Following the pattern

Kurt Wellum looks at 2 Timothy and consider's Paul's charge for the young evangelist to "follow the pattern of sound words" he heard from Paul:

We desperately need to hear this message again today. Everyone wants to appeal to the Bible in support of what they are teaching. Even those who are clearly heretical and have departed from the faith once for all delivered to the saints, want to claim that they are following the Bible. But just because someone can find a verse or even a whole lot of verses that seem to support their ideas does not mean they are biblical in their understanding of God's revelation. There is a "pattern of sound teaching" that must be observed; an apostolic pattern that the apostles (including Paul) learned from the Lord Jesus himself. This pattern is stamped upon the Scriptures and provides the biblical context for our understanding of the Bible.

Amen. It's important to be reminded that we need to look beyond proof texts to the pattern of sound teaching that runs through all of Scripture.