The Nature of the Threat
of life. When the church's conduct contradicts its creed, the "word of God is reviled." Outsiders blaspheme. The Gospel is dismissed as hypocrisy. But when doctrine shapes conduct, the church becomes a living apologetic. The world sees a people who are not perfect, but who are different—marked by dignity, purity, love, and integrity—and they are forced to reckon with the power of the doctrine that produced such a people. Sound doctrine does not lead to monastic withdrawal from the world. It leads to missional engagement in the world, with lives that validate the message we preach.
The word of His grace builds up our conduct.
The Nature of the Threat Paul's warning is not that people will become openly hostile to religion.
The danger is far more subtle. He describes a future, and present, reality in which people will not "endure sound doctrine." The word for "endure" is anechomai , which means to hold up, to bear with, to tolerate. Sound doctrine, by its very nature, is confrontational. It corrects us,it rebukes . It instructs us in paths we would not naturally choose. It tells us we are not the center of our own lives. It declares that our hearts are deceitful and that