In 2 Tim. 2 The believer is presented in seven characters: as son (v. 1), soldier (v. 3), athlete (v. 5), husbandman (v. 6), workman (v. 15), vessel (v. 21), and servant (v. 24). As a son, Timothy is exhorted to be strong in grace. Grace goes with sonship, just as law goes with servitude. We learn this from Galatians. As a soldier, Timothy is exhorted to endure hardness and to avoid worldly entanglements; these are right elements of good soldiership. As a vessel, he is to be cleansed and separated; as a servant, he should be gentle, patient and meek.
In 2 Tim. 2:1515Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) he is told what is required of him as a workman: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
The Word of Truth, then, has right divisions, and one cannot be "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" without observing them, so any study of that Word which ignores those divisions must be confusing. Many Christians confess that they find the study of the Bible weary work. More find it so, but are ashamed to admit it.
The purpose of this pamphlet is to indicate the more important divisions of the Word of Truth. Enough is given to enable the diligent student to perceive the greater outlines of truth and something of the ordered beauty and symmetry of that Word of God which, to the natural mind, seems a mere confusion of conflicting ideas.
Do not receive any doctrine upon the authority of this booklet, but, like the Bereans (Acts 17:1111These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)), search the Scriptures whether these things are so. No appeal is made to human authority: "The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you" (1 John 2:2727But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)).