This was heard on the Mars Hill Network:
My youngest daughter recently took the SAT—the Scholastic Aptitude Test—required for admission to most colleges and universities. It’s not a test for which a young person can study; rather, it measures the results of years of study and training in sound thinking. A student’s entire future can be staked on this one exam, and yet in reality, that future depends upon a lifetime of the diligent application of a disciplined mind to rigorous study.
In reflecting on the SAT, I was reminded of those familiar words of the Apostle Paul to his younger associate Timothy. From his position as Paul’s assistant and traveling companion, Timothy would one day become the pastor of the important church in
In reading this letter, we are left with no doubt as to Paul’s conviction with regard to the Word of God. In the next chapter, he reminds Timothy that he had known the Scriptures since he was a child, and that God’s Word provides the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (3:15). Paul then goes on to insist that all of Scripture is God-breathed and profitable as the source of Christian belief, as the instrument for correcting wrong thinking and wrong living, as the foundation for believers to develop a godly lifestyle, and as the resource for training Christians for the full range of Christian service (3:16-17). The climactic exhortation to Timothy in this letter is found in the opening words of chapter 4: “Preach the Word!” Christian churches are committed to the primacy of preaching.
Simply put, God’s people need a steady diet of God’s Word. That’s why, in his first letter, the Apostle instructs Timothy to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Tim 4:13), and to take pains in order that his progress might be apparent to everyone (v. 15).
It’s clear, then, that we Christians are to read and study the Scriptures consistently. Based on the Bible, we are to learn how to think in godly terms. This discipline requires sound thinking on the part of those who teach the Bible to God’s people. That brings us back to 2 Timothy 2:15. The older versions translate, “Study to show yourself approved by God.” Newer translations render it, “be diligent.” Both amount to the same thing. Those who preach and teach God’s Word are to be competent interpreters of the text. That is not an easy task. Timothy was removed from the Old Testament writers by as much as 1500 years—obviously, we are removed by 2,000-3,500 years. That makes interpretation a challenge. But it can be done, and done competently and authoritatively.
Paul uses an illustration from his own experience as a tentmaker. In order to cut the leather pieces used in the tent, Paul would have used a pattern—much as a seamstress does. A competent craftsman would have to cut the material according to the pattern—cutting it straight. That’s the actual translation of the words, “accurately handling the word of truth.” The skilled interpreter will “cut it straight.” When it comes to handling the Word of God, nothing less than precision and accuracy will do.
Every preacher should strive to be a skilled interpreter, and every Christian a skillful reader of the biblical text. Spiritual maturity results from years of patient and consistent Bible study. There are no crash courses in Christianity. Like the SAT, our lives reflect years of preparation. When a student receives below average SAT scores, he may be disappointed that they weren’t higher. Paul means something like that when he says that we should apply ourselves diligently to God’s Word in order that we might not be ashamed. So how are you doing in your personal Bible study?
