Shun youthful passions and pursue
righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
—2 Timothy 2:22
Bible commentators have long debated what “youthful lusts”—as some translations have 2 Timothy 2:22—may be.
Most agree that it does not refer exclusively to sexual lust. It incorporates “youthful passions” of self-assertion, selfish ambition, obstinacy, and arrogance—pointing to intolerance of positions that do not agree with their own.
If you’ve been around church for a while, you’re aware that intolerance is more disposition-related than age-related. Eugene Peterson translates it, “infantile indulgence.”
Instead of fussing, Christians are instructed to pursue four essentials: “righteousness, faith, love, and peace” (2 Tm 2:22).
Paul digs deeper: “Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to everyone” (2 Tm 2:23–24).
Given time, arrogance
invariably self-destructs.