(Caut un suflet binevoitor care să traducă aceste câteva paragrafe. Mulțumesc anticipat).

In the second epistle Paul reminded Timothy that his duty was to keep the gift of God in him fresh and useful. To not be timid but powerful. To never be ashamed of Christ or anyone who serves Him. To hold tightly to the truth and guard it. To be strong in character, reproduce himself in faithful men, suffer difficulty and persecution willingly while making the maximum effort for Christ. Keep his eyes on Christ on all time. Lead with authority.

Interpret and apply the Scripture accurately. Avoid useless conversation that leads only to ungodliness. He must be an instrument of honor set apart from sin and useful to the Lord. He must flee youthful lusts, pursue righteousness, faith and love. Refuse to be drawn into philosophical and theological wrangling. He must not be an arguer but kind, teachable, gentle and patient even when he’s wronged. He must face dangerous times with a deep knowledge of the Word of God.

He must understand that the key to his own maturity and that of his people was the Scripture. He must preach the Word in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with great patience and instruction. He must know the priorities for all of life, endure hardship and do the work of an evangelist.

In all of those statements you have summed up the nature of ministry. Nothing hints at a market-driven philosophy. In fact, some of those commands are absolutely impossible to harmonize with the theories that are so popular today. To sum it all up in five categories: one, Paul commanded Timothy to be faithful in his preaching; two, to be bold in exposing and refuting error; three, to be an example of godliness; four, to be diligent and work hard, and five, to be willing to suffer hardship and persecution.

If you were to take the time, and you don’t need to do it, but if you were to read a dozen or so of the latest books on ministry and church growth, you would search long and hard to find anything in them from these two letters. In the reading of a dozen or so of the latest books, there was no reference to the instruction of Paul given to Timothy in any one of them anywhere. In fact, none of them drew any element of their ministry philosophy from the New Testament pastoral epistles.

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