Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Timothy 2:15

σπούδασον σεαυτὸν δόκιμον παραστῆσαι τῷ θεῷ. Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God. For the phrase παριστάνειν τῷ θεῷ cp. 1 Corinthians 8:8; and for a salutary warning as to the true meaning of δόκιμος cp. 2 Corinthians 10:18, οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἑαυτὸν συνιστάνων, ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν δόκιμος, ἀλλὰ ὅν ὁ Κύριος συνίστησιν.

ἐργάτην�, a workman who is not to be put to shame, sc. by the poor quality of his work. ἀνεπαίσχυντος (ἄπ. λεγ. in the Greek Bible) is thus taken passively by Chrysostom, and the resulting sense seems to be more harmonious with the context than the rendering of the English versions, “that needeth not to be ashamed.”

ὀρθοτομοῦντα τὸν λόγον τῆς�, rightly dividing the word of truth. The exact meaning of ὀρθοτομεῖν here (it does not occur elsewhere in the N.T.) is uncertain. The analogy of the only two places where it is found in the LXX. (Proverbs 3:6; Proverbs 11:5) has suggested to some that the metaphor is that of laying down a straight road, the road of Truth, from which heretics diverge on this side and on that. But we cannot read the idea of ὅδος into λόγον where it is not suggested by the context. The image here seems rather to be that of a man cutting the λόγος τῆς� into its right pattern, the standard provided being the Gospel. This is practically involved in the vaguer rendering given by the Revisers handling aright the word of truth (the Vulgate has recte tractantem); but the literal and primary meaning of ὀρθοτομεῖν cannot be to handle aright. The words at once recall 2 Corinthians 2:17, καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ, but the metaphor employed there is quite different from that in the writer’s mind here.

St Paul offers what amounts to a definition of ὁ λόγος τῆς� in Ephesians 1:13, viz. τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς σωτηρίας ὑμῶν; cp. 2 Corinthians 6:7.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Timothy 2:15

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