Truth is a crucial piece in the believer’s armour, girding the loins and, as such, freeing a man from life's entanglements.
When men choose to reject the truth, God tends to withhold further truth from them. The result is spiritual and intellectual darkness.
God is "a God of truth" and the words that proceed forth from Him reflect His nature. As such, the words of God are just as true as the God of the words.
Men could know the truth if they desired to know it. Sadly, most men refuse to pursue and know the truth made so readily available unto them.
The apostle Paul knew that there would be times when Timothy, as a minister of the gospel, would have to rebuke or correct others. However, Timothy was not to rebuke others on a whim. In fact, Paul specifically laid out two premises which Timothy’s rebuke should follow: “with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Timothy was to rebuke others while suffering with them for a long time, thus longsuffering. He was to exhibit grace by offering others the opportunity to rectify their areas of failure. At the same time, he was to rebuke others with sound doctrine and not simply based upon mere opinion. This was going to be even more necessary as some would begin to depart from sound doctrine and practice (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
