Explore: Be Strong in God’s Work

• The Explore the Bible lesson for April 21 focuses on 2 Timothy 2:1-10, 14-15, 22-26.

As we have seen in previous sections of the Pastoral Epistles, the author aims to encourage Timothy to be a faithful minister of the gospel, even in the face of difficulties. In this passage, three distinct metaphors are used to illustrate the work of ministers. All three were used in the Greco-Roman context to describe teachers. Moreover, every Christian should take these to heart, since everyone is a minister of the gospel.

First, a minister should be a “good soldier of Christ Jesus” (v. 3). This does not mean one should take up arms against the enemy. Rather, it means one should tune out all distractions and extraneous opinions—good or bad—and instead focus on pleasing the “commanding officer,” Jesus (v. 4). Athletes are mentioned as well. They train hard for a given competition, but all that work is in vain if they do not train to compete according to the rules of the game. Farmers are the final metaphor. They only are rewarded with a fruitful crop if they work tirelessly at cultivating the land.

Cheap vs costly grace

In each of these images, the point is the same: Work hard, regardless of the cost. This is reminiscent of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s discussion of cheap and costly grace in The Cost of Discipleship. He describes cheap grace as “preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.”

Cheap grace can be taken for granted. By contrast, costly grace is integrated with the journey of discipleship (notice that it has the same root as “discipline”). That is, costly grace involves the difficult and lifelong discipline of the Christian life, whether experienced as education or formation, or perhaps as suffering, hardship and persecution.

The letter is explicit about the presence of suffering in the author’s life: “This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal” (vv. 8-9). However, despite these circumstances, the gospel is not muted: “But God’s word is not chained” (v. 9). This is an encouraging word as we consider our own limitations and struggles. The work of Christian ministry is a collective effort, involving all members of the body of Christ across space and time.

Fullness of the Gospel

Second Timothy 2:8 offers a unique but powerful way to discuss the fullness of the gospel: “Remember Jesus Christ.” This does not refer simply to recalling the past activities of Jesus and thinking fondly of them. Instead, to truly remember Jesus is to reshape your whole life so that it corresponds to his. Disciples of Jesus together also “remember” Christ in that they make up or constitute the body of Christ. Thus, they “re-member”—that is, put back together the body of Christ, which is the church.

It also should be noted that the emphasis on Jesus is not only on the resurrection. Pauline letters, like 2 Timothy, always highlight that Jesus Christ is the crucified one before he is the resurrected one. Our memory of him—and our imitation of him—should be shaped accordingly.

Timothy is advised to continue in his work, faithfully doing his duty as a “workman” (v. 15). This faithfulness involves speaking well and living well. Words are not empty symbols. As James 3:1-12 tells us, words can be an immense benefit for self and others, but they also can serve as instruments of destruction. Therefore, “quarreling about words” is a serious problem since it can cause a great deal of damage. Later in this passage, the admonition will be to avoid “anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments” (v. 23). Rather than quarreling with everyone, a minister (“the Lord’s servant”) should “be kind to everyone” (v. 24) and “gently instruct” those who think otherwise (v. 25).

Cultivate conversation

In other words, good ministry of the gospel does not involve loud and rude name-calling or shouting. Truth is not correlated to volume. Instead, ministers—and all Christians—should work to cultivate conversation, even with those people with whom they disagree. Conversation does not equal compromising or watering down the gospel message; rather, it is part of that message—showing the love of Christ is more important than being right.

Moreover, one also must live well: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved” (v. 15). We have heard advice like this in many forms all our lives, but it is worth a friendly reminder: Actions speak louder than words. Therefore, this life lived faithfully involves fleeing “the evil desires of youth” and pursuing “righteousness, faith, love and peace” with others within the community of faith (v. 22).