Correctly Handling the Word of Truth
Departing from Iniquity
Pursuing Righteousness
Repenting of Error
Last time we looked at The Complete Rule of Faith, summed up in four points:
The Knowledge of God in Christ,
Escape from Corruption by Grace,
Adding Virtue to Faith,
Trusting the Word.
Peter’s message has an urgency we might easily relate to today as the New Testament warnings of error from within the body seem so apposite. Listing the qualities that keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, he warns:
‘For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.’ (2 Peter 1:8/9)
This blindness, this lack of fruitfulness, may well be the result of a lack of true conversion. It is possible to appear to have all the trappings of a ‘reformed’ life but for that reformation to be merely external, cleaning up one’s act without having a truly changed heart. It is also possible for the true convert to fall into serious error, to err in the knowledge of Christ, to practice virtues in a worldly sense, placing trust in something or someone other than God’s word.
Calling and Election
This time we look at four more crucial indicators as we ask, Am I Saved? When someone expresses concern that this should not be them it is a sign they are thinking the right way, and thinking is key in the matter of faithfulness. Concern that true faithfulness should mark your life is a good place to be. Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, assures us, ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ (2 Tim.2:19) but to the worried believer both Paul and Peter offer a way to be more certain in ourselves that our calling and election is sure (2 Peter 1:10).
Peter begins his picture of the faithful believer, as we saw last time, with the importance of ‘the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ.’ Paul brings us the practical examples of Hymenaeus and Philetus, two apostates, ‘who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened…They are upsetting the faith of some.’ (2 Tim.2:17/18) These two apostates seem to be teaching that believers had already entered the post resurrection world, nothing to strive for, nothing to do. Paul and Peter,with all the New Testament writers, looked forward to that time with hope, but also with determination, perseverance, sacrifice, and faithfulness.
One approved of God is described as ‘a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.’ The apostate is quarrelsome, irreverent, a babbler, ungodly, spreading error like a gangrene. (2 Tim.2:14-17)
The Word of Truth
To the concerned Christian believer the starting point of faithfulness is , ‘rightly handling the word of truth,’ just as departing from the truth begins the slide into error and apostasy. It’s instructive to realise that every error and apostasy seems to begin with a departure from the Bible. If you are worried read your Bible! What we think determines how we conduct our lives, which is why mature, faithful preachers and teachers strive to teach correctly and influence our thinking. It is of first importance, therefore, that what we think is influenced, shaped, coloured, and clarified by God’s established truth in his word.
A Firm Foundation
Paul writes of God’s firm foundation, that it stands and bears a seal. The wickedness of this world, the evil of false teaching cannot shake that foundation, its seal bearing the inscription:
‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’ (2 Tim.2:19)
We have assurance when we stand on God’s foundation of truth in Christ and in his word, trusting in his divine sovereignty. We can also know assurance as we answer the call to correctly handle the word of truth. Out of this we begin to see in our lives a flight from iniquity, the fruit of perseverance and faithfulness, facing up to our responsibilities as new creatures in Christ. It is from this place of modest confidence we can begin to be witnesses of the truth, by both precept and example, confident that we know the truth and living as evidence to the truth.
Facing Error
Finally, Paul’s counsel to those Christians facing the challenge of error is:
‘The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.’ (2 Tim. 2:24/25)
Only those who stand firmly on the foundation of truth can afford to be so generous and patient in their witnessing to the truth.
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