You must choose to cleanse yourself from ignoble

2 Tim 2:20-21 (NIV) - 20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. KJV - 20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

We backtrack to verse 14 to start from there
To interpret this text, we first have to go back a little further up the 2 Timothy 2 passage.

Quarrel about words
In verse 14, we read Paul was reminding Timothy to warn the BELIEVERS against quarreling about words, saying it was of no value, and only ruining those who listen. How should a believer behave then? Paul, in verse 15, said instead, we are to do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth; in other words, do NOT quarrel about words, but be an approved workman (who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word).

Godless chatter
Paul also warned against godless chatter, for such only promotes further ungodliness. What is godless chatter? What could possibly be the godless chatter then, in Ephesus? Not wanting to import from extra-biblical materials, all we know from Scriptures, was that it possibly included loose talks NOT in line with the truths of God. Such talks if indulged in, would corrupt godliness (v16), and might lead to believers wandering away from the faith (v17).

In verse 17, we read that 2 characters, (I called them) H & P, they indulged in such godless chatter, including talk that men (living men) were already resurrected {i.e. you and I are already resurrected} (v18). From verse 18, it was clear that the 2 characters mentioned by Paul were once believers, but had since wandered from the faith, and their teaching (false teaching) were spreading like gangrene.

God’s solid foundation
Then in verse 19, Paul was asserting that regardless of distortions and false claims, God’s solid foundation stood firm. What was Paul referring to, by “God’s solid foundation”? To me, I simply call it the central pillar of the faith – God knows, or what others would call, God’s omniscience.

Those who use the NIV Bible will find that verse 19 was footnoted back to Num 16:5 (on Korah's rebellion). In Num 16, in the relevant passage where the verse was referred to, we found an account showing God knew who were in the truth and who were not; in other words, Paul was trying to say that men, including believers and so-called servants of God, they could think what they wanted (including H & P referred to, in the passage), God knew who was in the truth – Was it Paul or these other false teachers (or believers) who perverted the truths of God (or made claim of who they were, but were in fact, not)?

For the benefit of readers, I am also putting down below, verses 14-19 of 2 Timothy 2:

14 Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus {H & P}, 18 who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” {footnoted to Num 16:5, NIV84} and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” (2 Tim 2:14-19, NIV84)

The “But”, what it implied
Then, Paul went on to give us verse 20 (and 21), which is the subject of this article. Now, the KJ version of verse 20 has “But” at the start of the verse, which the NIV Bible has omitted. There are Bible scholars who argued that the “But” is significant, and it meant to tell us that a different “house” was being painted in the verses preceding the verse 20’s “large house”. I believe there are 2 errors in that interpretation.

Firstly, there was no “house” painted in the preceding verses. Proponents argued that God’s invisible church was painted in the preceding verses (preceding to vv20-21), whereas the large house of verse 20 was referring to the physical church. No, the preceding verses we have just covered above, they spoke nothing of a “house” or invisible church!

Secondly, when we leave the “But” in, the construct of verse 20, reading it with verse 19b of “and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’”, does NOT call for suggestion that there was another “house” preceding verse 20. Rather, it pointed to, the “But” meant “despite so” What “so”? It was despite “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

When verses 19 & 20 are read together, it meant that despite God knowing who {which person(s)} was His, and every believer must turn away from wickedness, there were still those who cleanse NOT themselves from ignoble, and there were those who would, and when they did that (cleanse themselves of ignoble), they would be instrument for noble purpose (or vessels unto honor), useful to God, and would be prepared to do any good work – this is how it should be read, in a nutshell.

Therefore, Paul, by that, had said, characters such as H & P who did not cleanse themselves from ignoble, which in their case, godless chatter, which in turn corrupted their belief in the faith, they would NOT be vessels useful for the Lord. Paul, in subsequent verses to verses 20 & 21, elaborated a lot more of what constituted ignoble.

The rest of the ignoble
Before we expound the message of verses 20 & 21, let us complete the study of the ignoble, bearing in mind Paul already mentioned quarrel about words (v14) and godless chatter (v16). The pointer suggesting Paul was still on the same theme he started, “to avoid ignoble”, is found in verse 22, the verse following from our subject verses of 20 & 21. This pointer is best seen in the KJ version, just as the “But” of KJ version’s verse 20 was of significance. Verse 22, KJV, “Flee also youthful lusts….” The “also” here, pointed to Paul wanting to point to other ignoble apart from the two he had mentioned, quarreling about words (v14) and godless chatter (v16).

And so, in verse 22, Paul named evil desires of youth (this connotates the desires of the [fallen] flesh; to flee from it), unrighteousness (to pursue righteousness instead), unfaithfulness (be faithful instead), unloving or not loving (to love instead), and unrest promotion (pursue peace instead). Paul said to cleanse ourselves from the ignoble, and set ourselves to pursue the noble, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Consequence of NOT avoiding ignoble
In elaboration, Paul, in verses 23-26, explained that we are to have nothing to do with foolish and stupid arguments, for they would produce quarrels; the Lord’s servant must NOT quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, NOT resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Paul was explaining that if we do NOT cleanse ourselves from the ignoble, we might end up being taken captive to do the devil’s will.

Some more ignoble
Paul was one of those biblical authors who, I often said, wrote with great flow, often with singular theme running over many verses and even chapters. Here is no exception; there were some more ignoble; he listed in 2 Tim 3. I will not put down the verses here in this article but you can read them yourselves; these are the some more ignoble he listed: loving self, loving money, boastful, prideful, abusive, disobedience or rebellious against parents, be ungrateful, unholy, love not, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, give in to brutality, not loving the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, loving pleasure instead of loving God, pursuit of a form of godliness but denial of its power (2 Tim 3:1-5). Have nothing to do with such people who are set on such ignoble (v5).

What those set on ignoble are like
In verses 6-9 of 2 Tim 3, Paul likened them, people who are set on ignoble, as follows: worms who make their way into homes and gain control over the weak-willed women (use of women, I believe, was symbolic, rather than actually saying they prey only on women); they are men loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires; men who are always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth; men of depraved minds, some, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected (serious warning, considered fallen away, no longer accepted), others, will not get very far, for their folly will be clear one day to all.

Paul used himself as example of being noble-minded
In verses 10-11 (of 2 Tim 3), Paul used himself as illustration, and named some of the noble. Paul said, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings …..” In those 2 verses, we find Paul implied the following noble: live a godly life which includes spreading the Gospel, be of faith and exercise faith, be of patience, be loving, be enduring or persevering, embracing persecutions and sufferings (NOT that we should particularly love them, but can expect them, and if we are in them, we are to be prepared to face them and endure them, even with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit).

Marks of nobility and ignobility
Paul then spelled out a mark difference between those who are focused on noble and those, on ignoble: Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted but the Lord does rescue (He rescued Paul from all, said Paul), while evil men and impostors (those who set on ignoble) will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (themselves).

Exhortations for Timothy and for us, too
He then rounded up 2 Tim 3 with exhortation for Timothy (v14 – “But as for you, ...”) to continue in what he had learned (be cleansed from, and to avoid, ignoble, and be focused on the noble) and had become convinced of, because of what he learned from the life of Paul (and his team), and from the Holy Scriptures.

Paul’s life attested to the Word, in other words, Paul’s life bore testimony to the truth of the Word or Scripture. Ultimately, Paul must, and he did, point Timothy back to Scripture, for our experiences (even those of Paul) do NOT produce theology; theology comes (and MUST come) from Scripture; our experiences only testifies to it.

Paul adeptly said it, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17).

The message of 2 Tim 2:20-21
So what is the message of 2 Tim 2:20-21?

20 {But} In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. (2 Tim 2:20-21)

Earlier, in passing, I have said that when verses 19 & 20 of 2 Timothy 2 are read together, it meant that despite God knowing who {which person(s)} was His, and every believer must turn away from wickedness, there were still those who cleanse NOT themselves from ignoble, and there were those who would, and when they did that (cleanse themselves of ignoble), they would be instrument for noble purpose, useful to God, and would be prepared to do any good work; and that is how 2 Tim 2:20-21 should be read. I will now elaborate more on the message of the 2 verses.

The large house referred to, in verse 20, is the current house of God, the church on earth. The “articles” or “vessels” in KJ translation (KJV), are referring to us, believers or Christians. I preferred the KJV words of vessels. Alternatively, as a parable, we could look at ourselves as “substances”. Some of us are as gold, some as silver, some wood and others, clay. Is it not true, the believers in the church of God are made up of people from all sorts of prior backgrounds, with all sorts of prior aims and purposes, some given in noble purposes, some, ignoble?

Paul was saying, despite (meaning I preferred to adopt the KJ version which began verse 20 with “But”) God knowing who had entered into salvation (became a Christian or believer), and every believer was supposed to (and must) turn away from wickedness, believers entered from all sorts of prior backgrounds, given to all sorts of purposes, some noble, some, ignoble. Their prior backgrounds (likened to gold, silver, wood or clay) and purposes or focuses (noble or ignoble), are not the issue, if the man cleanses himself from the ignoble, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. If he does not, he will not be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

So, it is NOT a matter of whether you are gold or silver or just wood or clay, or whatever your prior background was; it is whether or not, having entered into salvation, you are going to cleanse yourselves from the ignoble. What are the ignoble? I have already expounded above. Are we going to flee or get rid of those ignoble from our lives, or using the term of Paul, cleanse ourselves from the ignoble? That we might have those ignoble previously, is NOT the issue; it is, after entering into the house of God or the church of God, are we cleansing ourselves from the ignoble? If we are NOT willing to do that, we CANNOT be instruments for noble purposes, made holy and useful to God to do any good work.

Do not say, “So what!”
You may say, “So what! So what if I am NOT useful to God to do any good work? What is the big deal?” It is big deal. We have seen what Paul said when he rounded up the subject in 2 Tim 3:16-17:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.(2 Tim 3:16-17).

What is the purpose (or at least an important purpose) of Scriptures? Verse 17 - “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for EVERY GOOD WORK.”

We are saved for good works – Eph 2:10 – “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Eph 2:10, an isolated verse? No, similar thing is said in Titus: Who gave himself for us, that he {Jesus} might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of GOOD WORKS (Titus 2:14. KJV).

What did Jesus say about trees that do NOT bear good fruits? Matt 7:19 – “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” The “tree” is symbolic for man.

What does Jesus said about those who called Him, “Lord, Lord” and want to enter the kingdom of heaven? Matt 7:21 – ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

What did the Apostle James said concerning faith without deeds? James 2:14 – “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” James 2:17 – “…., faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:20 – “You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless {dead}?”

Jesus’ redemptive works on the Cross for believers are of 3-folds, spiritual, to ransom us back from damnation to Hell, that we may have eternal life, physical, culminating with the granting of incorruptible body after we have died or rapture, and lastly, works or purpose, even though we might not be fully assigned in current life. For better understanding of works is part of redemptive works of Jesus, read my separate article – “Works of redemption by Our Lord”

If you are still NOT convinced of the big deal of good works, try reading Matt 25:31-46 on “Who are the sheep and goats” told by Jesus. Read my separate article on the same, “Who are the sheep, and who are the goats”

You have a choice to make
The important message of 2 Tim 2:20-21 is that we have to cleanse ourselves from ignoble so that we may be instruments of noble purposes, useful to God for good works. If we do NOT know where to start, to do good works or to serve God, start with cleansing ourselves from ignoble.

To me, this is a very important text for people who want to find their places in connection to serving God. This text will NOT tell us specifically what we are “called” to do, but it tells what we need to do to prepare ourselves for service.

FIRSTLY, We have a choice - we can choose to be pursuing noble purposes or ignoble purposes. Even though we have become a believer, we still have a choice, that is why when verses 19 & 20 are taken together, they spoke of, despite God knowing who {which person(s)} was His, and every believer must turn away from wickedness, there were still those who cleanse NOT themselves from ignoble, and there were those who would; there is an onus that lies with the believer!

The text is also a parable
Do NOT say I am clay, NOT gold, so I am only fit to be made into, say, a spittoon, unlike another, the gold, who can be made into, say a meal bowl fit for a king’s use – the portrayal of a man as substance of gold, silver, wood or clay is just a parable placing of the subject (man) side by side with another, the metaphor, substance (gold, silver, wood or clay).

Man is LIKE the substance of gold, silver, wood or clay (I use “substance” as it would imply all, and any, article. The particular article would subsequently be determined by the purpose desired. In some Bible translations “articles” is NOT used, instead the word used is “vessels”. Therefore, it is more appropriate to say the comparison is with the “substance of” rather than articles. And in the Bible we commonly find man being likened to the substance of gold being refined in fire), but he is NOT gold, silver, wood or clay. This is an important point because if you interpret man as the substance, and NOT “like the substance”, you end up with the problem of clay is clay, and gold is gold, one CANNOT be changed into the other. 

The Apostle Paul, separately, also talked about foundation being built from gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw in his epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 3:12 - If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ). (If you want to know what a parable is, and a better idea of how parables are to be interpreted, you can read my exposition of the Parable of the Shrewd Manager, here).

If you would take yourself out of the ignoble purposes, God can transform you from “LIKE clay” to “LIKE gold”. It is what you purpose that matters, and that is a choice. For example, do you want to be useless or useful? To be useless is ignoble, to be useful, is noble. Do you want to be a pew warmer or do you want to do something more during a church service? Do you want to use your intelligence to con people or do you want to use your brain to help solve problems? Do you want to spend your money on weekends, shopping, drinking and clubbing most of the time, or do you want to set aside some of the money and time for some more meaningful purposes?

When you set your eyes on the noble purposes, and take yourself out of those ignoble, and plant yourself into the noble ones, the Lord would then be able to come in to set you apart for good work. You may still be like the clay but as time goes by, your heart may slowly turn to gold; and after some more time, maybe you will be all gold to God, and to men too!

There is something noble (NOT ignoble) for everyone
SECONDLY, just like in a huge room, there are many articles serving many different purposes, there are many tasks comprised in the noble purposes of God – there is always one for everybody.

There are many noble-purposed tasks we can put our hearts to. Joining the worship team to lead others to high worship to God counts as one; even worshipping from the pew to bless God and other members of congregation qualifies too (you will be surprised how many people go to church services and NOT sing when it was time to sing); serving as a service usher is easy enough, and it counts; being a helper in the church Sunday School is a good one; giving towards a needy cause sponsored by the church is another; praying for the sick; spending time and money to go on missionary work with your annual leave is good, and intercessory work is commendable. I am sure you can come up with more.

No, I do NOT consider it as the intent and purpose of the Apostle Paul to say, here, that there are both noble and ignoble purposes in the church of God, some of us do the noble and some, the ignoble. About the sovereignty of the Creator, that He could use us in any capacity He desires, that comes from another Scripture passage (Rom 9:21-24), we should NOT confuse the two! (see PS at end of article)

Always remember this
It matters NOT your prior background (like gold, silver, wood or clay) and prior noble or ignoble focuses, what is important is that in the large house of God, when you have cleansed yourselves from the ignoble, you are useful for God for good works. It matters NOT if you were previously gold, silver, wood or clay, speaking in parable terms, as you serve, the Lord will transform you from being like clay or like wood to like silver and eventually like gold. When you set your eyes on the noble purposes, and take yourself out of those ignoble, and plant yourself into the noble ones, the Lord would then be able to come in to set you apart for good work.

You may still be like the clay but as time goes by, your heart may slowly turn to gold; and after some more time, maybe you will be all gold to God, and to men too! The same can still apply for believers who have fallen from grace or have back-slidened; you can come back and re-dedicate your life to the Lord, and go from there.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions – To serve God, we must choose to cleanse ourselves from ignoble, avoid ignoble, set our eyes on noble purposes, and plant ourselves into the latter. It is not some works are common, and some are royal, but that even the good works of ushering for a church service is/can be as noble as that of ministering holy communion, for example.

PS: 2 Tim 2:20-21 and Rom 9:21-24 should NOT be confused together. The former is focused on our responsibility, on our need to choose and effort (“cleanses {purges} HIMSELF from…”); the latter explains the sovereign rights of the Creator. If you are like me, believing that there is the God’s part, and there is the Man’s part in God’s scheme of things, which I believe was also what the Apostle Paul believed in, you will appreciate that we do NOT explain both texts in the same way. Perhaps, I will write on Rom 9:21-24 another day. [Added 07/07/2011 - has since been written: The potter and the clay - His sovereignty.]

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