Personal Meditations

2 Timothy - The Epistle of the Truth

In the last of his epistles, chronologically speaking, we find Paul the aged, knowing that he was ready to be offered for his testimony, deeply concerned with the way his fellow-members of the Body of Christ handled the truth. Six times in the four brief chapters he mentions truth.

The first reference is the golden text of dispensational teaching; it is the admonition to practise right division of the word of truth (2:15). Failure to follow this principle of Bible study is responsible for most of the sins that plague the church today. Legalism, antinomianism, liberalism, ceremonialism, and most of the other 'isms' can be traced directly or indirectly to failure to practise right division.

By following a concordance and noting the other occurrences of the word "truth" in this epistle, we are able to trace the following progressive steps of those who fail to practise rightly dividing the word of truth:

• Concerning the truth they have erred; the word means to swerve aside (2 Timothy 2:18)
• We are to pray that such might turn to God in repentance and acknowledge the truth (2:25)
• Such are ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth (3:7)
• As they continue their rebellious degeneration they begin to resist the truth (3:8)
• In its final stages, those who have followed this path turn away their ears from the truth (4:4)

May this timely epistle remind us of the need for knowing the truth and "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).