Paul the apostle continued to give Timothy his “dearly
beloved son” instructions concerning his
life and the life of the church in Ephesus where Timothy was the
pastor. He gave Timothy a series of “ifs” which pertain to our
relationship with Jesus Christ including, “if
we be dead with him,
we shall also live with him:”,
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:”,
if we deny him,
he also will deny us:” and “If
we believe not, yet
he abides faithful”. The
reason for Jesus' faithfulness was “he
cannot deny himself”, and
in chapter two and verse fourteen Paul told Timothy to “put
them in remembrance” “of these things”
where we read:
Of these
things put them in
remembrance, charging them
before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but
to the subverting of the hearers.
The
verse begins, “Of these things put them
in remembrance,...” Paul began with the
phrase “Of these things”
which is the Greek word “tauta” and means “afterward,
following, hereafter or according to the same” “put
them in remembrance” or “cause one to
remember, bring or recall to mind, admonish and remind”. In other
words, Timothy was to take the principles and ideas communicated by
Paul and give them, teach them and bring remembrance of them to the
people he pastored.
The verse goes on to
say, “... charging them
before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit,...”
Paul
continued with, “charging”
which literally means “testify” and refers to “earnest and
religious attestation and affirmation of” “them
before” or
“in the presence of, of an occupied place, opposite and towards
which another turns his eyes” “the
Lord” or
“He to whom a person or thing belongs, about which He has power of
deciding and is master over them” “that
they strive not about words”
which in Greek is “logomacheō
mē logomacheō” and
means “contending and wrangling about empty and trifling matters”
“to no profit”
or “unto no fit, use or usefulness”. Paul desired that Timothy
remind the people of his teaching and avoid speaking to one another
about things that have no use.
Finally
the verse says, “...but
to the subverting of the hearers.” Paul
does give one purpose of the “trifling” talk from those who give
it as he wrote, “but”
which is a disassociation conjunction which means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was previously written “to
the subverting” or “overthrow,
destruction and extinction of a spirit of consecration” “of
the hearers” which refers to “those who
have the faculty of hearing, perceiving, considering, understanding
and comprehension”. In other words, the only result of “words
to no profit” is that they destroy the
spirit of those who listen to, understand and perceive the nonsense
they are sharing.
When we think upon these words of Paul, we understand
the importance of learning and knowing the principles he has given.
Rather than turn our attention toward sharing with one another
“words” and
“ideas” which give no other benefit than crushing and persuading
the spirit of another person, we would be much better off to keep in
mind the lessons within Paul's “if's”. As we resolve to ponder
these things, may the Lord remind us of the value of being “dead
with him”,
“suffering”, not “denying
him” and “believing
him”, and may we avoid speaking things with
one another that have “no profit”
at all for our eternal lives.
Next
time Paul tells Timothy to “study to show” himself
“approved unto God”,
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment