2 Timothy 3:10-17
Today's Passage: 2 Timothy 3:10-17
Consider the Great Commission that Jesus gave moments before ascending into Heaven—”make disciples… teach them to observe all that I have commanded.” As I read our passage today, I can’t help but see the end of a long road of discipleship.
Consider Paul’s example that Timothy followed and how it relates to every aspect of his being. I love the distinctions Paul makes in verse 10; Paul passed on his knowledge in his “teaching,” but he also modeled right living in his “conduct.” Paul also brought Timothy into his aspirations for the “aim in life.” Timothy caught Paul’s “faith,” “patience,” “love,” and “steadfastness” as he endured “persecutions and sufferings” with his discipler.
Paul encouraged Timothy in his farewell that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” In other words, “do not be surprised when your faith has a cost.”
I love verse 14 through the lens of discipleship, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” For Timothy, this included his mother and grandmother who taught Timothy the “sacred writings” from childhood.
It is here that Paul elevates our understanding of the Scripture we hold in our hands. Notice that it’s the “sacred writings” that provide the foundation for discipleship—”able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Don’t let the familiarity with that idea numb you to its impact. Sit there for a second. Words like “wisdom,” “salvation,” “faith,” are monumental. They are gifts of grace received, how? By simply being in Scripture, “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
In verse 17 we see the end goal of the discipleship process, “that the men of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” That word “complete” in Greek is the word “artios” that “pertains to being well fitted for some function” (BDAG). Pondering this, I was reminded of the time my step-dad and I replaced a wheel bearing in my car as a teenager. This was the first time I worked with a machined part that had to fit exactly. The outer diameter of the bearing doesn’t just fall into the wheel hub. It’s such a precise fit it had to be pressed in with a tool. The precision and forces involved mean you cause serious harm to the bearing or damage the wheel hub, and then you may be out serious money.
Through that experience (and confirmed through several others) I learned that I don’t have the patience or temperament to become a machinist. Yet, what God is doing in us through discipleship, through his Word, through the power of the Spirit in our lives, is machining us to such an exacting degree that we are “well fitted to the function” for which He has equipped us to serve him as only we can to build up the Body of Christ.
Questions for reflection:
In what ways does your experience align with Timothy’s?
What role has discipleship played in your life?
What is lacking for you to be “complete, equipped for every good work?”
Written By: Tyler Short
Consider the Great Commission that Jesus gave moments before ascending into Heaven—”make disciples… teach them to observe all that I have commanded.” As I read our passage today, I can’t help but see the end of a long road of discipleship.
Consider Paul’s example that Timothy followed and how it relates to every aspect of his being. I love the distinctions Paul makes in verse 10; Paul passed on his knowledge in his “teaching,” but he also modeled right living in his “conduct.” Paul also brought Timothy into his aspirations for the “aim in life.” Timothy caught Paul’s “faith,” “patience,” “love,” and “steadfastness” as he endured “persecutions and sufferings” with his discipler.
Paul encouraged Timothy in his farewell that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” In other words, “do not be surprised when your faith has a cost.”
I love verse 14 through the lens of discipleship, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” For Timothy, this included his mother and grandmother who taught Timothy the “sacred writings” from childhood.
It is here that Paul elevates our understanding of the Scripture we hold in our hands. Notice that it’s the “sacred writings” that provide the foundation for discipleship—”able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Don’t let the familiarity with that idea numb you to its impact. Sit there for a second. Words like “wisdom,” “salvation,” “faith,” are monumental. They are gifts of grace received, how? By simply being in Scripture, “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
In verse 17 we see the end goal of the discipleship process, “that the men of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” That word “complete” in Greek is the word “artios” that “pertains to being well fitted for some function” (BDAG). Pondering this, I was reminded of the time my step-dad and I replaced a wheel bearing in my car as a teenager. This was the first time I worked with a machined part that had to fit exactly. The outer diameter of the bearing doesn’t just fall into the wheel hub. It’s such a precise fit it had to be pressed in with a tool. The precision and forces involved mean you cause serious harm to the bearing or damage the wheel hub, and then you may be out serious money.
Through that experience (and confirmed through several others) I learned that I don’t have the patience or temperament to become a machinist. Yet, what God is doing in us through discipleship, through his Word, through the power of the Spirit in our lives, is machining us to such an exacting degree that we are “well fitted to the function” for which He has equipped us to serve him as only we can to build up the Body of Christ.
Questions for reflection:
In what ways does your experience align with Timothy’s?
What role has discipleship played in your life?
What is lacking for you to be “complete, equipped for every good work?”
Written By: Tyler Short
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