"ScriptureInterpretation" Tagged Sermons
The ‘enemies of the cross of Christ’ in 3:18 are located specifically inside the church, this sermon insists, more than merely among outside opponents. A ‘method of application’ approach to the Bible is set against a truer, event-driven one, the same contrast this series has drawn before. What actually marks the dogs and enemies, in every case, is earthlymindedness, more than doctrinal error alone.
‘Wrangling over words’ in 2:14 gets both a right and a wrong reading here, the wrong one used, this sermon points out pointedly, even by the OPC’s own General Assembly to shut down real doctrinal contention. Paul’s actual charge to Timothy is to contend for the true gospel rather than avoid all theological dispute. Avoiding necessary contention, on this reading, is its own kind of disobedience to the text.
Hebrews 5:11 through 6:12 follows a deliberate three-part structure: sarcasm first, then warning, then encouragement, a shape easy to miss when the passage’s famous warning gets isolated from its context. God uses sarcasm throughout Scripture specifically to jostle the proud out of their complacency. Warning and encouragement, held together here, are not actually in tension.