Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Let's get into second Timothy. I'm just always going to tell you guys how proud I am of you for getting through 365 days of engaging with the Scripture. Not only are you reading the Bible, like you're watching these videos, you are. You're engaging with the Scriptures in, like, a really, really, really dope way, in a really meaningful way. I hope that you feel like you're drawing from a deeper well. I think stuff like this, what it really does is it digs deep wells within us that we can draw water from for a. A long, long time. A year of, like, digging through the Scriptures literally can produce 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years of just, like, perpetual truth and wisdom and revelation. So we are going to dive into second Timothy. I call this kind of Paul's last will and testament. If we were to go famous last words, right? They would come out of second Timothy. This is the end of our journey. Okay. Like boys to men. Although we've come to the end of the road, actually. I remember the year that I spent in the UK reading the Bible five times in nine months. I cried when I got to second Timothy. I'll tell you the exact verse that really, like, made me break. Uh, we had just spent months with the Apostle Paul. We obviously meet him in the book of Acts, and this is the end of that journey. Uh, the biggest chunk of Scripture that we have in the New Testament. And I don't know, it just hit me, and I felt like I'd really gotten to know Paul by reading his letters in chronological order. So I'm gonna give a challenge. Okay. Just like first Timothy, second Timothy is really short, just four chapters. And so I'm gonna challenge you. Instead of doing chap. 1 and 2 today and then chapters 3 and 4 tomorrow, how about you just read all of first Timothy today and all of one Timothy tomorrow? Obviously, you don't have to do that if you only got time to tackle the first two chapters today and then the last two chapters tomorrow. Yo, you're. That's awesome. I commend you for sticking to the plan the way that it is written and outlined on paper. But if you want a challenge, if you want to modify this so that you can get an extra bit of a challenge in there and let the word of God kind of saturate your mind. Then go ahead and read all of 2 Timothy today and then all of 2 Timothy tomorrow. All right, let's give some context. Okay. In first Timothy, Paul's probably alluding to his house arrest, okay, which we can read about in Acts, chapter 28. And somewhere, somehow, he got released from that house arrest. That trial or. Or that trial ended favorably, okay? That imprisonment did not end in death. However, Paul is re imprisoned and is literally, like, chained and bound as a prisoner again. And in this letter, he is lonely, scared, and he's pretty sure that this imprisonment is going to end in death. And so he is urging Timothy, like, do not waste any time. Come visit me. If you don't, this is probably gonna be the last chance that we have to see each other face to face. And so these are Paul's last words to his spiritual son, Timothy. And I just think, like. Imagine, like somebody just has one last chance to say something. Those last words, those final words matter. I think they have weight to them. And so I think there's a lot of weight to 2 Timothy. It was not socially acceptable to be around a religious leader who kept getting thrown into prison. Okay? Now we may want to, you know, we would read, let's say chapter one, verse 15, okay? It says, you are aware that all who are in Asia have turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. Okay? So, I mean, and then when you get down to the end of the book, in chapter four, Paul's gonna say this. Verse nine, Chapter four, verse nine. Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescent has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. I've sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, Also the books and above all, the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will pay him back for his deeds. You also must beware of him, for he strongly opposed our message at first. At my first offense, no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them. That's where I broke down and cried, because you can just hear the loneliness in Paul's writing. He's like, yo. Like Dema or Demas. Is in love with this present world. He deserted me. These other two guys, Fagelis and Hermogenes, they deserted me. Like, I mean, he's like, only Luke is with me. But then there's this moment, you know, in chapter four where he, where he says, may it not be counted against them. And that just makes me think of Jesus's words on the cross where he says, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. I don't know, like the, the letter just feels really personal and sad. And Paul's clearly by himself and he's lonely. I want to let you know that in the first century in the ancient world, okay, there was like this understanding that if you are a really good order, if you're a really good sophist, even like on the Jewish side, so in the Greek world, you'd be like a sophist or an orator. Like, you teach philosophy. And if you are really good, it means that you didn't have to have a secular job and it was like a high status job. You, you, you got, you got really wealthy off of being a good public speaker. And then on the Jewish side, if you are a famous rabbi, you definitely didn't have a secular job and you definitely never wound up in prison. Like, that's just absolutely wild. Okay? Imagine if your pastor got locked up in prison, okay? You'd probably stop going to that church. You know, like, that's just not most people. They want a pastor who is a portrayal of what they want to be. And most people do not want to be prisoners. Okay? So when we hear that everyone's deserted Paul, I want us to hear that through the lens or the filter of cultural context. It would have been really, really, really scandalous to have an apostle or a leader or like a pastor who just like keeps on getting arrested. Like, it's just not a good look, okay? And so I don't know why everyone has deserted Paul, but you can start to put things together that they're deserting him because they don't want to be associated with any criminal activity. That's just the reality of it. This is the brass tacks. And so Paul literally goes from that into saying, hey, verse, verse eight of chapter one. Do not be ashamed then of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. So saying, hey, Timothy, do not be ashamed of me. Not only do I not want you to be ashamed of Jesus, but don't be ashamed of me. Like, do not follow in the footsteps of all these people who have gone after what society recognizes as success and accolades, that at the end of the day we are going to suffer for this gospel that we preach. Now that's hard for anyone in a Western world where we have freedom of religion. And so it's hard to get into a world. In the Greco Roman world there were actually 24 like state sanctioned or state sponsored, you know, official religions that you could be a part of. Christianity was not one of them, neither was Judaism by the way. And so persecution and suffering is following the, the Christian movement. And Paul is saying, I actually wrote this down perfectly, like in my, in my notes it says this. It is very easy to attach earthly blessings to God's approval. It's very easy to assume God must approve of me because I've become wealthy. Look at my house, look at the car I drive, look at my family. Look how beautiful we are. There is an element where God does bless us. But the moment I make an assumption that every earthly blessing like is God's approval, sometimes God blesses us in spite of us. So like that's not always a straight line. And the people who are like deserting Paul, they have drawn a pretty unbreakable line between. If God was really had really blessed your ministry, Paul, you wouldn't be in prison, bro. And that's just a very black white way to see the world. That's kind of the perspective that Job's friends have. And so Paul gives Timothy these three metaphors. He says, hey, number one, you're a soldier, number two, you're an athlete and number three, you're a farmer. I think these are really, really powerful metaphors. And essentially the purpose of these metaphors is to say, hey, you need to please your commanding officer, you need to train. And like at the end of the day trials and hardship and suffering follows soldiers, athletes and farmers. And so you don't need to chase success. What you need to be chasing is faithfulness and fruitfulness. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. Arma is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people learn the Bible for, for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this Podcast. We have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to, to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions, and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. Okay, and then Paul gives these. He. He, like Paul is a gangster in second Timothy, okay? He is naming names. First of all, he says, fagellus and Hermogenes have deserted me, which a just shows you how lonely he is. It also just shows like, yo, he ain't playing no games. Like, these two names are. Are. Are permanent. Like the grass with us, the flowers fade. The word of the Lord remains forever. Like these two names is in the Bible forever as. Just like disloyal. Like, you just left Paul to rot in jail. Like, y'all are just trifling. But then the second group of two, two people is in chapter two, verse 17, and it says their talk will spread like gangrene. Oh, you just see that. That, like, their talk is contagious. The way they talk, man. It infects people in a. In a bad way. Their. Their speech is like. It spreads like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth by claiming that the resurrection has already taken place. They are upsetting the faith of some. Okay, so Paul's a. Gives three metaphors and then names two groups of two. Okay, so that's all of our context clues. Here's a nerdy nugget. And I would call this nerdy nugget contextual predestination. A lot of times we take the doctrine of predestination out of context. And so let's just go ahead and read Romans, chapter nine, verse 21 and 23. And then we're going to come back and read second Timothy, because I actually think two Timothy shows us how an ancient mind would have thought about predestination. So Romans, chapter 9, verse 21 says, this has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one object for special use. That's a key word, special use, and another for ordinary use. What if God, desiring to show his wrath, to make known as power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory? Okay, so we're talking about pottery, which is essentially talking about pots. Um, we're talking about. Yeah, like, objects for ordinary use and special use. Now, there's a lot of context that could help us kind of understand what's going on there. But actually, 2 Timothy provides a little bit of that cultural context. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 20. It says this. In a large house, there are utensils not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay for some special use, some for ordinary. You see, the language, it's very, very similar to Romans. It says this. All who cleanse themselves of the things I have mentioned will become special utensils, dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work. Okay, second Timothy kind of actually lends itself to a little bit more of the ancient understanding around predestination. In Romans, it would seem as if once someone is created for special use or ordinary use, they're stuck in that category. But remember, in the ancient world, if you do this, this outcome is predestined. And if you do this, this outcome is predestined. And you can see that a little bit more clearly when Paul says, hey, in a large house, there are utensils, okay? Some are special, some are ordinary. Those are. Those should be trigger words for us to bring us back to Romans. And then it says, all who cleanse themselves. Okay? All who act like you are special will be a special utensil. And those who act like they are ordinary will be used for ordinary use. So you're not predestined, like, at the moment of creation. You're predestined based on how you act. If you do this, this is the outcome. And if you do this, this is the outcome. Second Timothy actually gives us the nuance that we need to form a more holistic, comprehensive, nuanced and layered understanding and Eastern understanding of predestination and election. All right, that's our nerdy nugget. And then timeless truth. Paul's gonna emphasize, this man is on his deathbed, and he's gonna emphasize the role of teaching and how to teach with truth. I'm gonna go to chapter one, verse 13. This is Paul, probably days, maybe weeks away from dying. This is what he has to say. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me in the faith and love that you are in Christ. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us. Hey, I want you to hold to the standard of sound teaching. There's a lot of things for my man Paul to be worried about, but he wants to encourage Timothy to hold to a standard of sound teaching. And then in chapter two, verse 15, we get the same exact encouragement again, but with slightly different words. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him. How are we going to be approved by God, you ask? Well, here we go. A worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly explaining the word of truth. How do we present ourselves to God? Well, by people who know how to rightly handle the word of truth. That's how Paul is about to die. My man is imprisoned. My man's chained up, probably in a pit with food lowered down to him. Little another nerdy nugget. He's probably living in his own excrement. I mean, this is a rough condition for Paul. And what does he want to tell Timothy? Hey, bro, preach the truth, Teach the truth. Know how to rightly handle the word of truth. I think in our current leadership culture climate, we have focused on so many things. How to grow a big church, how to market, how to do all kinds of things. Paul's really adamant about keeping it simple. Teach the truth, preach the truth. And, man, I don't know that hits that. It hits home now, and it definitely hit then. And. All right, tomorrow we say goodbye to Paul and we say goodbye to all of Paul's writings. And tomorrow's our last day. In 2 Timothy, we got 2 Timothy, chapter 3 and 4. I'm proud of you guys. I love you so much. See you tomorrow. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.