“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
“Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers” (2 Tim. 2:14).
Paul tells Timothy to remind his people of “these things.” What he is referring to is the set of truths just stated — if we die with Christ, we will live with Him. If we suffer, we will reign. If we deny Him, He will deny us. If we stagger in our faith, He remains constant. Wise pastoral care reminds the people of God that that the way we live and speak now matters forever. How can we get Him to deny us? By denying Him, which is a sin of the tongue. In the charge that follows, we cannot learn that words don’t matter, because we have just seen that they matter very much indeed.
Paul wants Timothy to tell this to his people, charging them not to quarrel over words. This kind of thing is worthless. It does no good, but only wrecks the hearers. There are a number of important things here. Note that he says that this ruins the hearers, not the participants (presumably, there are already ruined). Those who listen to stupid quarrels over words are torn down by the process. But those who engage in this kind of thing think they are doing good, which is what Paul is concerned to deny. This does “no good,” contrary to what the disputant would say in defense of his logomachy. The jouster with words wants to represent himself as “contending for the faith,” which the apostles did, and which the heirs of the apostles did. But for every Athanasius contending for the truth (with words) we could find ten janglers in church history who contended for words with words. This usually led to a contending for more words, with more words.
Wise men see the referent through the window of the word. When they contend, they contend for the thing. Foolish men like the sound of their own voice, and additional words enable them to stretch out.