2 Timothy 2: Three Metaphors
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You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
Dealing With False Teachers
14 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
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The Bible
Paul’s instructions to Timothy and to us is to correctly handle the Word of truth.
There must be a correct and an incorrect way to handle the word of truth.
Today the church is in need of people who will guard (2 Timothy 1:14) and correctly handle (2 Timothy 2:15) the word of truth. We don’t tweak and trim the scriptures to make them relevant to the age in which we live. We show how relevant the Gospel is today.
The church is letting it happen. Central truths are being marginalised: Salvation, Sin Atonement, Repentance, Grace, Marriage, Gender and Family.
Correctly Handle (the Word)
From the start of the letter, Paul is emphasising the importance of the word and how we handle it.
2 Timothy 1:14 ‘Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.’
2 Timothy 2:15 ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.’
William Booth “The main danger of the century: religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God & heaven without hell”
There were similar problems in 2 Timothy 4:3-5 ‘the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They turn their ears away from the truth and turn to myths. v5 but you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist discharge all the duties of your ministry.’
Context:
2 Timothy is Paul’s last letter before he was martyred in AD66. Paul is in a Roman Prison. This is a letter from the Apostle Paul to his young pastor - Timothy who will continue in leadership in the Church. Paul is saying farewell, with a warning about dangers ahead and gives a testimony and guidance about the word of God to Timothy and us.
At the start of 2 Timothy 2:3-6 Paul gives 3 quickfire metaphors of the commitment required to correctly handle the word.
Three together implies there is a soldier type of commitment, an athlete and a farmer type commitment.
2 Timothy 2:3-6 ‘endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs they want to please their commanding officer.
1. Soldier
2. Athlete
3. Farmer
Soldier
I wonder have you watched the SAS ‘Who Dares Wins’ popular TV programme? Training is so hard in the Forces. There is a high fall-out rate in the military. As Christian soldiers, the Culture war and multi-faith society are attacking Christians. As a Soldier you must be devoted to the Captain of your Salvation (Hebrews 2:10), love the Lord with heart, be single-minded, and focused devotion.
Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 2 Timothy 3:5
Athlete
‘Competes according to the rules.’ I was surprised by this as an aspect of the Arthletre metaphor. I expected something about the training required, or about the competing to even about winning but not something about rules. I believe this is about integrity for example when I was a youth doing PE and Cross country on a wet muddy cold Wednesday’s afternoon, I had a eurika moment that I could take a shortcut and maybe get away with it/ My PE teacher congratulated me, ‘well done’ young Burke. But deep down I knew I had cheated, I lacked integrity, I took the praise and did not own up. My witness is tainted. Integrity was compromised/ Paul was saying to Tim, ‘watch out’ do not Break the rules. Do you know about Billy Graham’s Modesto Manifesto – he would avoid spending time alone with a woman other than his wife. Some evangelists have fallen do to not applying such a principle - Jimmy Swaggart, Bill Hybels and others.
There are many other things that cause integrity to be compromised: Tax returns, drink, porn, affairs, truth, pride - To neglect honesty leaves our witness is tainted. Integrity is shot to pieces.
Finally, I want to return to something that I didn’t deal with in the Soldier metaphor. 2 Tim 2:4 ‘No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please the one who enlisted him.’ Augustine ‘God-shaped void that only Christ can fill.’ Within our soul is a yearning to please God.
Do you remember being praised for something eg Luke 19 ‘Well done good and faithful one' - You have correctly handled the word of truth.
Farmer
The dedication of the Farmer: 6 ‘The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.’
This is about the dedication of prayer and reading the word, the steady Eddie type of Christian commitment .
William Carey a Baptist. Missionary (1761-1834) said,
“If you give me credit for being a plodder you will describe me justly…. I can plod. To this I owe everything.”
Paul is saying to Timothy, that the outine hard work of the minister in this Christian life is a lifelong slog. Every day with Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:15 urges us to ‘correctly handle the word of truth,’ it requires lifelong commitment: devotion soldier, integrity athlete and plodding hardworking farmer.
