a 1 Tim. i 2. ch, i. 2.

b Eph. vi. 10.

c ch. i. 13. & iii. 10. 14.

|| Or, by.

d 1 Tim. i. 18.

e 1 Tim. iii. 2. Tit. i. 9.

CHAP. II.

HOU therefore,a my son,

THO

be strong in the

grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And the things that thou hast heard of me

d

|| among many witnesses, the same commit thou

e

to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

1. "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." This assumes that it was in his power to be strong, because he had the means of grace, the Sacraments, the Scriptures, the examples of such men as Onesiphorus.

2. "And the things that thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses," &c. Were these " things" the Christian deposit ? From the former verse and the succeeding one (“endure hardness") some have supposed that it was an account of the Apostle's own hardships; but some believe it to refer to the good deposit, particularly as what is in it is to be committed to others who, in their turn, are to teach others. I am inclined to think that it is the sum and substance of the Apostle's teaching, which would be the expansion of the short creed or deposit, and its practical application.

It would seem that we are taught by this verse that there was, even at this later period, a considerable amount of oral teaching upon all subjects of faith and doctrine, and even ritual, which was solemnly, in the assembled Church, committed by the Apostle to those who were to succeed him. Such is most likely to have been the case, and, indeed, the more we think about it the more difficult it is to believe that it could have been otherwise. (See my notes on 1 Cor. xi., and the excursus on apostolical traditions at the end of volume on Epistles to Corinthians).

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3. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier," &c. Rather (according to oldest MSS.) "Endure hardness with me," omitting thou therefore” (συγκακοπάθησον instead of σὺ οὖν κακοπάθησον).

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CHAP. II.]

ENDURE HARDNESS.

273 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, & as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

f

h

g

f ch. i. 8. & iv. 5.

h 1 Cor. ix. 25.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself & 1 Tim. i, 18. with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

26.

5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet 11 Cor. ix. 25. is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

3. "Thou therefore endure hardness” (σù ov xaxorálnσov). So K., L., most Cursives, &c.; but N, A., C., D., E., F., G., P., 17, 31, 71, 80, Copt., Arm., Æth., read, "endure hardness with us" (σuvxaxonálnσov).

"Soldier." Some MSS. read, "fellow soldier."

4. "Warreth." F., G., Vulg., add "for God."

"As a good soldier of Jesus Christ." It is as much the part of a soldier to endure evil as it is for him to be armed, or to be disciplined, or to be under a general.

"As a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Christ is the captain of our salvation, and He won the victory by enduring hardness, and was even made perfect through suffering (Heb. ii. 10).

4. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life," &c. This does not allude so much to any soldier as to the soldier going on an expedition. If a soldier on the eve of a war so entangle himself, he would have to ask leave that he might attend to what he represented as urgent business, or if he were permitted so to do, to throw up his engagement. Now these words are addressed not to every Christian who is by his profession a soldier, but to the Christian minister whose ministry is ruined unless he is disengaged as far as can be from secular affairs. It is not so much the time spent on such matters as the engrossment of the mind by them. If a man is to be a successful minister he must give himself wholly to it, he must be "in" the things of his ministry (1 Tim. v. 16 note). Still this is not to be taken as excluding the minister under all circumstances from any other means of livelihood. St. Paul, whilst exercising the most active of ministries, spent some of his time working as a tent-maker,

5. "And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned," &c. Striving for masteries alludes to the discipline or training of the athletes in the public games. Their training was not left to themselves, they were obliged to obey the directions of a public

T

k 1 Cor. ix. 10. Or, The husbandman, labouring first, must be partaker of the fruits.

k

6 || The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

7. "The Lord give thee." So K., L., P., most Cursives; but N, A., C., D., E., F., G., d, e, f, g, Vulg., Copt., Arm., read, "will give thee."

trainer, and if they disobeyed they were liable to be excluded altogether from the race. And so it is in the Christian race. Unless each soldier, and more particularly, each minister, submits to discipline, he may be altogether debarred from receiving the

crown.

"Crowned." Of course not as a king, but as a victor. The difference is to be noted; men may receive a kingly crown out of favour or by descent, they cannot receive a victor's crown unless they have actually won the victory.

6. "The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits." There is a great difference amongst commentators respecting the application of this passage to Timothy as a labourer in the Gospel vineyard. The two former passages (verses 4 and 5) which illustrate from the soldier not encumbering himself, and the athlete observing the laws of the games, are said apparently by way of warning; but can this illustration of the husbandman be similarly taken? Only in the way that "that husbandman only who has endured the toil has a right (here the first right) to share the fruits."

I do not think that the Apostle can mean that hard labour in the Lord's vineyard carries its own reward along with it, and so urges Timothy to such hard labour. Blunt takes it as alluding to the honour of taking up the cross with his Master. "Here the same idea of suffering is carried out, the Apostle regarding it as the necessary result of ministerial labour in an age of persecution, and regarding it as a privilege that the ministerial labourer should be the first who should be called to bear the cross of his Master." The first meaning, though not without its difficulties, seems the best.

7. "Consider what I say: and the Lord give thee understanding,” &c. I have given thee three plain illustrations from the daily life of the world, consider them, lay them to heart, and the Lord

CHAP. II.]

REMEMBER.

275 8 Remember that Jesus Christ' of the seed of Acts ii. 30. &

xiii. 23. Rom. i. 3. 4.

will give thee understanding in all things. The Lord Himself constantly used illustrations taken from the common natural intercourse of men with one another, so that He will honour thy attention to such instructions, and give thee the wisdom thou seekest after.

8. "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David was raised," &c. The connection seems to be this. In the previous verses he had been speaking of suffering, of enduring hardness, of warring, of striving for the victor's crown. Now he bids him ever remember his great Exemplar—His sufferings, and His victory after suffering. Thus it is applied by the Church to the sick and suffering. "There should be no greater comfort to Christian persons than to be made like unto Christ by suffering patiently adversities, trouble and sicknesses. For He Himself went not up to joy but first He suffered pain, He entered not into His glory before He was crucified."

So it may signify, "Nerve yourself for your contest with the powers of darkness by the remembrance of your Lord and Master, the captain of your salvation, how He was of the seed of David according to the flesh, and on this account the promised Messiah, and on this account also a Messiah Who partook of our nature, so that He experienced all its sinless infirmities. And how after enduring the extremity of suffering, He was raised from the dead in token that He had won the crown for which He contended."

The order of the original is "Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead of the seed of David."

But this injunction to remember the Lord's Resurrection is capable of the widest application. The Resurrection is the seal of the truth of Christianity. For the Resurrection is the seal of the truth of the Lord's mission as the Christ the Son of God. It is the seal and assurance of the truth of all that the Lord had said of Himself, and of all that He had undertaken to do. It was the assurance from God Who raised Him from the dead, that He was God's own Son; that His Death was an all-sufficient sacrifice; that He would in due time raise us from the dead, and judge us; that we should be partakers of His Life; that because He lives we shall live also; that His Flesh shall be our meat indeed, and

m 1 Cor. xv. 1, David " was raised from the dead "according to

4, 20.

n Rom. ii. 16.

my gospel:

o Acts ix. 16.

ch. i. 12.

9 °Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evildoer,

P Ephes. iii. 1. Peven unto bonds; but the word of God is not Phil. i. 7.

Col. iv. 3, 18.

q Acts xxviii. 31. Ephes. vi. 19, 20. Phil. i. 13, 14.

bound.

10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's

S

sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation Ephes. iii. 13. which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Col. i. 24.

s 2 Cor. i. 6.

His Blood our drink indeed; and if there be any other promise of life uttered by Him, or contained in Him, of its truth His Resurrection is to be our assurance.

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According to my gospel." The Gospel of St. Paul was emphatically the doctrine of the Lord's Resurrection. Thus Rom. i. 1-3, "The gospel of God concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Who was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." Thus also in 1 Cor. xv. 1-10, he categorically declares the Gospel which he preached unto them, and this was that "Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again."

9. "Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds," &c. At St. Paul's former detention he was an appellant, having appealed to Cæsar; now he was treated as a malefactor (kaкoupyos) as his Master had been.

"But the word of God is not bound." "It does not depend upon me whether the Word of God is preached or not. I am in bonds and unable to preach as I once did, but the Gospel is spreading everywhere."

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...

10. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may," &c. A passage parallel to this, and illustrative of it, is to be found in Col. i. 24, “ I, Paul . . . fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." (See note on it.) If he suffered for Christ, he suffered for those on whose behalf Christ suffered. Christ now needed no suffering on His own account, but His people did, and so the Apostle in suffering for His cause suffered for them.

"That they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ