2 Timothy 2:1. THOU THEREFORE, _i.e._ as following the example of Onesiphorus. BE STRONG. The Greek verb, passive and not middle, implies at once the being strengthened, and the continuance in the state thus reached; and this process and state find the element of their life in the grace which is f... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:2. THE THINGS THAT THOU HAST HEARD. Probably the same as the ‘sound words' of 2 Timothy 1:18. AMONG MANY WITNESSES. Better ‘ _with'_ or ‘ _through,'_ the presence of the witnesses, presbyters and others, being thought of as a condition of the act referred to. This, as the right renderi... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:3. ENDURE HARDNESS. The word is the same as that rendered in 2 Timothy 1:8, ‘be thou partaker of the afflictions.' ‘ _Take thy share in hardships'_ would express its meaning. We lose the emphasis of repetition by the change of the English words.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:4. NO MAN THAT WARRETH. Better, _‘no soldier on service.'_ AFFAIRS. The Greek word had acquired the secondary sense of affairs of trade, the _businesses_ of this life. In Roman practice a soldier could not make a trade contract, or be plaintiff in a lawsuit WHO HATH CHOSEN HIM TO BE A... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:5. STRIVE FOR MASTERIES. St. Paul's habitual way of looking at the Christian life led him to pass naturally from the thought of the soldier to that of the athlete. We want some word to express this more adequately in the English. _‘Strive in the games'_ would perhaps answer the purpose,... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:6. THE HUSBANDMAN THAT LABOURETH. The Greek, which expresses the qualifying clause by a present participle, implies labour during the (harvest or vintage rather than in the earlier stages of growth. Thus taken, the precept is parallel to that of not muzzling the ox as he treads out the c... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:7. CONSIDER WHAT I SAY. St. Paul contents himself with suggesting the analogies of the two previous verses, and leaves it to Timothy's reflection to see their bearing on himself. AND THE LORD GIVE THEE. The better reading gives _‘for the Lord will give thee.'_ This gives also a better... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:8. REMEMBER JESUS CHRIST. The exhortation, seemingly so abrupt and unconnected, looks both before and after. Quoting words which were probably part of some formulated confession of faith, St. Paul calls on Timothy to remember the two great truths of the Resurrection and the Incarnation.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:9. WHEREIN I SUFFER TROUBLE. The same emphatic word as the ‘endure hardness' of 2 Timothy 2:3, the ‘be partaker of afflictions' in 2 Timothy 1:8. The way in which St. Paul dwells upon the actual chains that were the outward marks of what men thought shame is eminently characteristic. So,... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:10. THEREFORE. Better, ‘ _for this reason,_ so as to leave the English, like the Greek, to point either to what precedes or follows. Here the latter seems to give the preferable meaning, as in the like construction in 1 Timothy 1:16; Philemon 1:15. He is content to endure all things that... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:11. IT IS A FAITHFUL SAYING. The rhythmical form of the sentence that follows suggests the thought that we have a fragment of one of the ‘spiritual songs' of Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16, uttered under prophetic inspiration, accepted by the Church, used in its worship, taught to child... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:12. SHALL ALSO REIGN WITH HIM. The thought, though not the words, enters into our Lord's teaching: ‘Ye shall sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel' (Matthew 19:28). HE ALSO WILL DENY US. The words clearly point to our Lord's teaching in Matthew 10:33, and, like other pass... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:13. IF WE BELIEVE NOT. The antithesis in the Greek is better expressed _by, ‘If we lose our faith. He still remains faithful.'_ The special reference is of course to the words of Christ just cited. We may turn a deaf ear to them, refuse to believe them, but they will be found true at las... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:14. PUT THEM IN REMEMBRANCE. No persons have been mentioned, but St. Paul clearly has in his mind the teachers who tend to strivings about words. A various reading of some authority gives, ‘Put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord; strive not about words,' but the text is p... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:15. STUDY, Strictly, ‘ _be eager, be zealous.'_ APPROVED, _i.e._ tried and standing the trial. RIGHTLY DIVIDING. The literal meaning, ‘ _cutting straight,_ ' admits obviously of many figurative applications, and the word has been referred accordingly to the work of the sculptor, the r... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:16. SHUN. The word gives the sense, but hardly the force of the Greek: ‘ _Draw back from,'_ as a group of men draw back from something horrible and loathsome. WILL EAT. Again a strictly medical term: ‘ _Will take its course, as if feeding on the flesh.'_... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:17. CANKER. Another medical word - Literally _‘gangrene,'_ the state between inflammation and entire mortification. The word is used by Hippocrates sometimes in this special sense, sometimes of cancer. HYMENÆUS AND PHILETUS. The former has been mentioned already (1 Timothy 1:20). Of th... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:18. SAYING THAT THE RESURRECTION IS PAST ALREADY. In the absence of clearer evidence, we cannot speak with certainty of the nature of the error, but the words apparently point to a Gnostic idealizing, and therefore anti-Jewish, school of speculation. Probably caricaturing St. Paul's own... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:19. THE FOUNDATION OF GOD STANDETH SURE. The Greek requires, ‘ _The strong_ (or _firm_) _foundation of God stands fast.'_ What is this ‘strong foundation'? And what is the imagery employed? The idea was, as we have seen, a familiar one with St. Paul, and is referred sometimes to Christ H... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:20. IN A GREAT HOUSE. The words imply a parable which is not formally interpreted. Rising as it does, however, from the thought of the ‘foundation' in 2 Timothy 2:19, we shall not be far wrong in assuming that the ‘great house' is (as in 1 Timothy 3:15) the Church of God. The sequel of t... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:21. IF A MAN PURGE HIMSELF FROM THESE. Better, _‘cleanse.'_ The pronoun, on the view just given, refers to the concrete acts implied in the ‘iniquity' of 2 Timothy 2:19. SANCTIFIED. In the liturgical rather than the ethical sense, ‘ _consecrated_ ' or ‘ _hallowed.'_... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:22. FLEE ALSO YOUTHFUL LUSTS. The English suggests too exclusively the thought of simple sensual desires, and these were doubtless prominent in St. Paul's thoughts, but the words have a wider range, and include a young man's vanity or ambition or impressiveness as well. PEACE, WITH THE... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:23. UNLEARNED QUESTIONS. The English adjective does not quite represent the force of the Greek, but it is not easy to find a better. ‘ _Undisciplined_,' perhaps, comes nearest. What is meant are the questionings which suggest themselves to untrained, uneducated minds, and which a true in... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:24. PATIENT. The Greek is more expressive, ‘ _patient under_, or _putting up with, evil.'_... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:25. INSTRUCTING. Better, as in Hebrews 12:6 and elsewhere, ‘ _chastising'_ or ‘ _correcting.'_ The word never means simple instruction, but always education and discipline, and is obviously used here in contrast to the ‘undisciplined' questioning of the preceding verse. IF GOD PERADVEN... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Timothy 2:26. THAT THEY MAY RECOVER THEMSELVES. Literally, _‘that they may awake as from a drunken sleep.'_ TAKEN CAPTIVE BY HIM AT HIS WILL. The English presents no difficulty, but in the Greek the two possessive pronouns are not the same, and are, apparently at least, presented in direct contra... [ Continue Reading ]