the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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King James Version
2 Timothy 2:15
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
Hold your head high. Make yourself the best cowboy you can be so you will never have reason to be ashamed. Speak the truth and handle it like a loaded weapon.
Let it be your care to get the approval of God, as a workman who has no cause for shame, giving the true word in the right way.
Strive diligently to present thyself approved to God, a workman that has not to be ashamed, cutting in a straight line the word of truth.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.
Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.
Be diligent to present thyself unto God approved a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Earnestly seek to commend yourself to God as a servant who, because of his straightforward dealing with the word of truth, has no reason to feel any shame.
Studie to shewe thy selfe approued vnto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly diuiding the word of trueth.
Give diligence to present yourself approved to God, a workman unashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
Study to shewe thy selfe vnto God a laudable workman, that nedeth not to be ashamed, deuydynge the worde of trueth iustly.
endeavour to approve yourself to God, as an artist that is not afraid of reproach, by rightly explaining the word of truth.
Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.
Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Study to shewe thy silfe laudable vnto god a workman yt nedeth not to be a shamed dividynge the worde of trueth iustly
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed worker, correctly handling the word of truth.
Study to show thyself approved to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
be diligent to present thyself approved to God -- a workman irreproachable, rightly dividing the word of the truth;
Make every effort to give yourself to God as the kind of person he will approve. Be a worker who is not ashamed and who uses the true teaching in the right way.
Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.
Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
Do your best to win God's approval as a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message.
Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Studie to shewe thy selfe approued vnto God, a workeman that needeth not to be ashamed, diuiding the worde of trueth aright.
Strive to conduct yourself perfectly before God, as a soldier without reproach and one who preaches straightforwardly the word of truth.
Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.
Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision.
And be careful to establish thyself perfectly before Aloha, a workman without shame, preaching rightly the word of truth.
And study to present thyself before God, perfectly, a laborer who is not ashamed, one who correctly announceth the word of truth.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
Do your best to know that God is pleased with you. Be as a workman who has nothing to be ashamed of. Teach the words of truth in the right way.
Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Give diligence, thyself, approved, to present unto God, - a workman not to be put to shame, skillfully handling the word of truth.
Carefully study to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, a worker having no need to be ashamed, guiding the word of truth along a straight path.
Studie to shewe thy selfe approued vnto God, a workman not to be ashamed, rightlie deuidyng the worde of trueth.
Do your best to be the kind of person God will accept, and give yourself to him. Be a worker who has no reason to be ashamed of his work, one who applies the true teaching in the right way.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
Do your best to win full approval in God's sight, as a worker who is not ashamed of his work, one who correctly teaches the message of God's truth.
Bisili kepe to yyue thi silf a preued preisable werkman to God, with oute schame, riytli tretinge the word of treuthe.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Study: Hebrews 4:11, 2 Peter 1:10, 2 Peter 1:15, 2 Peter 3:14,*Gr.
approved: Acts 2:22, Romans 14:18, Romans 16:10, 2 Corinthians 5:9, 2 Corinthians 10:18, Galatians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:4
a workman: Matthew 13:52, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 6:3, 2 Corinthians 6:4, 1 Timothy 4:6, 1 Timothy 4:12-16
rightly: Matthew 13:52, Mark 4:33, Luke 12:42, John 21:15-17, Acts 20:27, 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 3:2, 2 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:14, Hebrews 5:11-14
Reciprocal: Genesis 15:10 - divided them Exodus 35:35 - the cunning Exodus 39:42 - according Psalms 78:72 - guided Malachi 2:6 - law 1 Corinthians 3:10 - as a 2 Corinthians 6:7 - the word 2 Corinthians 7:11 - approved 2 Corinthians 13:7 - approved Ephesians 1:13 - the word Philippians 2:16 - the word 2 Thessalonians 2:13 - belief 1 Timothy 4:13 - to reading Titus 1:2 - God
Cross-References
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Study to show thyself approved unto God,.... The Alexandrian copy reads, "to Christ"; see Romans 16:10. Not unto men, as pleasing them; for such who study to please men, are not the servants of Christ; and sometimes those that are approved to and by men, are disapproved of by God and Christ: but unto God, showing all fidelity and uprightness; speaking out the Gospel openly, and freely, with all sincerity, as in the sight of God; commending themselves to him, and to every man's conscience, by manifestation of the truth; and such will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant" another day.
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed; the ministry of the word is a work, and it is a good work; and those that perform it aright are worthy of honour and esteem; and it requires industry, diligence, and application, and for which no man is sufficient without the grace of God; and those who are employed in it are workmen, workers together with God, and labourers in his vineyard: and such who are faithful and diligent ones, "need not to be ashamed"; such do not cause shame, neither in themselves nor in others, as false teachers do, who foam out their own shame, and as negligent ministers of the word, and such whose lives are not agreeable to the doctrines they preach; nor have they any reason to be ashamed, neither of the Gospel, which they preach, nor of their sufferings, which they endure for the sake of it, nor of their upright ministrations of the word; and as they are not afraid to suffer shame for the sake of Christ now, they will not be ashamed before him at his coming.
rightly dividing, or "cutting"
the word of truth; that is, the Scriptures of truth, Daniel 10:21 which come from the God of truth, are concerning Christ, who is the truth, and are dictated and led into by the spirit of truth, and contain in them nothing but truth: to divide the word, is not merely to divide the text into its proper parts, though care should be taken that this be done aright; and some think that the allusion is to the verses of the Hebrew Bible, which are called פסוקים, "divisions", sections, or cuttings, from the word פסק, "to cut" or "divide", being cut or divided one from another; hence those that were employed in the law, and were conversant with the sacred writings, and exercised therein, were called פוסקים בתורת, "cutters", or "dividers of the law" e; and so בעל פסוק is one that is well versed in the Bible, and knows every part of it, and readily uses it, in speaking or writing; and such an one was Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:15 though I rather think the apostle refers to a wrong way of dividing the Scriptures by the Jews, to which he opposes the right dividing of them. They had used not only to take away a letter out of one word, and add it to another, and so expound the text, but to remove words in it, and make that which went before to go behind, and that which was behind to go before; and this they call a sharp knife, which חותך ומפסיק הכתוב, "cuts and divides the Scriptures" f: but this way, which his countrymen used, the apostle would not have Timothy, and other Gospel ministers, make use of; for this is not rightly to divide, but to mangle and tear in pieces the word of truth. Moreover, to divide the word of truth, or to cut it, is to cut it open, and dissect its several parts, and search and look into the inside and bottom of it, for to find out every truth contained in it, and lay them open to others; and may be, as some have thought, an allusion to the cutting open the sacrifices, and laying the parts of them aright, and in a decent manner: to which may be added, that since ministers of the Gospel are stewards, and who, when wise and faithful, give to everyone of the household their portion of meat in due season; the metaphor may be taken from such, and from masters and governors of families, who cut up the food, and distribute it to each, according to their age and appetite; and so the ministers of the Gospel are to distribute the spiritual food of the word to babes in Christ, and to grown Christians, according to their capacities, and suitable to their cases and circumstances, dividing to everyone what is proper for him: in short, one that divides the word of truth rightly, is, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, one that "rightly handles"; or, as the Syriac version, that "rightly preaches the word of truth"; who gives the true sense of Scripture, does not pervert and wrest it, and take from it, or add to it; who points out the truth in it, and shows unto men the way of salvation, and plainly and faithfully preaches the Gospel contained in it, without keeping back anything that is profitable, but declares the whole counsel of God. This same Greek word is used by the Septuagint in Proverbs 3:6 where it answers to the Hebrew word ישר, which signifies to direct the way, and make it plain; and may here design a plain and open interpretation of the word of God: and to answer these several characters in the text should be the studious concern of every Gospel minister; and study is necessary thereunto; it requires great care that a man take heed to himself, and to his doctrine; and great industry, diligence, and application, and much reading, meditation, and prayer.
e Vid. Fuller Miscell. Saora, l. 3. c. 16. f Halichot Olim, port. 4. c. 3. p. 192.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Study to show thyself approved unto God - Give diligence 2 Peter 2:10, or make an effort so to discharge the duties of the ministerial office as to meet the divine approbation. The object of the ministry is not to please men. Such doctrines should be preached, and such plans formed, and such a manner of life pursued, as God will approve. To do this demands study or care - for there are many temptations to the opposite course; there are many things the tendency of which is to lead a minister to seek popular favor rather than the divine approval. If any man please God, it will be as the result of deliberate intention and a careful life.
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed - A man faithfully performing his duty, so that when he looks over what he has done, he may not blush.
Rightly dividing the word of truth - The word here rendered “rightly dividing,” occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, properly, “to cut straight, to divide right;” and the allusion here may be to a steward who makes a proper distribution to each one under his care of such things as his office and their necessities require; compare the notes at Matthew 13:52. Some have supposed that there is an allusion here to the Jewish priest, cutting or dividing the sacrifice into proper parts; others, that the allusion is to the scribes dividing the law into sections; others, to a carver distributing food to the guests at a feast. Robinson (Lexicon) renders it, “rightly proceeding as to the word of truth;” that is, rightfully and skillfully teaching the word of truth. The idea seems to be, that the minister of the gospel is to make a proper distribution of that word, adapting his instructions to the circumstances and wants of his hearers, and giving to each that which will be fitted to nourish the soul for heaven.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God — Endeavour so to cultivate and improve thy heart and mind, that thou mayest not be a reproach to him from whom thou professest to receive thy commission.
Rightly dividing the word of truth. — It is generally supposed that the apostle alludes here to the care taken to divide the sacrifices under the law; the priests studied, in dividing the victim down the spine, to do it so scrupulously that one half of the spinal marrow should be found on each side the backbone. Probably nothing was much farther from the apostle's thoughts than this view, which is now commonly taken of the subject. Indeed this scrupulously dividing does not appear to have been any original ordinance among the Jews; much stress was laid upon it in later times, but from the beginning it was not so. The word ορθοτομειν signifies,
1. Simply to cut straight, or to rectify.
2. To walk in the right way; it is thus used by Gregory Nazianzen, who, in Orat. Apol. fugae, opposes ορθοτομειν to κακωςοδευειν, walking in a right way to walking in a bad way. Thus, καινοτομειν signifies to walk in a new way, and κατευθυνειν to walk in a straight way. See Kypke.
Therefore, by rightly dividing the word of truth, we are to understand his continuing in the true doctrine, and teaching that to every person; and, according to our Lord's simile, giving each his portion of meat in due season-milk to babes, strong meat to the full grown, comfort to the disconsolate, reproof to the irregular and careless; in a word, finding out the necessities of his hearers, and preaching so as to meet those necessities.
