7.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• It is important that the Word of God will be preached in God’s church, because:
  - It is the most important way in which God saves people.
  - God uses the preaching of his Word to make his children grow in their faith.
• There are four things that the Word of God must do in people’s lives:
  1. Teaching
  2. Rebuking
  3. Correcting
  4. Training in righteousness
• When these four things happen, then we are ready to do every good work that God wants us to do.

7.2 – 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5←⤒🔗

[Paul writes these words to Timothy, a young pastor:]

^3:14 You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you

^3:15 and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

^3:16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

^3:17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

^4:1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

^4:2 Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction.

^4:3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things.

^4:4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.

^4:5 You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.

© NET Bible

7.3 The important task of preaching←⤒🔗

The church cannot exist without the preaching of the Word. That is why Jesus Christ gives specific men to his church to preach the Word. We call them preachers, or pastors, or ministers, or elders who preach. Timothy was such a person. Our passage comes from one of the letters that Paul wrote to Timothy. 

Timothy’s task was not easy. There were people in his church who wanted to preach their own messages. They did not want to listen to Timothy and to the Word of God. In this letter, Paul comforts Timothy and tells him, “Don’t give up! Your task is too important!”

Why is it so important that the Word of God must be preached? Because it is the most important way in which God saves people. God uses the preaching of his Word to give new hearts to sinners. God also uses the preaching of the Word to make his children grow in their faith.

Paul knows how important the preaching of the Word is. That is why he writes in such a serious way. He says to Timothy, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:1–2).

To preach the Word is to tell people what God’s Word says to them, in their situation. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul names FOUR things that the Word of God must do in people’s lives: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”

If the Word is used for these four things (teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training), then “the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). This means that God’s people (the people who truly belong to God) will be ready and strong for all the things that God wants them to do!

Let us look more closely at each of these four things.

7.3.1 Teaching←↰⤒🔗

In the first place, God gave his Word to teach us. God’s Word teaches us:

• Who God is.
• Who we are.
• How we can be saved (through faith in Jesus Christ).
• How we can give thanks to God, by living holy lives.
• What will happen in the end times.

If we don’t learn these things from God’s Word, then we will never know the truth about them. Our minds are full of the lies that Satan and the world tell us. We need God’s Word to renew our minds. When our minds are renewed , then our lives can be transformed (Romans 12:2).

In the time of the prophet Hosea, God said, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). This was because the priests in that time were not doing their work. The priests were supposed to teach the Word of God to God’s people. They had the Old Testament Scriptures with them. But they did not teach it to the people. In this way, God’s people were being destroyed.

7.3.2 Rebuking←↰⤒🔗

It is not always easy to listen to God’s Word. Sometimes God’s Word says things that we don’t like to hear. Sometimes we like to think in a certain way, even if it is wrong. Or sometimes we want to keep on with the sin that we are doing.

But God works through his Word to rebuke us — to show us where we are wrong. When God’s children hear his Word, the Holy Spirit works in their hearts. He opens their eyes for their sin. He also makes them sad about their sin.

A preacher must warn people against the sin that he sees in their lives. He must never be afraid to preach what is in the Bible. Even if there are things that people will not like, he must still preach those things. He must do this “with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).

It is painful for us when the Word of God rebukes us. But it is necessary. When a person sees that he is sick, then he will go to the doctor. When we see that we have sinned, then we will go to Jesus Christ for grace.

7.3.3 Correcting←↰⤒🔗

To correct something means to heal it and make it right again. God does not only rebuke us for our sins. Just like a good doctor, God also heals us.

The church is like a hospital. It is full of people who are “sick” because of their sin. God’s Word is the medicine that they need. When the Word is preached, God works to heal his people from their sin.

Through his Word, God changes the ways in which we think. He also changes the ways in which we act. He makes us think and act more like his Son, Jesus Christ. In this way, our life is corrected.

7.3.4 Training←↰⤒🔗

Finally, the Word of God trains us. When you train a child, you make him ready for life. You make him practise all the skills that he will need: to greet people, to eat right, to ride a bicycle, and so on. You help him to grow up. That is what the Word of God does for God’s people. It makes them grow up spiritually. It makes them ready for life.

In what way must God’s people grow up? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “in righteousness.” This means that God’s people must practise to do what is right in God’s eyes. They must become more and more “grown up” in the way that they live. They must become more like Jesus Christ, who is perfect in righteousness.

The Word of God teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains us. When these four things happen, then we can do “every good work” that God wants us to do (2 Timothy 3:17).