The Content of Nourishment: "Good Doctrine"
to them again and again, not for content alone, but for communion. The steward of doctrine must recognize that his first responsibility is not to his hearers, but to his own heart before God. His public effectiveness will never exceed his private saturation.
The Content of Nourishment: "Good Doctrine"
Paul is specific. Timothy is to be nourished not by novel ideas, cultural trends, or speculative philosophy, but by "good doctrine." The word didaskalia rendered "doctrine" means instruction or teaching. When modified by "good," it denotes that which is sound, healthy, and beneficial.
This is not a generic affirmation of all teaching. It is a deliberate contrast. In the same chapter, Paul warns of "doctrines of devils" and "profane and old wives' fables." The air in Ephesus was thick with competing truth claims.
Timothy's charge was to feed on what was wholesome and to reject what was toxic. The steward must develop a discerning palate.
Sound doctrine is "good" because of its source, its substance, and its outcome. Its source is divine revelation, not human invention. It originates in the mind of God and has been inscripturated through the prophets and apostles. Its substance is centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Paul elsewhere defines the core of good doctrine as "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" and "great is the mystery of godliness: God was