Standard of Sound Words 2 Timothy 1:13 · JD McCulley · Jul 12, 2026 2 Timothy, No. 10 Holly Hills Bible Church https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/8126235572946 Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word. All right, well Courtney left us off last week with the end of lesson four. Get rid of this guy. And just a quick review. So you covered questions seven through 11 of lesson four. And just a brief reset before we jump into lesson five. Does everybody have their handout? Good to go. So Courtney covered the term not ashamed. And we have to get ourselves a little bit back into Paul's situation. And I felt like I was just going to kind of brush through this, but Paul was in a situation where he's facing execution. So he's in a dungeon. You know, we oftentimes think about Paul writing as if he were in a classroom or some kind of safe environment. But he is in a dungeon. He's in a Roman prison and he's facing something that will Near be the end of his life But what Paul is not doing is he's he's not backing down. He's not ashamed and Romans 116 He says just that he says I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God For salvation to everyone who believes And he knows what the gospel is so shame has no grip on Paul even in the midst of his circumstances and you think about We just, you know, we find ourselves in a job place, we find ourselves in a family situation, and shame is pretty easy to come across as a believer. I'm not ready to say anything, I'm not ready to talk about those things that matter most about salvation, and specifically the gospel, but it had no grip on Paul. And there was also this term, whom, not what. Paul says, I know whom I have believed. And Courtney covered that. The word there has the idea of absolute knowledge. This is not the kind of experiential knowledge that you get through life. This is the kind of knowledge that comes from a person. And that knowledge and that truth is based on the veracity or the trust of the person who gave it to you. And Paul says, I'm not ashamed and I know whom I have believed. and that I have believed is the perfect tense, right? So, past completed action with ongoing and continuing results. So, there was a point in time faith that had permanent results for Paul. It was immovable for him. It didn't matter where his circumstances, where he found himself in his circumstances. He was immovable. That's not something that we can do. That's something that the Lord Jesus provided for him, and he held it very closely, and we're gonna find that out today. We also talked about, Courtney talked about, that God is able. And there was a deposit that God gave Paul, and it had to do with his life, his entire life. And he's facing that, he's thinking about that. What has my life meant? And when you think about Paul, he's come through quite a bit, hadn't he? His ministry had changed radically, had done a 180 turn completely from where he was before, and his hope had gone from fulfilling the law to preaching this hope of Christ that was causing him to be imprisoned. And so, he says that, he uses the term, until that day. So, he had given God, God had given him a deposit of the gospel and a ministry, his life, his hope, and he gave it back to God. Until that day, and he said that, I entrust you, God, with this, to guard what you've given me." So here God is giving Paul a ministry in the truth, and he says, I give it back to you. And that's where this morning really picks up. And so can someone read 2 Timothy 1, 13, and 14? Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, and the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. So, get back in the picture, in your mind. Paul is at the end of his days, he's in prison. And what is he doing here? He's entrusting. So question number one, Let's get the difference between Timothy and Paul in our minds. What was the difference in Timothy's position and Paul's position? That's the first question. What you think about that? What's the difference? So here's Paul, an apostle. Thinking about verse 13, read it back with me. Retain, he's saying, Timothy, retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. We're gonna break that down. Wiest has it as, he says, Paul says to Timothy, beholding fast the pattern of sound words which from me personally you heard in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. I don't know how you make this appropriate in your own thinking, and before we get into a single Greek word, Paul is drawing a line between his role and Timothy's at this point in time. And this whole verse draws that line. What's the line? Beholding fast the pattern of sound words. That's what he says to him. What do you think was going on in his mind during that? One of the expositors that Mike has helped me prepare for this, which is fitting for this entire lesson. Timothy was in a position greatly different from that of Paul. What do you think that was? Paul was an apostle, and thus was in a position to receive revelation from God and pass it on. Timothy, on the other hand, was the apostle's representative. And so for Timothy, he was to pass only on what Paul had given to him. Do you think Timothy had ideas of his own that he wanted to share? Have you ever taught a younger person and wished that they'd stick to the script? They go off script a little bit. They do their own thing. Well, that's not what was happening here. Paul received direct revelation from God, didn't he? Road to Damascus, what happened there? He encountered the living Lord Jesus Christ in a way that radically changed his lives, his life. So did Timothy, could Timothy add, was Paul giving license to Timothy to add something to what Paul was giving to him? Why? Why didn't he just say, make this your own, buddy. Get out there and do it. You got this. Don't we want to hear that? I mean, we've been here, I guess, 18 years in September. I've been passed a lot of doctrine down through Holly Hills and this church. Make it your own, JD. Go for it. On Tuesday, we just started Titus. And the interesting thing about Titus is Titus was like Timothy in that they were two unique men who Paul gave instructions to, to do certain things. And they were unique in the New Testament. Titus was told by Paul, he took over the island of Crete. And he was to start churches, appoint elders, but he wasn't a pastor of any of the churches. His job was kind of, well, that's a very unique job. Well, Timothy's the same way, because Paul is telling Timothy, I've taught you the words. I've taught you what to do. Stick with that. Stick with it. And it's the same thing with Titus. Stick with it, what I taught you. Timothy's whole job is to pass on what he heard. You think that kind of struck at his pride a little bit? I don't know. Whatever the case, he was instructed not to add, not to shave off what had been taught to Paul. And there's a reason, and the verse says, which you have heard from me. And I like how Weiss tightens that up a little bit. He says, from me personally, you heard these things. You can imagine him sitting there with Timothy prior to being in prison saying, these are the words that I've received directly from the Lord Jesus. Don't shave them. Don't add to them. There's a chain of custody that we see here, right? We see God giving Paul the apostle the word Paul the Apostle handing it to Timothy as a representative, guess who gets it next? We do. The church. Hannah. I think the reason that Paul didn't listen to Timothy is because he has to go strictly by God's revelation. That's absolutely true. Yeah, that's that chain of custody that I'm talking about, that God handed it to Paul. And so Paul had to be a steward of what God had given to him, the Lord Jesus had revealed to him. And so he wanted to make sure that Timothy didn't elaborate, didn't get creative. This isn't a place for creativity when it comes to God's Word. And that's still our position today. Go ahead, Cornyn. Well, I think the flip side, too, is after 1 Timothy, where he's warning about listening to anything else, too. So it goes in kind of, listen only to what I said. After 1st Timothy, don't listen to anything else. Don't listen to anybody else. Shade your ears from them. That is contrary to what I told you. Contrary. That's a really good word. This is retaining what I told you. In 1st Timothy, it not only would retain, but don't even listen to anybody else. Contrary to what I taught. Well, don't we have folks in our lives today that have something else to add to God's Word? Maybe too. Maybe? So I think what we're seeing here is a position towards the revelation that God has given to us. We're holding fast what was once delivered to Paul, and we're handing it, he's handing it on intact to Timothy, and Timothy hands it on to the church. It's our responsibility to maintain what was intact in the word of God. We want to add to it, Be careful. We want to shave something off of it? Be very, very careful. To your point, this is the revelation that God had given Paul directly. Now, Paul was in a unique position, wasn't he? As an apostle. So, here's an uncomfortable thought. What do you do when someone says, God told me? It's funny, but What do you do with that? It could be prophetic, it could not be, you know? Who's allowed to be prophetic, scripturally? Only those that had direct contact with the Lord Jesus. Well, in the Old Testament, it was God the Father, revealing Himself through Elijah, the prophets and so forth. So, We have to ask ourselves, what allows someone to say, God told me this? What do you do with it? What's your first thought? Number one, if it's contrary to anything that's in scripture, number first, everything goes against what we have in the Word. Okay, so if, Courtney said, if it's contrary to anything that we have in the Word, why do we have to be mindful of what is contrary to anything that is said by another against what God has said? Why do we have to be so picky about that? We know the Scripture that we have is inspired by God. Okay. So it all has to be compared. That's what scripture says. But if Mike says something on the pulpit, and it sounds really good, but it doesn't line up with the scripture, what do we do with that? Stone him. Stone him. That was a little old. You need to come to Monday Night's Bible Study. We're starting a new study on Monday night with the men. It's called Under Grace. But that's a very good law-based joke. What do you do with that though? Fact check it by scripture. Okay. Does that make sense? Why do you fact check it by scripture? Why is scripture so much a part of how we... Fact implies an authority. It implies the fact that there is a final authority that can create a fact that is true of you that you can check it against. When you hear, God told me this, you might need to handle it carefully, certainly. And we're gonna find out that this is in love, truthing in love that we'll get to in a moment. This question kind of loads what most modern Christianity gets into. God revealed this to me. I saw a billboard on the way here, and I've got a premonition. I've got a thought. I've got an idea. Judy, I guess the flip side is God directing you to something, a ministry or something. That's not new revelation or new scripture. I think what we're talking about is doctrine, you know, prophetic utterances of something, not just that the Lord is directing me to a ministry in Thailand. We're going to talk about Beth and Hal. No, certainly not. You can be led of the Lord, but adding to the revelation of what God has said, and in this case what Paul told Timothy, Those are the areas where modern Christianity doesn't recognize that Timothy is the apostle's own hand-picked representative. And he was ordained by Paul himself. And even Timothy was not allowed to add to this sound doctrine. He's handpicked by Paul the Apostle, but don't add to it. Don't take away from it. I'm entrusting you with exactly as it was revealed to me. He says, which you have heard from me. And so that chain of custody was tight for him. And it doesn't loosen, that same principle doesn't loosen for us. Go ahead, Mike. You know, with the unique position that Paul was in, still you read in Acts, when he ran into the Bereans, that they would listen to him, but then they would go away and get out the scrolls that they knew of the Old Testament and they'd check them. Is this right? Yeah. And I think that's part of every believer's responsibility is to check. You know, if it doesn't quite hit you right, because you can trust that God will tell you the truth. Sometimes it's difficult when you've been raised in a, say, a legal environment, and you start to learn about grace, and it just doesn't fit with what you think is true. But I'm convinced that the indwelling spirit in every believer leads him to the truth. And if you ask him, this is what I think, is it true? So is it okay as believers, like the Bereans, to come to a place where I think a thing, I have an idea, I have a thought. Maybe I should teach others about this thought I have. Well, Paul's saying, if it's not revealed, and if you haven't heard it personally from me, at this particular point in time, they didn't have the luxury of opening up their Bibles like we do. He said, stick to what I've told you. And there's a reason there, it's that chain of custody, right? So here's the test, and it comes straight out of verse 13. Look at that. And the thought is, does the claim submit to the standard of sound words? And we have to ask ourselves those same things. Does what I, was my idea, what I might add or might think, Does it submit to the standard? We're gonna look at that word and we're gonna look at standards, sound words, et cetera. But anything that asks for scripture, anything that Timothy would think has to be checked against what Paul said and what he told him and passed on personally. Now, the scripture, we call it the canon of scripture, it's closed. And that deposit is complete. And Paul has that. He has the completed deposit. And that's the good news. It's the gospel message. So, Paul's saying this standard of the gospel cannot drift, Timothy. It cannot drift. It can't be amended. You don't get a little asterisk at the end of it. Well, I really feel like this, or I think that this. It can't be outvoted. This is the doctrine that Paul received. This is the good news that Paul received. And he says, it's settled, Paul. And Timothy, from Paul, it's settled, Timothy. I said it, that settles it. So question two, what was the standard of sound words? Go ahead, Courtney. We'll come back to it. I just want to say, there are a couple of things with this that I checked. I knew there were a couple of them in here. Some of the words are about adding to or removing. Proverbs 36 at 5, every word of God is tested. He is a shield to those who take refuge in. Do not add to his words, or he will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. The other one, which is a more severe one, is in Revelation with John. I attest to everyone who hears the words of prophecy of this book. If anyone adds them, God will add in the plagues which are written in the book. And if anyone takes away the words of the book of prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in his book." Just severe warnings of adding or subtracting to his word, the sound doctrine. So now I'm sorry. No, go ahead. Going back on what? The last question, basically. I'll wait and comment after, Mike. We had an example of this on a Wednesday night Bible study in John 15, verse 2. We talk about the vine and the branches. The New American Standard says, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. The NIV says, he cuts off every branch in me that bears not fruit. When you look up the word cut off, it really means lift up. So it's one of the tools, one of the tools that we have is, and it takes a little bit of work, if you have a question, he's talking about a branch that's in the vine, who's the Lord Jesus. He never cuts a branch off, never. So what does that word really mean? So sometimes you find that, but the NIV is a transliteration, it's not really a word for word translation. So you kind of have to be aware, boy that doesn't fit, and go to other versions or other references and see what that, just pick that word and see what it says, what it means. So let's do that. Let's do that with this verse. Mike's talking about the importance of understanding what the words say, and I think one of the things about this body is that we are very specific about the words. We get greeky-geeky for a reason. It's not just because it's fun. In fact, it's very hard for me to pronounce. Well, all of us, most of us here. But let's look at the word standard and sound words. That rolls right into question two. What was the standard of sound words that Paul was talking about here? And when you hear that word standard, what's the picture that comes to mind for you? Standard. Nobody likes a standard. Everybody wants to be able to do what they wanna do. Come up with their own ideas. That's not the case here. That word, that Greek word hypotiposis, again, it's a sketch. It's an outline. It's a pattern. It's a model. And it comes from the word tupos. And it's the idea of the impression left by a sill or a blow. And we're going to talk about what the word blow means in terms of this. But it's a pattern by which one can maintain the sameness of a thing. The notes that Mike gave me here, form or standard, is to sketch, to outline. And the noun tupos means a blow. It was used of the beat of horse's hooves. It meant the impression left by a seal. So you're sitting here hearing. You can hear the hooves of a horse on pavement or on rocks. It's a pattern. We also have the idea of an engraved mark, right, a model. So the word speaks of a pattern by which one can maintain the sameness of a thing. Think of a sill pressed into wax. You know, we've all seen Gladiator, you know, whatever, and we don't put sills in wax, but, you know, some of us have. And what is the original pattern? They call it a die, right? It's a die. And does the die change? Even if the material in which it patterns itself doesn't fully represent it, did the die ever change? Did the emblem of the authoritative standard change? That's the idea here is that the dye doesn't change. The mark is gonna be represented in multiple ways. It could be in red wax, green wax, blue wax, all kinds of different waxes down the road. But the dye never changes. And that's the standard of sound words that he's talking about here. And that's the doctrine that Timothy received from Paul and it's engraved in its original form. That's what he's entrusting Timothy with. I think the metaphor of a hoof is probably, they didn't have concrete roads in those days. The horse left an impression in the dirt. And you could follow that same horse just by following the impressions, because it was the same every time. Well, and there was impressions in the rock, too, because of the repetitiveness of that movement. But definitely the dirt leaves a more visual concept here. But I think every generation is taught, just like we are today. But we have to check our teaching to make sure that it's pressed against the sameness of the standard. And that's God's Word. That goes back to Genesis. We were created in the image of God. It wasn't that we looked like God, it was the image that he wanted man to be, that he created him to be. And that was a standard. Not a robot, but a standard. And then man was the one that strayed off his own way. And that's where all that came from. So we could say that the standard has been set, both in our having been created in the image of God, and also most accurately looked at within this verse, the standard had been set for Timothy. He's gotta keep it. That's what Paul is charging him with. Are we charged with the same thing? So going back to question two, what was the standard of sound words? It's what Paul had learned directly from the Lord Jesus and handed to Timothy, which now each generation gets an impression of. You understand what I'm saying by impression? It doesn't mean that we add to it or we shave from it. It means that it is impressed upon us just as it was Timothy. and Timothy to those believers that he was to teach. Could you say truth, since today truth has varied so much? Yeah, let's talk about truth. Because God is truth. God is truth. But I have my truth, Wayne, and you have your truth. So, I mean, how do we fact check what I think versus what you think? To Hannah's point, how do we fact check? That's worth a truth. We've got to go back to the standard. And to Mike's point, Timothy was hearing all kinds of stuff. And think about all those men and women that he was entrusted to. He was given the word directly from Paul to pass it to those people. So Timothy's not only thinking about Paul as the one that has taught him and personally shared face-to-face these words, he's thinking about, okay, how do I make this clear to those that are around me now? And question three, How strict was Timothy to maintain the exact pattern of sound words? You hear that word strict, standard, pattern. That goes against everything that the postmodern world has created for us. We live in an environment of artificial What do you mean artificial? Artificial intelligence. Okay. Instead of the standard of I am. Okay. Mike? Again, back to thinking about the John study, you know, the Lord Jesus told the disciples numerous times that he and the Father were one. And even when they said, well, show us the Father, he said, well, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. The standard. And I am the way, the truth, and the life. So when the glorified Christ appears to Paul the apostle and begins to teach him, he's getting the same impression that all the apostles got that the Lord Jesus was of the Father when he was here. And so God doesn't vary in who he is. His reality or his essence doesn't flow back and forth, it's set. And so the Lord was trying to teach them I and the Father are one, and one day you're gonna be one in us, so you'll be just like us. Pattern, the standard. And the words that Paul is teaching relate to that sameness, pattern, oneness, standard. But what was Timothy supposed to do with this? Look at that word in verse 13. Retain. What does retain mean? This is an imperative, by the way. This is a present imperative, which means it's a command to Timothy, and therefore a command to anyone who would teach what Paul had been revealed. What is retain? It's imperative, it's a command. So what does it mean? It's continuous. Retain this, Timothy. I like the way that Weiss puts it. He says, be holding fast. What does be holding fast mean? Don't let go. Hold on as tight as you can. Retain this and don't let go continuously. What does that look like in your life? You sometimes let go? You stop retaining? You stop holding fast? No, he wants a white-knuckled grip on the standard of God's Word. Donna. Well, I think it has to do, too, with continually. You know, it's not like if a question comes up, then you go to the Word, and you know that you should be considering all of it. Yeah, we do. We think of it as, when we're asked, we'll go back and grab hold. But this is a continuous action like you're saying. This is hold on to who you are in Christ as a believer. We could use the same word. This is sound doctrine. Hold on continually to the doctrine. And when we let go, what happens? We get really creative, don't we? Day after day, sermon after sermon, hold on. Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast the pattern of sound words committed to him. That is, he is to hold to the doctrinal phraseology he received from the great apostle. Particular words are to be retained and used. Why do we get so greeky geeky? Because Paul told Timothy to do that in the same way that we should do that. Hold tight. The words are very particular and specific. They're not meant to be interpreted based on my truth. He says, particular words are to be retained and used so that the doctrinal statements of the truth may remain accurate and the norm for future teachers and preachers. This is vitally connected with the doctrine of verbal inspiration, which holds that the Bible writers wrote down in God-chosen words the truth given by revelation. So the idea here of sound and sound words is to be healthy, sound, whole. And the word behind sound words is the word we get from hygiene. It's the healthful and healthbegetting, free of disease. Those are the sound words. What would be an example of taking sound words and inflicting or infecting them out of the health that they were given. Does that make sense? Because that's what this word has to do with hygiene. It's where we get that word, sound, healthy words. When we start mucking around with words, we start mucking around with doctrine and what was entrusted from God and revealed from God. We love to get creative. Analogies and our unique individual abilities to communicate are all unique. But what should never be unique is changing the words that God has said. And that's what he was telling Timothy. One of the expositors says, sound means healthful and health begetting. It refers to that which is not diseased applied to the word of God. It means free from infection of error. So the question is how strict? Down to the word. That's how strict. Down to the word, guys. If we're exposing ourselves to teaching in our Christian walk that is not strict down to the word, there's a risk of infection. There's a risk of disease. And that disease impacts your spiritual life. It could impact the ability to understand the gospel clearly. We often talk about a clear gospel. Why? Clear meaning strict to the word. It can impact your spiritual growth. Why? Well, I'm going to place you under law. I'm going to get you really busy. I'm going to shackle you to the pew. Words mean exactly what God intended them to mean, and to muck around with that is to cause infection to those that are hearing. Not only to yourself, but to those who hear. God didn't inspire ideas and leave wording to chance. This is where we get verbal inspiration. The writers wrote down the truth that God gave them and chose the specific words to give them. They're God-chosen words. Change the words and eventually you change the doctrine. Don't forget that. Please. You know where you see in contemporary Christianity where this principle is not held to. You see these guys go on television and tell everybody that you need Christ in your life. And then they give you what they call the gospel message, which is to believe on the person and work of the Lord Jesus, but then they start adding stuff to it. You gotta confess your sins, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. That's not the gospel and that's not the pure word. The whole thing about salvation is believe, that's it. What if a pharmacist did that? What if you needed an exact prescription for X issue? And the pharmacist said, eh, I see what's prescribed, but I mean, come on. Like, they probably need a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I mean, this is close enough. That could kill somebody. And that's what happens when you mess around with God's words. The same principle, sound words stay sound because the wording stays exact. We're at time here, but I wanna leave you with this thought. The word sound is a health word, it's hygiene. Healthy words produce healthy believers. And that's, it's not a matter of, I wanna stay sound because I just wanna follow God's principles. Healthy words lead to healthy believers. That's why we stay so close to the word of God and we get greeky geeky because the words matter. And these transliterations of the NIV or the message, I mean, our kids are, not our kids specifically, but many kids are reading the message or the NLV or, and you think, well, who cares? It's God's word. Well, the reason that matters is because it creates unhealthy believers. It's not the words that God gave to Paul, and Paul entrusted to Timothy in this case. Diseased words infect. You get gender neutral, you start messing with that stuff, that infects the believer. It infects their spiritual growth. And that's why strictness matters. And this is a doctrine, this is doctrine as public health for the church. Maybe one last thought, you know, I think about this too. you know, inspired by God in that. We have, and I go back to Josh McDowell, who, you know, Evidence Advances Verdict. We've seen him and talked with him. It's amazing how many, how many manuscripts are available. You'd think there's only little parts and this and that. He went over, he has hundreds and hundreds of documents, the original documents that, you know, and it's all consistent. There's no errors in it. And so going back to the original manuscripts, the Greek text and that, I think of God is sovereign. And he's allowed us to have that in the Greek text and our word today. It's come through 2,000 years. And if he wanted change, he would have changed anything. But he's allowed the canonization of this scripture, and he allowed that, and that's what he wanted in our word. I don't know, it's just kind of like people... question God's word or something like that. God is sovereign. He can make anything change, but he's retained this scripture. And there's incredible proof that Josh McDowell actually has said that it has been maintained for a thousand years without error and been copied and brought forth for a thousand years. And God has allowed that to remain true. The sound words that he gave Paul have been retained through 2,000 years. And that has just made proof that this is what God has for us. I think the follow-up to that thought, and you're exactly right, is He's done it for your health, spiritual health. He hasn't done it just to be God and you can't change anything. He's doing it because He's the Creator, you're the creature, back to Wayne's point. I need you to depend on me as the final authority. And when you do that, you remain healthy. Yeah, we may have ailments and physical health ailments, but spiritually speaking, sound doctrine was entrusted to Timothy in this case, so that those that he taught, and now in this generation, that standard is the same. It is protecting your health It keeps you from imagining how to approach what is true and what is false. Because He said it. Now, if you don't believe it, then you're going to rely on the Creator. I'm sorry, the creation, and not the Creator. You're going to trade the truth in for a lie, Romans 1, right? And it goes back to the word retain. Retain it. Hold fast. Hold fast. Don't change. And it's held for 2,000 years. That's right. Let's pray. Father how we thank you that you have entrusted in this case Paul and then Timothy as his representative to pass down these exact words in a strict manner so that we might be healthy, that we might not be infected by the thoughts and the whims and the inclinations of the world around us as wonderful as they may sound at first glance, Lord, it is your word that differentiates what is true and what is not. And so we're thankful that you've retained it, that it's been upheld through all these years so that we might look at it and be impacted. And we're also reminded that it's not just the words of the scripture. All of these words point to your son, the living word, and this is a personal thing. And we're thankful that we have an opportunity to understand what that means through walking by the power of the Holy Spirit, that that's the job of the Spirit to reveal the Son to us. And so, Lord, we pray that that would be the case as we go into the next study this morning, that your word would be revealed to us and that you would illuminate us to those words and that we might find health spiritually from you as the source, the final authority. We thank you for that. It's by grace alone. It's because you love us that you do that. It's your name we pray, amen.