Gospel of John [17:17-18]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 29. 2Ti 2; Passages of the

Title: Gospel of John [17:17-18]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 29. 2Ti 2; Passages of the "gospel."

 

 

JOH 17:17-18

"Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

 

The baptism of the Spirit has qualified the believer to live sanctified in the truth. He is disqualified from living under the cosmic system.

 

We are currently studying 2Ti 2 as a depiction of practical sanctification in the truth.

 

2TI 2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel,

 

2TI 2:9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.

 

2TI 2:10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

 

The importance of the word of God to the worker for the gospel cannot be emphasized enough. Without its sanctifying power the witness is severely hindered and ineffective as an ambassador for Christ. So we began to look at passages where Paul emphasizes this point. We have 14 passages and have completed 10.

 

11)

COL 1:21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds [as unbelievers],

 

COL 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach — 

 

COL 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

 

First class conditions are difficult to express in English.

In the gospel the witness has a steadfast hope. "if and you are fully abiding in the faith [first class condition]," i.e. you are a believer and not a unbelieving false witness.

 

"Continue" is epimeno, which means to fully abide. Believers fully abide in the faith, they cannot undo what the Spirit has done at the moment of salvation when He baptized them into union with Christ. All believers are fully established as opposed to the unsaved in Colossae who were teaching heresy.

 

A believer cannot lose his salvation. A believer cannot un-believe his faith in Christ, no matter what he says. All believers are established on the foundation of the gospel forever through the finished work of Christ which completes each believer as justified.

 

COL 2:9 For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

 

COL 2:10 and in Him you have been made complete

 

Every believer has an established and steadfast hope. He can be deceived into doubting it and even rejecting it, but this in no way undoes what God has done in him. He will fail to be a witness but he has eternal life and resurrection glory. At salvation we are all baptized by God the Holy Spirit and entered into union with Christ and this cannot be reversed. Sanctification in the word of God will make this blessed hope a living, breathing reality in the saint.

 

12)

1TH 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;

 

1TH 1:3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father,

 

1TH 1:4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;

 

1TH 1:5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

 

The gospel is more than just words, it is power through the Holy Spirit.

 

13)

1TH 2:1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain,

 

1TH 2:2 but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi [beaten with rods and jailed; Act 16: 11-40], as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.

 

1TH 2:3 For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit;

 

1TH 2:4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts.

 

1TH 2:5 For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed —  God is witness — 

 

1TH 2:6 nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.

 

1TH 2:7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.

 

1TH 2:8 Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

 

1TH 2:9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

 

1TH 2:10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers;

 

1TH 2:11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children,

 

1TH 2:12 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

 

The power is in the content of the true gospel and the Holy Spirit and not in eloquent speech. The witness who loves God desires to please Him as a gentle and virtuous ambassador.

 

14)

2TI 1:6 And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

 

The present infinitive of "kindle afresh" is really "keep blazing" [Robertson]. It does not suggest that Timothy's zeal had grown cold.

 

The gift of God given to the Timothy is the gift of PT, but each believer is given a spiritual gift for the common good of the body of Christ and that gift is kept blazing or is constantly stirred up by means of sanctification in the truth. We must be constantly being set apart unto the truth as those who are faithful, not quitting, tenacious; not sinless, but faithful to the sanctification power of the word of God through the Holy Spirit.

 

2TI 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

 

2TI 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

 

"do not be ashamed" - aorist subjunctive with the negative, which forbids the doing of an act not yet begun.

 

If Timothy was ashamed of the gospel Paul would have used a present imperative which would forbid the continuance of an action already going on.

 

This was the point of the first reference.

 

ROM 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

 

The mockery of the world attempts to shame the witness of the gospel.

 

The ability to join in with another in suffering for the gospel is the power of God, the word and Spirit - sanctification in the truth.

 

2TI 1:9 who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

 

Paul's argument is that since God saved us and called us at a definite point of time, that should strengthen our faith in the continuance in the future of His gifts of power to us.

 

The call of God here is, of course, that effectual call into salvation in which the sinner called, willingly accepts the salvation God offers him. This calling guarantees the qualification, ability, and opportunity to live as one who is holy or sanctified. Yet neither salvation or holy living would be by man's works, but by God's grace - all that God freely gives to the believer. This policy of grace was decreed by God from all eternity as angelic and human history were planned.