1 Timothy 2:7

εἰς ὃ : scil. τὸ μαρτύριον, or τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, as in the parallel passage, 2 Timothy 1:11.

The phrase εἰς ὃ ἐτέθην ἐγὼ κῆρυξ κ. ἀπόστολος [καὶ] διδάσκαλος is repeated in 2 Timothy 1:11, as ἀλήθειαν … ψεύδομαι occurs again Romans 9:1; but there we have the significant addition [λέγω] ἐν Χριστῷ. For similar asseverations of the writer's truthfulness see Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 11:10; 2 Corinthians 12:19; Galatians 1:20.

There is nothing derogatory from the apostle in supposing that the personal struggle in which he had been for years engaged with those who opposed his gospel made him always feel on the defensive, and that his self-vindication came to be expressed in stereotyped phrases which rose to his mind whenever the subject came before him, even in a letter to a loyal disciple.

κῆρυξ is used in the N.T. of a preacher here, and twice elsewhere; see reff. But κήρυγμα and κηρύσσω are constantly used of Christian preaching. Cf. esp. Romans 10:15, πῶς δὲ κηρύξωσιν ἐὰν μὴ ἀποσταλῶσιν; Bengel takes it in the sense of ambassador; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:20.

διδάσκαλος : διδάσκαλοι, in the technical Christian sense, are mentioned in Acts 13:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11. Here and in 2 Timothy 1:11 the term is used in a general signification. St. Paul does use διδάσκειν of his own ministerial functions: 1 Corinthians 4:17, Colossians 1:28, 2 Thessalonians 2:15.

ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ : It is best to take both these words in connexion with διδάσκαλος, and objectively, in the faith and the truth (see on ch. 1 Timothy 1:2). It is no objection to this view that the article is not expressed; the anarthrousness of common Christian terms is a feature of these epistles. Others, with Chrys., take both terms subjectively, faithfully and truly. Ellicott “refers πίστις to the subjective faith of the apostle, ἀλήθ. to the objective truth of the doctrine he delivered”. This does not yield a natural sense.

Harnack notes that the collocation of ἀπόστολος, διδάσκαλος is peculiar to the Pastorals and Hermas (Sim. ix. 15, 16, 25; Vis. iii. 5, “The apostles and bishops and teachers and deacons”). Harnack opines that “Hermas passed over the prophets because he reckoned himself one of them”. But the opinion of Lietzmann, which he quotes, seems sounder: Hermas “conceives this προφητεύειν as a private activity which God's equipment renders possible, but which lacks any official character” (Mission and Expansion of Christianity, trans. vol. i. p. 340).