_TIMOTHY IS EXHORTED AGAIN TO CONSTANCY AND PERSEVERANCE, AND TO DO THE DUTY OF A FAITHFUL SERVANT OF THE LORD, IN DIVIDING THE WORD ARIGHT, AND SHUNNING PROPHANE AND VAIN BABBLINGS. OF HYMENEUS AND PHILETUS. THE FOUNDATION OF THE LORD IS SURE. HE IS TAUGHT WHEREOF TO BEWARE, AND WHAT TO FOLLOW AFTE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE THINGS THAT THOU HAST HEARD OF ME— The _apostles_ alone had the whole scheme of the Christian revelation from our _Lord Jesus Christ._ The _prophets,_ evangelists, and elders, of the Christian church, as well as other Christians, learned it from the _apostles;_ who desired and ordered that t... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN THAT WARRETH ENTANGLETH HIMSELF, &C.— The Roman soldiers were not suffered to be tutors to any person, curators of another man's estate, proctors for other men's causes, or to undertake husbandry or merchandize.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN ALSO STRIVE FOR MASTERIES,— _And if a man combat in the public games, he is not crowned, unless he has observed the rules prescribed._ Heylin. If, in the Grecian games, they contended according to the rules prescribed, and came off conquerors, they were honoured with a crown of _parsley, la... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HUSBANDMAN THAT LABOURETH, &C.— Or _The husbandman must first labour, to partake of the fruits._ Heylin, and Bowyer.... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE THEE UNDERSTANDING IN ALL THINGS.— _Grant you industry in all things._ Castalio. Some read, _Consider what I say, for_ [if you do so] _the Lord will give you understanding in all things._ Others connect _all things_ with the next verse;—_In all things remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead,... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL:— That is, "The gospel which I have preached." St. Paul seems to say, _My Gospel,_ by way of emphasis, in opposition to the false gospel delivered by Hymeneus and Philetus; who perhaps preached, _That the resurrection was past:_ therefore the apostle calls upon Timothy, _To re... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREIN— _For which._ Heylin and Whitby.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE ELECT'S SAKE,— By _the elect,_ St. Paul here seems more particularly to mean the _Gentile converts:_ for _He_ suffered as the apostle of the Gentiles; and he often intimates, that unless he through grace had so laboured and suffered, and they persevered in holiness and piety, both he and the... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS A FAITHFUL SAYING:— Some refer these words to the concluding clause of the former verse; but it seems much more reasonable to connect them with what follows; as, generally speaking, this phrase is introductory to the weighty sentence which it is intended to confirm. Heylin reads, _This is a ce... [ Continue Reading ]
IF WE BELIEVE NOT,— _If we are unfaithful,—yet he continues faithful;_ [as well in his threatenings as in his promises;] _he cannot contradict himself._ Heylin. A man may be _unfaithful,_ by denying the Christian religion, or rejecting it; by corrupting it, or mingling another doctrine with it; or,... [ Continue Reading ]
CHARGING THEM BEFORE THE LORD— There is a most awful solemnity in this charge; which plainly shews the great folly and mischief of striving about little controversies: and it would be well if all the ministers of Christ were deeply affected with a sense of this, lest what they profess to hold most s... [ Continue Reading ]
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.— The Vulgate, no doubt, has given in general the true sense of this expression, by rendering it, _Recte tractantem verbum veritatis, "rightly handling the word of truth:"_ but it is not so easy to determine, whence in particular the _metaphorical_ word 'Ορθοτομουν... [ Continue Reading ]
OF WHOM IS HYMENEUS AND PHILETUS;— Among the various conjectures concerning the opinions of _Hymeneus_ and _Philetus,_ it seems most probable that they insisted, that the doctrine of _the resurrection of the dead_ was to be understood only in a spiritual or figurative sense; or that it was the same... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS, THE FOUNDATION, &C.— The word עיקר, _oiker,_ which originally signifies a _foundation,_ has sometimes been applied by the Hebrews to an _article of faith;_ sometimes to a covenant, bill of contract, bond or obligation. St. Paul has more than once used Greek words in the same latitude w... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN THEREFORE PURGE HIMSELF FROM THESE, &C.— The meaning seems to be, that Timothy and other Christians were carefully to avoid the faults of the Judaizers, keeping themselves pure and clean from their corrupt doctrines and practices, and exerting themselves to promote the true Gospel of Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
FLEE ALSO YOUTHFUL LUSTS:— "Flee from all occasions of exciting or gratifying the passions of youth; whether, on the one hand, the love of sensual pleasure; or, on the other, rashness, contention, pride, and vainglory; to which young persons are peculiarlyobnoxious." These are _youthful passions,_of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT THEY MAY RECOVER THEMSELVES— _And that they may awaken out of the snare of the devil, who have been taken captive by him at his pleasure._ In order to understand the beautiful image before us, it is proper to observe, that the word 'Ανανηψωσιν properly signifies "to awake from a deep sleep,... [ Continue Reading ]