By John Fast
“And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the
prize unless he competes according to the rules.” – 2 Tm 2:5
The list of athletes who have been stripped of their awards and titles continues to multiply. The revelation that at some time and in some way an athlete has violated the rules has led to their disgrace, shame, and disqualification. All their hard work is nullified. Their achievements are tainted and devalued, and their reputation and character is blackened. Whether their violation of the rules was intentional or not is irrelevant. They broke the rules and so forfeit their prize.
When Paul wrote the letter we have come to know as 2 Timothy he knew his days on earth were numbered (2 Tm 4:6). Not only was he a condemned man, but he was an abandoned man – “all who are in Asia turned away from me” (2 Tm 1:15; 4:16). It had become shameful and risky to identify with Paul and his teaching (1:8).
The times of Roman accommodation to Christianity are now over (Ac 18:14, 15). The days of being “held in high esteem” by the people are through (Ac 5:13). The novelty and excitement of being in on something new has worn off. True Christianity is no longer safe and respectable, but rather seen as a threat to the state, to established religion, and to the stability of society. Nero is Caesar and over half of Rome has burned. Christians have become the scapegoat, making them persona non grata within the Roman Empire. Hostility to the truths of Scripture is now state sponsored, and those who hold to those truths have become easy targets for mistreatment and persecution by the enemies of Christianity. Their marginalized status makes it fashionable to stigmatize their life and message as bazaar, intolerant and intolerable, out of step with the mainstream, and even “unchristian”. Yet in spite of this growing opposition and hostility, those who opposed them were, as the author of The Epistle to Diognetus wrote (c.130 A.D.), “unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”
It is under these circumstances which Paul wrote his letter of encouragement to Timothy. Paul does not, as did Israel’s false teachers (Jer 23:16, 17), try to reassure Timothy with false hopes that things are not all that bad. He does not suggest watering down or editing the demands of the Gospel to avoid opposition and rejection. He does not tell Timothy to find some common ground with unbelievers in order to disarm their natural hostility to God’s word (Rm 8:7; Col 1:21). Paul does not encourage Timothy to adopt a spirit of compromise with the culture. He does not urge Timothy to launch a political campaign to protect their “Christian rights” or restore some semblance of morality. In other words, Paul’s encouragement to Timothy consists of nothing that we would consider encouragements. Rather, Paul encourages Timothy to “join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God” ( 2 Tm 1:8; 2:3). To do this Timothy must “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tm 2:1).
Paul bolsters his appeal for Timothy to suffer with him by means of three analogies, that of a soldier (2:3, 4), an athlete (2:5), and a farmer (2:6). Pleasing God is contingent upon not becoming so entangled with the world that it hinders your ability to serve God wholeheartedly. For the athlete, winning the prize is conditioned upon competing according to the rules. The farmer’s reward is contingent on his being hard-working. The common thread in all these analogies is the principle that the Christian life and true Christianity is always accompanied with hardship, suffering, and self-denial. Without this hardship it is impossible to “please the one who enlisted him” (v.6), to “win the prize” (v.5), or “to receive his share” (v.6). In his second analogy, that of an athlete, Paul states that winning the prize is contingent upon competing “according to the rules”.
Paul’s statement expresses in the clearest terms that the Christian life involves adhering to certain predetermined rules or laws. There are two ways to think of a law. The first is a statute which requires or prohibits something, such as the Ten Commandments. The second is that of a principle or rule, like The Law of Gravity. One of these rules or principles is that hardship, suffering, and self-denial are inseparable from true Christianity. Jesus established this rule when He declared “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mk 8:34), and again in Mark 10:29, 30 where the blessings of following Christ are also accompanied “with persecutions”. Paul reiterated this principle to Timothy, “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tm 3:12).
Yes, the Christian life is attended with many rules, and it is precisely at this point where the shoe pinches for most people – they do not like the rules established by God. They balk at His rules, His demands, and His terms. Like the Israelites they protest that “The way of the Lord is not right” (Ezk 18:25, 29). His way is too narrow, His terms are too harsh, His rules are unfair, and His government is too despotic. In their hearts they say, “We do not want this man to reign over us” (Lk 19:14). They consider it a tyranny, not a privilege, to be ruled by Jesus Christ (Ps 2:1-3; Jude 4).
So, most people reject God’s rules and make up their own. They invent their own brand of Christianity; one that exempts itself from the rules and terms established by God; one that involves little or no hardship and self-denial. They redefine biblical attributes – attributes such as love, faith, and grace – to match their brand of Christianity. Love becomes a toleration, acceptance, and even celebration of sin, evil, perversion, and false teaching; faith is merely a persuasion, profession, or feeling; and grace is a cloak for sin and error and a license to indulge the flesh.
In fact, most deny the existence of any rules for the Christian life except the ones they themselves have created, the primary one being that there are no rules. They have even coined terms for this rule – Free Grace; Carnal Christian; Wide Mercy, Non-Lordship, etc. They are all different versions of attempts to reject God’s rules and establish their own.
Some may acknowledge the existence of certain rules as long as those rules seem to be in their favor, but as soon as one of God’s principles goes against them, then that rule is immediately discarded, explained away, or manipulated to make it more favorable to their own beliefs and practices. When people do not like God’s rules concerning His ordained roles for men and women, for marriage, for holiness and obedience, for parenting and discipleship of your children, for His worship, for who is and is not a Christian, they simply change the rules.
True Christianity, true faith is not the byproduct of a prayer or a decision prompted by emotional manipulation and peer pressure. It is not the result of a fear of dying and going to hell. It is not being persuaded to an opinion or a mere rational assent to biblical truths. It is not the habit and result of being raised where Christianity is dominant, respectable, and expected. It is not the byproduct of a religious ritual or ceremony. It is not the result of human wisdom and investigation. It is not convincing someone of the superiority of your beliefs by dismantling theirs. True faith is a gift of God and the product of a new birth.
No one can know, love, trust, obey, or serve God unless they first are renewed in the spirit of their mind (Rm 12:2). Until this change occurs they will not be able to have an accurate and true conception of what it means to be a Christian. It is much easier to make up our own rules, to redefine the terms, to reform the life, than to have a corrupt heart changed. No amount of religious works, rituals, or ceremonies, no amount of self-effort will bring about this change. This is one of God’s rules which most do not like. Without God first working this change in the heart, the most sound and orthodox teachings can never have their proper influence on us. The Gospel is a salvation given only to those who are ready to perish (Lk 18:13, 14). It is not designed to put people in a position to save themselves on their own terms.
This penchant for establishing our own rules is why the word “Christian” has today been reduced to an adjective, a brand, a political constituency, and a category, instead of a life, and as a result it has lost all its meaning. Today we have “Christian” books, “Christian” movies; “Christian” music; “Christian” fiction; “Christian” romance; “Christian” comedy; “Christian” websites; “Christian” businesses; “Christian” dating services; “Christian” theme parks; supposedly we live in a “Christian” nation – virtually anything or anyone can become “Christian” by merely affixing the word “Christian” as an adjective, thereby washing all meaning out of the word.
Many people today are lamenting the fact that America is now a spiritual and moral wasteland. But what most fail to realize is that the post-Christian wasteland in which we now live is the product of a post-Christian mind. Culture is the expression of religion. The life and culture of a people cannot be separated from what they believe. What we are experiencing today is the manifestation of the dominant religious beliefs – beliefs that have rejected God’s rules and substituted their own. People are simply living out what they believe, and what they believe above all else is that their rules trump God’s rules. For at least three generations most people’s thinking and the thinking of their children has been shaped into the image of Freud, Darwin, and the various forms of relativism rather than into the image of Jesus Christ.
Error can never produce the effects of truth under any circumstances. All ignorance or error of revealed truth will always be accompanied by a corresponding defect in the beliefs and practices. Therefore, nothing is more important than distinguishing between true and false beliefs and practices, and there is no other test than the infallible word of God. All must be judged by this rule, not by our opinion or the opinion of others, not by our feelings, not by any apparent success, not by its popularity, and not by what seems right to us. Just like an athlete must adhere to the established rules or forfeit their prize, so we must compete according to the rules established by God or we will be disqualified from receiving the reward.
But just like many athletes, most people believe they can break the rules and not get caught. They are constantly looking for ways to subvert the rules, but God declares, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God’ ?” (Is 40:27; 29:15). They think they can climb into heaven another way than the one established by God. Those of whom Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:21-23 discovered their error too late.
Sadly, most of professing Christendom today is busily occupied with creating and following its own rules and pursuing its own agenda. It is so entangled with the world and its “desire for other things” that the Word has been choked out and it has become unfruitful (Mk 4:19). They think the road which leads to heaven is easy and broad enough to accommodate the entire world to march in arm in arm, and involves little or no effort and self-denial on their part. If anyone should be so intolerant as to test someone’s beliefs and practices with God’s rules they are immediately dismissed as unloving, judgmental, and mean-spirited. It is no exaggeration to apply the words of Isaiah to the overwhelming majority of professing Christendom today, “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction (i.e. “the torah, the law, the rules) of the Lord; who say to the seers. ‘You must not see visions’; and to the prophets, ‘You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’ “ (Is 30:9-11; cf. 2 Tim 4:3, 4).
A person’s thinking themselves right will not provide a sanction for all they do under that persuasion, especially when God has laid down such clear and explicit rules to guide and govern us. God’s rules are foolishness to the natural man, therefore he/she refuses to accept them (1 Cor 2:14), and instead they invent their own, “teaching as doctrines the precepts of man” (Mt 15:9). It is one thing to read and search the Bible to find justifications for your beliefs and practices, and another to read and search to know whether they are defensible or not.
It takes great effort, hardship, suffering, and self-denial to crucify the flesh with its lusts and desires. It is hard to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It is difficult to keep Jesus as the supreme object of your love and devotion. You must work to show the reality of your faith (Jm 2:18-20). “Not my will, but Thy will be done” is easy to say, but hard to live. It requires great self-denial to surrender our interests to His interests. It is easy to think we are denying self, and another to know we are, and not just denying one lust in order to gratify another equally as selfish. To teach, preach, and live God’s rules, His principles, and His Gospel will invite much hostility, opposition, and hardship, especially from a culture and professing Christendom that hates God’s rules and insists on making up their own. It will involve being marginalized and stigmatized by most as irrelevant, intolerant, arrogant, uncharitable, bigoted, mean-spirited, and a threat to their rules. God’s rules are always in opposition to man’s rules.
If the Apostle Paul found it necessary to “buffet my body and make it my slave”(1 Cor 9:24-27) to prevent his own disqualification, how much more do we. This is why it is necessary to appropriate daily fresh supplies of “the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tm 2:1). The way we will endure and persevere in suffering for the Gospel is if we suffer “according to the power of God” (2 Tm 1:8). “Let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Pt 4:19). What is right? Competing according to His rules. All other ways risk disqualification and forfeiture of the prize, and what will it profit you if you gain the whole world, but forfeit your soul (Mk 8:36).