Being A God-Approved Worker (2:14-26)
Neal Pollard
The type of worker mentioned in this paragraph of the letter is not manual labor, but rather labor in God’s Word (15). Paul urges Timothy to do his best to be a workman not ashamed of his efforts, “rightly handling the word of truth.” To that end, Paul reveals impediments which hurt this goal and instructions for how to hit this goal.
What does “bad work” look like? First, it is quarreling about words (14; cf. 23-24). They fight about “small points of interpretation” (Larson, Vol. 9, Holman, 286). ” They spend a lot of time talking and arguing about the Christian faith instead of living it” (Williams, 56). Second, it is irreverent babbling (16; “worldly empty chatter”). This would be doctrine that has no legitimate substance or value. It may also be expressed as “worthless (or, silly) discussions that show no reverence for God” (Arichea and Hatton, UBS, 207; cf. 1 Tim. 6:20). Third, it is “foolish, ignorant controversies” (23). As with irreverent babbling, Paul had warned Timothy about this in the first letter (6:4). Thomas Lea and Hayne Griffin say, “Paul was not prohibiting intelligent, probing theological discussion but useless wrangling over recondite questions that divide and confuse. We must cultivate a judgment that can distinguish between these options” (NAC, 220). Do we ever see quarreling, babbling, and controversy? We can always find it in the culture, as evidenced in our favorite news media outlets. We also find it with hobby-horse riding teachers, majoring in the minors and forever talking about their “same old, same old.”
What does “bad work” do? Paul gives several answers to this. First, it does no good, but ruins the hearers (14). Second, it leads people into more and more ungodliness (16). Third, it upsets the faith of some (18). Fourth, it breeds quarrels (23). Jesus had taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we will know teachers by the fruit they produce (Mat. 7:15-20). Shoddy, superficial, and self-serving study is spiritually sickening for its students!
How does one become a “God-approved worker”? The short answer is “rightly handling the word of truth” (15). Such a one stands on God’s firm foundation (19). Such a one is a “vessel for honorable use” (20-21). Such a one guards his character by fleeing youthful passions and pursuing the things that characterize a pure heart (22). Such a one avoids the seedy approach of the “bad workers” already discussed (23). The epitome of such a worker is found in the last words of this paragraph: “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (24-26). Handling the word properly is not only a matter of study, which is vital, but is also a matter of demeanor and attitude. A man who intimately knows the word (“able to teach”) should be kind, patient, and gentle.
You see a harsh, impatient, and mean-spirited teacher of Scripture, and what you have before you is disapproved by God and is a destructive worker. Paul wants Timothy convicted of the importance of internalizing the word, then aptly demonstrating it in his life. What a challenge to any of us who teach, preach, and seek to fulfill the Great Commission in our daily lives!
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