As Paul the
apostle continued giving instructions to Timothy concerning his own
personal life and the life of the church located in Ephesus, he told
him to “flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith,
charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
Paul knew the tendency for a
younger man to be tempted by ungodly desires and wanted Timothy to
direct himself toward righteous characteristics. In chapter two and
verse twenty-three of this final letter from Paul, he gave Timothy
more Godly advice as he instructed him to “avoid”
“foolish and unlearned questions” where
we read:
But
foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender
strifes.
The
verse begins, “But foolish and
unlearned questions avoid,...” Paul
began with the word “but”
which is a disassociation conjunction which means what is about to be
stated takes precedence over what was previously written, and in this
case means “moreover, in addition, nevertheless or then”
“foolish”
which is the Greek word “mōros”
and means “impious, ungodly, dull, stupid, heedless, blockhead and
absurd” “and unlearned”
or “without instruction or disciple, uneducated, ignorant and rude”
“questions” which
are “enquiries, debates and matters of controversy” “avoid”
or “avert by entreaty or seek to avert, to deprecate, refuse,
decline and shun”. As a disciple of Paul and minister within the
church in Ephesus, Timothy was to refuse to be involved with
questions which were absurd and ignorant.
The
verse goes on to say, “...knowing that they
do gender strifes.” Paul
went on to add the reason for “avoiding” “foolish
and unlearned questions”
as he wrote, “knowing”
or “perceiving, noticing, discerning, seeing and discovering”
“that they do gender” which
referred to the “foolish and
unlearned questions”
which is the Greek word “gennaō”
which
literally means “to father children, be begotten” and
metaphorically means “to engender, cause to arise, excite and bring
to life” “strifes”
or “fights, combats, battles, variances, disputes, contentions and
quarrels”. The by product of “foolish
and unlearned questions”
is “strifes”
and contentions among those who share them with one another. Timothy
was to “avoid”
any “questions” which only lead to quarrels.
When
we meditate upon these words of Paul, perhaps we can think of a few
“foolish and unlearned questions”
which have been asked of us such as, “How many angels can dance on
the head of a pin?” or “If God is so big, why can't He make a
rock that is so heavy that He cannot pick it up?”. If we take our
time, we can discover the spirit of the person who is asking these
questions. Let's face it, some people only want to argue and fight,
and they are not happy unless they are in a quarrel with someone
else. We must “avoid”
or “avert, refuse, decline and shun” “questions”
that are not meant to learn, but only meant to stir up strife. It
really makes no difference whether “Adam and Eve had a belly
button” in the grand scheme of things, and when quarrels, debates
and endless strivings are caused because of “foolish and
unlearned” inquiries, we must
“avoid” them and
keep our conversations directed toward the Godly traits of our Lord
Jesus Christ. May He help us to know the difference between them.
Next
time Paul shares with Timothy about the way “the servant
of the Lord” should be, so
read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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