The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules. The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
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2 Timothy 2:2-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules. The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
Parallel Translations
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The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.
The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops.
Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
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And what thynges thou hast hearde of me many bearynge witnes the same diliver to faythfull men which are apte to teache other
Thou therfore suffre affliccion as a good soudier of Iesu Christ.
No man that warreth entanglith him silfe with worldely busynes and that be cause he wolde please him that hath chosen him to be a soudier.
And though a man strive for a mastery yet ys he not crouned except he strive laufully.
The husbandman that laboreth must fyrst receave of the frutes.
Consyder what I saye. The lorde geve the vnderstondynge in all thynges.
Show all 3 translations
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And what things thou hast heard of me, by many witnesses, ye same deliuer to faithfull men, which shalbe able to teache other also.
Thou therefore suffer affliction as a good souldier of Iesus Christ.
No man that warreth, entangleth himselfe with the affaires of this life, because he woulde please him that hath chosen him to be a souldier.
And if any man also striue for a Masterie, he is not crowned, except he striue as he ought to doe.
The husbandman must labour before he receiue the fruites.
Consider what I say: and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all things:
Cross-references (116)
- 2 Timothy 1:13-14 (v2) Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:4 (v4) But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak: not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our…
- Hebrews 12:2-3 (v3) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and…
- Luke 8:14 (v4) That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and…
- 1 Timothy 4:6 (v2) If you instruct the brothers of these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the…
Show all 100 cross-references
- James 1:12 (vv3, 5) Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to…
- 1 Timothy 6:12 (v2) Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight…
- Malachi 2:7 (v2) For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.
- 2 Peter 2:20 (v4) For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again…
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (v5) Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. Every man who strives in…
- 2 Timothy 4:5 (v3) But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
- 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 (v4) For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s…
- 1 Corinthians 9:25-26 (v4) Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an…
- Titus 1:5-9 (v2) I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I…
- Ephesians 6:11-18 (v3) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and…
- 2 Timothy 1:8 (v3) Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the…
- Luke 9:59-62 (v4) He said to another, “Follow me!” But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to…
- 2 Corinthians 5:9 (v4) Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
- 2 Timothy 4:10 (v4) for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia.
- Revelation 3:11 (v5) I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
- 1 Timothy 6:9-12 (v4) But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and…
- 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (v3) For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty…
- 2 Timothy 3:10 (v2) But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,
- Hebrews 10:32 (v3) But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;
- Ezra 7:25 (v2) You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are…
- Jeremiah 23:28 (v2) The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the…
- 2 Timothy 2:10 (v3) Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal…
- 1 Corinthians 9:7-11 (v6) What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink…
- 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (v5) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for…
- Hebrews 10:36 (v6) For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
- 1 Timothy 1:18 (vv2–3) I commit this instruction to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which were given to you before, that by them you may wage…
- Luke 16:10-12 (v2) He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If therefore…
- 2 Corinthians 1:6 (v3) But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the…
- Colossians 1:29 (v5) for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
- Luke 12:42 (v2) The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at…
- 1 Timothy 1:12 (v2) I thank him who enabled me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to service;
- James 1:5 (v7) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
- Proverbs 13:17 (v2) A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.
- 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (v6) I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the…
- 1 Corinthians 4:2 (v2) Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
- 1 Timothy 4:14 (v2) Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
- 1 John 5:20 (v7) We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in…
- Ezra 7:10 (v2) For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
- Luke 13:24 (v5) “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.
- 2 Timothy 2:24-25 (v2) The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness correcting those who oppose him:…
- 2 Timothy 3:11 (v3) persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord…
- Revelation 2:10-13 (v2) Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be…
- Genesis 41:38-39 (v7) Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God…
- Nehemiah 7:2 (v2) I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above…
- Luke 10:2 (v6) Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may…
- Luke 24:45 (v7) Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.
- John 4:35-38 (v6) Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are…
- 1 Corinthians 9:23 (v6) Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
- Colossians 1:7 (v2) even as you learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf,
- 2 Timothy 3:14 (v2) But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.
- Deuteronomy 20:5-7 (v4) The officers shall speak to the people, saying, “What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and…
- 1 Samuel 2:35 (v2) I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure…
- Psalms 101:6 (v2) My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me.
- Proverbs 2:3-6 (v7) yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden…
- Isaiah 28:24-26 (v6) Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t…
- Matthew 9:37-38 (v6) Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will…
- Matthew 20:1 (v6) “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his…
- Matthew 21:33-41 (v6) “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in…
- John 14:26 (v7) But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said…
- 1 Corinthians 13:7 (v3) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
- Ephesians 1:17-18 (v7) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,…
- Philippians 1:15 (v5) Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.
- 1 Timothy 3:2-9 (v2) The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; not a…
- Hebrews 2:7 (v5) You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor.
- Hebrews 6:15 (v3) Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
- Hebrews 11:27 (v3) By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
- Revelation 2:10 (v5) Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be…
- Matthew 13:52 (v2) He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who…
- Luke 21:15 (v7) for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
- John 16:13 (v7) However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he…
- Colossians 1:9 (v7) For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the…
- 1 Timothy 4:15 (v7) Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.
- Hebrews 2:9 (v5) But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,…
- Hebrews 12:4 (v5) You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.
- James 3:17 (v7) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and…
- 1 Peter 5:4 (v5) When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
- Psalms 119:125 (v7) I am your servant. Give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies.
- Proverbs 24:32 (v7) Then I saw, and considered well. I saw, and received instruction:
- Isaiah 28:26 (v7) For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him.
- Daniel 1:17 (v7) Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and…
- Matthew 24:25 (v2) “Behold, I have told you beforehand.
- Acts 7:10 (v7) and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt…
- 1 Corinthians 12:8 (v7) For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
- Philippians 4:8 (v7) Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever…
- 1 Timothy 5:22 (v2) Lay hands hastily on no one. Don’t be a participant in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure.
- Hebrews 2:17 (v2) Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things…
- Hebrews 3:1 (v7) Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,
- Hebrews 3:2-3 (v2) who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses,…
- Hebrews 7:4 (v7) Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best plunder.
- Hebrews 12:3 (v7) For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
- Hebrews 13:7 (v7) Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.
- Exodus 36:1-2 (v7) “Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work…
- Numbers 12:7 (v2) My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house.
- Numbers 27:16-17 (v7) “Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in…
- Deuteronomy 4:39 (v7) Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (116 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2 And which thou hast heard from me. He…
2 And which thou hast heard from me. He again shews how earnestly desirous he is to transmit sound doctrine to posterity; and he exhorts Timothy, not only to preserve its shape and features, (as he formerly did,) but likewise to hand it down to godly teachers, that, being widely spread, it may take root in the hearts of many; for he saw that it would quickly perish if it were not soon scattered by the ministry of many persons. And, indeed, we see what Satan did, not long after the death of the Apostles; for, just as if preaching had been buried for some centuries, he brought in innumerable reveries, which, by their monstrous absurdity, surpassed the superstitions of all the heathens. We need not wonder, therefore, if Paul, in order to guard against an evil of such a nature and of such magnitude, earnestly desires that his doctrines shall be committed to all godly ministers, who shall be qualified to teach it. As if he had said, — “See that after my death there may remain a sure attestation of my doctrine; and this will be, if thou not only teach faithfully what thou hast learned from me, but take care that it be more widely published by others; therefore, whomsoever thou shalt see fitted for that work, commit to their trust this treasure.”
Commit to believing men He calls them believing men, not on account of their faith, which is common to all Christians, but on account of their pre-eminence, as possessing a large measure of faith. We might even translate it “faithful men;” for there are few who sincerely labor to preserve and perpetuate the remembrance of the doctrine intrusted to them. Some are impelled by ambition, and that of various kinds, some by covetousness, some by malice, and others are kept back by the fear of dangers; and therefore extraordinary faithfulness is here demanded.
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By many witnesses He does not mean that he produced witnesses in a formal and direct manner in the case of Timothy; but, because some might raise a controversy whether that which Timothy taught had proceeded from Paul, or had been forged by himself, he removes all doubt by this argument, that he did not speak secretly in a corner, but that there were many alive who could testify that Timothy spoke nothing which they had not formerly heard from the mouth of Paul. The doctrine of Timothy would therefore be beyond suspicion, seeing that they had many fellow-disciples, who could bear testimony to it. Hence we learn how greatly a servant of Christ should labor to maintain and defend the purity of doctrine, and not only while he lives, but as long as his care and labor can extend it.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–7 When many were by, which can bear witness of…
When many were by, which can bear witness of these things.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2 And the things that thou hast heard of…
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Ver. 2. Commit them to faithful men] No talent is given us for private and proper use, but that we be trading and transmitting it also to others. Synesius speaks of some, who having a treasure of abilities in them, yet would as soon part with their hearts as with their meditations, &c., the canker of whose great skill shall be a witness against them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–7 And the things that thou hast heard of me…
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses; the doctrine of the gospel which thou hast heard from me, confirmed by the testimony of many of the prophets of old, or, which thou heardest from me committed to thy trust, there being many witnesses present, when thou wert ordained. or set apart to thy office.
The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also; commit unto others that shall be set apart for the ministry; but let them be such as have an ability to communicate their knowledge to others, and such as thou shalt judge will be faithful to their trust.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv2–3 A second charge given to Timothy, is to take…
A second charge given to Timothy, is to take special care that the doctrine of the gospel, and the precepts of holy living, which he had heard St. Paul deliver, in the presence of many witnesses, should be handed down and transmitted to men of great fidelity and ability, whom he was to ordain and impower to teach it unto others.
Where note, 1. A direction given to the guides and governors of the church, how they ought to manage themselves in the ordination of the ministerial offices: This office is to be committed unto faithful able men, many may be useful in the church, that cannot be excellent, but he that is unfaithful, is only fit to make atheists.
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Note, 2. That such as have the gospel deposited with them, may and ought to deposit it with others, and they with others, to the end of the world, thereby to prevent all innovations and diversity of opinions in matters of religion: When thou hast heard, commit to faithful men.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–7 And the things that thou hast heard of me,....…
And the things that thou hast heard of me,.... Meaning the doctrines of the Gospel, the form of sound words. The Arabic version renders it, "the secrets, or mysteries that thou hast heard of me"; the mysteries of the grace of God, which he had often heard him discourse of, unfold and explain:
among many witnesses; or by them; which some understand of the testimonies out of Moses, and the prophets, with which the apostle confirmed what he delivered; for the doctrines of justification, pardon of sin, &c. by Christ, were bore witness to by the prophets; though rather the many persons, who, with Timothy, heard the apostle preach, and were and would be sufficient witnesses for Timothy, on occasion, that what he preached and committed to others were the same he had heard and received from the Apostle Paul; unless reference should be had here to the time of imposition of hands upon him, when he received some ministerial gifts, or an increase of them; at which time the apostle might deliver to him the form of doctrine he was to preach, and that in the presence of the presbytery, who joined in the action, and so were witnesses of what was said to him:
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the same commit thou to faithful men; who not only have received the grace of God, and are true believers in Christ, but are men of great uprightness and integrity; who having the word of God, will speak it out boldly, and faithfully, and keep back nothing that is profitable, but declare the whole counsel of God, without any mixture or adulteration; for the Gospel being committed to their trust, they would become stewards, and of such it is required that they be faithful; and therefore this is mentioned as a necessary and requisite qualification in them; and not only so, but they must be such
who shall be able or sufficient
to teach others also. No man is sufficient for these things, of himself, but his sufficiency is of God; it is he who makes men able ministers of the word, by giving them gifts suitable for such work; so that they have a furniture in them, a treasure in their earthen vessels, an understanding of the sacred Scriptures, a gift of explaining them, and a faculty of speaking to edification; and so are apt to teach men, to their profit and advantage, The Ethiopic version renders it, "who are fit to teach the foolish".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 6 The things - The wholesome doctrine, ver. 13. Commit…
The things - The wholesome doctrine, ver. 13. Commit - Before thou leavest Ephesus. To faithful men, who will be able, after thou art gone, to teach others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Verse 2. The things that thou hast heard of…
Verse 2. The things that thou hast heard of me] Those doctrines which I have preached the most publicly, and which many persons can attest. But he seems to refer here to the doctrines delivered to him when, in the presence of many witnesses, he laid his hands upon him; see 1Ti 6:12. Then the apostle gave him the proper form of sound words which he was to teach; and now he tells him to commit those truths to faithful men in the same way that they were committed to him, that the truth might be preserved in the Church, and holy men appointed successively to preach it. These truths are still continued in the Church, and still there are faithful men who proclaim them. But where is the uninterrupted apostolical succession! Who can tell? Probably it does not exist on the face of the world. All the pretensions to it by certain Churches are as stupid as they are idle and futile. He who appeals to this for his authority as a Christian minister, had best sit down till he has made it out; and this will be by the next Greek kalends.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v3 2Ti 2:3-7. Thou therefore endure hardness — Κακοπαθησον, literally,…
2Ti 2:3-7. Thou therefore endure hardness — Κακοπαθησον, literally, endure evil; that is, expect persecutions and various sufferings, and, by the powerful aids of divine grace, endure them with courage, constancy, and patience; as a good soldier of Jesus Christ — Who endured much greater afflictions in the days of his flesh, and hath thereby shown all who engage to fight under his banner, and would approve themselves his faithful soldiers, that they must expect to meet with various hardships and sufferings, and in what spirit they must sustain them, that they may war a good warfare, and prove victorious. No man that warreth entangleth himself — any more than is unavoidable, in the affairs of this life — With any other business or employment; that — Minding war only; he may please him who hath chosen him, &c. — Namely, his captain or general. In this and the next verse, there is a plain allusion to the Roman law of arms, and to that of the Grecian games. According to the former, no soldier, at least no legionary soldier, (as Grotius has here shown,) was suffered to engage in any civil occupation, such as agriculture, merchandise, mechanical employments, or any business which might divert him from his profession. According to the latter, no one could be crowned as conqueror who did not keep strictly to the rules of the game. The apostle, by applying these things to the ministers of the gospel, hath shown that all who undertake the office of the ministry should, on the one hand, avoid engaging in such secular businesses as would engross their attention, and require much time to execute; and, on the other, should be careful to observe all the rules of faith and practice enjoined in the gospel. The husbandman that laboureth, &c. — This should undoubtedly be rather rendered, The husbandman must first labour, and then partake of the fruits; or, must labour before he partake of the fruits. For it was entirely to the apostle’s purpose to remind Timothy that the labour of the husbandman must precede the harvest; but whether he was to receive these fruits first, or before any others, was not the point in question. How much more, as if the apostle had said, oughtest thou to labour, O Timothy, in the ministry before thou art rewarded. Consider what I say — Concerning the necessity of devoting thyself wholly to the ministry, and enduring evil; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things — Belonging to the gospel, and thy duty as a Christian and a minister.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2–7 And the things which thou hast heard of me…
And the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses - Margin, “by.” Before, or in the presence of, many witnesses. Perhaps he refers to a solemn charge which he gave him, in the presence of the church, when he was ordained. It is by no means improbable that such a charge was given then to a newly ordained minister, as it is now. On such an occasion, the apostle would be likely to state a summary of Christian doctrine, - (compare the notes at 2Ti 1:13), - and to exhort Timothy to a faithful adherence to it.
The same commit thou to faithful men - In the same way as those things have been committed to you. The reference is undoubtedly to ordination to the ministerial office. Timothy was to see that those only were admitted to the ministry who were qualified to understand the truths of religion, and to communicate them to others. This is a clear warrant for ministers to set apart others to the same sacred office. It does not prove that the people are not at liberty to choose their own pastor, but only that those in the ministry are to set apart others to the same office with themselves. There is, doubtless, to be a “succession” of ministers in the church; but the true line of the “succession” is to be found in good men who are qualified to teach, and who have the spirit of Christ, and not merely in those who have been ordained.
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Who shall be able to teach others also - On the qualifications of ministers, see the notes at 1Ti 3:2-7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7 Before may witnesses. Some expound it, in the presence…
Before may witnesses. Some expound it, in the presence of many witnesses; others, of the witnesses and testimonies which St. Paul had brought out of the Scriptures, when he instructed Timothy. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–7 among--Greek, "through," that is, with the attestation (literally, "intervention")…
among--Greek, "through," that is, with the attestation (literally, "intervention") of many witnesses, namely, the presbyters and others present at his ordination or consecration (Ti1 4:14; Ti1 6:12).
commit--in trust, as a deposit (Ti2 1:14).
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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 (Ti2 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2. Not only must Timothy be strong for the…
2. Not only must Timothy be strong for the gospel, but he must plan for its future permanence.
Heard… among… witnesses—The Greek aorist requires not hast heard, but heardst, that is, heard on a particular occasion, namely, at his ordination. 2Ti_1:6; and 1Ti_4:14. The Greek is, through many witnesses, referring, perhaps, to the elders present at the laying on of hands, through whom, as testifiers, Paul’s charge was confirmed unto Timothy.
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This verse commends successionalism as a method of continuing faith and piety in the Church; a successionalism authenticated by ordination. But the succession and the ordination are a means, and not an end. The end is the transmission of a true doctrine and a genuine piety. Where the ordination would transmit a false doctrine and a spurious piety the ordination loses its power. The ordination is as truly tested by the faith and piety, as the faith and piety by the ordination.
The verse also indicates that a genuine tradition, handed down from apostolic authority, has a valid authority. Only, first, its genuineness is to be completely proved; and, second, it must appear that the tradition was intended by the apostolic authority to be a law for the Church. But as complex doctrinal traditions, orally transmitted, are liable to corruption, we have the written word as the sure ultimate test. This is recorded tradition, and where the text is well verified, this becomes the safe criterion of doctrine. It is notable, that, though Paul claims apostolic authority in delivering sure Christian truth, he claims not, nor seems to realize, that his own written words were to be the future Scripture of the Church. By the mind of the Church it was, that when the spoken words of the apostles began to fade from memory, the written word was placed in the position of Scripture authority.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2. the things that thou hast heard of me…
2. the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses] ‘Of’ in the sense of from as in 2Ti_1:13; ‘among,’ i.e. ‘in the presence of according to the well-known use of the same preposition in Gal_3:19 ‘(the law) ordained through angels,’ i.e. ‘in the presence of,’ ‘amid the pomp of.’ Cf. Winer iii. § 47 i., ‘intervenientibus multis testibus.’ We are most probably to understand the presbyters who assisted at Timothy’s ordination. See 1Ti_4:14; and note the similar form of the statement there ‘amid the pomp of prophesying’ with the similar use of the preposition.
the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able] Lit., ‘who are of such a class that they will be able,’ as 1Ti_1:4, &c. St Clement of Rome, St Paul’s contemporary, thus further defines the rule of this apostolic succession, ad Cor. c. 44. ‘The Apostles appointed the above-named priests and deacons, permanence being afterwards given by them to the office in order that oh the death of the first-appointed other reputed men should succeed to their ministry. Those then who were appointed either directly by the Apostles or in the second generation by other approved heads with the consent of the whole Church … we do not think can be rightly ejected from office.’ See Lightfoot’s emended text, p. 136.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–7 (2) And the things that thou hast heard of…
(2) And the things that thou hast heard of me.—These “things” have been often understood as referring to the few great fundamental truths rehearsed by the Apostle, in the presence of the elders of the congregation, on the occasion of Timothy’s solemn ordination. “The things,” then, would have been something of the nature of what is contained in a creed or profession of faith. But it is better to give to “the things” which Timothy had heard of St. Paul, and which he was to deliver to other faithful men in his turn, a much broader reference, and to understand them as comprehending far more than the narrow limits of a profession of faith could possibly contain. “The things” were, no doubt, the sum of St. Paul’s teaching, the general conception of Pauline theology, which Timothy, so long the Apostle’s intimate and confidential friend and disciple, was to give out to another generation of believers. It was, in fact, the “Gospel of St. Luke”—“my Gospel,” as we love to think St. Paul termed that matchless summary of the life and teaching of the Blessed. It was the theology shrined in such Epistles as those once written to the Romans or Ephesians in past years. These “things” again and again, in crowded congregations, before Jewish and Christian elders, before assemblies composed of idolaters, had Timothy heard that master of his, with his winning, pleading voice, tell out among “many witnesses.” Those “things” Timothy, in his turn, the voice of St. Paul the Aged being hushed, was now to commit to others.
Among many witnesses.—These, according to the above interpretation, included Pagans and Jews, the rich and poor, the untaught sinners of the Gentiles and the skilled rabbi trained in the schools of Jerusalem and Alexandria.
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The same commit thou to faithful men.—Not to men merely who were “believers” in Jesus Christ. This, of course, was intended, but the “faithful men” here denoted loyal, trusty souls—men who, under no temptation, would betray the charge committed to them.
Who shall be able to teach others also.—Not only must the Christian teachers to whom Timothy is to give the commission of teaching, be trustworthy men, they must also possess knowledge and the power of communicating knowledge to others. Although the divine help was to be prayed for and expected in this and all other sacred works, yet it is noticeable how St. Paul directs that no ordinary human means of securing success must be neglected. St. Paul’s last charge in these Pastoral Letters of his, directed that only those shall be selected as teachers of religion whose earthly gifts were such as fitted them for the discharge of their duties. While there is nothing in this passage to support the theory of an authoritative oral teaching, existing from the days of the Apostles, in the Church—the words of St. Paul here point to the duty of the Christian soldier, not only himself to keep unchanged and safe the treasure of the Catholic faith as taught by the Apostle, but to hand down the same unimpaired and safe to other hands.
The great Christian truths were never allowed to be recklessly handled. There was a school, so to speak, of Christian theology in the time of St. Paul. His dying charge directed his best beloved disciple to make careful provision for the choice and training of teachers in the congregation. Men able as well as willing, gifted as well as zealous, should be the objects of his choice.
Some have imagined that these directions respecting the handing down the lamp of Christian truth to others were given to Timothy with a view to his leaving Ephesus—the appointed scene of his labours—for Rome, to join the imprisoned Apostle (2Ti_4:9), in which event men able as well as devoted should be left in this great centre to carry on the work of Timothy and of St. Paul. But it is far better to understand St. Paul’s charge as given to Timothy, a representative leader of the Church of Christ, and to understand the Apostle’s words as addressed to the Church of all times. The runners in the Christian race must take good care before they fall out of the course that their torches, still burning, be handed on to the athletes who take their place.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Which for that, A.V; from for of, A.V The…
Which for that, A.V; from for of, A.V The things which thou hast heard, etc. Here we have distinctly enunciated the succession of apostolical doctrine through apostolical men. We have also set before us the partnership of the presbyterate, and, in a secondary degree, of the whole Church, with the apostles and bishops their successors, in preserving pure and unadulterated the faith once delivered to the saints. There can be little doubt that St. Paul is here alluding to Timothy"s ordination, as in 1Ti_4:14 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_1:6, 2Ti_1:7, 2Ti_1:13, 2Ti_1:14. Timothy had then heard from the apostle"s lips a certain "form of sound words something in the nature of a creed, some summary of gospel truth, which was the deposit placed in his charge; and in committing it to him, he and the presbyters present had laid their hands on him, and the whole Church had assented, and confirmed the same. "Thus through many witnesses," whose presence and assent, like that of witnesses to the execution of a deed of transfer of land, (Gen_23:10, Gen_23:16, Gen_23:18) was necessary to make the transaction valid and complete, had Timothy received his commission to preach the Word of God; and what he had received he was to hand on in like manner to faithful men, who should be able to teach the same to others also. Commit (paraqou); identifying the doctrine committed to be handed on with the deposit (paraqhkh) of 1Ti_6:20 and 2Ti_1:14. It is important to note here both the concurrence of the presbyters and the assent of the Church. The Church has ever been averse to private ordinations, and has ever associated the people as consentient parties in ordination (Thirty-first Canon; Preface to "Form and Manner of Making of Deacons," and rubric at close the face of the Church;" "Form and Manner of Ordering of Priests people," etc.)
Admonition to Timothy respecting the appointment of faithful preachers.
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At such a period of unfaithfulness and timidity, it was necessary to provide for the continuous wants of the Church.
I THE TRUST TIMOTHY IS TO DELIVER TO FAITHFUL MEN. "The things which thou heardest from me among many witnesses.
1. Timothy heard these things from the apostle at his ordination, but oftener still during his long missionary travels, when he would hear the apostle discourse to large and varied congregations of both Jews and Gentiles.
2. The substance of his Trenching would be the grand outlines of Pauline theology, as they are exhibited in the Epistles, Jesus Christ being the central theme.
3. There is nothing here to countenance the Roman idea of tradition, as if Timothy was to transmit a body of oral instruction to the latest generations, through successive generations of teachers. The instructions in question are actually contained in the Scriptures, and are no longer committed to the doubtful custody of human memory.
II THE PERSONS TO WHOM THE TRUST WAS TO BE COMMITTED. "The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
1. Timothy was to judge of their qualifications. They were not to judge of their own fitness; they were not to find their place as teachers by self-appointment.
2. Their ordination in itself was to be no qualification; for they might possibly have been wholly destitute of teaching gifts. There is nothing in the passage to justify the idea of apostolic succession.
3. Their qualifications were to be twofold.
(1) Faithfulness; for "a steward of the mysteries of God" must be faithful, not betraying the charge committed to him, declaring the whole counsel of God, and keeping back nothing that is profitable.
(2) Teaching power. "Who shall be able to teach others also." The bishop must be "apt to teach," with a true understanding of the Scriptures, a gift of explication, and a faculty of edifying speech. T.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2–7 The things that thou hast heard of me among…
2Ti_2:2
The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses commit to faithful men, able to teach others also.
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How the Church is to be continued
I. CARE IS TO BE HAD THAT THE CHURCH MAY BE CONTINUED. Art thou a ruler in Christendom, like Jehosaphat? Send Levites into the dark corners of the land. Rich? Found colleges, relieve the sons of the prophets, and repair the decayed walls of Jerusalem. Hast thou children? Nurse them up in the fear of God, teach them the principles in the holy letters, and, with Hannah, dedicate thy firstborn to the Lord. If thou be poor, yet pray for Jerusalem.
II. By the Word preached the Church is continued.
III. The more witnesses, the greater encouragement to well-doing.
IV. All ministers are to teach the same things. AS there is but one true God, one Saviour, Redeemer, Faith, Love, etc., so but one law, gospel, doctrine, baptism, which is to be preached for their glory and our salvation. Thrash thy corn out of Gods barn, beat it forth of the apostolical rick of the holy letters; bring thy grain into the market of the Church, which prophetical spirits have in former ages set to sale; and it shall feed thee and thine to life eternal, for be thou assured that the soundest testimony is this, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
V. Ministers must be faithful. And this faithfulness is in--
1. Doctrine.
2. Life.
Thou hast known, saith Paul to Timotheus, my doctrine, manner of living. To be faithful in doctrine, the matter what, and the manner how, to be delivered are both to be regarded. For matter, it must be what we have received from the Lord. For the manner, a double condition is to be observed. First, that the word of truth be divided aright; each person have his portion, according to his spiritual estate and disposition. And secondly, the doctrine must be intelligible, else how should the people be edified? Now, as faithfulness in doctrine, so in life is required of a minister. What they preach they are to practice, for the vulgar sort be more led by examples than rules, patterns than precepts. Should ministers be faithful? Then let such as have in their power ordination, and induction, lay hands rashly on no man; make choice of faithful, able persons.
VI. Ability to teach is necessary for a minister.
1. Some knowledge of the tongues and arts is necessary. For as the form lieth closely couched in the matter, the kernel in the shell, so doth the truth in the several languages.
2. To be an able man requires a sound memory. For the truth being invented, orderly disposed, is then firmly to be retained.
3. A door of utterance is also necessary. When we have invented, judged, and methodically disposed of Divine truths, then we must clothe them with the garment of apt words.
4. And to omit many; an able minister must have his whole carriage in the delivery of his doctrine, suitable and correspondent to it. His countenance, elevation, pronunciation, gesture, and action, are to vary and be altered as the matter in handling requireth. And let all men make mention of them in their prayers.
VII. The same truth shall be continued unto the end of the world. For Christ received it from the Father, the Holy Ghost from Christ, the apostles from Him, faithful men from them; and so by a successive communication it shall continue for ever. As one sun shall enlighten the world, so one gospel the minds of men, until Jesus returns to judge all the posterity of Adam. (J. Barlow, D. D.)
Able teachers
The apprentice, who has just entered the blacksmiths shop, may wear a leathern apron, and blacken his hands and face, but though he may try to make other boys think he is a blacksmith, everybody knows that it requires years of hard labour to make him an able workman; and even after an apprenticeship, some men are but very poor hands at their trade. So, the having ones name entered as a certified instructor does not certify that a man is an able teacher. Is not goodness higher than arithmetic, and is not virtue nobler than grammar? Is it not a glorious position to be a teacher of little children? A certain philosopher was often talking about the garden in which he studied and recreated, and one day a friend calling to see it, was surprised to find it consisted of only a few square yards. The friend said, Why this is a very small place; it is only a few strides across! The philosopher replied, Small! Ah, you only look at the ground; but if you look up, you will see that it reaches to the sky! So it is with a little child. It may be small; you have power to break its back across your knee, as well as break its heart; but in this little child there is a pathway to the heart of God, and angels walk therein. Lord Beaconsfield said of Greece, Let it be patient; it has a great future; so I say that you must be patient with every child, for it has a great future. Let us be gentle in the teaching of little children. Do you know how barbarous men teach bears to dance? Let me tell you. They play a flute, and put the bear on a hot iron. Do not let us teach children as if they were hears. Children have to be trained. You know how a crooked plant is trained. It is held in its place by a soft band that will not hurt it, until it grows in the right direction. So children should be trained in mind and body, gently yet firmly, to be good and strong. No two children are alike either in body or mind, and individual peculiarities must be studied and accommodated. We should, one and all, become teachers of children by our example, which is far more powerful than precept; and we should take care that our faults do not turn them against the religion we profess. (W. Birch.)
A faithful custodian
The grand battlefield of Drumclog is where the hardy, faithful Covenanters routed the cruel Claverhouse. I have stood upon that battlefield and looked upon a schoolhouse erected there by a Scotchman, though there was not a house to be seen near it, because he wanted the faith and the zeal of his forefathers to dwell in those that might come afterwards. I went, after looking at that field, into the house of a poor weaver. I heard he had a relic of the great fight in his possession, and I thought I should like to purchase it. He unfurled a flag that had been held by his forefathers on the great day of the fight, and on that flag were these words, God and our sworn covenant. I asked him if he would sell the flag. I will never sell the flag, said he, except with my own life. I hold it as an heirloom, and, however poor I may be, I will hand it down to my children; and I hope they will hand it down to their children. The incident reminds us that Christians carry a banner, and are pledged by their covenant relationship to Christ to seek the salvation of sinners, and thus be true to the memory of those who preceded them in the holy warfare. (A. McAulay.)
The undying energy of truth
Sir Bernard Burke thus touchingly writes in his Vicissitudes of Families: In 1850 a pedigree-research caused me to pay a visit to the village of Fyndern, about five miles south-west of Derby. I sought for the ancient hall. Not a stone remained to tell where it had stood! I entered the church. Not a single record of a Finderne was there! I accosted a villager, hoping to glean some stray traditions of the Findernes. Findernes! said he, we have no Findernes here, but we have something that once belonged to them: we have Findernes flowers. Shew them me, I replied, and the old man led me into a field which still retained faint traces of terraces and foundations. There, said he, pointing to a bank of garden flowers grown wild, there are the Findernes flowers, brought by Sir Geoffrey from the Holy Land, and, do what we will, they will never die! So be it with each of us. Should our names perish, may the truths we taught, the virtues we cultivated, the good works we initiated, live on and blossom with undying energy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Setting others to work
Nasmyth says that when he introduced his great steam-hammer, it not only itself produced marvellous results, but its active rhythmic sound, by some sympathetic agency, quickened the strokes of every hammer, chisel, and file in his workmens hands, and nearly doubled the output of work. And is not ibis true of some noble workers whom we could name? More than half Mr. Moodys power consists in his capacity of setting other people to work by his own earnestness. (W. Fullerton.)
The genius of the true teacher
Speaking of art training, Mr. Ruskin says: Until a man has passed through a course of academy studentship, and can draw in an improved manner with French chalk, and knows foreshortening and perspective, and something of anatomy, we do not think he can possibly be an artist. What is worse, we are very apt to think that we can make him an artist by teaching him anatomy, and how to draw with French chalk; whereas the real gift in him is utterly independent of all such accomplishments. So the highest powers of the teacher or preacher, the power of interpreting the Scriptures with spiritual insight, of moving the hearers to camest worship and decision, may exist with or without the culture of the schools. Learned Pharisees are impotent failures compared with a rough fisherman Peter anointed with the Holy Ghost. Inspiration is more than education. (H. O. Mackey.)
The worth of colleges
The great importance of the work none m our educational institutions for young ministers was never more strikingly emphasised than by the missionary Judson, who said, as he was approaching Madison University, If I had a thousand dollars, do you know what I would do with it? The person asked supposed he would invest it in Foreign Missions. I would put it into such institutions as that, he said, pointing to the college buildings. Planting colleges, and filling them with studious young men, is planting seed corn for the world.
An ignorant preacher
Of the late Bishop Ames the following anecdote is told. While presiding over a certain conference in the West, a member began a tirade against the universities and education, thanking God that he had never been corrupted by contact with a college. After proceeding thus far for a few minutes, the bishop interrupted with the question, Do I understand that the brother thanks God for his ignorance? Well, yes, was the answer; you can put it that way if you want. Well, all I have to say, said the bishop, in his sweetest musical tone--all I have to say is, that the brother has a good deal to thank God for.
College life
He whose spiritual life evaporates under processes of ministerial culture could hardly resist the temptations of any other form of life. (H. Allon, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v3 Chapter 30
Chapter 30
THE CHRISTIANS LIFE AS MILITARY SERVICE; AS AN ATHLETIC CONTEST; AS HUSBANDRY. - 2Ti_2:3-7
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ST. PAUL represents the Christian life and the Christian ministry under a variety of figures. Sometimes as husbandry; as when he tells the Galatians that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"; and that "in due season we shall reap, if we faint not"; {Gal_6:7; Gal_6:9} or when he reminds the Corinthians that "he that plougheth ought to plough in hope, and he that thresheth, to thresh in hope of partaking". {1Co_9:10} Sometimes as an athletic contest; as when he tells the Corinthians that "every man who striveth in the games is temperate in all things"; {1Co_9:25} or the Ephesians that "our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places". {Eph_6:12} Sometimes, and most frequently, as military service: as when he charges the Thessalonians to "put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation"; {1Th_5:8} or when he writes to the Philippians of Epaphroditus as his "fellow-soldier". {Php_2:25}
In the passage before us he makes use of all three figures: but the one of which he seems to have been most fond is the one which he places first, -that of military service. "Suffer hardships with me," or "take thy share in suffering, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier." He had used the same kind of language in the First Epistle, urging Timothy to "war the good warfare" and to "fight the good fight of faith". {1Ti_1:18; 1Ti_6:12} Every Christian, and especially every Christian minister, may be regarded as a soldier, as an athlete, as a husbandman; but of the three similitudes the one which fits him best is that of a soldier.
Even if this were not so, St. Pauls fondness for the metaphor would be very intelligible.
1. Military service was very familiar to him, especially in his imprisonments. He had been arrested by soldiers at Jerusalem, escorted by
2. troops to Caesarea, sent under the charge of a centurion and a band of soldiers to Rome, and had been kept there under military surveillance for many months in the first Roman imprisonment, and for we know not how long in the second. And we may assume it as almost certain that the place of his imprisonment was near the praetorian camp. This would probably be so ordered for the convenience of the soldiers who had charge of him. He therefore had very large opportunities of observing very closely all the details of ordinary military life. He must frequently have seen soldiers under drill, on parade, on guard, on the march; must have watched them cleaning, mending, and sharpening their weapons; putting their armor on, putting it off. Often during hours of enforced inactivity he must have compared these details with the details of the Christian life, and noticed how admirably they corresponded with one another.
Military service was not only very familiar to himself; it was also quite sufficiently familiar to those whom he addressed. Roman troops were everywhere to be seen throughout the length and breadth of the Empire, and nearly every member of society knew something of the kind of life which a soldier of the Empire had to lead.
1. The Roman army was the one great organization of which it was still possible, in that age of boundless social corruption, to think and speak with right-minded admiration and respect. No doubt it was often the instrument of wholesale cruelties as it pushed forward its conquests, or strengthened its hold, over resisting or rebelling nations. But it promoted discipline and esprit de corps. Even during active warfare it checked individual license; and when the conquest was over it was the representative and mainstay of order and justice against high-handed anarchy and wrong. Its officers several times appear m the narrative portions of the New Testament, and they make a favorable impression upon us. If they are fair specimens of the military men in the Roman Empire at that period, then the Roman army must have been indeed a fine service. There is the centurion whose faith excited even Christs admiration; the centurion who confessed Christs righteousness and Divine origin at the crucifixion; Cornelius, of the Italian cohort, to whom St. Peter was sent; C. Lysias, the chief captain or tribune who rescued St. Paul, first from the mob, and then from the conspiracy to assassinate him; and Julius, who out of consideration for St. Paul prevented the soldiers from killing the prisoners in the shipwreck.
2. But the reasons for the Apostles preference for this similitude go deeper than all this.
Military service involves self-sacrifice, endurance, discipline, vigilance, obedience, ready co-operation with others, sympathy, enthusiasm, loyalty. Tertullian in his "Address to Martyrs" draws with characteristic incisiveness the stern parallel between the severity of the soldiers life and that of the Christian. "Be it so, that even to Christians a prison is distasteful. We were called to active service under the Living God from the very moment of our response to the baptismal formula. No soldier comes to the war surrounded by luxuries, nor goes into action from a comfortable bedroom, but from the makeshift and narrow tent, where every kind of hardness and severity and unpleasantness is to be found. Even in peace soldiers learn betimes to suffer warfare by toil and discomforts, by marching in arms, running over the drill-ground, working at trench-making, constructing the tortoise till the sweat runs again. In the sweat of the brow all things are done, lest body and mind should shrink at changes from shade to sunshine, and from sunshine to frost, from the dress of ease to the coat of mail, from stillness to shouting, from quiet to the din of war. In like manner do ye, O blessed ones, account whatever is hard in this your lot as discipline of the powers of your mind and body. Ye are about to enter for the good fight, in which the Living God gives the prizes, and the Holy Spirit prepares the combatants, and the crown is the eternal prize of an angels nature, citizenship in heaven, glory forever and ever. Therefore your trainer, Jesus Christ, Who has anointed you with the Spirit and led you forth to this arena, has seen good to separate you from a state of freedom for rougher treatment, that power may be made strong in you. For the athletes also are set apart for stricter discipline, that they may have time to build up their strength. They are kept from luxury, from daintier meats, from too pleasant drink; they are driven, tormented, distressed. The harder their labors in training, the greater their hopes of victory. And they do it, says the Apostle, that they may obtain a corruptible crown. We, with an eternal crown to obtain, look upon the prison as our training-ground, that we may be led to the arena of the judgment-seat well disciplined by every kind of discomfort: because virtue is built up, by hardness, but by softness is overthrown" ("Ad Mart.," 3.). It will be observed that Tertullian passes by an easy transition from training for military service to training for athletic contests. The whole passage is little more than a graphic amplification of what St. Paul writes to Timothy.
1. But military service implies, what athletic contests do not, vigilant, unwearying, and organized opposition to a vigilant, unwearying, and organized foe. In many athletic contests ones opponent is a rival rather than an enemy. He may defeat us; but he inflicts no injury. He may win the prizes; but he takes nothing of ours. And even in the more deadly conflicts of the amphitheatre the enemy is very different from an enemy in war. The combat is between individuals, not armies; it is the exception and not the rule; it is strictly limited in time and place, not for all times and all places; it is a duel and not a campaign, - still less a prolonged war. Military service is either perpetual warfare or perpetual preparation for it. And just such is the Christian life: it is either a conflict, or a preparation for one. The soldier, so long as he remains in the service, can never say, "I may lay aside my arms and my drill: all enemies are conquered; there will never be another war." And the Christian, so long as he remains in this world, can never think that he may cease to watch and to pray, because the victory is won, and he will never be tempted any more. It is for this reason that he cannot allow himself to be "entangled in the affairs of this life." The soldier on service avoids this error: he knows that it would interfere with his promotion. The Christian must avoid it at least as carefully; for he is always on service, and the loss of promotion is the loss of eternal life.
Observe that St. Paul does not suggest that Christians should keep aloof from the affairs of this life, which would be a flat contradiction of what he teaches elsewhere. The Christian is to "do his own business, and to work with his hands, that he may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing". {1Th_4:11-12} He has a duty to perform "in the affairs of this life," but in doing it he is not to be entangled in them. They are means, not ends; and must be made to help him on, not suffered to keep him back. If they become entanglements instead of opportunities, he will soon lose that state of constant preparation and alertness, which is the indispensable condition of success.
The same thought is brought out in the second metaphor by the word " lawfully. " The athlete who competes in the games does not receive a crown, unless he has contended lawfully, i.e. , according to rule (νομιμως νομος ). Even if he seems to be victorious, he nevertheless is not crowned, because he has violated the well-known conditions. And what is the rule, what are the conditions of the Christians contest? "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." If we wish to share Christs victory, we must be ready to share His suffering. No cross, no crown. To try, to withdraw oneself from all hardship and annoyance, to attempt to avoid all that is painful or disagreeable, is a violation of the rules of the arena. This, it would appear, Timothy was in some respects tempted to do; and timidity and despondency must not be allowed to get the upper hand. Not that what is painful, or distasteful, or unpopular, is necessarily right; but it is certainly not necessarily wrong: and to try to avoid everything that one dislikes is to ensure being fatally wrong. So that, as Chrysostom says, "it behooves thee not to complain, if thou endurest hardness; but to complain, if thou dost not endure hardness."
Chrysostom and some modern commentators make the striving lawfully include not only the observance of the rules of the contest, but the previous training and preparation. "What is meant by lawfully? It is not enough that he is anointed, and even engages, unless he complies with all the regulations of training with respect to diet, temperance, and sobriety, and all the rules of the wrestling-school. Unless, in short, he go through all that is befitting a wrestler, he is not crowned." This makes good sense, if "is not crowned" be interpreted to mean "is not likely to be first," rather than "does not receive the crown, even if he is first." A victorious athlete is rightly deprived of the reward, if he has violated the conditions of the contest: but no one ever yet heard of a victor being refused the prize because he had not trained properly. Moreover, there are enough examples to show that "lawfully" (νομιμως ) does sometimes include the training as well as the contest.
But this does not seem to be St. Pauls meaning. In the first similitude he takes no account of the time which precedes the soldiers service, during which he may be supposed to be preparing himself for it. The Christians life and the soldiers service are regarded as coextensive, and there is no thought of any previous period. So also in the second similitude. The Christians life and the athletes contest are regarded as co-extensive, and no account is taken of anything that may have preceded. Baptism is entering the lists, not entering the training-school; and the only rules under consideration are the rules of the arena.
No doubt there are analogies between the training-school and Christian discipline, and St. Paul sometimes makes use of them; {1Co_9:25; 1Co_9:27} but they do not seem to be included in the present metaphor.
But it is about the third similitude that there has been most discussion. "The husbandman that laboreth must be the first to partake of the fruits": not, as the A.V., "must be first partaker of the fruits"; which seems to imply that he must partake of the fruits before he labors. What is the meaning of "first?" Some commentators resort to the rather desperate hypothesis that this word is misplaced, as it sometimes is in careless writing and conversation: and they suppose that what St. Paul means is, that "the husbandman, who labors first, must then partake of the fruits," or, more clearly, "the husbandman, who wishes to partake of the fruits, must first of all labor." The margin of the A.V suggests a similar translation. But this is to credit the Apostle with great clumsiness of expression. And even if this transposition of the "first" could be accepted as probable, there still remains the fact that we have the present and not the aorist participle (κοπιωντα and not κοπιασαντα ). Had St. Paul meant what is supposed, he would have said "The husbandman who has first labored," not "who labor first." But there is no transposition of the "first." The order of the Greek shows that the emphatic word is "labors." "It is the laboring husbandman who must be the first to partake of the fruits." It is the man who works hard and with a will, and not the one who works listlessly or looks despondently on, who, according to all moral fitness and the nature of things, ought to have the first share in the fruits. This interpretation does justice to the Greek as it stands, without resorting to any manipulation of the Apostles language. Moreover, it brings the saying into perfect harmony with the context.
It is quite evident that the three metaphors are parallel to one another and are intended to teach the same lesson. In each of them we have two things placed side by side, -a prize and the method to be observed in obtaining it. Do you, as a Christian soldier on service, wish for the approbation of Him who has enrolled you? Then you must avoid the entanglements which would interfere with your service. Do you, as a Christian athlete, wish for the crown of victory? Then you must not evade the rules of the contest. Do you, as a Christian husbandman, wish to be among the first to enjoy the harvest? Then you must be foremost in toil. And the Apostle draws attention to the importance of the lesson of self-devotion and endurance inculcated under these three impressive figures, by adding, "Consider what I say; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things." That is, He has confidence that His disciple will be enabled to draw the right conclusion from these metaphors; and having done so, will have grace to apply it to his own case.
Timothy is not the only Christian, or the only minister, who is in danger of being disgusted, and disheartened, and dismayed, by the coldness and apathy of professing friends, and by the hostility and contempt of secret or open enemies. We all of us need at times to be reminded that here we have no abiding city, but that our citizenship is in heaven. And we all of us are at times inclined to murmur, because the rest for which we so often yearn is not given us here; -a rest from toil, a rest from temptation, and a rest from sin. Such a sabbath-rest is the prize in store for us; but we cannot have it here. And if we desire to have it hereafter, we must keep the rules of the arena; and the rules are self-control, self-sacrifice, and work.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2. And the things that thou hast heard of…
2. And the things that thou hast heard of me. The instruction that I gave thee to fit thee for preaching Christ, do thou impart to other men, faithful, in order that they may be able to teach others also. As Paul prepared Timothy to preach the gospel, so he is to prepare other men. Among many witnesses. This probably refers to Timothy hearing Paul teach these things before many congregations. Faithful men. Trustworthy men.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v3 2Ti_2:3. Endure hardness.—R.V. “Suffer hardship with me.” Compare 2Ti_1:8,…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
2Ti_2:3. Endure hardness.—R.V. “Suffer hardship with me.” Compare 2Ti_1:8, where the same word occurs. It would seem more consistent to refer the fellowship in each case to St. Paul, in behalf of the gospel.
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2Ti_2:4. No man that warreth entangleth himself.—R.V. “No soldier on service.” The word for “entangleth himself” occurs again only 2Pe_2:20. St. Paul had before him living illustrations of his saying. The Roman soldier carried his home on his back. Who hath chosen him to be a soldier.—R.V. “who enrolled him as a soldier.” This phrase is represented by one word in the original. It is the term for the general who collects an army.
2Ti_2:5. Strive for masteries.―R.V. “contend in the games.” In the best Attic Greek the word would mean to work, to endure. Lawfully.—1Ti_1:8. Conformably to law. Not merely of the contest itself, but also of the preparation and training for it.
2Ti_2:6. The husbandman that laboureth.—The notion of “laboureth” is that of the weariness and lassitude which follow the straining of his powers to the utmost. The lesson seems to be “No sweat, no sweet.”
2Ti_2:7. Understanding.—Here means the power of putting things together. It is, as Bishop Lightfoot suggests, the critical application of wisdom to details.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—2Ti_2:3-7
Phases of the Christian Life.
I. The Christian life is a military service.—
1. The power of endurance is acquired by continuous drill. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Ti_2:3). “Military service involves self-sacrifice, endurance, discipline, vigilance, obedience, ready co-operation with others, sympathy, enthusiasm, loyalty” (Plummer). Tertullian writes: “Even in peace soldiers learn betimes to suffer warfare by toil and discomforts, by marching in arms, running over the drill-ground, working at trench-making, constructing the tortoise, till the sweat runs again. In like manner do ye, O blessed ones, account whatever is hard in your lot as discipline of the powers of your mind and body. Ye are about to enter for the good fight, in which the living God gives the prizes, and the Holy Spirit prepares the combatants, and the crown is the eternal prize of an angel’s nature, citizenship in heaven, glory for ever and ever. Therefore your trainer Jesus Christ has seen good to separate you from a state of freedom for rougher treatment, that power may be made strong in you.”
2. The efficiency of service must not be impaired by being excessively engrossed with other occupations (2Ti_2:4). The soldier is wholly devoted to his profession, and his term of service is spent either in warfare or in preparation for it. He abandons all other occupations: they would interfere with his efficiency and with his prospects of promotion. So the Christian soldier, if he is to render good service, must not be entangled with worldly affairs: not that he can ignore them or neglect them; but he must guard against their interfering with the obedience he owes to His heavenly Commander.
II. The Christian life is an athletic contest.—
1. Victory is gained only by great effort. “And if a man also strive for masteries” (2Ti_2:5). Tertullian, continuing his address to martyrs, passes by an easy transition from training for military service to training for athletic contest. “For the athletes also are set apart for stricter discipline that they may have time to build up their strength. They are kept from luxury, from daintier meats, from too pleasant drink; they are driven, tormented, distressed. The harder their labours in training the greater their hopes of victory. Virtue is built up by hardness, but by softness is overthrown.”
2. Reward is given only to those who faithfully observe the rules of the contest. “Yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully” (2Ti_2:5). The athlete, though gaining the victory, is not crowned unless he has observed all the conditions of the contest, and the preparation for it as to self-denying diet, exercise, self-restraint, chastity, and decorum. So in the Christian course the prize is given to him who has obeyed all the rules. To share the glory of Christ we must share His suffering: if we shrink from the cross, we miss the crown.
III. The Christian life is moral husbandry.—
1. Implying diligent toil. “The husbandman that laboureth” (2Ti_2:6). The husbandman knows that according to the labour put into the soil will be its fruitfulness. Christianity not only inculcates work, but ennobles it. Work is necessary for sustenance, and is the condition of all growth. Mental and moral excellence are attained only by great labour.
2. The diligent worker is entitled to reward. “Must be first partaker of the fruits” (2Ti_2:6). The first to enjoy the results of work should be he who has been most diligent. “In all labour there is profit.” Work is the pathway to success and honour.
IV. The manifold phases of the Christian life require earnest thought.—“Consider what I say” (2Ti_2:7). Christianity must be studied in its many-sided aspects; and it will always be suggestive to regard it as a military service, an athletic contest, and as moral husbandry. But much as we reflect and ponder, it is the Lord only who can give us true understanding in all things. “Timothy is not the only Christian or the only minister who is in danger of being disgusted, disheartened, and dismayed by the coldness and apathy of professing friends, and by the hostility and contempt of secret or open enemies. We are at times inclined to murmur because the rest for which we so often yearn is not given us here—rest from toil, from temptation, from sin. Such a Sabbath rest is the prize in store for us; but we cannot have it here. And if we desire to have it hereafter, we must keep the rules of the arena—self-control, self-sacrifice, work” (Plummer).
Lessons.—
1. Religion is adapted to all conditions of life.
2. Obedience is the pathway of safety and success.
3. The highest prizes of religion are not secured without self-denying effort.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ti_2:3-4. The Military Discipline—
I. Requires the putting off or excision of the world as an interruptive and disqualifying power.
II. Raises spirit and high impulse by a training under authority exact and absolute.
III. We find in military discipline how to put a more genial look on our crosses and required self-denials.
IV. The military discipline has as little direct concern to beget happiness as it has to compel self-abnegation.
V. Whatever we get we must somehow fight for it.—Bushnell.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v2 Here is all you can find in the Bible…
ARGUMENT 2
THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DIVINE ORACLES
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Here is all you can find in the Bible on the boasted apostolical and ecclesiastical succession.
2. “Whatsoever things you have heard with me through many witnesses, commit these to faithful people, who shall also be competent to teach others.” We all have these same inspired oracles, transmitted from sire to son through successive generations. The great mistake of the age is in not going to the inspired originals, and drinking in the same identical words which Jesus, Paul, and Peter preached. Neglect of the originals is among the sad phenomena of the current apostasy. A metropolitan pastor is not longer required to be “mighty in the Scriptures.” Good Lord, succeed me by a thousand exegetes of the inspired Word more able than I have ever been! This is the great rallying-point of the holiness movement; back to the inspired oracles all along the line.
4,5. The lawful fight of the Christian soldier, to fight with all the power of soul, mind, and body, armed only with the Lord’s panoply.
7-9. “According to my gospel, in which I suffer affliction as an evildoer, even unto bonds.” Evildoer, kakourgos, a very strong word; from kakos, evil, and ergao, to work. Hence, it means a “doer of evil.” This would not apply to Paul in his first imprisonment, for simple disharmony with the Jewish institutions, which was not at all criminal in Roman law. Hence, the word is certainly an argument in favor of the conclusion of the critics that he was arrested on the charge of burning Rome, which was a high crime.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v4 2 Timothy
2 Timothy
THE TRUE AIM OF LIFE - PLEASING CHRIST
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2Ti 2:4.
PAUL had enough to do to infuse some of his own vigour into the feebler nature of Timothy. If we may judge from the prevailing tone of the Apostle’s letters to him, his young assistant lacked courage and energy; was easily beaten down, needed tonics for the ‘often infirmities’ of his mind as well as of his body. The delicate ingenuity with which this letter accumulates all conceivable encouragements for the drooping heart that was to take up the old lion-heart’s nearly finished work, is very beautiful. One topic of encouragement is conspicuous by its absence. There is no rosy painting of the Christian life, or of a Christian teacher’s life, as easy or pleasant to flesh and blood. On the contrary, none of Paul’s letters give more emphatic utterance to the fact that suffering is the law of both.
That is wise; for the best way to-brace people for difficult work and hardship is to tell them fairly what they will have to face. It will act as a filter and Gideon’s test, no doubt, but it will only filter out impure matter, and it will evoke latent enthusiasm; for there is always fascination to generous natures or fervent disciples in the thought of danger and toil, undertaken for a beloved cause or favourite pursuit. Boys are made sailors by the stories of wreck and hardship told them to keep them ashore. So Paul encourages’ son Timothy’ by putting before him all the toil and the peril which are the conditions of the work to which he has set his hand. In this context we have a number of illustrations and analogies, according to all of which self-denial and persistent work are indispensable. The wrestler has not only to brace every limb in his struggle till the muscles stand out like whipcord, but he has to abide by the laws of the arena. The farmer has to exercise long patience, and to labour hard in the field and wild weather, before he can sit down and eat of the fruit of the harvest. The soldier has not only to take his life in hand, but to abandon his civil pursuits and make the pleasure of his commander the law of his life. The diligence of other people in their worldly callings may well put us to shame; and if that is not enough, our own diligence in the one half of our life may shame our laziness in the other. All fire there, and all ice here !
Ready for any sacrifice of time and pains in that, grudging every such sacrifice in this!
Our text constitutes the first of that series of illustrative metaphors, each of which adds something of its own to the general idea. In it we have a whole series of striking thoughts suggested, which can be but very imperfectly worked out in the brief space at our disposal.
I. The first thing that strikes one in the words is their grand statement of the all-comprehensive life’s aim of the Christian soldier.
There is savagery and devilry enough about the soldiers’ trade to make it remarkable that it should be so constantly chosen to illustrate the life of the servants of the Prince of Peace. But there are grand qualities brought out in warfare, which need but to be transferred to their most worthy object; and for the sake of these, the metaphor is used here. The one great peculiarity of military discipline is prompt, unquestioning obedience. Wheresoever inferiors may discuss their superiors’ will, or reason on the limits of obedience, or allow themselves a margin of delay, all that is mutiny in the army, and short and sharp work will be made of it, if it appear. ‘Their’s not to reason why,’ but to do what they are bid, when they are bid, as they are bid. Their only standard of duty is their commander’s will, and men have been shot as mutineers for doing grand deeds of heroism contrary to orders. The highest guerdon of courage and faithfulness is the general’s praise, and men have gladly flung away their lives for a smile or a ‘well done’ from some Alexander or Napoleon, counting the gain far greater than the price paid.
Such an attitude towards a fellow-man makes men machines, and yet there is something in that absolute obedience and out-and-out submission to authority very noble in itself, and going a long way to ennoble even warfare. To obey may he bad or good, according to the master and the service; but obedience is fitting for a man, and there can be no attainment of the highest dignity, beauty, or force of character in lawless ‘self-pleasing, but only in willing submission to a law and a lawgiver, discerned by the will to be authoritative, by the conscience to be morally good, and by the heart to be love-worthy. If, then, we can find one ruler, leader, and commander of the people, whose authority is rightfully supreme, whose commands coincide with our highest wisdom and lead to our purest felicity, to obey him must lift a life into dignity. Then we have found the secret which will make little things great, and great things small; which will dignify all life, and make the most absolute service the truest freedom, the kingliest rule.
So our text lays hold of the great central peculiarity of Christian morals, when it makes pleasing Christ to be the great, all-comprehensive aim of the Christian soldier. It is this which makes the law of morality, as re-fashioned by Christianity, altogether new and blessed. How entirely different a thing it is to give a poor, feeble, solitary man a living, loving Lord to serve and to please, and to set him down before a cold, impersonal ‘ideal’; and say to him, ‘There! live up to that, or it will be the worse for you.’ The gospel sets forth Jesus Christ as the Pattern and Law of duty, in whom all the statuesque purity of the marble is changed into the warm, breathing flesh and blood of a brother. It sets Him forth as the power for duty, who stoops down from His height to reach forth a helping hand to us poor strugglers in the bogs at the mountain’s foot, while Law but looks on with pure and icy eyes at our flounderings, and counts the splashes on our dress. It sets Him forth as the Motive for duty, who draws us to what is right by ‘the cords of love and the bands of a man,’ while the world’s morality knows only how to appeal either to low motives of whips and pay, or to fine-spun considerations of right and obligation that melt like October’s morning ice before the faintest heat of temptation. Finally, it sets Him forth as the Reward of obedience, teaching us that the true recompense of well-doing lies in pleasing Him, and that to win a smile, an ‘honourable mention,’ from the General, life itself would be wisely paid.
Such are the great characteristics of Christian morality. Everything clusters round a living Person. All the coldness and remoteness and powerlessness which incurably weaken all law, whether it be that of a statute-book, or of conscience, or of moralists, are changed into their very opposites. Christ is duty; Love is law. Christ is power; Christ is impulse. Christ is motive; Christ is reward. Therefore the hearts and wills that found no attraction, nor owned any constraining authority in any tables of stone or any voice of conscience or any systems of ethics, yield glad obedience to Him who makes His law love; and feeble hands are strengthened to do His will by His own power breathed into them; and the hope of recompense is freed from selfishness when its highest object is His word of praise and His look of pleasure? This, and this alone, is the morality that will work. This is the new thing in Christianity, not so much the contents of the conception of duty, though even these have been changed, but the new form in which Duty appears, in a Person who being what all men should be, is the new power for its fulfilment which He brings, and the new motive whose touch moves all our conduct.
How much more powerful this thought of pleasing Christ is, as a motive, than that of a bare Theism, needs scarcely be named. ‘Thou, God, seest me’ grandly restraining and stimulating as it is, may easily become a trembling before ‘the great Taskmaster’s eye,’ or may fade into a very dim thought of a very far-off God. But when we think that the divine eye which rests upon us wept over the sinful city, and sought the denier with the look of sorrowing reproach, untarnished by one glitter of anger, we need not fear His knowledge, nor doubt that He is as near to each of us, as glad at our obedience, and as grieved by our hardness of heart, as ever He was to the little group that lived on His smile long ago. It is no remote God whom we have to please, but our very Brother, the Captain of the Lord’s host, who knows all the conditions of the fight.
The thought implies the reality of Christ’s present knowledge of each of us. Who, then, is this, who is supposed to know so accurately the true characters - not only the actions, but the motives which determine the worth of the actions - of men in every age and country to the world’s end? Who can exercise such an office, and be the centre of such observance, but One only? This must be God manifest in the flesh. Else it is stark nonsense for people, nineteen centuries after His death, to think of pleasing Him; and it is blasphemy worse than nonsense, to set aside all other law and commandments in order to take our duty from His life, and our reward from His approbation. But when we see in Christ the Word made flesh, then it is reasonable to believe that He knoweth the hearts of all men, and reasonable to ‘labour that, whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him.’
Such singleness of aim contributes in many ways to make life blessed and noble. It simplifies motives and aims, because, instead of being dragged hither and thither by smaller attractions, and so having our days broken up into fragments, we have one great object which can be pursued through all the variety of our occupations, making them all co-operant to one end - and there is blessedness in that. It lifts us above many temptations, which cease to be temptations to a heart intent on pleasing Christ, as glacial plants and animals fled to the north when cosmic changes put an end to the ice age in England. It delivers from care for men’s judgment, for the opinion of the crowd matters very little to the soldier whose fame is to be praised by his commander. It gives energy for work, and turns hard, dry duty into a joy, for it is ever blessed to toil for One we love, and the work that is done with love for its motive, and with the hope of giving Him pleasure for its inspiration, will not be wearisome, though it may be long; nor grievous, though it may be hard. Freedom and dignity, and happiness and buoyancy, all flow from this one transfiguring thought, that the one all-sufficient aim for life is - pleasing Christ, the Captain of the Lord’s host.
II. But our text employs a significant form of speech to designate Jesus Christ: ‘Him who hath called him to be a soldier’; or as the Revised Version has it, ‘enrolled him as a soldier.’
And that phrase is used, I suppose, instead of the simple name, in order to bring out the reference to the great act of Christ’s, on which the duty of making His pleasure our sovereign aim rests.
In old-world times when war broke out each chief would summon his clansmen to his standard and enrol them as his force. To raise a troop was the act of the leader, who then took command of the men he had raised, and did so because he had raised them. Christ has enrolled us as His soldiers, and because He has done so, he has the right of command.
Now, while there are many ways by which our Lord summons us to His service, we shall, I think, be true to the usual current of New Testament representations, if we see here mainly a reference to the great act by which He draws us to Himself. The fiery cross used to be the signal which summoned the tribesmen to the fray. So Christ’s men are summoned by the Cross. His great work for us, His life of sympathy and sorrow, His death of sacrifice and shame, His resurrection of glory - these are the call which He sends out to all the world, to gather loving souls to His side whom He may honour by using as His servants and soldiers. The Cross is the magnet by which He will ‘draw all men unto Him’; or in other words, the one power which will draw men away from a life of self and sin, and hearten them to fight against the evils in themselves and the world which they used to serve, is the fact of Christ’s death, believed and rested on. This, and this alone, changes our tastes and makes us deserters from our old colours, to take service under a new Commander. That mighty and unspeakable proof of Love will bend our hearts to obedience when nothing else will, and the voice of endless pity for us, and awful suffering for our sake, which sounds out from Christ on the Cross, is His heart-reaching call to us all to enlist in His service. The message of the Cross is not only a message of forgiveness and blessedness for ourselves, but it is as a trumpet-note of defiance to all the powers of evil, and a call to us to take our part in the fight, which in one aspect was finished when He overcame by death, but in another will last till that far-off future day when He that is called King of kings shall ride forth, followed by all the armies of those who on earth were his soldiers, to fight the last fight, and win the final victory.
He has given Himself wholly for us, therefore He has absolute right of authority over us. Not merely because of His divine nature, not merely because, as we believe, He has been from the beginning the divine agent of all creation and of all providence, but because of His great love and of His utter and bitter sacrifice for us men, does He possess the right to their absolute obedience. His dominion is a dominion founded on suffering; the many crowns are twined round the crown of thorns, as the iron crown of Monza has for foundation a bit of iron said to be a nail of the cross beaten into a circlet, and covered now with gold and jewels. Nothing but entire self-surrender for us can warrant entire authority over us, and only He who tasted death for every man has the right to assume the captainship over men. He gave Himself for us, therefore are we to give ourselves to Him. He dies for us, and then living, turns to us with,’ Will you not serve Me?’ We owe Him lives, souls - all. They are ours by the purchase of His exceeding bitter pains and death. Surely we shall not refuse His summons to service, which is also a merciful invitation to joy and blessing, but yield ourselves to the attraction of His cross and the magic of His love. Let Him take the command of your lives, and give Him all the secret springs of nature and desire to control. He has called you to be His soldiers, and your plain duty is to please Him. ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,’ and most chiefly by that chiefest mercy, the sacrifice of Christ, ‘that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable unto God.’
III. Finally, the text brings prominently forward the discipline of abstinence which this warfare requires.
In Paul’s time there were no standing armies, but men were summoned from their ordinary avocations and sent into the field. When the hasty call went forth, the plough was left in the furrow, and the web in the loom; the bridegroom hurried from his bride, and the mourner from the bier. All home industries were paralysed while the manhood of the nation were in the field. That state of things suggests the language here. The word rendered ‘that warreth’ might be more vividly translated, as the Revised Version has it, ‘on service’ - the idea being that as long as a man is on a campaign, he can do nothing else but soldiering. When peace is proclaimed, he may go back to farm or merchandise; but in the field, he has but one thing to do - and that is to fight, He will scarcely win the general’s good word on other things.
What, then, is the corresponding Christian duty? Of course our text, though originally spoken in reference to Christian teachers’ devotion to their work, is not to be confined to them. The sort of work which a Timothy or a Paul may have to do may be peculiar to their offices, but the spirit in which it is to be done, and the conditions of faithfulness, are the same for all doers of all sorts of work for Christ. If the apostle and the teacher need non-entanglement ‘with the affairs of this life,’ all Christians need it just as much.
Now it is to be noticed that the parallel of the soldier on service and the Christian in his warfare fails in this one respect: that the soldier had to abandon entirely all other occupation, even the most needful and praiseworthy, because he could not both do them and fight; but the abandonment of the affairs of this life is not necessary for us, because occupation with them is not incompatible with our Christian warfare. Nay, so far from that, these ‘affairs’ furnish the very fields on which a large part of that warfare to be waged. If these are abandoned, what is left to fight about? What is our Christian warfare but the constant struggle with evil in ourselves and temptation in the world; the constant effort to bring all the activities of our spirits and hands under the power of Christ’s law, and to yield our whole selves, in heart, mind, will, and deed, to Him? How then can that warfare be waged, and that ennobling self-surrender achieved, but by the heroic, patient effort to deal with all the affairs of this life in a Christ-like temper, and to Christ-pleasing ends? The Christian who abandons any of these is much liker the frightened deserter who runs from his post, and may expect a stern rebuke, if nothing worse, than the faithful soldier, whose face will one day brighten beneath the smile of his chief.
We must put stress on that word ‘entangled,’ if we would rightly understand this saying. It is not occupation with the things of life, but entanglement in them, that is fatal to the possibility of pleasing the King. The metaphor is plain enough, and vivid enough. As some poor struggling fish in the meshes of a net vainly beats its silver scales off, and gasps out its life, and swims no more in the free deep; or as some panting forest creature is checked in its joyous bounding, and, tangled in the half-seen snares, only tightens the cords by its wild plunging; or as some strong swimmer is caught in the long, brown seaweed which clings to his limbs till it drags him under and drowns; so men are snared and caught and strangled by these multitudinous cords and filaments of earthly things. The fate of Jonah befall, many a professing Christian, who, if he know what had really come to him, might cry with him, ‘The weeds are wrapped about my head.’
We are not bound to abandon the affairs of this life, but we are called upon to prevent their interfering with our warfare. If we are caught in the thicket whilst we are pressing on to the fight, out with the billhooks and hew it down. It may be full of pretty peeps, where there are shade and singing-birds; but if it stands in our way, it has to be grubbed up. ‘If thy right eye cause thee to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for thee.’
And that interference can easily be detected, if we honestly wish to do so. Does a certain thing - some legitimate, or even praiseworthy occupation, or possession, the exercise of some taste or accomplishment, some recreation, some companionship-clog my feet when I ought to march; clip my wings when I ought to soar; dim my eyes when I ought to gaze on God? Then no matter what others may do about it, my plain duty is to give it up. It is entangling me. It is interfering with my warfare, and I must cut the cords. I can only do so by entire abstinence. Perhaps I may get stronger some day, and be able to use it as not abusing it; but I cannot venture on that at present. So go it must. I judge nobody else, but whoever may be able to retain that thing, whatever it be, without slackening hold on Christ, I cannot.
So, brethren, if you find that legitimate occupation and affairs are absorbing your interests, and interfering with your clear vision of God, and making you less inclined and less apt to high thoughts and noble purposes, to lowly service and to Christ-like life, your safety lies in at once shaking off the venomous beast that has fastened on you into the fire. Unless the occupation be a plain duty, a post where the Captain has set you as sentry, and which it would be fiat disobedience to forsake, leave it at any cost, if you would kept your Christian integrity.
But if you have to stand to your post, perilous though it be, lift your heart to Him who can neutralise the poison, and who will so pour health into the veins of His servants, that, in the execution of His commands, ‘they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.’
The affairs of this life must not entangle us; that is the one indispensable condition to pleasing Him. That they may not, they must always be rigidly subordinated, and used as helps to our higher life. Sometimes, when they cannot be so used, they must be abandoned altogether. Each must settle that for himself. Only let us make it our one great purpose in life that, whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him; and that single, lofty motive will breathe unity into our life, and giving us clear, sure insight into good and evil, will instruct us, by the instinct of hearts and wills tuned to harmony to His, to shun the evil and cleave strenuously to the good. So living, ever looking to His face to catch His smile as our highest reward, it will not be hard to give up anything that hinders the light of His countenance shining upon us. So surrendering, we may hope to be His obedient, and therefore in highest reality, His victorious soldiers. So fighting, we may possess in our hearts the assurance that His wonderful mercy accepts even our poor service as well-pleasing in His sight, and may lay ourselves How, in peace on the field where we seem to ourselves to have berne ourselves so badly and been so often beaten, with the wondrous hope to keep us company in the grave, that when the triumph comes, and our King goes up as conqueror, we, even we, shall follow, and receive from His lips the praise, and from His face the smile, which make the highest heaven of reward for all Christ’s soldiers.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6 Suffer hardship with me
Suffer hardship with me
Possible meanings are 1) "Endure suffering as I do" or 2) "Share in my suffering"
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as a good soldier of Christ Jesus
Paul compares suffering for Christ Jesus to the suffering that a good soldier endures. (See: Simile)
No soldier serves while entangled in the affairs of this life
"No soldier serves when he is involved in the everyday business of this life" or "When soldiers are serving, they do not get distracted by the ordinary things that people do." Christ's servants should not allow everyday life to keep them from working for Christ.
while entangled
Paul speaks of this distraction as if it were a net that tripped people up as they were walking. (See: Metaphor)
his superior officer
"his leader" or "the one who commands him"
as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes by the rules
Paul is implicitly speaking of Christ's servants as if they were athletes. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Metaphor)
he is not crowned unless he competes by the rules
This can be stated in active form. AT: "they will crown him as winner only if he competes by the rules" (See: Active or Passive)
he is not crowned
"he does not win the prize." Athletes in Paul's time were crowned with wreaths made from the leaves of plants when they won competitions.
competes by the rules
"competes according to the rules" or "strictly obeys the rules"
translationWords
suffer
Jesus
servant
life
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 4 2:2 The many reliable witnesses would confirm the validity…
2:2 The many reliable witnesses would confirm the validity and veracity of Paul’s teaching (see also 3:10-11). • teach these truths (literally entrust these things): This verb is a cognate of deposit (see study notes on 1:12, 14). Timothy’s own guarding of the deposit includes entrusting it to faithful people.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.