---
title: 2 Timothy 2:15
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/2-timothy-2-15/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/2-timothy-2-15.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 2 Timothy 2:15
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 2 Timothy 2:15

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright."

## JW Usage

A staple of Watchtower encouragement to study — but the studying in view is study of the organisation's publications alongside the Bible. "Handling the word of the truth aright" is understood as holding the positions the faithful and discreet slave has established, since individual interpretation apart from that guidance is taught to lead to error.

## Protestant Usage

Notice who is addressed. Paul tells Timothy to do his utmost, to present himself approved, to handle the word aright. The responsibility is personal and non-transferable. Nobody can be approved on someone else's reading. That is the gentlest and most useful question to ask a Witness at the door: have you read that passage yourself? Not as an accusation — most people of every religious background hold beliefs they have received rather than examined. But almost every verse a Witness knows arrives pre-interpreted through Watchtower material, and the question quietly surfaces that. Ask it about specific things. Have you read the whole chapter that footnote came from? Have you read Romans through in one sitting? Have you read the paragraph before and after the scholar being quoted? It pairs naturally with the Bereans at Acts 17:11, who checked an apostle's preaching against Scripture and were called noble-minded for it. Paul commended fact-checking. So does this verse. Compare 2 Timothy 2:25, Deuteronomy 13:3, Galatians 2:5.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Have You Read That Yourself? — Surfacing Watchtower-Mediated Reading](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/read-your-own-bible-exposure.md) — A gentle, repeated question that exposes secondhand belief [Authority]
- [When Scholars Write Back — The Watchtower's Quote-Mining Pattern](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-quote-mining-tactic.md) — Julius Mantey's 1974 letter, plus Westcott, Robertson, Alford, Harner, Barclay [Authority]