When I was in high school and college, I worked with my grandfather and father building houses. Sometimes it was my task to bring them boards cut to the right length. They would give me a number for length and sometimes add instructions like “leave me the line” or “cut it straight.” That was Paul’s advice to pastor Timothy: “Cut it straight, no zigzagging.” The verb ὀρθοτομέω has a special place in the history of Lutheranism and in the hearts of confessional Lutherans. Let’s ponder and pray about what it means to be straight-cutting pastors in a zigzagging world.
14 Ταῦτα ὑπομίμνῃσκε, διαμαρτυρόμενος ἐνώπιον τοῦ κυρίου, μὴ λογομαχεῖν, ἐπʼ οὐδὲν χρήσιμον, ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων. 15 σπούδασον σεαυτὸν δόκιμον παραστῆσαι τῷ θεῷ, ἐργάτην ἀνεπαίσχυντον, ὀρθοτομοῦντα τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας. 16 τὰς δὲ βεβήλους κενοφωνίας περιΐστασο· ἐπὶ πλεῖον γὰρ προκόψουσιν ἀσεβείας, 17 καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει· ὧν ἐστιν Ὑμέναιος καὶ Φίλητος, 18 οἵτινες περὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἠστόχησαν, λέγοντες ἀνάστασιν ἤδη γεγονέναι, καὶ ἀνατρέπουσιν τήν τινων πίστιν. 19 ὁ μέντοι στερεὸς θεμέλιος τοῦ θεοῦ ἕστηκεν, ἔχων τὴν σφραγῖδα ταύτην· Ἔγνω κύριος τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ, καί· Ἀποστήτω ἀπὸ ἀδικίας πᾶς ὁ ὀνομάζων τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου.
Translation: Remind them of these things, solemnly charging them before the Lord not to fight about words, which is useful for nothing and is catastrophic for those hearing it. Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, as a worker who is unashamed, who cuts the word of truth in a straight line. Stay away from godless chatter. They will progress more and more into ungodliness; their message spreads like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have shot wide of the truth. By saying that the resurrection has already happened, they overturn the faith of some. Nevertheless God’s firm foundation continues to stand having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his” and “Let everyone who professes the name of the Lord keep away from unrighteousness.”
In this section of God’s Word, Paul puts ὀρθοτομέω in the middle, framed on both sides with various kinds of theological zigzagging. The structure looks like this:
- 14: What spiritual leaders must avoid: fighting about words, which has no value, but rather causes catastrophic results
- 15 Timothy as a true teacher laying down a straight line with God’s Word
- 16–18 False teachers characterized by profane chatter, “progress” in ungodliness, infectious disease, errant teachings about the resurrection, the overturning of the faith of some
The ABA structure pictures the good guys surrounded by the bad guys. And this was Timothy’s reality; he and the other faithful servants of the Word of God were living in the midst of all kinds of theological zigzagging, even attacks on the doctrine of the resurrection. True theology says that Christ’s people are living in the “now, but not yet.” Raised to spiritual life, Christ’s holy people deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. They are confident they will rise with glorified bodies just as surely as he has. The false teachers were saying that the spiritual rising to faith was all there was to the doctrine of the resurrection. They denied the “not yet,” thus proclaiming a hopeless, faith-destroying message that is contrary to the gospel.
In that context, Timothy’s straight cutting was vital. We consider what such straight cutting entails and where it leads (v. 19).
The verb ὀρθοτομέω is made up of ὀρθός and τέμνω, which means literally to cut straight. The verb appears twice in the LXX, both in Proverbs (3:6 and 11:5). God makes the paths of his people straight. Righteousness makes their paths straight. In both cases the object of the verb is a road or path. In Paul’s use of the word the direct object is the word of truth, and the workman is the one doing the cutting. The KJV translated it this way: “rightly dividing the word of truth.” CFW Walther used this verse as the foundation of his seminal book The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel.
The verb suggests care and precision. “Leave me the line.” Whenever Timothy used the Scriptures, which are God-breathed and useful, he was to be very careful how he taught. He needed to be aware of the theological zigzagging all around him, and he needed to combat it with the truth. The negative words in the frame around verse 15—word fighting, profane chatter, denial of the resurrection, departing from the faith and overturning it—help us understand what “cutting straight” means. When faithful pastors hold to the Word of God, preaching a message of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’s name, speaking the law in all its soul-slaying severity and the gospel in all its soul-saving splendor, teaching the whole counsel of God, watching their life and doctrine closely, and faithfully administering the sacraments, they are unashamed workmen who cut straight lines for the building up of the church.
Confessional Lutherans see the importance of such straight cutting. That is why our synod invests heavily in worker training and why her pastors prioritize personal devotions, continuing education, and theological discussions with fellow pastors.
After the ABA structure of verses 14 through 18, verse 19 shows us the ending. Faithful leaders surrounded by false teachers? That’s nothing new. It has always been that way. Timothy and the men he instructed were no different from Moses and Aaron in the book of Numbers when Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 other men rose up and pressed against them. Paul alludes to two of the things Moses said at that time: “The Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy” (Num 16:5) and “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins” (Num 16:26).
Moses and the people of Israel witnessed something amazing. The earth opened up and swallowed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and fire consumed the 250. Moses and Aaron and all who stayed away from the unrighteous were spared. They remained standing on solid ground.
Because we are surrounded by a lot of theological zigzagging, we might long for the good old days of Numbers 16. Timothy, too, might have appreciated seeing all the false teachers swallowed down into the belly of the earth or scorched by fire from above.
God’s New Testament church needs to be patient. What happened in Numbers 16 has profound meaning for all who profess the name of the Lord and stay away from unrighteousness today. The day is coming—the Judgment Day that the false teachers were denying—when all God’s enemies will be swallowed up forever and sent to the fires of hell.
Especially when surrounded by many false teachers, the true church needs to remember the seal God has inscribed on all who profess the name of the Lord. They are his. He knows them. They know him. They avoid unrighteousness (false doctrine and sinful living). Our standing doesn’t depend on how straight our cuts are, but on whose we are. God has placed a firm foundation beneath his church.
Epilogue: Actually, the good old days of Numbers were short-lived. Even after the power encounter of a rebel-swallowing earth and a fire-breathing sky, the people complained against Moses and Aaron. Life for the leaders of the Lord’s people returned to its cross-bearing normal.
But the day is coming—Lord, quickly come!—when all unrighteousness will be destroyed. In the meantime, dear brothers, be diligent to present yourselves to God as workmen unashamed, who cut a straight line with his word of truth and who serve as his humble instruments for building his church on its rock-solid foundation.
Prayer: “Lord, keep us steadfast in your word; curb those who by deceit or sword would seek to overthrow your Son and to destroy what he has done” (CW 862:1). Amen.