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Sound Doctrine, April 12
The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and
they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
2 Timothy 4:3-5
.
“Sound doctrine” is Bible truth—truth that will promote piety and devotion,
confirming God’s people in the faith. Sound doctrine means much to the receiver;
and it means much, too, to the teacher, the minister of righteousness; for wherever
the gospel is preached, every laborer, whatever his line of service, is either true or
untrue to his responsibility as the Lord’s messenger.
Paul wrote again, “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall
also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he
also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they
strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers” (
2 Timothy
2:11-14
).
Some who in Paul’s day listened to the truth raised questions of no vital impor-
tance, presenting the ideas and opinions of men, and seeking to divert the mind of
the teacher from the great truths of the gospel, to the discussions of nonessential
theories and the settlement of unimportant disputes. Paul knew that the laborer for
God must be wise enough to see the design of the enemy, and refuse to be misled or
diverted. The conversion of souls must be the burden of his work; he must preach
the Word of God, but avoid controversy....
The ministers of Christ today are in the same danger. Satan is constantly at work
to divert the mind into wrong channels, so that the truth may lose its force upon the
heart....
Men of ability have devoted a lifetime of study and prayer to the searching of
the Scriptures, and yet there are many portions of the Bible that have not been fully
explored. Some passages of Scripture will never be perfectly comprehended until
in the future life Christ shall explain them. There are mysteries to be unraveled,
statements that human minds cannot harmonize. And the enemy will seek to arouse
argument upon these points, which might better remain undiscussed.
A devoted, spiritual worker will avoid bringing up minor theoretical differences,
and will devote his energies to the proclamation of the great testing truths to be given
to the world. He will point the people to the work of redemption, the commandments
of God, the near coming of Christ; and it will be found that in these subjects there is
food enough for thought (
Gospel Workers, 311-313
).
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