Wednesday, August 6 – 2 Timothy 4, 2 Peter 1

1. What does “correctly handle the word of truth” mean? 2 Timothy 2:15

2. When you see moral confusion or compromise in the world, how can you stay grounded in God’s truth and remain faithful? 2 Timothy 3:14-17

2 Timothy 4 serves as the Apostle’s farewell to his disciple in ministry. He offers counsel, shares instructions, discusses his trial, expresses his feelings, and speaks of his confidence and hope. He is passing the torch. We don’t know if Timothy made it to Rome to see Paul. Hopefully, he did. But even if he didn’t, the Apostle was with someone and was prepared.

He says that a minister of the Lord must preach the Word, insisting: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2, NKJV)

The enemy has always attacked the truth, so he is called the “father of lies.” His attacks can be powerful deceptions so that truth may be confused with error. Often, he mixes truth with lies. The higher the percentage of truth, the more dangerous the deception becomes. 99% truth and 1% error pose the ultimate danger. As the Apostle said: “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” (Galatians 5:9, NKJV)

Paul prophesies that: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” (2 Timothy 4:3, NKJV) “Sound doctrine” means pure biblical teaching, not twisted or contaminated. It hasn’t been mixed with human interpretation; it’s pure gospel.

The next part is fulfilled especially in our time: “but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NKJV)

Algorithms on internet platforms fulfill this prophecy today. “Algorithms” are rules that program what you see, focusing on your preferences. It doesn’t show what we need but what we want. It would be great if there were an algorithm that showed what we need, even if we didn’t like it. With the multiplication of “teachers” and the gathering of followers, these words come true: “they will heap up for themselves teachers… and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NKJV)

Paraphrasing Paul’s commissioning words: “I am already being poured out as a drink offering; now it’s your turn. You must be sober in all things, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

We often read this passage coldly, as if the Apostle were writing it from his house. We overlook the fact that he was in prison, about to die; that the church was suffering persecution; that many brethren were imprisoned; and that others were falling away.

The Apostle has one request: “Be diligent to come to me quickly.” (2 Timothy 4:9, NKJV). Demas abandoned him, while others moved on to different assignments, leaving only Luke with him. Alexander the coppersmith was a false witness against him. He also asks Timothy to bring young Mark. Once again, the Apostle pleads: “Do your utmost to come before winter.” (2 Timothy 4:21, NKJV)

The Apostle Peter writes his second epistle to the churches shortly after writing the first. His prominent role as a Christian leader had landed him in prison. He was already prepared to be martyred. He died crucified like the Master but requested to be crucified upside down because he did not feel worthy to die as the Lord did.

“The apostle now begins his list of virtues, sometimes rightly called ‘Peter’s ladder.’ Similar lists seem to have been common in the Hellenistic world, yet Peter’s list differs from the others in its inspiration and Christian framework, as well as in what it implies—that one virtue grows out of another.” (Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 622, commenting on 2 Peter 1:5)

We find a promise: “For if you do these things you will never stumble.” (2 Peter 1:10, NKJV) This does not mean we will never sin again. It means we will stay in God’s grace and not stray from the path of salvation.

The Apostle describes his death as “putting off my tent.” This does not mean he would transcend in spirit after death. It simply indicates he was going to die, and his body would cease to be. They were to remember what they had learned about the coming of the Lord. The Apostle’s hope was not in dying to go to heaven, but in the coming of the Lord.

Peter presents a key principle of prophetic interpretation: “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20, NKJV) This means prophecy is given by God to His people. No one has a monopoly on its interpretation. No one has the right to say, “God has revealed it only to me.”

Let me conclude with the words of the Apostle Paul in his farewell: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8, NKJV)

May these words inspire you today to fight the good fight of faith.