The context of 2
Timothy 3:16-17 is about the salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Apostle Paul started a final charge to Timothy with his experience of a godly
life in Jesus Christ, to show the importance of salvation through faith in
Christ and reading the Holy Scriptures which is the Bible. However, Paul said, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go
from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2
Timothy 3:12-13)
How many of us are abiding in Jesus Christ through
the entire Bible? Old Testament demonstrates warnings of God and New Testament
shows God who is “… compassionate and
gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm
103:8) through Jesus Christ. In my opinion, I think most of us often
overlook Old Testament as an angry, nasty, and judgemental God, who destroys those
who have not been living to a godly life. Hence, we think Old Testament is obsolete.
We tend to focus only on New Testament to remind ourselves who God is.
Nevertheless, we have to read Old Testament in
the same way we read New Testament. I think the warnings of God in Old
Testament illustrates that God wants us to live a godly life and a life that is
devoted to Him. He warns us ahead of
time if we are living unrighteous ways of God. In other words, He does not want
us to live according to our ways but wants us to live according to God’s
purposes and to do everything for the glory of God. Isaiah
55:8-9 states, ‘“For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.’ Apostle Paul declares, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,
so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement
they provide we might have hope.” (Romans
15:4) While I was doing ‘Kairos’ course a long time ago, I learnt that we
cannot love God and are not able to be filled with God’s wisdom if we have not
read the entire story of God. Steven C. Hawthorne proclaims, “God is not just
loving people. He is transforming them to become people who can fully love Him.”
During my theological studies this year, I learnt that Old Testament just
prompts us to turn away from our sins but New Testament illustrates that we are
able to turn towards God through faith in Jesus Christ.
However, we have to be careful to not to be
mistaken that the Bible is not the way of righteous living. The main reason for
this is that Jesus Christ is our righteousness because He has already paid our
death penalty by crucifying Himself on the cross (2
Corinthians 5:21) and God has given us His Spirit to make us perfect
through Jesus Christ (Hebrews
10:14). In addition, Jesus Christ says, “You
study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal
life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to
come to me to have life.” (John
5:39-40) When He was crucified, “… the
curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” (Matthew
27:51) This demonstrates that the separation between us and God is ended.
To be more specific, eternal life belongs to those who have believed in Jesus Christ
until the end of the age. “For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Romans
6:23)
On
his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to
Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard
that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
“Lord,”
Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But
I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise again.”
Martha
answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus
said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me
will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will
never die. Do you believe this?” (John
11:17-26)
Therefore, we have to consider the Bible as the
best method to hear from God. 2
Timothy 3:16 begins with “All
Scripture is God-breathed…” and ends with “… training in righteousness.” Furthermore, 2
Timothy 3:17 continues with the verse 16:
“so that the servant of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
“Why
do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who
comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you
what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and
laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house
but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my
words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the
ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it
collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke
6:46-49)
In ‘The Westminster Dictionary of Theological
Terms’ the definition of the gospel is ‘“good story”; the central message of
the Christian church in the world, centered on God’s provision of salvation for
the world in Jesus Christ.’ Thus, I think the core message in the Bible is
known as the gospel. Apostle Paul declares, ‘For I am not ashamed of the
gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who
believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the
righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to
last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’ (Romans
1:16-17) Furthermore, he proclaims:
Whatever
happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then,
whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know
that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith
of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This
is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and
that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to
believe in him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians
1:27-29)
I strongly believe reading the Bible helps us
to stay connected with God. The Bible is a constant reminder of showing how to
live as a devoted follower of Jesus. While
I was studying theology, I had no time to read the Bible so I began to read New
Testament in my meal time. I read Old Testament as well, if I have a spare time
during the evening or night. I think I have to develop a habit in reading Old
Testament every day of my life. I agree with the Psalmist when he said:
Blessed
is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that
sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law
of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
That
person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in
season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm
1:1-3)
No comments:
Post a Comment