DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

Tuesday, December 19, 2006          Nativity Fast           Martyrs Boniface and Areos of Cilicia

Kellia: Exodus 17:8-16               Epistle: 2 Timothy 3:16-4:1                Gospel: St. Mark 10:2-12

 

Servants of Honor II ~ Serve the Truth: 2 Timothy 3:16-4:4, especially vss. 1, 2: “I charge you....Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.”  In St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy we continue receiving instruction from one of our Master’s greatest of servants, so that,   like St. Timothy and St. Paul, we too might become servants of honor for the Lord (2 Tim. 2:20).  In the present reading, the Apostle instructs us how to serve the truth: 1) We must draw Truth only from God-inspired sources.  2) We must share Truth with others strictly in an honest manner.  3) We must ever be watchful for resistance against the Truth.

Isaiah the Prophet declares, “Behold, my God is my Savior; I will trust in Him and not be afraid: for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and is become my salvation.  Draw ye therefore water with joy out of the wells of salvation” (Is. 12:2,3 LXX).  What are these wells where we may joyfully find the true waters of salvation?  St. Paul mentions two: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and....I charge you...before God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (vss. 3:16; 4:1).  Holy Scripture is one major source of truth.  Another primary source is the body of truths with which we have been charged by the Apostles.  These constitute major building blocks in the Holy Tradition of Christian truth.  Note that when St. Paul speaks here of Scripture, he is referring to the Old Testament.  Notice also that he is not hesitant to place his Apostolic teaching alongside those Scriptures, for he knew that he had received ultimate truth directly from the Lord Jesus.

All the Apostles, like St. Paul, were direct recipients of truth from Christ.  Their writings are now the leading books of Holy Scriptures, in what we call the New Testament.  Of additional importance, as St. Basil says, “Some things we have from written teaching, others we have received from the Apostolic Tradition handed down to us in a mystery, and both these things have the same force for piety.”  Bishop Kallistos Ware names and discusses these other sources of the “true water of salvation:” the definitions of the Ecumenical and other Church Councils, the writings of the Holy Fathers, the Liturgy, Canon Law, and the Icons.  And still St. Basil is correct.  Even in these, not all is written down, yet truth is retained in the life of the Church by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, it is in the Church that we find the wells of which Isaiah speaks, and to draw truth, we need to be within the Church where the true sources are to be found.

St. Paul not only teaches where we may find truth, but also he charges us to present truth to others in true ways.  In the translation he says, “Preach the word!” (vs. 4:2).  The verb he uses includes a wider range of meanings such as “impart, share, inculcate, proclaim, announce.”  The word carries an implication of ‘public’ declaration.  For those who are charged ‘in’ the Church with the ministry of preaching - as was Timothy - the word ‘preach’ is the apt translation.

Still, the Apostle’s word applies also to those of us who conduct our lives in the public arena - at work, in our neighborhoods and other associations outside the Church.  Our lives, our actions, and our words together should announce the truth of the Gospel in ways appropriate to our positions and opportunities, but by no means cast only in religious terms.  When we meet genuine interest in the Faith, or blatant falsehood, or guileless ignorance, let us, “Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching” (vs. 2), always in ways that are authentic.

Do you see how this means we must be watchful in all things against self-serving resistance to the truth (vs. 5)?  There may be in ourselves a lingering unwillingness to “endure sound doctrine” (vs. 3).  This must be fought against, as well as the preference of men in the world to live “according to their own desires” (vs. 3).  Let us watch to protect the truth we hold.

Help us, O Lord, to uphold truth by Thy truth, and to remain watchful against all error.

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