"Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers."
2 Timothy 2:14
Part 2
Some words are profitable; they build up the hearer.
Some words are unprofitable, they subvert, overthrow, and destroy the hearer.
Yesterday:
“Of these things put them in remembrance.”
Godly pastors help us remember what God has said and done.
“Charging them before the Lord.” (a)
Use good words! This was Paul’s testimony to Timothy and Timothy’s testimony to the Church in Ephesus.
Today:
“Charging them before the Lord.” (b)
This is what the Lord wants for His people.
“That they strive not about words to no profit.”
A “war of words” is not welcome in the Church. Paul continues to caution Timothy about “words” in the church. The “church is the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), so the words used there must be understood and obeyed. Not everyone wanted to hear “sound doctrine.”
“From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling” (1 Timothy 1:6).
“Vain jangling” is empty talk with worthless words, talking of things that do not make good sense.
“They were discourses on their pretended distinctions in the law; on their traditions and ceremonies; on their useless genealogies, and on the fabulous statements which they had appended to the law of Moses” [1] (Barnes).
The one who likes to debate “sound words” is described as,
“He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings” (1 Timothy 6:4; see 1 Timothy 1:10).
“But to the subverting of the hearers.”
The problem with these unhealthy debates is that there is usually “collateral damage.” Those who are taken in by these words are destroyed. See if you can figure out the English word from the Greek word translated as “subverting.” The Greek word is “katastrophē.” Yes, it is a “catastrophe” when people are turned from the truth by these “words to no profit.” Interestingly, Peter used the same Greek word when describing Sodom and Gomorrah being condemned and overthrown.
These are the kinds of words that Elymas the sorcerer used. Paul condemned him,
“And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10).
Why do people need to hear God’s Word?
“The Bible says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Yet if people do not hear the word of God, then ruin comes by hearing the opinions and speculations and entertainment of man.”[2]
These kinds of words are the opposite of “edifying words.” No wonder that Paul was so forceful in his mentoring of Timothy about words! Believers, we need to be wise in our use of words. Remember that “wars of words” are “words to no profit.”
Quote: “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye, therefore, partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:6-7).
[1] Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Enduring Word Bible Commentary. Downloaded: Friday, August 21, 2020. From: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/.