Skilled in the word of righteousness (Hebrews 5:13) Part 2
Written by: Yeow Chin Kiong
To possess a “skill” is to have the ability to do something well.
Since 2 Timothy 2:15 refers to the Christian as having the desired standard of a “diligent worker” rightly “dividing” or handling God’s word, the appropriate skill a Christian should develope is the ability to ascertain from the scriptures what they say about a matter and/or to apply scripture to certain situations or conditions to determine whether they are true or false, good or evil in the Divine perspective. If maturity in handling scripture is an indicator of skill in God’s word, it can be acquired by frequent application of scripture to life’s many situations to effectively and efficiently discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Indeed, the purpose of revealed scripture is to equip the reader of it to do every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Of course, this is no guarantee that knowledge and wisdom regarding what is good and the right will necessarily result in the actual doing of the good and the right. We still have to deal with human free will not to do that which is known to be good and right, and thus to sin (James 4:17).
Simply expressed, to be “skilled” in God’s word is to be able to understand what the scriptures say about a topic or matter (the task of INTERPRETATION) and applying it to what happens in life around us (the task of APPLICATION). To illustrate, let’s look at how Christians should treat strangers, i.e. those not within the circle of our community, for example, migrants or sojourners from another country.
The Bible has much to say about the humane and caring,- if not hospitable,- treatment of non-citizens passing through national borders. God’s care for the patriarch Joseph who was actually supposed to be sold into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37 to 41) and the Moabitess Ruth who boluntarily accompanied her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Israel and how she was received by Israelites (Ruth 1-4) are clear examples worthy to be emulated by governments today in their treatment of migrants and other foreigners. Even when the Israelites were exiled by God Himself to a foreign country for their sins, He commanded them to pursue meaningful lives in that land (Jeremiah 29:1-7, 11-13), which pre-supposes that their host-nation allows them to. When things became very difficult for His chosen people in Egypt, it was by Divine intervention that they were extricated from their persecutors (Exodus 1-14).
Indeed, under Moses’ Law, the Israelites were commanded to treat non-Israelites in their midst with care and compassion precisely because the Israelites themselves were sojourners in a foreign land before their exodus therefrom: “And if a stranger deells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the lamd of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34). In a sense, the Israelites were displaced persons (Leviticus 25:23; Deuteronomy 10:19) just as Christians were (James 1:1; 1 Peter 2:11) in their journey to their eternal destination.
In our world, broken by sin, people are displaced for inhumane reasons, only to be persecuted and abused in a land not their own. Many turn to crime intentionally and others do so just to survive a hostile environment. The scriptures are clear that such displaced persons are also created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and hence worthy of being treated humanely,- all humanshaving been created equally in God’s image. Regardless of their gender, race, religion or nationality (or even if they are stateless), all of humankind are our “neighbours” by God’s definition (Luke 10:25-37) if they need our help and we can help them, scripture commands us to do so.
Should a Christian acquire earthly authority to help promulgate national laws or administer them (Romans 13:1-7), or he is,- in any way,- in a position to aid a displaced individual, his skillful handling of God’s word should instruct him to be neighbourly to such displaced persons. The scriptures also remind the Christian that if he does not do so, it will be a sin to him (James 4:17).
Of course, at the heart of being skillful in handling the word of righteousness regarding how to treat strangers is the second of the Bible’s greatest commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:28). In a world where countless “indocumented migrants” live in daily fear of deportation to a third country and separation from family members, or worse, disciples of Christ should develope the skill of interpreting and applying God’s word as regards the treatment of “migrants” and “strangers.”