READ: 2 TIMOTHY 1:1-18 TEXT: v13 HOLD FAST SOUND WORDS
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus
It has often be said that "Words are cheap" but the observation is not a general one
They are only cheap if they are not backed up with positive action:
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (James 2:14)
Evidently not - because it is an empty faith
It exists only in mere mouthings with the necessary evidence, conspicuous only by its absence
But other words are far from cheap: Worth their weight/gold
Have been purchased at a high price
Worth giving all to maintain and to propagate
The man who has them and uses them alright has great riches indeed
Although this may be said of many words…best applied to the words of which Paul spoke to young Timothy
Timothy is a Christian lad
Paul's convert to the Christian faith (v2)
He thinks very highly of him (v3-4)
His faith is an unfeigned faith (v5) cf. Cheap words already spoken of
Timothy is a gifted pastor (v6 cp. 1 Timothy 4:14)
But Timothy needs continued exhortation from his mentor Paul
You never really arrive in the Christian life - at least on this earth
Things like justification/adoption etc., may be settled once and for
all eternity the moment you believe…but it is only the beginning
of the Christian life and (just like ordinary life) you are ever
learning
Fresh circumstances arise every day and you need to fall back upon well established/necessary exhortations
Especially so in the pastorate, but true in all Christian life
This being so - Paul gives Timothy this exhortation (text)
4 main thoughts:
1) WHAT ARE THESE SOUND WORDS PAUL SPOKE OF?
A/ Cannot be anything less than the words of God i.e. the Bible
If not directly sacred Scripture - yet sound counsel based upon/same
But I will take it to be direct Scripture
B/ This comes from two sources
[i] The OT Scriptures
For all practical purposes: only written form/revelation at this time
Doubtless written accounts of the Lord's life on the go (Luke 1:1-3)
but these had not yet been formally added to the Sacred Canon
Eyewitness accounts - but some of them were flawed through
misunderstanding (John 21:23) while we are also told that not every
thing Jesus said/did would be recorded: John 21:25
May imagine that there was some confusion out there
But there were none re: the OT Scriptures
Our Lord had endorsed the Jewish canon (Luke 24:44)
When Paul was tutoring/instructing young Timothy, he made good use of
the OT. Examples in these epistles: 1 Timothy 2:13-15/5:18 etc.,
Timothy was early acquainted with the OT scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:14-17
[ii] But there was another (ongoing at that time) source/inspiration
God was still speaking/revealing Himself and giving fresh scripture
Paul was arguably the greatest channel of it
These epistles/Paul (as with Peter/John etc.,) were given/inspiration
The Lord Jesus distinctly said that to receive the Apostles was to receive Him: Matthew 10:40
Again: Peter refers to Paul's writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16)
Paul effectively himself claimed inspiration: Galatians 1:10-11 and again: 1 Corinthians 11:23ff and so: 1 Timothy 4:1
C/ Anything that comes from the mouth of God are sound words
In 1 Timothy 6:3 the same word is translated wholesome
Healthy words - cannot do harm to the soul if rightly applied
Hence: 2 Timothy 3:15 Rightly dividing the word/truth i.e. in the way
that Paul did it: Hebrews 5:11 and indeed the Saviour: John 16:12
These are the words that are to be held fast
Man's opinions, no matter how sincere, are not to be held fast
As we grow in grace/knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we let go certain opinions/thoughts which we once embraced and even argued over
Why? Because as further light is given/received, we can no longer reconcile them with the Scriptures
Foolishness (indeed: sin) to hold unto error especially when enlightened
"To admit that you were wrong yesterday is to confess that you are a little wiser today" (CHS)
And so we dump the error when we can
We let it go - we relax the grip and release the hold
But not so in the things that are true - we hold them fast
You cannot outgrow the eternal word/God
His truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure
2) HOW THEY WERE DELIVERED TO TIMOTHY:
A/ Timothy (as seen) was no stranger to OT Scripture (2 Timothy 3:14-15)
Long before he ever met Paul or Paul was even saved
B/ But he had also "sat at the feet" of Paul
He had heard these things of Paul - he had been tutored in them
Paul had expounded the OT Scriptures and shared the new revelations
They were for sharing - see the command in 2:2
When Paul wrote his epistles, he wanted them shared round the Christian churches: Colossians 4:16/1 Thessalonians 5:27
Pastor/congregation alike were all studying the same things
No priestcraft where the Bible was fit only for the clergy!
Every effort was made to propagate these things to others
[i] First to the Christians
[ii] Through them to the unsaved (Matthew 28:19-20)
C/ Paul did not merely speak these words to Timothy
He delivered them in a form - or a pattern (Geneva Bible)
Some think that this teaching was given in the form of a creed
A brief outline which summarised Christian Doctrine
Churches which say "We just believe the Bible!" are mouthing trite, meaningless sound bites
Every cult/earth professes to do that
In a age/deep confusion and Satanic counterfeits…you need a creed which outlines briefly what you believe as a church
As a church, we believe that the WCF best expounds Bible doctrine
Therefore we require all our ministers/elders to subscribe to it
D/ This form/words should not be confused with what is generally known
as the "Apostles Creed" which was written long after the Apostles died
Good as far as it goes, but it is no longer sufficient in itself
Generally speaking, the briefer the creed, the less useful it is,
although creeds can be too long/cumbersome also to be of much use
3) THE DANGER OF LOSING THESE SOUND WORDS:
If these sound words refer then to straight Scripture itself (and for
our purposes, we will take them to be for maximum effect) then, the
exhortation to hold them fast is very important
Implication: They can be let go and thereby be lost
How?
A/ In the general way that anything let go can be lost
If we surrender up our Bibles - our copies or our faith in what is
written - then they will be lost: We will no longer remember what is
written, nor keep it alive by acting upon it
Other things will take over and the sands/error will slowly (or quickly) cover the great edifice and it will be buried
But we can lose the form/sound words in other ways also:
B/ We can lose the form of sound words in modern Bible versions
We are AV people, but we do recognise that people may, if they so
desire, give their own translations of the Textus Receptus
If these translations faithfully translate the original languages - who are we to say that they were wrong to do so? We can't
But not all modern Bible translations follow this path
[i] We can lose the form/sound words when they used the W&H texts
There are hundreds of omissions or changes to the word/God
How are we to view those places where, if the modern version has translated some phrase, that the best MSS omit them?
If the best MSS omit them - why are they being incorporated/text?
Take Luke 23:34 ("Father, forgive them…") - the NIV includes
it/text but says (footnote) "Some early MSS do not have this sentence"
However in the NIV Preface: these early texts are regarded as the best current printed texts of the Greek NT and were used
The NIV preface also says that the footnotes call attention to places
where there was uncertainty about what the original text was.
That is a call to doubt, rather a call to faith
If you were an NIV man - could you preach this verse/absolute faith?
[ii] We can lose the form/sound words again from modern versions
when they adopt the method of translating thought for thought
(so called) rather than word for word
Paul did not deliver unto Timothy a paraphrase or an interpretation
He delivered the very words which the Spirit gave him (1 Corinthians
2:14) Verbal inspiration/Bible - the very words are inspired
Then Baruch answered them, He
pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them
with ink in the book. (Jeremiah 36:18)
Danger is that men's interpretations are being written into the text
May well be the correct interpretation - but soon, we will have no way
of checking, since the text itself will not be a reliable guide
Let the translator translate what is actually written - let the preacher give the interpretation and application
C/ We can lose the form/sound words when we substitute in preaching other words than what is written in our Bibles
One thing to explain those doctrinal words with simpler ones - it is another thing to dumb down the faith by substituting them
Entire fundamental phrases like justification, union with Christ, are
being lost and this must impact the purity/existence of the
gospel
D/ Embracing that system of doctrine known as Dispensationalism can also lead us to let go the form of sound words
There is a hop, skip and jump approach to many portions/Bible
Some extreme elements hold that the Lord's Prayer is not for the Christian church etc., or the 10 Commandments etc.,
We reject this teaching as injurious to the health/Christian
Hold this form/sound words very tight
Ever the Devil's desire to separate you from the Bible
If he can get you away into the excesses/Charismatic movement etc., or
into elevating church traditions which make void/Scriptures of truth,
then you have failed to hold fast that form/sound words
What of those who water down the word/God (1 Corinthians 2:17) What of
compromising preachers, afraid to proclaim the whole counsel/God (Acts
20:27) preaching only user friendly messages?
The list is almost endless - the danger ever the same: Letting go
4) HOW THEY WERE BEST TO BE HELD UNTO:
Hold fast…in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus
A/ Although good, solid, common sense, muscular activity is sometimes
called for in this matter - yet the exhortation is a spiritual one
Easy to have all the outward things in order - the correct Bible
version, the correct creed etc., and yet miss out spiritually with God
If you are not feeding upon the word/God with divine help, you are not
going anywhere spiritually. You're letting these things slip
B/ But if you are holding these things fast in faith/love in Christ,
then you are going to grow spiritually as you learn more about Him
It is going to display itself in your life - your Christian witness -
your praying - your talk etc., will all reflect the beauty/Lord your
God
Let's make a start if we have not already seriously done so
Let's seek to go even deeper if we have
Remember/obey the text
THE END