2 Timothy 1:1. ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE OF LIFE. An unusual addition to the opening formula of St. Paul's letters, probably rising out of the sense that the promise was near its fulfilment, and that he was about to pass through life to death.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:2. MY DEARLY BELOVED SON. The change of epithet from the ‘ _true_ son' of the First Epistle may be only a casual variation without any conscious purpose. To the extent, however, in which we may trace in modern correspondence a variation of feeling in ‘yours faithfully' and ‘yours affecti... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:3. WHOM I SERVE FROM MY FOREFATHERS. The English word suggests more remote ancestors than were in St. Paul's thoughts. We have no word that precisely answers to the Greek, and are compelled to choose between ‘parents' (as in 1 Timothy 5:4), which is too narrow, and ‘forefathers,' which i... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:4. REMEMBERING THY TEARS. The words clearly refer to their last parting, probably that referred to in 1 Timothy 1:3. There, with his mind dwelling on the duties to which Timothy had been called, it was natural not to refer to the personal emotions of that parting. Now that absence had in... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:5. WHEN I CALL TO REMEMBRANCE. Warm as the words sound, there is just the shadow of a misgiving in them. He has to call to mind the past in order to feel confident for the future. THY GRANDMOTHER LOIS. We now see the reason of his reference to his own family. His remembrance of their p... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:6. I PUT THEE IN REMEMBRANCE. The anxiety shows itself again. It is necessary to remind the disciple, shrinking from danger or worry, to ‘stir up' (literally, _‘to rekindle')_ the gift of God, which, as in the phrase ‘quench not the Spirit,' is thought of as a flame that may dwindle and... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:7. GOD HATH NOT GIVEN. Better, ‘ _did not give.'_ THE SPIRIT OF FEAR. Better, _‘cowardice._ Here, again, in the use of so strong a word, we trace the desire of the apostle to rouse Timothy from what seemed to him an undue timidity. A SOUND MIND. The Greek implies more than this (bett... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:8. BE NOT THOU THEREFORE ASHAMED. The exhortation, grounded on the fact that the spiritual gifts which he had received should be allowed, as it were, free play, implies some fear that Timothy was acting as if ashamed of the testimony of Jesus. NOR OF ME HIS PRISONER. Something obviousl... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:9. The tram of thought obviously is: God has done so much for us. Shall we not at least do something for Him, if only by exercising the gifts He has bestowed on us? After his manner, once entering on the great theme, the writer is carried on by the fulness of his thoughts. A HOLY CALLI... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:10. BY THE APPEARING. Remarkable as the only passage in the New Testament in which the word ἐπιφανεία (= manifestation) is applied to the Incarnation of our Lord. Elsewhere, as in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 1 Timothy 6:14, 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13, it is always used of the ‘ap... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:11. A PREACHER, AN APOSTLE, AND A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES. There is something characteristic in the way in which Paul the aged, here and in 1 Timothy 2:7, where we find the same combination, accumulates one word upon another to express the greatness of his vocation. He is at once the her... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:12. I ALSO SUFFER THESE THINGS. He assumes that the things of which he speaks are known to Timothy. They are at least sufficiently implied in the word ‘prisoner.' I AM NOT ASHAMED. The same word as in 2 Timothy 1:8. He is not ashamed of his work. Why should Timothy be ashamed of him?... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:13. HOLD FAST THE FORM OF SOUND WORDS. The word rendered ‘form' (υ ̔ ποτυ ́ πωσις) is the same as that rightly translated ‘pattern' in 1 Timothy 1:16. It is therefore probable that a word so rarely used by St. Paul is used here also in the same sense. Its position shows that it is emphat... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:14. THAT GOOD THING WHICH WAS COMMITTED UNTO THEE. Taken in connexion with the foregoing reference to the healthy or health-giving words, the phrase includes what has been technically called the ‘ _depositum fidei;'_ but it has, as in 2 Timothy 1:12, a wider range not the doctrine or th... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:15. THIS THOU KNOWEST. With a singular naturalness, the apostle turns from his earnest exhortation to what we may call the ‘news' of his letter. Yet it is not altogether news. He is telling Timothy what in part he knew before, and his motive in so doing is not far to seek. ALL THEY WHI... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:16. THE LORD GIVE MERCY TO THE HOUSE OF ONESIPHORUS. Now we see what train of thought has led to the mention of these names. Timothy is to look on this picture and on that, and to ask himself whether he will cast in his lot with the two whose desertion had pained his father in the faith,... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:17. WHEN HE WAS IN BORNE. It follows from this that he had left it, or, as above, was dead, at the time when St. Paul wrote. SOUGHT ME OUT VERY DILIGENTLY. Literally, ‘ _more diligently,'_ as by an implied comparison with the conduct of others, or with the average of what was common. O... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 1:18. THAT HE MAY FIND MERCY FROM THE LORD IN THAT DAY. On the assumption already mentioned as probable, this would, of course, be a prayer for the dead. The reference to the great day of judgment falls in with this hypothesis. Such prayers were, we know from 2Ma 12:41-45, common among the... [ Continue Reading ]