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"And the servant of the Lord must not strive" (II Tim. 2: 24).
It would be easy to point to passages which appear to contradict this prohibition. In
this same chapter we read:
"If a man also strive for the masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive
lawfully" (II Tim. 2: 5).
We could refer to Phil. 1: 27, Col. 1: 29 or to Heb. 12: 4 for further sanctions--but,
of course, we already suspect that the Apostle uses two or more very distinct words. The
striving that is forbidden is machomai which means to fight in war or in battle, and is
cognate with machaira a sword, and is found in combination with logos in II Tim. 2: 14,
where it is translated "strive about words". The striving that is commended is either
agonizomai "to compete in a contest" as in II Tim. 4: 7 and Col. 1: 29, or athleo "to
contend in public games as an athlete" as in II Tim. 2: 5. The word translated "must" is
dei, an impersonal verb that means "it needs be, it is necessary", very much like the
French il faut. It is translated "was meet" in Rom. 1: 27, and, with the negative, can be
translated in II Timothy 2: 24: "It is not meet that the servant of the Lord should strive."
The contrast with this "striving" is set out in the remainder of the verse and in the
first half of the verse that follows.
"But be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that
oppose themselves" (II Tim. 2: 24, 25).
Here are some of the characteristics of the true teacher:
"Gentle" epion, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except in I Thess. 2: 7
where its association with a "nursing mother nursing her own children" illustrates the
inner meaning of this wonderful word. The learned lexicographer Damn derives it from
epo "to follow", as denoting one who readily follows the desire or will of another. It is
blessedly possible to be gentle and inflexible at the same time, but it needs abundant
grace.
"Apt to teach" didaktikos. This word occurs in I Tim. 3: 2 where the qualifications
of a bishop are stated. In II Tim. 2: 2 where the Authorized Version gives the same
rendering, the original is in the nature of an expansion of didaktikos, being hikanoi
esontai kai heterous didaxi "who shall be sufficient to teach others also". This word
hikanos gives us such passages as "not that we are sufficient of ourselves . . . . . but our
sufficiency is of God, Who also hath made us able ministers" (II Cor. 3: 5, 6).
"Patient" anexikakos. This is not the word usually translated patient and patience. It
is a compound of two words, one from anechomai "to bear" and kakos "evil".
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." "Meekness" praotes is one
of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 23) and should characterize all who deal with those
who have been overtaken in a fault, considering themselves, lest they also be tempted