The Certainty of Faith
QUESTION: What is required of a follower of Jesus?
2 Timothy 1:13–18 (NIV84)
13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
FOLLOW THE SCRIPT
2 Timothy 1:13, What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
What is the “Script”? It is the ______: 2 Timothy 1:8-12; cf. John 3:16; John 14:6
- God loves the world, and sends Jesus, the mediator between God and man
- Jesus:
- The Way
- The Truth
- The Life
- No one comes to the Father except through Jesus
The Gospel Is the ______
- No trimming
- No eliminating those elements which give offence and cause opposition
- No muting
The Gospel must be ______“with faith and love in Christ Jesus”.
- It is important how truth is applied
- I don’t care how much you know, until I know how much you care!
BE DILIGENT
14Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (cf. Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Joshua 1:7-8; Psalm 1:1-3; also Ephesians 4:17-24)
- Enlist the power of the ______
- Preserve it against corruption[i]
- ______: Everyone will be saved regardless of their response to the gospel
- ______: no one religion is right but all have value
- Tolerance?
- No absolutes?
- Christianity too narrow?
WHAT KIND OF EXAMPLE ARE YOU?
A Faithless Example
15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. (CF. Acts 19:23-26; 20:17-38)
A Faithful Example
16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
BREAKOUT OF THE PRISON OF INDECISION
The Key to a Godly life: Living out the truth, with conviction
[i]Minor, E. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of 2 Timothy (2nd ed., p. 34). Dallas, TX: SIL International
Universalism is the assertion that everyone will be saved regardless of their response to the gospel. Pluralism is the assertion that no one religion is right but that all have value. Today pluralism often takes an aggressive stance, in that the only belief that pluralists consider to be invalid is the belief that one’s religion alone is correct. Therefore—ironically and irrationally—the pluralistic ideal falters in that it refuses to recognize the validity of such a position. The challenge of pluralism is perhaps best met not by merely repeating exclusivistic claims, but by emphasizing a true kind of inclusivism in the comprehensive biblical sense. That is, the gospel is for all people in all cultures. The key to the application of this passage in all cultural contexts is its comprehensiveness.14It indicates the manner in which Timothy is to take/hold the pattern of healthy words.