{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"2TI","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"2 Timothy","commonName":"2 Timothy","introduction":"PLACE OF WRITING.--Paul, in the interval between his first and second imprisonment, after having written First Timothy from Macedonia or Corinth [BIRKS] (if we are to adopt the opinion that First Timothy was written after his first imprisonment), returned to Ephesus, as he intended, by way of Troas, where he left the books, &c. (mentioned in Ti2 4:13), with Carpus. From Ephesus he went to Crete for a short visit and returned, and then wrote to Titus. Next he went by Miletus to Corinth (Ti2 4:20), and thence to Nicopolis (Tit 3:12), whence he proceeded to Rome. From his prison there he wrote the Second Epistle to Timothy, shortly before his martyrdom. It is not certain where Timothy was at this time. Some of the internal evidences favor the view of his having been then at Ephesus; thus the salutation of Priscilla and Aquila, who generally resided there (Ti2 4:19); also that of the household of Onesiphorus, who is stated in Ti2 1:16-18 to have ministered to Paul at Ephesus, a circumstance implying his residence there. Also, the HymenÃ&brvbrus of Ti2 2:17 seems to be the same as the HymenÃ&brvbrus at Ephesus (Ti1 1:20); and probably \"Alexander the coppersmith\" (Ti2 4:14) is the same as the Alexander joined with HymenÃ&brvbrus (Ti1 1:20), and possibly the same as the Alexander put forward by the Jews to clear themselves, not to befriend Paul, at the riot in Ephesus (Act 19:33-34). The difficulty is, on this supposition, how to account for Ti2 4:12, Ti2 4:20 : if Timothy was at Ephesus, why did he need to be told that Paul had sent Tychicus to Ephesus? or that Paul had left Trophimus, himself an Ephesian (Act 21:29), sick at Miletus, which was only thirty miles from Ephesus? However, see on Ti2 4:12; Ti2 4:20. Troas lay on the road to Rome from either Ephesus or Pontus, so that Ti2 4:13 will accord with the theory of either Ephesus or any other place in the northwest of Asia Minor, being Timothy's place of sojourn at the time. Probably, he had the general superintendence of the Pauline churches in Asia Minor, in accordance with his mission combining the office of evangelist, or itinerant missionary, with that of presiding overseer. Ephesus was probably his headquarters.\n\nTIME OF WRITING.--(1) Paul's first imprisonment, described in Act 28:17-31, was much milder than that in which he was when writing Second Timothy. In the former, he had liberty to lodge in his own hired house, and to receive all comers, guarded only by a single soldier; in the latter, he was so closely confined that Onesiphorus with difficulty found him; he was chained, his friends had forsaken him, and he had narrowly escaped sentence of execution from the Roman emperor. Medieval legends represent the Mamertine prison, or Tullianum, as the scene of his incarceration with Peter. But this is irreconcilable with the fact of Onesiphorus, Linus, Pudens, &c., having access to him. He was probably under military custody, as in his former imprisonment, though of a severer kind (Ti2 1:16-18; Ti2 2:9; Ti2 4:6-8, Ti2 4:16-17). (2) The visit to Troas (Ti2 4:13) can hardly have been that mentioned in Act 20:5-7, the last before his first imprisonment; for, if it were, the interval between that visit and the first imprisonment would be seven or eight years, a period most unlikely for him to have allowed to pass without sending for his cloak and parchments, when they might have been of service to him in the interim. (3) Paul's leaving Trophimus sick at Miletus (Ti2 4:20), could not have been on the occasion mentioned in Act 20:15; for, subsequent to that, Trophimus was with Paul in Jerusalem (Act 21:29). (4) The words (Ti2 4:20), \"Erastus abode at Corinth,\" imply that Paul had shortly before been at Corinth, where he left Erastus. But before his first imprisonment, Paul had not been at Corinth for several years; and in the interval Timothy had been with him, so that Timothy did not need at a later period to be told about that visit (Act 20:2, Act 20:4). For all these reasons the imprisonment, during which he wrote Second Timothy, is shown to be his second imprisonment. Moreover, Heb 13:23-24, represents the writer (who was probably Paul) as in Italy, and at liberty. So CLEMENT OF ROME [First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1.5], the disciple of Paul, explicitly states, \"In the east and west, Paul as a preacher instructed the whole world (that is, the Roman empire) in righteousness, and having gone to the extremity of the west, and having borne witness before the rulers (of Rome), he so was removed from the world.\" This plainly implies that he fulfilled his design (Rom 15:24-28) of a missionary journey into Spain. The canon of the New Testament, compiled about A.D. 170 (called MURATORI'S Canon), also mentions \"the journey of Paul from Rome to Spain.\" See ROUTH [Sacred Fragments, vol. 4, p. 1-12].\n\nHis martyrdom is universally said to have occurred in Nero's reign [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 2.22; JEROME, On Illustrious Men]. Five years thus seem to have elapsed between the first imprisonment, A.D. 63 (Act 28:17-31), and his martyrdom, June A.D. 68, the last year of Nero's reign. He was probably arrested by the magistrates in Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) in Epirus, in the winter, on a double charge, first, of being one of the Christians who had conspired, it was alleged by Nero's partisans, to set fire to Rome, A.D. 64; secondly, of introducing a novel and unlawful religion. His friends all left him, except Luke: Demas from \"love of this present world\": the others from various causes (Ti2 4:10-11). On the first charge he seems to have been acquitted. His liberation from his first imprisonment took place in A.D. 63, the year before the great fire at Rome, which Nero made the pretext for his persecution of the Christians. Every cruelty was heaped on them; some were crucified; some were arrayed in the skins of wild beasts and hunted to death by dogs; some were wrapped in pitch-robes and set on fire by night to illuminate the circus of the Vatican and gardens of Nero, while that monster mixed among the spectators in the garb of a charioteer. But now (A.D. 67 or 68) some years had elapsed since the first excitement which followed the fire. Hence, Paul, being a Roman citizen, was treated in his trial with a greater respect for the forms of the law, and hence was acquitted (Ti2 4:17) on the first charge of having instigated the Christians to their supposed acts of incendiarism before his last departure from Rome. Alexander the coppersmith seems to have been a witness against him (Ti2 4:14). Had he been condemned on the first charge, he would probably have been burnt alive, as the preceding martyrs were, for arson. His judge was the city PrÃ&brvbrfect. CLEMENT OF ROME specifies that his trial was (not before the emperor, but) \"before the rulers.\" No advocate ventured to plead his cause, no patron appeared for him, such as under ordinary circumstances might have aided him; for instance, one of the powerful Æmilian house, under which his family possibly enjoyed clientship (Ti2 4:16-17), whence he may have taken his name Paul. The place of trial was, probably, one of the great basilicas in the Forum, two of which were called the Pauline Basilicas, from L. Æmilius Paulus, who had built one and restored the other. He was remanded for the second stage of his trial. He did not expect this to come on until the following \"winter\" (Ti2 4:21), whereas it took place about midsummer; if in Nero's reign, not later than June. In the interim Luke was his only constant companion; but one friend from Asia, Onesiphorus, had diligently sought him and visited him in prison, undeterred by the danger. Linus, too, the future bishop of Rome, Pudens, the son of a senator, and Claudia, his bride, perhaps the daughter of a British king (see on Ti2 4:21), were among his visitors; and Tychicus, before he was sent by Paul to Ephesus (Ti2 4:12; perhaps bearing with him this Epistle).\n\nOBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.--He was anxious to see his disciple Timothy, before his death, and that Timothy should bring Mark with him (Ti2 1:4; Ti2 4:9, Ti2 4:11, Ti2 4:21). But feeling how uncertain it was whether Timothy should arrive in time, he felt it necessary, also, to give him by letter a last warning as to the heresies, the germs of which were then being scattered in the Churches. Hence he writes a series of exhortations to faithfulness, and zeal for sound doctrine, and patience amidst trials: a charge which Timothy seems to have needed, if we are to judge from the apostle's earnestness in urging him to boldness in Christ's cause, as though Paul thought he saw in him some signs of constitutional timidity (Ti2 2:2-8; Ti2 4:1-5; Ti1 5:22-23).\n\nPAUL'S DEATH.--DIOYSIUS, bishop of Corinth (quoted in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]) about A.D. 170, is the earliest authority for the tradition that Peter suffered martyrdom at Rome \"about the same time\" as Paul, after having labored for some time there. He calls Peter and Paul \"the founders of the Corinthian and Roman Churches.\" The Roman presbyter, CAIUS (about A.D. 200), mentions the tradition that Peter suffered martyrdom in the Vatican. But (1) Peter's work was among the Jews (Gal 2:9), whereas Rome was a Gentile Church (Rom 1:13. Moreover, (2) the First Epistle of Peter (Pe1 1:1; Pe1 5:13) represents him as laboring in Babylon in Mesopotamia. (3) The silence concerning Peter of Paul's Epistles written in Rome, negatives the tradition of his having founded, or labored long at Rome; though it is possible he may have endured martyrdom there. His martyrdom, certainly, was not, as JEROME says, \"on the same day\" with that of Paul, else Paul would have mentioned Peter's being at Rome in Ti2 4:11. The legend says that Peter, through fear, was fleeing from Rome at early dawn by the Appian Way, when he met our Lord, and falling at His feet, asked, Lord, whither goest thou? to which the Lord replied, I go again to be crucified. The disciple returned penitent and ashamed, and was martyred. The Church of Domine quo vadis, on the Appian Way, commemorates the supposed fact. Paul, according to CAIUS (quoted in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]), suffered martyrdom on the Ostian Way. So also JEROME, who gives the date, the fourteenth year of Nero. It was common to send prisoners, whose death might attract too much notice at Rome, to some distance from the city, under a military escort, for execution; hence the soldier's sword, not the executioner's axe, was the instrument of his decapitation [OROSIUS, The Seven Books of History against the Pagans, 7.7]. Paul appears, from Phi. 1:12-30, to have had his partisans even in the palace, and certainly must have exercised such an influence as would excite sympathy in his behalf, to avoid which the execution was ordered outside the city. Compare TACITUS [Histories, 4.11]. The Basilica of St. Paul, first built by Constantine, now stands outside Rome on the road to Ostia: before the Reformation it was under the protection of the kings of England, and the emblem of the order of the Garter is still to be seen among its decorations. The traditional spot of the martyrdom is the Tre Fontane, not far from the Basilica [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. \n\n\n\nNext: 2 Timothy Chapter 1\n\n","order":55,"numberOfChapters":4,"sha256":"d5a4abe17050173434b3cd338faf720094aa0d873fca4158da6eb7c0e75c7208","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":4,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/4.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":4},"totalNumberOfVerses":79},"chapter":{"number":2,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["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). \n\ncommit--in trust, as a deposit (Ti2 1:14). \n\nfaithful--the quality most needed by those having a trust committed to them. \n\nwho--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.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Thou therefore endure hardness--The oldest manuscripts have no \"Thou therefore,\" and read, \"Endure hardship with (me).\" \"Take thy share in suffering\" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["\"No one while serving as a soldier.\" \n\nthe affairs of (this) life--\"the businesses of life\" [ALFORD]; mercantile, or other than military. \n\nhim who hath chosen him--the general who at the first enlisted him as a soldier. Paul himself worked at tent-making (Act 18:3). Therefore what is prohibited here is, not all other save religious occupation, but the becoming entangled, or over-engrossed therewith.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["And--\"Moreover.\" \n\nstrive for masteries--\"strive in the games\" [ALFORD]; namely, the great national games of Greece. \n\nyet is he not crowned, except--even though he gain the victory. \n\nstrive lawfully--observing all the conditions of both the contest (keeping within the bounds of the course and stript of his clothes) and the preparation for it, namely, as to self-denying diet, anointing, exercise, self-restraint, chastity, decorum, &c. (Co1 9:24-27).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["must be first partaker--The right of first partaking of the fruits belongs to him who is laboring; do not thou, therefore, relax thy labors, as thou wouldest be foremost in partaking of the reward. CONYBEARE explains \"first,\" before the idler.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Consider the force of the illustrations I have given from the soldier, the contender in the games, and the husbandmen, as applying to thyself in thy ministry. \n\nand the Lord give, &c.--The oldest manuscripts read, \"for the Lord will give thee understanding.\" Thou canst understand my meaning so as personally to apply it to thyself; for the Lord will give thee understanding when thou seekest it from Him \"in all things.\" Not intellectual perception, but personal appropriation of the truths metaphorically expressed, was what he needed to be given him by the Lord.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Rather as Greek, \"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.\" Remember Christ risen, so as to follow Him. As He was raised after death, so if thou wouldest share His risen \"life,\" thou must now share His \"death\" (Ti2 2:11). The Greek perfect passive participle, implies a permanent character acquired by Jesus as the risen Saviour, and our permanent interest in Him as such. Christ's resurrection is put prominently forward as being the truth now assailed (Ti2 2:18), and the one best calculated to stimulate Timothy to steadfastness in sharing Paul's sufferings for the Gospel's sake (see on Ti2 2:3). \n\nof the seed of David--The one and only genealogy (as contrasted with the \"endless genealogies,\" Ti1 1:4) worth thinking of, for it proves Jesus to be the Messiah. The absence of the article in the Greek, and this formula, \"of the seed of David\" (compare Rom 1:3), imply that the words were probably part of a recognized short oral creed. In His death He assured us of His humanity; by His resurrection, of His divinity. That He was not crucified for His own sin appears from His resurrection; that He was crucified shows that He bore sin, on Him, though not in Him. \n\nmy gospel--that which I always taught.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Wherein--in proclaiming which Gospel. \n\nsuffer trouble--literally, \"evil.\" I am a sufferer of evil as though I were a doer of evil. \n\nbonds-- (Ti2 1:16). \n\nword . . . not bound--Though my person is bound, my tongue and my pen are not (Ti2 4:17; Act 28:31). Or he alludes not merely to his own proclamation of the Gospel, though in chains, but to the freedom of its circulation by others, even though his power of circulating it is now prescribed (Phi 1:18). He also hints to Timothy that he being free ought to be the more earnest in the service of it.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Therefore--Because of the anxiety I feel that the Gospel should be extended; that anxiety being implied in Ti2 2:9. \n\nendure--not merely \"I passively suffer,\" but \"I actively and perseveringly endure,\" and \"am ready to endure patiently all things.\" \n\nthe elect's sakes--for the sake of the Church: all the members of Christ's spiritual body (Col 1:24). \n\nthey . . . also--as well as myself: both God's elect not yet converted and those already so. \n\nsalvation . . . glory--not only salvation from wrath, but glory in reigning with Him eternally (Ti2 2:12). Glory is the full expansion of salvation (Act 2:47; Rom 8:21-24, Rom 8:30; Heb 9:28). So grace and glory (Psa 84:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["Greek, \"Faithful is the saying.\" \n\nFor--\"For\" the fact is so that, \"if we be dead with Him (the Greek aorist tense implies a state once for all entered into in past times at the moment of regeneration, Rom 6:3-4, Rom 6:8; Col 2:12), we shall also live with Him.\" The symmetrical form of \"the saying,\" Ti2 2:11-13, and the rhythmical balance of the parallel clauses, makes it likely, they formed part of a Church hymn (see on Ti1 3:16), or accepted formula, perhaps first uttered by some of the Christian \"prophets\" in the public assembly (Co1 14:26). The phrase \"faithful is the saying,\" which seems to have been the usual formula (compare Ti1 1:15; Ti1 3:1; Ti1 4:9; Tit 3:8) in such cases, favors this.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["suffer--rather, as the Greek is the same as in Ti2 2:10, \"If we endure (with Him)\" (Rom 8:17). \n\nreign with him--The peculiar privilege of the elect Church now suffering with Christ, then to reign with Him (see on Co1 6:2). Reigning is something more than mere salvation (Rom 5:17; Rev 3:21; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:4-5). \n\ndeny--with the mouth. As \"believe\" with the heart follows, Ti2 2:12. Compare the opposite, \"confess with thy mouth\" and \"believe in thine heart\" (Rom 10:9-10). \n\nhe also will deny us-- (Mat 10:33).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["believe not--\"If we are unbelievers (literally, 'unfaithful'), He remains faithful\" (Deu 7:9-10). The oldest manuscripts read, \"For He cannot (it is an impossibility that He should) deny Himself.\" He cannot be unfaithful to His word that He will deny those who deny Him, though we be not faithful to our profession of faith in Him (Rom 3:3). Three things are impossible to God, to die, to lie, and to be deceived [AUGUSTINE, The Creed, 1.1], (Heb 6:18). This impossibility is not one of infirmity, but of infinite power and majesty. Also, indirectly, comfort is suggested to believers, that He is faithful to His promises to them; at the same time that apostates are shaken out of their self-deceiving fancy, that because they change, Christ similarly may change. A warning to Timothy to be steadfast in the faith.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["them--those over whom thou dost preside (Tit 3:1). \n\ncharging--Greek, \"testifying continually\": \"adjuring them.\" \n\nbefore the Lord-- (Ti1 5:21). \n\nthat they strive not about words--rather, \"strive with words\": \"not to have a (mere) war of words\" (Ti2 2:23-24; Ti1 6:4) where the most vital matters are at stake (Ti2 2:17-18; Act 18:15). The oldest manuscripts put a stop at \"charging them before the Lord\" (which clause is thus connected with \"put them in remembrance\") and read the imperative, \"Strive not thou in words,\" &c. \n\nto no profit--not qualifying \"words\"; but Greek neuter, in apposition with \"strive in words,\" \"(a thing tending) to no profit,\" literally, \"profitable for nothing\"; the opposite of \"meet for the master's use\" (Ti2 2:21). \n\nto the subverting--sure to subvert (overturn) the hearers: the opposite of \"edifying\" (building up) (Co2 13:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Study--Greek, \"Be earnest,\" or \"diligent.\" \n\nto show--Greek, \"present,\" as in Rom 12:1. \n\nthyself--as distinguished from those whom Timothy was to charge (Ti2 2:14). \n\napproved--tested by trial: opposed to \"reprobate\" (Tit 1:16). \n\nworkman--alluding to Mat 20:1, &c. \n\nnot to be ashamed--by his work not being \"approved\" (Phi 1:20). Contrast \"deceitful workers\" (Co2 11:13). \n\nrightly dividing--\"rightly handling\" [Vulgate]; \"rightly administering\" [ALFORD]; literally, cutting \"straight\" or \"right\": the metaphor being from a father or a steward (Co1 4:1) cutting and distributing bread among his children [VITRINGA and CALVIN], (Luk 12:42). The Septuagint, Pro 3:6; Pro 11:5, use it of \"making one's way\": so BENGEL here takes Paul to mean that Timothy may make ready a straight way for \"the word of truth,\" and may himself walk straight forward according to this line, turning neither to the right nor to the left, \"teaching no other doctrine\" (Ti1 1:3). The same image of a way appears in the Greek for \"increase\" (see on Ti2 2:16). The opposite to \"rightly handling,\" or \"dispensing,\" is, Co2 2:17, \"corrupt the word of God.\" \n\ntruth--Greek, \"the truth\" (compare Ti2 2:18).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["shun--literally, \"stand above,\" separate from, and superior to. \n\nvain--opposed to \"the truth\" (Ti2 2:15). \n\nbabblings--with loud voice: opposed to the temperate \"word\" (Tit 3:9). \n\nincrease--Greek, advance\"; literally, \"strike forward\": an image from pioneers cutting away all obstacles before an advancing army. They pretend progress; the only kind of progress they make is to a greater pitch of impiety. \n\nmore ungodliness--Greek, \"a greater degree of impiety.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["will eat--literally, \"will have pasture.\" The consuming progress of mortification is the image. They pretend to give rich spiritual pasture to their disciples: the only pasture is that of a spiritual cancer feeding on their vitals. \n\ncanker--a \"cancer\" or \"gangrene.\" \n\nHymenaeus--(See on Ti1 1:20). After his excommunication he seems to have been readmitted into the Church and again to have troubled it.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["erred--Greek, \"missed the aim\" (see Ti1 6:21). \n\nis past already--has already taken place. The beginnings of the subsequent Gnostic heresy already existed. They \"wrested\" (Pe2 3:16) Paul's own words (Rom 6:4; Eph 2:6; Col 2:12) \"to their own destruction,\" as though the resurrection was merely the spiritual raising of souls from the death of sin. Compare Co1 15:12, where he shows all our hopes of future glory rest on the literal reality of the resurrection. To believe it past (as the Seleucians or Hermians did, according to AUGUSTINE [Epistles, 119.55, To Januarius, 4]), is to deny it in its true sense. \n\noverthrow--trying to subvert \"the foundation\" on which alone faith can rest secure (Ti2 2:19; compare Tit 1:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Nevertheless--Notwithstanding the subversion of their faith, \"the firm foundation of God standeth\" fast (so the Greek ought to be translated). The \"foundation\" here is \"the Church\" [ALFORD], \"the ground\" or basement support \"of the truth\" (Ti1 3:15), Christ Himself being the ultimate \"foundation\" (Co1 3:11). In the steadfast standing of the Church there is involved the steadfast certainty of the doctrine in question (Ti2 2:18). Thus the \"house\" (Ti2 2:20) answers to the \"foundation\"; it is made up of the elect whom \"the Lord knoweth\" (acknowledgeth, recognizes, Psa 1:6; Mat 7:23; Joh 10:14; Co1 8:3) as \"His,\" and who persevere to the end, though others \"err concerning the faith\" (Mat 24:24; Joh 10:28; Rom 8:38-39; Jo1 2:19). BENGEL takes \"the foundation\" to be the immovable faithfulness of God (to His promises to His elect [CALVIN]). This contrasts well with the erring from the faith on the part of the reprobate, Ti2 2:18. Though they deny the faith, God abates not His faithfulness (compare Ti2 2:13). \n\nhaving--seeing that it has [ELLICOTT]. \n\nseal--\"inscription\": indicating ownership and destination: inscriptions were often engraven on a \"foundation\" stone (Rev 21:14) [ALFORD]. This will agree with the view that \"the foundation\" is the Church (Eph 2:20). If it be taken God's immovable faithfulness, the \"seal\" will be regarded as attached to His covenant promise, with the inscription or legend, on one side of its round surface, \"The Lord knoweth (it is 'knew' in the Septuagint, Num 16:5, to which Paul here alludes, altering it for his purpose by the Spirit) them that are His\"; on the observe side, \"Let every one that nameth (as his Lord, Psa 20:7, or preacheth in His name, Jer 20:9) Christ.\" \n\ndepart--Greek, \"stand aloof.\" \n\nfrom iniquity-- (Isa 52:11). In both clauses there may be an allusion to Num 16:5, Num 16:26, Septuagint. God's part and man's part are marked out. God chooseth and knoweth His elect; our part is to believe, and by the Spirit depart from all iniquity, an unequivocal proof of our being the Lord's (compare Deu 29:29; Luk 13:23-27). St. Lucian when asked by his persecutors, \"Of what country art thou?\" replied, \"I am a Christian.\" \"What is your occupation? . . . I am a Christian.\" \"Of what family? . . . I am a Christian.\" [CHRYSOSTOM, Orations, 75]. He cannot be honored with the name Christian, who dishonors by iniquity, Christ, the Author of the name. Blandina's refreshment amidst her tortures was to say, \"I am a Christian, and with us Christians no evil is done\" [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 5.1]. Apostasy from the faith is sure soon to be followed by indulgence in iniquity. It was so with the false teachers (Ti2 3:2-8, Ti2 3:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["in a great house--that is, the visible professing Christian Church (Ti1 3:15). Paul is speaking, not of those without, but of the [visible] family of God [CALVIN]. So the parable of the sweep-net (Mat 13:47-49) gathering together of every kind, good and bad: as the good and bad cannot be distinguished while under the waves, but only when brought to shore, so believers and unbelievers continue in the same Church, until the judgment makes the everlasting distinction. \"The ark of Noah is a type of the Church; as in the former there were together the leopard and the kid, the wolf and the lamb; so in the latter, the righteous and sinners, vessels of gold and silver, with vessels of wood and earth\" [JEROME, Dialogue against the Luciferians, 302] (compare Mat 20:16). \n\nvessels of gold . . . silver--precious and able to endure fire. \n\nof wood and earth--worthless, fragile, and soon burnt (Co1 3:12-15; Co1 15:47). \n\nsome . . . some--the former . . . the latter. \n\nto dishonour-- (Pro 16:4; Rom 9:17-23).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["If a man . . . purge himself from these--The Greek expresses \"If one (for example, thou, Timothy) purify himself (so as to separate) from among these\" (vessels unto dishonor). \n\nsanctified--set apart as wholly consecrated to the Lord. \n\nand meet--Some oldest manuscripts omit \"and.\" \n\nthe master's--the Lord's. Paul himself was such a vessel: once one among those of earth, but afterwards he became by grace one of gold. \n\nprepared unto every good work-- (Ti2 3:17; Tit 3:1). Contrast Tit 1:16.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["Flee--There are many lusts from which our greatest safety is in flight (Gen 39:12). Avoid occasions of sin. From the abstemious character of Timothy (Ti1 5:23) it is likely that not animal indulgences, but the impetuosity, rash self-confidence, hastiness, strife, and vainglory of young men (Jo1 2:14-16), are what he is here warned against: though the Spirit probably intended the warning to include both in its application to the Church in general. \n\nalso--Greek, \"But\"; in contrast to \"every good work,\" Ti2 2:21. \n\nyouthful--Timothy was a youth (Ti1 4:12). \n\nrighteousness--the opposite of \"iniquity,\" that is, unrighteousness (Ti2 2:19; compare Ti1 6:11). \n\npeace, with, &c.--rather, put no comma, \"peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart\" (Ti1 1:5; Eph 6:5; Col 3:22). We are to love all men, but it is not possible to be at peace with all men, for this needs community of purpose and opinion; they alone who call on the Lord sincerely (as contrasted with the false teachers who had only the form of godliness, Ti2 3:5, Ti2 3:8; Tit 1:15-16) have this community [THEODORET]. (Rom 12:18).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["(Tit 3:9.) \n\nunlearned--Greek, \"undisciplined\"; not tending to promote the discipline of faith and morals (Pro 5:23). \"Uninstructive\"; in contrast with \"instructing\" (Ti2 2:25), and \"wise unto salvation\" (Ti2 3:15). \n\navoid--\"decline.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["not strive--\"The servant of the Lord\" must imitate his master in not striving contentiously, though uncompromising in earnestly contending for the faith (Jde 1:3; Mat 12:19). \n\ngentle unto all men--\"patient\" (Greek, \"patient in bearing wrongs\") in respect to adversaries. He is to be gentle so that he may occasion no evils; patient so that he may endure evils. \n\napt to teach--implying not only solid teaching and ease in teaching, but patience and assiduity in it [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["instructing--Greek, \"disciplining,\" instructing with correction, which those who deal in \"uninstructive\" or \"undisciplined questions\" need (see on Ti2 2:23; Ti1 1:20). \n\nthose that oppose themselves--Greek, \"oppositely affected\"; those of a different opinion. \n\nif . . . peradventure--Greek, \"if at any time.\" \n\nrepentance--which they need as antecedent to the full knowledge (so the Greek for 'acknowledgment') of the truth\" (Ti1 2:4), their minds being corrupted (Ti2 3:8), and their lives immoral. The cause of the spiritual ignorance which prompts such \"questions\" is moral, having its seat in the will, not in the intellect (Joh 7:17). Therefore repentance is their first need. That, not man, but God alone can \"give\" (Act 5:31).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["recover themselves--Greek, \"awake to soberness,\" namely from the spiritual intoxication whereby they have fallen into the snare of the devil. \n\nthe snare-- (Eph 6:11, \"the wiles of the devil\": Ti1 3:7; Ti1 6:9). \n\ntaken captive by him at his will--so as to follow the will of \"THAT\" (the Greek emphatically marks Satan thus) foe. However, different Greek pronouns stand for \"him\" and \"his\"; and the Greek for \"taken captive\" means not \"captured for destruction,\" but \"for being saved alive,\" as in Luk 5:10, \"Thou shalt catch men to save them unto life\"; also there is no article before the Greek participle, which the English Version \"who are taken captive,\" would require. Therefore, translate, \"That they may awake . . . taken as saved (and willing) captives by him (the servant of the Lord, Ti2 2:24), so as to follow the will of HIM (the Lord, Ti2 2:24, or \"God,\" Ti2 2:25).\" There are here two evils, the \"snare\" and sleep, from which they are delivered: and two goods to which they are translated, awaking and deliverance. Instead of Satan's thrall comes the free and willing captivity of obedience to Christ (Co2 10:5). It is God who goes before, giving repentance (Ti2 2:25); then the work of His servant following is sure to be crowned with success, leading the convert henceforth to \"live to the will of God\" (Act 22:14; Pe1 4:2).\n\n\n\n\nNext: 2 Timothy Chapter 3\n\n"]}],"introduction":"EXHORTATIONS; TO FAITHFULNESS AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST; ERRORS TO BE SHUNNED; THE LORD'S SURE FOUNDATION; THE RIGHT SPIRIT FOR A SERVANT OF CHRIST. (2Ti. 2:1-26)\n\nThou therefore--following my example (Ti2 1:8, Ti2 1:12), and that of ONESIPHORUS (Ti2 1:16-18), and shunning that of those who forsook me (Ti2 1:15). \n\nmy son--Children ought to imitate their father. \n\nbe strong--literally, \"be invested with power.\" Have power, and show thyself to have it; implying an abiding state of power. \n\nin the grace--the element IN which the believer's strength has place. Compare Ti2 1:7, \"God hath given us the spirit of power.\"\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/2.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":2},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/3.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":3},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/1.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":1},"numberOfVerses":25}