# “Work hard at the passing on of the gospel” by D.A. Carson

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2016/12/27/work-hard-at-the-passing-on-of-the-gospel-by-d-a-carson/
- Published: 2016-12-27T20:00:09-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“Work hard at the passing on of the gospel. As you know as well as I, there were
no chapter breaks or verse breaks when these manuscripts were first written, so 
the end of chapter 1 runs smoothly into the beginning of chapter 2.

‘You, then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things
you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men
who will also be qualified to teach others.’

In other words, in the light of the flow from the end of chapter 1, the way you 
preserve the pattern of sound teaching, the way you guard the gospel, the way you
elevate the good news of Jesus Christ is not simply by going in an isolated fashion
to a defensive posture but precisely by training a new generation.

_In other words, one of the ways you preserve the gospel is precisely by finding
another generation to tap them on the shoulder and becoming a mentor to them so 
they themselves learn the gospel well._

Otherwise, no matter how faithful you are, the most you have done is preserved it
while you’re still alive. Which means your vision is small.

So one of the responsibilities, in other words, of any generation of Christian leader
is precisely to preserve the pattern of sound teaching, to preserve the gospel, 
to glory in it, to teach it, to evangelize, to establish believers in it and be 
willing to suffer for it precisely by mentoring a whole new generation coming along
behind who themselves prove to be reliable men who will be able and qualified to
teach others.”

–D. A. Carson, “Motivation for Ministry,” in _D. A. Carson Sermon Library_ (Bellingham,
WA: Faithlife, 2016), 2 Ti 1:1–2:2.

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