1 Timothy 6:14

τηρῆσαι κ. τ. λ.: The phrase τηρεῖν τὴν ἐντολήν, τὰς ἐντολάς or τὸν λόγον, τοὺς λόγους is a common one; found in Matthew 19:17, and especially in the Johannine writings; but wherever it occurs it means to obey or observe a command or a saying; whereas here it means to preserve intact. Perhaps the two meanings were present to the apostle's mind; and no doubt in actual experience they merge one into the other; for a tradition is only preserved by obedience to the demand which it makes for observance. This use of the verb and the similar τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα, 2 Timothy 4:7, mutually illustrate each other. τὴν ἐντολὴν τηρεῖν is probably equivalent to τὴν παραθήκην φυλάσσειν, understanding the tradition or deposit in the most comprehensive moral and spiritual sense, in which it is nothing else than “the law of the Gospel (cf. ἡ παραγγελία, 1 Timothy 1:5), the Gospel viewed as a rule of life” (so Ell. and Alf.). St. Paul would not have distinguished this from the charge given to Timothy at his baptism. Cyril Jer. (Cat. 1 Timothy 6:13), in quoting this passage, substitutes ταύτην τὴν παραδεδομένην πίστιν for ἐντολήν. This interpretation is permissible so long as we do not divorce creed from character.

ἄσπιλον ἀνεπίλημπτον : These epithets present a difficulty somewhat similar to that presented by τηρῆσαι. ἄσπιλος is a personal epithet (though applied to οὐρανός, Job 15:15, Symm.); and so is ἀνεπίλημπτος. See reff. on both. Alford shows, after De Wette, by examples from Philo and Plato, that ἀνεπίλ. may be applied to impersonal objects, such as τέχνη, τὸ λεγόμενον. Nevertheless although it would be intolerably awkward to refer the adjectives to σε the ordinary construction with τηρεῖν being that the qualifying adj. should belong to its object, e.g., 1 Timothy 5:22; James 1:27; 2 Corinthians 11:9 (Alf.) yet St. Paul had the personal reference to Timothy chiefly in his mind when he chose these words as qualifying ἐντολήν; and the R.V., which places a comma after commandment, possibly is intended to suggest a similar view. The man and the word are similarly identified in the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:19, etc.). If Timothy “keeps himself unspotted” (James 1:27) and “without reproach,” the ἐντολή, so far as he is concerned, will be maintained flawless.

The Ancient Homily which used to be attributed to Clem. Rom. contains a sentence written in a similar tone (§8), τηρήσατε τὴν σάρκα ἁγνὴν καὶ τὴν σφραγῖδα ἄσπιλον, ἵνα τὴν ζωην ἀπολάβωμεν.

μέχρι τῆς ἐπιφανείας, κ. τ. λ.: Death may mark the close of our probation state; but we shall not render the account of our stewardship until the ἐπιφάνεια. When the Pastorals were written the ἐπιφάνεια had in men's thoughts of it receded beyond each man's death. At an earlier period Christians set it before them as men now set death. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8 the compound phrase occurs ἐπιφάν. τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ. ἐπιφάνεια is the term used in the Pastoral Epistles (see reff.); but the Second Coming of Christ is called παρουσία in 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1Th 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1Th 5:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:1. In 2 Timothy 1:10, ἐπιφάνεια includes the first manifestation of Christ in the flesh; and this application of the term is in exact correspondence with its use in heathen sacred associations, where it denoted “a conspicuous appearance or intervention of the higher powers on behalf of their worshippers”. The title ἐπιφανής, assumed by the Seleucidæ, meant a claim to be worshipped as an incarnation of Zeus or Apollo, as the case might be (see Moulton and Milligan, Expositor, vii., vii. 380).