Lesson for March 30, 2022
The Book of II Timothy
Chapter 2:20-26
Verses 20-23
“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. 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. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.”
Paul used an analogy of vessels in a person’s house to represent the local church. Within the local church in Ephesus, there were believers who responded to accurate Bible doctrine in a positive way and advanced spiritually, and there were believers who responded in a negative way by embracing false doctrine and ended up in a state of reversionism. In our day, in any local church there are believers who respond in different ways to the teaching of accurate doctrine. Some are positive, take it in, and use it in their daily lives. Some take it in and say they love it, but don’t consistently apply it to their lives. There are also those who reject it or ignore it.
In Paul’s analogy, the gold, the silver, the wood, and the earthenware (clay) vessels represent these categories of believers in a congregation. Vessels in the ancient world were made of gold, silver, wood, and clay and many were used to store things such as oil, water, wine, and food. In Paul’s analogy, vessels are used to represent the soul of a believer. What a believer puts in their soul is the difference between advancing in the spiritual life or retreating into a life of reversionism.
A believer needs to fill their “vessel” (soul) with accurate Bible doctrine. Honorable vessels, represented by gold and silver, were believers with accurate doctrine in their souls who were advancing in their spiritual lives. Dishonorable vessels, represented by wood and clay, were believers retreating into reversionism with false doctrine in their souls.
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. These things refers to cancerous, corrupt false teaching (mentioned in the previous verses) which spread like gangrene and caused believers to become vessels of dishonor retreating into reversionism.
Honor refers to having value or worth. Sanctified means to be set apart. Prepared for every good work is a reference to divine production. A believer who is filled with accurate doctrine in their soul is prepared to produce divine good (value) under the filling of the Holy Spirit (set apart) as they use that doctrine to glorify Christ.
Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Paul was warning Timothy not to be enticed by lust for power, money, popularity, or the approval of people. These lust patterns can be “occupational hazards” for pastors if they’re not careful. A pastor is given authority from God through teaching Bible doctrine, and he must not abuse that authority.
Paul said the way to avoid these various types of lust was to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. By replacing the desires of Satan’s world system with the desires of God through divine viewpoint thinking, believers are able to guard their souls from the temptation from the influence of satanic doctrine and human viewpoint thinking. The Greek word for pursue is “dioko,” which means to seek after eagerly. The Greek word for righteousness is “dikaiosune,” which means practical righteousness, which is making your experience align with who you are in Christ. The Greek word for faith is “pistis,” which is Bible doctrine. The Greek word for love is “agape,” which is impersonal or unconditional love for everyone. The Greek word for peace is “eirene,” which means spiritual prosperity. With those who call on the Lord from a pure heart indicates that there were believers in Ephesus who were living their spiritual lives and avoiding false doctrine.
But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Greek word for foolish is “moros,” which means dull, sluggish, or stupid. The Greek word for ignorant is “apaideutos,” which means uninstructed, untrained, or unlearned. The Greek word for speculations is “zetesis,” which means to inquire, to question, to search, or to debate.
So, Paul instructed Timothy to avoid getting involved in all the false doctrinal controversies of his day and just stick to teaching accurate Bible doctrine. Getting involved in theological discussions with those who have no training in Bible doctrine and are therefore devoid of the truth is a waste of time and leads to quarrels. Paul said to refuse to be drawn into these controversies.
A pastor needs to stay with teaching accurate Bible doctrine and not get distracted by stupid, ignorant questions, and speculations about what he teaches. Some congregations want to dictate what the pastor is to teach or how he is to teach so as not to offend anyone. Sometimes a congregation wants their “ears tickled” with poems, stories, and sweet sermons. A pastor is to teach what God the Holy Spirit has led him to teach in a systematic way. Anyone trying to influence the teaching of their pastor is out of line.
Verses 24-26
“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 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.”
Bond-servant means that a pastor is the servant of the ruler of the Church, Jesus Christ. As a servant of Christ, a pastor must follow the example of Christ when dealing with others, as should all believers. A pastor must not get involved in arguments but should be the one who resolves an argument within the local church. A pastor does however have the spiritual authority to remove anyone who is constantly causing trouble in the congregation.
Being kind to all means that a pastor does not play favorites, that he is not partial to anyone. In other words, a pastor is to treat everyone in his congregation with kindness. When a pastor is teaching, he should be speaking to the entire congregation, whether they are positive to doctrine or not.
Able to teach emphasizes the primary function of the pastor to study and teach. And when he is teaching, he must have patience when people don’t understand what is being taught. He may have to rephrase a teaching or repeat the teaching several times before a person understands. This requires patience.
No pastor is going to teach accurate doctrine without getting satanic opposition. So, in effect, opposition to doctrine, which is Satan’s plan and policy, should not in any way inhibit the pastor from teaching accurate Bible doctrine. A pastor should never let what anyone thinks deter him from teaching truth. Even though there are different “vessels” in the congregation in various stages of spiritual growth, a pastor needs to be able to communicate to all of them.
With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Next to teaching, the most frequent use of the pastor’s authority is directed toward discipline of the congregation. A reversionistic believer who disrupts a congregation must be dealt with by the pastor with a gentle spirit. Gentleness is the Greek word “prautes,” which means humility, meekness, and really connotes the concept of grace orientation which is true humility and true meekness in the biblical sense.
Correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 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. The Greek word for instruction is “paideuo,” which means to train a child, to correct a child, or to discipline a child. There must be order in the assembly when teaching the Word of God. If someone is out of order and distracting to the teaching, they must be dealt with in kindness and gentleness, but nevertheless dealt with. If a person is in opposition to what is being taught and causing disruption, they must also be dealt with in kindness and gentleness and removed from the congregation. Hopefully this will get their attention. At such time as they come to their senses and return to fellowship with God and realize the error of their ways (escape from the snare of the devil), they are to be welcomed back into the congregation.