“Rightly Handled”

 Text: 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8 

FCF: We can tend to down play the importance of being true to God’s word.

SI: God wants us to seek to understand his word as best we can.

RF:

Application:

Manuscript - “Rightly Handled”

Two weeks ago Marika and I attended the Alliance’s General Council of Churches. In the Alliance, every nation that has an established national church also has it’s own doctrinal statement, and church practice, which is called polity. Our U.S. Alliance meets every two years to discuss the business of the denomination in the U.S. 

Four years ago the Alliance Board brought suggestions to change some of the language of our Statement of Faith. The purpose was to be use more biblical language and update some areas for modern vernacular. Overall the changes were mostly appropriate. And so at this past council, those changes were voted on and approved. 

Another issue that was brought up by the board was that of women in ministry and the title Pastor. In the Alliance the issue of women receiving the title Pastor is a mirky one. On one hand, officially there hasn’t been a rule as to whether the title Pastor could be used by a woman or not, because women are allowed to serve on local church’s pastoral staff. Yet, the use of the Pastor title and Elder has been usually linked together and since the Alliance has always held to male eldership, women haven’t really used the title of Pastor. 

A two year conversation was called for at the previous General Council to discuss this issue and it was at this recent council that the issue was brought to a vote. The three main recommendations where as follows:

First, “It is recommended that the eldership in Alliance churches be the lead pastor, elected lay elders, and, as deemed appropriate by the local church, other male members of the licensed ministry staff.”

Secondly, “It is recommended that the designation ‘Consecrated and Ordained’ be used to indicate the denomination’s endorsement on all official workers, both male and female, who meet the stated qualifications for Alliance ministry and have successfully completed the consecration and ordination process outlined in the Manual of The Christian and Missionary Alliance.”

Finally, “It is recommended that the title pastor, except lead pastor, may be used by a local church to refer to its male and female official workers if its biblical understanding allows.”

The first recommendation affirms the Alliance’s stance on male eldership at the local church level. 

The other two recommendations, deal with women having access to the title pastor, but not the title Lead Pastor, because a Lead Pastor is an Elder in the Alliance and hence a male. 

This is where the majority of the debate lay, should a woman have access to the title Pastor or not. And I have my own arguments to make, but that’s not what we are going to focus on today, though we can next week if enough of a response for it comes up. 

No, what we’re focusing on is what happened during the debate. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he writes these words in the fifteenth verse of the second chapter, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).”

Paul is writing to Timothy as a mentor to their mentee. Timothy is the Lead Pastor, if you would, of the Ephesus Church. He’s pretty new to the position and so Paul sends him two letters with advice in several areas of both doctrine and polity (church practice). But in this verse Paul urges Timothy to, “rightly handling the word of truth,” and by doing so it will make him unashamed. 

After some of the arguments that were presented at the General Council, I was ashamed for the delegates that brought them. Not because I agreed or disagreed with their position, but because they did not rightly handle the word of truth.

Here’s one example from the pro-side: Galatians 3:28 reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” So because we are all one in Christ Jesus, and there is no male and female, woman can hold the title Pastor. 

This was the whole argument. Do you see the problem with this argument? First, on it’s own this can lead to a lot of problems. It can lead to the interpretation that there are no distinctions between male and female. This is actually the issue with the modern feminist and transgender movements, where the distinction between male and female has become completely blurred. So the next question is, do we see this in Scripture? Do we see that there are no differences between male and female outside of the curse? And the answer is yes, just in the creation account where the two sexes are made distinct when we read in Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” By distinguishing humanity into two groups, male and female, God not only helps us understand that both sexes are made in the image of God, but also that they are distinct from each other. The creation account goes on to somewhat explore that distinction in the creation of Adam after Eve. So we know there’s at least some created distinction. 

Then we can ask, since Galatians was written by Paul, does he make distinctions based on the creation account between male and female or does he do away with them? And the answer is again yes. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul writes, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” So Paul writes of distinctions between males and females, even if the furthest you want to go with that is in the marriage relationship. But there are distinctions between the two sexes at some level. So what non-distinction is Paul talking about in Galatians 3:28?

The easiest way to clear this up is to read the verse in it’s context. I don’t know if you’ve heard me say this, you should because I say it often, “Context is King.” Meaning, there is hierarchy of context we need to read to understand what we read.

First, we have to read every verse in the context of it’s surrounding verses; usually I tell people you need to read the ten verses around the verse you’re reading, and the ten verses before those ten and the ten verses after those original ten. In other words, we need to read thirty verses at the bare minimum to understand one verse. But it doesn’t end there.

After reading the surrounding verses, we need to read the chapter that verse is in and the chapters before and after it. This helps us see the verse in it’s context of where it falls in the thought process of the writer. Why did God put that particular verse in that particular chapter. And I know, chapters and verses were not added until later to help us find things more easily; which means it’s more important to read the surrounding verses in the bigger context of the chapters, because chapter markers sometimes cut in on the thought of the writer. That’s why in our summer studies we follow thoughts, and not chapters.

But there’s more. Once we read the verse and the surrounding verses and the surrounded chapters, we need to read the book that the verse is in, because the verse is a part of the overall thought. But not just the thought of the one writer, it’s the thought of the Holy Spirit who is inspired those thoughts, so we need to understand that verse in the greater context of where it’s found in the whole of Scripture. 

And if we just did the first step in this process, we would already know in what way is Paul talking about the non-distinction between males and females. So let’s read the verses before and after.

Galatians 3, starting just two verse before in verse 26 and going one verse after to 29, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”

So what are males and females non-distinct in, in Galatians 3:28? Salvation. No matter if you’re a Jew or a Greek, you have non-distinct access to salvation in Jesus.  No matter if you’re slave or free, you have non-distinct access to salvation in Jesus. And no matter if you are male or female, you have non-distinct access to salvation in Jesus.

So the argument that women can have the title Pastor based, as this delegate argued, on Galatians 3:28 alone, is wrong. It is wrong because this verse speaks to salvation, not church practice. This delegate did not divide the word of truth rightly. Now, I understand this could be used as a jumping off point to a bigger argument, but that’s not what the delegate did. He simply used one verse to make his point and in doing so, misused the Scriptures.

This is what upsets me. People who use the word of God to say what they want, instead of allowing it say what it does. But I know why people do this; they want their own agenda, they want God to conform to their ideas, instead of having God’s word conform them. What this delegate did, and I have to say, several on his side of the debate did, was use the opposite of context being king, they proof texted. Proof texting is where you make a theology out of one verse, by stringing together several out of context verses.

An example of proof texting is what Muslim Zakir Naik does in John 15:26, where he reads from the King James Version, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”  Naik states that this verse talks about Muhammad the prophet of Islam, but if we took the steps of context that we just talked about, we would quickly read earlier in John 14:15-17, where we find out who the Comforter is, “15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” So the Comforter is not Muhammad but the Holy Spirit, because Jesus says that the Spirit will live forever with the disciples, is already with the disciples at that moment, and will eventually be inside them. Then if we keep reading in Acts 2, that Spirit does indeed indwell God’s people. But Naik uses one verses, a little Greek manipulation, and reads his prophet into the text of Scripture.

One last example is my favorite of all, it’s the paraphrasing of Scripture. Now, I’m not against paraphrasing, but we can’t make our theology based on a paraphrase. The prosperity gospel and word of faith movement paraphrase Romans 4:17. The paraphrase is about the last line, which would be said something like this, “God has given you authority to call those things that weren’t, into existence.”  In that paraphrase, who calls things into existence? It’s us. God gives us the authority, but it’s by our will that they begin to exist. So what’s Romans 4:17 say? It reads, “as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” The verse doesn’t speak of God giving us the authority to call things into existence, rather, it’s God who calls things that were not into existence.

Proof texting and paraphrasing to make theology leads to misunderstanding of the Scriptures, which leads to all sorts of crazy interpretations and in the end, boys and girls, that’s how cults start. 

To rightly handle the word of truth, we need to stay away from making our theology based on verses we take out of context, and look to the whole of Scripture. We need to take seriously Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17-19, “17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

If the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, Lord of Lord and King of Kings, the very Word of God through whom all things were created did not come to abolish the revealed word of God, we need to take seriously making sure we don’t abolish it either by mishandling it.

True there are going to be things we disagree on, but that comes at the end when we’ve exhausted good arguments where both sides work through the Scriptures. God has not revealed everything to us, he leaves some things ambiguous because they are not needed for salvation, and good godly people can disagree on the secondary issues that we wrestle over.

These can be tolerated and even encouraged, but what can’t be tolerated and must be stood against, is the misuse of Scripture to achieve one’s personal view, and I’m saying this even to those who’s conclusions I might agree with. 

So how can we keep ourselves from mishandling the word of truth and thereby becoming ashamed? I want to give you three steps and 

First, being in prayer. God’s word is a communication from him to us. So let’s call on God to speak to us. 

Second, read the Bible. Front to back, Genesis to Revelation. If you’re reading one book, read it and then re-read it. If you have questions, write them down, usually Scripture interprets Scripture, so keep reading.

Third, when you come to something that doesn’t make sense, use your concordance in the back of your Bible, or use an online tool such as biblegateway.com, or biblehub.com to look for other places where the word or idea your struggling with appears in the Scripture. 

Fourth, go back to what you were reading and read again and again.

Finally, talk with other believers about what you're reading. Discuss and be challenged. I believe there has only been one person who had God’s word all figured out, and that’s because he was God incarnate. The rest of us are trusting the work of the Holy Spirit, and we should do so humbly.

My challenge then for you this week it this, pick any verse in the Bible doesn’t matter where you start. Then read it, then read its surrounding 30 verses. Mulled it over in your time of prayer and grow in your right handling of Scripture.

When I left General Council, I left with a full stomach, a lot of laughs, and some thoughts on God to ponder, but I also left with a sickness of how men and women, who have been vetted by the Alliance, misused the Scripture, and I felt ashamed. 

God is calling each of us to take seriously the Word of God. To humbly handle it for the glory of God. 

A chapter after Paul tells Timothy to “rightly handle the word of truth,” he writes to his mentee these words, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17).”

Let us be wise and completely equipped for the good work that Christ Jesus has saved us to. Rightly handling the word of truth for the glory of the Living God. Amen.