Living, Enduring, and Reigning

I Timothy 2 Part 2

New King James Version 8. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,

Now Paul reminds Timothy of what should be a key point of knowledge, a real center point, and a motivation in every believer’s life. That is, he reminds him that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. This was the great victory over sin and death that won back the human race from the terrible hole we had dug for ourselves when we sinned and went the way of Satan.

The Lord’s being raised is a key component of what Paul calls his gospel. There is a summary of Paul’s gospel in I Corinthians 15.

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A Good Soldier for Christ

II Timothy 2

New King James Version 1. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

The Resultant Version 1. You therefore, my child, be invigorated by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Paul now speaks to Timothy his son. Yet the word here in Greek is not “son,” as the New King James Version has it. Once again, as we saw back in II Timothy 1:2, the Greek is teknon, “child,” as The Resultant Version has it. The Greek word huios or “son” carries with it the idea of authority and representation. Paul is not speaking of this. Rather, he is referring to Timothy as his child, a child whom he is confident will act in a way to please Paul, his father in the faith. Paul has been a father to Timothy in many ways. First of all, he led him to the faith initially. Since then, Timothy has learned from Paul and grown up watching Paul and becoming like Paul. As a true child, Timothy has emulated his father, Paul. Now Paul speaks to Timothy as his child and urges him to face the sad situation they were facing as he was doing it. He speaks of what he wants Timothy to do as his child in verses 1-7, and then speaks of what he himself as the father is doing in verses 8-10.

The Rejected Truth

II Timothy 1 Part 4

New King James Version 12. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

The Resultant Version 12. For which cause I am suffering these things also, but I am not ashamed, because I am aware whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what is committed to me against that day.

Now Paul says that it is for the cause of being a herald, a commissioned one, and a proclaimer of the gospel that he is suffering “these things” also. Yet we have not yet read of any sufferings of Paul. Timothy apparently knew what Paul was suffering, and was suffering himself, for we read in verse 4 of his tears. Yet we, as God’s people receiving this letter that was first addressed to God’s man Timothy, have not yet in this letter been informed of what these sufferings are.

Positioned By Grace

II Timothy 1 Part 3

New King James Version 8. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

In light of the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind that we have been given, Paul now urges Timothy to not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. We might, indeed, have plenty of opportunity to be ashamed. In a world that is increasingly hostile to all things having to do with God and morality, testifying to such things seems increasingly shameful to many. Moreover, when it comes to the Christian world, if we truly testify of the truth for today that God is not working through a religion but through individual faith in and identification with Jesus Christ, we will also find that we can suffer much difficulty. Many people are very attached to their religion, whether it is their religious rituals or their religious works. To question these will lead to anger and rejection.

Timothy’s Gift

II Timothy 1 Part 2

New King James Version 4. greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy,

Paul now expresses to Timothy his great desire to see him. He wants to do this particularly because he is mindful of Timothy’s tears. Timothy has undergone a great sorrow since the last time Paul saw him. I believe this sorrow had to do with the rejection of Paul in Asia, which Timothy was there to witness. Of course, as Paul was rejected, Timothy Paul’s representative was also rejected and experienced that rejection first hand. Also, since Paul represented the Lord Jesus, He was rejected as well by those in Asia, though they doubtless never would have admitted it. Yet Paul knew that Timothy had experienced this great sorrow, and so this inspired him to want to see him.

Away From His Forefathers

II Timothy 1

New King James Version 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

The Resultant Version 1. Paul, a commissioned one of Jesus Christ through the will of God, in harmony with the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

The book of II Timothy, like all of Paul’s books, starts off with the author’s name. We believe that this was because letters were written on scrolls at the time, and one would not want to roll the scroll all the way to the end to see who the author was before reading.

Laban’s Idols

I received the following question:

Genesis 31:34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. Why would Laban have idols in his home in the first place and why then would Rachel want them? Do we see her again with these idols?

It is fairly clear from this passage that Laban was an idolator, worshiping gods other than the LORD. He speaks of the LORD Jehovah in Genesis 30:27, but says that he learned from divination that the LORD was blessing him because of Jacob! And divination is a questionable practice for sure. When God met him when he was chasing Jacob in order to warn him not to speak to him good or bad (he was probably planning bad!), He meets him by His name ‘Elohim, rather than Jehovah, the name He uses for those He is in relationship with. Laban mentions Jehovah again in setting up the witness heap with Jacob, but he seems to do it as much because he was Jacob’s God than his own.

The Camp of Angels

I received the following question:

Genesis 32:1. So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. Why and who are these angles that meet with Jacob on his way back home to Esau?

This is indeed a great question, and it is a mysterious reference indeed. One would think that Jacob running into a camp full of God’s angels would color the story that follows a lot more than it appears to do! Yet after mentioning this camp of angels in the first two verses, we never hear of them again. What we do hear of again is a Man, clearly Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate form, I believe, who wrestled with Jacob all night. This Man probably came out from the camp of angels, though we do not know that for sure.

Will All Jews Be Saved?

I received the following question:

Romans 11:26, “And so all Israel will be saved.” Are all the Jews going to be saved in the end?

At issue here is the meaning of “all Israel.” If we take this to mean every last individual Israelite, then we have universalism, at least as far as Israelites are concerned. But is that really the teaching of Scripture? Judas, for example, was an Israelite, and consider what is said of him in Mark 14:21, “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.” If Judas will ultimately be saved, then of course it was far better for him to have been born. This shows us that Judas’ ultimate fate is NOT salvation, and therefore all Israelites clearly are NOT going to be saved.

The Immortal Image

I received the following question/comment:

I think I finally discovered why certain denominations say that the soul is immortal. They get it from the word “Image” found in the Bible where God tells Jesus and the Holy Spirit “Let us make man in our image” they say that because we are made in God’s image that man is eternal because God is eternal.

Do you have a way to really check the word Image in the Hebrew and Greek?

I think the biggest reason denominations say that the soul is immortal is that is their traditional, orthodox belief. The Bible is made to fit the belief, and not the other way around. In ancient times, the Catholic Church made a concerted effort to incorporate Greek philosophy into Christian doctrine, and the Platonic idea of the immortality of the soul came in with it.

The “image” argument is one that modern traditionalist teachers use. The problem here is that it ignores the fact that, while Adam may have been created not to die like God does not die, he was warned that he would die if he ate of the forbidden fruit. Since he did eat of the forbidden fruit, the fact that he, unlike God, was going to die was at that point assured.