JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY COM

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1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2Tim 2,1-7

(5b) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples are soldiers in God’s army

(115c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through your ministry >> Through your calling >> To build up the body of Christ – When Paul tells Timothy to "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," he was referring to something that has been lost from the doctrines of the Church. This concept of working (with) the grace of God has been in the Scriptures since it was written, but no one has bothered to pay attention to it. The apostles and writers of the New Testament understood this very well, but the Church today doesn’t understand it because certain persons have erected a couple doctrines that are presently in the way of understanding this very important truth. Those doctrines are Calvinism and Armenian-ism. Calvinism is the doctrine of predestination; everything is up to God, and we are powerless to change our destiny. Armenian-ism is just the opposite; man is in control of his own destiny. These two opposing ideas by themselves are wrong, but together they explain how God works with man. We then discover a plethora of Bible verses interspersed throughout the Scriptures that have gone unnoticed for centuries. Most everybody teaches that grace is defined as the work of God, but what we need to understand about His grace is that He has given us a part in it. The cross is the icon of God’s grace, yet no one has been saved by the cross apart from exercising his will. People have always needed to give their hearts to Jesus before the grace of His cross could wash away their sin. Wouldn’t it be nice if Jesus shed His blood and the whole world were saved? If that were the case then there would be no need for a hell, but the world is not saved, and there most certainly is a hell, suggesting there is something man must do to participate in the grace of God to effect his eternal salvation. We dedicate our lives to the grace of God. He gave us His life 2000 years ago, and today I am giving Him my life, and now I belong to Him. The day of our salvation is our personal introduction to the grace of God. Nevertheless, there are many in the Church who sit on their hands, expecting God to do everything for them, supposing  this is what the Bible says. Many think there is nothing they can do to please Him, believing all their works are as filthy rags, but this is not the case after God has cleansed us. They fail to understand the fundamentals of the gospel and of their own salvation. They don’t realize or perhaps they have forgotten they did something to be saved. They asked Jesus in their hearts. This is the first act of working the grace of God in every convert. We are not trying to move the hand of God; He is trying to move ours; and when He succeeds, we call it working with the grace of God.

2Tim 2-1

(9i) Responsibility >> Strengthen one another >> Be strong – What does it mean to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus?” It sounds paradoxical at face value. If the purpose of grace was to make us strong, then why do we still need to be strong? Believing is not measured in increments; we either believe or we don’t believe. To be strong in the grace of God is to take full advantage of His provision. God wants us to make full use of His grace, not just to believe in Jesus for the salvation of our souls and end there, but use His grace to find our calling and help us in the flesh to live the Christian life. All these things are located on the trail of good works that God has prepared for us beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2,8-10). These are the works that we can perform through His grace that will be pleasing in His sight. Paul is explaining that God strengthens us when we first become Christians, so we can use His strength to mature throughout our lives using His grace. In other words, there is something for us to do, but this contradicts the teachings of many churches about the Grace of God, primarily the evangelicals, who think that grace is something we just sit back and enjoy, like watching a movie. They say it is the work of God, so we are not responsible for it, but this teaching is irresponsible. After all, they say, we are so depraved and evil that we are not capable of producing works that are worthy of God’s approval. What did God say to Peter in Act 10-15 when he refused the will of God? “What God has cleansed, on longer consider unholy.” If God has made us worthy, which the evangelicals will cheerfully concur, then couldn’t we do things to gain His approval? Yes, we can be strong in His grace, because God has made us worthy to produce works that glorify Him. Prior to encountering His grace we were common sinners headed for eternal destruction, but after God imparted His grace into us by His Spirit everything has changed. Now our works are an acceptable service to Him (Rom 12-1,2). We can draw from His indwelling Spirit as often as we wish, and it is this concept of drawing from God’s grace that Paul intended. There will never be a time when we will be worthy of His overwhelming gift of eternal life, and though we may not feel worthy of producing works that are acceptable to Him, He promises that our faithfulness is pleasing to Him.

(36m) Gift of God >> Adopted >> We are adopted in the flesh – Timothy was Paul’s son on a spiritual level in that Timothy was saved under Paul’s ministry. Their father/son relationship was to the extent that they considered their spiritual lives more relevant than their natural lives, but this was not to diminish Timothy's real father. That might sound cult-ish to some, but there is one faith that revolves around the truth, while all others revolve around a perception of the truth. The further they wander from the truth the more cult-like they become. Neither God’s truth nor His children are in a cult. The world sees us as such, because they don’t know the difference between truth and error, so anybody who is fanatical about their faith is considered a cult by the world’s standard. Meanwhile, the world can be wild about their fleshly passions and desires, being led by the devil into sin, but they will never be seen as fanatical or in a cult, yet the world is as much a cult as they say we are. The only thing that separates cults from the one true faith is the truth. We can believe as strongly as we want about the truth and it never be fanatical or cult-like, because the truth always leads to love, and love is the antithesis of a cult.

(55a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Working the grace of God – Remember the parable of the wine and the wineskins? “People [do not] put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Mat 9-17). The wine represents the Spirit and the skins represent our doctrines we use to contain the truth. We cannot use old, worn-out doctrines to contain the truth that God would reveal to us during times of revival, but we must rethink the truth and establish more accurate doctrines whenever God visits His people with the truth. When Paul said to Timothy, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” he was talking about working this anointing through the truth of the gospel, saying that the goal of the evangelist and the leaders of the Church is to successfully convey this gospel, so that when we believe in it, the anointing can rest upon us. Show me a Christian who is not anointed and I will show you someone who does not know the truth. We are to strive with the truth until we sense God’s anointing on our lives; this is God’s seal of approval that we understand the gospel according to the teachings of Christ, but until that anointing rests upon us we do not know the truth. Church leaders have one of the greatest responsibilities of the human race to successfully convey the truth to his successors. Nowadays the Church does not use the anointing to prove their understanding and lifestyle according to the gospel of Christ, in that too often the person conveying it does not know the truth by evidence of a lack of anointing.

(72h) Authority >> Hierarchy of authority >> More Authority The More Responsibility >> Closer we get to Jesus the more authority we have – Christ was anointed more than any man, not just because He was God in human flesh, but also because He understood the truth better than anyone and lived it. There are some people who seem to have the power of God, but when we listen carefully to their message and discern their error, we come to realize that they received an anointing from demons, but when we know the truth and hear it preached, we sense an anointing on that person’s life and can be sure his anointing came from God. Paul was telling Timothy that if he effectively conveys the truth of the gospel, he also will have inadvertently conveyed an anointing that automatically follows the truth. However, as we know from reading some of the literature of the first and second century church, this anointing failed to successfully transfer to the next generation, suggesting that certain aspects of the gospel of Christ failed to transfer after the apostles fell asleep. Although fortunately we still have the original Scriptures intact, the custom of believing in the anointing is no longer a part of church doctrine. Somewhere along the line, very early in the Church’s history, the truth was compromised so that Christ can no longer anoint His believers. The anointing simply does not fit with the doctrines we currently teach, and for this reason we see very little of God’s anointing among the people of God. Paul prophesied this in Act 20-29,30, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

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2&3 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

2Tim 2-2,3

(102h) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Trustworthy >> Loyalty -- These verses go with verse 11. Paul commanded Timothy as a fellow soldier in the army of God to pass the baton to the next generation and entrust the word of God to faithful men who will be able to teach others also, and so there is a perpetuation of the gospel throughout the generations. A soldier goes through much hardship, during battles, but also between battles. They are not served turkey dinners with all the trimmings but have to eat unpalatable things that merely keep them alive, and their generals call them to do impossible things, and so they strive very hard to accomplish goals in order to win battles and ultimately the war. This is similar to how Paul instructed Timothy. Obviously he didn’t ask him to pick up weapons and to physically battle with anybody but to suffer hardship just like a soldier, to give his all, and this is what the First Century Church did, and because of them the Church is still alive today. Had they been half-hearted in their efforts, the Church would have died long ago, but their testimony of faith has encouraged and inspired generations after them for two millennia. They single-handedly as a people in unity established the fledgling Church in the known world, and from there it grew. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their zealous commitment and their faithful loyalty to their Master Jesus Christ.

2Tim 2-2

(72f) Authority >> Transferring authority >> Receiving the delegated authority of men – Paul is divulging the process of transmitting the gospel of Christ to the next generation, which has caused the Kingdom of God to live in the hearts of men for the last 2000 years, so apparently it works. Verse one pertains to what we need in ourselves to successfully make the transfer, and the second verse tells how to do it. We need to receive the delegated authority of God and a relationship with Jesus before we can transmit it to others, for we cannot give what we don’t have. It is one thing to have received the grace of God, but it is another to be strong in that grace. Paul was talking to Timothy as one of Paul’s most trusted helpers, and he was recalling Timothy’s very own experiences with Paul of transferring this gospel of God’s grace to Timothy, and now Paul is telling Timothy to perform the same procedure on others to perpetuate the gospel of Christ through the generations, reminding him to make sure first and foremost that he chooses the right people. Paul was reminding Timothy to invest his life in soul winners who will dedicate their lives to producing the fruit of God’s kingdom, transferring not just the Spirit but also the truth, transferring the anointing through the laying on of hands and effectively communicating the truth to his successors, so that the anointing can rest on the truth.

(106i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >> Through prophets

(155i) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> The Church bears witness of the believer – We have the written word, which has not changed since they were originally written 2000 years ago, and then we have the testimony of those who have believed that fluctuates in temperament, ambition, faithfulness and loyalty. People also fluctuate in their interpretation of the written word. Although the basis of our faith, which is the Scriptures, is unchanging, yet what we build upon it does change and has changed. In some ways this is a good thing and in other ways it is not. Every person is different, has his own perspective and attitude, which causes him to interpret the Scriptures a little differently than others, and these can be positive insights that can add to our understanding of God, but when people blatantly contradict and misinterpret Scripture, then we have a problem.

(239g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers are construction workers >> God raises up teachers to raise up the body -- This verse goes with verses 23&24. The works of Paul were not done in a corner, but openly for all to hear and see. This is something Jesus said about His own ministry in John 18:20, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing.” Paul did not drag Timothy into a dark corner to teach him his philosophies; this is not how the gospel went forward, but he taught openly among many witnesses, devout men who knew the word of God, so that Timothy had the promise made more sure. Now that Timothy has had the word of God confirmed, Paul charged him with propagating these sound doctrines to faithful men who were “able to teach others also,” hoping the chain would not be broken, but the truth would exponentially multiply and fill the earth with the knowledge of God, which it did. Largely as a result of Paul’s work, all the European nations were Christianized. Paul committed himself to men like Timothy, because he saw potential in him, and poured his life into him who had proven his faith through much toil and hardship, and showed Paul he was willing to suffer for the cause of Christ. For this reason Paul knew he would be faithful to the Spirit who dwelled in his heart and to the adjoining word of God.

2Tim 2,3-10

(7b) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Defend the word of God by obeying it

2Tim 2,3-7

(95l) Thy kingdom come >> Positive attitude about suffering >> Suffering under the hand of God -- These verses go with verse 10

(102b) Thy kingdom come >> Ambition >> Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling >> To please Him

(116f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through hardship – Paul is urging Timothy to suffer hardship as good soldiers of Christ Jesus. How many times have we wanted to go through hardship and difficulty and give up? So many times we have gotten tired of our circumstances, thinking they will never end, and we became frustrated and exhausted at the futility of our lives, but if we persevere, over time we can look back and see what our faithfulness accomplished. We were careful to make right decisions, though there were plenty of opportunities to do wrong. We were faithful and kept serving God, though we were oppressed and treated shamefully. Nobody understood what we were doing, though we were fulfilling the purpose and calling of God in our lives. When that era ended and we drifted into placid waters and were comfortably able to look behind us to see the result of our labor, we realize that we accomplished more with God than we ever could have without Him. He couldn’t have used us without our willingness to go though hardship. We saw God’s hand in everything we did that created results in people, in our community and in the world that were far greater than what mere men could do, let alone one man. God wants all His people to live faithfully during times of tribulation and distress, because He can use those times and our circumstances, based on a contrast between how people expect us to respond and how we actually responded. This is what Jesus meant when He talked about loving our enemies. We can accomplish more than any gun in the hand of any soldier of any army. People are so used to the knee-jerk reaction of hatred upon hatred; we respond differently, instead of hating those who oppress and persecute us, we show them kindness, no different from our friends, family and acquaintances. At first people think we’re crazy, but when they realize that we are doing it on the grounds of faith, it causes them to consider the possibility that God is in the world through His people, the Church. As a result some get saved, maybe not the person we showed kindness, but onlookers who recognize that we stand for what is good and right. Indeed, we are in a war. We are the children of God. He owns literally everything, and so we can afford to suffer hardship as good soldiers of Christ Jesus, and we can afford to forgive our enemies and give them what they need, because God supplies our needs, and He has forgiven us and accepted us into His family.

(187aa) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to minister to God >> Jesus died for us; now it's our turn to die for Him -- These verses go with verse 11. The reason God has called us to die to self is so we will not worship ourselves, which is idolatry, and no Christian has any business worshipping other gods. The Christian soon discovers that he has made an enemy of the devil, who is much stronger than we and far wilier. Frankly, he has no power over us at all, except by deception, after Jesus took from him the keys of death and hell. Now that the Christian has eternal life dwelling in Him, Satan is obliged to deceive him into either giving up his salvation or lying to him about it and morphing the gospel into something that God never intended. Satan has caused the Church to interpret, reinterpret and ultimately misinterpret the Scriptures, so now it has become a hopeless hodgepodge of thoughts and ideas that are almost impossible to unscramble. People ask, ‘Which religion is right?’ The answer is none of them. Religion is intrinsically false. There is only one thing that is right and one thing that is true and that is faith in Jesus; and we will notice that all religions revolve around something other than a simple faith in the Son of God.

2Tim 2,3-5

(162h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the nature of sin -- These verses go with verses 23-26

2Tim 2-3,4

(167c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (Mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind is set on the flesh >> Wanting authority without responsibility

(226a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about war

(233e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Seek The Kingdom With Your Essence >> Seek the Kingdom of God with your whole life

2Tim 2-3

(99g) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Enduring circumstances >> Enduring hardship

(127n) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Devote your life to doing good -- This verse goes with verses 20-22

(165h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Hardship >> The hardship of persecution -- This verse goes with verse 9. Timothy suffered side by side with Paul, who encouraged him to continue in this way, because a committed life to the gospel of Christ will suffer. Therefore, do not fear it or attempt to avoid it, in that our success in spreading the gospel is directly linked to suffering. It’s the lack of character in the world that requires our suffering in exchange for exposing its darkness.

(188c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Suffering >> Growing pains >> Growing outwardly -- This verse goes with verse 9. Christianity is not very popular, in that the word “suffer” is an inherent element of it; so it is with the military and school. There are many sacrifices we must make at every level of life. When a person enlists in the army, he does not live the same way as a citizen; he is constantly managing time, stress and other concerns. The workplace often requires that we make sacrifices too, but at least we have money, unless we can’t make ends meet. So there is suffering in the world and there is suffering in Christianity; therefore as a Christian in this world, we will suffer twice, and for this reason most people don’t become Christians, but of course if they slip from this life without knowing God, they will suffer for eternity, and here they were trying to avoid suffering, and they ran headlong into it. We might as well take on Jesus’ yoke who said is easy by comparison and His load is light. There are advantages to Christianity; we know we are forgiven; there is hope of eternal life; there is supposedly brotherhood and spiritual fellowship, and there are many other perks, but there is also suffering (2Cor 1,3-7). We should be more Christian than citizens of this world. The high-powered job that brings all the stress, Paul says to get rid of it, so we can dedicate our lives to God instead, and localize our suffering to our faith in dying to self. Suffer for Jesus’ sake instead of for the world and money, for a prestige and receiving accolades, and for all the things that people pursue that will ultimately be taken from them.

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4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

2Tim 2,4-7

(7l) Responsibility >> Use time wisely >> Get ready >> Use this time to gather – All of these analogies refer to diligence in working for the Kingdom of God.

(44j) Judgment >> Transformed >> Fulfill your ministry according to the will of God

(100h) Thy kingdom come >> Diligence >> Diligence in running the race that is set before us

2Tim 2-4,5

(87e) Thy kingdom come >> Ministry to God through obedience >> Seeking the glory of God

2Tim 2-4

(81b) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Striving to please Christ

(100j) Thy kingdom come >> Devotion >> In your ministry to God >> Fulfill God’s calling in your life

(120l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Contentment >> Content with your way of life >> Content with remaining single – One way to avoid entangling ourselves in the affairs of everyday life is to remain single, thus simplifying our lives and reducing our need for money, so we can get by with less. This way we can take an easier job and make ends meet. People feel the need to get married, though, and the Bible does not condemn it, but nor does it encourage us to marry. Catholicism, however, encourages marriage and having lots of children as a means of evangelism, since their religion is not very attractive. Instead of winning new converts, they just grow them. This is not the Bible’s advice on evangelism; we are not to grow converts; we are to win them to Christ and make disciples (Mat 28-19,20). The unspoiled doctrines of the true faith are attractive enough that we should be able to win people to Christ if it weren’t for the apostasy of our times. Conversely, if our gospel were devoid of false doctrine and we went making converts but sent them to a church that taught watered-down doctrines fit only for old women (1Tim 4-7), we would be wasting our time, for they would soon walk out the same door they used to enter the church.

(161k) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Satan’s attitude determines our direction >> Carried Away >> Carried away by religion -- This verse goes with verses 16-18

(165e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not partake of the world >> Do not desire the treasures of the world – No genuine Christian should entangle himself in the affairs of everyday life. We must make a living, and so we are forced into the world to hold down a job to receive money we use to buy the things we need. However, once we have “clocked-out” we can disentangle ourselves from the world on our own time, but many so-called Christians entangle themselves all the more on their free time. Generally speaking, the more money a person makes at his job, the more demands his boss imposes on him, and the more entangled he gets in the world. Typically, high employee salaries are used to attract the best candidates and keep them employed at the company, and are used against them as incentive to work harder and longer and to do things against their moral judgment. If a person had a lousy job and the boss told him he had to sacrifice more than he was willing, he would just quit his job and find another lousy job that requires fewer sacrifices. High-paying jobs are not easy to find, but the demands that we must meet in order to keep them force us to further entangle ourselves in the affairs of this world, and this is something that Paul is telling us to avoid. As Christians we would be better finding a job that pays less so we have more of a say-so about how we live and what we do.

(190e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >> Undressing >> Take off your sins 

(197g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Distracted from a fruitful life – Our daily routine has a very strong influence on us to believe in a sense of normalcy, literally giving it the power of satanic deception. Our daily routine tempts us to commit our minds and devote our hearts to everyday things that revolve around us, things like food, clothing and shelter. Ps 69:22 says, “Let their table become a snare before them, and their well-being a trap.” Our minds and lives revolve around meeting our needs, both in the concern about them and in the daily enjoyment of our success. However, Paul warns us not to get caught up in them, because they are not our lives. We need food to live, so we may continue to serve the Lord, but we don’t eat for the sake of eating, and we don’t have a bed for the sake of sleeping; rather, that we might be rested and refreshed to better serve the Lord.

(213i) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> We are God’s property -- This verse goes with verse 19. A person doesn’t enlist in the army and then come home and continue life as usual as though he never signed the papers that made him property of the army. Instead, he comes home and packs his bags and starts a new life in an environment of war. When the Christian signs his papers (sort-a-speak) and makes a covenant with God, he may have entered into a spiritual war, but the fighting will never manifest in the flesh, but will remain in the spiritual realm. He soon discovers that his nearest enemy is himself, his own flesh, and he is commanded to put it to death, as Paul said, “I die daily” (1Cor 15-32). The fact that there are more soldiers killing each other than there are in God’s army, indicates that suffering cold and hunger, working their fingers to the bone, going on long journeys hiking for miles with a backpack and heavy gear, digging trenches, etc., is actually easier than being a Christian, who is called to put to death the deeds of the flesh. If having faith in Jesus were easy, more people would believe in Him, and if the Christian life glorified the flesh, the whole world would clamor to Him. As it is, though, worldly people are not about to die to their sinful nature.

(240h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage of the world – If we integrate into the world, no good thing will come of it. The only direction the Holy Spirit will lead us is what Rev 18-4 says, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.” The world has no truth but has the power to tempt and deceive. Its elementary principles may seem real on some temporal level but they are not true, for Truth is eternal as it is written, “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1Jn 2-17). The world is incapable of the truth, because if people in the world actually believed in God, they would join a Church and no longer entangle themselves in the affairs of everyday life.

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5-7 Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

2Tim 2-5

(1b) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God/man >> follow the golden rule

(80c) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word in spiritual warfare >> To fight in the Spirit -- This verse goes with verse 15

(216k) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God Is Independent Of His Creation >> You cannot control God’s desire for you >> man is not in control of God’s gift

(225o) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about running a race

(226b) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Reserved in heaven >> God crowns us with glory for sharing our rewards >> The reward of a crown

2Tim 2-6

(76o) Thy kingdom come >> Desires >> Word is food >> Harvesting the word of God

(225d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about wealth >> Parables about a land owner and his farm

(230b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> What we must do to partake of the kingdom >> Partaking which requires our participation – This corresponds with the statement, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain” (1Cor 9-9). This can also refer to pastors being paid for their services. It also refers to Timothy being respected for his office as leader and servant of the Church. The one who performs the will of God receives the blessing of it from the hand of others. This is an indication of a healthy church, but if the servants of God are not rewarded for their service, then it is an indication that there is a problem. It is a symptom of unfaithfulness, not to the men of God, but to God Himself. People are not serving the Lord, and thus do not appreciate those that do, and for this reason the reward is not returning to those who are faithful to Christ. God has set up His kingdom in such a way that those who serve Him are blessed and rewarded by the very ones who are benefiting from their ministries. If a pastor spends untold hours preaching and teaching and is truly committed to the word of God, to prayer and to the saints, and gets nothing for all his work, and he is unappreciated by the members of his congregation, then most likely there are people in the assembly who are disturbing the saints by spreading false doctrine among the people and keeping the pastor from what is due him. “Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

(248k) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Values >> The Highest Values >> Some things take precedence over others

2Tim 2-7,8

(82f) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Our approach >> Meditation

2Tim 2-7

(89h) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Wisdom of the Spirit – God speaks to His people to reveal His word in two ways: (1) He gives them understanding in what it means, and (2) He reveals to them His word by the Spirit. We know the ones who understand the Scriptures by revelation; they have a zeal for God. We can tell when Scripture is in them so deeply in a place that is beyond human ability to believe, they get emotional when they talk about God. However, before we can understand the Scriptures by revelation, we need to understand what it says in the first place, and not have the wrong idea about it. We must be careful not to ask God for a revelation of a misinterpretation of Scripture, which is just the opportunity the devil needs to come and reveal to us a false idea about God by his spirit and seal it into us so we cannot stop believing it. This has happened innumerous times to unfortunate people who didn’t care enough about the truth to seek it, but considers their version of the Scriptures to be good enough. Eventually those ideas get cemented into them so they can’t stop believing them. Look at the Pharisees, the Scribes, the Sadducees, the chief priests and all the leaders of Israel who were responsible for Jesus’ death, they believed very strongly. They were called zealots for their version of the truth, but they believed the wrong things and the devil came and sealed their false teachings in their hearts so they couldn’t stop believing them. This is why it is necessary to know the truth and not a facsimile of it. Paul was talking to a mature Christian, someone who loved the Lord with all his heart and was dedicated to the truth. Timothy was ready to die for his faith in Jesus, and this is why Paul was so confident that Timothy would eventually understand what he was saying, because he was committed to promoting the Kingdom of God. These days people are so lackadaisical about their faith it’s pathetic; to us Paul would not so readily say these words, because we have proven we have itching ears and more readily accept a lie.

(109ha) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit the teacher >> Spirit interprets the word for us – Paul didn’t have to spell out everything to Timothy, because he had the spirit of God dwelling in him and God would reveal the truth to Timothy. This would guarantee them on the same page, so there would be no misinterpretation or misunderstanding between them.

(110j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit of revelation >> Revelation of the truth

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8&9 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

2Tim 2,8-10

(98ka) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> The salvation of God >> Enduring the wicked is to overcome them

2Tim 2-8

(37e) Judgment >> Jesus’ humanity >> He was part of the lineage of David – Jesus literally rose from the dead, but that he descended from David is somewhat less literal. We know that Jesus’ Father was God, and so the question goes to the mother, Mary, but according to Jewish custom, the father determined the children’s lineage, so her input is irrelevant. The only connection Jesus had with the house of David was through his surrogate father, Joseph, who descended from the tribe of Judah. This means Jesus had no congenital link to Bethlehem. The fact that Joseph was not his real father indicates that having a bloodline stemming back to David didn’t make Jesus better or worse; the point of the Old Testament prophets was that Jesus’ kingship in the Millennium will resemble David’s kingship in his struggle to free Israel from her enemies before he could finally sit on his throne, reminiscent of the Great Tribulation prior to Jesus’ second coming. Paul put his life on the line in defense of the notion of Christ descending from David; Jesus’ lineage was more important to him than his own. He was willing to suffer as a criminal in defense of Christ’s bloodline rather than to marry a wife, settle-down and preserve his own bloodline. Paul was not stupid; he was very learned; he would know if Jesus was descended of David or not. Mary, whose earlier husband (God) made her pregnant and then was no longer available, married Joseph of Davidic lineage, so that legally Mary’s lineage transferred to the tribe of Judah through her husband, and all his children (Jesus’ brothers) descended from Judah, as did Jesus, legally.

(39a) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of Jesus Christ

(238j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers "remind" their students >> Teaching by rote

2Tim 2,9-11

(187b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to minister to people >> Die to self to encourage the strong – What does it mean, “If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him”? It means we died to our selfish interests. Whatever we were doing before we got saved, that is all in the past; now we have a new way of life and a new direction, and we’re following the Holy Spirit wherever he directs us. As we live for Him believing in Jesus until we physically die, we will also live with Him in our resurrected bodies in heaven forever. On the day of the First Resurrection, we will receive a new body that is indestructible.

2Tim 2-9,10

(242c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting God >> Persecuting the word of God – Paul gave a list of things the world had done to him in various forms of punishment that he received for openly expressing his faith throughout the years of his ministry (2Cor 11,23-33). He dared to open his mouth in the world and tell the truth so that some may be saved, perhaps even some of those who persecuted him. 

2Tim 2-9

(119h) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Having freedom to minister – Paul was sitting in prison, but the word of God was not imprisoned. It found freedom in Timothy and others like him who continued to spread the good news of the gospel. The word of God was out there bearing fruit and propagating among those who would believe in Jesus for eternal life. Paul was not the only evangelist in the world preaching Jesus. That is, the word of God did not suffer imprisonment in those who believed the gospel but was free and had the power to liberate them. The word of God is still on the move, finding place in people’s hearts, and the Church is on the move presenting the gospel to those who would believe in Jesus. The concept of freedom in the Bible is in reference to receiving power from God to do His will; otherwise, we are in bondage to sin. Had Jesus died for our sins and granted us eternal life through faith but never made freedom possible, we may be forgiven, but we would still be slaves of sin’s evil passions and desires. However, Christ not only gave us the promise of eternal life, He also gave us power to become free from sin, so we might do His will. Jn 1-12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.” We have the right not only to become His children, but also to behave like His children.

(163b) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Prison -- This verse goes with verse 26

(165h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Hardship >> The hardship of persecution -- This verse goes with verse 3

(177i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Misunderstanding the word of God

(188c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Suffering >> Growing pains >> Growing outwardly -- This verse goes with verse 3

(216f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God forces His bond-servants to do His will

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

10&11 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. 11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 

2Tim 2-10

(95l) Thy kingdom come >> Positive attitude about suffering >> Suffering under the hand of God -- This verse goes with verses 3-7

(210e) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our savior >> Especially of believers

(219g) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God chooses us as we choose ourselves >> God chooses us as we fulfill His calling

(234f) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seeking the fruit of the ministry – Paul separated salvation from eternal glory to show these two as different things, though we can also see them as one and the same. In this life we get saved, and in the next life we will receive eternal glory, one being the cause for the other. We accept God’s calling so in the life to come we will have an introduction to our heavenly ministry. This eternal glory is something that is incomprehensible to us with our finite minds. If we searched deep to uncover more facts about it, we would discover that it is not much different from the Great Commission (Mat 28,18-20). We will be teaching people about how to live for God, but the details and nuances are kept for the life to come. God will create a new people, a new Adam and Eve and command them to be fruitful and multiply forever, and God will give them to the Church to care for them. We will be blessed and loved by so many people and by Christ Himself and by our heavenly Father. Love will come from every angle, and we will be His stewards, but the fact remains that in this life we will never fathom any of this, not one tenth of one percent of it. All we can do is touch the surface with our faith all that He has prepared for us.

(236a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> All things are for your sake >> We are fighting for you >> Our suffering is for your sake – When Paul said he endured all things for the sake of the elect, that is saying a lot, for he suffered a lot. Every drop of his blood that hit the ground for the cause of Christ, every slap in the face, every insult, every time he ran for his life, Paul considered believers the fruit of his ministry and the glory of God. They were worth all his effort as a man on a mission, preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the known world, whose commitment to Christ unlikely has ever been rivaled. The resulting people from Paul’s ministry were worth all the trouble, all the effort and all the suffering he endured. In fact, he was happy to do it, but if nobody got saved, Paul would not have been happy. Although he was the Church’s lead apostle and evangelist because Christ commanded it of him, being the prime motivation of his ministry, his personal motives were the people themselves who got saved through his efforts. Paul may have remained obedient to Christ even if no one got saved, but he  would have no doubt wondered what he was doing if no fruit came of it. He may have figured that since he couldn’t see around the bend, perhaps after his demise the purpose of his ministry would finally materialize, and so the materialization of our faith and ministries is where the rubber meets the road both with us and with God.

(244d) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> Eternal life of the trinity >> Jesus is the source of eternal life

(250d) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> In all things ... >> Be innocent of all sin

2Tim 2-11

(38e) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection anointing

(53a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Of life and death >> Die in order to live

(56g) Paradox >> Opposites >> Seek God’s life by subduing your flesh

(102h) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Trustworthy >> Loyalty -- This verse goes with verses 2&3

(113k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Resurrection power

(187aa) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to minister to God >> Jesus died for us; now it's our turn to die for Him -- This verse goes with verses 3-7. If we literally or figuratively die, we will find His presence. The way Jesus taught the gospel is that there is not nearly the difference between this life and the life to come when we incorporate the Holy Spirit, because He is the very essence of heaven. Without the Holy Spirit, heaven would be a bland place. We would still have Jesus and the Father, but they would be in a single location, whereas the Holy Spirit is everywhere. Plus, when we meet Jesus face-to-face, combined with the indwelling Holy Spirit, He will exponentially multiply the experience of His presence. We know that heaven is greater than this life, yet God would have it that we minimize the difference between this life and the life to come by obeying the Holy Spirit, that is, cultivating an anointing that results from dying to our will, our dreams and our wishes, giving up our own plans in order to take on His plan and purpose for our lives. When we do this God will imbue us with an anointing that will give us the perpetual presence of Jesus wherever we go. “Christians” means anointed ones, so each of us has an anointing of some level, some greater than others, based on their purpose and calling and based on the attention they give to it. The anointing makes the word of God come to life in our hearts. The anointing is the treasure that God has invested in us that we cultivate by diligent study of the Scriptures and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and doing what He says. All this requires us to die to self; if we do that, Paul promises we will live with Christ in this life and in the life to come.

(209a) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being married to God >> We go where He goes

(254c) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> We live because He is life >> We live because we died with Him

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12&13 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

2Tim 2-12,13

(98l) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> Endurance invites the glory of God – If we endure in the flesh now, in the future we will reign with Christ. This indicates that not all the saints will reign with Christ. There will be peasants in heaven, consisting of those who never served the Lord, but believed in Him for eternal life. They are not less important to God, for the least are greatest and the greatest are least in the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no classification in heaven like we know here on earth in man’s competitive world, where the greatest are greatest and the least are least. In the Kingdom of God, both the great and the small are treated the same; no one looks down their nose at anyone else. Although some will have higher positions of authority than others, that does not make them better or more important than the smallest of them. If we wish to reign with Christ, then we must endure the will of God now as servants, even as we shall serve in heaven. Some are called with higher callings than others. For those who choose not to cooperate with the will of God, but are content with being peasants of heaven, “if we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.”

(102d) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Faithfulness is dependable >> God is dependable – The Bible says that Christ remains faithful, because He cannot deny Himself. For Christ to deny us because we are faithless would be like denying He ever went to the cross to pay for our sins. God has a plan and Jesus is the central figure of that plan. For God to deny Himself would be to deny Himself the joy of man living with Him forever in his heaven. He rejects those who deny Him, because He doesn’t really have them in the first place, but those who love Him with their whole hearts yet occasionally fail He will never deny. God limits Himself by His own choice and volition, but at the same time He is holy and righteous and he will not change. In order to remain true to Himself, there are certain things He cannot do, but that doesn't mean He is in bondage, because He cannot be tempted to live against his nature. He is totally free to be Himself: holy, righteous and good, and part of that is forgiving those who have sinned in their weakness, who otherwise love Him and love what is good and right, but can’t always find it in themselves to live by that.

2Tim 2-12

(55m) Paradox >> Lose by gaining >> Lose God’s will to gain your own will

(88h) Thy kingdom come >> Fear the judgment of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Fear the sovereign hand of God on your life

(192g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Waiting for God to do it His way >> Being patient to receive something better

(199g) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Denying Christ – The Bible teaches that denying Christ is far worse than being faithless. If God gives us faith to believe in Him and we can’t make our flesh cooperate, that is being faithless, but if we deny Him, we are telling other people that we don’t even believe in God. Instead of evangelizing the world, which is the great commission, we are doing just the opposite, and God takes a dim view of it. He likens it to blasphemy. The way blasphemy works, if we do it once, it doesn’t mean we are going to hell, but it does mean we are seriously going the wrong direction. Peter denied the Lord three times that he ever knew the Lord, yet he didn’t lose his soul, simply because denying Christ doesn’t cause us to lose our souls, nor does blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It does indicate that we are going the wrong way, though, and if we continue this way, eventually our faith will die and we will lose our souls. Denying Christ sets us on course with the reprobate mind, and so does blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which is not something any believer wants. Jesus said in Mk 8-38, “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” This concept of denying Christ is not in reference to a single act, but more a lifestyle. This is the person who confesses Jesus to his fellow believers at church, and then goes into the world and denies that he knows the Lord to unbelievers. This is a tremendous offense to God, and in the case of many people, it is a sign that they don’t even know Him in the first place. The person who lives in denial of Christ either isn’t a Christian or is in hot pursuit of losing his salvation.

(227d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards endurance >> Rewarded for overcoming sin

2Tim 2-13

(20h) Sin >> Doubt replaces faith – The war is raging in all the translations we have, based on what we know to be the authoritative words of God. In my view what we have is very accurate, though I suppose no one will ever know for sure the true words of God in their purest form, like we will never know the true nature of eternity until we get there. One thing we know for certain, the universe is big, expansive, very intricate and complex, most likely requiring a creator. Since the Bible teaches to respect and even revere this person (God) if the Bible’s rendition of Him is flawed, I am sure God will respect anyone who thought it was best to respect and love what little we knew about Him. This is what I remind myself whenever doubts arise in my mind about God and His word. People who don’t believe in God have handed most of my doubts to me; they are black holes in an otherwise seamless tapestry of faith that God has given us in His creation and in His eternal word.

(21c) Sin >> Disobedience >> Unfaithful – Here lies the difference between denying Christ and being faithless: “Faith” refers to a substance that comes from heaven that we use to believe in God, whereas “faithless” refers to our conduct and behavior, how we implement that faith, or don’t implement it. Our problem is we are faithless; we need the blood of Jesus to cover our sins. Being faithless simply means we are disobedient, we’ve done something wrong, we’ve submitted to some form of the weakness of the flesh that we can’t seem to overcome. In the case of faithlessness, God is gracious and merciful; He knows that we are made of mere dust. We have a body that is more willing to commit sin than to serve Christ. The Christian loves God, but his body hates Him. God knows we are weak: our mind is weak, our will is weak and our emotions are weak. When sin tempts us we shudder like a leaf in a subtle breeze, our legs get wobbly and our mind begins to swim in every direction except toward the Lord. God know we are this way; we are all faithless at times.

(64g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Limits of God >> God cannot deny Himself

(205a) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> According to promise >> God never changes

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14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

2Tim 2,14-18

(84l) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> They can be destructive – Wrangling about words is the subject of semantics. Paul told Timothy to solemnly charge the leaders of the Church not to get semantic with the word of God. This is actually a common problem in certain Christian circles, especially when it comes to endtime prophecy. If we ever find ourselves arguing with a fellow Christian about a single word or two, remember this verse and stop, because we know it is not the will of God. They call it a debate, but there is no such thing as debating in Christendom; there is only arguing. People debate about politics, but we don’t debate about Jesus. Debating about religion is no doubt a common occurrence, but we should leave that to the Bible scholars and unbelievers. Those of us who believe in Jesus should seek unity, not division. The truth in almost every case is obvious; there is no need to argue about it. Jesus died for our sins; He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit in His place. There is no room for debate in that, and anything beyond this is peripheral and thus not worth debating about it. People can go back and forth about certain ideas and concepts and Paul would say, ‘Hopefully you will come to the right conclusions,’ but when it came to words, he had little patients. Anybody who would debate about a single word is an argumentative person with a contentious spirit. Discussions of this sort are fruitless, leading to the ruin of the hearers. Some like to start arguments and complain about virtually everything under the sun, and invariably they fail to arrive at the truth.

(158c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Strife >> Contentions -- These verses go with verses 23-26. Regarding those who like to be controversial, who like to stir up trouble and raise conflicts, Paul solemnly charged Timothy in the presence of God not to wrangle about words. For contentious people debating is just an opportunity to be argumentative, and the “debate” usually reduces to arguing about a certain word or two. God has not called us to argue about His word, or to create strife, or to raise controversial questions, but “be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman, who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.” Sometimes accurately dividing the truth comes down to a single word, so the difference between this and wrangling about words reduces to attitude. A contentious spirit has the motive and attitude to be divisive, while God's workman strives to unite people around God’s word. Having a spirit of contention is Paul’s complaint, not having a discussion about words.  

(159c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit godliness >> Counterfeit Christian – People will attempt to trap us in semantic arguments. They listen for anything we might say that might support their agenda and will gossip to everybody, embellishing what we said and taking us out of context. As a result, our reputation flushes down the toilet because we had an argument with a religious psychopath. Paul is telling us to avoid such people like the plague. They’re spiritually dangerous, even naming them. He didn’t live in politically correct times as we do; he wasn’t concerned about protecting their identities, nor did he care about hurting their feelings. Paul had a rage for people who would attempt to usurp the gospel. They were a thorn in his flesh (2Cor 12,7-10). Paul asked God to remove it from him and God said, ‘No, I like it there; it keeps you humble.’ A little suffering helps the Christian, and God can protect His own gospel. Suffering drives us to seek God for comfort, and in his remedy he adds all the other things He wants us to possess: spiritual insight and wisdom to convey His word to others through a powerful anointing.

(167g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind does not receive the things of God >> It does not understand the word of God – You can present an idea about the meaning of a word, but if the person disagrees with you, leave it at that. God wants us all on the same page, and the Holy Spirit is able to do that, so if there is a conflict, someone is not following the Holy Spirit. Paul wanted Timothy to be the one to follow God, so if anyone argues with him, he can know for certain that the person is resisting the Holy Spirit, but Timothy had to pay the price to have this level of confidence in the truth. It is a guarantee that argumentative people do not suffer the will of God in their lives. This is what you look for; do people suffer for the truth, or do they just like to argue about it? Do not bother with argumentative people, do not invest your life in them, and do not waste your time with them.

(172f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Hypocrites among the just >> Talkers among the walkers – Are we talking about Christians here? It doesn’t sound like it. Rather, these are church people lacking in faith. It sounds like they may have been Christians at one time, but Paul does not hold out any hope for them. He doesn’t say to Timothy, ‘Really concentrate on these people to get them back in the faith.’ Jesus goes looking for people who have gone astray, but Paul did not instruct Timothy to do this, because he would have no success. This is the job of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have the resources or the office of reaching those who have lost the will to serve God. Only His grace can he break through their crusted over hearts after they have allowed worldliness and secular humanism to invade their souls, which eventually will crystallize into solid rock of unbelief, unless God can somehow reach them. They have bought the lie that their salvation is eternally secure, so now they can live any way they want. It is up to God to keep them on the straight and narrow path, and if He can’t, then it doesn’t matter because they are saved anyway. They really believe this, because this is what they were taught. Easy-believism has led many a soul to hell.

(203h) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Withdraw from obeying God >> Withdrawing from God

2Tim 2-14,15

(104f) Thy kingdom come >> Pure in heart shall see God >> Shall see the Father >> Being in the presence of God

(138f) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Reproof >> Reprove your brother for not thinking right

(148b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Solemnly testify against unbelief – Those who do word studies think they can find a better word or phrase than the translation they are reading; what may be more useful is to find a website that parallels a verse with multiple translations or else lay out many bibles each of a different translation. They look up a word in the Greek to find its original meaning, and what they use to describe the meaning of the Greek word is just more words, using words to study words; that seems useless. Studying words is not very effective no matter how we do it, which is what Paul was saying here. The Bible says to rightly divide the word of God, so we try to divide every word, yet sometimes we still come to the wrong conclusions; instead, we should try conducting a contextual study on the Scriptures, which usually yields better results. We get out our Greek dictionaries and lexicons, thinking all our resources make us better Bereans, but what did Paul say is the goal of Christianity? “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1Tim 1-5). If we insist on studying words, a useful course would be to look for trends made by the number of times the Bible uses a certain word, showing its significance and giving us an idea of its importance. For example, if a word is used fifteen times in the Bible, then we should give it a stronger weight than a word that is used only three times. The scarlet thread running through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation is the cross of our Lord Christ; we should therefore focus on that and broaden our scope from there, but to focus on a word is useless according to Paul, and leads to the ruin of the hearers.

(158a) Strife (Key verse)

(163a) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> In bondage to peoples’ expectations of you

(197h) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> False doctrine is fruitless

(238h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers "remind" their students >> Strong reminders

(240i) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering people from entering the kingdom -- This verse goes with verses 16-18

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 

2Tim 2-15,16

(14j) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Helpers Are Indirectly In Charge Of The Word >> They have the heart of the one who trained them

KJV    NAS  /  Navigation Bar

2Tim 2-15

(4a) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Accountable to the character of God

(9d) Responsibility >> Prevent disunity within the body of Christ >> Prevent false doctrine

(78j) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind by the word of God >> Study the Bible – The Bible will not disappear at the end of this age any more than the Old Testament disappeared at the end of its age. The Bible is a collection of books that may continue to increase one book at a time throughout eternity as a record of the works of God, and a record of those who stood behind Him and supported Him in all He did, such as Timothy, who was probably Paul’s favorite helper on his missionary journeys. His authority was just under an apostle as one of the great church leaders of his time. He would stay after Paul established a church and act as itinerate pastor, until a permanent one could be put in his place chosen among the congregation. Timothy taught the word of God in all accuracy in the ways that Paul taught him. Paul was writing to Timothy, but his letters were read to all the people and widely circulated among the brethren; therefore, what Paul wrote to Timothy had application to all Christians. There were only a limited number of manuscripts back then; not everybody had a Bible in his house, but if they had one, they would have read it. It takes a lot of time and effort to become proficient in the Scriptures; we don’t just read the Bible once or twice and consider ourselves authorities on the subject. If we will become students of the word, then we should also become disciples of prayer, because the two of them go together.

(80c) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word in spiritual warfare >> To fight in the Spirit -- This verse goes with verse 5

(100g) Thy kingdom come >> Diligence >> Diligence in studying the word of God – The early church had very few manuscripts, so they couldn’t read the Bible all day, yet they did come together on a regular basis and publicly read the manuscripts and discussed the word of God and spent a lot of time together praying in the Christian faith. Soon afterward there was the dispersion from Jerusalem, but the same thing took place in certain pockets around Jerusalem, and as Christianity continued increasing its sphere of influence in the world, the saints continued in their spiritual fellowship. The word of God was so important to the people that when Gutenberg finally invented his printing press, his very first project of mass production was the Bible. This happened in the 1400’s, so for over 1400 years people lived without a Bible; all they had before that were manuscripts, which were handwritten copies of copies. For this reason, people memorized large portions of Scripture and recited them in public. They exhibited tremendous diligence in the Scriptures, compared to today when everybody owns a Bible but hardly anyone reads it. This is shameful! Paul said we are to be workmen who do not need to be ashamed. To the Christian, if the Bible is available to us but we don’t ever study it, that is shameful; and to the unbeliever, it is not shameful to shirk reading the bible, but it is shameful to be an unbeliever.

(102a) Thy kingdom come >> Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling >> To see God’s will in your life

(107l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> hearing from God >> The Bible will lead you to truth >> Thy word is truth – The person who diligently studies the word of God does not need to be ashamed; he can divulge his knowledge of the Scriptures and be confident that what he teaches is true. However, there are those who are very proficient in the Scriptures, yet they believe a lot of strange ideas. Paul was saying that if we believe the truth, there is no shame in it. There is no difference between the person who rarely if ever reads his Bible and the person who has devoted his life to the Scriptures yet teaches amiss; they are both equally shameful. The only honor is believing the truth, and it is impossible to know the truth without being a student of God’s word, and the only way to accurately handle the word of God is to also be a disciple of prayer, which is to be in touch with the Holy Spirit whom Jesus called the Spirit of Truth. He is our teacher.

(108c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Faith is the balance between truth and unbelief – The Church today, starting with Catholicism, doesn’t believe we should read the Bible. That should be the job of the priest, they say, so we don’t misinterpret anything or end up with a hundred different denominations, as though giving the job to a priest would guarantee against misinterpretation. This is spiritual deception and it has bled into Protestantism; now most people in the protestant church don’t read their Bibles either, though they might consider themselves devout Christians. What they mean is they go to church every week, and that makes them devout, and they pray even less. What the observer should take from this is that such a Christian is not very interested in God, which ebbs close to humanism. “Secular humanism” is a redundant term, for all humanism is intrinsically secular, “apart from God.” A person who goes to church and never prays or reads his Bible is just as humanistic as the atheist, who doesn’t believe God exists. There is hardly a difference. There is not a pastor in the world who can spiritually feed a flock so they don’t need to read their Bibles. That would be like a college professor who thinks he is such a good orator that he doesn’t need to assign any required reading to his students.

(122a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in God >> Confidence in the word of God

(138a) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >> Maturing by the word of God

(153k) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Living for Jesus exposes sin >> Your walk with God puts others to shame – It is interesting that verse 15 is sandwiched between verses 14 and 16, in that people frequently use verse 15 as an excuse to argue about the Bible, while 14 and 16 tell us not to argue especially not about words. We are not to use our knowledge of the Bible to argue with one another, but to accurately teach the word of truth. We are not to teach it to contentious and argumentative people, because it is a waste of time. Rather, we are to teach the word of truth to people who seek the Spirit and wisdom and desire to know God for the sake of the truth. People with pet issues are always peripheral to the gospel, and they ironically use them to avoid the gospel, yet to appear as Christian believers. No one can judge who is a Christian and who is not, but those who prefer issues to the gospel are waving a red flag that they are Christians in name only.

(239k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Let not many of you become teachers >> Dividing accurately the word of truth – The one who interprets Scripture least is usually most accurate in his assessment, but the one who adds layer upon layer of interpretation cannot possibly be right, because that would mean God wrote His word in code, requiring us to decode it. Man’s darkness fully accounts for his ignorance of the Scriptures without adding the need for interpretation. The one who over-interprets the Bible will soon lose sight of its message and become shipwrecked in regard to his faith. The real reason people interpret the Bible is when they read something they don’t like, they can make it say something else.

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16&17 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

2Tim 2,16-18

(26f) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is the fruit of the world – Worldly and empty chatter is the description of semantics; that is how it should sound in our Spirit trained ears to discern the truth, thus having the ability to strain out noise of fruitless discussion. Chatter, that is how a machine sounds when it is not operating properly, like an aging car that develops rattling noises; we might need to tighten a bold here and there. The sound is always obnoxious and never really pertains to anything in particular, just a couple of parts vibrating together, in this case the noise of vibrating vocal chords. Get into an argument with those who like to argue about words and we will soon discover that they have a secular worldview. They are not stupid, but they are empty on a spiritual level. They interpret everything through the lens of societal issues and this is how they approach the Scriptures too, but the truth simply does not reside at any address down that road, and the vast majority of those who produce empty chatter are never willing to repent. They act as though they already know the truth, and so how are we supposed to reach them?

(106l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >> To protect your faith

(161c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Satan’s attitude determines our direction >> Wandering from the character of God >> Wandering from the truth – There are those who argue about the Bible and there are those who talk about anything but the Bible, and both of them are to be avoided if they claim to be Christians. It says, “Avoid worldly and empty chatter.” People like to talk about their children and their grandchildren and their jobs… anything but what Jesus is doing in their lives, because apparently nothing is happening, otherwise they would be talking about Him. The only reason God is not working in them is that they are not letting Him. They are too deeply entangled in the affairs of everyday life (verse 4) to serve the Lord. It is hopeless for most people in this situation. They got this way because they never had an interest in spiritual matters in the first place. These people have secular minds, yet they claim to be Christians. If they want to be this kind of Christian, then let them be Christians with others like them, but Paul tells Timothy to avoid them. Do not invest your time and resources in them, because most are devoid of spiritual fruit and are unreachable. God doesn’t want us wasting our lives on people who have no intentions of serving the Lord.

(161k) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Satan’s attitude determines our direction >> Carried Away >> Carried away by religion -- These verses go with verse 4

(179f) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> False prophets >> False prophets preach works and deny Christ – A heretic teaches legalism because it works well to hold people in bondage. They almost always go back to the dos and don’ts of religious behavior, making doctrines of them and providing a rationale for the things they require of their parishioners; and through the rationale, people who refuse to cooperate are condemned. People point at others with a critical finger, turning everything black or white, right or wrong, true or false, so there are no questions and no defense. The law was that way, and Paul was saying that most heretics and false prophets go back to a form of the law, though they never live by their own code of ethics that they impose on others.

(182e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Three causes of interpreting Scripture falsely >> Because they have no regard for God’s word

(240i) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering people from entering the kingdom -- These verses go with verse 14

2Tim 2-16,17

(16e) Sin >> Man’s willingness to be evil >> Allowing sin to reign in your flesh >> Afraid to deal with it

2Tim 2-16

(179k) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Leading people through ignorance -- This verse goes with verse 18

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18&19 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness."

2Tim 2-18

(179k) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Leading people through ignorance -- This verse goes with verse 16. Teaching that the resurrection had already taken place was exactly the issue that Paul addressed with the Thessalonians in 2The 2,1-3. Verse two says you should “not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” Obviously, some of the Gnostic believers of their time were filling the minds of the saints with these false teachings. Partly, “The Day of the Lord” pertains to the First Resurrection and the Rapture. We don’t hear about the Rapture having already occurred, because we have World News at 5:30 PM, and we would know if the Rapture occurred. In Paul’s day people only knew what was happening in their neighborhoods, less in their town and even less in the next town, etc., so the Rapture could possibly have occurred and they would have been unaware of it, but we have virtually every problem except that one in our churches today.

(201j) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Man’s will over God >> God permits man to go his own way

(237d) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> The rapture >> Receiving the kingdom in God’s time – “Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.” It shouldn’t surprise anyone that these kind of people would teach false doctrine such as the resurrection having already taken place. For them to say that the resurrection has already taken place is to imply that the Rapture has already occurred. The early church taught that the Rapture would take place as a function of the First Resurrection, so if the resurrection had already taken place, so has the Rapture, implying they missed it, thus upsetting the faith of some. The Church in our time is utterly divided regarding this subject. The reason the word “Rapture” is not in the Bible is that Paul called it the “First Resurrection.” The Rapture is the most volatile doctrine in Christendom to this day. These false prophets who were spreading lies about the Rapture, prove that nothing has changed over the last 2000 years. The Rapture has always been a point of contention with the Church. 

2Tim 2-19

(42h) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Transformed >> Conform to the purity of Christ – We can’t point at someone and say with any certainty whether someone is a Christian, but we know God knows, and this is the firm foundation of the true church. We on our part are to prove that we are the children of God by abstaining from wickedness. So there are two things that determine the children of God: there is the foundation of the future assembly in heaven whom God knows, and there is the children themselves who demonstrate their faith by conforming to His purity. If we cannot furnish proof of our faith by abstaining from wickedness, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Are we just hoping we are Christians? The Bible says we are “saved by grace through faith,” not through hope. Hope is hinged on faith, so without faith we have no reason to hope. A person who hopes he is a Christian without demonstrating his Christianity is probably not a Christian, but no one can say with any certainty one way or the other. The witness dwells in the believer, yet we can use discernment to determine the true children of God, but this is not absolute proof, for there are many deceivers who are very good at pretending to be Christians. Jesus said that looking for fruit in a person’s life is more accurate than discernment.

(71k) Authority >> Ordained by God >> We have His seal – Everyone who wants to be a teacher of the word of God had better abstain from wickedness, because sin leads to false teaching. We cannot live a lie and teach the truth in that our teaching is only as truthful as our life. Abstaining from wickedness is not an option for those of us who are serious about our faith, for we cannot truly believe in God and walk in sin. We can be backsliders for a season; then repentance is in order, but we cannot be devout Christians and live in sin. This is the seal of God, but those who adhere to the doctrine of eternal security believe they are sealed; therefore, they cannot be unsealed. Probably just about everybody has fallen into a mud puddle, but someone who wallows in the mire has either broken the seal or was never sealed in the first place.

(97j) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Rooted deeply >> Standing firm in the faith >> Immovable – The Bible has much to say about developing confidence in God. We can equate confidence with faith, so as we develop our faith our confidence grows too. Faith and confidence are to different things. Faith is something we receive from God, not to be confused with the gift of faith, mentioned in 1Corinthians chapter 12. Faith is how we have come into the household of God; faith is how we have become born-again and have been given this introduction into grace that God has bestowed on the world. This God-given faith we possess as a deep-seated knowing in our hearts that we belong to God, but confidence grows through our walk. Faith and confidence are interrelated, influencing each other, so our walk affects our faith and our faith affects our confidence.

(105e) Thy kingdom come >> Pure in heart >> Abstain from wickedness

(137f) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Jesus is the foundation >> Church is the foundation of manifested truth

(150ca) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus to be saved >> Confessing Jesus as the Son of God -- This verse goes with verse 22

(156i) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Confessing Jesus is evidence of salvation

(192j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Stop practicing sin >> Stop sinning – We know in our spirit that we belong to God, for this seal has been stamped in our innermost being. Rom 8-16 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” This is not a seal that we can reveal to others. The only way we can reveal to others that we are the children of God is through the confidence we have in Him, and that confidence grows through the consistency of our walk. We cannot put a price on the confidence we are able to demonstrate in the eyes of other people who observe our walk, who judge our sincerity, and we cannot put a price on their trust that we will do the Lord’s will in any situation. This is big when it comes to the body of Christ and unity, for what good is it for us to know we belong to Christ, but for nobody else to believe it because of their shoddy walk? Their confidence in God doesn’t even come from faith, but from a social understanding of various doctrines and beliefs that certain religious cultures have accumulated over the centuries.

(213i) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> We are God’s property -- This verse goes with verse 4. This seal is like a coin that has two sides. On one side is our faith in God, and on the other side is our confidence before man. One side belongs to us and the other side belongs to God. Our side of the seal is faith that proves we are the children of God, and His side is confidence before man that we belong to Him. If we don’t remain faithful to His side of the seal, refusing to abstain from wickedness, then our confidence in Him suffers. Then we don’t know for a fact that God looks at us as His children if we are not living like believers in Jesus.

(217j) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> I never knew you >> Because you are not of His sheep

(219h) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God chooses us as we choose ourselves >> God chooses us through our faithfulness

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20-22 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

2Tim 2,20-22

(8k) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause >> Preparing for the ministry

(32g) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Your faithfulness

(74c) Thy kingdom come >> The heart >> God wants you to protect your heart

(103h) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Cleans yourself – In a wealthy man’s house there are not only vessels made of gold and silver, but also vessels of common materials, some to honor and some to dishonor. So, there are varying levels of value in a person’s house. Paul is using this analogy to say that not all Christians are the same in the house of God, but the goal of every Christian should be to cleans himself of things that bring him to dishonor. Being dishonorable is unacceptable. Gold purified through fire is a common theme throughout the Scriptures. Fire represents suffering, which is another theme running throughout the Scriptures. God passes us through our fiery circumstances to purify us as a vessel of honor. Even pottery has gone through the fire, but if it is made of wood, it will be burned up. This is the kind of life that is dishonorable to God, those whose walk never rises above that of combustible materials, because they cannot be purified.

(127n) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Devote your life to doing good -- These verses go with verse 3

(187e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> Dying to receive the glory of God >> Die to self to be set free

(213h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are clay in the potters hand – Each person represents a collection of vessels. Some are beautiful works of art, while others are made of pottery or whittled from a piece of wood; some are used for noble purposes, while others for ignoble purposes. For example, one canister is used for a spittoon while another is where we keep the keys to our Mercedes. Paul is telling us to dispose of the stinking, filthy vessels laying around the house, representing bad habits; the noble vessels represent good habits. People come into our house and observe all our vessels and accidentally knock over the spittoon and the contents spill all over the floor; that is what God thinks of our bad habits. He comes into our house and conducts a surprise inspection now and then, and He wants our living quarters kept neat and clean. He wants us to downsize, getting rid of the junk and keeping the meaningful, and in this way increase the quality of our work and concentrate the will of God in our lives. As time passes we collect more vases, some valuable and some not, and occasionally we must go through them and throw out some, keeping only the good ones, so that when the Lord comes, He will be pleased with what He sees and smells. Youthful lust is one of those common vessels that is used for ignoble purposes; we need to pour the contents into the outhouse and throw the vase in the trash, and from now on take trips to the outhouse instead of using shortcuts and storing the results in our living quarters. In place of youthful lusts and fornication we pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. A pure heart is in reference to sincerity of faith, which was how Paul described Timothy, but having a pure heart didn’t make him immune to sin; Paul still had to tell him to behave as such to remain sincere in his faith.

2Tim 2-20,21

(4g) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> He who is faithful in little is also faithful in much

(191f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> God sanctifies us through our devotion to Him

(227e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards endurance >> Keeping our rewards through endurance

2Tim 2-22,23 

(192k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Stop practicing sin >> Run from sin

2Tim 2-22

(22f) Sin >> Lust (craving pleasure) >> Fleshly desire

(95h) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Having an obedient attitude >> Ready to do God’s will

(105a) Thy kingdom come >> Pure in heart >> A pure heart is a genuine heart – Paul told Timothy not to walk through this world alone but to walk with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. I can lean on you and you can lean on me as members of one another; that is the whole purpose of the Church. Just as one hand works with the other, so we are to work with our fellow believers to forge spiritual maturity in the body of Christ for the sake of promoting the gospel in the world. There are many attributes of God that Paul mentioned, but purity of heart is the key attribute that makes all the others possible. A person can potentially pursue righteousness, peace, faith and love apart from a pure heart but never achieve them. He may obtain a facsimile of these divine properties, but without a pure heart we don’t stand a chance of receiving anything from God. Lacking a pure heart disconnects the believer from the resources of heaven, but with a sincere heart all things are possible with God. We cannot interact with Him without a pure heart; we cannot even confess our sins to Him. Without a pure heart, nothing is real; everything is an imitation; we can only pretend to believe in Jesus without sincerity of heart. Without it we are just as lost as the world and no better than the godless sinner.

(125ba) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Faith and love in equal measure

(126a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> God is at peace >> The peace from God

(148f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Natural advantage as an evangelist >> Being youthful

(150ca) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus to be saved >> Confessing Jesus as the Son of God -- This verse goes with verse 19

(193k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >> Run to God to avoid running from Him

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23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 

2Tim 2,23-26

(12h) Servant >> Bond servant >> Their indifference to the world

(89b) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Wisdom corresponds with logical reasoning

(128g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Gentleness >> Be gentle in all your ways >> Be gentle in correcting one another – As people coming from religious backgrounds such as Hinduism or Islam or any other false religion, many of their beliefs have been imparted into them by demonic revelation. They believe it in a spiritual manner as much as Christians believe the truth, and for this reason it is very difficult to dissuade them from their beliefs. Only God can do this through prayer. We can tell someone about Jesus, but this is not the same as imparting the truth into them; only the Holy Spirit can do this. We need to add prayer to the word of God as a way of entreating God to move on their behalf to grant them repentance. So the word of God and prayer is required to dissuade people from their religion and into faith in the truth. 

(157a) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Rejecting God >> Rejecting the truth – Controversial subjects are not at issue with the contentious; what is at issue is the spirit by which they contend their arguments. We are to correct with gentleness those who live in error, not their message so much as their spirit, using the fruits of the spirit to show them how a person ought to live who names Jesus as their savior. We must show them that they are living and walking by the wrong spirit. We are not to assume these people are Christians, because then we would be attempting to straighten out those who believe in Jesus and lead them to a better understanding of Him, but the people whom Paul is describing are not Christians. They are unbelievers who are infiltrating the Church and trying to draw away the disciples after them (Act 20-30), and their motives for this are as long as their deceptions, and at the top of the list is pride and arrogance.

(158c) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Strife >> Contentions -- These verses go with verses 14-18. We must refuse controversial issues that people can easily spin and interpret according to their own knowledge. If we allow them to continue, they will divide and destroy the body of Christ, so doing nothing is not an option. The subject matter that is easily misinterpreted and turned into controversy are the topics that wander from the teachings of godliness, which was Paul’s main emphasis throughout both letters to Timothy and Titus. Everything else is subject to ignorant speculation. People in the Church today argue over everything, but Paul said that the Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome. Rather, we must speak the word in a Spirit of kindness and teach with patience those who would contend with us. We should not try to beat the contentious person at his own game, but maintain the standard of the Lord and win over our opponents with weapons of righteousness in the fruit of the Spirit.

(162h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the nature of sin -- These verses go with verses 3-5

(176c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Ignorance lurks in darkness

(177k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the will of God >> Man’s knowledge of God is based on presumption – Being argumentative and contentious is the opposite of pursuing the fruits of the spirit. These argumentative issues are always speculative; it is impossible to prove any of them; that’s why people argue about them. Argumentative people need an act of God in their lives, for only the Holy Spirit can reach them. They hold to their speculative pet issues, considering them more important than the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must correct them with gentleness as an example against their ways, for if we are anything less than gentle, they will pull us into their harshness. Those who fixate on peripheral issues use them as a means of diverting their attention off the gospel of Christ. They are being led by the devil to wander from God’s purpose, whose will is to focus on the simplicity of the gospel and love of the brethren. They cannot comprehend the simple truth about God’s love. They have no interest in these things; they already have their hurtful and hateful mindsets established. God has not called us to concern ourselves with anything other than a simple faith in Jesus. No matter how dark the world gets; no matter how grave the issues become, the gospel of Christ must remain front and center or we will stray from the truth and develop heresies and teach them in place of the truth.

(193g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> God grants repentance – Paul is describing a Christian toiling with a contentious unbeliever, masked as a disciple of Jesus, attempting to steal away the saints. The Christian challenge is to show the offender the character of God, who will work with us to grant repentance to those who live in error, leading to the knowledge of the truth. Those who are seeking salvation and the righteousness of God through faith are led by the Spirit to church that they might receive from God everything they will need to inherit eternal life, but they are not the only ones being led to church. The devil also leads certain people to church for the opposite reason, not to discover eternal life, but to drag the saints off the trail of good works and into their lair of demonic abuse, where unbelief awaits them to replace the faith they once believed. This is a travesty we cannot allow in our churches. We must confront those who would steal away the disciples right under our noses. Paul mentioned three of the nine fruits in this passage: kindness, patience and gentleness, as a means of showing the ways of the Lord to those who live in error, and hopefully leading them to the knowledge of the truth as God grants them repentance.

(200j) Denying Christ >> Excuses for rejecting Christ >> Using irresponsibility as an excuse to reject God >> Using your sinful nature as an excuse to sin

(212d) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> He is the creator >> Evolution (Defaming God) >> The philosophy of evolution

2Tim 2,23-25

(36b) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of repentance – Paul said that maybe God would grant them repentance, meaning this is what it takes to be released from spiritual darkness; only God can deliver them by granting repentance to those in error. It is a gift of His grace to stop believing the lies of the devil that come to those who believe them by revelation, just as much as those who are convinced of the truth believe it by a revelation of the Holy Spirit. We can tell people about the truth of God, but until they get a revelation of it, they can’t believe it. The truth is open to the birds of the air to come and eat the seed the moment it hits the road, according to the parable of the sower (Lk 8,4-15). Until we understand the truth by revelation we don’t own it, and if we don’t own it by revelation, we are susceptible to spiritual forces of wickedness in high places.

2Tim 2-23,24

(1e) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God and people >> Do not criticize in the flesh

(239g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers are construction workers >> God raises up teachers to raise up the body -- These verses go with verse 2

2Tim 2-23

(186f) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool >> The heart of a fool

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24-26 The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

2Tim 2,24-26

(95a) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective >> False perspective in the world

(109f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Revelation of God >> Revelation of God's word is true knowledge

(119j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Curse of sin is broken >> Bondage of Satan is broken – Whatever spirit gives us a revelation is the spirit we will serve, and every spirit corresponds with various blessings or curses. Therefore, to obey a demonic spirit is to be cursed by the revelation it gives us; conversely, to obey the Holy Spirit is to be blessed by the revelation He gives us. For this reason Paul promises us spiritual blessing from God to all who obey the Holy Spirit (Eph 1-3). This is why it is so important to understand and believe the truth; we are talking about more than believing a set of facts and doctrines, but spiritual revelations that accompany salvation.

2Tim 2-24,25

(127c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Kindness >> Be kind like God >> Returning kindness for evil

2Tim 2-24

(126l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Patience >> Be patient with your brother

2Tim 2-25,26

(18l) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Evil is good >> Loving bondage – Very few people behave like the truth matters anymore, even though the Bible is more common than any other time in history, offering them no excuse. This attitude by no means reflects the Scriptures. For example, Paul was emphatic about being accurate in the knowledge of God, and in fact throughout the entire old and New Testaments this attitude is maintained, and this passage is no different, that, “perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.” People use it to “come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” The truth delivers us from satanic delusions, and from the spiritual bondage, meaning that people who don’t think the truth is important are being manipulated by these entities, and for this reason they believe the truth is irrelevant. Satan is the one that wants us to believe this, and if the truth is unimportant, then neither is it important to believe that the truth is unimportant. That sounds like doubletalk, and it is, but to make a point. This means we should be readily able to let go of the lies, since they are unimportant; yet talking to someone caught in satanic lies is nearly impossible to reach, suggesting there are lying spiritual forces underfoot.

(31h) Gift of God >> Grace >> Salvation >> The ministry of reconciliation

(116l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke by dying to self >> Relax as God kills you

2Tim 2-25

(111a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit sets you apart by the word >> Set apart through repentance – On the one hand, Paul taught that each of us should make a contribution to the body of Christ in our knowledge of God; and on the other hand, He wants us all to agree (1Cor 1-10). Normally, we wouldn’t think those two go together, but they can when the Spirit of God is present and moving among His people. When the Holy Spirit is in control, He can reconcile things that seem to contradict, but without Him contention can arise from any direction. If there are disputes and arguments in the body of Christ, they are because the Holy Spirit is not in charge. The lifestyle of godliness and the fruits of the Spirit lead to the truth, but of course arrogant blasphemers think they already know the truth, and this is where the work of God comes to convince them otherwise. Paul is saying that the only way we can convince people that they need to repent is to show them the ways of God. We cannot simply tell them but show them by example, that they may come to their senses and realize they are prisoners of satanic forces. They come to church in order to ensnare the saints by their own bondage, and the only way we can communicate this is through the fruits of the Spirit.

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2Tim 2-26

(163b) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Prison -- This verse goes with verse 9

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