“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane
[and] vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning
the faith.”
Timothy was to “keep” or “guard” the truth. These are not passive words. These are action words, which means
there are some that will oppose it and try to take the truth away by any means,
such as deception or even by force. And
to avoid profane (ungodly) and idle (empty, useless) babblings. Timothy is warned of these concerns many
times within these letters to him from the Apostle Paul.
An interesting point in this verse is ‘oppositions of
science falsely so called.’ We would be
hard pressed to say God does not understand science, since He made our world. What would God have against science? Apparently, He would have nothing against
science as defined by Webster which is “knowledge or a system of knowledge
covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained
and tested through the scientific method and concerned with the physical world
and its phenomena.” Further, Webster
defines the scientific method as “principles and procedures for the systematic
pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem,
the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation
and testing of hypotheses.”
No, what God is warning us about here, through the Apostle
Paul, is science that is falsely so called.
Matthew Henry says “science that opposes the truth of the gospel is
falsely so called; it is not true science, if it were, it would approve of the
gospel and consent to it.”
Think about what the world has called science that does not
meet Webster's definition of science. Maybe
you are not scientifically inclined and are drawing a blank, then think about
any ‘so-called’ science that opposes the gospel and then see if their
conclusions were arrived at based upon the collection
of data through observation and experiment. There are more, but I can readily think of two: evolution and string theory. Can you add to this list?
It is not ‘God verses science,’ it is really ‘falsely
so-called science verses God.’
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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