to 2 Timothy 2:2. The leading thoughts in this section are (_a_) the Day of reward and judgment which is surely coming (2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:18), (_b_) the unreasonableness therefore of cowardly shame (2 Timothy 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:16), and (_c_) the necessity that Timothy should... [ Continue Reading ]
σύ : emphatic, as in 1 Timothy 6:11 and ch. 2 Timothy 3:10; but the appeal is not primarily that Timothy should imitate Onesiphorus, or learn by the example of Phygelus and Hermogenes, but rather marks the intensity of the apostle's anxiety for the future conduct of Timothy in the Church; and simila... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Paul is here contemplating an apostolical succession in respect of teaching rather than of administration. It is natural that in the circumstances of the primitive Church the building up of converts in the faith should have occupied a larger place in the Christian consciousness than the function... [ Continue Reading ]
συνκακοπάθησον : _Take thy part in suffering hardship_ (R.V.m.). This general reference is better than to supply μοι, as R.V. See note on 2 Timothy 1:8. στρατιώτης : _cf._ συνστρατιώτης, Philippians 2:25; Philemon 1:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
The condition of all success is toil; toil which may involve pain. Think of the price of a soldier's victory, the conditions of an athlete's crown, of a field-labourer's wage. Our Lord Jesus Himself, as man, is the great Exemplar of this law. I am another. This is a faithful saying; and therefore we... [ Continue Reading ]
στρατευόμενος : _militans Deo_ (Vulg.). _Soldier_, in the sense of a person belonging to the army, not _soldier on service_, as R.V., which makes the same error in Luke 3:14 marg. (See _Expositor_, vi., vii. 120). ἐμπλέκεται : _implicat se_ (Vulg.). The verb is used in a similar metaphor, 2 Peter 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
The sequence of images here the soldier, the athlete, the field-labourer affords an interesting illustration of repetition due to association of ideas. The soldier and the field-labourer are combined in 1 Corinthians 9:7-10; the athlete appears in 1 Corinthians 9:24 _sqq_. And the present passage ha... [ Continue Reading ]
The difficulty in this verse is that the principle here laid down seems to be employed in 1 Corinthians 9:7; 1 Corinthians 9:9, as an argument from analogy in support of the liberty of Christian ministers to enjoy some temporal profit from their spiritual labours; whereas here St. Paul is urging a t... [ Continue Reading ]
νόει ὃ λέγω : _Intellige quae dico_ (Vulg.), _Grasp the meaning_, cautionary and encouraging, of these three similes. _Cf._ “I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say” (1 Corinthians 10:15), and the use of the verb in 1 Timothy 1:7. δώσει, κ. τ. λ.: If you have not sufficient wisdom to follow my... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ᾧ κακοπαθῶ : _in which sphere of action_, _cf._ Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 10:14; Philippians 4:2. The connexion seems to be that St. Paul is now indicating that he himself, in his degree, is an imitator of Jesus Christ. ὡς κακοῦργος (see reff.): _malefactor_ (R.V.). _Evil doer_ (A.V.) does not so... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ τοῦτο : The knowledge that others had been, and were being, saved through his ministry was regarded by St. Paul as no small part of his reward. Thus, the Churches of Macedonia were his “crown,” as well as his “joy” (Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:19). He had already in sight his “crown of ri... [ Continue Reading ]
πιστὸς ὁ λόγος : The teaching or saying referred to is “the word of the cross” as set forth by simile and living example in the preceding verses, 4 11. So R.V.m. This is an exactly parallel case to 1 Timothy 4:9. Here, as there, γὰρ introduces a reinforcement of the teaching. εἰ γὰρ συναπεθάνομεν, κ... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ ὑπομένομεν καὶ συνβασιλεύσομεν : See Matthew 25:34; Luke 22:28-29; Acts 14:22; Romans 8:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 20:4. εἰ ἀρνησόμεθα, κ. τ. λ.: An echo of our Lord's teaching, Matthew 10:33. See also... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ ἀπιοτοῦμεν : It is reasonable to hold that the sense of ἀπιστέω in this place must be determined by the antithesis of πιστὸς μένει. Now πιστός, as applied to God, must mean _faithful_ (Deuteronomy 7:9); one who “keepeth truth for ever” (Psa 146:6; 2 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Thess... [ Continue Reading ]
ταῦτα has special reference to the issues of life and death set out in 2 Timothy 2:11-13. There is no such prophylactic against striving about words as a serious endeavour to realise the relative importance of time and of eternity. “He to whom the eternal Word speaks is set at liberty from a multitu... [ Continue Reading ]
Discourage the new false teaching by precept and example. There is no need, however, that you should despair of the Church. It is founded upon a rock, in spite of appearances. Take a broad view of the case: the Church is not the special apartment of the Master from which things unseemly are banished... [ Continue Reading ]
σπούδασον : _Give diligence to present thyself_ (as well as thy work) _to God, approved_. ἀνεπαίσχυντον : Chrys. takes this to mean _a workman that does not scorn to put his hand to anything_; but it is better explained as _a workman who has no cause for shame when his work is being inspected_. In... [ Continue Reading ]
κενοφωνίας : See on 1 Timothy 6:20. Here, as Bengel suggests, κενο - is contrasted with ἀληθείας, φωνίας with λόγον. περιίστασο : _shun, devita_, “ _Give them a wide berth_ ” (Plummer), also in Titus 3:9. In these places περιίστασθαι has the same meaning as ἐκτρέπεσθαι, 1 Timothy 6:20. In fact Ell.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει : _spread_, R.V.m., _ut cancer serpit_, Vulg. Ell. compares Ovid. _Metam_. ii. 825, “solet immedicabile cancer Serpere, et illaesas vitiatis addere partes”. Alf. supplies many illustrations of νομή as “the medical term for the consuming progress of mortifying disease”. Harna... [ Continue Reading ]
οἵτινες implies that Hymenaeus and Philetus were only the more conspicuous members of a class of false teachers. περὶ ἠστόχησαν : See notes on 1 Timothy 1:6; 1 Timothy 1:19. λέγοντες, κ. τ. λ.: There can be little doubt that the false teaching here alluded to was akin to, if not the same as, that o... [ Continue Reading ]
“We will not fear. The city of God … shall not be moved” (Psalms 46:2; Psalms 46:4; _cf._ Hebrews 12:28). The Church of the New Covenant is like the Church of the Old Covenant: it has an ideal integrity unaffected by the defection of some who had seemed to belong to it. “They are not all Israel, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
Although the notional Church, the _corpus Christi verum_, is unaffected by the vacillation and disloyalty of its members, nevertheless (δὲ) the Church as we experience it contains many unworthy persons, the recognition of whom as members of the Church is a trial to faith. The notional Church is best... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Paul drops the metaphor. The general meaning is clear enough, that a man may become “heaven's consummate cup,” σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς (Acts 9:15), if he “mistake not his end, to slake the thirst of God”. When we endue the vessels with consciousness, it is seen that they may “rise on stepping-stones of t... [ Continue Reading ]
νεωτερικὰς ἐπιθυμίας : “Every inordinate desire is a youthful lust. Let the aged learn that they ought not to do the deeds of the youthful”. (Chrys.). This is sound exegesis; yet it is reasonable to suppose that Timothy was still of an age to need the warning in its natural sense. See 1 Timothy 4:12... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπαιδεύτους : _ignorant_. An ignorant question is one that arises from a misunderstanding of the matter in dispute. Misunderstandings are a fruitful source of strife. _Cf._ 1 Timothy 6:4. παραιτοῦ : _refuse, i.e._, Such questions will be brought before you: refuse to discuss them. The A.V., _avoid_... [ Continue Reading ]
δοῦλον δὲ Κυρίου : here is used in its special application to the ministers of the Church. On the general teaching, see 1 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2. ἤπιος, as Ell. notes, implies gentleness in demeanour, πραΰτης meekness of disposition. “ _Gentle_ unto all men, so he will be _apt... [ Continue Reading ]
τοὺς ἀντιδιατιθεμένους : They who err from right thinking are to be dealt with as tenderly and considerately as they who err from right living. _Cf._ Galatians 6:1, καταρτίζετε τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος. See also chap. 2 Timothy 4:2, and reff. Field takes ἀντιδιατίθεσθαι as equivalent to ἐν... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνανήψωσιν is to be connected with εἰς τὸ ἐκείνου θέλημα. Compare ἐκνήψατε δικαίως, 1 Corinthians 15:34. ἐκείνου then refers to ὁ θεός, and θέλημα will have its usual force as the Will of God (see 1 Peter 4:2): _That they who had been taken captive by the devil may recover themselves_ (_respiscant_,... [ Continue Reading ]