2 Timothy 1 - James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

Bible Comments
  • 2 Timothy 1:6,7 open_in_new

    A SPIRIT OF COURAGE

    ‘Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee is the putting on of mg bands. For God bath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’

    2 Timothy 1:6-7

    These words were addressed by Paul the aged to the youthful Timothy. They are part of a last message from the veteran soldier of the Cross to a recruit almost new to the field of battle. The tenderness of a father speaks in the opening sentence: ‘To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace.’ The fierceness of the fighter rings through my text: ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear, of cowardice; but of power.’ To St. Paul, the man of God was no weakling, but a man strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. To him the minister of Christ by the laying on of hands—‘by the heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost’—was endued in a marked degree with: (1) a spirit of courage; (2) a heart of love; (3) a mind sound and disciplined. Let us consider and earnestly covet these gifts.

    I. A spirit of courage.—It is probable that Timothy was constitutionally timid, and that this spirit of timidity had led him to act in a cowardly manner on some special occasion known to the Apostle. We gather this from 2 Timothy 1:8: ‘Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me His prisoner.’ In the face of personal danger, or through fear of persecution, Timothy had not upheld the Apostle’s teaching, nor acknowledged his connection with Paul the prisoner. Such an act of poltroonery grieved the heroic spirit of the old soldier. Fidelity to Christ—to the truth of Christ—was more to him than life itself. And what about ourselves? Are we quite free from this spirit of timidity, of cowardly fear? Make no mistake—the attitude of the world towards true godliness has not changed. It still hates the Christ. It may manifest its hatred in a different way, but it is there and must be

    God give us men. A time like this demands

    Great hearts, strong minds, true faith, and willing hands;

    Men whom the lust of office cannot buy;

    Men who have honour, men who will not lie;

    Men who for Christ will live, for Christ dare die.

    II. With the spirit of courage the Apostle couples a heart of love.—It is a suggestive association in many ways. Love makes the noblest champions, for perfect love casteth out fear. He who loves most fears least. Yea! love is as strong as death. The world’s most enduring conquests have been conquests of love. Love never faileth.

    III. To the spirit of courage and to the heart of love is added another mark of the true minister of Christ.—He must be a man of sound, of disciplined mind. If ever the clergy required a sound mind they require it in our day. We are sending forth from our schools boys and girls, youths and maidens, with just enough knowledge to make them think foolishly, talk dangerously, and often to act stupidly. They know a little political economy and they talk socialism, they know a little science and they talk atheism. We must not, however, take them too seriously. It is the penalty we have to pay in the upward march of intelligence. Our position is clear as clergy of the National Church. We are to guide and lead the thought of our day into right channels, into ways of soberness and truth. But if we are to do so effectively we must ourselves be level-headed men. Men with disciplined minds. Men with balanced intellects. Men who can bring to bear upon the questions agitating the minds of our people a prudent, practical, and discriminating judgment.

    —Archdeacon Madden.

    Illustration

    ‘Think of the men in the past, the men who rebuked kings, withstood tyrants, and wrought righteousness in the earth. Think of Elijah before Ahab, of Daniel before Belshazzar, of John Baptist before Herod. Think of Ambrose at Milan, Savonarola at Florence, Luther at Worms. Think of our own brave Wycliffe; of that undaunted Apostle of Scotland, John Knox; yes, think of that Vicar of Doncaster who courteously but firmly refused to entertain princes and nobles, as a protest against the curse of betting at the Doncaster races.’

    (SECOND OUTLINE)

    THE SPIRIT OF COWARDICE

    The word ‘fear’ in this phrase means cowardice. ‘God hath not given us this spirit of fear.’ God has not given us this spirit of cowardice. Where then did the spirit of cowardice come from? It is one heritage of primitive human imperfection, slowly being conquered by Divine education, a relic of human depravity, a survival from a primitive condition, a barbarous condition. But God does not love His children to wander in a land of terrors. Step by step He educates them. Why are ye then fearful, O ye of little faith? There is therefore now no condemnation to us who are in Christ Jesus, and walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

    I. If there is one great difficulty of the Christian minister in leading many of his people into a right feeling towards God, so that their minds may have a Divine tone about them, it is another great difficulty to remove from the hearts of religious people that terror, that fear which oppresses so many of them.

    II. To you who want to believe the truth, who cannot live without a deep, real faith irremovably fastened on the Rock of Ages—to such let me say, ‘Let no cowardly fear affront you from your inquiries.’ You want to know more about your Father and His ways—ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find.

    III. And, lastly, there is that unworthy fear which keeps men from adopting and confessing a Christian life, especially of confessing it at the Lord’s Table.

    —Dean Page Roberts.

    Illustration

    ‘I remember a story of Mr. Moody. When he was in the country on one occasion he saw a man with a group of boys round him. Presently the boys climbed on to the top of a high wall. Then the man standing at a little distance from them said, “Jump,” and as they jumped he caught them. But there was one little fellow who could not be induced to leap. Mr. Moody said to the stranger, “My friend, what are you doing with those boys?” “I am teaching them what faith is,” was the answer; “I am teaching them to trust me.” “But,” said Mr. Moody, “that little fellow there would not jump.” “No,” said the man, “he does not know me, he is not my boy.” ’

  • 2 Timothy 1:10 open_in_new

    THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

    ‘Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.’

    2 Timothy 1:10

    Though the Lord thus brought life and immortality to light, He told us very little indeed about the present state of those who are among the dead.

    Shall we try to gather from His teaching one or two thoughts about that present state of the departed, which may perhaps be of some help to us in our prayer?

    I. Our Lord teaches most clearly the continuous nature of our life and our character.—Those in the unseen world are the same persons as those who lived on earth. Their life is the same, and their character is what it was made here.

    II. And from that there comes to us the thought of how much there may be to be done in those who have passed from this world into the Veil. For there is the work of the development of life, the training of character, still to go on.

    III. And the Lord teaches us, in His Incarnate life, of the justice of God.—That is involved in all the teaching as to the continuity of life and character, of which we have already thought.

    IV. And, with God’s justice, the Lord reveals His goodness.—The goodness of God! It is the great thought running all through the Gospel history—the goodness of God in that He sent His Son to redeem the world, the goodness of God in that He is patient, in that He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, giving them all possibilities and opportunities; the goodness of God, in that He cares, with a fulness of love, for the creatures whom He has made.

    —Rev. Darwell Stone.

    Illustration

    ‘We learn from the Old Testament that the thoughts of men about the future before Christ came were thoughts that were very dark and very confused. Here and there, one time and another, some chosen soul, pondering on man’s ways and on God’s works, led by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, attained to some clear hope, to some strong conviction, about the future life. But for the most part it is not so. For the most part there are words of uncertainty, words of gloom, words which speak of a half-existent state among the dead, of the dead being in that state where there is no remembrance of God, of the dead going down into silence, and of not praising God, cut off from God’s hand, the slain that lie in the grave. When St. Paul speaks of our Lord bringing life and immortality to light, the contrast is very strong between that which our Lord did and what there had hitherto been.’

    (SECOND OUTLINE)

    ‘THE LAST ENEMY’

    Let us inquire why, since Christ has abolished death, is it appointed to all men to die? Why is the law of death unrepealed?

    I. Why did not Christ demonstrate the power of His grace by making the good to pass into another life without first dying?

    (a) This is from no want of power. The Word of Christ raised the dead, much more could it have kept men from the grave. They who are alive at the coming of the Lord will not die, but will simply be changed: this is not beyond His power. In the future the Divine Power will constitute the human body indestructible; surely the same energy could do so in the present if it were so disposed.

    (b) This is from no want of merit in the work of human redemption. The sacrifice of Christ is of infinite merit, hence it cannot be through defect in it that believers are not freed from death. And if the death of Christ released from eternal death, it was of sufficient value to save from temporal. In Him we have not to view death so much as a penalty, but as the way to God. Why, then, is temporal death not abolished, seeing that Christ lacks neither power nor merit?

    II. Take two reasons.

    (a) In order that the truth of God might be vindicated. When man first sinned, God said, ‘Thou shalt surely die,’ and the sentence was, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’ ‘By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men.’ This refers to temporal death. Though in Adam all die, yet in Christ all shall be made alive again. It is not abolished.

    (b) In order that it may remain as an example of the evil of sin. We should thus learn not to awaken the indignation of the Holy God by transgressing His commands. Death makes men deeply sensible of the bitterness of sin. If they were to pass out of life without it and its pain, they would be more liable to spend their lives in folly and vanity.

    (THIRD OUTLINE)

    A FESTIVAL OF JOY

    The Christians of the first ages celebrated the Easter festival in a very suggestive manner. During the week that preceded it they knelt down to pray, to denote the profound humiliation with which the memory of the sufferings and death of the Lord filled their hearts. But on Easter Day they prayed standing, to signify that Christ had raised fallen man and opened heaven to him. Let us enter into the spiritual disposition symbolised by this bodily attitude, and inquire why Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus with joy.

    I. It is the pledge of their own immortality and resurrection.—Our faith does not rest on arguments, but on a fact, on a certain, undeniable, glorious fact—the resurrection of Christ. Christ is risen; and because we are in Him, and He in us, we too shall rise again, for He is the firstfruits of them that slept.

    II. It is the pledge of the remission of our sins.—The resurrection of Christ is the Divine seal set on the mission of the Son by the Father. All the Son has done and taught for the salvation of the Church is solemnly confirmed by this act of power that recalls Him to life.

    III. It is the means by which the sinner passes from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.—Since he owes all to Jesus, he loves Him with an absolute, all-absorbing love. He loves all Jesus loves, and hates all He hates. He is united to Him by a real and close connection, in virtue of which he considers himself bound to realise in his spiritual life every one of the facts of the Saviour’s life and passion. Christ died—the Christian daily dies to selfishness, pride, etc. Christ is risen—the Christian day by day awakens to new life—to the life of Christ, which consists in humility, love, consecration to God.

    Illustration

    ‘We may admit that in the two most ancient civilisations, the Egyptian and the Babylonian, we meet with conceptions of an after-existence in the realm of the dead, and in the dread land, as it is termed, of No-Return; but they are conceptions in which all true personality is lost. Shadowy souls people the silent regions of darkness, and even if, as in the Egyptian teaching, some beatified souls enter for a while into regions of bliss, it is only a preparation for the absorption in the God of the universe, from Whom they had originally emanated. The conception of an eternal life in heaven, with God, is rightly declared by a recent writer on this difficult subject to hold no place either in the Egyptian or the Babylonian creed. All conceptions, such as that involved in the text, namely, of life in any real sense of the word, will be sought for in vain in these ancient forms of religions. The utmost that can be said of them, even in their latest development, is that of a continued existence gladdened by some renewals of what most gladdened earthly life, but undeveloped, shadowy, and powerless.’

  • 2 Timothy 1:10,11 open_in_new

    LIFE AND INCORRUPTION

    ‘Life and Incorruption.’

    2 Timothy 1:10 (R.V.)

    The more we contrast the conceptions of the life after death in the two Testaments, the more certain does it become that the life and incorruption of which our text speaks is absolutely a New Testament conception, and that it was Christ, and especially His Resurrection, that converted the dim and confused hopes of existence after death into the certainties of a true life in a true and incorruptible body.

    I. And yet men often think and speak as if our hope of immortality and of a true life after death could be maintained independently of the historical fact that Christ rose again from the dead, and took again the body which had hung upon the cross. There are indeed, I fear, indications that this inability to recognise the certain and vital truth that not only our own future—the future of the individual—but the future of this world in which we dwell—yea, verily, and of the whole universe—are bound up with the fact of the Lord’s resurrection—there are indications, I say, that the ability to realise this is increasing rather than diminishing.

    II. But it is on real union with Christ that the life and in-corruption which He brought to light alone can be vouchsafed to us. Our life is then bound up with His life. As His body was laid in the tomb, so will ours be laid in the chambers of the grave. As He, in soul and spirit, vouchsafed to enter the waiting world of the departed, so shall we enter that mystic realm. As He rose with His own veritable body, so shall we rise with our own bodies as those bodies shall have become inwardly fashioned during our earthly pilgrimage, by our deeds in the body, and by the tenor of our whole life and conversation.

    —Bishop Ellicott.

  • 2 Timothy 1:12 open_in_new

    DOCTRINE AND LIFE

    ‘I know Whom I have believed.’

    2 Timothy 1:12

    In these words I find indicated the necessity, in the life of faith, of doctrinal clearness and decision, and the necessity, if that clearness and decision are not to be purely abortive, cause without effect, means without end, of a living acquaintance with a Divine Person and a living manifestation of that acquaintance, in action and suffering.

    I. A solemn suggestion of the necessity of doctrinal clearness and decision.—It may seem, for the moment, that this inference from these particular words is not obvious. Are thoughts of dogmatic firmness, of the precision of creeds, articles, and definitions, really in place here? Is it not the first and most obvious fact of the passage, as Christians have so often remarked, that the writer does not say, ‘I know what I have believed,’ but ‘I know Whom’? It might be said with even a sort of indignation that the passage positively excludes the idea of ‘the dry bones of doctrine’ in favour of a warm intercourse of the soul with Jesus, in which cold and complicated statements shall be forgotten in the felt pulses of His heart. Such a protest would have undoubtedly thus much of truth in it—that most sacred lessons are conveyed by the presence of the word ‘Whom’ and the absence of ‘what.’ The dying Apostle does indeed go, direct and by a spiritual necessity, to his Lord’s Person, to his personal Lord, to the close embrace of his Eternal Friend, the lover of his soul. Nothing else will do in view of his extremity and desolations, all men forsaking him, and eternity about to close over him.

    II. Let us look a little further into the words and into the thing.—When I speak, or think, of going direct to my Lord and Saviour, of finding rest in His love and faithfulness, of safety in His arms and on His breast, how am I sure of the reality and solidity of the terms, so warm and tender, which I thus employ? I may perhaps reply that my certainty is by the Holy Spirit, Who teaches, Who illuminates, Who sheds abroad Divine love in my heart and glorifies Christ to my inner man. But the reply again is obvious, that, in the first place, the special works, and the very being, of the Blessed Spirit are matters of pure revelation, of revealed doctrine; and that, in the second place, His holy work of enlightenment and sanctification, most certainly as to its overwhelming rule, presupposes always some definite doctrine, some positive Divine information, about the Saviour’s work and person. Whether directly from the Holy Scriptures, or by sure conclusions from them, whether in doctrinal words read or doctrinal words spoken, somehow or other, information about Him the man must have, if the Spirit is to unfold before the soul His glory. There must be some, and, in the very simplest stages of enlightened and living faith, that some is not little in its significance. No sooner have I pronounced the words Saviour, Redeemer, Son of God, Lamb of God, Priest, King, Brother, no sooner have I thought with comfort of the precious blood-shedding, or dwelt with bright anticipation on the prospect of my presence with my eternal Friend at death and in eternity, than I am in the very midst of the doctrine of Christ; for every one of these ideas is due to Divine instruction about Him. In this, through this, the Holy Spirit works on me and in me. Through the doctrine He shows me Christ, and the way to Him, and my part and lot in Him, and my treasures in Him, and my coming heaven with Him.

    Bishop H. C. G. Moule.

    Illustration

    ‘Observe how the soul of St. Paul, full of the Holy Ghost, and now about to enter eternity, turns with an extraordinary emphasis to the fact of the Divine inspiration and Divine authority of “every Scripture” (2 Timothy 3:16). Hear him as he appeals to the sensitive heart of the younger disciple to “continue in the things he has learned, and has been assured of,” on grounds not merely of subjective impression but of objective authority. Hear him as he repudiates the rationalism, which doubtless claimed to be spiritual and mystic, but was rationalism none the less, of those who said “that the resurrection was past already” (2 Timothy 2:18). Remark his solemn summing up of the reason why Timothy should “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,” a reason which in its brevity combines the threefold cord of supernatural prophecy, supernatural event, and supernatural teaching—“Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my Gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8). And then see how for himself, on the verge of that supreme experience of our mortal life, the act of dying, collecting himself for the last submission and the last victory, the Apostle grasps for his own peace no mere generalities of belief, but the deepest and highest truths of the whole revelation—“He hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10). All this powerfully illustrates the principle that there is a connection of the strongest and most vital kind between Christian life, whether in action or suffering, and Christian doctrine—the certainties of revealed truth and their right expression.’

    (SECOND OUTLINE)

    FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE

    Some persons’ professed knowledge of Christ amounts to little more than knowledge of His name. But—

    I. St. Paul knew Christ as the one Being Whose influence had surpassed all other influences in his life.—Christ had changed his character and the course of his life.

    II. He knew Christ as the patient, tender, helpful Friend through many years past of that new life and career. In trouble and weakness and fear and ‘perils’ St. Paul had not sought the relief of subterfuges, but had sought and found the relief of Jesus.

    III. St. Paul knew Christ very practically as his Master.—Christ was a Master Who had given him very much to do, very much to bear (see 2 Corinthians 11:16-31), but had always given him the needful help and strength, and His own co-operation and company. Practical service wonderfully drives home theoretical knowledge, and without the former the latter is little worth.

    IV. St. Paul knew Christ as the only one ground of hope for the immortal self, for the eternal future.—This aspect of Christ was the more remarkable to St. Paul, as he had been brought up to believe in self, in merit, in a righteousness of his own works. But now, not does an infant more implicitly and unconsciously rely on its mother than St. Paul relied consciously, gratefully, exclusively on Christ for salvation and the safety of the all untried, dimly known future.

    (THIRD OUTLINE)

    FAITH AND ITS OBJECT

    In analysing these words we find they contain three ideas:—

    I. The faith of St. Paul, expressed in these words: ‘I have believed.’

    II. The object of his faith, which he recalls when he says: ‘In Whom I have believed.’

    III. The certainty of his faith, indicated with so much force and serenity by this expression: ‘I know.’

    Such is the natural division of the subject.

  • 2 Timothy 1:12,13 open_in_new

    CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE

    ‘I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.’

    2 Timothy 1:12

    St. Paul knows what none of the wise men of this world know. He knows his Saviour. Here we have an account of this knowledge and the use he made of it.

    I. The deposit which St. Paul made.—He speaks of having ‘committed’ something—a remarkable expression, which indicates that the transaction is of great importance. Now what was it that St. Paul had committed? Without a doubt, he committed his soul. Why had he done so? It has been well said, because he was so convinced of its value. You cannot save yourself, you cannot sanctify yourself, and therefore if your soul is to be safe it must be placed in the hands of another. But St. Paul committed not only his soul, though it was the most precious thing he had, but himself, body, soul, and spirit; he committed his cares, his hopes, his prospects, all he desired, wished, and hoped for, he made a complete and entire surrender of everything he had to Jesus Christ.

    II. The persuasion which He had about it.—What was the confidence he expressed about this deposit which he had made? What was his persuasion? ‘I am persuaded,’ he says, that ‘He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.’ What did he mean?

    (a) That Christ was able to keep him from finally falling away.

    (b) That He was able to keep him from being overwhelmed in the days of sorrow, temptation, discouragement, affliction, and darkness.

    (c) That God was able to keep the soul which he had thus committed to Him from falling into sin. This is a far greater demand on his faith than any other. He believed Christ was ‘able to guard him from stumbling’ (Jude 1:24).

    III. The ground upon which this persuasion rested.—It was personal knowledge of Him Whom he trusted. ‘I know Whom I have believed,’ not ‘what.’ Not the doctrines of the Gospel, though no man knew them better. The writer of the Epistle to the Romans was no novice in Christian doctrine, but he says nothing about doctrines. ‘I know Whom.’ Not a doctrine but a Person.

    Rev. E. W. Moore.

    Illustration

    ‘During the last illness of the late Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, he was visited by a former student. After a few words of conversation had been exchanged, the venerable doctor said to the young disciple, “Give me some text to help me, quote me some text that will strengthen me for the last battle.” And the young man repeated the words, “I know ‘in’ Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” “No,” said the doctor, “that is not right; it is not ‘ in Whom,’ it is ‘ Whom.’ I will not have even a preposition between me and my Saviour.” “I know Whom.” ’

  • 2 Timothy 1:14 open_in_new

    THE CHURCH AND ITS FAITH

    ‘That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost Which dwelleth in us.’

    2 Timothy 1:14

    There is no Church throughout the world that has a nobler or more sublime faith than the Church of England. What are we doing to preserve the sublimity of this faith? Are we trying to preserve its noble simplicity? Are we trying to do honour to our own Church, or are we content to be honoured by her in living on the glory of her past?

    I. We ought to support such agencies as the Church uses to promote its efforts throughout the civilised world. Every Churchman ought to be a missionary in the best sense of the word. Every Churchman who believes that the Church represents the best symbol of God’s truth ought to subscribe to the utmost of his power to support the Church in all its agencies—both national and parochial.

    II. We ought in our own circles to proclaim the Church’s faith.—We ought to present its claim to our friends; not to let ourselves be held back by that false liberalism which teaches that any form of faith is as good as another. We ought to feel that we have access to the Well of Living Water for which the whole world is athirst.

    III. We ought to live our daily lives so as to set forth before men the moral and spiritual loveliness of the faith we have received. It is a shame to us that we see men and women outside the Church who are living holier, purer, and more devoted lives than we are. We ought to see that, little though our life may be, though we may be poor, men may be able to say that the faith in us has helped towards goodness and faithful service. Do not be Church people only in name. Do not let this faith seem to you merely a thing to argue about. Open your hearts to this faith which commends itself to your reason. Open your innermost spirit to this faith which alone can satisfy your soul. Let us live in it! Let us set it forth before men visibly in all that we think, in all that we do, in all that we are.

    Illustration

    ‘It is the Church of England which represents the religious genius of the country. The Church of England has made the British race what it is. It is the Church of England that struggled for long centuries to secure the liberty and freedom which is our boast to-day; it is the Church of England that broke down the tyranny of kings; it is the Church of England that shattered paralysing ecclesiasticism; it is the Church of England that gave us the Word of God in our own tongue; it is the Church of England which has established the schools, colleges, and universities for the advancement of learning; it is the Church of England that alone until quite recent times provided for the education of the poor. This may seem to us a very boastful theme, but it is a theme that you may take to the highest Court of History and substantiate for yourselves.’