Commentari biblici

2Ti 2:1-26.

EXHORTATIONS; TO FAITHFULNESS AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST; ERRORS TO BE SHUNNED; THE LORD'S SURE FOUNDATION; THE RIGHT SPIRIT FOR A SERVANT OF CHRIST.

1. Thou therefore--following my example

(2Ti 1:8, 12),

and that of ONESIPHORUS

(2Ti 1:16-18),

and shunning that of those who forsook me

(2Ti 1:15).

my son--Children ought to imitate their father.

be strong--literally, "be invested with power." Have power, and show thyself to have it; implying an abiding state of power.

in the grace--the element IN which the believer's strength has place. Compare

2Ti 1:7,

"God hath given us the spirit of power."

2. among--Greek, "through," that is, with the attestation (literally, "intervention") of many witnesses, namely, the presbyters and others present at his ordination or consecration

(1Ti 4:14; 6:12).

commit--in trust, as a deposit

(2Ti 1:14).

faithful--the quality most needed by those having a trust committed to them.

who--Greek, "(persons) such as shall be competent to teach (them to) others also." Thus the way is prepared for inculcating the duty of faithful endurance

(2Ti 2:3-13).

Thou shouldest consider as a motive to endurance, that thou hast not only to keep the deposit for thyself, but to transmit it unimpaired to others, who in their turn shall fulfil the same office. This is so far from supporting oral tradition now that it rather teaches how precarious a mode of preserving revealed truth it was, depending, as it did, on the trustworthiness of each individual in the chain of succession; and how thankful we ought to be that God Himself has given the written Word, which is exempt from such risk.

3. Thou therefore endure hardness--The oldest manuscripts have no "Thou therefore," and read, "Endure hardship with (me)." "Take thy share in suffering" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].

4. "No one while serving as a soldier."

the affairs of (this) life--"the businesses of life" [ALFORD]; mercantile, or other than military.

him who hath chosen him--the general who at the first enlisted him as a soldier. Paul himself worked at tent-making

(Ac 18:3).

Therefore what is prohibited here is, not all other save religious occupation, but the becoming entangled, or over-engrossed therewith.

5. And--"Moreover."

strive for masteries--"strive in the games" [ALFORD]; namely, the great national games of Greece.

yet is he not crowned, except--even though he gain the victory.

strive lawfully--observing all the conditions of both the contest (keeping within the bounds of the course and stript of his clothes) and the preparation for it, namely, as to self-denying diet, anointing, exercise, self-restraint, chastity, decorum, &c.

(1Co 9:24-27).

6. must be first partaker--The right of first partaking of the fruits belongs to him who is laboring; do not thou, therefore, relax thy labors, as thou wouldest be foremost in partaking of the reward. CONYBEARE explains "first," before the idler.

7. Consider the force of the illustrations I have given from the soldier, the contender in the games, and the husbandmen, as applying to thyself in thy ministry.

and the Lord give, &c.--The oldest manuscripts read, "for the Lord will give thee understanding." Thou canst understand my meaning so as personally to apply it to thyself; for the Lord will give thee understanding when thou seekest it from Him "in all things." Not intellectual perception, but personal appropriation of the truths metaphorically expressed, was what he needed to be given him by the Lord.

8. Rather as Greek, "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead." Remember Christ risen, so as to follow Him. As He was raised after death, so if thou wouldest share His risen "life," thou must now share His "death"

(2Ti 2:11).

The Greek perfect passive participle, implies a permanent character acquired by Jesus as the risen Saviour, and our permanent interest in Him as such. Christ's resurrection is put prominently forward as being the truth now assailed

(2Ti 2:18),

and the one best calculated to stimulate Timothy to steadfastness in sharing Paul's sufferings for the Gospel's sake (see on

2Ti 2:3).

of the seed of David--The one and only genealogy (as contrasted with the "endless genealogies,"

1Ti 1:4)

worth thinking of, for it proves Jesus to be the Messiah. The absence of the article in the Greek, and this formula, "of the seed of David" (compare

Ro 1:3),

imply that the words were probably part of a recognized short oral creed. In His death He assured us of His humanity; by His resurrection, of His divinity. That He was not crucified for His own sin appears from His resurrection; that He was crucified shows that He bore sin, on Him, though not in Him.

my gospel--that which I always taught.