Kingdom Building

October 11, 2019

Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. –2 Timothy 2:13-14

I invested much of my career wrangling over words. I remember submitting a federal grant application for something, I do not remember what. We were applying to do both services described in the announcement. The response said we could only do one. I wrote back and said that the announcement and even more importantly the enabling legislation used the word, “or” which means we could do one or the other or both. If it were limited to one, they needed to include the word “either” with the word “or”. Grammatically I was correct, (at the time at least; grammar has changed so much in recently years I am no longer sure what is correct) They had the power to interpret it the way they chose, and we had to pick one. There is probably even more wrangling over words in theology than in the government.

Because we each interpret words not only by their dictionary meaning but also by our culture and education, I do think we need to discuss with our fellow faith participants so we can gain a richer and more meaningful understanding of the ways of God. I understand the Bible better when I understand what it means to people of the Jewish faith. Learning from history, what something implies in its chronological use makes a lot of difference in understanding scripture.

The word translated here as “wrangling” could also be translated “quarrel” and most likely means to argue that one is right and the other is wrong. The implication that results is that if one does not believe like the other, they do not have a correct understanding of God. I fear we have a lot of that going on in our world today.

Listening with the intent of learning does not mean we must take sides and argue nor does it mean we must judge another person’s viewpoint and perhaps assess their status in the eyes of God. Having to reckon with another opinion as objectively as possible may strengthen our stances or may broaden our understanding.

Prayer:
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons,
as in our daily life
we struggle to be human
and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
for all – not just for some,
to love them as we find them
or as they may become*. Amen.

*Second verse of Help Us Accept Each Other by Fred Kaan see at https://www.hopepublishing.com/find-hymns-hw/hw3521.aspx

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.