SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2025 9:57 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “A Compassionate Attitude”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
2:25b-26
Message of the verses: “correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
We have been writing about the qualities of an honorable vessel and bond-servant of the Lord, and in this last one we see that the servant of the Lord will have a compassionate attitude. Paul here focuses on the expression of compassion and meekness when correcting those who are in opposition.
MacArthur explains “Correcting is from paideuo, which means to instruct, educate, or
give guidance. Because the objects of
this instruction are those who teach false doctrine and live ungodly lives,
this particular instruction is the form of correction.
“Much of the self-righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees was based on their carefully following human tradition that had no
basis in Scripture and often was in contradiction to it. They ‘invalidated the word of God for the
sake of [their] tradition,’ Jesus said (Matt. 15:6). But the godly Christian has no reason for
being self-righteous even when he is humbly obeying Scripture, because he knows
that his obedience is the product of the Holy Spirit rather than his own
goodness. Consequently, when confronting
believers who are teaching falsehood and living sinfully, one must never do so
with an attitude of personal superiority.
Christians are to have compassion for them in their sin just as the Lord
has compassion.”
What is Paul actually writing about here? Well he is not speaking of personal differences of opinion but of the opposition of disobedient believers. The opposition may pertain to “foolish and ignorant speculations’ (v. 23) or perhaps to the more serious matters of doctrine or morals they lead to. Every minister encounters situations in the church that demand correction and sometimes rebuke. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” Paul reminded Titus, “instructing us [that is, every believer] to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:11-13). MacArthur goes on “the faithful believers, whatever their position in the church, who persist in ‘ungodliness and worldly desire’ and to admonish them to live ‘righteously and godly in the present age.’
“The motivation of such correction should be the sincere
desire that perhaps God may grant them repentance. That is always the motivation of a humble and
compassionate heart. Paul told the immature, worldly believers in Corinth, ‘I
now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful
to the point of repentance for you were made sorrowful according to the will of
God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us’ (2 Cor.
7:9). Even when those who are corrected
are resentful of us and unrepentant, as some in Corinth were in regard to Paul,
there is never a place in godly correction for personal animosity of judgmental
self-righteousness.”
3/26/2025 10:25 AM
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