2 Timothy 1:13-14 English Standard Version

¹³ Follow the pattern of the sound^[healthy] words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

I did not see this at first. I had to seek meaning from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. The Word was pattern. It denotes “the special or characteristic form or feature” of a person or thing; (end quote)

When I saw the word thing, memory took me back to my childhood where my mother would sew her own dresses because we were poor. She would go to the store to buy patterns for dresses that she wished to make. She would pick out the cloth at the same time.

Then she would bring them home and place the pattern on top of the cloth and smooth it out and pin it in place so that the cloth was “fixed” to the pattern. Then she would cut along the dotted line to form each piece to be fitted together and sewn to make a whole dress. She had to follow the pattern but what was missing in my memory was how she came to understand how to do the work.

She had watched her mother do it year after year and was trained up in how to do it for herself.

Picking our pattern is vital. Will it be Jesus or a person we know? What cloth will be use to pin our pattern upon? His righteous robes or the ego of someone we admire? Once we have the pattern, will we fit all the pieces together properly and bind them together in a way that makes sense?

Don’t put a pant leg where a shirt sleeve should go.

Follow the pattern of sound words, His Word.

1 Corinthians 7:7 English Standard Version (ESV) I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

The subject of 1 Corinthians 7 is marital advice from a man who is not married to a woman. He admits that the advice he is giving is from the Lord. This comment about wishing that all men were like himself sounds like he wants men to remain single. Some would argue that point to distraction.

What if Paul is really saying that he wishes that all of us should find and use our gifts in accordance with God’s will for each of us? That will take our thoughts from the issue of marriage advice but it is a point worthy of exploring.

Can we pull ourselves away from what we think long enough to hear what the Holy Spirit is telling us in any moment? There will be times in our studies that something else is at work in the Word besides just the subject matter. This is just one possible example. I will not judge you if you disagree. It is not worth arguing over.

Ephesians 4:8 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

This quote is in reference to Psalm 68:18 King James Version

¹⁸ Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

I prefer the KJV here over the ESV because it is clearer to me that the Father gave those gifts to Jesus and our access to those gifts is only through Christ. That truth should humble us. It might be worthy to note that the knowledge of this truth, that the gifts are accessible to the rebellious should warn us, that the gifts do not guarantee that we will be obedient servants.

The gifts are meant to glorify Christ, not ourselves.