How Do We Present Ourselves to God as One Approved?
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We have the infallible and inerrant Scriptures so we might present ourselves to God as one approved. God saw to it that we have His intended words. The Holy Bible is God’s Word, and, as inspired and given to the forty biblical authors, is inerrant and infallible. Nothing needs to be added, and nothing needs to be taken away. Below is an illustration of a man who changed the understanding of Scripture to suit his needs.
Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) was a German Lutheran, a theologian, and professor of the New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major influencers of twentieth-century biblical studies, and his work was—it turns out—to our detriment. Bultmann supported a “demythologizing” approach to the Bible. He said we should focus on the proclamation of the Gospel and “get past” what he called all the “irrelevant and imaginative” details of the Gospel stories of Jesus. He brought an existential aspect to the proclamation of the Gospel — a personal, subjective experience rather than a faithful understanding of the history of Jesus.
We must trust what the writers of Scripture wrote about Jesus, else we are free to explain Him however we wish. Jesus defines the Gospel, not man. And that is where Bultmann erred.
2 Timothy 2:15 is a defining verse. It says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” Can Bultmann be deemed as one who rightly handled the word of truth?
When we change what the Bible clearly states by adding or detracting from it, we should fear standing before our heavenly Judge. God gave us His word, with all its history, for “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Let’s dig into 2 Timothy 2:15.
What Is the Context of 2 Timothy 2:15?
The Apostle Paul wrote this second epistle to Timothy — his son in the faith — while imprisoned in Rome. Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him the Old Testament Scriptures from his childhood (2 Timothy 3:15). He hailed from Lystra, and Paul led him to Christ (1Timothy 1:2, 18; 1 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 1:2). Although Timothy was young, he was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:2).
Paul seemed to be aware that his own life was nearly at an end, and he passed the “non-apostolic mantle of ministry to Timothy.” In chapter one, Paul exhorts Timothy to imitate what he learned from Paul (2 Timothy 1:13). Paul continues in chapter two with these instructions, which are interspersed with comments about his current state in the Roman prison:
Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus (v.1).
Teach others and entrust the word to them (v. 2)
Do your part by suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (v.3)
Stay focused on godly pursuits and not civilian affairs (v.4)
Remember Jesus and the gospel (v.8)
In verses 11-13, Paul underscores the truths of who he was in Christ:
Dying with Him means living with Him (Jesus).
Endurance will bring about reigning with Him.
If we deny Him, He will deny us.
Even if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Verse 14 continues Paul’s appeals to Timothy:
Remind his workers of the things Paul said and charge them not to quarrel about words.
Present yourself as a worker approved (our key passage).
Avoid irreverent babble (it confuses the hearers) and be a vessel for honorable use and thus be useful for God’s work.
Flee youthful passions. (v.22)
Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. (v. 22b)
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; for they breed quarrels. (v. 23)
Following is the remainder of the chapter which is worthy to observe:
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
What Does This Verse Mean?
The primary substance of this passage is about teaching/doctrine — how one contends for the faith. This verse contains five nuggets which make up the whole diamond of its message.
1. Do your best
Just as all means all and that’s all, all means, doing your best means doing your best. It means being zealous about what we learn from the Word and teaching it with excellence. We have everything we need to do our best. 2 Peter 1:3 gives us an exclamation point: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.”
And how do we gain knowledge of God? Not only by His general revelation (creation), but through His Word by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. As believers, knowing the Scriptures gives us the means by which we can do our best. We teach what God shows us in His word.
2. To present yourself to God
Everyone, believer and unbeliever will stand before God for judgment, some as sheep (believers who follow Jesus), and some as goats (unbelievers who choose to not follow Jesus). There are few who will enter eternal life with the Lord and many to an eternal separation from Him. (Matthew 7:14; Luke 13:24; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) We are to present ourselves to God as those who have taught His Word with a zealous nature to protect and defend it.
3. As one approved
Our zeal is for pleasing God, not men. We strive to hear this from the Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). The Lord is our ultimate and supreme Judge. From whom we learn and how we teach matters for eternity. Timothy learned from two godly women and then from the Apostle Paul.
4. A worker who has no need to be ashamed
We cannot imagine standing before the Lord ashamed of what we did and said in His name. Colossians 3:23-25 tells us, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.” As we work for the Lord by proclaiming His Word through teaching, it all counts for eternity. Age does not matter. Timothy was a young man who faced opposition for his perceived lack of maturity and inability to teach others. What matters is rightly handling the word, as we see in the next phrase.
5. Rightly handling the word of truth
It’s fine to read Scripture. It’s good to read it every day. It’s great to study and apply what we read in the Bible. Yet it’s crucial to our witness and walk with Christ to share and correctly teach the Bible, which is truth in black and white.
How Do We Present Ourselves to God as One Approved?
Pastor Marshall came to faith after a life which included abuse, anger, addiction, armed robbery, and incarceration. As he sat in a storefront church and heard the Gospel week after week, he wanted to go forward but thought he needed to clean up his life before Jesus would accept him. One Sunday, the pastor preached a message, “Come as you are.” Marshall stood there and realized it’s God who has the “sponge;” God is the One who cleanses us! He was floored, and when the preacher made an altar call, Marshall ran to the front and asked Jesus to be Lord of his life. He went “just as he was.” God changed his life that day, and this once—as he called himself—busted, disgusted, and couldn’t be trusted man became and remains a lifelong, careful student and teacher of God’s word. We are, all of us believers, to never stop learning. We never stop growing and teaching others what God has shown us in His Word.
If a man, no matter how esteemed by earthly people, treats the Scriptures as anything but the inspired word of God, he will not stand before God as a worker approved. We are to pray and immerse ourselves in the Word. We are to gain counsel from other, more mature believers (as did Timothy), and we must practice excellent hermeneutics. Yes, it’s hard work, but it’s work done in faith for the glory of God.
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