by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Paul was passionate about defending the original apostolic teaching that was given by the Holy Spirit. He wept about men corrupting that original teaching and passionately appealed to the elders at Ephesus to be on guard for themselves and that of others who would creep into the flock (Acts 20:28f).<\/p>\n
Paul’s last letters to Timothy urged him to be alert and careful. I wonder what Timothy did with Paul’s last two letters? As he heard that Paul, his special father in the faith, was executed for the faith he held, I would think that these words kept ringing in young Timothy’s mind through the years:<\/p>\n
“O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge – by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. <\/em>Grace be with you. Amen<\/em>“(I Timothy 6:20-21 NKJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God has committed the perfect law of liberty into our trust. It needs no improvements. It is all-sufficient. God is counting on you to guard it and use it. Don’t get sidetracked from it. God has entrusted it to you and is counting on you to protect and share the pure form of that original teaching. It is committed now to your trust. What are you doing with it?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Paul was passionate about defending the original apostolic teaching that was given by the Holy Spirit. He wept about men corrupting that original teaching and passionately appealed to the elders at Ephesus to be on guard for themselves and that of others who would creep into the flock (Acts 20:28f). Paul’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,54],"class_list":["post-95179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-obedience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-letters-to-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":0},"title":"Paul’s Letters to Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp In denominational commentaries, the apostle Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus are grouped together as \"The Pastoral Epistles.\" The term \"pastor\" is found only once in the New Testament, in Ephesians 4:11 (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASV). The word is translated as \"shepherds\" in the ESV. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-sons\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":1},"title":"Paul’s Sons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Earl Robertson via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 8, No. 6, June 2008. The relationship of Timothy and Titus to Paul as sons is spiritual, legitimate, and true -- \"legitimately born, not spurious,\" says Thayer, pg. 119. They were true sons. Paul said Timothy was \"a true child in the faith,\" showing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51921,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-last-years-of-pauls-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":2},"title":"The Last Years of Paul’s Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 2:17-30 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul had written the Roman brethren that he would like to go to Spain after seeing them - Romans 15:23-25, 28 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Things didn\u2019t go quite as Paul planned. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After going to Jerusalem, he was arrested, but he did go to Rome \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-imprisonment\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":3},"title":"Paul’s Imprisonment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 2:17-30 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We all have a tendency to make assumptions about what does not appear \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Those assumptions help us to organize what we do know \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We do this whether we are trying to determine why someone walked by without saying \u201cHi!\u201d or when we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25660,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-timothy-put-in-prison-in-rome\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":4},"title":"Why was Timothy put in prison in Rome?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was researching the web for any clues I might gain as to the author of Hebrews, when it was written, etc. and I found your web page. As you know, there are many theories. I tend to believe that it was Paul, possibly Luke \u2014 translating Paul\u2019s Hebrew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6914,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-say-he-left-titus-in-crete\/","url_meta":{"origin":95179,"position":5},"title":"Why did Paul say he left Titus in Crete?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just discovered your website after searching the Internet for \u201cPaul\u2019s letter to the Laodiceans\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Your explanation\u00a0is very interesting and has merit.\u00a0 Thank you for providing answers to so many questions that arise from time to time. Now that I think about it, I have a question:\u00a0 How do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}