Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Today is 2-for-1 Friday!
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The Questions
1) What is being compared in this passage?
2) What assurances does this passage provide?
3) On what basis is Timothy “solemnly charged” to preach the Word?
2 Timothy 4:1-5
I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Original Intent
1) What is being compared in this passage?
This section of Scripture comes almost at the end of Paul’s final letter to Timothy, which is his final letter we have recorded in Scripture. These are Paul’s last words to Timothy and he knows his own death is near. Final words carry significant weight as they transparently give us a snapshot into the priorities and focus of the speaker. Here, Paul paints a portrait of lies vs truth, a theme he’s fought valiantly to proclaim throughout his life. The lies are everywhere, pervading everything and everyone, and so Paul digs in deep to Timothy, urging him to stand firm and continue proclaiming truth just as Paul has done.
2) What assurances does this passage provide?
These verses are full of absolute certainties! To name a few, we can be certain there will absolutely come an end to the world and judgement from the God of Justice will ensue. Jesus Christ will appear at world’s end and His kingdom will reign supreme. People will always oppose the gospel and find ways to distort truth as long as life continues on earth. This is a guarantee, so we don’t need to be shocked when people don’t accept the truth of the gospel. Yet, the believer is called to preach the gospel even so, that a dying world might hear Hope!
3) On what basis is Timothy “solemnly charged” to preach the Word?
Paul charges Timothy with this ultimate calling of preaching the gospel on the basis of 4 foundational truths. 1) Jesus and God the Father are equal and one. The power and authority they hold is shared between them as each being fully God. This is evidenced by the fact that Jesus is judge. Only God has the right to justly judge his own creation. 2) Final judgement is coming. Books will be opened and we will be held accountable for how we have invested for God’s Kingdom while on earth and each soul will be judged on whether or not they are righteous before God (which can only be accomplished by full reliance on the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf). 3) Jesus’ appearing is a guarantee. As easy as it may seem to think we will always continue living as we are, the end of all things will absolutely come. And with it, time to invest will no longer exist. 4) Jesus’ kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, will also appear in its fullness when Jesus returns and Judgement happens. One of these reasons alone is enough motivation to encourage Timothy to continue preaching the gospel, but Paul gives him 4 motivating factors. Preaching the unchanging, fully reliable truth of Jesus is of utmost importance to Paul, and he begs the same to be so of Timothy.
Everyday Application
1) What is being compared in this passage?
This passage holds one of the most stark contrasts between lies and truth within Scripture. Paul details out the heart of humanity, as we hungrily desire only to hear what we want to hear. Sisters, this is each of us! How many times has relational conflict been elevated because we stubbornly clung to what we were “sure” was true, only to find out that we were wrong. Or maybe we’ve believed something about another person, pre-judging them before we discovered the whole of their story. These things plague each of us as we lust for our own ways to be right. As destructive as this is in relationships, it becomes exceedingly dangerous when it comes to how we go about investigating and believing in religious belief systems. We must each wrestle with questions of God and eternity, be willing to ask hard questions, and perhaps most difficult, be willing to believe the truth no matter how it might initially offend us.
2) What assurances does this passage provide?
In just 5 verses we find at least 5 certainties about life, God’s character and the human heart. Scripture is full of truth and fully reliable, trustworthy, and unchanging. It’s message of truth and hope hasn’t changed one iota for centuries, yet is just as living and active today as it was then. God’s Word is still the standard of truth and accuracy. The ancient prophet, Isaiah, says it like this, “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our God remains forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) The question we must ask ourselves is if we are willing to ask the hard questions, poking the holes in what we believe, to see if it holds up to the standard of solid truth. I wouldn’t want to hang my eternity on anything less.
3) On what basis is Timothy “solemnly charged” to preach the Word?
When considering sharing our faith with someone, whether they are a stranger or someone quite close to us, there are hundreds of reasons we come up with to back out, or say something to smooth the conversation over, or change the subject entirely. Just as Paul supplied Timothy with these 4 solid reasons to preach the gospel “in season and out of season” (ie: at all times!), they also apply directly to us. If we anchor our willingness to engage others in spiritual conversation in the deep-seated roots of these 4 truths, the Spirit will grow our confidence exponentially. When we focus on the “why” we share, rather than all the “what-if-fears”, every excuse seems pitiable. Souls will be lost for eternity, my Christ-following Sisters, if we do not share the hope of Jesus. We aren’t all pastors and teachers, but we are all called to “preach the gospel by sharing Jesus, being ready in season and out of season… with great patience.” (2 Timothy 4:2) How will you prepare yourself to share truth with grace?!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
Memorize It!
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