Sound Words
build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." The phrase "the word of his grace" is a rich description of doctrine. All true doctrine is a word of grace because it communicates what
God has freely done for sinners who deserve only judgment.
Grace is not merely a doctrine among others; it is the atmosphere of all biblical doctrine. From the promise in Genesis 3:15 to the final consummation in Revelation, Scripture unfolds the narrative of a gracious
God redeeming an undeserving people. The law was given to reveal sin, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Therefore, doctrine that is not saturated with grace ceases to be Christian doctrine. It may be theistic, it may be moralistic, but it is not evangelical in the true sense of the word.
Sound Words Paul exhorted Timothy to "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy
1:13). The "sound words" are the specific verbal expressions of the apostolic gospel. Paul was concerned not only with general concepts but with the precise terminology in which truth is conveyed. The "form" or
pattern of sound words suggests there is a recognizable shape to Christian orthodoxy. It is not infinitely plastic.
This is why the church has historically formulated creeds and confessions.
Not because creeds are above Scripture, but because sound words serve to guard the uncorruptness of doctrine in each generation. The terms Trinity, incarnation, justification, and regeneration may not appear verbatim in Scripture, but they are sound words that faithfully summarize what
Scripture teaches. They function as doctrinal guardrails. To abandon sound words is to eventually abandon sound doctrine, because words are the vehicles of meaning.
The words of His grace are also words that build up. They edify. The term used in Acts 20:32 means to build a house. Doctrine is constructive. It takes the raw materials of repentant sinners and builds them into a holy temple for the Lord's dwelling. Where the word of God's grace is faithfully taught, believers are built up in their faith, their love, their hope, and their stability.
They become a spiritual house, a royal priesthood. Where it is absent, the