2nd Timothy: Chapter 2

Sermon 17 — 2nd Timothy Chapter 2

Last week we entered the world of 2nd Timothy, a world of warm feelings, gratitude to God, with a blending of faith and good works recommended as a path to heaven. We also considered whether or not the form in which doctrinal concepts are expressed ought to remain fixed and immutable. Today we hear encouragement to buck up against religious oppression, and stay the course as soldiers of the Christian ministry, because the suffering of this life is nothing compared to the magnitude of the blessings to come. We also are exhorted to weigh carefully everything we hear, because false prophets haunt the highways and byways.

“2 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

There is a more than generous modicum of separatism in Paul’s philosophy. As we are warned that a true spiritual warrior shuns entanglements with this life, there is a strong implication that we should avoid unwholesome social entanglements as well. Paul is a human man who loves his friends but is not so tolerant of his enemies; he wants more than anything to bring his flock together guided by the rod and staff of the Good Shepherd. Moreover, it is clear that Paul understood that developing and cementing relationships among the members of each congregation was the key to making the spread of the Good News sure and true. 

There is also more than a faint suggestion of an elitist strain running through Paul’s doctrine. Paul is sure he has the one true doctrine, superior to all others, which must be preserved inviolate in order to retain its potency. Now, we know that people who have been dramatically touched by God typically catch fire with missionary zeal. They become convinced that they have discovered the one true path; and in their enthusiasm to share the good news written on their hearts, they go overboard in sharing their joy with everybody they meet—with people who may not be ready to hear somebody else’s good news. Remember that Jesus spoke in parables to protect those who were not ready for high vibratory wisdom. Jesus spoke to every man on his level, and hid His Higher knowledge from the uninitiated. As to the newly converted enthusiasts, we must admit that these people usually go too far, as Paul went too far-- and yet, without these trail blazers, the rest of us might not even get out of the gate. It’s tough to know what to do or how to feel when we are so sure about something that other people are not. From Jesus we learn the power of patience.

Back to Timothy. What follows is a code of ethics surrounding the performance of good works. In his typical Jewish way, Paul insists that everything we do must follow the law—what law, you say? the law of the universe, I guess, inarticulate in its cosmic dimensions, but law nevertheless. He also says that in order to want something, you must first have tasted enough of it to want to work to get more:

“5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.”

As we discussed last week, Paul’s philosophy is driven to an extent by Karma—Karma and the Law; thus a seeker of mastery must seek lawfully. But the husbandman must first be a partaker of the fruits before he may go on to higher knowledge. I think this passage means the law of the universe dictates that we learn its secrets a little at a time; “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits,” First partaker and then what? He partakes of more fruit! Action/reaction, but not in a balanced dualistic way, but always leaning further up and further in.

Going on:

“7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:”

There are two phrases in this verse that deserve attention: “Jesus Christ of the seed of David”, and “according to my gospel”. We read from Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers:

“(8) Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead.—More accurately rendered, Remember Jesus Christ . . . as raised (or, as one raised). The words of the Greek original, “of the seed of David,” come after, not before, “was raised from the dead.” The translation should run thus: 

“Remember Jesus Christ as one raised from the dead, born of the seed of David.” 

Timothy was to remember, was ever to bear in mind, two great facts. They were to be the foundation stones of his whole life’s work. Remembering these in the hour of his greatest trouble, he was never to be cast down, but ever to take fresh courage. And the two facts he was to remember were: that Jesus Christ, for whose sake he suffered—like him, Timothy, or like St. Paul—was born of flesh and blood, and yet He had risen from the dead. Surely, in the hour of his weakness, such a thought would be sufficient to inspire him with comfort and courage. 

Two facts, then, are to be ever in Timothy’s mind: the Resurrection and the Incarnation of his Lord. The thought of the first mentioned, “the Resurrection,” would always be reminding him of his Master’s victory over death and of His present glory. The thought of the second mentioned, “born of the seed of David,” “the Incarnation,” would ever be whispering to him, “Yes, and the risen and glorified One sprang, too, like himself, from mortal flesh and blood.” The reason of the “Incarnation” being expressed in this special manner, “born of the seed of David,” was to include another truth. The “risen One “was not only born of flesh and blood, but belonged to the very race specified in those prophets so revered by Timothy and the chosen people as the race from which should spring the Messiah: 

Jeremiah 23:5-6:

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth . . . and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

To raise the fainting heart of his much-tried disciple in this hour of discouragement, to supply a ground of confidence to yet unborn Christians, who in their day would be tried as Timothy was then, was the Apostle’s first purpose when he pressed these thoughts on his son in the faith; but in the background, no doubt, there lay another purpose. These great comforting truths were to be maintained and taught in the presence of those false teachers who were ever ready to explain away or even to deny, then as now, the beginning and the end of the Son of God’s life and ministry on earth—His Incarnation and His Resurrection.

“According to my gospel.”—This formula, for so it may be considered, occurs frequently in St. Paul’s Epistles (Romans 2:16, and again Romans 16:25, and in other places), and, with very slight variations, in 1Timothy 1:11 and 1Corinthians 15:1. Jerome’s remark, “As often as St. Paul in his Epistles writes ‘according to my Gospel,’ he refers to the volume of Luke,” although received with reserve by many expositors, considering the weighty traditional evidence we possess of St. Luke’s Gospel being in reality written by St. Paul, appears on the whole substantially correct.”

That last was a big surprise; I suppose it shouldn’t have been, with all the crossbreeding of ancient texts we have seen already, but I had never heard anywhere that the Gospel of Luke was written by Paul. I sincerely doubt it, because Luke was known to be a much more cultured man than Paul, his writing more elegant and literate. From what I have read, Luke more a master of the Greek language than Paul may have been; I say this knowing that Greek was Paul’s first language, but that he did not speak it to his Jewish followers. So I had to look closer:

Common authorship of Luke and Acts

“There is substantial evidence to indicate that the author of The Gospel of Luke also wrote the Book of Acts. These hypothetical connections are dependent upon repeating themes that both of these books share. The most direct evidence comes from the prefaces of each book. Both prefaces are addressed to Theophilus, the author's patron—and perhaps a label for a Christian community as a whole as the name means "Beloved of God". Furthermore, the preface of Acts explicitly references "my former book" about the life of Jesus—almost certainly the work we know as The Gospel of Luke.

Furthermore, there are linguistic and theological similarities between the Luke and Acts. As one scholar writes, "the extensive linguistic and theological agreements and cross-references between the Gospel of Luke and the Acts indicate that both works derive from the same author". Because of their common authorship, the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles are often jointly referred to simply as Luke-Acts. Similarly, the author of Luke-Acts is often known as "Luke"—even among scholars who doubt that the author was actually named Luke.

Views on authorship

Views concerning the author of Luke-Acts typically take the following forms:

• • Traditional view - Luke the physician as author: the traditional view that both works were written by Luke, physician and companion of Paul.
• • Critical views – 
• • Anonymous non-eyewitness: the view that both works were written by an anonymous writer who was not an eyewitness of any of the events he described, and who had no eyewitness sources. 
• • Or Redaction authorship: the view that Acts in particular was written (either by an anonymous writer or the traditional Luke), using existing written sources such as a travelogue by an eyewitness.

Traditional view - Luke the physician as author

The traditional view is that the Gospel of Luke and Acts were written by the physician Luke, a companion of Paul. Many scholars believe him to be a Gentile Christian, though some scholars think Luke was a Hellenic Jew. This Luke is mentioned in Paul's Epistle to Philemon (v.24), and in two other epistles which are traditionally ascribed to Paul (Colossians 4:14 and 2 Timothy 4:11).

The view that Luke-Acts was written by the physician Luke was nearly unanimous in the early Christian church. The Papyrus Bodmer XIV, which is the oldest known manuscript containing the ending of the gospel (dating to around 200 AD), uses the subscription "The Gospel According to Luke". Nearly all ancient sources also shared this theory of authorship—Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and the Muratorian Canon all regarded Luke as the author of the Luke-Acts. Neither Eusebius of Caesarea nor any other ancient writer mentions another tradition about authorship.

In addition to the authorship evidence provided by the ancient sources, some feel the text of Luke-Acts supports the conclusion that its author was a companion of Paul. First among such internal evidence are portions of the book which have come to be called the "we" passages (Acts 16:10–17; 20:5–15; 21:1–18; 27:1–37; 28:1-16). Although the bulk of Acts is written in the third person, several brief sections of the book are written from a first-person perspective. These "we" sections are written from the point of view of a traveling companion of Paul: e.g. "After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia", "We put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace”. Such passages would appear to have been written by someone who traveled with Paul during some portions of his ministry. Accordingly, some have used this evidence to support the conclusion that these passages, and therefore the entire text of the Luke-Acts, were written by a traveling companion of Paul's. The physician Luke would be one such person.

It has also been argued that level of detail used in the narrative describing Paul's travels suggests an eyewitness source. In 1882 Hobart claimed that the vocabulary used in Luke-Acts suggests its author may have had medical training, but this assertion was challenged by an influential study by Cadbury in 1926 that argued Luke's medical terminology was no different than terminology used by other non-physician authors such as Plutarch.

The traditional view recognizes that Luke was not an eyewitness of the events in the Gospel, nor of the events prior to Paul's arrival in Troas in Acts 16:8, and the first "we" passage in Acts 16:10. In the preface to Luke, the author refers to having eyewitness testimony of events in the Gospel "handed down to us" and to having undertaken a "careful investigation", but the author does not mention his own name or explicitly claim to be an eyewitness to any of the events, except for the we passages.”

I read several other articles on the subject, and never found another claim that Paul wrote the Gospel of Luke; nevertheless they all tended to mention that Luke was a traveling companion of Paul. To me this does not seem like rocket science—on every road trip I’ve ever taken, we always tell each other our life stories to pass the time. It is therefore not so far-fetched to assume that Paul told Luke all his stories, and all the gospel stories he had learned through oral transmission. This may account for the breadth of detail that appears in the Gospel of Luke that is missing from the other synoptic gospels.

It is not clear how much time Luke spent with Paul, but, at the end, we read in 2^nd Timothy 4:11 “Only Luke is with me”. Thus, if the pattern we have seen in regard to the authorship of 2^nd Timothy and Hebrews obtains, we might easily conclude that the Gospel of Luke was, if not actually written by Paul, was strongly influenced by Paul. Here, once again, we meet up with the idea that Paul’s main function was as a teacher NOT an author, and, even if the material was not actually written on paper by Paul’s own hand, his imprint indelibly remains.

Going on with Timothy:

“9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

“But the word of God is not bound,” sounds a lot like “the truth will set you free”. This is good. However, I once again sense a contradiction. The word of God, whatever that is, is not bound, and yet, from Chapter 1 we read: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me.” Thus, the word of God is unbound, but the doctrine of Paul is bound. 

Perhaps I trivialize the idea with semantic nit-picking—on the other hand the issue of fixed definitions of spiritual truths goes against the grain for me, and makes some of Paul’s logic suspect. From the Introduction to Paul, I read two weeks ago, we saw that there have been more than one critic of Paul on these very grounds. Among the critics of Paul the Apostle was Thomas Jefferson, a Deist, who wrote that Paul was the "first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus." Christian anarchists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Ammon Hennacy, take a similar view. These are harsh words directed at an undisputed hero of the so-called apostolic age; and yet it cannot be denied that there is confusion.

My take on the subject necessarily includes me as a corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus: we have mentioned repeatedly that Jesus recommended that we change from the inner to the outer, and yet I, along with C.S. Lewis, have maintained that working from the outer inward is also a legitimate path to spiritual transformation. Indeed the age-old quarrel between Catholics and Protestants is based on this single disagreement. It must be admitted that Jesus spoke transcendent truths and pointed the surest way to heaven—but the compromises with the restrictions of earthly life have left their imprint on the very earthly career of Jesus Himself, who was a magnificent example for DOERS of good works.

Emmanuel Swedenborg has this say about the inner and the outer man:

“It is our outer self, or the feelings and memory of our outer self, that the seeds of goodness and truth are planted in. They are not sown in our inner self because the inner self lacks anything of our own; things of our own exist

in the outer self.

Our inner being holds good qualities and true thoughts. When they seem to have departed, we are then shallow, body-oriented people. Still, the Lord stores those things up in our inner self without our knowing. They do not come out of hiding until our outer self dies, so to speak, as

frequently happens in times of trial, misfortune, grave illness, or imminent death.”

To resolve the conflict between Paul’s parabolic truths and the the Secret Truths, I think we must assess the career of Paul in light of its material dimensional context: he was marked by the transforming power of direct contact with the divine Son of God, but he had to get the impact of this experience across to a congregation of simple folk being asked to have faith, second-hand, in an experience (of Paul’s) that I doubt all of them had experienced first-hand—and, remember, it is not anecdotal evidence, but personal experience that is the ultimate authority in matters of spirituality. 

From my sermons on The Gospel of Philip, recall the idea that to Jesus is granted the ability to reveal Himself to people in degrees commensurate with their perceptive capacities; thus, we must assume that many of the new Christian converts must have tasted something of the delights of the bridal chamber; but not all of its ultimate delights--we have to admit that if they were all as touched by divine enlightenment as Paul was, they would not have needed such a leader to remind them of it. Therefore, Paul’s message had to be geared to some kind of democratic majority, a majority which may not have been up to Paul’s level of receptivity and understanding. 

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 we hear Paul say:   

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. 

20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law; 

21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. 

22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 

23 And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” 

We live in a multi-dimensional world, and, as such, we cherish different levels of truth, and must ACT and KNOW on different levels all the time. On the one hand, Paul had a divine inarticulate vision imprinted on his soul, and, on the other hand, he was faced with a tribe of lay followers desperately seeking the courage to stand up to social oppression; to give them this courage Paul had to somehow duplicate in them, (or at least get them to IMITATE), his own enlightenment experience, in order to inspire a faithful attitude. The Jews NEEDED doctrine to believe, and thus Paul had to carve out of his own nonverbal experience, sound words that might remain inviolate, both bound and unbound. As Robert Frost says in his poem, Choose Something Like a Star, “Give us something we can learn by heart, and alone repeat.”

Going on with 2^nd Timothy:

“11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

This section is another clear reference to Karma: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:”. But it is a kind of reverse Karma. Normally Karma works like this: if you do something great on Earth you will receive great things on Earth, if you do something bad on Earth you get bad things on Earth; good for good, bad for bad. However, in the philosophy of Jesus, there is a kind of opposite arrangement: bad (on Earth) for good (in Heaven)—the meek shall inherit, the suffering shall reign. The reversal may be perceived in the sense that what is important on Earth is of no importance in Heaven—and yet, the rewards of Heaven are available to those on Earth with eyes to see and ears to hear. Perhaps Jesus’ radical re-tooling of Karma allows us to reap the benefits of good works on Earth AND in Heaven? 

The waters are further muddied by the beautiful thought: “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” Jesus accepts us all unconditionally whether we accept Him or not, because He accepts us a part of Himself. This is a hopeful thought.

The next section is a clear reference to the scripture from 

Chapter 1:

“1:13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

1:14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”

As a Roman Jew, trained in the philosophy of the Greeks, Paul would have been very specific in his chosen language, and very wary of subtle perversions of meaning in the framing of our prayers to God. 

“14 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.

15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

“Study to show thyself!” We are talking about the work that goes into learning to understand the truth. At this point I cannot resist calling up a section and about “knowledge” I read recently from The Gospel of Philip:

“115. Farming in this world requires four essences: water, earth, air, and light. In the same way, the farming of God consists of four essences: faith, aspiration, love, and knowledge.

Our “earth” is faith in which we are deep-rooted; “water” is aspiration that carries us; “air” is love thanks to which we live; and “light” is knowledge that allows us to mature.”

Note the statement, “light” is knowledge that allows us to mature. Let it never be said that Paul was an anti-intellectual; he was as Jewish as they come when it comes to rational argument and historical precedent. His writing ought not to be glossed over without focused consideration. He, in turn expects us to weigh carefully everything we hear, and always test it for signs of ungodliness.

“16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

This section deserves further elaboration. The following is taken from Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers:

“(19) Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure.--Better rendered, Nevertheless God's firm foundation standeth. Nevertheless, that is to say, though some may be shaken in faith by the unhappy teaching above referred to, yet assuredly God's firm foundation stands unshaken. "The firm foundation laid by God" is the Church of Christ, which is here termed a foundation laid by God, because it, the Church of Christ, is the ground-storey of the glorious Temple of the future. In other words, the Church of Christ is here considered as the foundation of a far grander building, which, in the fulness of time, will rest upon its massive work (see Ephesians 2:19-22)., and this ground-storey, the corner-stone of which is Christ, "standeth" age after age, in spite of any efforts which may be made to destroy or even to shake it.” 

Ephesians 2:19-22 

“¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, 

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 

²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the LORD. 

²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

Back to Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers:

“The term "foundation," here used for the Church of God on earth, is remarkable, and points to a great truth: that, after all, this life is but a beginning, and that "His Church" here is but a foundation--is only the first and early storey of that glorious Church the Divine Architect has planned, and will complete in heaven.”

From Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible we read:

““Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. That faith, which is the faith of God's elect, is of the operation of God, and is the gift of his grace, and of which Christ is the author and finisher, is firm and immovable as a foundation; it is solid and substantial; it is the substance of things hoped for; and it is permanent and abiding; it stands sure, being supported by the power of God, and prevalent mediation of Jesus Christ; and so cannot be overthrown by false teachers, when an historical faith, or the faith of temporary believers may: or the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is here meant, which was said to be past by the above false teachers; which is a fundamental doctrine of the Gospel, without which the preaching of it is vain, and faith is vain; and which is a doctrine of God, of pure revelation; and this will be effected by his power: this stands sure upon the testimony of the patriarchs, prophets, and of Christ, and his apostles; upon the sure word and writings both of the Old and New Testament; and will stand its ground against all opposition, and will have its certain effect; for the Lord Jesus knows who are his distinctly and perfectly; nor will he lose them, nor anything that belongs to them; not their bodies, any more than their souls, nor any dust of theirs, but will raise it up at the last day. Or else the doctrine of eternal election may be here designed; which is the foundation of all spiritual blessings, of faith and of holiness, of joy and comfort here, and happiness hereafter, and even of complete and everlasting salvation; and is of God's laying, and is owing to his sovereign pleasure and free rich grace; and stands sure, not on the foot of works, but upon the unchangeable and unfrustrable will of God; and this secures from a final and total deception by false teachers: and also into the account may be taken the persons of God's elect themselves; who are of God's founding, and are as immovable as the firmest foundation whatever, even as rocks and mountains, and stand sure upon the rock of ages, Christ Jesus, and shall never perish; nor can they be deceived by false Christs and false prophets, but will remain safe and sound, when the faith of ever so many is subverted by them.

Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his: faith is sealed and insured to God's elect, by his foreknowledge and predestination of them; so that they certainly have it, and shall never lose it: and their election is according to God's foreknowledge of them; which designs not a foresight of their faith, holiness, and good works, as the motives of his choosing them; nor a bare prescience of their persons; but such a foreknowledge as includes special love to them, which is distinguishing, unchangeable, and everlasting; and this being a seal affixed to all the elect, shows the distinguishing grace of God in their election, the secrecy of it, and its firmness and irrevocableness, and also the safety of the chosen ones; things being sealed, to distinguish one thing from another, and to keep things secret, or to render them firm and authentic. 

So, among the Jews, seals were used in buying and selling, that it might be known what was bought, and to confirm the purchase. The inference from this comfortable doctrine is, whoever either are called by the name of Christ, or Christians, or whoever call upon his name: let them depart from iniquity; both from doctrinal iniquity, the errors and heresies of the above false teachers, which increased to ungodliness, and ate as a gangrene, and were the subversion of the faith of some; and from all practical iniquity, which those men, and their followers, especially the Gnostics, were guilty of; and, generally speaking, when men make shipwreck of faith, they put away a good conscience: and the apostle may also mean, that all such should depart from iniquitous men, from men whether of bad principles or practices, or both, and have no fellowship with them, it being unworthy of the name by which they were called. Some reference seems to be had to Numbers 16:5 and so the false teachers, and their followers, may be compared to Korah, and his company, and the elect of God to Moses, and the Lord's people, who were bid to depart from the tents of those wicked men; and who stood firm, sure, and safe, when the earth opened, and swallowed up the others.”

Back to Paul’s fatherly admonitions to Timothy:

“20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

With these gentle exhortations Paul concludes Chapter 2. Next week we will get into some controversial prophecies.

Let us pray: Jesus, as always we thank you for what we have and what we will have. Let us take encouragement from Paul’s confidence in the power of the right path to lead us to the right destination. Amen.