Bible Truth #347 - 2 Timothy 2:1-7

2 Timothy 2:1-7

1  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

5  And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

6  The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

7  Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

Paul begins his thoughts here by giving Timothy some advice and encouragement by relative comparisons to secular life - soldier, athlete, farmer. And please take notice in verse 4 of how one becomes a soldier for Christ. He is chosen and I talked about this in Bible Truth #294. God's Army is NOT an all-volunteer Army like the United States has.

I have included more verses for context but would like to focus on verse 7 - “...the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

This not only reconciles with other passages that speak of God’s sovereignty in what men do and what men believe, it supports them. The Lord will give you understanding - so if a man doesn’t understand spiritual matters it’s because the Lord hasn’t given him that understanding - and he may never give it to him. This is why a man without the Holy Spirit can’t understand anything from the Holy Spirit, and he will NOT accept it for it is foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). We can prepare the ground, plant the seed, or water the ground - but it is God who causes it to grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). A lot of ground simply will not “accept” the seed - ground that is rocky, full of briars, or close to the path. (Matthew 13)

Look at Luke 10:22 in that only those to whom Christ chooses to reveal Him can know the Father. Or Luke 24:40-45 where Jesus did not open the minds of the apostles until after His resurrection. It was not until then that they were able to understand the Scriptures. Many times we read the Gospels and think, “How can the apostles not understand the plain language of what the Son of God was clearly telling them?” If you didn’t know that truth before, now you know. They did not have the ability to understand until it was given to them.

So as with the lost today, and even Christians regarding the doctrines of Grace. Many believers refuse to accept the truth that they did not choose Christ, God chose them (John 15:16). They refuse to let go of the worldly notion of free-will. Yes, I said worldly because every lost person believes he has a free will. Those who believe in decisional salvation have not yet let go of everything that is of the flesh.

Bottom line - A man will understand only when the Lord wants him to understand, if ever.