2 Timothy Study #5

“The Theology of Angie’s List”

2 Timothy 2:15-19

Study #5 in 2 Timothy Series 

INTRODUCTION:

Some of you will remember seeing TV ads for Angie’s List. It was a professional referral service, a word-of-mouth network, helping more than 2 million households all over the USA and Canada find the best service companies in their area. Angie’s List was co-founded by Bill Oesterle and Angie Hicks in 1995. It started out in Columbus, Ohio as a local call-in service and publication for reviews about home-repair services and lawn care providers. The idea caught on big time and by 1999, the database of local services and reviews was moved to the Internet. During the ensuing years, their customer base and business relationships grew throughout North America, while also expanding to include additional service industries such as health care and auto care.         

Angie’s List graded companies using a report-card-style scale, which ranged from A to F. These ratings were based on the 5-fold criteria of price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism. Each company had its own page, which was composed of a description of its business along with the customer reviews. The aggregate grade for the business was drawn from the combined reviews and grades given to the business from its consumers.         

In 2013 Angie’s List was estimated to be worth somewhere in the range of $700-800 million dollars. Not bad for a little home business that started out from a card-table set up in the kitchen!

TRANSITION:

In our text for this study the Apostle Paul says something that reminds me a lot of the philosophy behind Angie’s List. Namely, that those workmen who do a good job at their trade should be rewarded, honored, and recommended to other people. They should be held in high esteem for their good work. And shoddy workmanship, likewise, should be made public so that people can avoid being taken in by unskilled, unscrupulous crooks. Let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:15 and see how all this fits together. 

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 15: Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

• Let’s unpack this important and familiar verse phrase by phrase.
• “Be diligent” The Greek word Paul chooses to use here means “to be eager, to hasten to do a thing, to endeavor, to be zealous to accomplish something.” This word always implies a desire to move forward. It is not a word that leaves any room for laziness or complacency. However, it is also not directly related to the word “study” that we find in the KJV, at least not in the common use of the word. Growing up I memorized this verse in the KJV and we always seemed to emphasize that first word, “STUDY!” as though God were really impressed by scholarship and our ability to do homework. Frankly, that misses the mark here because the real emphasis should be on the next phrase. Our diligence should all be pointed in the direction of…
• “…to present yourself approved to God.” God’s approval is the goal, not a reputation for being good at memorizing Bible verses or possessing other scholastic skills. As Christians our longing should be to make our Heavenly Father proud of us.
• “…approved to God” This word “approved” is often used in the ancient literature to refer to what remains after testing, to precious metal that has been refined by fire once the dross has been burned off. Think for a moment of God as a Master metal craftsman working with gold ore. He knows that the gold is in there but the only way to get it out so that it can become useful is to put the ore through a heat treatment to burn off all the impurities and then collect the solid, pure gold. That is what God does in your life and mine, to bring us to the point of usefulness. He refines us so that He can use us.
• “…a workman who” A laborer who works hard, often a skilled craftsman. He is not a lazy man, but rather one who knows the value of sweat equity.
• “…does not need to be ashamed” Think about it, a workman who does lousy work ought to be ashamed! Shame is a very unpleasant emotion. No one likes to feel ashamed, but there are times when a sense of shame is appropriate. A lazy man should be ashamed of himself.
• “…accurately handling” In Greek this is just one word, orthotoméo, which means to “cut straight” (from orthós, “straight”, and temnō, “to cut”). It was used in road building and in farming, for ploughing a straight furrow. It reminds me of watching my master craftsman father build beautiful wood cabinets. Or maybe you have watched an expert carpet layer and seen how he makes perfect seams. Often this word is used in the figurative sense, where it means, “to handle correctly or accurately.” That is the sense here. And exactly what is to be handled in this way?
• “…the word of truth” This grammatical construction means “the truthful message” or “the word, which is true.” I believe that Paul is referring specifically to God’s revealed Word, which is TRUTH from beginning to end. There is nothing false about it. In fact, we have this from the very mouth of Jesus. In His High Priestly prayer recorded in John 17:17 Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of His disciples: “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy Word IS TRUTH!” 

Verses 16-17a: But avoid [i.e., shun] worldly, empty chatter [babbling], for it will lead to further ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their talk will spread like gangrene.

• Paul gives to Timothy another word of fatherly advice: “But avoid worldly, empty chatter.” This is not the first time in this letter that Paul has said this. He has already told Timothy not to get caught up in arguing and wrangling with those idiots who were showing up in the church with whacked-out theology and hobbyhorse doctrines. Here Paul tells him to avoid these guys and not get drawn into their useless discussions. To “avoid” means to steer clear of, to stay away from, and to not get involved in. The word “empty” implies that their words have no content. It is all just smog and smoke and stink, possessing nothing of substance, and therefore a waste of time. But worse than that, Paul says that it will actually, “lead to further ungodliness.” He uses the Greek word, asebeía, which means no reverence for (α + σέβω), a disregard for, or defiance of God’s Person. It is the exact opposite of godliness.
• “…and their talk will spread [lit. eat away] like gangrene.” Gangrene is a medical condition whereby the flesh rots (i.e., necrosis). The word itself comes from Greek, gángraina, meaning an “eating sore” or a canker. It can be caused by lack of blood supply, or lack of oxygen to the tissues. It often follows frostbite but can also be the result of an untreated wound such as a bad cut or a gunshot. It is also the leading cause of amputation in people who suffer from severe diabetes. The flesh turns black and begins to rot. It is the natural result of tissue death and decomposition but when this occurs in a living person, we call it “gangrene.” The only solution is to cut out the rotten tissue, all the way back to the living, pink tissue that is still getting nourished by the blood supply. If left untreated, the gangrene spreads, killing the healthy flesh and eventually poisoning the blood supply, causing death. The gangrene must be cut away including any of the diseased tissue around it. Paul says that heresy spreads just like gangrene, and just as surely. It kills whatever it touches and the only cure for it is to cut it out, to excommunicate it from the healthy part of the body. That was the only solution to this problem. 

Verses 17b-18: Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.

• Now Paul gets down to brass tacks and starts naming names. Two guys— “Hymenaeus and Philetus.” As far as I know this is the one and only time when this fellow Philetus appears in Scripture. We do not know any particulars about him other than the fact that he, along with his buddy, Hymenaeus, was spreading heresy in the Early Church. But Hymenaeus is another story. We heard about him back in Paul’s first letter to Timothy in 1:19-20. There we learned that Hymenaeus and a guy named Alexander had “suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” In other words, they had thrown their faith overboard, abandoning it completely. As a result of their heresies and blasphemies Paul tells Timothy that he had delivered them over to Satan, which was a drastic step indeed, and not to be underestimated. Apparently, the treatment had not worked, and this guy was still causing problems among the Ephesian Christians. We discover that he was still up to his old tricks.
• Paul describes Hymenaeus and Philetus here as “having gone astray from the truth.” The KJV says they “have erred from the truth.” It is an interesting Greek word, astocheō (ἀστοχέω), and in the NT Paul is the only one to use it, and only here in the Pastoral Epistles. It literally means “to deviate or swerve away from, or to miss the mark or target.” The first time is in 1 Timothy 1:6 where Paul writes, “…For some men, straying from [KJV, having swerved from] these things [i.e., sound doctrine], have turned aside to fruitless discussion.” We see the word again in 1 Tim. 6:21, “…which [i.e., false knowledge] some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.” I think you understand the idea. Hymenaeus and Philetus had gone off the rails. They had jumped off the reservation. They had wandered off into theological La-La Land and thus missed the whole point. And that is the danger! When a person rejects the truth, all he/she is left with is a lie!
• Exactly how did they swerve away from the path? According to Paul, by “saying that the resurrection has already taken place.”  Most Bible scholars believe that these two guys were teaching that the resurrection was simply an allegorical way of saying that when a person would find enlightenment [i.e., “true gnosis, knowledge”] his soul was released from sin. This distortion of the Gospel was an early form of Gnosticism that emphasized a spiritual resurrection while denying the physical Resurrection of Christ and the Christian teaching of a literal future bodily resurrection for all true believers. These men were saying that the “resurrection” had already occurred when people turned to God, received the deep knowledge that saves, and had thus been reborn spiritually. Gnostics generally believed that this happened when the person was baptized in water.
• And what was the result? “They upset the faith of some.” This may not sound too bad but, this is a cardinal sin when you look at it in the light of several key passages. James 3:1 warns: “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.” And in Matthew 18:6, speaking about those who would lead new believers [i.e., “little children”] astray, Jesus said: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in Me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” So, you see, “…upsetting the faith of some” was a big deal after all! 

Verse 19: Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” 

• “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands!” Is that not a great saying? That is right up there with “Our God Reigns!” and “In God we trust!” What Paul is saying is that despite the unfaithfulness of some who claimed to be followers of Christ, the truth is still the truth. No amount of unbelief can change that fact.
• “…it stands!” The tense of the verb here emphasizes the fact that God’s truthful Word stands not only in the past, but also in the present, and on into the future. The prophet, Isaiah, said the very same thing about the Word in Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.” God’s Word is eternal!
• Moreover, Paul says, “the Lord knows those who are His.” He quotes from the Greek LXX Version [i.e., the “Septuagint”] of Numbers 16:5, with allusions to verses 26-27 of the same passage. This word “knows” means an intimate, experiential knowledge that can only be obtained in a loving relationship like marriage. That is how God knows us, and that is how we should desire to know Him, deeply, personally, and intimately.
• And notice something else… “The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, the Lord knows those who are His.” God’s truth is a firm foundation, and it will endure forever. However, in this context, I believe that Paul is talking about a particular truth, a special fact, and that is that God has placed a seal on those who belong to Him. This seal is a mark of ownership and authentication. Paul’s point in this passage is that there are real Christians and fake Christians, and God knows which are which. He has no trouble telling them apart. Hymenaeus and Philetus were fake Christians. In fact, they were false teachers, and they stood in sharp contrast to what a true believer is to be.
• God knows His own kids. He has put a seal on every one of them. That seal is His mark of ownership and His promise that He will return one day to take them home to be with Him forever. In Ephesians 1 Paul tells us that we have been adopted as God’s children. Then in verses 13-14 he says that “we were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” Did you get that? The Holy Spirit in us is the seal, God’s mark of ownership and authentication that tells us, and the world, that we belong to the Lord.
• One more thing… “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” Did you get that? Everyone who is called by His Name, who claims to belong to Him, who has been sealed with the Holy Spirit, who calls himself/herself a child of God “is to abstain from wickedness.” So according to Paul, the real mark of a true Christian is not pious words, but holy living. That is the proof of really knowing Christ. Talk is cheap. The proof is in the living.

CONCLUSION:

So, what is our takeaway from this passage? I don’t know about you but verse 15 really stands out to me. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of Truth.”  Let me ask you, how eager are you for God’s approval? How much does His smile, His “Well done!” mean to you? Paul tells us today that we should seek for and desire the approval of our Lord. Moreover, we should be willing to work hard for it. Why else would he liken us to workmen? Think of it this way: if God had an “Angie’s List” would you be listed on it? Do you have His approval, His recommendation?         

You may or may not know about the AWANA Clubs that many churches sponsor. AWANA operates in 140 countries and has over 9 million children from 2-years-old through high school participating every week. But do you know what AWANA stands for? It sounds like it might be an Indian word, but it isn’t. It is an acronym taken from this very passage in 2 Timothy. It stands for, “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed.” That means that every week, children all around the world are learning how to seek after God, and how to apply His Word to their lives. They do this by memorizing key verses and studying lessons from God’s Word, and they work hard at it.         

But how about you? Are you showing due diligence to present yourself as an approved workman to God, so that you never need to be ashamed before Him? Have you learned to accurately handle the Word of truth so that you are at home in the Scriptures and able to give an answer to anyone who should happen to ask you of the hope that you have in Christ?