Hi y'all! I hope y'all are having a good day and week thus far. :)
Now before I begin, I have to admit that I have made a big mistake, the one thing I have neglected to do before Bible study every day is to ask God for His guidance as we go through this book. It is always important to pray, not only when we are studying His word, but all the time. 1st Thessalonians 5:17 says, "pray without ceasing." So now, let's pray before we start today.
Today we are starting the second chapter of second Timothy!
1. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
The first thing in this verse that you should notice is that Paul again calls Timothy his son. Remember when we studied this the first day? The first day, we talked about how Paul and Timothy were close, and that Paul instructed Timothy in the gospel, and he probably led him to Christ.
In the other half of the first verse Paul tells Timothy to "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," or "Find your strength in the grace which is in Christ Jesus." So is Paul telling Timothy to find his strength in things of this world? No! Just the opposite! He is saying to find your strength in Jesus' grace! Remember grace? God's Redemption At Christ's Expense? He is telling Timothy to lean on Jesus! To go to him for the strength you need! We all need to listen to what Paul is saying here. Who or what do you go to when you need help or encouragement? Answer truthfully. Do you go to Jesus for help and strength and encouragement? Do you dive into God's word when you feel overwhelmed or alone? God is the ultimate giver of help, strength, and encouragement. That is what Paul is trying to tell Timothy here, to go to the one being that is never busy and always has time for you when you need strength to go on! People are busy, they don't always have time; people are mortal, they don't always have all the answers. God is never busy, he has all the time in the world for you; God is everlasting, he has all the answers!
The second verse is about teaching. It is spit up into three parts separated by commas. The first part says, "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses." What does that mean? Well it is obviously not a complete sentence. :P What is Paul talking about that he has told Timothy and many other people before? About God and Jesus Christ!
So, the first part of the verse doesn't make much sense until you read the other part so let's do that, "the same commit thou to faithful men." What is "the same?" The things that Timothy and many other people have heard Paul preach. Who are "faithful men?" Faithful men, I think, is referring to men in the Church that are true Christians, men who are not ashamed of the gospel. So in the second part of the verse Paul tells Timothy to "commit" or "entrust" the gospel to strong/faithful Christian men.
The third and final part of this verse says, "who shall be able to teach others also." So not only do the faithful men have to be strong/faithful Christians, but they have to be men who have the courage and gift to "teach others also." So, all together the verse says, "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." Why is it important to commit the gospel? So that more people can be taught about Jesus Christ, and why he came to save us. Why is it important to commit it to faithful men? So that they not only teach the right things, but that they also keep doing it, and they have the courage to speak out.
For the next two verses Paul talks about being a soldier of Jesus Christ. In verse one he tells Timothy to "endure hardness" or "accept your share in suffering." Remember, Paul talked about this in chapter one verse eight. What does it mean to "endure hardness?" Well, just like what we talked about in part three, the gospel brings hardships. But why would someone translate it into, "accept your share in suffering?" Because Timothy was a Christian, and since the gospel/being a Christian, brings hardships and sufferings, then Timothy would have a share in the sufferings for Christ. If you are a Christian then you do too, you must also "accept your share in suffering." The devil is not going to let us off easy! He is out to destroy us, but we must stand firm, and accept the sufferings that come our way. That is pretty easy to say (without thinking much about it), but is it easy to do? No.
The next part of that verse says, "as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." So, not only do we have to "endure hardness" but we must to do it as a good soldier. A good soldier never gives up, never backs down, has a good attitude, obeys without question, is faithful to do as he is told, is loyal to his officer/officers, and is willing to die for their cause. That is a good soldier.
Verse four also talks about being a soldier of Jesus Christ. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life," or "No soldier who is on active service entangles himself in ordinary civilian business; he lays aside such things." In other words, if you are a soldier then you are not supposed to participate and/or get caught up in the things of civilian life/ordinary life. So, if you are a Christian soldier then you are not supposed to get caught up in things of this world. Of course, we live on this earth, and we are mortal, so we have to work so that we have food to eat and shelter, and we must sleep, and take care of our bodies. Also, if we have families to take care of, then we have to provide for them. So, is Paul saying that if you are a Christian then you can't have anything to do with this world, and other people? No! Absolutely not! He is saying that as a Christian, not to get caught up with the things of this world, such as, money, cars, electronics, etc.
"He lays aside such things." When you become a Christian you are supposed to lay aside things that distract you from your Savior and your God. But do we? Is Paul saying that we have to give up everything? I don't think so, I think that we are supposed to get rid of everything that we think is more important than God. So, we have to ask ourselves, is God our number one priority? Is He the first thing we think about in the morning? Do we pray before we start our day? Do we love God more than we love our things? Do we worship God or something else?
Next Paul says, "that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." Who is Paul talking about? Well, if you go to enlist there is someone there who will ask you questions, and then they will decide if they think you will make a good soldier or not. So they "chose" you. God chooses his soldiers. If you are a Christian then God chose you as a soldier in his army! We will talk more about this when we get to verse ten. Look forward to it if you want!
We all make mistakes; God forgives. We all fall down sometimes; God lifts us up. We all go through hard times; God helps us through. God is our commander, the ultimate commander. Our commander knows exactly what is best for us. Our commander is perfect, He never makes mistakes. Our commander always has victory! God bless. ~Buttercup~
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