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HISTORICAL SETTING:

Satan’s biggest successes: 1) to get people to believe he doesn’t exist, 2) to get people that do believe he exists labeled as mentally deficient 3) to get people to believe the Holy Scriptures have a plurality of positions on doctrine.

Seemingly innocent statements as, " It doesn’t make any difference what one believes as long as they believe the gospel" and "doctrine divides – the gospel unites" really do great damage to the cause of Christian theology.

Christ’s strongest language was used against religious leaders who replaced purity with piety, commercialized conversions, and perverted the Holy Scriptures for personal profiteering.

The Apostle Paul’s dying desire was that Timothy would insist that believers remain true to revelation and inspiration by exposing error through teaching truth.

Satan will fill an ocean full of truth in order to float a battleship of error. Learn to be smart enough to see the battleship hidden in the context of truth.

I. THE COMMAND TO CONSIDER, 2:7

A. Consider is "noieo", to exercise the mind to understand and comprehend; to observe and think things through.

B. Understanding is "sunesis" the intellectual ability to put things together.

C. There is no excuse that will justify teaching, following and propagating error as truth!

D. Error was creeping into the church and Timothy had to stop it.

E. Error enters in innocent seed form like kudzu and then grows to where it takes over the whole of everything. It becomes unstoppable!

F. It is my personal opinion that much of popular Christianity is hopelessly inconsistent with the truth of revelation. Even worse, wonderful believers are often paying the bill without any conscience toward God and His Holy Scriptures—they don’t know what is truth and if they do they don’t care.

II. THE COMMAND TO REMEMBER, 2:8

A. Truth is eternal, constant, unchangeable and never inconsistent. It is always incompatible with error! Two opposition positions cannot both be right.

B. Remember is " mnemoneuo", to punish your mind in forcing it to rehearse, recollect, to remind each other and to analyze.

C. Continued ignorance of Biblical teaching, for people with a normal mental ability, is inexcusable. Believers who often master their fields of study certainly cannot plead ignorant of systematic theology.

D. Leadership, in part, is the ability to learn truth and to pass it on to others.

E. All error will eventually distort the gospel. In this text, it distortions by challenging the humanity of Jesus Christ and His bodily resurrection.

F. The gospel in this text is the presentation of a message of good news, yet it is modified by "my gospel". The gospel Paul preached at the very minimum included three simultaneous actions, 1) repentance for action toward God, which violates His holy character 2), faith in Christ as the sole savior based on His physical resurrection from the dead, 3) the gracious action of God in forgiving those who repent and believe, Acts 20:21-24. There is a human / divine cooperative in the gospel.

G. Clearly some preached another gospel, even in Paul’s day, supposing to add affliction to his bonds, Galatians 1:6- 8; Philippians 1:16.

H. The gospel can be hindered, I Corinthians 9:12; distorted, II Corinthians 11:4; perverted, Galatians 1:7. To keep this from happening all believers are charged by God to defend (give a full and carefully defined explanation) the gospel, Philippians 1:17; Acts 22:1; 26:1-2.

III. THE COMMAND TO SUFFER, 2:9-10

A. At the time of the writing of this letter by Paul to Timothy, he was arrested a second time and was expecting execution at any moment. He was in chains in a dungeon and may have been put to death only days after writing this letter to Timothy. The words, "suffer", "trouble", "bonds, "bound", "endure" are not figurative words! Like Paul, thousands have died rather than deviate from the truth of the gospel and many more thousand have profited on their faithfulness! While it is possible to bind the messenger, it is not possible to bind the message.

B. Elect is "ekloge", meaning to be called out, favored, chosen. Paul suffered and died defending a clear uncorrupted gospel because he knew some would be saved through believing it. Who would be saved was an unknown to Paul, but not to God. It is vital that we protect the purity of the gospel, in part, because others will trust it for their eternal redemption!

IV. THE COMMAND TO MEMORIZE, 2:11-15

A. Several times the phrase, "This is a faithful saying", is used in the epistles indicating the early believers memorized certain basic statements of faith. They had no written scriptures available, and memorization in rote and musical hymns were one way they remembered, preserved and passed on valid information.

B. The truths to be remembered in this saying are: 1) if we die in Christ, we live eternally in Him, 2) if we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him, 3) if we deny Him, He will deny us, 4) if our faith fails, He remains faithful, 5) Christ cannot be inconsistent with Himself.

C. With the Word of God now available to everyone, there is no excuse for ignorance, disbelief, and perversion of biblical information. We do not know, not because of the lack of memorization, but because of the lack of concern.

D. A clear understanding of Christian doctrine will keep believers from majoring in matters of no value to the work of God.

E. It is not only possible to have very high conviction on very small matters, but it is often these convictions that unite some believers while disfranchising others.

F. Majoring in minor matter is a sure way to waste a whole life.

G. Strive not is "logomacheo" meaning stop disputing about matters that really don’t matter but which wreck other believers.

H. The way to sort out the worthless efforts that come into the Christian faith is to study the Holy Scriptures. Admittedly, this takes work and effort, but it is the only way to keep from being ashamed before God. The concept of being ashamed is like a farmer who plants a crooked row. It is not observable at the time, but is common knowledge once the plants come up.

I. Rightly dividing God’s word implies "holding a straight line" and not deviating from it.

J. The word of truth is in contrast to the words of no profit.

V. THE COMMAND TO SEPARATE, 2:16-19

A. It is easy to get misdirected in the Christian life by following foolish religious fables that have no Biblical base. Here they are identified as "profane", "vain", and "babblings." These words imply going across the acceptable truths into heathenism, empty, and sounds without meaning and fruitless testimonies.

B. Human experience, no matter how interesting, contributes nothing to Christian theology.

C. The believer is to shun all profitless teaching which subvert other believers and misdirect the efforts into extra-biblical information. Shun, is "pertistemi’ meaning don’t stand around or even get near error. The believer is to avoid such efforts and not even get close to it.

D. A believer’s position is where he places his person, what he uses for program and what he pays for with his pocketbook.

E. The example Paul used to demonstrate his instruction were two individuals who taught against the futuristic resurrection of believers. Their names are interesting, Hymenaeus, meaning singer as at a wedding, and Philetus, meaning kisser. Perhaps their names demonstrate the kind of individuals who misled others are often likeable affectionate people.

F. The clear teaching of the text is that every believer is to know what the Bible teaches and to depart from the evil causing anything to the contradictory.

GAA/ November 6,2005