CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
2 Timothy 1:8. Of me His prisoner.—This might mean—(a) the prisoner belonging to Him; or (b) one who is a prisoner for His sake; or again (c) one whom He has bound: (b) seems best. Be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.—R.V. “suffer hardship with the gospel.” Alford, Huther, and Ellicott prefer “but suffer [with me] for the gospel.” According to the power of God.—“In accordance with the power of God which is effectual in thee,” or “which will not fail thee.”
2 Timothy 1:9. Not according to our works, but … His own purpose.—“Purpose” here must not be interpreted quite as “foreordination.”
2 Timothy 1:10. By the appearing.—Lit. “by the epiphany.” This is the only use of the word to describe the advent of Christ in the flesh. It not only covers the act and moment of arrival, but indicates the resultant presence. In 2 Maccabees the word is used frequently of God’s miraculous interposition on behalf of His people. Who hath abolished.—In the Septuagint this word means “to make to cease.” In St. Paul’s writings it always denotes a complete ceasing, an annihilation. Compare also Hebrews 2:14: “In order that He might destroy [R.V. bring to nought] … the devil.”
2 Timothy 1:11. A preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher.—The first with reference to the work and the method of doing it; the second with reference to his commission and the authority behind him; the third with reference to the recipients of the message, who need continual instruction in it.
2 Timothy 1:12. For I know whom I have believed.—A.V. margin, “trusted.” Note the distinction between knowledge and trust. Faith with Paul has to do with salvation as a present thing. That which I have committed unto Him.—The Greek is capable of two meanings, as the R.V. margin shows. “My deposit” may be that which I entrust to another, or that which another commits to my care. See 2 Timothy 1:14.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Timothy 1:8-12
The Hardships of the Ministerial life—
I. Are to be fearlessly endured.—
1. In company with the bravest of God’s servants. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:8). These words come with weight from the lips of a brave old warrior like Paul, and could not but inspirit the timid evangelist as they have inspired the courage of many sufferers for the truth since that day. Shame is the result of fear; but the love of Christ and His truth conquers fear and gives us boldness in witnessing and in suffering for Him. Some of the noblest men and women who have ever lived have endured inexpressible tortures for the gospel’s sake. We may never be called to suffer as they did; but whatever may be our afflictions in the gospel, their heroism and fortitude will ever be an example to animate and sustain us.
2. Being assured of Divine help. “According to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). The early martyrs were strengthened in the midst of their sufferings not only by the truth in which they believed and which became so precious to them, but by the power of God directly imparted to their souls. He who originated the gospel and who has saved us will never fail to help us in whatever sufferings we may be involved for the sake of the gospel. “Think not,” writes Chrysostom, “that thou hast to bear these afflictions by thine own power; nay, it is by the power of God. It was a greater exercise of power than His making the heaven, His persuading the world to embrace salvation.” The help of God fills the soul with fearlessness, and enables us even to rejoice in tribulation.
II. Are trifling compared with the substantial character of the gospel.—
1. This gospel provides a plan of salvation Divinely prearranged (2 Timothy 1:9). The purpose to save was in the Divine mind before the world began, and was elaborated independent of any works of our own. Though we are sinners, God calls us with a holy calling; the call comes wholly from God and claims us wholly for God. The blessings offered to us in the gospel abundantly recompense us for whatever affliction we are called to endure.
2. This gospel reveals an immortality of blessedness by the manifestation of Christ (2 Timothy 1:10). The epiphany of Christ has wonderfully changed the outlook for humanity. Death, the dread and bondage of universal men, is abolished by the gospel, and the endless glories of another world are unveiled. In the Zend-Avesta we are told there is a tree, the king of trees, which is called the Death-Destroyer. It grows by the fountain of Ardecision—that is, by the water of life—and its sap confers immortality. It is but a tradition taken from the Bible. To come to Christ, to feed on Him by faith, as He is made known to us in the gospel, is to gain an immortality of bliss.
3. The proclamation of this gospel is an honourable and important commission (2 Timothy 1:11). The apostle regarded it as the highest distinction of his life that he was appointed a preacher and apostle of the gospel and a teacher of this glad evangel to the Gentiles, who had till his day been shut off from the religious privileges that had been exclusively claimed by the Jews. The first Jewish Christian believers were slow to admit that the heathen had an equal right with themselves to all the blessings of the new covenant. The Jewish prejudices of Paul were destroyed by his miraculous conversion, and it was revealed to him that his great life-mission was to proclaim to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, in which they had an equal share with all nations. The Christian missionary is honoured with a world-wide commission.
III. Are counterbalanced by the assurance of personal safety in the future (2 Timothy 1:12).—God had committed to Paul the gospel as a sacred deposit for the salvation of others; and he has committed himself—his body, soul, and spirit—as a holy deposit to the Divine care, to be kept to the day of eternal redemption, The same gospel which he declares to others is the only ground for the preacher’s own salvation. The celebrated Philippe de Mornay, prime minister of Henry IV. of France, one of the greatest statesmen and the most exemplary Christians of his age, being asked a little before his death if he still retained the same assured hope of future bliss which he had enjoyed during his illness, replied, “I am as confident of it from the incontestable evidence of the Spirit of God, as I ever was of any mathematical truth from all the demonstrations of Euclid.”
Lessons.—
1. Fidelity in ministerial work involves labour and suffering.
2. Whatever hardships the preaching of the gospel imposes should be cheerfully borne.
3. The more we suffer for the truth the greater will be our reward.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Timothy 1:8. The Folly of Moral Cowardice.
I. Indolent indecision is an instrument of Satan for preserving the spirits of men in captivity to his will.
II. Shame—the fear of man’s opinion—is another.
III. Are you ashamed of believing certain established truths such as the gospel comprises?
IV. Is it of the prudence of your course you are ashamed?
V. Is it of your superiority to common temptations, of hopes that place you above the pleasures of this world, and a serenity unaffected by its troubles?
VI. Are you indeed ashamed of communion with God?—A. Butler.
2 Timothy 1:10. Death defeated.
I. Let us inquire why, since Christ has abolished death, it is appointed to all men to die.—
1. This is from no want of power.
2. From no want of merit in the work of human redemption.
3. But it is in order that the truth of God might be vindicated.
4. In order that it may remain as an example of the evil of sin.
5. In order that it may remain as a way of destroying sin.
6. In order to hint at the immortality beyond the grave.
7. In order to teach men the lesson of faith in God.
8. In order to enhance the glory of the ultimate conquest of the Redeemer.
II. Let us inquire in what sense Christ hath abolished death.—
1. It is not a mark of God’s vindictive displeasure.
2. The empire of death is not perpetual.—Homiletic Quarterly.
The Christian in Heaven.
I. The Scripture aids us in conceiving of the heavenly world.—
1. It enables us to conceive of it negatively.
2. Figuratively.
3. Comparatively.
4. Positively.
II. The principal constituents of the heavenly state.—
1. You may reckon upon pre-eminent knowledge.
2. Perfect purity.
3. Delightful associations.
4. On the presence and sight of the Saviour.
5. The most exquisite enjoyment.
6. The perpetuity of all this.
III. The Christian in his final destiny.—
1. He is in heaven as a monument of Divine grace.
2. See the conduct of God towards him in this world explained and vindicated.
3. See the justification of his choice.
4. Inquire whether you will be a partaker of the same blessedness.—W. Jay.
Immortality.
I. Christ hath revealed the fact.
II. The gospel hath shed all the light we have on the nature of the life beyond, the mode or manner of immortality.
III. The gospel has not only brought immortality to light, but has revealed the means of reaching it.—J. Hamilton.
2 Timothy 1:12. Faith out of Danger—
I. Because of what we know of the character of the Saviour.
II. Because we know His ability
III. Because of our persuasion of His fidelity.