Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. (2 Timothy 2:22-23)

Earlier in verse 14, Paul writes, “Warn them before God against quarreling about words,” and now he writes in verse 23, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.” Placed in this context, the “evil desires” in verse 22, also translated “lusts” and “passions,” refer not only, or even mainly, to such things as sexual urges and materialistic ambitions, but to a sinful propensity to indulge in false doctrines, including an inordinate desire to investigate them and to argue about them. The sin is often legitimized by being called “apologetics,” and the entire lives and ministries of many Christians revolve around this. They are more familiar with the secrets of Satan than the mysteries of God. They think they are doing God’s work, but they are kept where Satan wants them. If he cannot make them abandon the truth, then at least he can lead them to become obsessed with error. In the extreme, the effect is almost the same.

We are to confront false doctrines, but we are not to be taken up by them and to become obsessed with them. Satan has capture the attention of entire armies of promising Christians by stirring up their “evil desires,” so that they confuse self-righteousness and vainglory with the satisfaction of genuine Christian service and the preaching of the gospel. The positive effect that they have for the cause of Christ is sometimes practically nil. But watch out! If you tell them that, they will turn and do some of their “apologetics” on you!

Timothy is cautioned against this, and some of those commentators who called him timid now calls him contentious. If the apostle writes about courage, then it must mean that the reader is a coward. If the apostle warns against foolish controversies, then it must mean that the reader is entangled in them. Since the apostle offers so many positive exhortations in the letter, Timothy must have been a terrible person, unfit to live. We have already considered this absurd but strangely popular principle of biblical interpretation.

Sometimes a disagreement is foolish because it is a matter of semantics. We often hear that something is “just a matter of semantics.” If the disagreement revolves around the use of a word – that is, the sound or symbol – apart from the meaning, then it is indeed “just a matter of semantics,” and relatively trivial. It is most likely not worth an intense and prolonged battle over something like this. On the other hand, often when people say that something is just a matter of semantics, the intent is to remain vague, to avoid confrontation, or they are too dull to perceive a real distinction in meaning. In such cases, whether something is worth pursuing depends on the substance of the disagreement, since there is indeed a disagreement in substance, and not only in the sounds and symbols used.

Sometimes a disagreement is foolish not because it is a matter of semantics, but because the substance of the matter is trivial, strange, unproductive, and poses a distraction to the saving message of the gospel. Endless debate over the matter is sometimes possible, and to some people, desirable. An ambassador of the gospel with a sense of mission and who speaks with authority will approach the situation differently compared to a wannabe who is trying to make a name for himself by screaming bloody murder over everyone and everything. Since many Christians harbor an unhealthy interest in controversies, he might gain a good following if he screams loud and long enough. It is a shortcut around true devotion to Christ and love for people. A good minister of Jesus Christ knows better than to engage in prolonged battles over either trivial or settled matters with incompetent and unimportant people.

Just as there is a time to “shake the dust off your feet” and move on, there comes a time when you should leave a controversy unsettled, and your opponent angry and dissatisfied, and move on. Beware of Satan’s devices. Do not let false teachers control the program of ministry. If they can keep you in a narrow and foolish debate, they will. They enjoy it. This is what they do. They do not perform any real ministry. They have been taken captive by the devil, and they are wasting their lives in unproductive conflicts, and now they are trying to take you down with them. Do not let that happen. This is very different from the advice to stop all debates and “just preach the gospel.” No, the preaching of the gospel will entail conflicts and debates. You must take a stance and state your reasons, and provide basic refutations to objections and to false doctrines. But you must avoid being sucked into controversies so that you have little time to do anything else. It is a trap of the devil.