Friday Faithfuls: 2 Timothy

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, now we are looking at 2 Timothy.  I wanted to save Paul's final epistle for the end; at this point, he was in the Mamertine prison, awaiting the day when the guard would call his name and escort him to the place where he was beheaded for the 'crime' of preaching the gospel.  He writes to encourage Timothy in the face of opposition...but also, I think, to encourage himself.  Paul knew the end was near, and, so far as he could tell, his ministry and influence were over.  Twice he pleads with Timothy to 'do your best to come'...we do not know if Timothy got to Rome and to Paul before Paul's execution or not.  I do hope so; it would have been very hard for Timothy if he didn't make it.

I pondered over several verses (including the one I picked on the first time I did the skim-through-the-books exercise)  but the one I am settling on today is one of the main 'last words' of Paul to Timothy, whom he considers a 'dear son':

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth  -- 2 Tim 2:15, NIV 84.  

King James renders this as 'Study to show yourself approved', so I thought I'd check out the lexicon and see what we have here.

The Greek word is σπουδάζω spoudázō, spoo-dad'-zo; from G4710; to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest:—do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study.

'Study' in KJV here but most of the time it is translated as some form of the word 'diligent' (do diligence, be diligent, diligently, etc.) or 'endeavor' . It's the same word used in 4:9...'Do your best to come quickly'.

Which, I suppose, just means that the KJV translators took 'study' to be HOW Timothy would endeavor to be diligent to present himself.  But I think the word encompasses more than just diligent study of the written word...remember, Timothy didn't have a Bible.  He probably only had limited access to to the OT scrolls...unless he had copied out passages for himself.  He had access to some letters from Paul, and maybe others, but mostly he would have had to spend much time in prayer and listening to Holy Spirit.  He had to be diligent in his pursuit of God in all ways.  He also would have to have to done his best to relate to other people in a godly manner

The Greek word for 'word' is λόγος lógos, log'-os; from G3004; something said (including the thought); by implication, a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ):—account, cause, communication, × concerning, doctrine, fame, × have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say(-ing), shew, × speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.

Logos, I have always been taught, is the written word, the Scripture that we have physically in our hands.  But I did a study a while back on the difference between logos and rhema (Strong's G4487), which I have been taught is the spoken, or 'proceeding' word, and found that the lexicon doesn't really specify either as a written word. Logos was used to mean a written document in places; 'doctrine'  or 'account' above could certainly mean something written, but  both logos and rhema imply something said,  with no real distinction between 'something said in the past and written down' and 'something that is being spoken in the present'.  Context alone determined whether logos was a written word or a spoken word.

Paul was instructing Timothy to be diligent in his pursuit of God so that he could correctly handle truth, whether it was in the Law and the Prophets or a revelation given to anyone around him; the New Testament didn't exist, so he had to have Holy Spirit- enabled discernment.  What is the truth, and what is not?

And, yeah, that still applies.  I think I have some...diligence...to work on.