This is the third part in the series of exposition of 2 Timothy 3:14-17. You can read the first two parts here:
The immediate literary context of 2 Timothy 3:14 to 17 talks about persecution and suffering. These are challenges, which are more difficult to deal with than the adversity described in Elkington's article. The context also tells us about the presence of “evil men” and “impostors”.
If we look into the larger literary and historical contexts, we can see that the Apostle Paul was about to die and he was passing the baton of leadership to Timothy admonishing him to remain vigilant against internal and external threats such as unsound doctrine and moral decline.
Taking this background into consideration, we should ask ourselves this question: Amidst adversity, the presence of impostors, as well as internal and external threats and leadership transition, how does the man of God respond? One thing is sure. His response is always related to the word of God.
And why is that? It is because he is convinced that only the word of God can make him complete, perfect, and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The question I would like to answer in this series is this:
In what way the word of God can make a man of God perfect, complete, and thoroughly equipped for every good work?
In particular, good work here must be understood concerning “adversity” such as persecution and suffering, the presence of impostors, facing internal and external threats, and transition in leadership. In other words, a man of God is thoroughly equipped to triumph over whatever adversity comes his way, to confront and expose impostors, to distinguish the difference between sound and unsound doctrines, to walk in holiness amidst moral decline in society, and to persevere in ministerial leadership amid challenging times.
If we are to follow Elkington’s arguments that all pastors need to do is shift their paradigm of ministry from a Christendom mentality to a missional model because we are now living in a post-Christian era where Christians are the new minority, I think we will find Paul’s admonition to Timothy old fashion and inapplicable. Even if it is true that we are living in a post-Christian era, our situation today is far better than the situation of the first-century Christians when it comes to the attitude of both the civil government and the society at large. And yet despite the hostility, the apostle Paul never abandoned his call. He was even willing to die for the sake of the gospel.