TIMOTHY, my son, you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at lconion, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
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The second epistle to Timothy was written by Paul at a time when he was facing his execution in or about 67 A.D. Whereas the first epistle to Timothy, written a few years earlier, had as its major theme the pastoral care of the faithful and the proper role of doctrine and worship, the second was more focused upon overcoming hardship. The condition of the faithful had deteriorated, and the early churches were beginning to drift away from proper doctrine in the Lord Jesus Christ. Dissensions were arising because believers were losing faith in Christ and, consequently, in the church leadership.
Paul saw that his young spiritual child Timothy might be frightened and in despair, caught in the knowledge that his spiritual father was to be executed and that the churches entrusted to him were drifting further and further away from true faith and doctrine. So, the purpose of Paul’s epistle was to reground Timothy by encouraging him to persevere in the face of people falling away and questioning their faith in Christ. To Paul, what was important was that his spiritual child Timothy be not overwhelmed by feelings of isolation and the general malaise of decay in the emerging church.
The first thing that Paul does is to call Timothy his beloved son. He gives thanks for Timothy and calls to remembrance the genuine faith that is within him. He tells Timothy to be strong and not be ashamed of Christ. Even if he – Timothy – like Paul suffers for his faith, he can hold fast to the sound doctrine that he has heard from Paul about Jesus Christ. Faith allows us to endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ. Christ remains faithful and patient with us awaiting our return even if we apostasise. Christ remains faithful because he cannot deny himself. No matter how difficult the times are, the strength of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus remain the same forever. From this point of view there is, has been, and always will be, great comfort to those confronted with a church under attack and who want to remain true to the risen Lord.
Paul tells us that there will be moral decline in the church. We see that today. The church is under attack from all sides. It is under attack from within and without. From within, it is attacked by those who pervert doctrine and change it to suit whatever point of view they are pushing. The freedom to practice religion is the freedom to pervert it. We see it constantly. Some Pentecostals hold the view that once you have accepted Christ in your life then by virtue of that alone you are irrevocably saved. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, no matter how you do it, even if you apostasise, because you have said at one stage the Lord is my saviour you will always be saved.
Do you see how doctrine can be perverted? Christ teaches us throughout the Gospels how to attain the kingdom of heaven. But nowhere does he say that you can fall away, and you can deny him and still be saved because at one time you accepted him. All manner of false doctrines start to come out of the woodwork. For instance, we have a heresy based upon the “gospel of prosperity”. Here, people believe that God intended them to be rich, that God blessed them to be rich and that it is good for them to be rich because it shows special favour from God. Moreover, the extent of their obligation to God is a monetary one. The mantra is that God gives to you, and you give back to God who is represented by the church. It is a one-to-one relationship. In this way, you acknowledge God but when it comes to your fellow man, then it is every man for himself. Where does it say such a thing in the Gospels?
Paul engages those blighted people who are lovers of themselves, or lovers of money. Those who are boasters, or proud, or blasphemers, or are disobedient to parents. Those who are unthankful, or unholy, or unloving, or unforgiving or who are slanderers. He talks of those without self-control, who are brutal and who despise the good. Those who are traitors, or headstrong, or haughty, or lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and who have a form of godliness about themselves. Those who deny Christ’s power and teaching – from those people the advice to Timothy is: keep away! These blighted people may have lured gullible ones, people who are loaded down with sins and who are led away by various lusts to the point where they are not prepared to accept or acknowledge the truth of Christ Jesus, but the true Christian preaches true doctrine and has nothing to do with those that propagate the work of the devil.
To counteract these false prophets Paul exhorts Timothy to keep true faith. For Paul everything commences with proper doctrine. If you don’t follow the true Christ, then you are following a false god. Anything that you do consequently will be false – no matter how worthwhile it may be. Listen to what Paul holds dearly. Once proper doctrine has been accepted, Paul says, then it is a matter of life, of purpose, a question of faith, the ability to have bear sufferance in love and above all to have perseverance in effort. This is what the true Christian manifests. This is the road to eternal life.
In these few short words Paul is telling Timothy what he should do to have true doctrine, true faith and true understanding. Yet for all this, Timothy will be persecuted. Timothy will be opposed by evil men and imposters. These are men who oppose Christ and his church, a church that is attacked from without as well as from men who teach false doctrine. In other words, there will also be attacks upon Christ from those who think themselves to be Christians. The true Christ needs to be taught to the faithful and taught with patience. Timothy is to stay faithful to Christ because he has true doctrine and true doctrine means teaching the true Christ.
Christ tells us that a house divided quickly falls. So, it is important for Timothy to unearth and remove all the divisions within the house of God so that the house, although smaller, may become stronger and stronger through the true Christ. This is correct teaching. This is true doctrine. Today, there seems to be more people against the church than ever before. From without we are attacked all sides, especially by the militant atheists. Unfortunately, we’re not much off better from within. The church of Christ is divided through false doctrine. Our job, as pastors and members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, is to maintain correct doctrine and by doing that we become a light to the world. True, we may not change the view of others but for all that, we try our best. It is one thing to try and not succeed and another not to try in the expectation that you will not succeed. It is by trying that our church has withstood all the persecutions in the past and will continue to withstand the persecutions of the future. It is by struggle that our church will persevere and triumph.
