At the heart of this passage there is another striking image – an unpleasant, corruptive, decaying image: gangrene (v 17). An internet search will show how gangrene affects the body. Be warned, there are some really horrible pictures. 

This awful image gives us an insight into how very serious Paul considered ‘godless chatter’ (v 16) and false teaching to be (vs 17,18) and how important it was, therefore, to encourage Timothy to ‘correctly handle the word of truth’ (v 15). Like gangrene, false teaching eventually kills off faith, and Paul wanted the body of Christ to be healthy. More specifically, the teaching by the two named individuals that the resurrection – here referring to the future bodily resurrection of all believers – had already happened had destroyed some people’s faith (vs 17,18). Timothy’s responsibility was to keep declaring what he knows is the truth; to keep standing on the solid foundation of the church (1 Timothy 3:15), in the knowledge of God’s protection as he does so.

Lord, help us to be strong in biblical doctrine and not moved by wrong teaching around us.

Paul now emphasises the solid foundation of truth (v 19), understood as the teaching of Jesus¹ and his apostles² or, more widely, the church.³ Paul assures us that God knows those who are his, and that they know the Lord and are called to holiness.⁴ Good doctrine is basic to Christian life: we need to handle the Word of truth well (v 15). To do this we must study the Word of God. There are false teachers in the world today, as in Timothy’s time, and if we are not strong in the Word we can easily be swayed. One prevalent heresy is the ‘prosperity gospel’, which is enticing in the affluent West and even for middle-class Christians in India. We should be awake and vigilant.

Paul gives three warnings. First, avoid ‘godless chatter’ (v 16); second, do not get involved in foolish arguments because such arguments are confusing, useless and even harmful. False teachers can argue about unnecessary details and cause strife and division. Third, Paul asks us to ignore unbiblical teaching, such as speculation about the resurrection (vs 17,18). In January 2020, one so-called prophet said in his New Year message that 2020 would be a year of great blessings and peace, but now we know it was the era of the Covid-19 virus.

We need to study the Bible carefully and be aware of false teaching. When I studied at a liberal college in Bangalore, I decided to try to prove my evangelical faith, for if it was false I was a fool to hold on to it. I applied logical thinking to my studies and came to two conclusions. First, the Bible was logical and true; and second, that some Christians based too much thinking on conjecture and baseless theories. I became a stronger evangelical!

Help us, Lord, to be approved workers for God, correctly handling the Word of truth.

¹ See 1 Cor 3:11  ² See Eph 2:20; Rev 21:14  ³ 1 Tim 3:15  ⁴ Cf 2 Tim 1:9