1 Timothy 2:6

ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτόν : The Evangelists record our Lord's own declarations that His death was a spontaneous and voluntary sacrifice on His part, Matthew 20:28 = Mark 10:45, δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν. Cf. John 10:18; and St. Paul affirms it, Galatians 1:4, τοῦ δόντος έαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν; Titus 2:14, ὃς ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κ. τ. λ. (παραδίδωμι is used in Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2; Ephesians 5:25). We may note that this statement necessarily implies not only the pre-existence of our Lord, but also His co-operation in the eternal counsels and purpose of the Father as regards the salvation of man.

Alford is probably right in saying that δοῦναι ἑαυτόν, as St. Paul expresses it, suggests more than δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ. The latter might naturally be limited to the sacrifice of His death; the former connotes the sacrifice of His lifetime, the whole of the humiliation and self-emptying of the Incarnation. The soundness of this exegesis is not impaired by the probability that τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ may be nothing more than a Semitic periphrasis for ἑαυτόν. See J. H. Moulton, Grammar, vol. i. p. 87, who compares Mark 8:36, ζημιωθῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, with Luke 9:25, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἀπολέσας ἢ ζημιωθείς.

ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων : If we are to see any special force in the ἀντί, we may say that it expresses that the λύτρον is equivalent in value to the thing procured by means of it. But perhaps St. Paul's use of the word, if he did not coin it, is due to his desire to reaffirm our Lord's well-known declaration in the most emphatic way possible. λύτρον ἀντὶ merely implies an exchange; ἀντίλυτρον ὑπέρ implies that the exchange is decidedly a benefit to those on whose behalf it is made. As far as the suggestion of vicariousness is concerned, there does not seem to be much difference between the two phrases.

τὸ μαρτύριον, as Ellicott says, “is an accusative in apposition to the preceding sentence,” or rather clause, ὁ δοὺς … πάντων. So R.V. Bengel compares ἔνδειγμα, 2 Thessalonians 1:5; cf. also Romans 12:1. The great act of self-sacrifice is timeless; but as historically apprehended by us, the testimony concerning it must be made during a particular and suitable period of history, i.e., from the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostolic company (Acts 1:8) until the Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 1:10). The temporal mission of the Son of God took place “when the fulness of the time came” (Galatians 4:4); it was an οἰκονομία τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν (Ephesians 1:10). The testimony is of course borne by God (1 John 5:9-11), but He uses human agency, the preachers of the Gospel.

καιροῖς ἰδίοις : See reff. The analogy of Galatians 6:9, καιρῷ γὰρ ἰδίῳ θερίσομεν, suggests that we should render it always in due season. The plural expresses the fact that the bearing of testimony extends over many seasons; but each man reaps his own harvest only once. In any case, the seasons relate both to the Witness and that whereof He is a witness: “ his own times” and “ its own times” (R.V.).

The dative is that “of the time wherein the action takes place,” Ell., who compares Romans 16:25, χρόνοις αἰωνίοις σεσιγημένου.