"STUDY . . . THE WORD OF TRUTH", 2 Timothy 2:15 (1)

Paul's counsel to Timothy (and us too) is an important one. In our confused 'churchified' world, it is evident that most do not "Study . . . the word of truth." They are relatively few who "rightly" divide it.

This passage of Scripture falls into a fourfold outline as follows:

(A) "Study". This is what we are to do.

(B) "to shew thyself approved unto God,"

(C) a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,"

(D) "rightly dividing the word of truth."

To this, lets add another outline:

(1) what we are to do initially,

(2) why we should do it,

(3) the end result,

(4) getting the truth from the word of truth.

The word is valuable to the saint of God. Paul's plea to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:13 shows that value of the Word. He asked him to bring:

(a) a "cloke".

(b) "the books",

(c) "especially the parchment". You see, the Bible was not fully collected, printed and bound like we have it today. We cannot know what texts were included in his request - - - they were important to him.

Our use of the Bible tells how we value it. It can be a paper weight, decoration, or symbol of faith. I will close with a very old story which I heard a very long time ago: "the preacher came to call upon a family. After inviting him in, the mother said to one of the children "go get the old book that mama loves so well." The child came in toting the Montgomery Ward catalog." (Part 2 to follow ) DDH.