Biblical Theology LI: 2 Timothy

The Second Epistle to Timothy is a work that depicts the Apostle Paul writing again to Timothy as a personal letter of encouragement to remain faithful in the ministry. 

Theology: What will ultimately counter destructive false teaching is the proclamation of the Scriptures. Unlike the heretical view that experiential and cultural traditions and stories are a source of truth, Timothy is to uphold Scripture as the source for truth that is breathed out by God (3:16). Hence, it is not to be questioned with human reasoning and argument, but rather human reasoning and argument must be questioned by it (2:14-19). Paul, therefore, continually contrasts teachers who do not get their teaching from God’s Scriptures and the apostles with Timothy who has gotten his teaching from those sources (e.g., 3:13-17).

Ethics: Ministry is a hard job. It will sometimes be encouraging and other times being discouraging. There will be people who support you, people who hate you, people who try to undermine you in secret, and people who oppose you openly. There will be people who don’t hear what you teach and continue to do the things you preach against without even knowing it, and others who will continue on and disregard what is said even when they fully understand. They will set their feelings, religious sentiments and traditions above the Scripture and apostolic teaching (4:3). Some will be your cheerleaders and others your jeerleaders. And people who at first love you can quickly become your haters when you teach things they hate. It is important for ministers to recognize that the life of ministry is the life of Christ, specifically His earthly ministry, played out again and again through His servants. There is always a triumphal entry to be followed by lots of hard teaching from the Word of God that ultimately leads to God making disciples and enemies of Christ. And there is always a crucifixion to be carried out at the end of that path. Always (3:12). Ministry is ultimately the road to Calvary. 

As such, Timothy finds it hard to proclaim the Word of God in the midst of so much opposition and pressure, and Paul encourages him that he must do this if God’s people are to be made complete and the heretics and apostates are to be pushed back. Paul himself is an example of this. Here he is at the end, the apostle who gave up so much and loved so much of the church, abandoned by all but a few. Just like Christ in His hour of death, the majority Paul served have run off. Only a few remain after a long faithful life of ministry. In the face of Christ’s hardship, Timothy must stay the course and teach the Scripture anyway. When it is easy and when it is hard. When people are open to it and when they are not (4:2). He must rebuke people he wants to like him and so risk their hatred of him instead because this is what a minister does. He is a picture of Christ in his teaching, faithfulness, love, suffering, etc. as Paul is (3:10-11), as all who seek to live according to the godliness of Scripture are (v. 12).

What Paul wishes to convey to Timothy, then, is that the faithful preaching and teaching from the Word of God, the admonishing of believers from it when they are in error or sin, is not just one style of ministry among others. It is the only ethical choice in choosing what kind of ministry a minister will employ. It alone is what a faithful ministry looks like because God has uniquely designed the Scripture to disciple His people in the community of the church, to equip the man of God for every good work. It alone has the knowledge that leads to salvation, not human experience or cultural religious ideas gained from commonly believed worldviews. By lifting Scripture up the man of God lifts God up high upon His throne, and calls all of His people to bow down and worship Him by bowing to His revealed will. If Timothy is to be faithful in ministry, then, he must rekindle the fire of his gift to instruct in God’s Word with boldness, love, and sober-mindedness without being ashamed and afraid to say anything (1:6-8). He must protect the apostolic teaching given to him by teaching it to others who will then teach it as well (1:13-14; 2:2).