2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Taken in context of his letter, Paul’s words to Timothy in this passage are a continuation of a heartfelt, urgent message from a wise mentor to a younger friend. As a coach might admonish her players, Paul instructs Timothy to “leave it all on the field” – to give every ounce of his intentionality, effort, and energy to the work of the Gospel. This work matters, and the way it's done matters most of all. This is because Paul and Timothy aren’t just striking out on their own, charting a new course in a new religion. No, Paul is clear: Timothy and Paul are following the faithful who have gone before in their own lives, and in scripture. As we listen in to this personal conversation, we hear for ourselves that there is something vast and steadfast that we too are invited into, and must steward well.

For me, the most striking element of this passage is the wondrous and slightly comedic fact that while Paul is describing the inspired nature and usefulness of scripture, he is in fact penning scripture himself (3.16-17)! Surely he never would have anticipated that fact!

Yet this scripture has at times been used to undergird a simplistic or fundamentalist view of scripture: “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.” But this does Paul, and all of scripture, a great disservice. We cannot ignore that our relationship with scripture is complicated, because scripture itself is complex and nuanced. And I don’t think Paul is ignoring that fact, either. Have we forgotten that it is Paul’s interpretation of scripture that has brought him into so much conflict with people who have received all the same religious training that he has? He read the same scripture, and found reasons to believe God is doing a brand new thing in history through Jesus Christ. Others read the same scripture and found reasons to cling to the old ways for fear of being unfaithful or impure, especially in regard to the inclusion of Gentiles.

Of all people, it seems Paul would have an incredibly high view of both the great value and great complexity of scripture. So I think it is purposeful and nuanced that Paul says scripture is “God-breathed” (3.16). Just like God breathed life into Adam and Eve, so it is the Spirit of God who provides the animating force in words of scripture. First, to hearts and minds of authors to write true words, and then the same Spirit stirring hearts and minds to perceive truth when they read those words.

Let’s step back a bit and re-familiarize ourselves with how any portion of scripture has come to us. It always begins the same way: God took the initiative, made Godself known, and invited someone into an experience. It was such a crucial event that they didn’t want to forget it, and they wanted others to know it. So then this person or persons told their story, wrote a poem or sang a song. And each experience created a new story, or set of stories. These stories were preserved for generations as oral tradition, carefully protected as they were told, memorized, and retold. The stories, poems and songs provided shared language and history as they shaped individuals, communities, and culture. And they spoke of a God whose character and activity became more clear with each revelation.

Eventually oral tradition was written down as well as spoken. But it was only about 100 years before Jesus’ birth that the scriptures we know as the Old Testament were “canonized” as scripture. At the time of Paul’s writing, when he said that “all scripture is God-breathed,” he was talking about the Pentateuch, or the Torah, the historical writings, Psalms and Proverbs, and all the prophets. All of these writings, Paul says, provided the wisdom for Timothy to recognize and receive Christ. But Paul points Timothy not only to scripture – but to the ones who had embodied the meaning, the virtues, and the courage of scripture for him – his mother and grandmother, and Paul himself (3.14-15, and 2 Tim 1.5).

What a beautiful invitation! Could this be what scripture is? An invitation into relationships? It’s a story of people who encountered God, sometimes wrestled with God, sometimes got it wrong, sometimes got it right. And it’s these people who have passed down these stories for centuries through relationships – relationships which are themselves shaped by these stories. Scripture is a collection of stories told and stories lived out, stories that give common language, provide shared history, build virtues, create culture and describe God.

For many of us who now have multiple Bibles at home and easily accessible on our phones, reading scripture is often an individualized, even isolated experience. But really what we have been given is a deep, rich, web of connectedness. Scripture is an invitation from past generations, and from God, to join in experience, imagination, curiosity, mystery, and exploration. It is what opens our eyes and ears, and minds and hearts to experiences beyond our own. Through the experiences of others who have encountered God, we learn who this God is so that we can recognize this God when God encounters us. And, we also learn about ourselves in the stories of the humans before us – even, maybe especially, the ones who trouble us the most.

And it is when we receive scripture like this that it is useful. But let’s be clear – it’s not useful in our hands, as if we use scripture as a tool to make or do something we have in mind. Rather, it is useful for the Spirit to shape us as we are taught what is true, and shows us when we are wrong. Scripture is not a tool we use to rebuke and correct other people; it’s what the Spirit uses to correct, rebuke, teach, and encourage us!

For us who are pastors, these words of Paul to Timothy ring loud and long, and even painfully true: “Announce the word; keep going whether the time is right or wrong; rebuke, warn and encourage with all patience and explanation” (4.2, NT Wright’s translation).[1] (Perhaps it is the “with patience and explanation” part that feels most painful!) It is no accident that our work as preachers is described so similarly to the Spirit’s work in us through scripture. We are ones who have submitted ourselves to this work, have been shaped by it – instructed, encouraged, rebuked, and prepared for every good work. And so we now submit ourselves to that same work of the Spirit in others.

As preachers, it is incumbent upon us to speak to the people entrusted to us with the same tone, urgency, and love in which the Spirit speaks to us. This is not about answering all questions or providing quick fixes to moral problems. It’s about learning to recognize the Spirit and develop a sense of wonder for what we have been given in scripture, and in the relationships of all the saints.

So it’s clear this passage has a lot to say to us preachers, who have committed ourselves to the same work as Timothy. But we don’t have two sets of scriptures – one for pastors, and one for everyone else. So what do our parishioners receive from this text? What is the Spirit’s word for them? Well, firstly, it can’t ever be a bad thing for a congregation to know that a pastor personally feels the high stakes of his or her calling. If this is about the pastor, it’s also about the people. You can’t have one without the other!

And let us not forget there is a clear warning in this text for all of us who sit under someone’s preaching: beware the desire to go elsewhere to hear something you like better! This is something that must be weighed with discernment, wise counsel, and self awareness. Otherwise we will perpetuate the sin of ignoring truth when it feels uncomfortable.

Whether we preach or not, all of God’s people are equally called to be ambassadors of the gospel, ministers of reconciliation, and willing participants of God’s work in us and our world. While the pointed instruction to Timothy has the greatest specificity to us who are preachers, we must invite our parishioners to wrestle with what this requires of them, as well. How are they submitting themselves to the Spirit’s work in their lives through scripture? How are they being asked to live as faithful, obedient stewards of the truth, “whether the time is right or wrong”? What does it mean for them to keep a “clear mind in every situation” (4.5)?

Now in the power of the Spirit at work within us, may we all remain faithful to the things we have been taught (4.14)!

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[1] Wright, N.T.,Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, KY.) p. 123.