Quarreling About Words

Paul’s letters to Timothy are carefully crafted to craft Timothy into an effective Preacher/Evangelist.

One of the problems Paul knew Timothy would face were members who would “quarrel about words”. Keep in mind in those days there were no Bible dictionaries, concordances, wikipedia or any other kind of Bible reference resources. They just had the Old Covenant and letters written in their common language.

The same problem exists today. I’ve been in Bible classes that have taken three years to get through the letter to the Romans… blow by blow, verse by verse, examining every word ad nauseam… and perhaps missing the bigger message.

Sometimes members do argue and quarrel about words and relatively minor concepts. In my opinion, Bible classes are no place for arguing and quarreling which can create enmity. If you have a point make it and move on. If it needs any further discussion do it after class. Even after class don’t go too far with it. If your brother doesn’t agree with it arguing is not going to solve the problem. Sometimes ideas just need time to permeate our brains.

Paul also instructs Timothy to “have nothing to do with foolish and stupid arguments”. Yes, stupidity exists in churches. It’s not hard to identify stupid people… minimize your contact with them… you probably can’t make them smart.

In short, the Bible and God’s message is not that hard to understand. The people in the first centuries could understand it and they didn’t come close to having the Bible resources we have today.

Remember love God with all your heart, soul and minds and your neighbor as yourself. Part of loving God is to discover everything you can know about him. There are no shortcuts… study your Bibles and personalize Paul’s instructions to Timothy like he was writing to you.