Skip to main content

2 Timothy 2:14 - Thoughts on "quarrelling about words" Day 109

Good afternoon saints

Now that we have finished the first time through Proverbs, we will be changing the pattern back to 3 days of Moses or Solomon and 1 day of either Psalms or NT.

Today, we have another example of "remember things you should never forget".  Paul is telling Timothy to remember to remind the church about things they should never forget.  

Blessings

Jeff

Who are the 'them" that Timothy is to remind?  Go back to previous verses where the subject is "the elect".  Paul endures everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

What are "these things" that Timothy is to remind them of?  Again, go back to the previous verses.  The foundational truths of the gospel.

How does "quarreling about words" differ from discussing the foundational truths?   logomacheō; from a compound of logos and machomai; middle voice of an apparently primary verb; to war, i.e. (figuratively) to quarrel, dispute: — 

fight, strive; to be disputatious (on trifles): — strive about words.

Calvin comments that a better way of saying this is "Of what use is it, when no good comes from it, but much evil? for the faith of many is subverted."   

It seems that while the elect are trying to fully understand the foundational truths of the gospel, they can sometimes become distracted by people who want to "strive about words".  Because words are important in understanding the gospel, the enemy can take advantage of this by making some words more significant that they really are and other words less significant than they are.  If the elect are being edified, built up in the faith, good is coming from their efforts.  However, if some are speculating about things that are not foundational, the elect need to separate from those "striving about words".  You shall discern them by their fruits.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 30:16-20 Hearts set to seek the Lord - Day 359

Good morning fellow members of the household of God, After writing the devotional, I am thinking about the Passover as a household event.  In ancient Israel, the physical household of man was covered by the blood of the lamb.  Now, it is the spiritual household of God that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. Blessings, Jeff The account of the greatest celebration of Passover since time of Solomon (v 26).   Observations: One of the things that made this one great is participation of some of the tribes from the northern kingdom.  Israel was a united kingdom and Solomon and now toward the end of the northern kingdom, there is at least a semblance of being united. God allows some exemptions: Who offers the sacrifice:  The original Passover was a family by family sacrifice of a lamb.  However in  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 this changed to a centralized location once they entered the promised land.  (You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more