Lessons for Leaders
Lesson 18 “Perilous Times” 2 Timothy 3:1-9
ID: Inductive Questions (Asking the text questions like who, what, where, when, why, & how?”)
CR: Cross References (Comparing Scripture to Scripture, understanding the vague by the clear.)
WS: Word Study (Understanding definition, theological meaning, and usages in other passages.)
The WORD: What does the Bible say?
Context: Read 2 Timothy 2:22-3:14 to pick up the context. Read the passage again in a more literal or more dynamic translation than you usually use.
1. ID/CR: (3:1) What time period is referred as the “last days”? (Acts 2:17; Hebrews 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3)
2. ID/CR: (3:2-5) How does this list compare with other lists of sins in the New Testament? (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 7:21-22; Romans 1:26-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7; Colossians 3:5-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; Revelation 21:8)
3. ID: (3:2-5) What are a few key themes in the nineteen descriptions of people in the last days? Do you see a purpose to the order in which they are listed? Can you think of a positive contrast for each sin? (3:10-11)
4. ID: (3: 6-7) How did Paul describe those who were taken captive? Does this describe believers?
5. ID: (3:6-9) Who were Jannes and Jambres ? What do “this sort” of people do? (Exodus 7:8-13, 21-23; 8:6-7, 17-18; 9:10-11)
6. ID: (3:9) What is the encouragement at the end of this passage?
The WALK: What should I do?
1. Have you really placed you faith in Christ or do you have a “form of godliness” without power?
2. Can you think of some areas mentioned in these verses (3:1-5) where the Lord has done significant work in your life? What are one or two that are a bigger challenge for you?
3. What does it mean to have a corrupt mind? How does that affect our understanding of the truth? What can we do personally to guard our hearts from becoming corrupt?
4. CSBI: Evaluate this statement about the inerrancy of Scripture. “The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error or misstatement in their moral and spiritual teachings.”
Going Beyond: 1. What areas of theology are touched on in this passage?
q The Bible (Bibliology) q God (Theology Proper) q The Father (Paterology)
q The Lord Jesus Christ (Christology) q The Holy Spirit (Pneumatology) q Man (Anthropology)
q Salvation (Soteriology) q The Church (Ecclesiology) q Angels & Satan (Angelology)
q Future Things (eschatology)
Explaining Inerrancy: A Commentary on the
Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy by Dr. R.C. Sprouls (1980)
THE WORD OF GOD AND YOU
Discussion of inerrancy is merely an academic exercise unless it concerns the individual Christian on the level of his growth in God. But this is precisely what it does. Confession of the full authority and inerrancy of Scripture should lead us to increasing conformity to the image of Christ, which is the God-ordained goal of every Christian. The final Articles of Affirmation and Denial deal with this matter, including the work of the Holy Spirit in helping the believer to understand and apply the Scriptures to his or her life.
ARTICLE XVI: CHURCH HISTORY
We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church’s faith throughout its history.
We deny that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by Scholastic Protestantism, or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher criticism.
This affirmation again speaks of the doctrine of inerrancy, not the word inerrancy. It is readily acknowledged that the word inerrancy was not used with any degree of frequency and perhaps not even at all before the seventeenth century. For example, Martin Luther nowhere uses the term inerrancy as a noun with respect to Scripture. Because of this some have said that Luther did not believe in inerrancy, but Luther argued that the Scriptures never “err.” To say that the Scriptures never err is to say nothing more nor less than that the Bible is inerrant. So though the word inerrancy is of relatively modern invention, the concept is rooted not only in the biblical witness to Scripture itself but also in the acceptance of the vast majority of God’s people throughout the history of the Christian church. We find the doctrine taught, embraced and espoused by men such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and a host of Christian scholars and teachers throughout the history of the church. While the language of inerrancy does not appear in Protestant confessions of faith until the modern ages, the concept of inerrancy is surely not foreign or strange to the confessions of east or west, Catholic or Protestant.
The denial follows the thinking of the affirmation closely. The denial is simply that inerrancy as a concept is not the product of a rigid, sterile, rationalistic approach to Scripture born of the scholastic movement of seventeenth century Protestantism. Nor is it proper to understand the doctrine as a twentieth century reaction to liberal theology or “modernism.”
It is not the affirmation of inerrancy that is of recent vintage; it is its denial. It is not the reaction to higher criticism that is new, but its uncritically accepted philosophical assumptions of negative criticism that is a new phenomenon in mainline Christianity. Such criticism is not new in the sense that no one ever questioned the integrity or authenticity of Scripture in past ages, but the newness of the phenomenon is its widespread and easy acceptance within churches and by leaders who would claim allegiance to mainline Christianity.
What does Tulsa Bible Church teach about the Bible?
I. The Bible (Bibliology)
The Bible, consisting of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, is the Word of God, a supernaturally given revelation from God Himself, concerning Himself, His being, nature, character, will, and purposes; and concerning man, his nature, need, duty, and destiny. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error or misstatement in their moral and spiritual teachings and record of historical facts. They are without error or defect of any kind.
A. Inspiration
1. We teach that the Bible is God's supernaturally given written revelation to man concerning Himself, His being, nature, character, will, and purposes; and concerning man, his nature, need, duty, and destiny. Thus the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the plenary (inspired equally in all parts) Word of God that is an objective (not subjective1) revelation2 which is verbally inspired by God in every word.3
2. We teach that God spoke in His written Word by a process of dual authorship. The Holy Spirit so superintended the human authors that, through their individual personalities and different styles of writing, as sunlight through stained glass windows, they composed and recorded God's Word to man without error in the whole or in the part. 4
1 2 Peter 1.20-21; 2 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 3 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4 2 Peter 1.20-21.
B. Inerrancy and Authority
We teach that Scriptures are absolutely without error (inerrant),1 misstatement, or defect of any kind in their moral and spiritual teachings and record of historical facts and science in the original documents. They are infallible2 and God-breathed;3 the only rule of faith and practice for the believer and in the church.4
1 Matthew 5:18; 24:35; 2 John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 3 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 4 Hebrews 4:12; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 3:16.
C. Hermeneutics
1. We teach the literal, grammatical, historical (contextual) interpretation of Scripture, which for example affirms the belief that the opening chapters of Genesis present creation in six literal 24-hour days.1 We teach a dispensational interpretation of the Scriptures, which distinguishes God's different programs for the Jew, the Church, and the Kingdom.
2. We teach that whereas there may be several applications of any given passage of Scripture, there is but one true interpretation. The meaning of Scripture is to be found as one diligently applies the literal grammatical-historical method of interpretation under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.2 It is the responsibility of believers as they grow in maturity, to ascertain carefully the true intent and meaning of Scripture, recognizing that such truth is binding on all generations. Yet the truth of Scripture stands in judgment of men; never do men stand in judgment of Scripture.
1 Genesis 1:31; Exodus 31:17; 2 John 7:17; 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-15; 1 John 2:20.
Men’s Bible study
Tulsa Bible Church MEN’S Ministries Fall 2013/Spring 2014