I pray He crucify your heart! I pray that too. Daily crucifixion is just that...daily. I can not do it myself.
As for this whole thing concerning 2 Timothy, I wonder why you can not accept another's answer as possibly being correct. I say this because after I wrote the above and read your response to it, I THEN looked up what The Bible Knowledge Commentary had to say. Now I don't claim to be any theologian, nor do I claim to be the brightest or most spiritual guy when it comes to interpretation. Nor do I only look in the above book for extra help. What I do claim is the ability to "choose" what makes the most sense to me, spiritually speaking. You yourself admitted just recently to some sort of split or difference in your church. This shows that christians who equally love the Lord can have some serious differences. Let's not forget Paul and Barnabas' split.
With that said, this is what the Commentary says, "In a large and varied household are all sorts of containers....More importantly, some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. CLEARLY the reference so far is to the faithful and the unfaithful WITHIN THE CHURCH. (emphasis mine) ...the apostles's point is clear: Timothy was to have nothing to do with the false teachers. In this way he would be a vessel: (1)"for noble purposes"("unto honor")...What is clean and set apart for special use can easily get contaminated and be rendered unusable through contact with the corrupt. Paul was concerned that Timothy, his choicest disciple, keep himself in a usable condition for the Lord."
To make the above clear, the commentator says the vessels of dishonor are those who although christian have begun to spread false doctrine. Timothy was to stay clear from them (purge himself).
With that said, Brian, I'll say this. All of us have (unfortunately) preconceived views in regards to interpretation. None of us are perfect, nor as "open" as we may think. No matter how "open" we think we are, we are all somewhat closed and that's why you have a billion churches with a billion people thinking differently. You probably don't see how you also fit scriptures into your already preconceived view. As I mentioned, I looked at this commentary AFTER the previous posts by you and me. They just happen to see it the way I do. Maybe you're right. I don't think so. Someday we'll all really know and boy won't we be surprised how little we did here on earth. |
