Rightly Handling the Word of Truth

(2 Timothy 2:14-15 – Rightly Handling the Word of Truth)

The great challenge for Christians today is to discern truth from error. Within the church there is so much false doctrine that it is extremely difficult to ascertain what is truth and what is error.

The greatest issue is that over generations there have been many teachers and preachers who failed in the task of rightly handling the word of truth. Instead they have twisted the words of Jesus and have created different gospels to entrap and ensnare their congregations.

They have used these lies to bring people into slavery under the guise of Christianity. But Jesus taught freedom and those who are rightly handling the word of truth know that the truth will make you free. And these are the concerns Paul spoke to Timothy about and with which we have to deal today.

Disputing about words

Before going any further, let us look at what Paul wrote to Timothy about rightly handling the word of truth.

14 Remind them of this, and charge them before the Lord to avoid disputing about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:14-15)

The first point Paul writes is to avoid disputing about words.

Disputes cause arguments and they do no one any good. I see from time to time debates between Christians and atheists or agnostics on television. What is a debate but an argument or a dispute?

When Christians come into an argument, dispute, or debate with an atheist or agnostic it does no one any good. Those who oppose Christ have no real desire to learn His ways and so they vilify and reject the word of truth for their own self aggrandisement. In fact all of the televised debates I am sure are for the benefit of those who oppose Christ because it is a dispute and we see in the words of Paul not to enter into disputes about words.

Disputes about words, and especially these debates over religion does only spoil the hearers. Anyone that may have been sitting on the fence for Christ is more likely to fall away because of the disputation. And sadly the Christians they often choose for these debates are theologians who have been trained by men in universities rather than by God through the Holy Spirit and they are often the ones holding fast to false doctrines and lies.

All in all they are not rightly handling the word of truth because they do not know the truth. They know the doctrines of men, but not the freedom of Jesus Christ. They have emptied the power of the gospel and replaced it with a weak form of religion that will never help a person to mature in Christ.

A workman approved by God

So if such men have failed to find and handle the truth of God’s word, how have they missed the mark? What does a workman approved by God look like and how should they be rightly handling the word of truth?

The first thing to learn to be rightly handling the word of truth is that you need to find and know the truth. But where will a person go to find the truth?

The simple answer to this is to go to Christ. Jesus said;

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Jesus is the truth. So, it is plain that if you want to find the truth, go to the One who is The Truth.

We seek Jesus through prayer and ask Him to reveal His truth to us. And we study His words written down for us in the Bible. These are the words of truth and when we listen to Jesus, following Him in the way He requires us to follow, then we come to a knowledge of the truth.

To give a few examples, Jesus tells us that we must be baptised and receive the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues (see John 3:1-8). If we are to enter the kingdom of God, these things are necessary.

We also need to know and understand what these things represent. For example, baptism is one of the most misunderstood teachings in the Bible. Some use it as an initiation into a church. Others “baptise” babies. Still others don’t baptise until a person has been part of the church for many years. Some just sprinkle water over the head rather than full immersion. And some believe it isn’t really necessary to be baptised.

All of these teachings are false and should be utterly rejected. The truth of baptism is that we are fully immersed and by baptism we take on and enter the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We die and are raised with Him through baptism. By this we are set free from sin as we die to sin, we are set free from the law so as to not be able to break it, and by faith we enter the kingdom of God.

That is what the scripture says. If a teacher teaches these things, then they are rightly handling the word of truth.

And similar false teachings abound regarding receiving the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts of the Spirit, salvation, and many other doctrines.

Where have the modern ministers gone wrong?

The fundamental problem and why they incapable of rightly handling the word of truth is that they have not been taught by God. Jesus told this to His disciples when speaking of those who did and would follow Him.

It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. (John 6:45)

If a person seeks to be a minister in most of the modern churches today, they must first go to that church’s Bible College, University, or school to earn the appropriate diploma or degree to become a minister in that church. What they learn is a syllabus set by men based upon the handed down doctrines of the church from years gone past, sometimes even centuries. If a person dares to suggest that there is a problem with these doctrines, or if they refuse to accept them knowing or believing there is error, they are either removed from the school or forced to toe the doctrinal line of the church. By such practises, the false doctrines of the church are perpetuated and foisted upon both the new ministers, who in turn foist them upon unwitting congregations.

They are being taught the doctrines of men, by men. They are not being taught by God as the false doctrines in much of the modern church, that have no basis in scripture are not the teachings of God. And as they are continuing to promote false doctrines because of this flawed system, they are not rightly handling the word of truth.

In order to be a minister in the modern church a person must have that diploma or degree. These are the letters of recommendation that Paul also vehemently rejected in the early church.

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; 3 and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

True ministers of Christ

True ministers of the Lord do not get certificates, diplomas, degrees and so on from any school. They are not needed because they are taught by God. And those who are in true ministry for God are ordained by Him for this work, not ordained by a church or a school, as we see in the following:

8 Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. (Ephesians 4:8-14)

When a person is brought into the ministry by God through His gift, then they can and will be rightly handling the word of God. God will not appoint someone to His true ministry unless they are rightly handling the word of truth.

So, I caution everyone to be careful who you listen to. Be careful what you hear. If it is a doctrine of the church, be sure that it is soundly backed up in scripture, and if you are unsure, pray and ask God to teach you the truth. This is the path for rightly handling the word of truth.

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