1 Timothy 6:13

παραγγέλλω σοι : St. Paul passes in thought from the past epoch in Timothy's life, with its human witnesses, among whom was the apostle himself, to the present probation of Timothy, St. Paul far away; and he feels impelled to remind his lieutenant that there are Witnesses of his conduct whose real though unseen presence is an encouragement as well as a check. See on 1 Timothy 6:21.

ζωογονοῦντος : This word has the sense preserve alive, as R.V. m. See reff. A good example from O.T. is 1 Samuel 2:6, Κύριος θανατοῖ καὶ ζωογονεῖ. The word has here a special appropriateness. Timothy is stimulated to exhibit moral courage by an assurance that he is in the hands of One whose protective power is universal, and by the example of One who, as Man, put that protective power to a successful test, and was “saved out of death” (Hebrews 5:7).

τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν must have the same reference here as in the preceding verse. We have seen that in the case of Timothy, it means his baptismal profession of faith in God as revealed by Jesus Christ. In the case of Jesus Himself it is best understood of His habitual sense of His heavenly Father's presence and protection, which found its supreme expression on the Cross (Luke 24:46).

μαρτυρήσαντος : Although Jesus, as Man, and His followers make the same ὁμολογία, yet their respective relations to it are different. μαρτυρέω indicates a power of origination and authentication which ὁμολογέω does not. The utterances and acts of Jesus, as Man, are human; yet He spoke and acted as no other man ever did. Matthew 17:27 (“That take, and give unto them for me and thee,” not “for us ”) and John 20:17 (“I ascend unto my Father and your Father,” etc. not our Father or our God) illustrate very well this difference between Jesus and His brethren in relations which they share alike. This is why St. Paul does not here use ὁμολογέω ὁμολογίαν of Christ, but employs instead the unusual μαρτυρέω ὁμολογίαν. Jesus is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός, Revelation 1:5, ὁ μαρτ. ὁ πιστ. καὶ ἀληθινός, Revelation 3:14. Bengel suggests that the two verbs indicate the attitudes of the bystanders in each case: “ confessus est, cum assensione testium: testatus est, non assentiente Pilato”. The Vulg. treats τὴν καλ. ὁμολ. as an acc. of closer specification, qui testimonium reddidit sub Pontio Pilato, bonam confessionem.

ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πειλάτου : With the explanation of the ὁμολογία of Jesus which has just been given, it would be natural to render this, with the Vulg., under Pontius Pilate; and this view is favoured by the change from ἐνώπιον, 1 Timothy 6:12, to ἐπί, and by the likelihood that this is a fragment of a creed. Yet the rendering before Pontius Pilate (Chrys., etc.), is not inconsistent with the notion that the ὁμολογία in one sense was made all during our Lord's ministry; for undoubtedly from one point of view it was when Jesus' life was hanging in the balance, depending on the decision of Pontius Pilate, that His trust in the protective love of His Father was most tried. His calm repose of soul on the assurance of God's wise and good disposition of events is well illustrated by His words as recorded in John 19:11, “Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above”. Until it has been been proved that the Fourth Gospel is not a record of facts, it is reasonable to suppose that St. Paul and his contemporaries were acquainted with the general account of the trial of Jesus as therein described.