CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
2 Timothy 2:14. Charging them.—Adjure them on their oath of fealty.
2 Timothy 2:15. Study to shew thyself.—R.V. “Give diligence to present thyself.” The word expresses eager striving, and has a suggestion of making haste (cf. 2 Timothy 4:9; 2 Timothy 4:21). A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.—One who has nothing to be ashamed of either in his methods of work or in the examination of his work. For the idea see 1 Corinthians 3:13. Rightly dividing the word of truth.—R.V. “handling aright,” lit. “cutting straight.” The idea of cutting was gradually lost as the word came to signify to manage rightly, to go about a thing in the best way. Same word in LXX. of Proverbs 3:6, “direct.”
2 Timothy 2:16. Profane.— 1 Timothy 1:9; 1 Timothy 4:7; 1 Timothy 6:20. That which is common to all—in a religious sense, of things not withdrawn by consecration from general use. The natural antagonism between profane and holy grew into a moral antagonism. They will increase.—They will beat forward. See the note on “profiting” in 1 Timothy 4:15. Compare also 1 John 2:9.
2 Timothy 2:17. Will eat as doth a canker.—R.V. “gangrene.” An eating ulcer like a cancer, called in Galen “the cold burn.” Hippocrates says it is “the state of a tumour between inflammation and entire mortification.” Luke the physician was with St. Paul (2 Timothy 4:11).
2 Timothy 2:18. Saying that the resurrection is past already.—As though they said, “The only resurrection you are ever likely to know has taken place already; for the flesh, once corrupted, never rises again.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Timothy 2:14-18
Solemn Exhortations on Vital Themes.
I. To avoid unnecessary controversy.—
1. Controversy assumes a very different spirit when conducted as in the presence of God. “Charging them before the Lord” (2 Timothy 2:14). The efforts of the controversialist are usually directed more to gaining a victory over his opponent than to secure the triumph of the truth: the contest is apt to degenerate into personalities, and the truth is clouded with the mists of human passions. The true champion of the truth must be willing to efface himself, and to remember the cause is not his but God’s. He must conduct his case as in the presence of God, and be assured that God will triumphantly defend His own cause. Nothing is gained if the truth suffers in the least degree.
2. Verbal controversy is profitless. “That they strive not about words to no profit” (2 Timothy 2:14). “We have two ears and one tongue,” said Zeno, “that we may hear much and talk little.” A remarkable modern writer asserts that empty talk is on the increase in the world. The superabundance is alarming; a new deluge is threatened; the spirit is lost in hollow words. Invention in all spheres is on the increase, the invention of pretences remarkably so. One feels inclined to call out with Hamlet despairingly, “Words, words, words!” Words are the dominant power nowadays in so-called intellectual pursuits: it is not the informing spirit, but the phrase, which is puffed and offered for sale.
3. Verbal controversy tends to unsettle. “To the subverting of the hearers” (2 Timothy 2:14). Much talking does not build up, but pulls down. Idle controversies have wrought widespread mischief. The metaphysical contest between the Jesuits and Jansenists on the sufficiency and efficacy of the grace of God in salvation thickened into a confusion of words, till the Jesuits introduced into this logomachy papal bulls, royal edicts, and a regiment of dragoons.
II. To aim at becoming a worker in the truth Divinely approved.—
1. This is attained only by diligent study. “Study”—be earnest, diligent—“to shew thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15). It is presumption to expect the help of the Spirit without earnest study and prayer. Patient and sustained investigation will lead to rare discoveries of truth. In all our studies we should seek not our own intellectual gratification, but the Divine approval. The loftiest inquiries after truth terminate in God.
2. This gives courage in declaring and defending the truth. “A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Dividing the word is a metaphor taken from a father or steward cutting and distributing bread among his children. We must have the confidence and courage to cut a straight line for the truth in which we can walk straightforward, turning neither to the right nor the left. When we confuse the truth, we become ourselves confused and exposed to shame.
III. To be superior to the profanity that wraps up error in the garb of truth.—
1. Profanity in speech engenders sin (2 Timothy 2:16). Sin in speech soon becomes sin in act. A profane coachman, pointing to one of the horses he was driving, said to a pious traveller, “That horse, sir, knows when I swear at him.” “Yes,” said the traveller, “and so does One above.” Shun profane and vain babblings; stand above, separate from, be superior to them.
2. Error is a deadly disease. “Their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus” (2 Timothy 2:17). 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, or gangrene, feeding on their vitals (Fausset).
3. Error on one fundamental truth is disastrous to faith (2 Timothy 2:18). To teach that the Resurrection is past is to take away one important feature of our hope as to future bliss. We must not confuse the future resurrection of the body with the spiritual resurrection of the soul from the death of sin. The truths of the gospel are homogeneous: to reject one is to impair our faith in all.
Lessons.—
1. Truth is rarely helped by controversy.
2. Progress in truth is pleasing to God.
3. Error is the foe of practical godliness.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Timothy 2:15. The Important Function of the Gospel Ministry.
I. Rightly to divide the word of truth is clearly and accurately to distinguish truth from error.
II. To mark the proper distinctions between the law and the gospel.
III. To point out the proper connection and harmony which subsist among the doctrines of the gospel.
IV. To treat the various branches of Divine revelation according to their just importance and influence.
V. To unfold the truths of God seasonably and in a suitableness to the calls of Providence and the circumstances of mankind.—P. Hutchison.
2 Timothy 2:16-18. Useless Talk—
I. Tends to augment impiety (2 Timothy 2:16).
II. Corrupts and destroys the life of godliness (2 Timothy 2:17).
III. Is fruitful in spreading pernicious errors (2 Timothy 2:18).
IV. Unsettles the faith of young converts.