Sound mind/discipline

[Leonardo Von]

On 10/27/2015 at 9:30 AM, Pamelasv said:

1  Timothy 1:7

 Nasb says 'For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.' 

Since I trust the nasb most, I believe this is most correct, as they all say it is, being the most literal version. It is rated #1 in that. I read both these words in Greek are different actually, but derived from the same word.  My question is, is their a correlation between the two in which saying sound mind can be used interchangeably?  

Also, fear is used instead if timidity sometimes in other versions.  Why? Timidity seems to bring on a more specific meaning than fear alone. A different result of being afraid of something specifically.  Fear of the people. Bashful.

 

On 10/27/2015 at 4:00 PM, hmbld said:

Timidity does sound a little weaker or watered down, but what is timidity in general, being afraid?

Dear brothers Hmbld and Pamelasv,

 

Grace and mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all, let's look at the whole passage:

 

·        “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;” (2Timothy 1.6,7).

 

Notice that Paul exhorts Timothy to awaken the gift that was in him. Probably Timothy, out of fear of suffering, stopped using the gift that the Lord gave him. It is on that account that Paul quotes verse seven, which is translated as follows in the following versions:

 

·        “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1.7 – KJV).

·        “For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1.7 – World English – HNV)

·        “'For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1.7 – NASB).

·        “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of  power, and of love, and of wise discretion.” (2 Timothy 1.7 – Darby version).

·        “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of sobriety.” (2 Timothy 1.7 – Douay-Rheims).

·        “For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of  sound judgement.” (2 Timothy 1.7 – WeymouthNT)

 

Let's look at the different terms used:

 

·        "Fear" -> lack of tranquility, sensation of threat.

·        "Timidity" -> characteristic that is in the weak, shy, insecure, inhibited individual.

·        "Cowardice" -> gesture which is characterized by fear, timidity and lack of courage.

 

Based on this, we can see that these three words mean the same thing. That is to say, who has these characteristics is someone who, because he does not know Jesus well, he can’t be bold (to have confidence) in confirming the truth. Such an individual does not admit to being reproved, censured, much less suffer. This is why he is always insecure, afraid of the threats he may suffer if he fails.

Timothy was being intimidated by the threats and this was making it difficult to confirm the gospel in Ephesus (where he was - 1 Timothy 1:3).

With regard to the other words, let us look at each one of them:

 

·        Self-control -> Quality or virtue of who is moderate.

·        Wise discretion -> Quality of who is wisely moderate.

·        Discipline -> action of instructing themselves.

·        Sobriety -> moderation.

·        Sound mind.

·        Sound judgment.

 

On the basis of the first four words, what we can conclude is that the Eternal gives to those who believe the quality of a person to be wise in order to be moderated in the right thing. And for this the individual needs to have a sound mind in order to make a wise judgment about where and how to engage in moderation.

That is to say, the Eternal grants to those who believe in His power and love, as well as the necessary moderation in order to be able to exercise both within themselves in a wise way, i.e., in the right measure.

In other words, Paul was showing Timothy that we should have wise equilibrium as we act in every situation:

 

·        We can’t be foolish and think that we can go around, with the love and power of the Eternal, defying everyone and everything and wanting to solve everything in brute force;

·        On the other hand, we can’t conform us to seeing the situations happening around us and remain indifferent to everything.

 

Finally, we must all evangelize based on the authority that the Eternal gives us and with a view to seeking His kingdom to be established within us (a kingdom is made up of individuals). We should not be afraid, but we can’t go around doing things by our own strength or ability.

May Jesus grant us the blessing of having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

 

[Leonardo Von]

On 10/27/2015 at 9:12 PM, Willa said:

Personally, I still benefit from checking the dictionary to get a better idea of what the word means.  

I agree with you, sister Willa, because the dictionary is a source for knowing the true meaning of the words that are used in our language. Whether we want it or not, we need the linguistic resources to understand the message that is being communicated to us.

On 10/27/2015 at 8:02 PM, Esther4:14 said:

 Understanding scripture should not require a dictionary to further understand what we are being taught unless I were the actual person given the job of translating this verse from one language to the other in most cases.  Otherwise, I don't need a dictionary.  If I have to break out a dictionary to understand each and every verse, this hinders the capacity to understand context or even listen to the Holy Spirit who speaks through his anointed word, and not through a dictionary. 

         I agree with you too, Sister Esther. We need to analyze the context in which the verse was written to understand the message that the Eternal is trying to convey to us. In fact, I encourage the use of a biblical key so that through each of the verses where each word appears, we can understand the meaning of them. It is from the union of these two tools that we will have the perfect and deep understanding of what the Eternal wants to speak to us.