2 Timothy 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit… This begins a new portion of the Epistle. I. CHRISTIAN PEOPLE NEED TO BE REMINDED OF THE TRUTH IN ALL ITS ASPECTS. "Put them in remembrance of these things." 1. We are apt to forget the consolatory aspect of truth under the pressure of present trial, as worldly men are apt to forget its threatening aspect under the absorbing worldliness of their lives. 2. The Lord has made provision, to "put us in remembrance," through the ministry and through the Word of God, to which we do well to take heed as to a light shining in a dark place. II. CHRISTIAN PEOPLE NEED TO BE WARNED AGAINST RUINOUS STRIFES ABOUT WORDS. "Solemnly charging them in the sight of the Lord, not to contend about words, to r o profit, to the subverting of them that hear." 1. There are many religious controversies which turn rather upon words than upon things, and thus involve a waste of intellectual energy. These "strifes of words" were characteristic of the false teachers (1 Timothy 6:4). 2. There is nothing in the passage to warrant a disregard for "the form of sound words," for the "wholesome words of the Lord Jesus, which cover things as well as thoughts. 3. The apostle condemns a wrangling about terms which brings no advantage to truth, but rather tends to the subversion of the hearers, misleading their judgments and overturning their faith. Simple-minded people might begin to doubt the truth of a gospel about which contending controversialists were so much at variance. Unsettlement of mind is dangerous, while it lays an arrest on all earnest work. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. |
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