Misdirection
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, 2 Timothy 2:15a NASB
Approved to God– If you’re as old as I am, then you learned this verse in the King James version, i.e., “Study to shew thyself approved unto God . . “ Unfortunately, that translation led to a lot of misdirection. First, it appeared to make cognitive effort the key to God’s approval. That resulted in long hours of memorization, theological texts, lectures and, most of all, pleas for the Spirit to show the correct understanding of the text. Second, whether we wanted to admit it or not, it made us feel as though we needed to earn God’s approval via these intellectual pursuits. That had two further consequences. First, it granted an assumption of superiority to those who were “academically” inclined. And since not all of us are granted great mental acumen, that meant most of us felt inadequate (and we were occasionally reminded of our lack of “true understanding” by the religious elite). Second, the idea that we needed to demonstrate mental discipline in order to be approved by God led to immediate cognitive dissonance. How can we be accepted by grace without any strings attached and, at the same time, have to show we were worthy through cerebral accomplishment? This led to a final tragic conclusion. Somehow (although we could never work out exactly how—another proof of our analytical deficiency) we weren’t quite “saved” until we got all the answers right.
Modern translations have corrected some of this Western Platonism (for that’s what it really is). Notice that the NASB replaces “study” with “be diligent.” Maybe that helps us see that it isn’t all conceptual. After all, diligence is also a moral category. But while this takes the edge off of the need for advanced degrees, the following phrase (“approved by God”) still leaves us with the dilemma. If grace is free, why do we need to do anything to gain God’s approval?
Then there’s the other tiny problem. We would have expected “approved by God.” We are quite accustomed to the “approval” game so we assume Paul is saying what we have heard in our own culture. But that isn’t what he writes. But Paul uses a different construction. In order to understand Paul’s point, we need to start the whole translation over. ESV offers some help. “Do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved.” But we are still left with the idea of human effort to obtain divine acceptance. Perhaps we need to notice something about the Greek stem. “From the stem word dokḗ (“watching”), dókimos means ‘tested,’ and thus a. ‘reliable,’ and b. ‘esteemed,’ ‘valuable’ (whether persons or things).”[1] That would render the sentence “Do your best to present yourselves to God as one tested.” That makes more sense. Testing is not the same as approving. We can be tested regardless of the outcome for the testing is independent of the result. “The testing sifts out the dókimoi (1 Cor. 11:19), i.e., authentic believers who shun factions, glorify God by obedience (2 Cor. 9:13), attest their love in the collection (2 Cor. 8:8), and, even though the apostle himself may seem to have failed, meet the test themselves by doing good (2 Cor. 13:5ff.).”[2]
We still have a bit of concern about “Do your best.” We might wish God would acknowledge that we tried, but the verb is spoudázō, “to make haste, be zealous.” That seems a bit more serious than “do your best.” Zealots might “do their best” but we probably wouldn’t call them zealots because they tried. We would call them zealot because they gave everything to the cause. That seems to be the better rendition of Paul’s admonition. “Give everything you’ve got to the testing God arranges for you so that you will demonstrate your zeal for Him” seems to be the sense of it.
Of course, that admonition is also a condemnation, isn’t it? The standard is “everything.” I know I fall short.
Topical Index: spoudázō, be zealous, dókimos, tested, approved, 2 Timothy 2:15
[1]Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament(181). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
October 31 2015, today’s word, gave us the idea to respond quickly to God’s instructions, do not waste time thinking, just do it being diligent or zealous.. thank you . B. B.
“Give everything you’ve got to the testing God arranges for you so that you will demonstrate your zeal for Him”
Thank you, Skip, this is useful! In the pocket of the world where I originated from; where people still use that older English (aka the Appalachian mountains); they have a term “let me go study on that”. It means “let me see where I am with that”. It’s not a cognitive term at all, but an allegiance one.
I didn’t know my allegiance to love until I lost it. I THOUGHT I had signed on to it, but they say you don’t miss your water until your well runs dry, and that a fish wouldn’t be able to tell you much about being wet because they know nothing about being dry. In the decades love did not seem to work in my world, no matter how hard I tried to stay allegiant, it seemed love kept ‘failing’ ME! But I found out a whole lot of things about love I did not know before; things I would never have learned if love had simply been ‘working’ in my life. Also in the process of trying to ‘do right’ in the face of what seemed like complete resistance, I learned a lot about the difference between what SEEMS to be love, and what really is love. Disaster is the process where life bets “everything” FOR you – whether you want it to or not – and you have to scramble to keep up!
In Gabor Mate’s book In The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts he documented his learning curve about love which his clients – the addicts of Vancouver – taught him. We are all desperate to be loved, but I think most of us avoid that desperation with the diligence of the ancient Greeks who didn’t want anything to do with passion! We hate being reminded that we have to have love to survive, but an addict cannot escape that reminder, for he or she feels that desperation all the time. Not only that – and perhaps BECAUSE of that – the addict (I have found in my experience, anyway) is acutely aware of, and sensitive to, genuine love and respect vs. ‘copping out’; or, the pasties the world wears over the places true love – acceptance – from the heart should have been. It is like the desperate of the world are a litmus test to the rest of those who are more successful at hiding their desperation from themselves. I suspect an addict can call bull faster than just about anybody (because they suffer the most because of it).
In my place of need, too, I found that I could see clearly the hypocritical methods the world employs to avoid having to really love others, for when you look down and out, all those methods get used on you! Very revealing!
I may have signed on to love as a cognitive exercise (coupled with a horrible secret fear of being without it), but in the crucible of life I found out better WHY I needed love, and what it is and isn’t. I needed that knowledge to be able to swear my allegiance correctly; allegiance that can hold in the driest of places. At the bottom of my ditch I found the dividing line between what SEEMS to be the truth vs what actually works, in the places where there was nothing left to be gained by playing the world’s avoidance games and substitutes for the fact that it cannot actually reach out and touch anybody. (If I were a Greek – or anybody – I would have hated all the feelings (passions) that reminded me – and others – of that failure, too!)
In the place where it seems there is nothing left to lose – where you finally run out of illusions to hide from yourself, God and others behind – there is also everything to gain, for truth can finally shine without being obstructed, and you can finally see what you have actually sworn that allegiance to. I have found that disaster can be a great place to “study” the correct division between what appears to be the “word of truth” vs. what it really is!
P.S. I don’t know how good this one is going to be, but there is a new addiction summit (free) starting today. Google addictionsummit and you can register. I think it could be geared for parents or others who have addicts in their lives. I hope it summarizes some of the new, more helpful science/spiritual understanding I have started to see. Attend at your own discretion.
“Study” is an acceptable interpretation, and one who is born of the Spirit would know that one’s study must lead to living according to what was studied. Also, “being approved to God” is also acceptable and this same individual would know that, having been forgiven much, he would also want to please God as best possible by loving much, and again that would mean in his actions, whether in teaching or otherwise declaring and living according to the Word of God.
Now this phrase helps further, I think, “,,,,,a workman who does not need to be ashamed,,,,,”. That, to me, seems to be an important key in understanding YHVH’s expectations of here.
First of all, the word, “workman” is used. See the meaning of “WORKMAN” – ergatēs – er-gat’-ace – From G2041; a toiler; figuratively a teacher: – labourer, worker (-men).
Because Paul is writing to Timothy, personally, a teacher and leader in the house of Elohim, and because he is addressing the mishandling of the word of truth, disputing over words, and the wrongful disseminating false doctrine, we know he is not primarily addressing all believers, for all believers do not have the same measure of responsibilities as Timothy in the Kingdom of Elohim. So, Paul is emphasizing the responsibilities of a teacher and leader in the house of Elohim, though this does also have some application to all who follow Messiah, as all are to rightly divide the truth and to make known His word among the nations.
But maybe more importantly is the phrase, “not need to be ashamed”, This, I think, is the best key to understanding how we are to apply this exhortation. How do we know if we should be ashamed or not? Isn’t it by our conscience? And doesn’t one who is born of the Spirit, born anew, born from above, born of water and Spirit know that he does not merely consult his conscience with his own mind, but by the Spirit? As King David wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Examine me…”. It is by Elohim that we are to be examined, not merely by our own mindedness or that of others. And if He does not convict us, THEN WE ARE APPROVED! If He does, then we are to repent and bear fruit in keeping with that repentance, and He will help us with that, also. It is HIS good work that He began in us that He will finish.
“For who among men knows the things of a man, except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Ruach Elohim. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God—so we might come to know the things freely given to us by God. These things we also speak—not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Ruach, explaining the spiritual to the spiritual. Now a natural man does not accept the things of the Ruach Elohim, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is discerned by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of Adonai, that he will instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Messiah.” [1Co 2:11-16]
So, let us continue on in the same way we began, by faith and by the Ruach Ha Kodesh. If we have begun in this way, let us not try to reach the goal in by the flesh and our own human mindedness alone. Let us live by the Ruach and His word which is to so richly dwell within us, and all the truth into which He so freely leads us according to that what He approves. If we lean on our own understanding, we will have many anxious thoughts, But if we trust in Him and His Ruach, we will have SHALOM! By this shall we be “APPROVED TO GOD”! For He is able to do so!
Thank you for this, Jerry and Lisa! This is exactly how I would interpret it:)
I appreciate your response here, as do others, I see. Just a few comments. The idea that this verse is only apprehended correctly by those who are born of the Spirit (perhaps you didn’t imply that) is a bit disturbing since it leads me toward the psychological certainty model of the mystic, that is, you only know the truth if God gives it to you. I am sure you can see that this leads to an epistemology that cannot be debated.
Secondly, while “shame” for the West is an internal state of mind, that is not so in the East where shame is public humiliation and loss of reputation. Again, the focus is toward the external, not the internal as Westerners are so often apt of conclude.
How else are we to know the truth, but if God give it to us, if we are born of the Spirit of Truth? After all, we’re talking about the truth, not knowledge. We can be ever growing in knowledge but never come to the knowledge of the truth, according to Paul in the next chapter of 2Tim. [3:7]. Isn’t the “proof in the pudding”? Such as If there is progressive evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, then we can have confidence before Him, which John also says we can have if our conscience is clear? “Loved ones, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” [1Jn 3:21] Much is said by the emmisaries about being able to have a clear conscience, so I wouldn’t be quick to call that some kind of hocus pocus mysticism or the likes. Shall we ultimately rely upon some council of men to know the truth or to be our conscience?
I hear you, but I have a lot of training in epistemological models (this might be a bad thing :)) and I know that in the history of religious belief, where you are heading in your approach (although you might not get there) is to a world where “I KNOW THE TRUTH BECAUSE GOD REVEALED IT TO ME” and everyone else is mistaken. If truth is available ONLY because God gives it, then how are we to know that you have it and I don’t?
I’ve been “in the faith” for a long time and I’m not heading there, but thanks. I even think YOU’RE right sometimes, when I am wrong. In fact, you might remember some of your reproofs and how I have changed as a result. ; )
Oh, my! You mean I might be right some of the time. 🙂 We certainly have to meet face to face sometime! I would enjoy that.
And, of course, the truth is…all truth DOES come from the Lord. But, it can be delivered/revealed to us in many ways…ie through scripture, through other people, through nature, visions etc. The potential problem comes when someone says “a personal truth has been revealed to me alone, and I will share it with you.” If this “so called” personal or private truth doesn’t hold up against scripture, then it can’t be considered truth. Scripture is the final litmus test, not personal interpretations, which humans are prone to make.
Agreed, BUT, you and I both know how “Scripture” has been used to support all kinds of conflicting “truth.” So it isn’t quite so obvious, is it? Translations, culture, idioms, language, paradigms, etc. all influence what we read as truth is Scripture. It just isn’t possible to read it “straight off the text” as though there was no human filter involved. So, we are back at Square One. How do I know that what you say about the “truth” of Scripture isn’t your biased view of its meaning?
Remember that little story about Truth dressed up in clothes that I included a few days ago?
Right. It’s not always obvious or “self explanatory.” That’s why God gave us Skip and TW (and all the bloggers comments to help.) ?
Yeah, but just because I thought you were right some of the time doesn’t actually mean you were, isn’t that correct? ? Also, we have met face to face and I think we both enjoyed it, but it’s been a while. To be able to do it again would be a privilege! Shalom!
Here’s my life practice of truth, not “the truth per se’ .,. There is a truth in my inner most parts and God desires that. When I am honest/truthful about my feelings i am in a better place to keep in step with the Spirit. How so? On more than a few occasions I ignored the truth within … I didn’t own up to this feeling within, that no one knew existed like me. As a result I had a discussion while feeling heated inside. I read that anger doesn’t bring out the righteousness that God desires but I tried it my way. I could’ve heard “Cain why are you so angry” and perhaps like Cain I did not ask myself/consider that question/prompting and it didn’t go well in the end. Yikes! At times I learned my lesson perhaps like Peter, insisting that I would not deny because that’s the highest truth I knew at that time. Maybe I created a big stink like Paul out of ignorance. In walking this out In real time it’s important that I remain teachable. The Spirit/Teacher leads us into all truth and until then I keep my nose as clean as I can. Lastly I embrace the spirit of Paul’s words … i am conscious of nothing against mysel, yet I am not by this acquitted but the one who examines me is the Lord … Paul remained teachable and there is no need to be ashamed as a student in training.
But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
1 Corinthians 4:3-5 – NASB
Personally, I think the only way to know the truth is through experience: post Tree, anyway. I died somewhere back there and got reborn in the Show Me state, so anything you say is the truth is something to which I am going to say to you “get it out of the box: I want to see it walk around by itself”. I am going to want to see how it works in real life and time.
I think truth is self explanatory and needs no ‘help’. There is nothing else like that. Truth is what shuts us all up. As experience is what I think reveals truth to us, anybody with any life experience at all has equal access to it. I suspect the rest of us – sans experience, anyway – are probably either just wearing self-imposed blinders or are parroting words. Tell me how it works for you; better yet, how it can work for me.
In my world, these days, “faith” is spelled “action”, and is the stuff of experience. I have found my head to be rather unreliable (when compared to that experience, anyway); therefore, my paradigm gets continually updated by that reality! Life has been a total shocker to me, I will have to say. (I guess y’all can tell.)
I get the “spelled action” part, but just be careful with the “self-explanatory” bit. A lot of people in a lot of places over a long period of time have claimed that their ideas were “self-explanatory” – and they turned out to be quite wrong.
If they had to tell us that their ideas were “self explanatory” then they weren’t.
Our Declaration of Independence says that “we hold these truths to be self -evident…inalienable rights… life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The test of time unravels all fiction. I think perhaps we can now, post-modernism, see the dubiousness of that “inalienable right” of that “pursuit of happiness”,supposedly “endowed by our Creator”. I now suspect happiness, like “goodness and mercy” finds us; we don’t ‘find’ it. (Perhaps others might agree?)
We’ve all been blessed by our discovery that God’s Word
is LIVING . . . and ACTIVE.
So, too, are we to be. His Word reveals how.
Peter writes: “Therefore prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled;
set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Our actions are reciprocal: us and Him. We can only be at our active best when we
obediently rely on His grace and presence leading the way. Yeshua said unapologetically:
“apart from me you can do nothing.” (That really re-sets the table, doesn’t it?!)
Everyday I have to remind myself, I’m not LIVING alone.
Then, off together WE go!
After reading today’s word I wrote down the line you said, “but we are still left with the idea of human effort to obtain divine acceptance“.
Although I feel like I have moved away from this a little I still am pretty snagged by this from past brainwashing from fundamental Christianity. The church. The idea of pleasing God is so ingrained in me that is taking major energy to step out of it and be free in his love. I’m not saying I want to be an irresponsible lover but there is not a lot of joy in never feeling that you quite are “making it”, that feeling of always being somewhat out of step or disconnected. I guess that kind of thinking keeps you stuck in feelings and not fairh?
I think the whole idea of his yoke being easy is tied up in there somewhere!
Agreed. And I feel the same. Often. It is my “follow the rules” upbringing and the teaching of the Church that grace really isn’t free. I mean we are taught that is it free, but then right behind that comes a whole slug of “do’s” and “don’ts.” Lots of recovery work to be done. I wonder if David ever felt like this?
Do I act because I want to feel better, or do I act because I already feel better? I think the difference is all the difference between works and grace. Grace returns me to the freedom to act out of correct motivation, which is, of course, love. Love is only available as fuel for those who are already free of sin in that place.
“Works of the flesh”, even though they may seem to be identical actions, are all motivated by versions of performing so as to GET love, which I think is the essence of covetousness. Covetousness arises from a deficit; a lack; which we are told is the “root of all evil”. I think people who are working their way to heaven are running on covetousness: they desire love, because they LACK it.
Grace is also about the freedom to ACT (which is based in the faith grace returns us to): it is not just about being “free” for the taking. Being set free from repented sin (in that place, anyway) is about new motivations: new fuel. Freedom returns me to choice again; to the place where choices – made on real faith, – that are good for me and for all, actually ‘work’ again. Those aren’t just words! If I am still acting out of my ‘own’ strength, I am still not free to act, y’all. I think obligation was invented in hell as currency for doing deals with the devil. Love never needed such motivation.
The flesh is motivated by fear, guilt and shame: “obligations” all. Those are our red flags to tell us that the flesh is still trying to hang on in that place to a shred of ‘credit’. Time to stop right there and build a sacrificial altar of repentance whenever those motivations start shoving us around. Today is a good day to die to self and get the right purpose – the right motivations: time to trade in the stuff which is shoving us around, for the good stuff, which never will.
This article was like receiving the right medication after a long search. “Give everything you got to the testing God arranges for you so that you will demonstrate your Zeal for Him” has added what feels like a lot of mileage to this vehicle who was feeling weary. There’s been quite a few heavy circumstances in my life recently and falling out could’ve been an option. The words I shared with a group on Sunday was “show and tell” … it’s time to walk the talk. Who will I say He is in the midst of trouble and disappointment, where will my attention be directed. Will I believe that the stars shine brighter against a dark canvas and keep my light on or will I give in to anxiety, depression, misunderstanding and fade into the dark. Then I read this statement about the heart/spirit of a zealot and I smiled from someplace deep within. A prayer was answered and a need met. So thankful!