RIGHTLY HANDLING THE WORD OF TRUTH : A RE-READING OF 2 TIMOTHY 2:15 IN DIALOGUE WITH AFRICAN THEOLOGY AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN THE NIGERIAN CHURCH

Abstract

The rapid growth and diversification of Christianity in Nigeria have generated renewed theological energy, ecclesial expansion, and public influence. At the same time, they have produced serious interpretive, doctrinal, ethical, and pastoral challenges. These challenges include the uncritical appropriation of prosperity teachings, shallow biblical interpretation, religious consumerism, denominational exclusivism, clerical abuse, politicised preaching, and the marginalisation of African cultural and social realities in theological reflection. This paper offers a contextual re-reading of 2 Timothy 2:15, with particular attention to its instruction that the Christian worker should be diligent, approved by God, unashamed, and rightly handling the word of truth. The study argues that the text provides an enduring theological and pastoral framework for responding to contemporary challenges in the Nigerian Church. It engages African theology, African biblical hermeneutics, inculturation theology, African Pentecostalism, liberation theology, and postcolonial concerns in order to demonstrate that faithful biblical interpretation must be both textually responsible and contextually relevant. The paper maintains that African theology should not be treated as a departure from biblical Christianity but as a disciplined effort to communicate, embody, and apply the gospel within African realities. It concludes that Nigerian churches require renewed theological education, ethical ministerial formation, contextual hermeneutics, accountable leadership, and a Christ-centered theology of holistic transformation.