2Ti 2:13 | KingComments | STEP | . With the denying you could speak about a denying that happens by men and a denying that happens by the Lord (even though it is with a difference in meaning). That is not possible regarding being faithless. We people can be faithless, but the Lord cannot possibly be faithless. He can deny people who deny Him, but He cannot deny Himself. He cannot possibly become faithless to Himself. He cannot act in contrast to Whom He is as the Holy and Righteous. He cannot be with us if we are faithless. If we are faithless He will encounter us with proper measures to bring us back on the way of obedience to Him. That can be painful measures. In any case they are measures that humble us because God wants to bring us to repentance and confession. Then He can bless us again in that same faithfulness to Himself, for that is what He has in mind for us. . What Paul said in the previous verses Timothy must remind the believers of. He has to impress these particular aspects of the truth unto his hearers and not only once, but again and again. Furthermore, Timothy must strongly warn the believers to carefully pay attention to their words. He has to empower his warning by pointing out to them that all of their words are indeed spoken out to one another, but also in the presence of God. The consciousness that God is Witness of what we say, will make us cautious in our words. Then we will not be quickly tempted to strive about words. Words are important in clearly explaining the truth. But if it causes a strife about words the result will be the ruin of the hearers. The goal of every service is that the hearers will benefit and profit by it and not that it will cause damage to them or even destroy their whole faith life. . To maintain yourself and not to be dragged into a strife about words for example, you must be “diligent to present yourself approved to God”. The point is that God can see you as someone who despite continuous trials, has remained faithful to Him. That doesn’t come naturally to you, but it demands of you that you discipline yourself and carefully make efforts for it. If the only important thing for you is what the Lord thinks of you, you will be “a workman who does not need to be ashamed”. The word ‘workman’ doesn’t indicate a particular position. It is about people who make efforts and great sacrifices to serve the believers. If you also want to make efforts for that you will have no reason to be ashamed, for your labor will not be in vain or worthless. “The word of the truth” is the total of the revelation given by God in His Word. The “accurately handling” of the word of truth means that in explaining the truth a right course through the Scripture is followed, that the explanation of the truth may be well-balanced. The expression ‘accurately handling’ was used for example by architects at designing a building. Each part was put in the right place, where the ground parts had to be in the right proportion to the walls. This shows how important it is that each part of the Word of God is given its right context and place. The highlighting of the one truth will not be at the expense of the other truths, but the harmony between the different parts of the truth will be proven. If law and grace are mixed together or if Jewish rituals are being introduced in the Christian worship service there is not an accurately handling of the word of truth. . If you deal with God’s Word in this way you will have no difficulty with recognizing "worldly [and] empty chatter" and with avoiding this. It is not expected of you that you try to make them change their mind. That is wasted energy and you will also expose yourself to their depraved chatter. It is not unthinkable that you will be influenced by it. . These people will not repent, but on the contrary, they will make things worse. They cannot be stopped. “Their talk will spread like gangrene.” The word ‘spread’ literally means ‘find pasture’, like in John 10 ( ). Their message refers not only to their doctrine as a false doctrine, but their total speech reveals their evil thinking. What they say works like leaven: it affects everything that comes into contact with it. In that way this virus of their evil words spreads around them and extends itself unstoppably. Therefore you are ordered to avoid it and not to have anything to do with it. Again Paul names two names. In chapter 1 he named two names of persons who turned their back on him ( ). . The names he now mentions regards persons “who have gone astray from the truth”. Their error is that they say that the resurrection has already taken place. They do not deny the resurrection, but declare that as something that had happened already and therefore not something that is still to take place. That would mean that you are made perfect already, that you cannot sin anymore and that you can claim the world for yourself. It also means that when you die everything stops there. The resurrection had taken place already after all, had it not? To avoid any possibility to be caught in the snare of any error, it is essential for you to read and know God’s Word. You are not to have anything to do with men who proclaim things that mutilate the work of the Lord Jesus and its results by attaching their own reasoning to it. They make themselves instruments of the devil who always seeks to distort God’s Word and in that way deprive it from its true meaning. Those are people who “upset the faith” of unstable souls, people who do not read the Bible themselves in a praying attitude in order to experience in that way their fellowship with God. . These servants of the devil who are among Christians are not always directly recognizable. Sometimes you may wonder: Is it a child of God whom I am dealing with, or not? Much of what is said sounds so familiar, so biblical, that you love to accept it as an enrichment of your faith life. It often also sounds wonderful. Still they also say things or teach things that make you sense that something is wrong or of which you must admit that they are not in accordance with the Bible. You observe a certain mixture. You hear beautiful things and you hear strange or even wrong things. This confusion has entered professing Christianity because Christians have not remained alert, which gave the devil the opportunity to introduce wrong elements ( ). How should you deal with that? You do not want to accuse anyone falsely, but you especially do not want to expose yourself to false doctrines. You want to learn from others, but you also want to be able to recognize the other person as a true child of God who is sound in teaching God’s Word. You want to have fellowship with believers, but you do not want to have fellowship with the evil. Fellowship with the Lord means everything to you and therefore you want to be on your guard against doctrines that cause you to turn away from the Lord. Paul uses the word “nevertheless” or ‘however’ in his response to all these arguments as an introductory to a holdfast for circumstances where everything is in confusion. There indeed is “the firm foundation of God” to which a seal is attached. This seal is a security with two aspects. The one aspect of this security is the side of God, what He sees. Even though it may sometimes be difficult or nearly impossible for you to discover whether a person is a true believer or not, that is no problem to the Lord. He knows exactly who belongs to Him. It is out of the question that He can be confused. He knows exactly who has new life, because He Himself has given it. The other aspect of this security is the side of man, what you see. You can judge someone’s life, just as others can judge yours, as a matter of fact. You see if a person “who names the name of the Lord”, who confesses to know Him, this also shows in his life. With someone who has new life you will notice that he doesn’t want to participate in anything that gives a wrong presentation of the Lord Jesus or His work and that he willingly gives the Word of God full authority over his life. Now read 2 Timothy 2:13-19 again. Reflection: Which contrasts do you encounter in this portion?

‏ 2 Timothy 2:13

The Solid Foundation of God

2Tim 2:13. With the denying you could speak about a denying that happens by men and a denying that happens by the Lord (even though it is with a difference in meaning). That is not possible regarding being faithless. We people can be faithless, but the Lord cannot possibly be faithless. He can deny people who deny Him, but He cannot deny Himself. He cannot possibly become faithless to Himself. He cannot act in contrast to Whom He is as the Holy and Righteous. He cannot be with us if we are faithless.

If we are faithless He will encounter us with proper measures to bring us back on the way of obedience to Him. That can be painful measures. In any case they are measures that humble us because God wants to bring us to repentance and confession. Then He can bless us again in that same faithfulness to Himself, for that is what He has in mind for us.

2Tim 2:14. What Paul said in the previous verses Timothy must remind the believers of. He has to impress these particular aspects of the truth unto his hearers and not only once, but again and again. Furthermore, Timothy must strongly warn the believers to carefully pay attention to their words. He has to empower his warning by pointing out to them that all of their words are indeed spoken out to one another, but also in the presence of God.

The consciousness that God is Witness of what we say, will make us cautious in our words. Then we will not be quickly tempted to strive about words. Words are important in clearly explaining the truth. But if it causes a strife about words the result will be the ruin of the hearers. The goal of every service is that the hearers will benefit and profit by it and not that it will cause damage to them or even destroy their whole faith life.

2Tim 2:15. To maintain yourself and not to be dragged into a strife about words for example, you must be “diligent to present yourself approved to God”. The point is that God can see you as someone who despite continuous trials, has remained faithful to Him. That doesn’t come naturally to you, but it demands of you that you discipline yourself and carefully make efforts for it.

If the only important thing for you is what the Lord thinks of you, you will be “a workman who does not need to be ashamed”. The word ‘workman’ doesn’t indicate a particular position. It is about people who make efforts and great sacrifices to serve the believers. If you also want to make efforts for that you will have no reason to be ashamed, for your labor will not be in vain or worthless.

“The word of the truth” is the total of the revelation given by God in His Word. The “accurately handling” of the word of truth means that in explaining the truth a right course through the Scripture is followed, that the explanation of the truth may be well-balanced. The expression ‘accurately handling’ was used for example by architects at designing a building. Each part was put in the right place, where the ground parts had to be in the right proportion to the walls.

This shows how important it is that each part of the Word of God is given its right context and place. The highlighting of the one truth will not be at the expense of the other truths, but the harmony between the different parts of the truth will be proven. If law and grace are mixed together or if Jewish rituals are being introduced in the Christian worship service there is not an accurately handling of the word of truth.

2Tim 2:16. If you deal with God’s Word in this way you will have no difficulty with recognizing "worldly [and] empty chatter" and with avoiding this. It is not expected of you that you try to make them change their mind. That is wasted energy and you will also expose yourself to their depraved chatter. It is not unthinkable that you will be influenced by it.

2Tim 2:17. These people will not repent, but on the contrary, they will make things worse. They cannot be stopped. “Their talk will spread like gangrene.” The word ‘spread’ literally means ‘find pasture’, like in John 10 (Jn 10:9). Their message refers not only to their doctrine as a false doctrine, but their total speech reveals their evil thinking. What they say works like leaven: it affects everything that comes into contact with it. In that way this virus of their evil words spreads around them and extends itself unstoppably. Therefore you are ordered to avoid it and not to have anything to do with it.

Again Paul names two names. In chapter 1 he named two names of persons who turned their back on him (2Tim 1:15).

2Tim 2:18. The names he now mentions regards persons “who have gone astray from the truth”. Their error is that they say that the resurrection has already taken place. They do not deny the resurrection, but declare that as something that had happened already and therefore not something that is still to take place. That would mean that you are made perfect already, that you cannot sin anymore and that you can claim the world for yourself. It also means that when you die everything stops there. The resurrection had taken place already after all, had it not?

To avoid any possibility to be caught in the snare of any error, it is essential for you to read and know God’s Word. You are not to have anything to do with men who proclaim things that mutilate the work of the Lord Jesus and its results by attaching their own reasoning to it. They make themselves instruments of the devil who always seeks to distort God’s Word and in that way deprive it from its true meaning. Those are people who “upset the faith” of unstable souls, people who do not read the Bible themselves in a praying attitude in order to experience in that way their fellowship with God.

2Tim 2:19. These servants of the devil who are among Christians are not always directly recognizable. Sometimes you may wonder: Is it a child of God whom I am dealing with, or not? Much of what is said sounds so familiar, so biblical, that you love to accept it as an enrichment of your faith life. It often also sounds wonderful.

Still they also say things or teach things that make you sense that something is wrong or of which you must admit that they are not in accordance with the Bible. You observe a certain mixture. You hear beautiful things and you hear strange or even wrong things. This confusion has entered professing Christianity because Christians have not remained alert, which gave the devil the opportunity to introduce wrong elements (Mt 13:24-25 ; 37-39).

How should you deal with that? You do not want to accuse anyone falsely, but you especially do not want to expose yourself to false doctrines. You want to learn from others, but you also want to be able to recognize the other person as a true child of God who is sound in teaching God’s Word. You want to have fellowship with believers, but you do not want to have fellowship with the evil. Fellowship with the Lord means everything to you and therefore you want to be on your guard against doctrines that cause you to turn away from the Lord.

Paul uses the word “nevertheless” or ‘however’ in his response to all these arguments as an introductory to a holdfast for circumstances where everything is in confusion. There indeed is “the firm foundation of God” to which a seal is attached. This seal is a security with two aspects. The one aspect of this security is the side of God, what He sees. Even though it may sometimes be difficult or nearly impossible for you to discover whether a person is a true believer or not, that is no problem to the Lord. He knows exactly who belongs to Him. It is out of the question that He can be confused. He knows exactly who has new life, because He Himself has given it.

The other aspect of this security is the side of man, what you see. You can judge someone’s life, just as others can judge yours, as a matter of fact. You see if a person “who names the name of the Lord”, who confesses to know Him, this also shows in his life. With someone who has new life you will notice that he doesn’t want to participate in anything that gives a wrong presentation of the Lord Jesus or His work and that he willingly gives the Word of God full authority over his life.

Now read 2 Timothy 2:13-19 again.

Reflection: Which contrasts do you encounter in this portion?