True Learners of Christ
by Samson Hutagalung
One of the things that will be experienced by a true follower of Christ is a desire to know what the Bible says for being a Christian. In the process of knowing God’s words, uncounted amount of time needs to be spent. Although the Lord is Almighty and able to do marvellous miracles, yet the Lord never promised to give a supernatural ability to know the Scriptures automatically. God has the power to do it, yet He doesn’t do it, but rather commands Christians to study the Bible carefully, devotedly and faithfully (cf. Ps 119:18; Ps 1:2).
Take a look what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” This verse might be very familiar to us, nevertheless just take notes what Paul commanded here. Firstly, that Timothy was commanded to commit the teachings he had heard and received from Paul to faithful men. Look at the word para/qou for “commit” is written in the imperative mood which denotes a command. It implies that God’s servants are responsible to entrust God’s faithful truth to faithful men that God’s truth might be continually inherited by future generation.
Secondly, that the teachings Timothy had heard and received from Paul should be committed not only to faithful Christians, but also to faithful Christians who are able to teach others. Being faithful men and being able to teach others are two different things. Yes, every Christian is commanded to be faithful but not every Christian is able to teach. In a certain level of teaching, Christians involve in the work of teaching such as parents are teaching their children. But this was not what Paul meant when he wrote this verse. Paul particularly spoke about God’s servants like pastors, evangelists, teachers, elders, deacons and church leaders who involve in the area of teaching. In other words, there is a sense of making others understand of what God says in His words.
The questions need to be asked is, What do faithful Christians teach if they do not know their Bible? The answer is none. There is no such thing knowing the Bible automatically for being a Christian. Every Christian needs to study his Bible. Being a leader of the church of Ephesus, Timothy was commanded to understand the fact that studying God’s word is absolutely important and cannot be neglected.
Paul reaffirms the importance of studying God’s Words in 2 Timothy 2:15 that there is a need to study the word of God. Paul said, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Remember that this verse was given to Timothy while he was still a pastor of the church of Ephesus. Paul particularly instructed Timothy to study God’s Word diligently. The word spoudason for “study” has its root word from spoudazw which means “to be diligence, earnest, zealous, eager.” There is a sense “to make every effort to do one’s best, to be eager.” The KJV translated this word as “study” which is absolutely correct because the last phrase of that verse tells us the idea of study when it says, “rightly dividing the word of truth.” The only way to rightly dividing the word of truth is through the study God’s Word diligently, earnestly and eagerly. Apart from spending time in the study of God’s Word, one cannot give the right meaning of what God said in His Word. Thus, a true servant of God is a true learner of Christ. Being a servant must be a learner of the Bible, the two cannot be separated. A servant must devotedly study his Bible till the last breath of his because he is dealing with the Words of the Almighty God. Therefore woe unto them who intentionally despise the aspect of learning and digging the meaning of God’s word, the Bible.
It’s important to take note that the word spoudason is also written in the imperative mood and it denotes a command. Paul had expressed his desire through the imperative mood for twelve times in this chapter. And in 2 Timothy 2:15 we find the seventh imperative mood in the chapter. This is to say that it is a command to give diligence in the study of what the Bible says and not an option. Those who are called as servants of God must take note their responsibility in this area. Please observe the first phrase in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God.” It is amazing that being a student of Christ, is also the way to prove one’s self as servant of God. Studying God’s Word must not be neglected if one wants to be approved of God as His true servant. If a person spends time in the study of Holy Scriptures, he would not be ashamed of his belief but rather he would be able to expound clearly what the Bible says. As a result, he would be able to give an answer to everyone who needs (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
What kind of student does God require here? The answer is a devoted learner of Christ who whole-heatedly gives time to search the Holy Scriptures. It is only those who know their Bible who are able to rightly dividing the word of truth. This kind of person in mind when Paul said to Timothy to commit those teachings which he heard and received from him. It is hard to imagine a person who is entrusted to teach and yet never spend time to study his Bible.
Paul further explained what he meant “to study” or “to be diligent, earnest, eager,” in verse 16 when he said, “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” Paul here made a comparison to what he had said in previous verse. Paul used the conjunction “but” de as to contrast the thought in verse 15. However this conjunction can also mean as a conclusion of what he had expounded in previous verses. Again Paul used the imperative mood in this verse when he said, “shun” periistaso. In fact this is the eighth imperative in the chapter. It is written in the present Middle Imperative second person singular which has its basic meaning as “to stand around” or “to place oneself at a distance from, to stand aloof from, avoid.” Thus Paul was saying that a servant of God should place himself a distance from profane and vain babblings. The idea of this verse perhaps is referring to useless disputes and debate about genealogical histories and hair-splitting debates over the law. It is so easy to be involved in the ungodly debates and spending many hours in arguing the ungodly matters
I remember when I was in College, being in the same room with students from various countries, unwittingly, we involved in discussion and debates that spent hours of hours regardless night or afternoon. The topic of the second coming of Jesus Christ and millennium are the most frequent topics being discussed inside and outside of classroom, and many students involve in the discussion though they had not spent time to study them carefully. It is so easy to involve in this kind of situation. However it will be more dangerous for a person who desires to teach and call himself as a teacher and yet hardly spend time to equip himself as a teacher of God’s word. Such a person will bring damage to the teaching of the Bible. Worse of all he might teach heresy because he might misinterpret what the Lord says in the Bible.
Paul brought the issue of misinterpretation of the Holy Scriptures by those who did not study God’s Word faithfully and devotedly. Hymeneus and Philetus were two examples who twisted the meaning of the Bible (2 Timothy 2:17). The question needs to be asked is, how many doctrines have we misinterpreted? Only God knows and we know. The encouragement from 2 Timothy 2:15 is, give time to study God’s word that we might be servants of God who are acceptable and approved of God.
A true learner of Christ is a person who faithfully and devotedly takes time to study God’s word as deeper as he could that he might know what the Bible says. In such away that person will know that he is a faithful Christian who is also able to teach others.