translated “approachable” and that is what we must make sure we are when handling the truth. I wonder how many times in my life has someone rejected the TRUTH of God’s Word not on the merits of the TRUTH but rather upon the harshness of my actions.
Vs. 24d “Able to teach”: This deals with the skill full art of communication. The gift that allows a person to communicate truth passionately and purposefully yet not get side tracked into feelings, and experiences. Gifted communicators keep people fixed upon facts not diving into fantasies. Stories and illustrations are salt and pepper to the meal but they never taste good if they become the meal!
Vs. 24e “Patient”: A person that can keep their cool when someone is deliberately bating them into a fight. My grandfather once talked to me about my habit of getting into name calling saying, “Son, you should never get into a soccer match with a one legged soccer player, because even in winning you look foolish.” That’s what Peter said of Jesus in 1 Peter 2:23 saying that, “When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; but He trusted in Him who judges rightly.”
Vs. 25a “In humility correcting those who are in opposition”: This guideline is a summation of all the above. Paul reminds Timothy that the best way to correct others is in humility and brokenness, where the attitude is not superiority but rather that you are the worst sinner you have had the displeasure of knowing. The phrase “who are in opposition” is rendered elsewhere as “those who oppose THEMSELVES”. When we oppose TRUTH we are in opposition against ourselves.

That’s why you can’t convince someone intellectually of the truth; they have to be at a place by the Holy Spirit that they are open to hearing. One of Jesus’ favorite phrases to say to people with regards to truth was “he who has ears to hear” which is found some 33 times in the gospels. The word correction is a word employed elsewhere in the Greek language as “child training”. The idea is not just telling a person they are wrong but teaching by demonstration what is right.

Vs. 25b-26 “….that they will repent and come to know the truth…escape …the snare of the devil….captured by him to do his will.”: This is perhaps the most important guideline of all as it deal with four important things that will keep us focused on the goal of our conversation when we are in a dispute against those who disagree with TRUTH:

The GOAL of the conversation: “That they will come to know the truth”. When engaged in this kind of dispute we must realize that our goal isn’t in winning the argument but in being used to present the truth. The fact that Pal says “that they will come to know the truth” is very suggestive as it tells us that such understanding may take time and that will require an investment from us. Many times we are in too big of a hurry to listen and we just start thumping our bibles as if we are in a speeding reading championship. I’m a strong proponent of “friendship or relational” evangelism as it is by far the most effective form of communicating truth.
The MOTIVATION behind getting involved in a dispute: “That they will escape the snare of the devil”. We must remember that a person who is in error in regards to Biblical truth has been caught without their knowledge in a web of lies carefully crafted by the enemy of their souls. We know this to be true because we also at one time were caught in this same web. Far too often we forget this and instead of seeing ourselves as liberators we see ourselves as commandos and kill those who are hostages instead of being involved in setting them free.
What to KEEP IN MIND with the person who is in error: “That they are captured by him to do his will”. This third thing to remember is difficult because those who are captured become combative against the truth in the same way a person who can’t swim fights against the very people who have come to rescue them from drowning. Satan has been a master at getting believers to fight against the wrong enemy, as we attack the very people we are called to rescue. We will need to exercise patience as we wait for them to tire of the fight and come to an understanding that their enemy is the lies they are defending, not the truth that will set them free.

The DIVINE POSSIBILITIES: “That they will repent”. The last thing to remember is that this whole dispute’s aim is getting them to change directions and this is always a spiritual battle not merely an intellectual battle. If acceptance of truth was merely about education we would only need to hand folks a Bible of a gospel tract. No it is fundamentally a spiritual battle that must be fought in the power of the HOLY SPIRIT and not the energy and strategy of the flesh.