PT-1 "The Power of the Word" (2 Timothy 2:9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2025 9:01 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  PT-1 “The Power of the Word”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 2:9

 

            Message of the verse:  “for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.”

 

            Today we begin to look at a second great motivation for faithfulness, which is the power of God’s Word.  In this verse Paul is contrasting his own rather weak power while he is in prison to the freedom of the word of God, which is not imprisoned (2:9).  MacArthur writes “As suggested in this translation, the Greek noun behind imprisoned is from the verb that is here rendered is…imprisoned.  Even though Paul was a man under the authority of Jesus Christ, he was subject to imprisonment by ungodly men, just as Jesus Himself had been subject to evil treatment by ungodly men during His incarnation.  Although Paul was not sinless, as was his Lord, he nevertheless was like his Lord in being guiltless of the charges for which he was imprisoned.  Paul was not a robber, murderer, or traitor, even by the standards of Roman law. Yet he was incarcerated as a criminal, probably in the infamous Mamertine prison in Rome, awaiting certain death.”

 

            You would not hear Paul lamenting the injustice of his imprisonment as he had already admonished Timothy not to “be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord , or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8).  It is not certain that Paul would have been familiar with Peter’s first letter which was written several years before Paul wrote 2 Timothy, however if not he certainly would have agreed with the attitude of his fellow apostle, who, as quoted above, wrote, “If when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.  For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:20-21).  Paul wrote the following in 2 Corinthians 12:10 “well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” Paul testified!

 

            MacArthur explains “Paul’s point in the present verse, therefore, is not to complain about his own lamentable condition but rather to point up, by contrast, the sovereign, unfettered word of God.  The apostle would have agreed fully with the writer of Hebrews, who declared, ‘The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart’ (Heb. 4:12).  As Paul had written the Ephesian church, ‘The sword of the Spirit…is the word of God’ (Eph. 6:17), and this divine ‘sword’ cannot be taken out of the Spirit’s hand-by men, by demons, or even by Satan himself.”

 

            It is true that there have always been people in the church, and never more than in the day that we are living in, who believe that the power of the gospel is restricted by social or political opposition.  MacArthur adds “Consequently, they argue that risking public censure, not to mention arrest and imprisonment for boldly preaching sin, repentance, and the gospel, should be avoided.  They counsel discretion and sometimes even compromise in order to make the message more acceptable and, supposedly, more effective.”

 

            I think that it important that I quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary, or perhaps two more.

 

            “Many Christians are under the illusion that God’s Word has been influential in the Western world, especially in such democracies as the United States, primarily because of legal guarantees of freedom of religion, and that the fight to keep that freedom is therefore a fight to preserve the power of the gospel.  In fact, some Christians who would never think of confronting society with the bold and demanding gospel and being censured for it will strongly fight for some social or political issue in ways that might get them arrested.  Religious freedom is certainly commendable, and Christians who enjoy it should it should be grateful for and take advantage of the opportunities it affords for worship, witness, and service.  But the power of God’s Word has never been dependent on man’s protection or subject to man’s restriction.  That is precisely Paul’s point. The Word of God is not, and cannot be, imprisoned.

 

            “At one time there were some 600 miles of catacombs under the city of Rome, nearly all them dug and used by ten generations of Christians over a period of 300 years.  In the early centuries of the church, the catacombs served as meeting and burial places for perhaps as many as four million Christians.  A common inscription found on walls there is ‘The Word of God is not bound.’  In his famous hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,’ Martin Luther declared, ‘The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still.’”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One can look at the history of the Word of God from the time that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible until John penned the last book “Revelation,” and it can be said just like Paul said that the word of God is not imprisoned.  It has outlasted all the empires of the world, and I believe that we will be reading it in heaven.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to read and study the Word of God as long as God allows me to live on His earth, or better yet until He comes in the clouds to take all in the Church to be with Him.

 

1/29/2025 9:58 AM