Gospel of John [17:17-18]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 36. 2Ti 2; Practical Sanctification.Title: Gospel of John [17:17-18]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 36. 2Ti 2; Practical Sanctification.
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands [perfect tense: stands forever], having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness."
It is most likely that Paul is referring to the Church, 1Ti 3:14-15, when he states that the firm foundation of God stands. All the attacks, all the false doctrines, all the worldly and evil chatter will destroy individuals who reject the truth but they will not ever destroy the Church, the body and bride of Christ.
The seal: Security and Purity.
The Lord knows those who are His = security of our position in Him.
Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness = the right of every believer to be sanctified by means of the truth and God the Holy Spirit.
Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Looking at the seal in this way should give further understanding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying the believer experientially.
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Every believer will be resurrected on that day whether they constantly grieved the Spirit or not, but if we look at both aspects of the seal, we see that it is that security but also the right and qualification to live in purity, which can only be accomplished by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the believer's life. A life of grieving the Holy Spirit would deny the second part of the seal.
[From Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, by F.F. Bruce] When Paul stated, "Wretched man that I am!" (Rom 7:24) it was not an abstract argument but the echo of the personal experience of an anguished soul. We can readily believe that a man of Paul's imperious zeal found it no easy matter to win the victory over a hasty tongue, a premature judgment, a resentment at the encroachment of others on the sphere of his own service. These things were not specifically forbidden by the Law; it was the standard of Christ that their sinfulness was revealed to Paul. He can entreat his friends "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2Co 10:1), but these qualities did not come naturally. The man who knew the importance of self-discipline, "lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified " (1Co 9:27), the man who pressed on to gain "the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Php 3:14), knew that the "immortal garland" was to be run for not without dust and heat. But the victory that eluded him who sought it under the law or by his own strength was quickly won when he learned to rely on the aid of the Spirit. [end quote]
2Ti 2:20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
In verse 19 Paul is referring to the true Church comprised of believers. Yet in verses 20-21 he is referring to the visible organized church or professing church, which is made up of saved and unsaved.
This in fact is one of the mysteries of the church revealed in our Lord's parables in Mat 13.
Mat 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;
Mat 13:32 and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
The birds are the agents of the evil one, Mar 4:3; Luk 8:5.
In Mar 4:3 and Luk 8:5 it was the birds that gobbled up the seeds that fell beside the road in the parable of the sower and in Mat 13:19 these same eaters of the seeds are revealed by our Lord as the evil one. The mystery of the church is that it would start small and get huge and these same birds, motivated by the evil one, not saved and with ulterior worldly or fleshly motives would hide themselves in the branches. In 2Ti 2 the analogy turns from a large tree to a large house in which there are vessels that are saved and vessels that are unsaved.
This is further depicted by our Lord in the parable of the dragnet.
Matt 13:47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;
Mat 13:48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.
Mat 13:49 "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous,
Mat 13:50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[hold your place in Matthew]
2Ti 2:20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
Gold and silver vessels refer to believers and wood and earthenware vessels refer to unbeliever who gets involved in the church.
One must remember that we cannot really tell if someone who professes to be of Christ is in fact not. Yet what is coming in the next verse implies that we can see something that we should separate from or be sanctified from in the truth. What we can see is their fruit. The Lord stated that we will know them by their fruit. Bad fruit comes from bad trees and good fruit from good trees. The bad fruit may come from and unbeliever or a believer who is reversionistic and acting like an unbeliever. It doesn't matter that we cannot always discern the difference, what matters is that we should separate ourselves from vessels of dishonor.
Mat 7:15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Mat 7:16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?
Mat 7:17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Mat 7:18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
Mat 7:19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mat 7:20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits.
2Pe 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2Pe 2:2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
2Pe 2:3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
2Pe 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
2Pe 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2Pe 2:6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter;
2Pe 2:7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
2Pe 2:8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds),
2Pe 2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
God provides His word and His Spirit within us and the way of escape through applying His word so that we are rescued. Yet, what was the difference between Lot and his wife? She was given the same word, the same warning, and the same way of escape by means of two warring angels and she looked back for she loved Sodom more than God's way.
2Pe 2:10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,
2Pe 2:11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
2Pe 2:12 But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
2Pe 2:13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,
2Pe 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;
2Pe 2:15 forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
2Pe 2:16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression; for a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
2Pe 2:18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
2Pe 2:19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
Confusion arises from this verse if we think these are actual believers, but they are not. They escaped the defilements of the world by nesting in the branches of the Church and the knowledge they have gained about Jesus Christ. But it is not knowledge of Him that saves a man but faith in Him as Savior. They are unbelievers who are sheltering themselves in the professing church. This escape is temporary, as are all human solutions and they again return to the defilements of the world, and for this they are worse off than they once were, for they have heard the truth and fully rejected it. If a person rejects the truth he has to claim to himself that it is a lie and that Jesus Christ is a lie.
2Pe 2:21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them [to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ].
2Pe 2:22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."
He is a dog and a sow but he has not become a sheep with a Great Shepherd.
[back to] 2Ti 2:20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
"honor" - timh,[time] = the value of a gold or silver vessel that is useful to the Master. "dishonor" - avtimia,= dishonor, lowness, disgrace. The value of wood or earthenware vessel that is not useful is low. For example, wood vessels cannot be fired, which the Bible often uses as a picture of being testable as opposed to being disqualified or not testable.
2Ti 2:21 Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
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