'... how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is

the church of the living God.  A pillar and ground of the truth, and

confessedly great is the mystery of godliness' (1 Tim. 3:15,16).

It is Christ Himself Who is the Pillar and Ground of the truth, even as

He is the Foundation of 1 Corinthians 3:10,11 and of 2 Timothy 2:19.  This

foundation is 'firm' and 'sure'.  There is no possibility of Him ever

failing.  The only room for doubt is connected with the building erected by

the believer, which building is likened in 1 Corinthians to erections made of

gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble; and by a change in the

figure, the likeness is to that of gold, silver, wood and earthen vessels in

2 Timothy, chapter 2.  Consequently our attention is directed in 2 Timothy

2:19 not to the foundation, about which no doubt is entertained, but to the

seal that is found upon it.  There is an interesting note in Calmet's

Dictionary which we transcribe:

'Among the representations of seals collected by Mr. Taylor, is one

from Tavernier, being that of the first minister of state of some

oriental prince.  The seal, in the original, is set on the back of the

patent, no man daring to affix his seal on the same side as the King;

and this, Mr. Taylor thinks, may give the true bearing of the apostle's

expression (2 Tim. 2:19), The foundation of God standeth sure having

this motto around the seal -- this inscription, "The Lord knoweth them

who are His".  And this inscription is on the enclosed, the folded,

side of the patent, not visible to us: whereas, on the open side, the

exposed part of the patent, is the counter -inscription, "Let all who

name the name of Christ depart from iniquity"'.

Here we have in the two inscriptions of this seal, the two great

doctrines of Divine sovereignty and human responsibility brought together.

We are encouraged as we realize that we are known to the Lord, but this

fundamental truth is stated but not elaborated.  In this passage the apostle

is enforcing the necessity for those who know they were chosen before the

overthrow of the world (Eph. 1:4), and whose calling goes back before the age

times (2 Tim. 1:9), to act accordingly and to realize that such a calling and

such a choice necessitates that there shall be no conscious compromise with

iniquity, even though it mean the 'shunning' and 'avoiding' of believers by

reason of their evil doctrine.

The present volume of this Alphabetical Analysis is devoted to

Doctrine, as we could not feel happy in issuing the volumes devoted to the

dispensational aspect without some assurance being given to the reader of our

complete acceptance of the fundamentals of the Faith.  While we stress, and

rightly so, the command to 'Rightly Divide the Word of truth', we must stress

equally and with priority the fact that we must 'Rightly divide the Word of

Truth'.  For the purposes of study we can consider these as separate items,

but in reality they are as inseparable as the two sides of a penny.  Like

many another Scriptural term, the word foundation is relative.  Where no

building is erected, a solid rock, or a mass of concrete may be an

insufferable nuisance, but it certainly is not a foundation.  (For the

teaching of 1 Cor. 3:10 -15 with its emphasis upon building and works, see

Judgment Seat2,6).

Freedom.  'The words, liberty and freedom are often used interchangeably.

Properly speaking, however, liberty hints at previous restraint, freedom does

not; hence a slave is set at liberty, not at freedom, whilst a rude man