Focal Passage: Acts 16:1-5, II Timothy 2:1-2, 3:10-12
The term oxymoron is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.” Some short examples of an oxymoron are open secret, clearly confused or my personal favorite — jumbo shrimp.
We might like to think that II Timothy 3:12 would fall into this literary category. Notice that the desire for godliness and the surety of persecution are linked together. God did not intend for us to see these two realities as contradictory.
Describing someone as godly/persecuted is not an oxymoron. In fact, God tells us emphatically “all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” [Read more…]