Paul's Exhortations & Instructions to Brother Timothy 2nd Letter Volume 27

Paul tells Timothy to Study and Know the Word of God Part 5

2 Timothy 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. KJV

Continuing with the statement of truth the Apostle Paul has already declared to Brother Timothy comparing the Church of our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ to a great earthly building with a foundation, walls, a roof, etc., Paul now paints a picture for Timothy and for we true believers of every era and generation of the contents within the house, i.e. chairs, tables, pots, pans, couches, beds, fridge, oven, etc. comparing them to the distinct difference of every individual believer in the House of God with these words, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor." (2 Timothy 2:20) (KJV). The House of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is His Church is a great house in actual size and in spiritual strength and in vitality and vital force drawn directly from Him to withstand the spiritual attacks of the devil and fight back with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The English word 'vessels' used here by Paul is translated by the Greek word skeuos meaning (as used here) a vessel, implement, equipment or apparatus (literally) - goods, sail, stuff, vessel; (figuratively) it means individual Christians in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The meaning of some being vessels of gold and silver and others being vessels of wood and earth is a simile, that is, a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds and in this case Paul wishes to express a two-fold meaning. The first being that like some things in a physical house are used more than others like the stove or oven or fridge or washer or dryer, yet they are of no more importance to the house owner and occupier than are the sheets or spreads or blinds or nightstand or coffee table, likewise in the House of God, the preacher is not more important than the usher or the secretary or any other believer serving a function for our Lord Jesus Christ, just as this same Apostle declared and described for the Corinthian Church when he compared Christ Church to a physical body with these words, "But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that He decided is best. A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body. That's why the eyes cannot say they don't need the hands. That's also why the head cannot say it doesn't need the feet. In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest. We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts, but we don't have to be modest about other parts. God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy. Together you are the Body of Christ. Each one of you is part of His Body." (1 Corinthians 12:18-27) (Contemporary English Version).

The second meaning is that in a physical house some furniture is discovered to not fit the interior decoration and is therefore given away or sold off, likewise in visible Christianity there are some who have twisted, torn, and tampered with the Gospel of Christ and turned it into something that it is not and these are professing vessels, yet they are false vessels who have no part in our Lord Jesus Christ at all as we declared with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the last study/commentary, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:21-23) (Modern King James Version). Paul then warns Timothy and we true believers today and of every era and generation to avoid the men and women who pervert the Gospel of Grace turning it into a means of gain or profit or rules or rituals with these words, "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." (2 Timothy 2:21) (KJV).

When Paul writes, 'If a man therefore purge himself from these', he means to remove himself from those like Hymenaeus and Philetus who have gone off on a tangent teaching and preaching things that are not truth at all and cause others faith to fail. The English word 'purge' is translated by the Greek word ekkathairō which means to cleanse thoroughly: - purge (out). In other words, we are to disconnect from those that are discovered, determined, and declared to be vessels of dishonor, so as to make the House of God clean from the old leaven and to become a new lump of clay for the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord, just as Paul told the Corinthian Church to do with the man having sex with his father's wife until he repented when he wrote this to them, "Therefore purge out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast; not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in the letter not to associate intimately with fornicators; yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then you must go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to associate intimately, if any man called a brother and is either a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one not to eat. For what is it to me to also judge those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But God judges those who are outside. Therefore put out from you the evil one." (1 Corinthians 5:7-13) (Modern King James Version).

Here is what Adam Clarke had to say concerning this verse of Scripture, "He that takes heed to his ways and to his doctrines, and walks with God, will separate himself, not only from all false doctrine, but from all wicked men, and thus be sanctified and proper to be employed by the Master in every good word and work." Note: "If we love our Lord Jesus Christ then the moment we discover some person who claims to belong to Him denegrating, diluting, or even denying parts of the Word of God, then we must remove ourselves from them entirely in order to keep clear of false teaching and false interpretation of God's Holy Word that will serve only to send men and women down a spiritual rabbit hole of which their is no returning from, just as Paul warned those in Galatia with these words, 'I marvel that you so soon are being moved away from Him who called you into the grace of Christ, to another gospel, which is not another, but some are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the Gospel of Christ.' (Galatians 1:6-7) (Modern King James Version), likewise Paul also spoke of such men who teach and preach era and of their wicked influence on others and themselves with these words written to Timothy in the very next Chapter of this second letter, 'But evil men and seducers will go forward to worse, deceiving and being deceived.' (2 Timothy 3:13) (Modern King James Version)."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…