2 Timothy 2:23 Avoid quarrels

2 Timothy 2:23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.

Here is another of those verses warning against useless quarrels. (See 1 Timothy 1:4, 4:7, 6:4; 2 Timothy 2:14, 16; Titus 3:9, etc). The warning is not against all argument but against getting involved in foolish and stupid arguments that is arguments where moral perversity and sheer ignorance drive the agenda. The reason they are to be avoided is because they produce quarrels or more literally fights. It is important for the minister to know where he is going to take his stand. There will inevitably be some things that he will not budge on and some things that he lives with. Deciding which is which is quite a skill. If he is not careful he will get into needless quarrels. Proverbs 26:4, 5 tells us that on one hand we must not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him and on the other that we must Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. The skill is to be wise enough to judge which applies in which case. If the argument is foolish or stupid or both then it is the first proverb that applies.