Fare Thee Well

1 Timothy 6:20-21  O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:  Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. The first to Timothy was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana.

As a man of God, Timothy was committed to the truth of God's Word, (1 Timothy 1:18-19). Timothy has a priceless treasure in the doctrine he received and preaches, and he must secure it and guard with his life. As ministers of the gospel and preachers in the Lord's church, we have received the valuable treasure of truthful doctrine and our task is nothing short of faithfulness. We need to hold to the truth in our own lives, never wavering in what God has commanded us to do. We need to keep that truth in the forefront of our preaching, and guard our preaching from slackness and error. We need to protect the truth in the church and guard who takes the pulpit. We need to protect the truth from the influence of false teachers by a bold proclamation of God's Word. We need to keep the truth by diligence in reading and studying doctrine, to keep our theology tight and our doctrine sharp. Taking the long view, we are tasked with teach and passing the truth on to the next generation and to be able to leave this world having committed the truth to another group to carry on the work.

While he keeps the truth he is also to avoid profane and vain babbling. Don't flirt with or imbibe profane teachings and false science, or that which purports itself to be the way of knowledge, but is no knowledge at all. There is no contradiction in the truth. So science and higher learning is not in conflict with God's Word. It is a "so-called" science and higher learning that we are to avoid.  Why? Because it's the path to error. The danger  is that it will cause you to go off into error in the faith. I'm defiantly not anti-education or anti-learning, but be careful who you let teach you. Whether it's the science of evolution or the science of theology, be cautious of anything that contradicts God's Word and the doctrine given to your charge. It's the path to error, to be so enamored by 'higher learning' that you'll begin to doubt the plain truth of Scripture. Don't think so? Paul reminded Timothy that it had already happened to men that they knew. Don't think it can happen to you? Repent of your pride and be on guard.

Doctrine. Truth. Steadfastness. That's the theme of this epistle. There can be no compromise to the truth, and the man of God needs to be focused on preaching, studying, learning, teaching, and living the truth.

That ends our study in I Timothy. Maybe someday I'll tell you why I did this. Maybe soon we'll start 2 Timothy.