Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. (II Timothy 2:14)
But
in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect, (I Peter 3:15)
He
writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His
letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to
their own destruction.
(II Peter 3:15)
This
is amusing, because Peter was known for foot-in-mouth disease and for his emotional
outbursts, and Paul, while capable of emotional outbursts, was known for his
high-brow argumentation. Yet in today’s verse, Paul warned Timothy not to quarrel
about words (which might be said to be integral to argumentation), and in I and
II Peter 3:15, Peter wrote of giving rational arguments and that Paul’s doing
so leads to brain strain. They appear to
have traded bodies for a moment or two.
What
were the words being quarreled about? Inquiring minds want to know! I’m not
asking for gossip. I consider words important and believe they should be defined
and discussed carefully. In fact, it seems useful to me to look at the word logomachein,
which is the transliterated Greek term translated “quarreling about words”
in the verse above. According to the Strong’s Concordance, it refers to disputing
with or about words in such a way that the issue is like a fire that has been
lost behind the cloud of word-smoke. Another way to describe it is that the
form of logic has become more the issue than the truth of what is claimed. They’re
minding all their Ps and Qs (formal logic terms) but they may no longer be able
to tell you what claim was made. They’re so invested in showing how well they
can argue and/or how good a job they can do of making the opponent look like a
fool or an idiot, that the meaning and matter of the question does not matter. Being correct doesn’t matter. Winning does.
Some
might prefer that Paul’s admonition simply be a command not to argue at all,
but Paul couldn’t have done much of what he did without being allowed and able
to argue. More importantly, Scripture is full of people arguing, sometimes even
about specific words (e.g. “Who is my neighbor?”). Jesus argued. So the issue
is with learning to argue in a way that has substance and which can produce an
outcome that has value beyond raising your hands in victory.
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