With Faith and Love

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Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:13–14 (NIV)

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Devotion:

Paul wrote these words from a Roman prison, near the end of his life. Many had deserted him (v. 15). Soon he would be gone, and Timothy would carry on without his spiritual father. So, Paul tells him what matters most: keep the truth, and keep it rightly.

The word "pattern" suggests an architect's outline or an artist's sketch. Paul had given Timothy more than scattered opinions. He had given him a coherent body of sound teaching, healthy doctrine that nourishes the soul. Timothy was not to improve on it or trade it for something more fashionable. He was to hold it fast.

But notice how he was to hold it: "with faith and love in Christ Jesus." Paul knew that orthodoxy can be held in the wrong way. A man can defend the truth with a cold heart and a sharp tongue, winning arguments while losing people. Faith keeps doctrine from becoming mere information, because we hold it as people who trust the Christ it proclaims. Love keeps doctrine from becoming a weapon, because we hold it for the good of our neighbor and the glory of God.

Both faith and love are "in Christ Jesus." We do not manufacture these virtues; they flow from our union with Him. The same Savior who is the substance of sound teaching is the source of the grace to hold it well.

Paul then calls this truth a "good deposit." It does not belong to Timothy, or to us. The church has been entrusted with it and handed it down from the apostles, and each generation must guard it and pass it on. We cannot do this alone. We guard it "with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us."

Our congregations have received a rich inheritance of truth. May we prize it, defend it, and teach it to our children. And may those who hear us find in our doctrine not only clarity, but the warmth of Christ.

Prayer

Faithful God, we thank You for the good deposit of Your truth, preserved and handed down to us. Keep us from drifting from sound teaching, and keep us from holding it with proud or loveless hearts. By Your indwelling Spirit, help us guard the gospel faithfully, live it humbly, and pass it on to the next generation. Fill us with faith and love in Christ Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.

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