2 Tim 2:14-26 (Question 11), QC and SG accountability

11. How would you summarize 2 Tim 2:14-26?

Just to recap:

1:1-18 speaks of not being ashamed of the gospel and of guarding it. 

2:1-13 speaks of being prepared to suffer to pass on the gospel"/"endure in sharing the gospel"

 

2:14-26 encourages Timothy to be an "approved worker" and a "vessel for honorable use" as the Lord's servant. There is a shift from the charge to guarding and suffering for the gospel to living a life worthy of the gospel. There are behaviours to follow and behaviours to avoid. 

 

 

 If you remember, we were asking if "faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Ti 2:2) are born or made. 

Who are these 'faithful men'? We said a few months ago that the verse can be paraphrased:

"teach trustworthy people to teach others"

"teach those who can teach so that others may be taught"

"teach reliable people who won't change the message"

 

 "Faithful" here means 'dependable', 'consistent or loyal' even through trials and suffering. I was sharing that this kind of quality is ordained, but it is brought out through nurture. This is analogous to the situation where God may predestine one to salvation, but the gospel still needs to be shared. Just as we do not know who will respond to our evangelization, we do not know which of those we nurture will in the end be faithful to the end. As an example, John Mark would not have been described by Paul as a 'faithful man' at the beginning of his ministry (Ac 15:36-38), but he proved his usefulness at the end (2 Ti 4:11)

Certainly it is the Lord, and not we, who ultimately transforms people and ensures the fidelity of the process of transmission. We labour, and yet God gives the growth.

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." (1 Cor 3:6)

 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26–29)

 

So we would still pour our lives into different people as best as we know and as the opportunity is present, without ultimate assurance as to how they will turn out, but in faith that God knows.

 

As a side topic we also talked about whether God changes His mind. The clear teaching of Scripture is that He does not ("God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?, Nu 23:19). He is infinite in knowledge and wisdom. There is nothing we can ask and pray that will increase His goodness towards us. So prayer does not change God's mind. But prayer changes things, because our prayers are part of His ordained will to achieve His wise and holy purposes. In other words, He ordains the means (our prayers)as well as the ends. As with the passages above on God working through our work, this is a beautiful interaction of human effort and Divine sovereignty.