Tag-Archive for » 2 Timothy 2:4 «

Two-Minute Warning

Tuesday, July 06th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen

preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season, reprove, warn, encourage with all long-suffering and teaching

Preach – We often hear this verse used to support evangelistic activity.  We are urged to follow Paul’s exhortation.  Get out there and tell everyone the good news.  Time is short.  Many are lost.  We must hurry.

All this is true, of course, even more so now that nearly 2000 years have passed since Paul wrote these words.  But if 2000 years have passed, maybe what Paul had in mind isn’t quite the same sense of immediate judgment that we tend to imagine.  There is no doubt Paul meant to say epistethi (urgently), but 2000 years later we might wonder, “What’s the rush?”   Perhaps we need to examine the verb kerusso a bit more carefully.

Kerusso means “to preach, to herald, to proclaim.”  It is generally associated with public announcement (for example, the activity of John the Baptist).  Because we think of preaching as the mode of evangelism, we tend to use this verb as synonymous with “proclaiming the gospel,” “saving lost souls,” or “sharing the good news of Jesus.”  But those twentieth-century meanings might not apply to Paul’s audience.  Paul is writing to Timothy, a man who already oversees a congregation of Jewish and Gentile Messianic believers.  Preaching to them can’t mean evangelism.  They are already in the fold.  Of course, Paul could be urging Timothy to get out among the pagans and preach salvation, but this would be inconsistent with the Jewish apologetic approach he practiced nearly everywhere else.  Paul taught Jews and Gentile proselytes.  Only on the rarest occasions did he proclaim Yeshua to pagans.  Most of the time, he was occupied with Gentiles who already had a connection to Judaism.

If kerusso is not about standing on the street corner with a sign or shoveling fire and brimstone at the audience in the pews, then what is it?  We might look at the statement of James.  “For in every city from ancient generations Moses has those preaching him, having been read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15:20).  Clearly, the use of kerusso in James’ account is not about evangelism.  It’s about instruction in Torah.  What would make us think that Paul wouldn’t be anxious to do the same?  Perhaps what Paul is exhorting Timothy to do is to proclaim Torah as fervently as possible to those who are adopting the ways of the God of Israel.  Rather than offering a message of salvation, maybe Timothy is supposed to be bringing current followers into a deeper understanding of the Torah.  Even if there has been a 2000 year hiatus between Paul’s instructions to Timothy and the return of our Lord, the necessity of teaching Torah hasn’t diminished one iota (to use a Greek letter).

If Paul wrote to you today, would he be telling you to pass out tracts, knock on doors, offer an altar call; or would he echo James?  Proclaim the importance of observing the ways of God’s people.

Topical Index:  preach, kerusso, proclaim, Torah, 2 Timothy 2:4

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Skip

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 12 Comments

A Different Cloth

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen

No one serving as a soldier tangles with the affairs of this life, so that he might please the one enlisting him.  2 Timothy 2:4

Tangles – You’re in the army now!  If you’re committed to following the Messiah, you made a voluntary decision to join His ranks.  That decision has some very big implications.  One of those is entanglement.  Paul uses a great word to get his picture across to us.  It is empleko.  You can think of our word “implicate,” but the root meaning is about weaving in connections.  Paul says that if you are in the army of the Most High, you are not woven into the affairs of the world.  You are a man or woman of a different cloth.

The synonyms of this Greek word help us fill in the picture.  They are words for ensnare, put into bondage, seduce, deceive or trap.  Isn’t that exactly what it feels like when the world gets its teeth into you?  You’re going along, just enjoying the blessings of living in God’s world, and suddenly something goes bump in the night.  You make a choice and then you see that you’ve been seduced.  You shout, “Entrapment!”, but it’s too late.  You’ve been deceived.  Something is trying to put you back into bondage.  That something is the world’s systems under the authority of the enemy of our God.  He runs this planet (temporarily) and he is doing all he can to coax you back into his fiefdom.  He just wants you to put on his clothes, the ones cut from the cloth that gets tighter and tighter with every step you take.

Paul has some friendly advice.  Don’t get entangled.  Don’t get implicated.  Remember who you serve and keep your focus on Him.  Of course, Paul is not telling you to retreat to your closet or run away from life.  There’s a difference between entangled and engaged.  We are supposed to be in the world.  That’s the plan.  But we don’t live according to the world.  We are not part of its warp and woof.  Thinking that you can put on a suit made with the world’s finest material and still serve the living God is a big mistake.  After all, our Champion’s life was notable for His lack of possessions and His humility.  What’s good for the Captain is good for me too.

This particular Greek word in this verse is a special tense, not found in English.  This is about self­-entanglement.  It’s not about those circumstances in life that come upon you, unanticipated and unwarranted.  It’s about deliberate choices to get connected to the world’s ways.  There is no trickery here, except for the deception that the ways of the world will lead to happiness.  This kind of entanglement doesn’t sneak up on you and grab you from behind.  You see it coming, but you don’t turn aside.  You let it happen to you.  Looking back, you wonder why?  Actually, there is no rational explanation.  Sin is insane.  It’s a deliberate choice to destroy yourself over time.  No one in his right mind would make such a choice, but then, sinners aren’t in their right minds, are they?  And each time you are confronted with the possibility of self-entanglement, you must remember this.  You can choose to go insane, or you can look to the God of order.  You can implicate yourself, or you can dress in a different cloth.

Topical Index:  cloth, implicate, entangle, insane, empleko, sin, character, 2 Timothy 2:4

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , , , ,  | 4 Comments