As I exhorted you to stay at Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia, that you might charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine,
This kind of emphasis, Paul warned, simply generated questions for which there are no real answers rather than contributing to the spiritual maturation of believers (cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). John Bunyan reportedly said, "Some love the meat; some love to pick the bones." [Note: Harry A. Ironside, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, p. 18.] Growth is God’s goal for Christians, and it involves the exercise of our "faith" (cf. Romans 1:17).