²³But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

How often Christians fall into foolish arguments over speculative “theology”! Paul was certainly not one to hold back on his assertions to hold strongly to sound doctrine and resist the false teachings of those who would lead Christians astray. Yet we must not confuse this with specious quarrels that have no end other than more quarreling! As Proverbs points out:

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes. (Prov. 26:4–5)

There is a time to expose foolish pseudo-spiritual reasoning, but it comes with a danger of being caught up in the foolishness. And this will only distract from the work of the Lord.

Think of the wall-rebuilding project of Nehemiah after Israel’s Babylonian captivity. Sanballat and his associates wanted to stop the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall, and after resisting in a variety of ways, they “invited” Nehemiah to take a break from work on the wall to discuss the matter. The man of God, though, saw through their ruse and responded, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Neh. 6:2–3). They tried four times, but he had the presence of mind to resist each time from being distracted from his work.

The enemy of our souls will stop at nothing to take our focus from the things that matter. He will use outright error, influencing people away from the truth through false teachers. And he will try to distract us through petty, pious-sounding verbal ruminations and debates that have no effect on people’s spiritual lives but to bring them under domination by some form of “Christian legalism.”

Sometimes we must simply stop the discussion and walk away, refusing to waste any more time. Some people thrive on arguments and can capture attention by their dogmatic assertions. This is especially true today on social media. It is so easy to get caught up in disputes with virtual strangers. A good response that can effectively close down such arguing is this: “We have talked about this long enough. I will allow you to have the last say, but regardless of what you will say, I won’t be responding.”

Lord, help me to avoid foolish arguments. When I am engulfed in one, help me to have the wisdom and discipline to extricate myself from that waste of time.