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The section before us, II Tim. 2: 14-26, divides into three parts as follows:
A | 14, 15. The WORKMAN and the TRUTH. "The word of truth."
B | 16-23. ERROR and the TRUTH. "Concerning the truth."
A | 24-26. The SERVANT and the TRUTH. "Acknowledging the truth."
Everything revolves around "The truth". In the first case we have right division of the
truth, which leads to unashamed work. Secondly we have wrong division of the truth
("past already"), which leads to the overthrowing of the faith, and, thirdly, we have the
acknowledging of the truth, which liberates from the snare of the devil.
At the heart of this epistle we are at the heart of all service, all loyalty, all good
success. Nothing is so important as our attitude to the truth. If we are wrong there we
are wrong altogether. It may be that truth must be spoken in love (Eph. 4: 15); it may be
that the Apostle combined faith with truth ("verity", I Tim. 2: 7); it may be that the
whole armour of God is made up of something more than the girdle of truth (Eph. 6: 14);
it may be that the fruit of the Spirit is goodness and righteousness as well as truth
(Eph. 5: 9); but, without truth, there would be no ministry of love, no apostolic record,
no armour of God, no fruit of the Spirit.
While this threefold division of the section before us is important, it is not complete;
we therefore set out in more detailed form the structure:
II Timothy 2: 14 - 26.
The approved concerning the truth.
THE WORKMAN AND THE TRUTH.
A | a | 14. Strive not about words.
b | 15-. Study to show thyself approved.
c | -15. That he may be unashamed.
ERROR AND TRUTH.
B | 16. Exhortation. Shun. Increase ungodliness.
C | d | 17, 18. Teachers and doctrine. A canker.
e | 19-. God's foundation. Sure.
e | -19. God's foundation. Seal.
d | 20, 21. Teachers and doctrine. Great house and vessels.
B | 22, 23. Exhortation. Flee. Avoid. Gender strifes.
THE SERVANT AND THE TRUTH.
A | a | 24. Servants of the Lord must not strive.
b | 25. Repentance.
c | 26. That he may be delivered.
Let us now see what lessons await us as we examine more carefully each of these
three subdivisions:
"Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they
strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers" (II Tim. 2: 14).