_PAUL'S LOVE TO TIMOTHY, AND THE UNFEIGNED FAITH WHICH WAS IN TIMOTHY HIMSELF, HIS MOTHER, AND GRANDMOTHER: HE IS EXHORTED TO STIR UP THE GIFT OF GOD WHICH WAS IN HIM, TO BE STEADFAST AND PATIENT IN PERSECUTION, AND TO PERSIST BOTH IN THE FORM, TRUTH, AND POWER OF THAT DOCTRINE WHICH HE HAD LEARNED... [ Continue Reading ]
_2 TIMOTHY 1:3_.— St. Paul,in what follows, seems to intimate that the Judaizers were not only ashamed of him in his present sufferings, but gloried over him; so far were they themselves from being willing to suffer for righteousness sake. And as the danger in which the apostle then was, might proba... [ Continue Reading ]
GREATLY DESIRING TO SEE THEE,— The intense thinking about a son who had endeared himself to his father in the gospel by a filial anxiety of heart, and many tears; who had suffered in all his afflictions, as well as rejoiced in his joy, must raise the most tender sentiments in the apostle's mind, and... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THY GRANDMOTHER LOIS, &C.— This is one _internal mark,_ among a multitude, of the genuineness of this epistle: for we find, Acts 16:1 that Timothy was of Jewish descent by his mother's side, but not by his father's. This, and many other such minute particulars, could not all of them have been exa... [ Continue Reading ]
STIR UP THE GIFT OF GOD, &C.— The word 'Αναζωπυρειν properly signifies _to blow_ or _stir up a fire,_ when it is almost dead, or does not burn sufficiently. Possibly there might be some danger, lest the fierce and zealous opposition of the Judaizers, and the persecution which the apostle and his fai... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD HATH NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF FEAR;— St. Paul has frequent references in his epistles to the terror which accompanied the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, and intimates that the Judaizing Christians, who were so fond of the legal dispensation, were of a legal spirit;—a slavish spirit of bon... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TESTIMONY OF OUR LORD,— That is, "The gospel itself; and more particularly the freedom of the Gentile converts from all subjection to the law of Moses." _His prisoner_ means, _Prisoner on his account,_ or _for his sake._ Heylin reads, _Be not thou ashamed of the gospel of our Lord, nor of me who... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH SAVED US, &C.— "Who hath rescued us out of the evil world, and called us to sanctity, not because we had deserved that mercy of his, but of his own free mercy and goodness long ago designed us in Christ; and now hath revealed it to us, and made us partakers of it, by Christ's coming into th... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH I HAVE COMMITTED UNTO HIM— "As to that momentous trust and treasure, inclusive of your spiritual gifts, and of the doctrine of the gospel, and your office as a minister to preach it, which is excellent in itself, and good for the use of edifying your own and others' souls, to the glory of... [ Continue Reading ]
HOLD FAST THE FORM OF SOUND WORDS,— _Hold fast in faith and love,_ &c. _the form of sound words,_ &c. Bengelius. _Retain well the idea of salutary doctrine which you have learned of me, concerning Christian faith and charity._ Heylin. The word 'Υποτυπωσις, rendered _form,_ signifies sometimes the sa... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT ALL THEY WHICH ARE IN ASIA, BE TURNED AWAY— Hereby was the prophesy fulfilled, Acts 20:29. The _Asiatics_ were infamous for their cowardice and effeminacy. St. Paul, it has been thought, alludes to their behaviour at _Rome,_ Ch. 2 Timothy 4:16 of which Timothy might have been informed by travel... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD GRANT UNTO HIM, &C.— This is a common _Hebraism._ See Genesis 1:26; Genesis 9:6; Genesis 9:16; Genesis 19:24.Isaiah 8:18. 1 Corinthians 1:7. _INFERENCES_—Shall an inspired apostle commit the true doctrine of Christ to ministers by immediate commission from God? And shall they not keep it pu... [ Continue Reading ]