2 Timothy 3:16-17 - When Good News Sounds Bad

Chad Werkhoven
2 hours ago
3 min read

The gospel is good news, but it's not always news you want to hear.

Highland cow with long horns in a grassy field, chewing hay. Text reads "MEDITATE on God's Word day & night... Just like this guy." — Faithlife.com

2 Timothy 3:12–17 (NIV)

¹² In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³ while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Point 3 - Total Depravity

Point 4 - Irresistible Grace

Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints

Article 14: God’s Use of Means in Perseverance

And, just as it has pleased God

to begin this work of grace in us by the proclamation of the gospel,
so he preserves, continues, and completes his work
- by the hearing and reading of the gospel,
- by meditation on it,
- by its exhortations, threats, and promises,
- and also by the use of the sacraments.

Summary

Today's Summary section is reposted from January 26, 2024

You've likely been told dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of times that you need to read your Bible and stay rooted in scripture. It's not unfair to ask why, though. Why is it that reading a bunch of ancient words, written by men who lived in vastly different cultures with really weird customs... why should this be a central part of your daily routine? Paul tells you exactly why in this short passage.

The primary purpose of Scripture is to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Certainly God's self-revelation - both His book of creation, and the clearer and fuller revelation in His written Word - teach us all sorts of things about Him and how to best navigate this world He's created, but the primary purpose of it all is so that you might understand how it is you are saved through Christ alone.

These words that are to be the mainstay of your life are not ordinary words. Millions of pages have been written over the course of history, and of course, some of those pages are better than others. But the words of Scripture stand alone in that they are the very words of God, breathed out by the Holy Spirit through ordinary men comprised of vastly different cultures and personalities.

Because its divine origin makes Scripture so much different than anything else ever written, it is the world's only source of authoritative, objective truth.

Dig Deeper

You probably know that the word gospel is shorthand for good news. So it makes sense that the four books of the Bible that narrate Jesus' ministry on earth are referred to as the gospels, for they tell the best news ever! But the word gospel often gets used in a more general sense to refer to all sixty-six of the books of the Bible, since each one of them were also breathed out by God.

Certainly the gospel brings you grace, mercy and peace, but it also uncomfortably prods you at times. As the Canons put it, the proclamation of the gospel also gives exhortations and threats alongside its promises. Paul here explains that the gospel is designed to teach, rebuke and correct you.

Most of us don't like experiencing rebuke and correction, or even being taught for that matter. But this training in righteousness is exactly what you need as the Spirit sanctifies you into the righteous servant of God that He has declared you to be. As the Canons put it, God not only begins this work of grace in you by the proclamation of the gospel, but He preserves, continues, and completes his work in you as you hear and read the gospel.

In other words, you need the gospel just as much now as a believer as you did before you first heard about Jesus. And you'll continue to need it every day of your life until He returns or calls you home so that you'll be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who breathed-out His Word to us;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray the same prayer as yesterday: that you'll keep God's Word always on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so that you might be careful to do everything written in it;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: