] 2271.83 shR Hd23e THE AVERA Bible Collection. =e C- Library of Trinity College, e \ . Received Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/pastoralepistlesO1 unse The Edinburgh Geographical ustitate 25 35 HE PONTUVUS E\UXINTS PIRE (BLACH|\SEZA) "S OF ST PAUL SSS aay Che Netw-Centurp Bible GENERAL EpiTor: PrincipaL WALTER F. Apveney, M.A., D.D. Che Dastoral Cpisttes Timothy and Titus ~ INTRODUCTION AUTHORIZED VERSION REVISED VERSION WITH NOTES - INDEX AND MAP ats EDITED BY R. F. HORTON, M.A.,, D.D. wees NEW YORK: HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMERICAN BRANCH EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK Tera Bible Fund CONTENTS YAN 2 4 to19 _Eprtor’s INTRODUCTION . Text oF THE AUTHORIZED VERSION Text OF THE REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS INDEX . : . 195 j MAP _ Roman Empire, shewing the journeys of St. Paul . Facing Titie. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES of te TIMOTHY anp TITUS INTRODUCTION Tre Poo TORAL EPISTLES INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. AUTHENTICITY AND CONTENTS. UNTIL the year 1804, when J. E. C. Schmid cast a suspicion on the genuineness of the First Epistle to Timothy, our three Epistles had been from the earliest times acknowledged as the work of Paul. In 1807 Schleiermacher maintained that the ‘so-called. First Epistle of Paul to Timothy * was.an imitation of the genuine letters 2 Timothy and Titus. In 1812 Eichhorn assailed the genuineness of all the three, and he was followed by De Wette, Schrader, &c. In 1835 Baur advanced his theory that the letters were productions of the second century, written to stem, in the name of Paul, the tide of Marcion’s Gnosticism, and to advance, in the same august name, the organization of the early church. And this view is, in all essentials, held by Holtzmann in his Mew Testament Theology, ii. 259 (1897): ‘We have before us Paulinism strengthened in a church direction, and tempered in a Catholic direction, reshaped in view of the church needs ofan advanced phrase of development.’ Reuss maintains the genuineness of 2 Timothy, and Pfleiderer, Ewald, Krenkel, Hesse, C. Clemen, Ad. Harnack, followed by Prof. McGiffert in his History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age (1897), claim, as genuine, certain passages . B 2 4 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES on which another hand built up the letters for doctrinal and ecclesiastical purposes. On the other hand Lange, Schulze, Godet, Huther, B. Weiss, &c., on the continent, and Sanday, Hort, and Bernard in this country, contend for the genuineness. And the Kursgefasster Commentar, (Riggenbach and Zéckler, 1898), which is the latest and most impartial utterance on the subject, after revi the arguments Zro and con, arrives at the conclusion that though there are many things which make it difficult to believe that we have here letters of Paul as they left his hand, and it may be necessary to suppose that genuine letters have been put together by a disciple of — Paul, Luke, or Timothy himself, ‘the Apostolic authority of our letters, guaranteed by the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power, is not in the least affected. baeigd are and remain an authentic part of the Canon.’ This decision is so important and so sufficient that the discussion of the genuineness becomes one of only secondary interest. Our three letters not only contain» certain passages which are among the priceless treasures of Scripture (e.g. 1 Tim. ii. 3-7, iii. 14-16, vi. 14-16; 2 Tim. ii. 1-13, 19-26, iii. 16, iv. 6-8;. Titus ii. 11-14, iii. 4-7), but they lay stress on certain aspects of truth which are nowhere more happily enforced. The practical and ethical side of Christianity, never separated from faith in the saving truths, is emphasized in the importance of good works. Church officers must be good; all the ground is cut away from the corrupting notion that the bad character of the clergy does not hinder the grace which they administer. Faith is closely bound up with a good conscience, and love, and other virtues; and the gift of eternal life appears almost as a reward of good living, a point which, however liable to abuse, is essential , in preserving the church from antinomianism (1 Tim. vi. 18 f. ; 2 Tim. i. 16-18, ii. 4-6, 11, 12, iv. 7) Then there are certain words and ideas which are key-notes of these — Epistles, e.g. godliness, sobriety, gravity. And if we INTRODUCTION | 8 a to conceive é Paul's doctrine as a whole, we shall find that the peculiar emphasis of these letters is needed to give to his thought balance and completeness. If it were established that the authorship and phraseology were not Paul’s, we should still have to believe that the point of view which is adopted in these letters was familar to him, and was impressed on such disciples of his as Luke, Timothy, and Titus. 7 But though it is only of secondary interest, and cannot affect the canonical value of the Epistles, it is well to understand the grounds on which the genuineness is questioned, especially as the present commentary does hot take sides in the controversy, but endeavours to put into the student’s hands the arguments by weighing which he may decide for himself, whether, or in what sense, these letters came from the hand which wrote Romans, I and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians. The writer’s own position need only be so far stated as to enable the reader to make allowance for the personal equation. I feel to the full the weight of the objections which, since the time of Eichhorn, have been brought against the genuineness ; and in the course of the com- mentary these objections sometimes recur with over- whelming force. But on the other hand the sign-manual of Paul is so unmistakable in the personal notices, in certain suggestions of doctrine, and also in the use of many of his favourite ideas, that, if the only alternatives “were to ascribe the letters to Paul or to regard them as a fabrication having no connexion with his pen, I should feel that the difficulties of believing in the fabrication outweigh the difficulties of accepting the genuineness. The hypothesis, however, that certain fragments of Paul’s letters were worked up into this form by some disciple who understood his mastér’s mind, may meet the diffi-~ culties on both sides ; and without accepting any solution of the question which has yet been offered, I can well believe that a solution may be found in this direction. ae 6 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES tea Now to state briefly the difficulties which, themselves in accepting the ie authorship :-— 1. Perhaps we need not attach much impaiaaen: to Prof. McGiffert’s remark on the three letters that ‘the ‘ external testimony to their genuineness is far than in the case of any of Paul’s other letters’ (Apostolic Age, p. 399) : for if weaker, it is still quite sufficient. In the very earliest Christian literature that has come to us, Clement of Rome (95 A.D. ) shews traces of knowing 1 Timothy (Clement’ s first Epistle, vii. 3. xxix. I, liv. second Epistle xii. 1, ‘the day of the appearing of God’: 4 1 Tim, vi. 14; 2 Tim.i. 10,iv.1,8; Titus ii. 13, and also ch: xix, and xx. 6), and there are in his two letters echoes 2 Timothy (e.g. 1 Clem. v. 6, xxvii. 3; 2 Clem. vil. 3), while the phrase, ‘ ready unto every good work,’ 1 Clem, ii. 7, must be a quotation from Titus iii. 1. In Polycarp there is a distinct quotation from 1 Tim. vi. 7, wo ® ‘A beginning of all evils is love of money ; knowing there- fore that we brought nothing into the world, but not even have we anything to carry out of it, let us pee armour of righteousness’ (ad PAilép. iv, I); and. the Latin version of xii. 3 we read, * Pray for all s: pray also for kings and powers and princes’: cf. I ii. 1, 2. Indeed, echoes of 1 Timothy can be eran all through chapters 5 and 6 of this Epistle of Polycarp. Similar echoes of 2 Timothymay be traced; e.g. inch. v. 2, ‘We shall reign with him if we are faithful’ (cf. 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12), and in ch. ix. 2, ‘ For he did not love this present acalas using the very phrase of 2 Tim. iv. 10, In Ignatius there are echoes of 1 Timothy, e.g. in ad Eph 5 x. 1, or ad Smyrn. xiii. 1, ‘ Virgins that are called Y which can only refer to 1 Tim. v. 3, 11; there are also echoes of 2 Timothy in ad Smyra., €.g. ch. : and ch. x, and the unusual word ‘ refresh’ of 2 Tim. i. 16 occurs both in the Smyrnean letter and in the Ephesian, ch, ii. 1; there are _ fainter echoes of Titus in ad A/agnes. vi, 2, ‘an ensample’ ; ’ ‘ INTRODUCTION 7 ad Trail. iii. 2, ‘demeanour.’ In the Letter to Diognetus, ch. xi. p. 3, itself a sermon rather than a letter, but one of the most beautiful of those first Christian writings, the unknown author shews signs of knowing 1 Tim. iii. 16, for he has a kind of ‘quotation from memory’ of it: ‘ Who, dishonoured by the people, preaches by the Apostles, was believed on by the nations.’ Aristides, the earliest apologist, Justin Martyr, Athena- goras, and the Letter of the Church of Vienne and Lyons, all shew some acquaintance with our three Epistles. On the other hand Marcion, Basilides, and the other earliest heretics rejected the Epistles, though Tertullian (adv. Marc. v. 21) certainly implies that Marcion already knew the letters and rejected them from heretical motives. Tatian also rejected the two Timothy letters, while he accepted Titus. It is not until the second’ half of the second centuty~ that we find the three Epistles recognized in the Canon of Pauline letters by Irenzeus, Clement of Alexandria, and the Muratorian Fragment. But considering the brevity and the personal character of the letters, it must be owned that the external testimony is quite sufficient, and Eusebius might well reckon them among the accepted canonical writings (A7s¢. Ecc/. iii. 3.5 3 25.1). And as from Tatian to the beginning of the nineteenth century no doubt was €ver cast upon them, we may confine ourselves to the internal difficulties, which from the time of Schleiermacher have been brought into constantly clearer relief. 2. A careful reader will be conscious of a decided change» in the general doctrinal position as compared with Paul’s earlier letters. Not only, as already observed, is stress laid on good works, but faith, which to Paul was the root of everything, here loses its unique significance and is almost reduced to a place side by side with other virtues. We say ‘almost,’ because Paul’s view of faith is constantly suggested (e.g. 1 Tim. i. 2, 4, iii. 9, v. 8, 12, vi. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7; Titus iii. 5), but on the other hand it is frequently 8 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES reduced in value (e.g. 1 Tim. ii. 7; 2 Tim. . Titus i. 13; also 1 Tim. iv. 6) by being coupled things, and is sometimes omitted, as in Titus ii. a way which is very puzzling, assuming Paul to be the — writer. Yet, as Riggenbach (in Kuragefasster Commen- 1 Zar, p. 8) maintains against Holtzmann and yon Soden and Dr. Bernard, faith in these letters always retains ‘its subjective meaning, and it is never necessary to adopt that meaning which became common in the second y of fides quae creditur, i.e. a creed rather than an act of the soul. The word which here takes the place of faith in the other Pauline letters is ‘ godliness” (piety), a word — which occurs eleven times in these three, but not at all in the remaining, letters of Paul. This gives ‘some colour to Prof. McGiffert’s remark, that if Paul wrote these letters he had given up ‘that form of the Gospel — which he had held and taught throughout his life, and descended from the lofty religious plane on which he had always moved, since Christ had been revealed in him, to — the level of mere piety and morality’ (Apne P+ 404). The problem presented therefore is that while Pauline doctrine appears (e.g. 2 Tim. i. 9-11, ii. 11 5 Titus iii. 4-7), the general cast of the doctrine carries us away from Paul to a development which during the second century became so pronounced that the primitive Pauline position was practically lost in ‘another gospel.’ LTRS. 3. The style and phraseology, though always betraying» points of agreement with Paul, are not exactly Paul’s. — The dialectic of the other letters has disappeared, and the subjects are simply treated in succession, without any. orderly connexion. ts Wks me There is also a certain chill in these letters which is” ' unlike Paul, Though writing to Ephesus, and to Crete, where he had himself been, there are no warm personal _ salutations in Paul’s manner, and the language to Timothy _ is hardly as affectionate as the references to him in the g : “earlier letters would lead us to expect, though, especially in 2 Timothy, the circumstances would seem to demand even an increase of affectionate expressions. Then it must be owned that the references to the false / teachers are not quite in Paul’s manner. They are denunciations rather than refutations: they do not discriminate, but they mingle antinomian and ascetic, spiritualistic and legalistic, tendencies in one common condemnation. The writer does not attempt to refute the heresies, as in Corinthians, Galatians or Colossians, by revealing the sacred mysteries of his gospel and shewing the spiritual principles of the cross, but he appeals to a deposit of truth which is handed down as a safeguard against all heresies of whatever sort. This is like 2 John, and like Polycarp, but not like Paul. _ Then as to phraseology. There are in these three _ letters 171 words or phrases which are not found else- Y where in Paul, that is an average of one to every verse and a half. It is true that each letter of Paul’s betrays many new expressions; but the comparison with the Pastorals may be thus exhibited— Pastorals, I in 1-55 verse; 2 Cor., 1 in 3-66 verses; Rom., 1 in 3°67 verses; Gal., I in 5-14 verses; I Cor., I in 5-53 verses. But in addition there are phrases borrowed from Latin , (e.g. gratias habeo, 1 Tim. i. 12; 2 Tim. i. 3); there isa curious tendency to leave out the article; there is a marked omission of certain words which Paul much affected, and a love of words compounded with ‘house,’ ‘witness,’ and ‘lover of.’ Again, while the phrase ‘God our Saviour’ appears several times, Paul’s favourite, ‘the ¢ God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ does not appear at all. In the notes an attempt is made to point out all these peculiarities of expression (the reference is of course INTRODUCTION — 9 10 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES always to the Greek and not the English words), so that the reader may form an independent judgement of their bearing on the question of the Pauline authorship. They are very interesting and very instructive; for they raise the question how far it is possible for a man, in the course - of five or six years, to change his general vocabulary; to adopt new expressions, new conjunctions, new casts of sentences; and to entirely drop others which have bee customary and even favourite forms. Riggenbach, after carefully enumerating all the peculiar- ities, affirms that they do not suffice to settle the question of authorship. On such a subject it is absurd to be dogmatic ; guot homines, tot sententiae.” 4. The greatest difficulty has been found in the indi-\ cations of a developed church organization, an ordained episcopate, a tradition of apostolic doctrine, a conception of the Catholic Church as the pillar of the truth, an insistence on baptism, an indication of incipient liturgies. If these things are found in these Epistles it must be owned that the Epistles cannot belong to the Apostolic Age, but must be brought down into the second cen- ~ tury, when for the first time these developments appeared. That there is language which -might seem to refer to these things every one must admit. The exegesis of this language therefore becomes a critical question, for on it turns the genuineness of the Epistles. The view taken in the ‘following commentary is that indications of these later developments are not indisputable in our letters. (1) The church organization is still! the congregational order, which appears in the other Pauline letters ‘and in Ignatius : the church always means the local society of believing souls. (2) Bishop and presbyter are identical terms; and only two orders of ministry are known, viz. elders (bishops) and deacons, though here for the first time appears side by side with deaconesses an order of Church Widows. The monarchical episcopate (i.e. the -~ = ’ INTRODUCTION It minister of the congregation as the centre of unity and the representative of Christ), so familiar to Ignatius in the beginning of the second century, is not yet known. The ‘bishop’ of 1 Tim. iii. 1-6 is evidently the elder of ch. v. 17 and of Titus i. 5, 6. If in these ~passages ‘the bishop’ is mentioned in the singular, it is only as the particular example of the class. To regard Timothy and Titus as bishops is wholly unhistorical, and nothing in the letters gives colour to the fiction. ' The two appear as representatives of Paul, as evange- lists discharging a temporary mission, and not as bishops permanently attached to special churches. The late tradition which made Timothy bishop of Ephesus, and Titus bishop of Crete must not be allowed to dis- - credit the authenticity of these letters any more than the equally uncertain tradition which made Peter bishop of Rome can be allowed to accredit the papal claims. - (3) As for the tradition or deposit of apostolic doctrine, though the words are identical with those subsequently used, as indeed they were borrowed from these Epistles by the church in later days, they do not bear here the meaning which they afterwards acquired. The usage here, suggesting a certain body of truth and type of faith which could regulate the belief and practice of the future, stands intermediate between the Pauline notion of faith and the work of the Spirit on the one hand, and the church teaching of an external canon of truth, ora formu- lated creed, on the other. And this expression and its underlying idea point therefore not to the second century, but to the later part of the first century and the immediate disciples and successors of Paul. (4) Though the church betrays a tendency to be something more than the local community, the crucial passage, 1 Tim. iii. 15, does not shew any real departure from the ‘conception in Paul’s other letters, and is not so near to the catholic conception as the ‘one body, one spirit’ of Ephesians. (5) The place of baptism in Titus iii. § is about the Lord’s Supper shaw’ how far the age c f letters is from the dawn of Sacramentalism. And | ; (6), the slight traces of liturgical uses are fanciful, and, if established, there is yet nothing to shew that such hymns — and canticles were not in use from the apostolic days (cf Matt. xxvi. 30; Eph. v, 19). ee Under this head then we have to conclude that the © difficulty is not of the kind that would bring the Epistles down into the second century, though it may make it e difficult to believe that we have here the Bott teal yi St. Paul. to): 5. Baur’s contention that the heresy redial to in oe letters is the second century Gnosticism is now no maintained. To see in the ‘endless genealogies’ a refer ence to the AZons and Emanations of the V. Gnosticism would hardly be plausible at all, but for the — phrase ‘antitheses of the falsely-called Gnosis’ in x Tim. vie 20, which suggests the well-known antitheses of But as there is ‘no specific reference to the later. Gnos- jr. ticism, but everything implies that these heretics are — Jewish, and occupied with questions of the law, and as there are sufficient reasons for believing that the — Gnostics and their Gnosis go back to the early days of Christianity (cf. St. John and Cerinthus, and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans), it cannot be maintained that in the substance of the false teaching here pushes us decisively beyond the age of Paul, though, as we have admitted, the manner in which the writer treats: the heretics is not quite Pauline. AY seit 6. The difficulty of finding a place in the life of Paul, as it is recorded in the Acts and other Epistles, for these three letters is certainly a prima facie argument their genuineness. Mosheim in vain tried to locate them in the three years of ministry at Ephesus (Acts xix. I-10). The effort failed for this reason: the style and character INTRODUCTION 13 of the three letters are so homogeneous and so distinctive _ that none of them can be sandwiched in between other _ letters of Paul, and Mosheim’s argument required us to make them contemporaneous with Romans and Corinthians. Mr. Vernon Bartlet in his Apostolic Age (1900) has revived the attempt to find’ a place for the Epistles in the known life of St. Paul. He suggests that ‘when Paul left _ Ephesus for the last time, about Pentecost, i.e. early summer in the year 55 (56)... he not only sent for the disciples and exhorted them (Acts xx. 1), but also begged Timothy to stay on for a time and repress unwholesome _ tendencies, which had their roots in Jewish prejudices. Mr. Bartlet suggests that 1 Timothy was written ‘on board ship after leaving: Miletus (Acts xx. 38), to supplement such hurried instructions as Paul had been able to give his lieutenant before sending him to Ephesus, and he brings 2 Tim. iv. 20 into the First Epistle, and applies it to the same occasion (A fostolic Age, 180-182). His explanation of Titus is that in the last voyage to Rome, ‘when we read of Paul’s considerable stay at Fair Havens, “nigh to which was a city Lasea,” waiting for a change in the wind,’ we have that stay in Crete referred to in Titus i. 5; ‘And Paul the prisoner left Titus to carry out the work thus hastily begun.’ The letter to Titus is thus dated early summer of 59 (60). The contrast between the tone of 2 Timothy and Philip- pians Mr. Bartlet seeks to explain by tracing a gradual lessening of hope during the two years’ imprisonment in Rome, from Colossians and Ephesians to Philippians, and from Philippians to 2 Timothy. Mr. Bartlet’s reason for making this fresh attempt is, that he feels the two great difficulties which have to be encountered by the theory of a second imprisonment, viz. © (1) the absence of all resentment against the Govern- ment such as the massacre of 64 would leave behind (cf. 1 Tim. ii. 2), and of any reference to the stirring events in Palestine from 66 onward; (2) the comparative ee 14 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES — ; youthfulness attributed to Timothy (2 Tim. i seal 1522), ~ seeing in 67 he had been known to Paul for Cighteen years and was thirty-eight or forty years ofage. = But Mr. Bartlet’s attempt seems to be wrecked on the fact that his theory would require the interposition of — Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon between — the writing of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy; that is to say, — it makes the impossible demand that the style and ter : minology of the Pastorals should be a habit which is — taken up and laid down at will. The only justification — of a Pauline authorship seems to me to lie in the conten- tion that in the last four years of his life, when all three letters were written, the Apostle’s letter-style had under- gone a decisive and consistent change. di Another effort has also been made by the Rev. W. E Bowen in two essays, entitled Zhe Dates of the Pastoral Letters (1900), to reverse the judgement of Lightfoot, and avoid the supposition of a second imprisonment. But if Mr. Bartlet has failed to establish his contention, Mr. Bowen by his advocacy has rendered the contention more suspicious than ever. His argument demands two suppo- sitions, (1) that Paul’s moods were so variable that he said precisely opposite things within the narrowest limits — of time, and (2) that in the personal letters Paul allowed himself a freedom of utterance which he repressed in his letters to churches. The difference, Mr. Bowen suggests, is that between a bishop writing a pastoral to his clergy and sending a private letter to his archdeacon. But it will be observed that this method of vindicating the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals is suicidal. We may gain the Pastorals, but we lose Paul. The changeable temper and the diplomatic guile, which are ‘attributed to the Apostle, reduce his authority and importance as a teacher to such a level that there would be no longer any motive for ascribing any letterstohim. Theonlyh justification of the letters therefore must be sought in weight of Paul's release from the first imprisonment after ~ INTRODUCTION 1 two years (cf. Spitta, ‘The Two Roman imprisonments of - Paul’ in his History and Literature of Early Christianity, i. 3-108). By this supposition three, or even five, years may be added to the life of the Apostle, and in that _ period the events referred to, and the occasion for writing the letters, may be found. This theory was adopted by Lightfoot and Hort, and is defended by Dr. Bernard and by Th, Zahn in his Mew Testament Introduction, i. 435, 1897. And yet this last, and necessary, hypothesis ’ does not remove, but rather, as Mr. Bartlet sees, increases another set of difficulties, viz. : 7. The Timothy of these letters appears on the whole rather as a young worker and even a recent convert than as a tried companion, which the date would require him to be. It is strange to find such references to his conver- sion and appointment to office, which happened fourteen years before, as occur in 1 Tim. i. 18,iv.14. Equally odd is the reference to his youth, which, appropriate enough in 1 Cor. xvi. 11, seems suspicious when fourteen years of service have passed away. Then the injunction to drink wine, 1 Tim. v. 23, which we may be sure was a real recommendation of Paul to his disciple (for what forger would have dreamed of such an invention ?), yet comes in very abruptly where it stands. Again, how abrupt and even cold the conclusion of the letter is, addressed to one’ so loved and trusted as Timothy, in comparison with Paul’s lingering and affectionate manner in closing his letters! It requires too a certain ingenuity, as the com- mentary will shew, to justify the references to Timothy’s early youth and to the early persecutions, 2 Tim. i. 6, ili. II, 14, coming as they do so late on in the mutual relations between Paul and Timothy. There is also in the tone of self-defence, 1 Tim. i. 12, ii.7; 2 Tim. i. 3, 11, though eminently characteristic of Paul in writing to communities, something inappropriate, when he is writing to his own son in the faith whom he had known and loved for years. = 16 THE PASTORAL EPI which carry their genuineness on their pi \ such a kind that it is psychologically impossible to im a forger conceiving them. T2325 In view then of these difficulties, some slight, rs serious, but in their totality occasioning great in accepting the genuineness of the Epistles, we may | tempted to fall back on the view advanced by Hesse, favoured by Harnack, and adopted get] Prof. McGiffert, that ‘we have in the Pastoral Epis * authentic letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus | over and enlarged by another hand. The i nt the analysis may be suspicious; but as it is a | meeting the difficulties, and of retaining Paul peony’ also, in a sense, retain the letters, it is worth wearing An 2 Timothy, thinks McGiffert, we have two letters com- " bined by a later hand; and the combination is plain on the surface, because up to ch. iy. 9 the whole point is to direct Timothy in his work at Ephesus, and yet from iv. 9 onwards the purpose is to bring him as quickly as po to Rome. The two letters may be thus picked out : (a letter written from Rome some weeks after the lett ers: ’ Colossians and Philemon, which gives a few i eresting details of the imprisonment between that time and ‘the end, i. 1-12, ii, 1-13, iv. 1-2, 5-8, 16-19, 21°, 10, i. 15-18. This interesting letter would be Paul's latest ) his last will and testament. (2) Another letter written perhaps from Macedonia after Paul had left E for the last time (Acts xx. 1; 2 Cor. ii, 12, Vii. §). 7 Ly obeyed the injunction, so that he was with Paul when 2 Corinthi was W is letter on ans was written. Thi was Bi iite) The Epistle to Titus was originally i iii, py: Bis . written from Achaia, Acts xx. I, 9, about A. D. 52. ‘ First Epistle to Timothy shews hardly any of Paul’s writing, perhaps i, 3 the beginning of the : INTRODUCTION i7 3 : . there, and v. 23. With these fragments the author wrote a letter in the Pauline manner, as with the other fragments he composed the other two letters, weaving in ideas which he felt that his master Paul would have advanced under the changed circumstances of the church and of the times. The author, whoever he was, must have written before ’ Polycarp and Ignatius,and, as we saw, even before Clement » of Rome, and therefore at the end of the first century. In the passages therefore which are not Paul’s we have a glimpse into the developing church just after the apostolic times. That the author was thoroughly Pauline, without fully understanding Paul’s inner thought, would be evident throughout. Schott conjectured that the author who thus; using Paul’s fragments as a basis, produced the Pastorals, ° was Luke. And it is very interesting to note the points of contact between our letters and Luke’s writing :— The phrase ‘I give thanks,’ a Latinism, 1 Timi. 12; 2 Tim. i. 3, is in Luke xvii. 9. The construction for ‘ give heed to,’ 1 Tim. i. 4, iii. 8, _ iv. I, 13, is in Acts viii. 6, 10, xx. 28. The verb ‘to quicken,’ in 1 Tim. vi. 13, is only found in Luke xvii. 33; Acts vii. 19. Compare the description of the widow, 1 Tim. v. 5, with that of Anna, Luke ii. 37. 2 Tim. i. 3, 5, Paul’s description of his upbringing, seems taken from Acts xxiv. 14. So the persecution, 2 Tim. iii. 11, is from Acts xiii. 50, xiv. 2, 19. The phrase ‘trusting in God,’ Titus iii. 8, is in Acts xvi. 34. The word for ‘office’ (efzscofé), in 1 Tim. iii. 1, is in Acts i. 20, - 2 Also the characteristic word ‘ godliness’ of the Pastorals is, with the exception of 2 Pet. i. 3, 6, 7, iii. 11, only used by Luke. Perhaps also the mention of Luke in 2 Tim. _iv. II suggests that he might have been the author. Grau, on the other hand, thinks that Timothy himself c 18 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES worked up these letters and tried to give expre some of the things which he had learnt from his be ' master. If Schott’s conjecture could be established we should be able to add these compositions to Laetaed | Acts as the work of one of the greatest of Paul’s com- panions. If Grau’s conjecture were correct we should have something from the pen of Paul's dearest disciple. These conjectures, however, are ingenious rather than convincing ; and it is only important to insist that who- - ever worked up the fragments and inserted the rest of — these Epistles did the work in good faith, endeavouring E to the best of his ability, and with much success, to pre= serve, if not the teaching, yet the general trend of the Apostle’s thought. Of forgery, as we understand 0 : word, there can here be no question. a The advantage of Prof. McGiffert’s hypothesis in. that we escape the necessity of imagining a release from the first imprisonment, and we get a glimpse of Paul’s mind after writing Colossians and Philemon, and just before his execution. This certainly isan advantage, because after all Spitta’s argumentation there is no reference to Paul's journey to Spain in set terms until we come to the Mura- torian Fragment, and to Origen at the end of the second century, while the phrase in Clement of Rome that Paul went ‘to the term of the West’ was understood by all the Fathers to refer to Rome, It is also a great objection to the supposed extension of his life that in Spain there is no faint tradition of Paul having been there, and yet, con- sidering the eagerness of legend to attach the conversion of a country to a visit of an apostle, we may be sure no slightest hint would have been neglected. And further, if Paul had been acquitted on the appeal to Caesar it is difficult to imagine why the early apologists did not make use of the fact in their appeals to Roman emperors. © And yet the temptation to accept McGiffert’s eae should, I believe, be resisted. It istoo ingenious ;_ and the hopeless attempt to disentangle what is~ Peligeaes INTRODUCTION 19 what was added by the supposed author, reduces the value of the whole work for the ordinary reader. As therefore the Pauline elements are unquestionable, and as it is not possible to say with confidence what, or if any, of these Epistles is not Pauline, I have thought it best to lay before the reader a brief analysis of the latest Introduction to the Epistles, that of Prof. Th. Zahn. Without attempting td refute Holtzmann in detail, he develops the whole argumieit in such a way as to establish a rationale for accepting the géuineness. In view of my own inability to decide between contending hypotheses, - or to suggest a new one, and profoundly convinced as I am of the spiritual value of these Epistles, I feel that the greatest service that I can render the reader is, after stating the difficulties in the way of accepting the Pauline authorship, to put before him the arguments of the latest, and a thoroughly competent, scholar, in favour of believ- ing, with whatever hesitation, and in spite of all objections, that we have here three letters actually written by Paul. This will form the subject of the next chapter. ~ CHAPTER II. INTRODUCTION TO THE PASTORALS. THE two Epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus are described as the Pastorals (the term seems to have originated with Wegscheider in 1810), because, unlike the other letters of Paul, they are for the most part composed of private directions to two of his followers whom he had appointed to certain pastoral work, and more than all the other letters they describe the way in which a pastor should behave in the Church of God. These three Epistles stand closely related together in diction, theology, and general circtmstances; and they are, in all these respects, separated from the other letters of Paul. It is this segregation which has raised the C2 20 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES — question of their authenticity. But to determine whether they are authentic, or even to understand why their | authenticity should be questioned, it is necessary first of all to examine the letters and their contents. First let us look at 2 Timothy, because that letter presents us with the richest material for determining the — date and the conditions under which it was written. AD careful reading reveals the following facts :— 1. The writer was in prison on account of his work as a Christian missionary (i. 8, 16, ii. 9) at Rome (i. 17). 2. The situation is totally different from that in the Epistles of the imprisonment—Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians. In Phil. i. 12-18 Paul is surrounded by friends who are interested in his testimony, and engaged, after their own fashion, in echoing it. But in our letter Paul is a lonely and wellnigh do prisoner. At one time in this imprisonment he secluded that Onesiphorus, coming from Asia Minor, some ado to find him out (i. 17). And later, when he was — in some touch with the brethren in Rome (iv. 21), he was still far from enjoying that full intercourse which is re- flected in the other letters of imprisonment. Again, in Philippians he was looking forward to release and a further ministry : here he speaks of his course as finished. His one prospect is the promised crown, and he is writing to his younger friend with the intention of com- mitting to him the task which he himself was laying down. 3. This complete change can hardly have taken place in the course of the two years’ imprisonment, and we are therefore led to suppose that this is another and a later imprisonment. And the reference to the former trial which ended in an acquittal is tolerably clear (iv. 16, 17). Further marks are not wanting which suggest that the interval between the first and second imprisonment, of which we should know nothing but for tradition, and the Pastoral Epistles, was the most fruitful period of the Apostle’s life. After that deliverance, of “SS Scripture es “or ee eee INTRODUCTION 23 elsewhere says nothing, Paul apparently fulfilled his intention of visiting Spain; otherwise he could scarcely have spoken of having finished his course (iv. 7). He reached the Gentiles in a more abundant way than ever before (iv. 17); and from his prison he had managed to dispatch missionaries to Gaul and Dalmatia, two countries, the evangelization of which we should not otherwise know from Scripture (iv. 10). But his journeys in this interval had been not only to new regions but also over the old ground. He had been at Miletus, where he had left Trophimus sick, and at Troas, where he had left a cloak which he wanted before winter, and some books and papers (iv. 20, 13).. Apparently he had ‘only recently left Timothy in tears (i. 4) before com- ing to Rome on the journey which ended in this final imprisonment. 4. The letter therefore seems to be sent to the dear younger companioa, whom he had unwillingly left behind, to urge him to come quickly to Rome. If legend is right in regarding Iconium as the home of Onesiphorus (i. 16), Timothy was probablyat Iconium. He was notat Ephesus, the scene of his old ministerial labours, or Tychicus would have been commended to him there (iv. 12), He would have to pass through Troas (iv. 13) in order to come to Rome. At Troas in all probability Paul -had encoun- tered Alexander the coppersmith, and he felt it necessary to warn his subordinate of Alexander’s ways (verse 14). 5. The letter is a last testament. The writer feels that he may not be living, though he hopes he may, when Timothy arrives. He writes down his most important directions to his successor, in case they should not meet again, how Timothy must take up the fight in defence of the truth, and resist the threatening invasion of errors. The charge is solemn and pathetic (iv. 1-18). ‘Come quickly to me, my son,’ says the dying man; ‘but if you. cannot come in time, I leave you these final injunctions that you may carry on my work.’ >? a2 ‘THE PASTORAL EPISTLES ~ 6. And quite in harmony with its character of a dying testament, the letter harks back to the early days and the first experiences. Paul had been thinking it all over— Timothy as a young man at Lystra, with his pious Jewish — mother and grandmother, and heathen father; the perilous’ experiences in those far-gone missionary tours, at Antioch, — Iconium, and Lystra. The childhood of his beloved son occurs to him; he thinks ofall the grounding in Scripture which the mother and the grandmother gave the boy before the news of Jesus the Messiah reached them. It is an old man speaking to a young man, a dying man to one — who spiritually is to be his heir.~ It is a pathetic fallacy that when a father or a pastor has known a young man for years, as the relative ages remain fixed, the elder always thinks of the younger as still young. We are told of an old woman of 90 who heard of the death of her firstborn at the age of 70, and exclaimed: ‘Ah me! I always said we should never rear her.’ This is the situa~ tion which the reader finds implied in the Second — to Timothy. Turning to 1 Timothy we find that the notes of time and circumstance are more scanty, But at the outset the similarity of style to that of 2 Timothy, and the decided gap which separates the Pastorals from the style of the other Pauline Epistles, gives a strong prima facie reason for placing this letter too in the period which we are obliged by the Pastorals to posit between a first and — imprisonment of Paul. In this letter the writer is not a prisoner, nor peseeer es sive of arrest, for he hopes soon to join his correspondent (iii. 14, iv. 13). But he is on a journey, or contemplating a journey, into Macedonia (i. 3), and his object in writ- ing is to induce Timothy to remain, apparently against his will, in Ephesus. Paul gives him directions for carrying out the task with which he had entrusted him in that city and the district round it. This journey cannot be, as Hug maintains, and as Mr, Bartlet’s view requires, that of Acts = = « ~ > INTRODUCTION 23 xx. I, for we infer from 2 Cor. i. 1 that Timothy ac- _ companied Paul on that occasion (cf. Acts xx. 4; 2 Cor. 1.8, vii. 5). It is difficult to see how Hug can evade this fact. Nor is it possible, with Reuss and Wieseler, to suppose that this letter could have been written during a _ temporary absence in the course of Paul’s three years’ _ ministry at Ephesus. For, not to mention that Acts gives no hint of such an absence, Timothy would not need directions of this kind when he was engaged in work _ side by side with his master. Here, then, as much as in 2 Timothy, the authenticity of the Epistle can only be successfully maintained by referring it to that period of liberation, travel, and labour, between the first imprisonment at Rome and the last, for which the Pastoral letters are our sole authority. The task which Timothy is enjoined to discharge differs essentially from that referred to in the Second Epistle ; there he was, like his master, an evangelist (2 Tim. i. 6), and his function was to carry on the missionary labours of the dying Apostle ; here his function is a special office of administration which was committed to him for a time in the absence of Paul, and from which, it would seem, he was only too anxious to be released. The function was that of organizing and administering churches in Ephesus and the neighbourhood. He had to settle the character and qualifications for the offices of elders and deacons; he had to arrange the very delicate question of the relation _of widows to the church; he had to order the public services; he had to see that the elders were duly sup- ported and honoured; he had to control the teaching, to avoid the useless and secure the salutary doctrine. Even in the time of Eusebius (Zcc/. Hist. iii. 4, 6.) this office was regarded as an episcopate, and Timothy was thus supposed to be the earliest example of a diocesan bishop. But that isa mistake. ‘To call the position of _ Timothy at Ephesus episcopal,’ says Zahn (Jntroduction to New Testament, vol. ii. § 34, p. 421), would only be possible attached and confined to a particular parle ‘But Timothy was only a temporary representative of Paul, carrying out those duties of organization which Paul him- self had discharged elsewhere. Timothy had repeatedly discharged such an office before (1 Cor. iv. 17; 1 Thess. iii. 2; Phil. ii. 19-23). The best illustrations of his office are found i in the similar work of Titus in Crete (Titusi. 5), and — in the interesting description which Clement of Alexandria gives of John’s work in Ephesus at a later period: ‘When,’ _ he says, ‘on the death of the tyrant, John came from the island of Patmos to Ephesus, he used to go out into the surrounding districts preaching, in some places to appoint bishops, in others to organize churches, in others to choose by lot some one of those who were indicated by the Spirit’ (Wo zs the Rich Man, 42). arur. This important but temporary office, which exactly corresponds to that of a missionary in the foreign field at the present day, presented peculiar difficulties. Timothy was a man under forty, and the older people at Ephesus were disposed to despise his youth. Against the dis- qualification of youth the Apostle set the Christian life which he urged his disciple to lead (iv. 12), and reminded him of the spiritual gift which he had received for the discharge of his difficult duty’. And the most ariacie 1 It is worth noting that in speaking to Timothy as evangelist, and as his own fellow arr. Paul refers to ‘the gift of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hands” ee i. 6). On the other hand, in speaking to Timothy sortie ei iv. 14) as the administrator of churches, he refers > that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.’ Assuming both passages refer to the same occasion, on which Paul and the ordained Timothy together, we must suppose that the on emphasizes his own or the presbytery’s part in the work to the context. But it is not impossible that for the work of an evangelist, Paul the great evangelist laid his hands on the young — , INTRODUCTION per | personal touch occurs in the medical prescription which the Apostle gives to the ailing minister (v. 23). Other personal touches are conspicuously rare. But the mention of Hymenzus and Alexander (i. 20) connects this Epistle with 2 Timothy, where the personal touches are more frequent (2 Tim. ii. 17, iv. 14). The question whether the church organization implied in this letter-can be historically connected with Paul was referred to in chap. i, and must be touched onagain. Mean- while we gather from the letter itself that in those last vigorous years, with the shadow of death upon him, he was training his lieutenants to found and settle churches as he had done from the commencement of his missionary labours. And though with some anxiety about Timothy’s . steadfastness (e.g. vi. 11, 20) he clung to the belief that he would have in him ‘a true child in faith.’ .And, assuming the genuineness of the letter for the moment, we may surmise that he wrote down these directions with the feel- ing that if his hope of soon meeting again should be frus- trated, the letter would serve as a manual of church order, and possibly as a mandate of authority which Timothy might present to all and sundry churches according to need. This last requirement might explain in part the absence of salutations and other personal references’, as well as the closing benediction, ‘Grace be with you, where you’ is plural, and would include the societies to which this testimonial from the Apostle’s hand might be read. In the Epistle to Titus a situation is revealed for which we search in vain among the records of Acts (unless Mr. Bartlet’s doubtful suggestion were possible) or the other Epistles of Paul. And as, by phraseology and general conception, this Epistle hangs very closely with 1 Timothy man’s head at the beginning, while for the special work in the _ district of Ephesus the presbytery of the church there laid hands on their appointed director. This latter supposition gives by far the clearer account of the contrast between 1 Tim. iv. 14 and 2 Tim. i. 6. i See p. 8 - 26 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES —they are as intimately conceal as Colossians—we may assume that, if this is a gen Epistle of Paul's, it gives us another glimpse into his career between the first and the supposed final : ment in Rome. Crete, Nicopolis, and, we may add, Artemas and Zenas, introduce us to a new cycle j in the Apostle’s busy life, This is the situation. Paul, accompanied by Titus, one of his own converts (i. 4), had visited Crete, and in that ‘hundred-citied’ isle they had succeeded in gathering together believers, largely, as usual, from the Jewish com- munities. But Paul had left before the rather troublesome — population could be organized inte churches—he speaks of the Christians only as ‘they who have believed? and ‘our people,’ not yet as churches—and he commissioned - Titus to remain and carry out the work which in other cases Paul himself had been able to achieve more rapidly (e.g. at Thessalonica elders were appointed after three weeks of ministry, 1 Thess. v. 12: cf, Acts xiv, 23). The work entrusted to Titus was move satisiousthae that entrusted to Timothy at Ephesus in two respects. In the first place, the communities were newer and more inchoate. In the second place, the human material in Crete was recalcitrant. The work was hindered by many unruly men, vain talkers, and deceivers, who subverted whole families, apparently by antinomian doctrines, The worst of these adversaries were Jews (i. 10, 14-16, iii. 9). How bitterly they opposed Paul and his lieutenant appears from the guarded salutation with which the letter closes, ‘Salute them that love us in faith’; evidently there were some who had no love or respect for the idetinscacad representative. It is because the task is difficult that the letter opens with a much fuller and more emphatic statement of the Apostle’s call and authority than was needed in writing to Timothy at Ephesus. And evidently it was an open | letter which might be shewn freely to gainsayers, —_ Fes FO ee — INTRODUCTION 27 Titus’s commission, like that of Timothy in Ephesus, _ was only provisional, for another commissioner was on the way, and when either Artemas or Tychicus (frequently mentioned in Acts and Epistles: Acts. xx. 4; Eph. vi. 21; Col.iv. 7; 2 Tim. iv. 12) should reach Crete, Titus was to be released. This seems to refute the early tradition mentioned by Eusebius (Zcc/, Hzs¢. iii. 4,6) and repeated in _ many legendary sources, that Titus was bishop of Crete. Released from Crete, Titus was to join the Apostle at Nicopolis, which means City of Victory, where he intended to winter. There were many Cities, marking a victory, which bore this propitious name. But early writers took it for granted that the Nicopolis mentioned here was the one which marked the scene of the battle of Actium, on the Ambracian Gulf. One would like to think that the Apostle spent a winter in the city which was afterwards rendered illustrious by the teaching of Epictetus, the Stoic * philosopher who, among the heathen, stands nearest to the great Apostle. If we may suppose that Titus carried out this direction, and met his father in the faith at Nicopolis, we can under- stand how he passed to the neighbouring Dalmatia on a mission, when Paul, returning to Rome, fell again into the hands of the authorities (2 Tim. iv. 10), The mention of Zenas, otherwise unknown, and of Apollos one of the best known of the Pauline circle, in iii. 13, seems to imply that they were the bearers of the present letter to Titus. ‘The three letters,’ says Zahn (Jxtroduction, ii. 435), ‘which we are accustomed to group together under the inappropriate name of the Pastoral Epistles, would have to be judged as unhistorical fabrications if we knew that the Roman imprisonment of Paul, in which he wrote Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians, had ended with his death.’ _ Apart from these letters, historical evidences for his liberation from that first imprisonment are wanting; and ; ie 4 a P, 28 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES while this fact has been urged as an argument against the authenticity of the letters, it has induced the defenders of the authenticity to make all, and even the most violent, attempts to bring the situation and circumstances of the letters within the period which is covered by the history - of Acts and the other Epistles of Paul. But while our authorities are, with the exception of a few uncertain hints, silent about a release and a subsequent period of work before the final imprisonment and death of Paul, we may fairly urge that everything in the Acts and the other Epistles led to the expectation of such a release. (See especially Phil. i. 19, 25, ii. 24, and Philemon 22, which shew Paul's own strong hope’; and Acts xxv. 18, 25, xxvi. 31, xxviii. 15, 18, which prove that even the world saw no probability of a fatal termination to his first trial.) The way in which Acts ends implies that there was a further period of the Apostle’s life to describe, if the writer should have opportunity. One may further urge that even if the three letters were fabrications, the author of them would hardly have sketched an historical background with references to new mission work in Crete, Dalmatia, and Gaul, unless his probable readers had some ground for believing that the Apostle, after his first imprisonment, had engaged in these fresh enterprises. So that even if the author of these letters is a pseudo-Paul, writing be- tween 70 and 140 A.D., he is yet a witness to the extended life of which we are speaking. To such an extension of Paul’s life and ministry the Epistle of Clement may be said to furnish a dubious sup- port. Writing about the year 96, this Roman writer, who, according to Irenzeus, may have been in personal contact * Baur (in his Pastoral Letters, p. 92) cited Acts xx. 25, ewe as an argument to shew that Paul cannot have visited haat ithoe again. But*‘no more’ does not mean ‘again’; it useaialy to the close and intimate fellowship of the three years which could be continued ‘ no longer.’ INTRODUCTION 29 _ with Peter and Paul, says: ‘Let us set before our eyes the good apostles; Peter, who on account of misguided zeal endured not one nor two but many sufferings, and so having borne witness went to his merited place of glory. On account of zeal and strife Paul shewed a victor-prize of patience: seven times he bore bonds; was exiled, was stoned, A herald in the East and in the West, he received . the noble fame of his faith. Having taught the whole’ world righteousness, and having gone to the term of the West, and having borne witness before rulers, he was thus released from the world and went to the holy place, made the greatest ensample of patience’ (1 Clem. v. 3-7). This passage, by mentioning seven imprisonments, obliges us to add to the list mentioned in the Acts, and makes a second imprisonment in Rome probable. And ‘the term of the West’ can only be understood in a Roman writer as the shores of the Atlantic; and thus Clement implies that Paul visited Spain. Mr. Bartlet (Agostolic Age, p.202) not only maintains that the ‘ bound of the West’ might, even in the lips of a writer in Rome, mean Rome, but he argues that Clement could not have imagined Paul alive after 64, since he says that the martyrs of the Neronian persecution in that year were ‘gathered to Peter and Paul.’ ‘And so,’ says Mr. Bartlet, ‘ Clement goes over bodily to the other side.’ And we must freely admit that if-Paul’s visit to Spain rested on this indeter- minate phrase of Clement, or if it were necessary to attach a high authority to the words and judgements of Clement, it would be hopeless to maintain that prolongation of Paul’s life for which we are contending. _ But that the journey to Spain was carried out is main- 1 Funk, Apostolic Fathers, p. 68. ‘The term of the West was _ by the ancients thought to be Spain, Iberia, or Britain. (Strabo, ji. c. 1, 4, iii. €. 2.) Clement therefore, if you omit these islands, says that Paul went as far as Spain. Some scholars wrongly understand by the term of the West, Rome, “the place of the _ West where he had contended or finished his life’s course.”’ But the place . ; . was Spain.’ > 30 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES tained by a constant tradition. For instance, the Marae torian Canon (circ. 200 A.D.) speaks of ‘ Paul setting out from the city to Spain’ And this seems to rest on the - Gnostic Acts of Peter and John, which must be dated about 160 A.D. In the Acts of Peter there is even a detail given of the liberation from the first imprisonment; ‘the prison-guard Quartus,’ we read, ‘permitted Paul to leave the city when he would,’ because he himself had become a convert. The ecclesiastical tradition gathering round the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul, June 29, dates from 258 A.D.; and in its manifold inconsistencies it cannot be cited as an historical testimony. It does not even decide whether Peter and Paul were martyred at the same time, But it points to a constant belief that Paul was executed in the persecution of Nero, and requires us to suppose that there was a liberation and a subsequent imprison- ment. And by the time of Eusebius this was an ». * in 44 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 3h x. 7 (Matt. x. 10), and shews that the soundatiiae committed to writing. But the proverb could be easil; quoted by both our Lord and Paul; and the reference to. the law rather than to the words of Jesus i in this connexion proves that Paul had not the written gospel before him as Holy Scripture. 1a It has been maintained that in , Tim. vi. 12-16; s 2 Tim. ii. 2-8, iv. 1, we have signs of a creed recited at baptism; and such a creed could not have arisen in the — time of Paul. It is true that the object of the letters is to cast into form the wholesome doctrine which should — counteract the poisonous heresies; but it is not possible — to shew that these pronouncements are more formal er credal than similar passages in other epistles (Rom. vi. 17, xvi. 17; 1 Cor. dv. 17, xv. 1-3; Col. ii. 6, &c.; Eph. iy. 20, &c.). It was natural enough that a dying apostle should — try to give definiteness to the great articles of faith, and so to make the Christian community a pillar of the truth — (1 Tim. iii. 15 ; 2 Tim. il. 19). It is in protest against an - unethical teaching that he seeks to crystallize the sound doctrine as fhe commandment (1 Tim. vi. 14) and the charge (i. Tim. i. 5, 18: cf. iv. 11). Paul had always thought of the gospel as a new law (Rom. iii. 27, 31), just as James did, but a law of liberty, a spiritual law; and he had regarded the Christian life as obedience to that law (Rom. i. 5, vi. 17, xvi. 26). On the other hand, the Pauline doctrines of justification and grace are here (Titus ii. 11-14, iii. 4-75 I Tim. i. 12-16, ii. 473 2 Tim, ii. I-9). When Baur argued that the reference to kings in 1 Tim. ii. 2 shewed that the date must be brought to the time of the Antonines, because then two colleagues wore the purple, we feel that we are dealing merely with trifles which suffice to support a foregone conclusion. The argument against genuineness based on the ter- minology must be considered weighty but not decisive. : It is true that there are a large number of drat were ~~. ee. » ine ate ‘ INTRODUCTION 48 i.e. words that occur only in these Epistles. But in all Paul’s Epistles the dma& \éydpeva are very numerous; every active and original mind passes from one cycle of words to another with change of study or circumstance (see p. 9). And the argument is capable of being turned ; for one trying to write letters in Paul’s name would be careful to use the words of the other Pauline Epistles. The originality of the greetings in the letters is better ex- plained by Paul’s freedom and naturalness of expression _ than by supposing the work of an imitator, who would \ 4 x follow more closely his examples. If, therefore, in face of the high authority of modern critics, we assume the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles, we cannot be charged with standing in an obstinate orthodoxy which refuses to face the facts; but rather, with the facts on both sides before us, we may-feel that the balance inclines to the traditional view. Beyschlag, speaking of 1 Timothy, says: ‘The man who is now able to ascribe it to the author of the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians has never comprehended the literary peculiarity and greatness of the Apostle.’ To this it is sufficient to say that Professor Sanday and the late Professor Hort believe that the writer of Romans and Galatians was the writer of 1 Timothy. It does not follow, because a man has ‘literary peculiarity and greatness,’ that he will display these qualities in all his private letters. There are letters -of Mr. Ruskin which shew none of the style which makes Modern Painters immortal; sometimes he puts off the cothurnus and speaks like an ordinary man. Tennyson, though he wrote a few letters which might live side by side with his poéms, was on the whole quite undistin- guished in his epistolary style. And if it be said that in this little group of letters, at the very end of his lifé, the Apostle, if it be he, has not only acquited a new vecabulary of words, but adopted a new method of connecting his sentences, and lost the older harmonies of his style, we may reasonably answer: explain how or w nis these letters could eae any other hand.’ ae age If the argument against the genuineness should ever made more conclusive, and if we had to surrender period of shadowy history into which these letters, if genuine, give us a glimpse, we may console ourselves with the reflection that we have not lost anything essen- tial. The pseudo-Paul—if it was not Paul himself—has got quite enough of the Apostle’s manner, presents us with quite enough of the Apostle’s truths, and brings us” sufficiently into contact with the Apostle’s God, through the Apostle’s Christ, to make these compositions invalu- able to us-as theology and ecclesiology, even if they should lose their validity as genuine letters of Paul, CHAPTER IIL TIMOTHY AND TITUS, HAVING noted the intrinsic value of our Epistles, which can be maintained whatever view we may be forced to take of the authorship, and having faced as fully as seemed necessary the objections which lie against the traditional view, the alternatives which are offered to that view, and the line of argument by which, if at all, the view may be defended, we must, before entering on the study of the letters themselves, put together what we know of the two men to whom they were written. There is only one other letter of Paul’s addressed to an im- dividual, that model of tact and courtesy, the Epistle to Philemon: .in.that case all we know of the correspondent is derived from the letter addressed to him: in this case Scripture gives us, especially in regard to Timothy, a little. further information. It cannot be said that the yalue of INTRODUCTION vy) ‘the letters is in the least degree affected by the character of Timothy and Titus, for notwithstanding a few personal touches, the two men remain curiously impersonal. But, as we have seen, the question of Paul’s authorship is to some extent connected with this personal factor, and if we are to regard that question as of any importance, we ‘should conceive, as clearly as we can, the persons to whom Paul is supposed to be writing. Timothy—the name (in Greek, Timotheus) means ‘honour of God’—was that ‘companion of Paul who held the dearest place in his affections. The great Apostle had no one ‘likeminded’ with Timothy who would naturally care for the state of ‘the church, no one so unselfish, no one, as a child to ‘a father, so dutiful to him (Phil. ii. 19, 22). The con- ‘stant companion of his travels when he was not engaged ‘in his commissions, this son of his was never absent but ‘he wished him present; and when the grim stroke of ‘death was impending, it was the dying man’s great concern to have this child of his spirit to close his eyes ‘(2 Tim. iv. 9). It is this tender love of the noblest of ‘men which illustrates the character of Timothy; to be so loved by Paul is a patent of nobility. _ But apart from this there is very little that is distinct in the character. He was a Lycaonian, of Derbe and Lystra (Acts xvi. 1, xx. 4), the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother, Eunice. He was the child of many prayers, brought up in an atmosphere of piety. His conversion to Christianity was not exciting, but probably followed that of his mother and grandmother. He was perfectly loyal in his ‘support of Paul, and even suffered imprisonment for his ‘faith (Heb. xiii. 23), but he gives us no impression of strength or originality. He was retiring, perhaps delicate in health ‘(1 Tim. v. 23), and certainly so youthful in appearance a men were apt to overlook or even to despise him (t Cor. xvi. 10, 11). In his letters to him Paul felt bound ‘to admonish in order to encourage him, betraying his weakness by the very earnestness with which he sought : ; E 4 “4 48 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 21 Seed to counteract it (1 Tim, iv. 12; 2 Timi fic I, 15, PS 3 iv. 1). A true Christian, he was yet a dependent one. Shining in the light of his master, he waned and dis- appeared when the great luminary was withdrawn. History tells us nothing further when the Epistles of Paul — cease, and we do not even know whether the Apostle had his — desire of seeing his beloved companion with him at the end. — The frequent references to Timothy in the Acts and Epistles are evidences of his constancy in work rather than of any striking achievement. It was in the second — missionary journey to the churches of Southern Galatia, in 52 A.D., that Paul, accompanied by Silas, first came into” | contact with Timothy. He had, like most boys, been more influenced by his mother than by his father, and probably shared with her the Jewish faith before the arrival of the - Christian missionaries. His grandmother, Lois, lived with the family (Acts xx. 4; 2 Tim. i. §), The grand- mother, mother, and son seem to have ‘ believed.’ And Paul was so pleased with the boy that he took him at once asa companion. He was, by Paul's desire, circum- cised, a rite which, as the son of a Greek, he had hitherto evaded (Acts xvi. 1 ff.); for the missionaries were to go to many places where Jewish prejudices must be soothed *. Perhaps the conversion had taken place on the first ~ 1 Mr. Vernon Bartlet, in The Apostolic Age, thus Sstfhiee thie circumcision: ‘He had an excellent record among the brethren, not only in Lystra, but also in Iconium, its nearest neighbour ; and Paul saw in him the promise of yet greater i> al Accord- ingly he determined to add him to his staff, possibly to John Mark (Acts xv. 37 foll.), But to take a half-Jews who had never been circumcised (probably through his father’s opposition to begin with), through the regions that lay on his route would be to stir afresh the embers of a conflict which had only just eng There was nothing for it but to get his consent to law of his birth on his mother’s side, as could be « e without surrender of essential principle, while the motive was a and generous one’ (pp. 93, 94). This explains the contrast with the action in the case of Tite, al. ii. 3. . ‘ INTRODUCTION og ‘missionary journey (Acts xiv. 6), and certainly the in- struction in the Scriptures had been given by mother and ‘grandmother before they had received -the Christian ‘Gospel (2 Tim. iii. 15). But he was designated for the companionship of Paul by a prophetic utterance in the church at Derbe or Lystra (1 Tim. iv. 14), just as Barnabas and Saul were designated for their missionary journey in the church at Antioch (Acts xiii. 1). After the ‘circumcision Timothy went with Paul to Troas, from which point they received the eventful call to evangelize ‘Europe (Acts xvi. 11). It is perhaps evidence of his ‘modest and retiring disposition that his name is- not mentioned in connexion with Philippi and Thessalonica. He was, however, taking notes of Paul’s methods in the organization of churches which would be wanted in later life. At Bercea, Timothy and Silas, when Paul went on to Athens, were left behind for a time, probably to make ‘a first assay in the settlement of a young church (Acts ‘xvil.14). And it was Timothy who was sent, ‘ our brother ‘and God’s minister in the Gospel of Christ,’ to establish the Thessalonians and to bring back tidings to Paul (1 Thess. iii. 1, 6). On his return he joined Paul at ‘Corinth, where in 53 A.D, we find him conjoined with Paul and Silvanus in the salutation of the Epistles to the Thessalonians. It is beautiful to see how Paul honours his young friend by mentioning him on terms of absolute eauality as carrying out the memorable work at Corinth 2 Cor. i. 19). If he bade others not to despise his youth, 1c himself set a notable example. Then Timothy falls into the background, and we only conjecture that he was in the journey described in Acts xviii. because we find that in the work at Ephesus he was still with Paul as Minister and emissary (Acts xix. 22) From there he as sent to Corinth in company with Erastus, as Paul’s epresentative, anticipating the more important mission hich he was one day to undertake in Ephesus itself, and Paul shews his yearning affection for him by desig- E so. THE PASTORAL EP nating him ‘my beloved and faithful c (1 Cor. iv. 17), and his anxiety for the aa nature by special commendation to pre nrst xvi, 10, 11). Towards the end of 57 A.D. he had rejoine his master in Macedonia, for he was with him when 2 -orin- thians was written (ch. i. 1), _And he must have ¢ at the beginning of 58 A.D. to Corinth again, be: is mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans, written during the three months’ stay in Corinth (Acts xx. 2; enti 21). He was among the group of apostolic ministers w went to Troas before Paul, and waited there for — his detour through Macedonia (Acts xx. 4). And then again we lose sight of him. He may } been dispatched on a mission of comfort or organizati to some of the new European churches; clearly he w not with Paul at Jerusalem, in the imprisonment ; Czesarea, or on the perilous voyage to Italy. But during the two years of detention in Rome, Timothy was Paul's right hand. As ‘ our brother’ he is at hand when Colossian: and Philemon were written (i. 1), and as a “fellow vehine ds he joins in the letter to the Philippians (i, 1), to — is shortly to be sent on one of the missic of inquiry and comfort (ii. 19). at Here we should lose sight of Timothy the satellite, as we should of Paul himself, but for the Pastoral Epistle: which, if they are genuine, must introduce us into a new period of Paul’s life, when, released from imprisonm at Rome, acquitted in all probability of complicity in great fire which Nero attributed to the Christians, | entered on a few more years of strenuous evangelism before he met the martyr’s death and received the crow In this shadowy and uncertain period, by mired 0 light from the Pastorals, we find Timothy left, € ' against his will, to carry out a mission of church s ment and resistance to heresy in Ephesus and the ni bourhood. ‘Though it was but a temporary office, quit unlike that of a second-century bishop, resting er tit INTRODUCTION 51 on the fact that he was a representative of Paul, and was endued with a charisma for the purpose (1 Tim. iv. 14), when he was left alone he was not very adequate to so magisterial a task, and the Apostle did what he could to ‘sustain his authority and encourage his faintheartedness. But whatever might have been his inadequacy for posts _of danger, he was evidently fitted for the work of comfort ; ‘and 2 Timothy, which is like Paul’s last will and dying, testament, is an urgent appeal to his beloved son and brother to come to him before the stroke of death fell. We do not know whether the Apostle had his desire; nor is it more than idle tradition which says that Timothy perished long after in the persecution under Domitian. The only other reference to Timothy is his ‘release’ in “Heb. xiii. 23. _ Thus Timothy appears, in no distinct outlines, as _the attendant of Paul. We have no words from his lips, no letters from his pen, unless the supposition of Prof. _McGiffert could ever be substantiated that these letters were compiled by him out of fragments of letters which he had received from Paul. Paul Joved him; that is all. He was a faithful and affectionate helper to the world’s greatest man. He is illustrated by that connexion. His name is imperishable because it occurs in the fierce light which beats upon the foundation of the church, and “is mentioned with affection in the records and epistles of “Paul ; but that light does not produce a photograph, nor do the lineaments which come out shew as those of a hero or a saint. ‘My child,’ ‘ my true child in the faith, thus, on the lips of Paul, Timothy comes before us for ‘fourteen or at most eighteen years, and vanishes, never _to be forgotten, never to be known, loved not for his own ‘sake, but because Paul loved him, an example of the power which lies in a great man to make others noble _and even illustrious by his presence. _ Titus is, if possible, less substantial than Timothy, 5 E 2 ye THE PASTORAL EPISTLES | fae, because for some unexplained reason he is not in the Acts of the Apostles. Marker, Graf, and 2 or attempted to shew that Titus is another name of | Silas. This cannot be maintained. _ From Gal. ii. 1 it is ay PP while Silas was sent rest Jerusalem (xv. 22). H s historical reality is established by the pel tO him in the two unquestionable Epistles, Galatians and 2 Corinthians. The Pastoral Epistle addressed to Titu ekes out this scanty knowledge. From Galatians it appears that he was brought into connexion with Paul at a date considerably earlier than Timothy (ii. 1-4). It was in the journey which Paul and Barnabas undertook from Antioch to Jerusalem in order to establish the liberty of the ne: gospel to the Gentiles that Titus, a Greek convert of Paul (Titus i. 4), accompanied them, probably as an ocular demonstration to the church at Jerusalem of what the grace of God was doing among the Gentiles. W need not decide here whether this journey to Jerusalem was that of Acts xv. (the view taken by almost all com mentators) or the earlier journey noticed briefly in Acts xi. 30 (as Prof. Ramsay maintains, St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 56,154). Titus is only mentioned to shew that Paul declined to gratify Jewish prejudice by requiring him, a Greek, t be circumcised. This very early notice shews that Titus did not gain the place which Timothy held in Paul’s affections, it was not because he was less known to Pau! but only because he was less congenial. The notice i 2 Corinthians, however, proves that if he was not a s of consolation like Timothy he was at least a thoroughly efficient lieutenant. Towards the end of the stay Ephesus (Acts xix) he was sent to Corinth to get togethe: the collection (2 Cor. viii. 6). This mission he carri out with zeal— being himself very earnest, he ¥ fo! unto you of his ownaccord (verse 17)—and with discretion: ‘Did Titus take any advantage of you?” (xii, 18). Pauw was consumed with anxiety to hear from ‘Titus . INTRODUCTION 53° c. from Corinth (2 Cor. ii. 13), and could neither rest “nor do his work until Titus came back (vii. 6). It would seem that 2 Corinthians was carried by Titus to its destination (2 Cor. viii. 6). _ This is all that we know of Titus, except from the Pastoral Epistle of that name. He appears only as an honest and efficient helper of Paul, who did not come very near to his heart or play any important part ‘in his life. In our Epistle five or six years have. passed since 2 Corinthians was written, though Titus is ‘still represented as a subordinate whose authority men ‘might despise (Titus ii. 15). It appears that after the release from the Roman imprisonment Paul, among other places, visited Crete. The Christian communities there ‘needed organizing, and Paul found in Titus one to whom he could entrust the delicate-task. The legend which ‘made Titus the bishop of Gortyna, resting on Eusebius’s ‘statement that he was bishop of Crete (Hzst. Eccl. iii. 4), is quite inconsistent with the indications of this Epistle. Titus was in the island only for a time, and was to join - Paul that winter at Nicopolis (iii. 12). From the brief statement of 2 Tim. iv. 10 we learn that, probably when Paul crossed the Adriatic for Italy, Titus went northwards along the coast on a mission to Dalmatia, and there he disappears from history, only to reappear doubtfully in legend. It will thus be seen that, apart from this letter, Titus would not be distinguishable from the rest of the com- panions of Paul, and as the letter sheds no light upon his character, and reveals only the fact that his mission work ‘was catried out in the island of Crete, we cannot say that it is, from the personal point of view, of any great value. : A genuine believer, an active and energetic deputy, e representative of the great Apostle, that is all we can say of him. He lives in history because of his relations | : with the world’s greatest human teacher. , CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLES I TIMOTHY 1 Timothy falls into four parts :— I. Salutation. i. 1, 2. (a) A warning against certain false teachers (i. 3, 4). The wholesome doctrine, especially that of the law, to set against them (5-11). (4) This reference to the true gospel of Paul is strengthened by a recollection of Paul’s own experience of God’s free grace (12-17). (¢) For this gospel Timothy is to contend, warned By the example of those who have forsaken it and made shipwreck (18-20), II. Regulations of a Christian Churck. ii, iii. (@) Common prayer, especially for authorities, to be for all, as God’s grace is for all, according to Paul’ s preaching (ii. 1-7). (6) Men are all to pray in the assembly, but not women, who are to shew their piety by modest dress and silence in the church, and by faithful work at home, because Adam was made before Eve, and Eve tempted Adam (8-15). (6) Officers of the church—qualifications for bishops or elders iii. 1-7) ; and for deacons and deaconesses (s- 13). (d) Importance of the right management of the church, because the truth rests upon it (14-16). III. in contrast with a true church. iv. (@) False teachers who will appear, demanding asceticism (7-3) 3 and matring the proper gratitude to God (4, 5). _ (8) Instead of bodily asceticism, godliness is to be sought (6-8); for which Paul always strives (9-11). _ ©) Timothy is to exercise his charisma to save himself and his hearers (12-16). his flock. v, vi. P) an (a) The treatment of the old and the young (v. Oe of widows and their The admission of widows into the list of church v é (9-16). The treatment of good elders (x7, 18 18), and and digging of them (19, 20), with admonition ‘i about Timothy's — personal behaviour (21-95). _ : . ‘¢ The conduct of slaves (vi. 1, 2). (5) Another blow at the false teachers (3-5). Another statement of true godliness as opposed to avarice (6-10). Another personal exhortation to Timothy to witness a good confession, with a noble apostrophe to God as only Potentate (11-17). ; A caution delivered to the rich (17-19). NCTM fe A warning against false Gnosis (20, 2r). et Salutation to Timothy and his church. hey Il TIMOTHY) eee After the Salutation (i, 1, 2) the Epistle falls inte ues parts, thus :— I. An exhortation to a true and fearless contention for the gospel. i. 3—ii. 13. (a) Paul's thought of Timothy and of his early training G. 3-5). (6) Reminder to use the gifts received without shame (6-8). (c) The exhortation grounded on the greatness oe a ‘sal- vation (9, To), ny and on the example of the Apostle (11-14). ~ (d) Those who ot and those who have AE 5 true to him (15-18 (e) The soldier in Christ urged to be diligent i. =); and identified with Christ (8-13). II. The warfare against error and apostasy. reves 8. Exhortation to purity of life and doctrine in face of (@) present apostasy (ii. 14-26), and () mere yet to come (iii. r-9). CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLES 57 . ~~ Timothy, trained in the Scriptures, and following Paul’s : example (iii. 10-17), is to be ready to take up Paul’s ; * work, whose departure is at hand (iv. 1-8). III. Conclusion; prayers, news, greetings, benediction. iv. 9-22. TITUS - he Salutation. i. 1-4, I. Directions for the appointment of elders (i. 5-9). The false teachers exposed (10-16), II. The healthy teaching applied to aged men (ii. 1, 2), aged women (3), young women (4, 5), young men (6), to slaves (7-10), The appearance of the grace of God as the ground of all (11-15). III. The right relation to the non-Christian world (ui, 1-8) The treatment of false teachers (9-11). IV. Directions and greetings (12-15). AUTHORITIES ~ THE following Commentary owes most to three com- — mentators :— 1. Dr. BERNARD, in the Cambridge Greek Testament series. I owe so much to his admirable little Commentary — that I greatly regret to be obliged so frequently to express a difference of opinion. He approaches his esis with | certain preconceived dogmatic positions in his mind. But wherever he is not biassed by dogma or ecclesiastical tradition, he is admirably clear and full of knowledge. — Holding, as I believe, better principles, 1 can only wish that I could lay claim to a tithe of his learning and ability. 2. Prof. VON SODEN, in that admirable series of Commentaries known in Germany as the Hand-Com- mentar. Von Soden does not accept the Pauline author- ship of the letters, and brings to his task the bias of aschool. But he is perfectly candid, and always clear; — so that where one is obliged to differ from him, there need be no confusion about the points at issue. 3. Prof. ZOCKLER and EDUARD RIGGENBACH, in the Kurzgefasster Commentar. The point of view adopted in this Commentary is conservative, and is practically the same as Zahn’s in his Introduction. Other writers who have been invaluable are Prof. — McGIFFERT and Mr. VERNON BARTLET, in their books on the Apostolic Age, and Prof. HORT in his inestimable Christian Ecclesia. To mention all the commentators and writers who uit gone to produce even so small and unpretentious a work as this would be impossible. I am conscious that I owe far more to the scholars at whose feet I have sat than I can possibly expect the readers of this book to owe to me, | = THE PASTORAL EPISTLES I, 11 TIMOTHY:anp TITUS AUTHORIZED VERSION > 3 HL Se Tr x 7,3 if { ; id Da € ° f ¥ ‘ / fA <> etetterpe” ©, ~ = aE CD ea ‘4 ee 4 « ‘= : 7 A) : ton} ~ j Kass 5 ) fa ¢ 7 - f e . ‘ i Vi ah ¢ ‘ Sf, . ‘ ae Y - 4 aa ~ THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TIMOTHY Chap. 1 1 Pavt, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the com- Satuta- mandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus <~hed ‘2 Christ, which zs our hope; unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, amd peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. 3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, False and when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest fo-"Kine, _ charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ? 4 neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, __ which minister questions, rather than godly edifying ‘5 which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment “is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside 4” unto vain jangling ; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor ane tee: they affirm. 8 But we know that the law zs good, if a man use 9 it lawfully ; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and dis- obedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for ~ unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and to murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whore- an 62 . I TIMOTHY ~ Chap.1 mongers, for them that defile chest ee a ——~_ mankind, for menstealers, for liars, § for pe’ persons, and if there be any other ikon s contrary to sound doctrine; according to the ir glorious gospel of the blessed God, | whicle yea: ; committed to my trust. ‘ Paul’sex- And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who wai: Perience- enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, — putting me into the ministry; who was before a 13 blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: ‘but r I obtained mercy, because I did # ignorantly i in 3 unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding 14 abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. © This 7s a faithful saying, and worthy of all x; 15 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world — to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit 1 6 for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me es q Jesus Christ might shew forth all lo i o on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King» 17 eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, « "i honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen, Chargeto This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, ! rene fs according to the prophecies which went before on — thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare ; holding faith, and a good conscience ; 19 which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: of whom is Hees a Alexander ; whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. ss Reguia- I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, 3 tions for prayer. Prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be ef made for all men; for kings, and for all that are a I TIMOTHY 63 in authority ; that we may lead a quiet and peace- Chap.2 able life in all godliness and honesty. For this zs good and acceptable in the sight of God our _ 4 Saviour ; who will have all men to be saved, and - s to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God _ 6 and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an. apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, avd lie not ;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting Women’s up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In **™ like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly ro array; but (which becometh women professing 11 godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn 12 in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the 13 man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first 14 formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the trans- 15 gression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. 8 This és a true saying, If a man desire the office Bishops 2 of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop 22\.ons, then must be-blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hos- 3 Ppitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a 4 brawler, not covetous ; one that ruleth well his ~ Oo @ & 64 -| TIMOTHY — own house, having his children in subjec all gravity ; (for if a man know not how t own house, how shall he take care of the chure God ?) not a novice, lest being lifted up with | ori he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Mor +4 over he must have a good report of them wtaclitane without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil: Likewise must the deacons de grave, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in ¢ a pure conscience. And let these also first be 10 proved ; then let them use the office of a deacon, — y being found blameless. Even so must their wives 1 be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. _ Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, 1: ruling their children and their own houses well. — For they that have used the office of a‘deacon well 1; purchase to themselves a good degree, rad boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. — These things write I unto thee, hoping to come 14 unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou 15 mayest know how thou oughtest to behave ; in the house of God, which is the church of the — living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. — And without controversy great is the mystery of 16 godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified — in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. ae fied! i Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the 4 latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving — heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines rate tee I TIMOTHY 65 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience Chap. 4 3 seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and c commanding to abstain from meats, which God * hath created to be received with thanksgiving of 4 them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God 7s good, and nothing to be '5 tefused, if it be received with thanksgiving : for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of The spiri ~ these things, thou shalt be a good minister of 2a 9 Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and 8 exercise thyself za¢her unto godliness. For bodily " exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable - unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This és a faithful io saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore - we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust ~ in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, 11 specially of those that believe. These things com- [2 mand and teach. Let no man despise thy youth ; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, ' in Conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in r3 purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, 4 to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly | to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 6 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; ‘continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt _ both save thyself, and them that hear thee. F Chap, 5 Widows. 66 I TIMOTHY ~ Rebuke not an elder, but intreat dime is ather; 5 and the younger men as brethren; the elder women 2 as mothers ; the younger as sisters, with all purity, — Honour aes that are widows indeed. — But ita any widow have children or nephews, let learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, 5 and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth i in supplications and prayers night and day. ‘But she 6 that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. And these things give in charge, that they may be 7 blameless. But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Let not a widow be taken into the number under 9 threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have 1 brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse: 1: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; having damnation, because 1 they have cast off their first faith. And withal they 1: learn Zo de idle, wandering about from house to house ; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion — to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believeth have bites, let em, I TIMOTHY 67 relieve them, and let not the church be charged; Chap.5 _ that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. Br 17 ~ Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy Elders. of double honour, especially they who labour in 38 the word and doctrine. -For the scripture saith, 3 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer zs worthy of his reward. 19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but 20 before two or three witnesses. Them that sin a1 rebuke before all, that others also may fear, I : —t charge ¢hee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these - things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: 23 Keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but | use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine q often infirmities. ! 24 Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going a before to judgment; and some mez they follow as after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand ; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. , 6. Let as many servants as are under the yoke Staves, count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and As doctrine be not blas- 2 phemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise ¢4em, because they are brethren ; but rather do zhem service, because they are faith- - ful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. 3 + If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to The false wholesome words, evex the words of our Lord ana ye avarice, iJ a) ae ee ee Appeal to Timothy, ‘hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which mo ad 68 I TIMOTHY Rial Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, where- — of cometh envy, strife, railings, evil candies . perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and 5 destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is ers liness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into ¢his world, and it is 7 certain we can carry nothing out. And having 8 food and raiment let us be therewith content. But 9 they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and 7zfo many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. — For the love of money is the root of all evil: which 10 while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with OF SOITOWS. But thou, O man of God, flee these things ; ; ia 1 follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, 12 lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight 13 of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession ; that thou keep Ais command- 14 ment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his times he 15 shall shew, wo 7s the blessed and only Potentate, _ the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only 16 man can approach unto; whom no man hath ~~ - a7 38 I TIMOTHY 69 seen, nor can see: to whom Ze honour and power Chap.6 everlasting. Amen. Charge them that are rich in this world, that To the they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain og riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy False trust, avoiding profane avd vain babblings, and S2°S# oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace Ze with thee. Amen. : The first to Timothy was written from Laodicea, “which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana. THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE To TIMOTHY Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of 1 God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son: 2 Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers ; with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers. night and day; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy 4 tears, that I may be filled with joy; when I call to 5 remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, * which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and — thy mother Eunice ; and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore/I put thee in remembrance that thou 6 stir up the gift of God, which is in thee /by the’ putting on of my hands. For God hath not given 7 us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, — and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore 8 ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who g Il TIMOTHY yr hath saved us, and called- zs with an holy calling, Chap.1 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: whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and 2 an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have - believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against 13 that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, _ which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love 14 which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. 15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Friends _ Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phy- 24 fe 16 gellus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus ; for he oft refreshed 17 Me, and was not ashamed of my chain: but, when _ he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, 18 and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace The that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou ore deg hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same ' commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to 3 teach others also. Thou therefore endure hard- The present apostasy, 72 1 TIMOTHY ness, as a good soldier of Jesus A that warreth entangleth himself with the rs of this life ; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And ifa man also ane for masteries, yef is he not crowned, except I he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth 6 be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. _ Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to to my gospel: wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, 9 even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the ro elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the sal- vation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Zt is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with iu him, we shall also live with Aim: if we suffer, we 12 shall also reign with Aim: if we deny Aim, he also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he sity ani! 3 faithful: he cannot deny himself.) &. Of these things put em in Teiembaiep chataied ing them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, du¢ to the subverting of the hearers. Study to shew thyself approved unto 15 God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, _ rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun pro- 16 fane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word ‘will eat 17 as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenzeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth haye erred, 18 saying that the resurrection is past already ; ond: overthrow the faith of some. 3 Nevertheless the foundation of God sande 1g Il TIMOTHY - 43 sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth ; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the - master’s use, avd prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteous- . ness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on 3 the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do . gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, ; patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them § repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and _that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. Chap. 2 This know also, that in the last days perilous The a times shallcome. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, | disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, in- - continent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of god- liness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, apostasy to come, Chap. 3 Timothy trained in the Scrip- tures. Timothy the suc- cessor of ~ Paul. +? sas 2 we Il TIMOTHY = and never able to come to the knowl truth. Now as Jannes and Jaiabebas Moses, so do these also resist the truth ; men corrupt minds, reprobate concerning” But they shall proceed no further: for tie shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s a But thou hast fully known my dvettine?et rn of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, — ck patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra ; what : cutions I endured: but out of them all Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. — evil men and seducers shall wax worse and ¥ deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou k learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned ¢Aem ; and that from a child th hast known the holy scriptures, which are able t make thee wise unto salvation through faith whicl is in Christ Jesus. All scripture és given by ir spiration of God, and ‘s profitable for a reproof, for correction, for instruction in rightec 1s- ness ; that the man of God a throughly furnished unto all good works. By tre I charge ¢hee therefore before God, ¢ ord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing and his kingdom; the word; be instant in season, out of season j reprove, tebe, exhort with all longsuffering ar doctrine. For the time will come when tty wi not endure sound doctrine; but after their o' lusts shall they ase to themsélvis ppg : < ney Il TIMOTHY 45 |4 itching ears; and they shall turn away ¢heir ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. ; But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do “the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy “ministry. j © For I am now ready to be offered, and the time ; of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good ' fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous “judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me * only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. to for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this | present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica ; mr Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only ' Luke is with me, . Take Mark, and bring him _ with thee: for he is profitable to me for the } ministry. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. 3 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, 4u¢ especially the parchments. 4 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: 15 the Lord reward him according to his works: of _ whom be thou ware also ; for he hath greatly with- stood our words. 6. At my first answer no man stood with me, but ' all men forsook me: J fray God that it may not be stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and /Aa¢ all _ the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out 8 of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall ~ a) 7 laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown _ Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: News. ees. is £ Gap. 4. deliver me from ite _ me unto his heavenly ki for ever and ever. A Greetings Salute Prisca and Aquila, orting® of Onesiphorus. Erastus aboc Trophimus have I left at diligence to come before winte thee, and Pudens, and Linus the brethren. The Lord J spirit. Grace de with you. — The second efis¢/e unto Tima first bishop of the churck was written from Rome, brought before Nero the secon¢ THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS —. © ee ee ae a ee ee >~ v ¥ i . . ee OC) e acknowledging of the truth which is after god- liness ; in hope of eternal life, which. God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according io the commandment of God our Saviour; to Ts mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. Chap. 1 _ Pavt, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Saluta- Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and *°™ : For this cause left I thee in_Crete, that thou Elders. shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, ind ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed ce: if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to hy lucre ; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of od men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that 78 TITUS i. ie Chap.1 he may be able by sound docsne oth to el e: and to convince the gainsayers. ae Ee False For there are many unruly and vain tales a onegepe deceivers, specially they of the circumcision ; ' mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole h teaching things which they ought not, fed filthy lucre’s sake. One of themselves, even a prophe' of their own, said, The Cretians ave alway lia: evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they + sa be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Je fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things ave pure: unto them that are defiled and nnbclievitiy nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is- defiled. They profess that they know God but in works they deny Aim, being ae - able, and disobedient, and unto every evaded reprobate. Sound But speak thou the things which become sour ee seuaiy doctrine: that the aged men be sober, ¢ see 4 temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in’ patience onrevela- The aged women likewise, that ¢ey de in behavic en as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, #0 de dis creet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient ic their own husbands, that the word of God be no blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing pag 3? pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing un ruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, tha TITUS 79 i mnot be condemned ; that he that is of the con- Chap.2 _ Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own ‘masters, avd to please ‘hem well in all ¢hings ; not answering again; not purloining, but shewing all “good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine ‘of God our Saviour in all things. _ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying -ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live ‘soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the ‘glorious appearing of the great God and our “Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of -good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke Relations with all authority. Let no man despise'thee. Put Gith 20m-_ them in mind to be subject to principalities and and with Browens, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every Feactene -good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto ‘all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes ‘foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, 4 hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our ‘Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Chap. 3 Directions and greetings. 80 TITUS Bes am which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Zs és a faithful saying, and © these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. ‘These things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies; and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an here- tick after the first and second admonition reject; — knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Ty- n chicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. And let our’s also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. _All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace de with sits all. Amen, It was written to Titus, ordained the first real of the church of the Cretians, from era of Macedonia, ‘THE PASTORAL EPISTLES I, Il TIMOTHY anp TITUS REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY PAvL, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the1 commandment of God our Saviour, and Christ Jesus our I. The Salutation. i. 1, 2. _ The common epistolary form of the time was that which James smploys, ‘ James,... to the twelve tribes..., greeting’ (Jas. i. x), and this ordinary form was used by the church at Jerusalem (Acts § Sunruly’: not used by Paul, except here and in Titus i. 6, ro. _* ‘unholy and profane’ : the first of these words occurs elsewhere in the N. T. only at 2 Tim. iii. 2, the second not outside the Pastorals. _ * *smiters of fathers, and smiters of mothers’ (marg.): both words occur only here in the N. T. _® *manslayers’: the word only here in the Bible. . “men-stealers’: the word only here in the Bible (cf. Exod. xxi. 16 ; Deut. xxiv. 7, for the sin). ® false swearers’: the word not found again in the N,T, (the ae responding verb is in Matt. v. 33). 90 I TIMOTHY 1. 1° a 3 the gospel of the glory of the besed* God which committed to my trust. its correlatives are peculiarly significant of the Patra 2 Tim. iv. 3; Titusi, 9, ii. 1; ‘sound words,’ Tim. vi Tim. i. verb with faith, 2 Tim. i. 133 Titus ii, 2; and speech,’ Titus, 8). And the metaphor is explained by the vhs of false doctrine to a gangrene (2 Tim. ii, 17), To understand the word one must avoid the associations which gather round our usage | the phrase ‘sound doctrine.’ Health is the key-note. ‘The Ch tian society is a body ; the truth of God, parce caine life, is the spring of health in the body. hood, or the withholding of truth, by vain disease in the body spiritual. Two ‘tegration may the idea: Plato, in the Republic (iv. 18), says: ‘Virtue, would seem, is as it were health and beauty and well-be Tes Tar "soul, oy vice disease and shame and debility.” And Be: : using the very expression employed in vt speaks ‘of ‘the passions and diseases prev. ailing over the ‘s i Doctrine is really ‘teaching,’ the act and method hod rather thaa the substance of teaching ; cf. iv. ST v. T7. 11. according to the gospel of the glory: the conseniea « these words may be either (r) with the truth of the paragraph that the law is for the correction of evil-doers ; but this i . very satisfactory, because Paul’s gospel did not specially t that the law was only intended for evil-doers, as” = its 1 ~for idle disputation ; and the peculiar content of ¢ that the law could not save, hardly comes into question here or, preferably, (2) with the phrase ‘healthy that teaching as what he taught, because it was Com to him by God, viz. the gospel which consists of the glory of the tcpeet od; (3) with Riggenbach, it may be joined to ‘knowing verse ¢ which was committed to my trust: or, ‘ with which I entrusted’: Pauline. Rom. iii, 2; 1 Cor. ix. 173 ‘Gal. i. 1 Thess. ii, 4; Titus i. 3. Schmidt and Holzendorff say hi verse imitates a formula which repeatedly eecute sh eee: Paul Epistles without the same reason for it im the context here! It is difficult to see how it could be more appropriate than i a passage where Paul is opposing his own teaching’ to that hetero-teachers, and wishes to vouch for its wholesomeness bj the reminder that it was not devised by himself, but entrusted t him personally by God, the fountain of health. The self-vindic tion expands itself in a beautiful doxology, yotsen 12-17 1 blessed’: applied to God only here and at vi. 15 AGS Geol, in Homer), al I TIMOTHY 1, 12-13 91 I thank him! that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our 12 ord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; though I was before a blasphemer, and a 13 persecutor®, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, ecause I did it ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of r4 our Lord* abounded exceedingly‘ with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Faithful is the saying’, and rs _ 12. that enabled me. This favourite phrase of Paul’s (Eph. vi. ‘10; 2 Tim. ii. 1, iv. 17; Phil. iv. 13) is the Greek word which ‘occurs in our ‘dynamics’ and ‘dynamite.’ It means that Christ gave him the motive force for the ministry. __ __ faithful occurs eleven times in this short Epistle. The word rendered service is the Greek for diaconate (cf. Rom. ‘xi. 13; 2 Cor. v. 18, vi. 3; Col. i. 23; 1 Cor. iii. 5; 2 Cor. iii. 6; Ton. iii.7). After the Apostolic Age, when the word was specialized ‘to. an office in the church, it could hardly have been used in this “general way for service of any kind ; an argument for the apostolic borigin of this Epistle. ; 13. blasphemer ...persecutor ... injurious. The words in the Greek ae an ascending scale of sin: ‘ blasphemer,’ i, e. using bad language ; ‘ persecutor,’ doing bad deeds; ‘ injurious’ is an in- padequate rendering of a strong word, which in Rom. i. 30 is rendered ‘insolent,’ but conveys an idea of violence and outrage. { I obtained mercy. Cf. the ‘mercy’ in the salutation, verse 2. Cf. 1 Cor. vii. 25; 2 Cor. iv. 1. because I did it ignorantly. Cf. Luke xxiii. 34. in unbelief. Acts xxiii. 1. He did not believe Jesus was ‘Christ. This explains where the power of the Divine grace began to work on him (Wiesinger). 14. with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ‘Which is in Christ Jesus’ is a qualifying clause which probably applies ‘to the faith as well as to the love. The grace abounded along with the responsive faith in Christ (in contrast with the unbelief ey thank him’: a phrase in the Greek, only used here and in 2 Tim. i. 3 by Paul. Introd. p. 17. _ 3 ©persecutor’: only here in the N. T. . S ‘our Lord’: without the addition of Jesus Christ, used by Paul only here and in 2 Tim. i. 8. a Pe . abounded exceedingly’: a word occurring nowhere else in the Bible. * faithful is the saying’: a formula peculiar to the Pastorals G Tim, iv. 9, iii. 1; 2 Tim. ii. 11; Titus iii, 8), . 16 the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: 92 I TIMOTHY 1,16 worthy of all acceptation', that Christ ake of verse 13), and with the love which centres in manifests itself. : 15. all acceptation. An inscription found at E u ‘Titus Aelius Priscus a man most approved and weahy of ail honour and acceptation.’ Christ Jesus came into the world: a Johannine expression (cf. John i. 9, xii. 46, xvi. 28). The expression faithful is the saying seems in each case to refer to things which wengey said among Christians. Srfv< of whom I am chief: /it. ‘first.’ Schmidt and Holzen see in this ‘an exaggerated imitation of 1 Cor. xv. 9, “ of the apostles,” which in the hands of the Pauline author of the Epistle to the Ephesians had already passed into the unsuitable form, “ the least of the saints,” Eph, iii, 8." But may we not in the three passages that growth i in humility which is the surest mark of inward sanctity? In the early missionary days he thought himself ‘the least of the apostles’; in the first i impriscamest 4 least of the saints, i.e. ordinary believers’ ; mow at the ‘end he feels that he is ‘the chief of sinners.’ Nor can he be the past condition recorded in verse 13. It is definitely ‘ of v lam chief. Francis of Assisi grew in this amazing humility anti his less spiritual followers were irritated by what to them ed an affectation. Dr. Carey, the great missionary, on his deathbed, was quite distressed to hear his friends talking of him: ‘Do not talk,’ he cried, ‘of Dr. Carey, but of Dr. Carey’s Saviour.’ ‘As he writes in his old age to his son Timothy, and exalts the gospel ministry, he is suddenly carried out of his course ic Me an undercurrent of feeling, and magnifies the office of Christ, ’ is to save sinners, ‘‘ of whom I am chief,” This is one of the most impressive utterances in the history of religion, holy or yal consider the writer or its date. He was notone who had f ‘ the fool in his youth before God and man, for he tp ich that he had lived in good conscience all his da intended that so far as he saw the light he pent so far as he ‘knew righteousness he had always done i cution of Christ in his disciples was only a pledge ° “his he and of his devotion to the will of God. It was this man of ti nobility and selfless character who, not in affected I in absolute sincerity, wrote himself down as worse than hilip- pian jailor and the evil lives of Corinth. Nor was Paul a re =nt convert, still ignorant of the mind of Christ and young in grac * “acceptation’: only here and at iv. g- : I TIMOTHY 1. 17, 18 63 ; a this causé I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ shew forth all his longsuffering, for 1 ensample! of them which should hereafter believe on him unto eternal life. Now unto the King eternal, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, de honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. _ This charge I commit unto thee, my child Timothy, but one who for many years had been working out his salvation with fear and trembling, and in whom the readers of his life can trace the clear and convincing likeness of his Lord. With this career behind him, so stainless both as a Jew and as a Christian, the most honourable of Pharisees, the most gracious of apostles, Paul forgets his achievements and his attainments, and, when he instructs his son Timothy, remembers only his sin. As we catch this glimpse into the Apostle’s heart, we begin to understand how Paul was able to enter into the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice, and to realize the magnificence of the Divine grace. According to his conception vf sin was his conception of salvation.’—TZhe practrinas of Grace, Joun Watson, D.D., pp. 29, 30. One cannot help raising’ the psychological question; What imitator of Paul, writing necessarily to honour Paul, would have put into his mouth that he was the chief of sinners? Certainly this intense humility is not like an imitation of Paul, but it is like Paul himself, And as a picture of Paul’s feeling it is the subtlest touch of reality in the development of the spiritual life, 16. shew forth, &c. Cf. Eph. ii. 7. 17. With the doxology in verse 17 cf. t Tim, i, 17, vi. 16; 2 Tim. iv. 18. _ the King eternal: or, ‘the King of the ages’: only here and in Rev. xv. 3; ya the ruler of all times, Tobit xiii, 6, 10. The 17 18 word is ‘zeons.? ‘What is meant by eeous here,’ say Schmidt - and Holzendorff, ‘is not the Gnostic seons.’ No; but isit likely that if the writer had the Gnostic doctrine of aeons before him he would describe God as ‘the King of the zons’? the only God: a /ocus classicus for Monotheism ; the reading rightly adopted by the Revisers is, as Bengel said, ‘a magnificent reading.’ _. honour and glory: only in Rev. v. 13. z 48. This charge refers to verse 5. _ I commit unto thee. Cf, vi. 20; 2 Tim. i, 12, 14, for what is committed. _ **ensample’: the unusual word employed here is found elsewhere py at 2 Tim, i. 13. eel 94 I TIMOTHY 1, ite rie according to the prophecies which went befor 19 that by them thou mayest war the good warfare ; h holding faith and a good conscience; which some having t thrust 20 from them made shipwreck’ concerning the a whom is Hymenzus and Alexander; whom I deliy the prophecies which went before on thee (‘ aoa is th translation in Heb. vii. 18) : or, ‘which wag apts em = cf Acts xiii. 2, xvi. 2. We are connie) into the i of a primitive church, where the spirit, speaking # prophets, singled out individuals for a special duty. int! p. 49.) Even Clement of Alexandria still speaks of ministers | ‘indicated by the spirit.’ It is not possible to decide whether ¢ prophets singled out Timothy to be Paul's companion, as Dr. Hc conjectured (Christian Ecclesia, p. 181. The com is made with the vision that led Ananias to Paul in the street called Straight, or with the vision that led the way to Peter in the house of Simon the tanner), or only marked him for ordination tot he ministry of an evangelist (cf. iv. 14). ‘ by them thou mayest war the good warfare: i. ¢. in th strength of those utterances of the spirit which called him to the service he may carry out his warfare to the end (2 Tim. ii. g). 19. concerning the faith. Dr. Bernard says that the faith here signifies not the subjective attitude of the soul to God, bu the objective contents of the Christian’s belief—the Christian Cree (cf. Acts vi. 7, xiii. 8, xvi. 5; Gal. i 23, iii, 23 ; Phil. i, *Out of thirty-three occurrences of faith in these )” $a} Dr. Bernard, ‘ the objective sense seems to be required in x Tim. i. 19, iv. 1, 6, v. 8, vi. ro, 213 2 Tim. iii. 8, iv. 73, Titus i, 13.’ This large proportion of the use of the word in the later sense is of course an argument against the Pauline authorship. “But it may be questioned whether this objective sense is inevitable i any of these passages. Holding strictly to the motion of faith as the psychological condition of receiving the, gospel we can establish a good sense in every instance. The later objecti’ meaning is read inéo rather than out of the N. T. Vt 20. Hymensus. See 2 Tim. ii. 17. d Alexander. It is impossible to determine whether this is the Alexander who was put forward by the Jews in the ane the Ephesus (Acts xix. 33). Nor can we be sure that he is with the coppersmith, apparently at Troas, who *did much evil’ to Paul (2 Tim. iv. 14). If he is, it is strange that in the earlier 1 ‘made shipwreck’: only here in a metaphorical sense (2 xi. 25, literal). peace . I TIMOTHY 1. 20 05 2 unto Satan, that they might be taught not to blas- pheme. tter Paul should speak of excommunicating him, while in the ter he seems to be still unexcommunicated, and Paul hands him ver to the punishment of God. Von Soden, in the Hand-Com- mentar, decisively affirms the identity, and supposes that Paul’s handing over to Satan was equivalent to leaving the vengeance to God according to Rom. xii. 19. delivered unto Satan. The obvious commentary on this is i Cor. v. 5.- But if the Hand-Commentar is right, we must not see in the personal action of Paul a formal excommunication, hich at Corinth was the solemn act of the church, but rather @ spiritual surrender of the two blasphemers to the pains and rrows typified by Satan, that by suffering they might learn wisdom (cf. Job. ii. 6). In this way of treating the question, the ter judgemént (2 Tim. iv. 14) would mean that the milder ethod of ‘ handing over to Satan’ had in Alexander's case failed, and Paul was obliged to leave him to the mighty hand of God. We may suppose that Alexander, like Hymenzeus and Philetus, had fallen into the heresy that the Resurrection was past (2 Tim. i. 17). ¥ This first chapter has placed very vividly the divinely com- missioned Apostle over against the empty and wrangling teachers who were disturbing the church at Ephesus. They professed to each the law of Moses. But the ethical failure of the result was proof that their method was wrong. Paul fully admits the value of the Jaw for convicting of sin; and in verses 9, 10, he evidently mas the Decalogue in view. But his own personal experience Shews, and it is here introduced for the purpose, that the gospel ‘of the glory of the blessed God had something far beyond the daw to reveal, viz. the salvation of sinners whom the law has mvicted, Paul, who had, comparatively speaking, kept the law (Phil. iii. 5), found himself, in the light of Christ, the first of inners. Yet he had been forgiven, to encourage all sinners to believe. ; It is this commission, ‘the gospel of the glory,’ that he hands over to Timothy for use in conflict with the erroneous teachers. imothy, his true son, is encouraged to maintain the good warfare by a reference to the inspired utterances which originally, so long ago, led him into it, when Paul found him at Lystra. ind he is warned by the example of Hymenzus and Alexander, who had so far surrendered the truth that Paul had felt bound to liver them unto Satan, i.e. to repudiate them and leave them 2 the working of conscience, and the recovery of its saving timony, i 2 exhort therefore, first of all’, that sup a men; for kings and all that are in high place ; om may lead a tranquil * and quiet life in all ity a He now passes on to the church regulations which will aid Timothy in his warfare. II. Regulations of a Christian Church. ii, iii. Public Worship. ii. 1-7. Prayers for all men. f 1. Lexhort. Some authorities (D. G. Hil. Ambrosiaster) read the imperative ‘exhort,’ but the ‘I wish’ of verse 8 makes the indicative intrinsically more probable (against ast Cor “to viii. 6; Eph. iv. 6). The unity of the m shew that there can be no other way to God John se also that this is a way for all. He is desceted second Adam) generically; but just as he can on! for men because he is a man (cf. Rom. v. 15; © he can only be a mediator, for God because ag is Co ie this Epistle was written, and docetic heresies were += was more important to emphasize that Christ was man he was God (cf. iii. 16). ‘ By being man he mediated’ (Theodore) one mediator. By Paul the word is only of Moses (Gal. iii. 19, as in the Assumptio Moysts, i. 14, iii. bp in Philo). But in Hebrews ‘the mediator of the nee ene occurs, viii. 6, ix. 15, xii. 24. It is quite eye on his own words used long before in trasted with Moses the mediator between jeege > 5 Coated who had become man to be the mediator pbs Bs s, such and God. ig 6. who gave himself a ransom for af. For eee hii cf. Gal. i. 4, ii. 20; Eph. v. 2, 25; Rom, viii. 32; stri illustration of the phrase in x Macc. vi. 44 ian Macc. 2¢ Eleazar, who threw himself on the enemy and perished under th elephant that he slew, ‘ gave himself to deliver his proms sad get him an everlasting name.’ The stress in this course laid on the universality of the Atonem all he gave himself. We may hardly therefore s to ¢ what is meant by the ransom in Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45. one word may be said. Christ says that he gave a ransom in place of many; Paul interprets it as giving a substitutionary ransom (that is the force of the peculiar pode used here) on hehalf of all. The ransom ea ‘ paid to any person, least of all to God. The language moves i ® €come to the knowledge of the truth’: a phrase peculiar to Pastorals (2 Tim. ii. 25, iii. 7: cf. Titus i. 1 rand Tim. veg) I TIMOTHY 2. + | og ransom? for all; the testimony 70 de dorne in its own times®; wheretinto I was appointed a preacher* and an apostle (I speak the truth, I lie not), a teacher of the c@ entiles in faith and truth. “a region of metaphor. Death and sin are the personification to which the ransom is paid; death and sin therefore are the tyrants from which ‘many’ are delivered. The price paid by our Lord as the submission of his life to death and of himself to the tyranny of sin—not of course in yielding to sin, but in Lae the outrageous injuries of sin in his own person. This was ‘ on behalf of all,’ the force of the preposition uniformly employed i in the N. T. in this connexion. But in the nature of the case it can only be ‘in the place of’ those who by faith in him occupy the position ‘which he has bought for them. By the death of Christ, therefore, the salvability of the world, and the salvation of all who believe, are secured. the testimony to be borne in its own times. That testimony is the whole content of verses 4-6. It could be borne only when “the fullness of time had come, and the Incarnation had presented a mediator for all men. For ‘testimony’ see 2 Tim. i. 8. _ 7%. whereunto I was appointed a preacher. The ‘I’ is emphatic (repeated in 2 Tim. i. rz). _| Tlienot. The solemn certainty of being comms’ for this testimony (cf. Rom. ix. 1), and especially-of being in a peculiar “sense the teacher of the Gentiles (Rom. xi. 13 and Gal. ii. 7-9), ‘is the occasion of this earnest assurance that he is telling the truth. _ im faith and truth: a combination only found here. Dr. Ber- -nard’s determination to make faith objective here leads him to “make truth also objective, comparing verse 4. But this strikes all the pathos and beauty out of the passage. The whole argument’ of verses 1-7 is that prayer is to be universal. He supports that “contention by (z) the unity of God, (2) the unity of the Mediator, (3) the universality of the Atonement. And then in an exquisite and human way, very characteristic of Paul, he brings in his own human equation that he was himself, Hebrew of the Hebrews as _he was, called to be the teacher of the nations, the apostle of sean and he adds ‘in faith and truth’ as we say ‘ verily’ lee hk, The word for ‘ ransom’ occurs only here: cf. Titus ii. 145 Matt. iexx. 28; 1-Pet. i. 18, 19. B.4. The phrase ‘its own times” only i in the Pastorals (vi. 15 ; Titus . 3). But in the singular Paul uses it in Gal. vi. 9. _ * The word rendered ‘ preacher’ is ‘herald,’ and is only used by Paul here and in 2 Tim. i. 11. 2 Pet. ii? 5 applies it to Noah. Paul H 2 100 I TIMOTHY xR 8 I desire therefore that the men pray fe 9 lifting up holy hands, without wrath and Be like manner, that women adorn themselves in: pei and truly’ when we wish to dwell with emphasis on a fac may easily be overlooked ; the faith is the spirit, and the t is the material, in which he carries out his apostolic mission, = 8-15. The part of women in\public worship, ‘ 8. I desire therefore that the men pray in every place: place: i.e. the men as opposed to the women, implying that all the men in the congregation were desired to pray aloud, The time of litur- gies and priests and formal reading of prayers was not yet. — this rule applies to every place where prayer was made : No. assembly, however stately, is exempted, lifting up holy hands: the primitive Christian, an the Jewish (cf. x Kings viii. 22; Neh. viii.6; Ps. cxli. 2, clxiii, 6; Lam, ii &c.), form of prayer. See Jas. iv. 8 for the purity, and Luke xxiv. 50 for the use, of the hands. In the pictures of the catacombs men praying are represented on their feet with outstretched hands, Unless the hands are holy the prayer cannot avail. Holiness is not here the mere equivalent of purity, but implies ee hands must be consecrated by the Holy Spirit. without wrath and disputing. It is Christ’s our prayers are uscless if we are not in charity with our brothers. And to introduce disputes into prayer is to pray at. one another instead of to God. j 9. In like manner, that women, &c, It is possible to see in these words a permission to women to pray, certain conditions of decency being secured (cf. 1 Cor. xi. 5, 13). So Riggenbach, K. G. Commentar, who supplies ‘I desire that women pray.’ And it is an argument for this view that, formally, the contrast between the wish for the men to pray and the women to dre modestly gives to the passage a touch of satire. We are tempted to disregard the formal wording to find the substance aa thi passage in a thought of this kind: ‘1 wish men to pray in p all of them everywhere ; but I wish women, if they pray in F to be very careful to dress simply’ (cf. x Pet. iii. 3-6). _ the more ordinary view is more likely, that as Paul forbids the + in to teach in public, and to usurp authority over a man, so he im- plicitly forbids her to pray in public, and hints that the wor piety is better shewn in deeds than in words. We could t wished that Paul's view had been different; but we must 1 wrest his language to gratify our wish. : In like manner: a very favourite idiom in the Pastorals (i 8, 11, v. 25; Titus ii. 6), but also Rom. viii. 26 and 1 Cor, xi. < 0 ths: + igs I TIMOTHY 2. to12 16 apparel, with shamefastness? and sobriéty ;_ not with ided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment ; but ‘(which becometh’ women professing godliness *) through good works. Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to _ -with shamefastness and sobriety. The first of these words ‘means that modesty which dislikes what is unseemly, and bases espect for othersonself-respect. Wycliffe has the credit of finding ‘the English word for the original. The word rendered ‘ sobriety’ nother of the idiosyncracies of the Pastorals. It and its corre- tives occur here and in ii. 15, iii. 2; 2 Tim, i. 7; and Titus i. 8, s 2, 4, 5, 6, 12, -It was in Greek ethics one of the four cardinal ues (temperance (sobriety), wisdom, justice, courage). It signifies mastery over appetite. In the present passage it would ‘mean control over a feminine tendency to self-display, coquettish- ness, and amativeness. _ 10, The adornment is to be through good ‘works: not the good works themselves, which could not be brought into. the assembly, but the habits, virtues, and perhaps expression and demeanour, which are the result of being occupied in good works; that beauty, chastened, spiritual, and often pathetic, which may be seen in good women whose lives are given up to the service of others. _ The stress laid on good works in the Pastorals might seem un- » Pauline, but may be Paul’s own corrective of his former disparage- ment of them. See Titus i. 16; 1 Tim. v. 10; 2 Tim. ii. 21, iii. 17; Titus iii. r. They are not here, any more than in Romans, the foundation of salvation (ii. Tim. i. 9; Titus iii. 5). But Paul fully YFecognizes the complementary fruth which is urged by James. With another adjective, which means ‘beautiful,’ works are “Mentioned eleven other times in these letters (1 Tim: iii, 1, v. 25 ‘wi. 18; Titus ii. 7, 8,14, &c.). The beauty of goodness sounds G eek ; but in Christianity it becomes the beauty of holiness. Ld. het a woman learn in sphere: This is quite Pauline: ef. x Cor. xiv. 34,35. For the ‘ quietness,’ not silence, see x Pet. iii. 4 (also ii, 2, and ii. Thess. iii. 12). With all subjection: i. e. not only to their husbands (Titus ii. 5; Eph. v. 22-24) but also to har community, in contradistinction o the unruly (Tit. i. 6- 10). | 12. to teach: (‘speak’ in 1 Cor. xiv. 34). In Corinthians the Woman must keep silence because the law required it. Here apparel.’ The word only found here in the N. T. shamefastness’ : a word only used here in the N. T. ment * godliness,’ a variation-on the word used in verse 2, is found only here in we N:T. - Io II 12 102 I TIMOTHY 2. 13-15 13 have dominion over a man’, but to be in quietness. Fo 14 Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into 15 transgression; but she shall be saved through th ee Paul is represented as forbidding it himself. Von Soden, in the Hand-Commentar, sees in this the mark of a post iin glorifying the authority of an apostle! The women is only that in the public Reape Be se permitted (cf. 2 Tim. iii. 14 ; Titus ij. g; Acts xviii. 26> This subordination of woman is based on two peaks was formed before Eve, sce 1 Cor. xi. 9, (2) Eve tem ‘More: easily deceived, she more easily decei (cf. 2 Cor. xi. 3). Adam was not deceived, ise ait have us believe, deliberately sinned that he might share his w punishment. Thus Eve was a dupe ; Adam was chivalrous in fall. This is how men interpret the facts of life. pobre assigned to woman in the stories of Creation and the Fall rf led the Jews to despise women, and the Rabbis to regard it as a disgrace to be seen talking with them, And the same mails tion survives in the monkish ideals : ‘Femina corpus opes animam vim pore aaa Polluit annihilat necat eripit orbat acerbat—- two bitter verses which may be translated, ‘Wines ip pollutes our body, annihilates our wealth, kills our soul, takes our s rength, blinds our eyes, and makes our voice harsh’ » Happily Scripture as a whole, and even Paul in other p puts woman in a very different place; and our Lord has r her to a dignity no asceticism can tarnish; and no prejudice cat ultimately obscure. Some allowance must be made for the f element in Paul. If he had ever been married, he had no wide a companion and friend ; and in hardly any great man does woma! seem to have had so small a part. To use him as an argument fo! the depreciation or suppression of women is to es his infirmities and limitations as a man, and to make them f in his authority as an apostle. As it "could be no pens for keeping woman in subjection, even if Eve wasc Adam, and if she was the cause of his fall, so it can be noc prohibition of her speaking and teaching, that Paul, from s circumstances, or from a certain interpretation of the law; ¥ 2 he did not in other respects allow to be binding, was | "Ted prohibit her speaking and teaching in the churches of time. The question after all must be, not, Does Paul prohibi 1 to have dominion over a man’: a word is used here which is ne found elsewhere in the Greek Bible. OT sgl ‘i Pa a -s i’ TIMOTHY 3.1 103 ildbearing 1 if they continue in faith and love and anctification with sobriety. Faithful is the saying, If a man secketh? the office of 3 twomen from teaching? but Does the Spirit of God use them as teachers? 15. Yet Paul adds, thinking of the curse in Gen, iii. 16, that the oman ‘shail be saved through her time of peculiar trial and abour, if they, viz. women generally, remain in faith and love and ‘sanctification with sobriety.’ Riggenbach regards the child-bearing is the means of woman’s salvation, since it is her God-appointed function ; yet it is not through child-bearing absolutely that her salvation. is secured, but through child-bearing under a certain condition, viz. that of abiding in faith and love and sanctification. But in that case the child-bearing is not the means of salvation at all; and that it is not, is clear from the fact that childless women can also be saved. The Hand-Commentar adopts the curious view that the subject of shall be saved is Eve, and refers to the promise in Gen, iii, 15, ‘she shall be saved through her child-bearing,’ viz. by bearing Christ the Saviour. Then the plural is used because women are included in their mother Eve, as men are included in Adam (Rom. v.15). ‘This interpretation,’ says Dr. Bernard, ‘must be counted among those pious and ingenious flights of fancy which so often mislead the commentator.’ The ‘ through,’ therefore, cannot be understood as the means, but only as thé circumstances, in the _ midst of which salvation shalt be wrought out for women, if they abide in ‘faith and love and sanctification’: cf. iv. 12, vi. Iz}; 2 Tim, ii, 23, iii-10; Titus ii, 2. - Schmidt and Holzendorff see in ‘this recommendation. of Beetrriage ” (which does not agree with x Cor. vii.) an opposition to the ascetic. rejection of it by the false teachers (cf. iv. 3). But it is as difficult to find in this verse a ‘recommendation of _ marriage’ as it is to follow these commentators in their unquestion- ing identification of the hetero-teachers with the second-century _ Gnostics. ; _ The qualifications of (1) Bishops 1-7, (2) Deacons 8-13, and (3) _ Deaconesses, verse 11, with the purpose of all the foregoing instructions, wiz. that Timothy.might know how t6 behave in the house of God ; OOS with a verse of an early Christian hymn, 14-16. 1. Faithful is the saying (sce on i, 15, lv. 9; 2 Tam. t£2)5 4 1 The word for ‘childbearing’? only here; the corresponding 7 verb, v. 14. ; 4 2 “seeketh.’? The word used is only found in 1 Timothy among the writings of Paul. | to4 I TIMOTHY 38. 4 2 a bishop, he desireth a good work. The bishop Titus iii. 8). The Western reading until the time erome V *It isa saying of men.’ The Hand- sostom, treats the words as a conclusion to what had been said the promise to woman in child-bearing. But in spite of the of ‘that,’ as a conjunction with what follows, most recs consider that the connexion is this : ‘ Sper es (which is frequently heard in the church), or ‘the saying is current among men,’ that ‘if a man seeks an office of oversight he desires a good work.’ If our letter is Pauline the word episcopé cannot yet have the specific meaning of _ but still has the general sense of oversight, as in Acts i. 20. mentators like Dr. Bernard do not seem to notice that in abmuming episcopus to be equivalent to the ‘bishop’ of the second they move the composition of this letter into that century. interchangeable terms (Acts xx. 17, 28): and so it is in the Pasforals, for it is — arbitrary to see in Titus i, 7 the beginning of a tion between the episcopus there mentioned and the elders of verse 5. In the letters of Ignatius, at the beginning of the second century, the bishop is the centre of the unity of the congrega- tion, the president of the court of elders. But it is among the arguments for placing the Pasforals in the first century, and regarding them as Pauline, that there is no this development in them. By translating the words episcopé and episcopus as the margin does, instead of reading into them the later meaning of episcopate and bishop, we get at the right historical situation. ’ As Prof. Ramsay says (Paul the Traveller, p. 122), the expression ‘seeketh’ implies that members of the church stood for the office of elder: and the object of the verse is to 1 them to stand. In a true church of Christ there is no earthly inducement to seek office: it is not the way of gain (verse yet of worldly distinction. The church has gone far from when men seek office in it as a distinction and a means of ieee This gentle encouragement therefore to undertake the thankless” and difficult task of directing a church (i. Pet. v. 2, bgt maiabca cheerful assurance that it is, in spite of its humiliations an: ‘a beautiful work,’ is a proof that Paul is pee bm that to be a minister of Christ was to be a gazing-stock to world, and the offscouring of all things. (For the idea of “work” see i. Thess. v. 13; 1 Cor. xv. 58, xvi. 10; Phil. ii, 30.) ‘A work,’ says Bengel, ‘ must be entrusted to good men,’ ~ 2. A beautiful work (as it is here) must be carried out beautiful characters; by one who is withont reproach; not one unblamed, but one who does not deserve to be blamed ( a I TIMOTHY 3. 2 105 mu t be without reproach \ the husband of one wife, same as ‘blameless’ in Titusi. 7). ‘This is the dominant idea of all e following qualifications’ (Riggenbach). (Compare all through the description here with that in Titus i. 5-9, iii. 2.) the husband of one wife: cf. verse 12, v. 9; Titus i.6. It is generally assumed now that this forbids to ministers a second. ‘marriage. Paul was not averse to second marriages for Christians, as such (Rom. viii. 3; 1 Cor. vii. 9, 39; 1 Tim. v. 14), but he is supposed to set a higher standard for the clergy, whether Overseers, deacons (verse 12), or church widows (verse 9). Dr. Bernard points out that the Pentateuch had a straiter law of Marriage for priests than for other people (Lev. xxi, 14). But he proceeds to shew that the Roman, Greek, and Anglican churches have all set Paul’s teaching at defiance, the first by forbidding the clergy, the second by forbidding the bishops, to marry ; the last, y allowing any clergyman to marry as often as he likes. He concludes that ‘the sense of the church is that this regulation may be modified.” The sense, or at least the practice, of the church hhas, it is to be feared, modified every one of the requirements which are mentioned here. When has the Roman Church ‘demanded that her bishops should have their own. children in~ Subjection with all gravity? Seldom has the Greek Church quired her bishops to be ‘apt to teach’ or even free from the love of wine. And the Anglican Church, during these last three centuries, has presented the spectacle of bishops who do not realize any of the Pauline requirements, Unhappily ‘the sense of the church seems to be that all the regulations of the gospel ay be modified by circumstances.’ But if Paul, by the direction of the Holy Ghost, wrote this letter; and if he meant by the ‘husband of one wife’ one who is only married once, we must firmly insist that Christian ministers should not marry again, Nothing is more despicable or demoralizing than to recognize the cemmandments of God in Scripture, and to explain them away by ‘the sense of the church,’ or by the laxity of moral Standards, It is, however, quite arbitrary, and curiously re- gardless of the historical situation in Ephesus or Crete to give jo the words the meaning now before us, If these letters are Written by Paul, and to Christian workers in those corrupt _ Greek cities, it must be remembered that he represents Christianity eating a totally new moral standard. In Greece irregular nnexions with women, before and after marriage, were not en censurable. The hefaera was a recognized feature of the ghest Greek civilization. Every one will remember Augustine’s count in the Confessions of his early amours. Until he became J ‘ without reproach’: a word found only in this Epistle, v. 7, vi. 14. 106 I TIMOTHY 3. 3 temperate’, soberminded, orderly, 3 apt to teach; no brawler’, no eniker*y be pl a Christian, no doubt of their legitimacy crossed hi: ‘mi Mohammedan standard in this respect is not beloy above, that of the ancient world, And it must be that even to-day, in Christian Europe, the vast practise, and moralists like Mr. Lecky ae a vic ch it w: a main ‘object of Christianity to rebuke, ak ol unhistorical to force back on the age of Pad ec cra, the result of his nobler teaching, and to paca y for otek Christians: he is simply expressing ys: that for the ministry of religion there was a mora Catholic churches to this day maintain that the cficacy 0 ministrations is not hindered by the moral ministers. If this is so now, how much more n then to assert the opposite, and to shew that the is a ministry of character—a ministry of il a holy example? This phrase therefore, and that in v. 9, sho taken quite simply, ‘a man of one woman’ or ‘a v of « man’ ; thatis, the Christian, as Paul taught in Epk ratel] D a monogamist, and to see in his relation with a the union between Christ and the church. henceforth forbidden. What was legitimate Abraham, or in a king like David, was not a the least in the kingdom of heaven. The mysticism between Christ and his bride the church seer die wife, during this life (for in the next Setar ie in marriage) should be content with an exclusive devotion, as one flesh. So, in the main, Riegenbach and Za life, the other to outward conduct, “a apt to teach. Cf. v. 17, 2 Tim. ii. 24; Titus mips a5 1 “temperate.’ The word only in the Pastorals. temperate: in mind and spirit. : soberminded (ii. 9), orderly. The one refers to in given to hospitality: a thoroughly pte Rom. xii. 13; Heb. xiii. 2; 1 Pet. iv. 9; and 11, which shews that the overseers or elders were also to pastors and teachers. ; ? © brawler’ (Titus i. 7), striker,’ ‘not contentious’: all three w found only in the Pastorals. | E ; I TIMOTHY 3. 4,5 Us to7 itentious *, no lover of money?; one that ruleth well 4 own house, having 4s children in subjection with all ry ibat if a man knoweth not how to rule his own 5 od 3. no striker. This confirms what was said about ‘husband of ‘one wife.’ It was Christ’s new law that made men not ‘strikers, willing to be struck but not to strike. The most elementary ues had to be insisted on in those first days. gentle. It is the Aristotelian word, found also in Phil. iv. 5, Matthew Arnold happily rendered, in the noun, as ‘ sweet nableness.’ It represents the spirit of equity as opposed to stiff justice. having his children. The celibacy of the clergy is condemned beforehand (see iv. 3). Every Roman priest has to throw aside the Pastoral Epistles, not on critical, but dogmatic grounds. His church forbids him to marry. Paul assumes that he i is married as a matter of course. , with all gravity : viz. inhimself: seeverses8, 11. TheGerman Wiirde is better than the English ‘ gravity.’ It is not the solemnity of an official that is meant, but the sweet dignity of a child of God, which ‘ equally excludes complaisance and passion’ (Riggenbach). _ 5. The idea of the church as @ family or household of God, derived, perhaps, from the O.T. (Num. xii. 7; Hos. viii. 1), is dear to Paul (v. 15, x Cor. iv. 1; Gal. vi. 10; Eph. iii. 9). The idea is much clearer when it is rightly translated : ‘How shall take care of @ church of God?’ The church referred to is e local community. The term ‘church of God’ is only found Paul’s Epistles (Hort, Christian Ecclesia, p. 108). Bengel says ‘it is a greater thing to rule a church than a family.’ The sig- Nificance of the phrase ‘church of God’ is seen in the adaptation “of Ps. Ixxiv. 2, made by Paulin addressing the Ephesian elders, as _ Ulaiming for the community of Christians the prerogatives of God’s cient Ecclesia. “With the exception, however, of two places in i Timothy (iii. 5, 15), where the old name is used witha special force ‘derived from the context, this name is confined to Paul's earlier Epistles—Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Galatians. ~ It is very Striking that at this time, when his antagonism to the Judaizers as at its hottest, he never for a moment set a new Ecclesia ainst the old, an Ecclesia of Jesus, or even an Ecclesia of the Christ, against the Ecclesia of God, but implicitly taught his heathen converts to believe that the body into which they had been baptized was itself the Ecclesia of God. Bk, 6-5 no lover of money,’ the word used occurs nowhere else in Paul, ough its correlative abstract noun is found in vi. 10. 108 I TIMOTHY WR, house, how shall *he take care’ of the c 6 not a novice’, lest being puffed up* he fll into. d 7 condemnation of the devil.’ Moreover he must’ good testimony from them that are without; lest he 8 into reproach and the snare of the devil. “Deacons 6. puffed up means rather ‘clouded,’ and am :) of getting into a cloudland of conceit, as a sibaliyp, tals ated to do, If he is in a position of res reap head in the clouds is not only hurtful to thee church, drive him into wilfulness, dogmatism, violence, and, - Pr ‘the judgement of the ‘devil,’ In verse qe wate. in order to escape this judgement, or, in this ease, re and snare of the devil (cf. 2 Tim. ii. 26), he must! a testimony from those outside the church, who are quick te what the man was and what he has become, one who is not respected outside the church is apt to be the r arrogant and self-assertive within. The watches ever. Christian, and especially a minister, eager to bers him judgement, reproach, and a snare. P, The idea, countenanced by Pee that «the devil’ article (cf. 2 Tim. ii, 26 ; Eph. iv. 27, vi could simply slanderer,’ because the word without tlie article means slande in iii, 1x; 2 Tim. iii. g; Titus ii, 3, is tempting, but should b resisted as a temptation. It is the definite article before ( which determines that not an ordinary slanderer but the re eee of the brethren is meant. ; ’ : Bernard makes an interesting comnpiarinell nebecen esa a qualifications and those of the Stoic wise se il Diogenes Laertius, thus :— N Tue OVERSEER. Tue Wise Max. Married and a good father. the same. Not beclouded (puffed up). free from cloud (: Not given to wine (no brawler), shall drink wine _ at not excess, Soberminded and orderly. orderliness flowing on | briety. , Bodily exercise prescribed (x shall accept exercise Tim. iv, 8). C his these subordinates, while the overseers, as Hatch maintained, ould keep in their hands the general control of the church fmances. Probably verse 13 indicates that deacons who did their duty well would be raised to the position of overseers. - doubletongued. Bengel renders it ad altos alia loquentes, lying one thing to one and another thing to another; or perhaps talebearers’ (Lightfoot), ' given to: i. 4. 9. the mystery of the faith. Cf. verse 16; a phrase found only ere. But the mystery is referred to in Matt. xiii. 11; Eph. i, 9; om. Xvi. 25. Bearing in mind the parallels, viz. mystery of dliness (verse 16), and mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess. ii. 7), we ay interpret it as the Divine truth of the gospel revealed to and sped by faith, which is called a mystery because (1) it was once id though now revealed (Rom. xvi. 25), and (2) it remains hid still fo the natural, and is known only by the spiritual man (x Cor. : We 14 . 21. Sai in like manner. From its place in the midst of a paragraph on the qualifications of deacons, or the younger servants of the church, the only conclusion that the words seem admit is that the ‘women’ are the corresponding servants of church on the female side. Such women were called conesses (e.g. by Paul in Rom. xvi. 1; marg.). The Greek ord is identical for masculine and feminine. The Afosiole SG jonstitutions contain regulations for deacons of both sexes not & doubletongued ’ : a word found only here. * greedy of filthy lucre’: also at Titus i. 7(cf. verse 11), but 4 y in the Pastorals. ® “let them serve as deacons’: a verb only used here in this ecific sense, rt0 I TIMOTHY 8, 4 must be grave, not slanderers*, 12 things. Let deacons be husbands renee 13 their children and their own houses well. For erty have served well as deacons gain? to themselves a g standing *, and great boldness in the faith which is Christ Jesus. $5 Aa % unlike those in the Pastorals. The ancient i ; view that this verse refers to deaconesses. : "5 a) von Soden in the Hand-Commentar maintains that it refers t wives of deacons, as did Luther, Bengel, and Weiss, In that interesting attempt to restore the the N.T., which we know as Congregationalism, the ¢ instituted as a matter of course. The exiled church at the end of the sixteenth century, as Governor Br ‘besides pastor, teacher, elders, and deacons, hel one widow for 2 deaconess, who did them service m though she was sixty years of age when she was cho: honoured her place, and was an ornament to the con She usually sat in a convenient place in the congregat a little birchen rod in her hand, and kept little ¢ awe from disturbing the congregation. She did fe the sick and weak, especially women, and as | called out maids and young women to watch a ° helps as their necessity did require; and if they were’ ; she would gather relief for them of those that were | acquaint the deacons ; and she was obeyed as a mother in and an officer of Christ,’ : And in Barrow’s Description of a Church the office 0 is identified, as in our Epistles, with that of the widows or relievers must be women of sixty years of least, for avoiding of inconveniences ; they must be y of for good works, such as have nourished their have been harbourers to strangers, &c.” See Dr. Powi Hen Barrow, pp. 237, 344- 0. ai slanderers: see note on verse 6. P 13. a good standing. It cannot refer to the future lif 2 Hi 19, and does not come, therefore, under Schmidt and Holze endorf comment: ‘the idea is as far from being Pauline as that c I The present tense of the verb precludes this reference. Nor « ae ‘ slanderers.’ Only in the Pastorals in this sense ia oer ‘gain’: a word not elsewhere used by Paul. © ; ® ‘standing.’ The word, which signifies a step, bg only he the N. T. ite ~ J TIMOTHY 3. 14, 15 2 IIt ‘These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly ; but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know ow men ought to behave themselves in the house of od, which is the church of the living God, the pillar of itself, signify a promotion in the grades of the ministry ; clesiastical advancement and boldness in the-faith is too incon- ‘uous a mode of speech to be attributed to any but the most morant writers. But the good standing and boldness in the » secured by diligent and faithful discharge of a deacon’s e, say visiting the sick and the poor, reading the Scriptures, anging the services, &c., may well be the reason for raising the on to the office of overseer. ‘Deacons by excellent discharge heir duties may win for themselves an excellent vantage ground, tanding’ a little, as it were, above the common level, enabling em to exercise an influence and moral authority to which their rk as such could not entitle them’ (Hort, Ecclesia, p. 202). The boldness in the faith which isin Christ Jesus (cf. Acts iv. 2 Cor. vii. 4) is that freedom of utterance and fullness of matter hich come from a close and fersonal ministry to others. A iligent deacon would probably know every one in the church timately, and would be accustomed to apply the teachings of the ospel to individuals more by way of conversation than in set discourses : a sure aid to spiritual growth. 14. We now have the object of all these directions stated. aul hopes presently to rejoin Timothy. But in case of delay God, which is a church of the living God, a pillar and ground the truth.’ The use of the indefinite for the definite article, in the original, gives a slightly different colour to the passage ; makes it evident that what Paul means by ae house (1 Pet. » 55 1 Cor. iii. 9, 16; Eph. ii. 22: cf. Heb. iii. 5, x. ar) and he church of God is not the church as a hale but a local community, such as that at Ephesus (Hort’s Ecclesia, p. 172), vhich is indeed the prevalent sense of ‘church’ in the N.T. is then a local church which is described as a pillar and stay ‘the truth, As a community united in Christ, and secure of presence, it takes its part in the great work of supporting ruth, and as such it has importance, and demands all the care In organizing and managing which the writer expends on it in 3 is worth while dwelling for a moment on this verse. The fhouse of God is not the building but the household (cf. 2 Tim. ] is forbidden by the idea which is coupled with it ; to unite ‘ e wishes to instruct him ‘how he ought to behave in a house 16 ‘the relative pronoun ‘ who.’ The words might be & ma “ee, é rae 112 I TIMOTHY ot fa hae and ground! of the truth. And’ withe ‘i sabe great is the mystery of godliness; manifested in the flesh, justified in tas ‘oie kind of order is to be maintained in it because (this is implied in the relative pronoun used for ‘w it that is, an assembly of a God that lives aaa ao d of prayer (ch, ii) and the moral character must be maintained because this Christian on a living God. We are defining the behaviour iy eo, household, of which God is the householder or master. W' such a living witness as a Christian church is described as a p and stay of the truth, it does not mean that truth, as such, st in need of such a stay; but that for presentation to t truth demands such an organization, i Mt we 16. And now the gist of this truth which a church has t maintain is given in some related clauses which have t of a hymn, — great is the mystery of godliness: i, e. the feiss} iv. 1; Eph. iii, 3, 9, vi. 19; Col. i, 27, ii. ms iv. 3) which ge contains and feeds on, viz. the person of Christ himsel is vast that no pains bestowed on the management of the c can be too great. The mystery is expressed in verse. rtai words of the hymn must be supplied, e.g. ‘ Let sain Sit our Lord— ' 1. ‘who was manifested in flesh’; 1 John tv. a3 Rom. wi 3 piy:* 14. , “Was shewn to be such as he was in spirit’ + Rom. ili, Mat xi. 19; Luke vii. 35. oh See ‘Was seen of angels’ (sc. when he returned to ‘heaven Eph i. 10, 20; Col. i. 20. ; ‘Was preached among the nations’: ” Phil. i 155 ‘Matt: xxviii. 19. 1th Em 5. ‘ Was believed on in the world’: Rom, xi. ra, 6, ‘ Was taken up into glory’: Mark xvi. 19; ita = 22. Verses 1, 2, 4, and 5 refer to earth ; 3 and 6 to heaven. No change in the R. V. was thought to be more t the substitution of ‘he who’ for ‘ God.’ One euetaied upposed that the Divinity of our Lord depended on a faded line in a Greek uncial. OC in an uncial i is the contraction for ‘God, and bad But the preponderance of evidence shews that the brighttal was ‘who’ and not ‘God.’ By that we must abide, ee ‘ ground,’ or ‘stay’: a word not used elsewhere in .T. ‘ without controversy’: a word only here in the bes ¥ a I TIMOTHY 3. 16 113 ngels, preached among ‘the nations, believed on in the Id, received up in glory. This, we suppose, is a fragment of a Christian hymn, such as liny says (Zp. x. 97) the Christians were wont to sing ‘to Christ is ; God? (ef. Eph. v. 19; Col. iii. 16), Perhaps Eph, v..14 is nother such fragment. The first two lines state that Jesus, pre-existent, was manifested n the flesh, and yet was ‘justified,’ i. e. shewn to. be the Lord from eaven in his spirit (cf. z Pet. iii. 18 for this balance of flesh and it). The line ‘was seen of angels’ might refer to the deeper ews which angels gained of God in the Incarnation (cf. 1 Pet. 1, 12; Eph. iii. 10), or it might simply call attention to the wide ange of intelligences that watched the earthly life of Christ (ch Cor. iv. 9). But if the third and_sixth lines of the hymn aré Jarallel, as we suppose, ‘seen of angels’ must refer to the glad Sturn to heaven, when angels saw and welcomed him. | The next two verses return to earth, and record the preaching Christ in all nations and the faith which his person attracted, ollowed by a repetition, like a refrain, of his return to heaven. _ As we look back over the regulations for a Christian Church, contained in chaps. ii, iii, there are some general notes which leserve attention. ‘I. The universality of prayer based on the universality of the gospel, and especially that concern which the church, even in this inattive stage of its development, nas with the ‘state and its dministration (i. 2). This will meet us again in Titus iii. 1. [he church is in the world, and is not to be identified with e state, but it is always there to bring the state into harmony- vi h the will of the Blessed and only Potentate. Even when the State persecutes the church, and the claims of truth require her fo resist the claims of the state, she will continue to pray for ings and those in authority, that the outward order may be pnsistent with her own peace and tranquil growth. | 2. The relation of men and women in the church. On the one land, woman’s Divine function is to be-sought rather in the home ad in the family than in the public services of the church (ii. 15) ; but, on the other hand, she has her church functions. We have een that in all probability it is assumed that on certain conditions he would pray in the church; and she holds an office cor- esponding to that of the deacons, while as wives of bishops and leacons women have an essential influence on the church, since he right ordering of the bishop’s or deacon’s home is a necessary Condition for the right ordering of the church. In chap. v. we hall see further that an order of church widows was recognized, Ve. o - ye it4 1 TIMOTHY 4.1 — me 2 4 But the Spirit saith expressly’, that in a; of the church, by the use of the singular in iil, 1 a i. 7, is more than doubtful. That neither bishop ne any priestly function or status is more than evi status rests on character and on the reputation they have ¢ in the world outside the church: they are married men whe in their own households how to manage the The bishops have to teach; perhaps in the covetousness (iii. 8) there is a hint that the management of money, but from Titus i. 7 it is cl bishops were financial officers as well. “tin te It is evident that here, as in Phil. i. 1, Paul only contemp two orders of ministry: the elders, or overseers, and the you or servants, of the church. : 4. The church community is God's way of guarding municating the truth—that sacred deposit of the mystery of the faith, which an apostle like Paul rece re from above, but which was to be transmitted to the coming age by the Christian communities or churches. er ORE And it is to be observed that the very pith and centre of # ‘church community is that Divine Being whose course earthw and heavenward is celebrated in the closing kymn. To keep t church pure and simple is to make the witness of the Divi Redeemer clear to men. And the warning against heresies a corruptions is necessary, lest the simplicity which is in Ch should be obscured. Ge acm III, In contrast with a true church. iv. ae ee Chap. iv. The vision of a Christian society as a pillar and stay the truth passes into a forecast of the error against which the tru - will have to be maintained (1-5), and that leads to a close exhortation to Timothy, as a protagonist of the truth in the chi society at Ephesus, and as a‘ deacon (minister) of Christ Jesus” (6- 1. the Spirit saith expressly: viz. ‘the spirit of prophec (x Cor. xii. ro f.), uttering himself through some prophet Ii 1 ‘expressly’: viz. in words. The term used occurs only her the N.T. ie Sy Cae 2 ‘in later times’: a term found only here; ef. 2 Tim, iii. 1. os ’ awd a . I TIMOTHY 4. 2 ang m yall fall away from: the faith, giving heed to seducing pirits and doctrines of devils, through the hypocrisy of 2 aen that speak lies’, branded’ in their own conscience as STEP UEIEEIDSF TEE EEEEEEEEEEREEEEEREEPRRREEEEERERE REEF EEEERREREP abus (Acts xx. 23, xxi. 11). Paul does not say whether this rophetic forecast had come through him or some other of the ophets in the church; but he paid great attention to such ophecies (1 Thess. y. 19; 2 Thess. ii, 2). The word ‘expressly’ hews that the prophecies of our Lord are not directly meant Matt. vii. 15-23, xi. 24, xxiv. 4). The opponents of the authenticity of the Pastorals say :— [he writer throws the description of the false teachers of his n time into the form of a prophecy revealed to Paul by € spirit” (Holtzmann, von Soden), They say that the heresy — verses 1-5 is a heresy of the second century which is to e rebuked ‘by this fictitious authority of Paul. It is as if a hurchman of to-day were to compose a sermon and publish it s Bishop Butler’s, foretelling and rebuking the Oxford movement. at evidently there is a curious psychological and moral question e involved. The writer is denouncing ‘the hypocrisy of men t speak lies, branded in their conscience as with a hot iron.’ uppose for a moment that this writer is a second- -century imitator Paul; he is carefully endeavouring to write in the character the Apostle, and he wishes the composition to pass as the ostle’s, Is it conceivable that he would in such circumstances ak with so severe a tone of ‘acting’ (that is the meaning ~ hypocrisy) and of speaking lies? Would it not occur to that he was himself acting a part? If he did it without mching, would he not himself be ‘branded in his own con- nce’ ? Tt is a psychological and moral difficulty of this kind which ems at times to overbalance all the literary and philological ficulties on the other side, and to justify conservative com- tators in their contention that~the Pauline authorship is sier to accept than any of its alternatives. . seducing spirits. Cf. 2 John 7 or x John iv. 1, 6; ‘ demons” iii. 15; Eph. vi. 12: demonic powers dwelling and working men, In Rev. xvi. 13 the three unclean spirits out of the uth of the false prophet shew that the conception of this verse’ longs to the first age of the church. For ‘the doctrine of 1ons’ cf. 2 Cor. iv. 4, xi. 14. . through the hypocrisy: i.e. teaching error under a cloak of sive asceticism and devotion. “men that speak lies’; a word not elsewhere in the Greek Bible ; [so ‘ branded’. 1 2 12 116 I TIMOTHY 4 pe with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, si branded in their own conscience. The phrase may easily be missed. It is not that the pron oey insensitive and cauterized; but as slaves were marked by | brand on the brow, so these heretical teachers would be nark in their own conscience, i.e. they would know that they w guilty. Their sin would be not the error of A gp ae or mente weakness, but deliberate lying and h This pn which is only missed by the A. V. ‘seared,’ * demoustrated b the parallel (Titus i. 15, iii. 11) ‘ self-condemned.’ ~ : 3. forbidding to marry, ... to abstain from ee. It not a little remarkable that these apparently innocent injunctio: should be treated so severely, as the proof not ) but of deceit and hypocrisy. The Roman Church ‘ her priests ‘to marry,’ and an immense part of her consists in forbidding certain meats on certain days and atc seasons. What is the result? (1) The celibate Priesthood n only leads to, painful moral lapses (e.g. in South America so painful that it is said Pope Leo XIII contemplates F mitting the priests in South America to marry in order ¢ escape the results foreseen by Paul, but it prevents, in Cathol countries, the great bulk of the more "devout and perso of both sexes from becoming the legitimate parents of generation, so that Catholic countries betray a steady cy | moral deterioration. (2) Forbidding meats produces a leg scrupulosity, a kind of casuistry which fritters away the moral sense on things indifferent ; and it leads to that reaction whic made mediteval monasteries a synonym for S , peopled Dante’s Inferno with gluttons. It is true that the ¢ istic doctrines of the second-century Gnosticism, denying # . flesh and matter to be the creation of God, led to this kind » false asceticism. But it is not true that such tendencies we first introduced in the second century. We are no more c co to bring this warning into the second century than ‘we j to bring it into the later Roman Church which has, since t eleventh century, ‘forbidden to marry,’ It is quite intelligible that Paul, viewing the r marriage among the Essenes (Josephus, B. J. ii. 8. ct a abstinence of the Therapeute (Philo, De Vit. Cont., 4), sets face against these things as dangers of the future. Col. i. argues the point more at length, But it seems that even in t first days, the Spirit said expressly that the church would into this false asceticism, and that it would be the p oduc 4 well as the occasion, of hypocrisy and rap te ; _ Against this vast ‘apostasy from faith Naptenfhs Pwr the prote theological as well as rational—is raised I TIMOTHY 4. 4,5 117 ) abstain from meats, which God created to be received th thanksgiving by them that believe and know the mth. For every creature’ of God is good, and nothing 4 3 to be rejected’, if it be received with thanksgiving: it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer. 5 uese four heads : (x) God, no other, made these meats (and also stituted marriage); (2) He made them with a design (and Barriage too); (3) viz. to be received by men, not stigmatized S evil in a Manichean sense; (4) and believing men, who know he truth, should take them with thanksgiving. This last point stab ishes the conclusion that they who forbid marriage and equire abstinence from meats are not believing men, nor do fey know the truth. And this is established by one of the reatest utterances of Scripture, which, if the writer were not would reveal to us a primitive Christian who was Paul’s 4. every creature of God is geod (beautiful): cf. Gen. i. 3r. [his covers not only foods but bodily organs (r Pet. ili. 7). his he said,’ we read of Jesus, ‘ making all meats clean’ (Mark Hi. 9). And our Saviour himself put honour on marriage. Vhen a man takes his food, or when a man receives a wife aS a good gift from the Lord, he should give thanks, and not, in thurlish scrupulosity, pronounce that evil which God made good, and reject that which God would have him receive. For there $ a way by which these things are, for even us sinners, made oly. It is God’s way. 5. the word of God and prayer: cf. Titus 1. 15; Rom. xiv. The ‘word of God,’ in the first instance, is (Gen. i. 31, E 18, and Heb. x. 3) that creative word which made man and oman for each other and planted Paradise for them (perhaps Mark vil. 19). But more fully it is the word of God that ¢ flesh, born of a woman, who, it must be remembered, e eating "and drinking,’ in contrast with the ascetic followers ) gf John. Thus Luther, when the word of God came to him, harried on principle, and broke the spell of that unchristian ticism. And we best glorify God when, with the first ristians, we ‘continue in the Apostle’s doctrine and eat our t with "gladness and singleness of heart.” prayer: the word used in ii. r and translated ‘ intercession.’ is the petition which an inferior addresses to a superior ; here, is to the Creator. When the body and its appetites, Pe < creature” and ‘to be rejected’: both words not-elsewhere used - nor the latter in the Greek Bible, ee 118 I TIMOTHY 4. 6 6 If thou put the brethren in mind of these thit shalt be a good minister of Christ ‘Jesus, nou the words of the faith, and of the good lo 7 thou hast followed until now: but refuse profan old wives’? fables. And exercise thyself unto g x and the provision made for their satisfacti are into this creaturely relation, and accepted the Creator—when the revelation which God has ¢ Scripture is met by the lowly and prayerful hearts—then a sanctification falls upon appeti they are kept in their proper place, and Spirit. Incontinence becomes as hateful on the asceticism is ungrateful on the other, It is in this ¢ and prayer’ that Greek and Essene meet in a no temperance and self-restraint increase and preserve the while pleasure breathes in all the dainty and ordered eptanc of the provisions of God. ait! ada Mr. Corbett (Letlers from a Mystic) has a delightful 2 rgui : nt | shew that the word rendered ‘ prayer’ might mean ‘ the ¢ as opposed to the misuse or the refusal to use. This i hardly be found in the word, but it is the invitee thought. 6. minister. That the word ‘deacon’ is used yet employed as the name of an office ; but ae e church were described as ‘ overseers," the ’ ou as ‘servants’ (i.e. ministers). And itis in of serving, which includes the ministry of have to gain to ourselves a good standing and b faith (iii. 13). the words of the faith, and of the goed eoiddail Chal i. 13.. Also 1 Tim, vi. 3 shews that these Beg? words of the Lord Jesus. hast followed: see 2 Tim. iii. Io. 7. xefuse. Sce 1 Tim. v. rr. For the ‘ myths’ here called profane and gia see = profane: also in i.9. Not necessarily in the sense tl now use the word ‘ profanity’; ‘base’ or silly” would « cover dl meaning of the Greek word (cf. 2 Tim, ii. 23). ; But exercise thyself. The adversative conjunction ‘t 2M TERE Se Rares 1 ‘nourished.’ The word not elsewhere in the Greek =r ® ‘old wives’: a word only found here in the Greek Bible, I TIMOTHY 4. 8-11 : 119 : r bodily exercise is profitable’ for a little ; but godliness which now is, and of that which is to come. Faithful is he saying, and worthy of all acceptation, For to this end we labour and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, pecially of them that believe. These things command ather than ‘and’ of R.V., shews that the true exercise unto iness is not to be sought either in the empty and unprofitable Sp ations of Judaizers, or in the abstinence from marriage and meats which has just been condemned, and to which, perhaps, Timothy had a leaning; cf. v. 23. Indeed, he goes on to say, h bodily exercise (not referring to gymnastics, as Chrysostom Riche but to physical asceticisms) is profitable for a little, : re. not so much ‘ for a little time’ as ‘ up toa certain point’—its e goes only a little way—at the most it is subservient to another fend, viz. godliness. (For this Pastoral word cf. ii. 2, iii. 16, vi. 3, 5, 6, 11; 2 Tim. iii. 5; Titus i: 1.) It is not godliness in itself— has no virtue in itself; but as ministrative to a godly life it has limited sphere. 8. but godliness is profitable for all things: in contrast with ‘for a little.’ Godliness has ‘ promise of life present and to come.’ This cannot be said of ascetic practices, except so far as they promote their object, godliness; rather, they seem to have promise ol death, if not of the death to come, at least of death in the ‘present. Timothy is exhorted thus to train himself that he may train the rest (chap. v), and resist the false teachers. 9. Another faithful saying (i. 15), referring, in this case, not to what follows but to what has just been said. What follows "establishes the faithfulness of the saying about godliness and its “promise. “10. strive. It is the familiar word for striving in the games, ‘from which we derive our word ‘ agonize.’ the living od: iii. 15. The living God is the pledge of the life present and to come, which is the object of godliness and the justification of its toil and striving. A geod of ali men: applied to God; see i. 1, For ‘all * see ii. 4. a "peclintty « Gal. vi. 10; Phil. iv. 22. God is Saviour of. all amen, by His intention, offer, and propitiatory work (1 John ii. 2). > “profitable.” This word only in the Pastorals (2 Tim. iii, 16; Titus i iii. 8). ; . ; 8 Ss profitable for all things, having promise of the life © ¥ 120 1. TIMOTHY “ibe” But as on man’s side that salvation can only be ; His saving relation to those who believe is son and above His relation to all, He saves all a believe, actually. 12. Let no man despise thy youth. Assuming that this letter written in imitation of Paul, modern porns Nixa to x Cor. xvi. 11, and urge that while it is suitable Corinthians not to despise Timothy, it is inept to tell ’ to be despised. Again, the word for ‘youth’ is net sed where in Paul's Epistles, but might be taken ses in Acts xxvi. 4.. And further, when this lette be written—say in 64 A.p.—Timothy who became F Paul's colleague in 52, would be at least t ma A be denied that here is a difficulty wi genuineness must meet. -But if, as we a. CO! arguments for genuineness preponderate, this overcome in the following way :—(1) To Titus also on 15) ) the writer says ‘Let no one despise thee,’ but does the youthfulness ; in 1 Cor, xvi. rr, from which it is te passage is copied, Timothy is guarded youthfulness is not mentioned as the ground of it. imitator of Paul’s style, with that fact before park aul ha copied the remark about Timothy as it stood, without a ground of possible contempt out of his own head, That he bids both Timothy and Titus not to be suggests reason why they might be despised lay rather in their peculiai circumstances than in their personal character. fs Faget reason is naturally found in the position of authority occupy as organizers of churches. And the ea. pd ; is to be found in the impetuosity and unrestraint of men in| te prime of life. And thus in 2 Tim. ii, 22 it is which have to be shunned. This interpretation is confirmed by the balancing clause, but be thouan ensample. If in that peculiar position of difficulty Timothy, young man like, by word me con- duct, should fail in love, or faith, or purity, he would : him the ready scorn of those who are inclined to resent b guided by a younger man. (3) The word ‘youth’ in in Latin too, has a much wider extension than in Latin juvenis is applied up to forty. And in Greek a man ‘very young’ because he was not thirty, of one as ‘still youthful’ though he was in his th year (Lightfoot, Jgnatius, i. 448). And further, in i vii. a ‘youth’: not elsewhere in Paul’s Epistles, I TIMOTHY 4, 13, 14 721 an ensample to them that believe, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity’. Till I come, give heed Pali is called a ‘youth’ (the concrete neun EE Bae to the al ystract here) when he was thirty. If, therefore, on other grounds, we may maintain that Paul wrote these words to Timoth M at the age of thirty or thirty-two, n the year 64, it is possible to offer some mitigations of the h esitation which a candid reader may feel. purity. The word signifies purity of life and motive; and covers a wider field than the more restricted meaning suggested by the English usage. 13. Till I come (iii. 14) clearly places Timothy as the repre- ‘sentative of Paul at Ephesus. reading: viz. the public reading of the Scriptures (Luke lv. 16; Acts xili. 15, xv. 21; 2 Cor. iii. 14; Gal. iv. 21); perhaps ‘also of his master’s letters (cf. Col. iv. 16; 1 Thess. v. 27). _ exhortation: the sermon following the reading; cf. Acts ll. 15, f : ae (vi. 2) accompanies the exhortation, though it jmight-come from another voice (see Rom. xii. 7). _ 14. the gift is the charisma, or gift of the Spirit, to which Paul frequently refers in his other Epistles ; in this case the gift of exhorting and teaching, Comparing this account of the laying on of ands with that in il. Tim. i. 6, one is at once struck by the differ- ence. There the gift was given through the laying on of Paul's hands ; here the gift was given through prophecy, accompanied by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. The prophecy, here i. 18 were the particulars. As von Soden in the Hand-Commentar Says, the different phraseology in the two Epistles certainly ‘suggests that the writer referred to two different occasions. And if we may assume this everything becomes clearer. In the per- ‘sonal letter, 2 Timothy, where Paul is commissioning his follower ‘to carry on his own evangelistic work after his death, he refers to the occasion (Acts. xvi. 1-3) when he first took the young man as his companion, and imparted the gift of the Spirit by laying on him his own hands. Hort, referring to Acts xiv. 23, supposes that on that occasion the hands of the presbytery might have ‘been laid on the young man’s head at the same time as Paul’s ‘purity.’ The word used here occurs in the N. T. only once more, viz. V. 2. “Neglect”: a word not elsewhere used by Paul, — 3 4 _ I TIMOTHY 4. 1516 15 with the laying on of the hands of : diligent ' in these things; give thyself wholly 16 that thy progress may be manifest unto all. 17 (Ecclesia, p. 184). And so he explains the Le Epistle. But it meets the facts better to su th left Timothy at Ephesus, he summoned the with some such service as is described in pee 2, speaking in the Spirit, caused the elders of Ephesus hands on Timothy's head, to ordain him for work in (cf. Acts xiii. 3). Riggenbach thinks that the could not have been that of the presbytery of that would have put Timothy under them inste’ over them. To this it is enough to reply by a qu ction laying on of the hands of the elders at bp > fe Paul and Barnabas wuder those obscure objection springs from not realizing the autonomy of mi congregation, and its Divine rights under the guidance of th Spirit, as they were exercised in the inser perio e Eth Fi It is quite likely, considering the charged and sphere of those apostolic churches, that prophecies c: occasions, both at Lystra, when Paul first took Timoth vA companion, and at Ephesus, when he left him as his rep But what is harder to believe is, that if there had b solemn occasion, corresponding to what is now calle when Paul-and the elders of Lystra laid their hands. a Time head, Paul would years after refer to it now as” day of my hands’ and now ‘as the laying-on of the presbytery.’ : Dr. Bernard finds difficulty in such a ‘sup pinto’ becau: assumes that ordination in the time of Paul mus ae it is in the Church of England to-day. But, as Hort | nd the charisma was not an inalienable office, like o on a priest always a priest), but an actual Divine gift of < given for definite Christian work, and liable to die Wi neglected and not fanned into flame. (See Acts vi. 6, i ta ix. 17, xiii. 3, xix. 5; 1 Tim. v. 22.) “oa 15. The word translated be diligent might mean also to ‘r eat ‘meditate,’ ‘ practise.’ = progress. In 2 Tim. ii. 16, iii. 9-1 the $e? ee ? the phrase ‘ The Rake’s progress,’ to signify the o' of the Pilgrim’s progress, This whole verse ce that in Timothy there was much room for improvement: i, 6. ; * “Be diligent’: a word used by Paul ~aichae . I TIMOTHY 5.1 123 fo thyself’, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things: for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee ?. __ Rebuke 5 not an elder, but exhort him as a father; the 5 a 16. these things should be simply ‘them’; viz. to be an example in word and life; to be occupied in reading, preaching, ‘and teaching ; to develop the charisma; to meditate ; to be whole- hearted ; to be careful of his own character and of his teaching. Then, regarding all these things as one concentrated aim, Paul » ‘by doing this thou wilt save thyself and thy hearers.’ * Some points in the fourth chapter deserve a special consideration : _ (x) The decisive judgement against asceticism, which, in spite of his express warning, still holds its own in the church, and "poisons the natural joy and thankfulness of the redeemed. (2) The gymnastic of godliness is entirely a spiritual exercise, depending on faith and the use of the truths of the gospel. Physical mortifications have no religious effect on the soul. But the soul is best fitted for its right spiritual relations when the "body is as far as possible in a normally healthy condition. The fasting of the Christian life is the abstinence which secures, not that which injures, health. _ (3) The most tmportant functions of the Christian muntstry. If Timothy is not a diocesan bishop, there is no such office in the NT. If Timothy is not a priest, there is no priest in the N.T. What are his functions? Are they sacramental? Do they lie in the offering of the sacrifice of the Mass, or in the discipline of the confessional? Is the power of ‘creating his Creator,’ or that of absolving penitents, the gift that was imparted to him by the laying on of hands? Of these things there isno trace. His gift is exercised in (2) reading, (2) exhortation, (3) teaching, i.e. in such ‘aministry as is universally recognized in all Evangelical churches, _. IV. Certain directions for the pastor in relation with his flock. v, vi. Chap. v. Timothy's relations with certain classes in the church: (a) persons of different age and sex (1, 2). (2) Widows; their main- tenance; thetr formation into an order (3-16). (3) Elders (27-25). - 1. The word employed for rebuke implies the kind of reproof 1 “take heed to thyself’: an expression in the Greek only found here. =< them that Teese thee’: a phrase not found elsewhere in Paul, but often in Luke. = Rebuke’: a word found only here in the Greek Bible. > ww wb 124 I TIMOTHY 8. 2-4 younger men as brethren: the elder om, ‘ the younger as sisters, in all purity. that are widows indeed. But if any widow hath children which is only suitable in a man speaking to his F elder man is to be treated with respect as a father. he 4 assumption by which a priest, however Nyse Berne Father was unknown to Paul, and implicitly 3 "os a8 2. the younger as sisters. Titus (ii, 6) is to han cove the charge of the young women to the elder. well the relative susceptibility of his two lieutenants. ; 3. Honour widows that are widows indeed. This difficult passage may be illustrated from Acts vi. 1, where, it : church at once recognized its duty to aid genuine alms, and from Acts ix. 39, where it seems to be Sengiied Viet certain widows were appointed by the church to perform pe 7h charity. Verses 3-8 refer to the widows who were objects church’s charity. Verses 9-16 pass on to treat of the aeern who were employed in the church’s work. When Schmidt and Holzendorff say, ‘ This se that this institution of widows of the church had ray re, exister for some time, and so points to a period pretty : century,’ they seem to forget these indications Anaya that an institution flourishing in the second have its germs in the first. That we have no more germs here, is suggested by the obscurity in which the passage is involved. Riggenbach even questions whether there is’ a mention of an order of church widows at all. But in this he is opposed to the Fathers, and to most other commentators. Th honour to be shewn to genuine widows, i.e. women who had r relatives to help them, is the honour due to all loneliness, sorrow, and necessity: cf. James i. 27, It would bring in its train practical relief, But the word has not yet the later meaning of ‘maintain,’ If a widow has children or other descendants, verse 4 goes on to say she is not ‘a widow indeed,’ for it is the O! fiend her descendants, to shew piety to their own house, and to. requite their progenitors ; such filial offices pretties mer foc A As Riggenbach well puts it: ‘ For widows who were absolutely. forlorn and forsaken, the church community takes the place relatives. And as the church does for the widow what relati would have done, there is a corresponding obligation for ; widow to do for the church what she would have done fe relatives if she had possessed any.’ (Kwregefassler Commentar, in loc.) 4. Timothy's debt to his mother and grandmother (2 Tim, i. 5) would give him light in dealing with this question, _ 1 I TIMOTHY 5. 5-9 125 or grandchildren’, let them learn first to shew piety ‘towards their own family, and to requite' their parents” : for this is acceptable in the sight of God. Now she 5 that is a widow indeed, and desolate, hath her hope set “on God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that giveth herself to pleasure 6 is dead while she liveth. These things also command, 7 that they may be without reproach. But if any provideth 8 not for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied ° the faith, and is worse * than an unbeliever. Let none be enrolled‘ as a widow under threescore years 9 _ §&, The widow indeed must, however, not only be destitute of “support ; she must also have fixed her hope on God, and must be occupied constantly in prayer, like Anna (Luke ii. 37), if she is to ‘be taken into this intimate relationship with the church, : _. 6. A gay and giddy widow is not fit for church aid. Living ‘she is dead (cf. Rom. vii. 10, 24; Eph. iv. 18; also note the expression in Rey. iii, 1), and is outside the community of the ‘church (cf, Tit. iii. 10); the church regards her as if she were not. _ %. These things . ... command: i.e. he is to explain these ‘conditions of being ‘widows indeed,’ that the women who lay ‘claim to the church’s help may escape the reproach of failing in ‘the conditions. ' @. if any provideth not. This goes back to verse 4. Ifa ‘child or grandchild refuses to help a widow, whether mother or ‘grandmother, he is worse than an unbeliever. That his care of helpless forbears is part of the faith appears from Matt. xv. 5. ‘That one who neglects it is worse than an unbeliever is illustrated 'by the reverence to parents among the Chinese. Such reverence ‘is a part of natural religion ; it would be monstrous if the new ‘and better faith obliterated a virtue which was recognized before itcame. The Essenes, who, we suppose, loom constantly before ‘the writer’s mind, were not allowed to give relief to their relatives ‘without the permission of their directors. Now we pass to the widows who were enrolled as church ‘servants (9-16). _ 9. From Titus ii. 1-5 we may gather one of the duties of thesc ‘grandchildren,’ ‘requite’: both words only found here in the N.T. ‘parents’: only here and at 2 Tim. i. 3. “denied ’ and ‘ worse’ are both words not used elsewhere by Paul. L a * ‘enrolled.’ The word used is found only here in the N. T- 10 I _ 12 106 I TIMOTHY 5. rota old, having been the wife of one man, well r for good works ; if she hath brought up childr hath used hospitality to-strangers', if she hath” the saints’ feet, if she hath relieved? the affli hath diligently followed every good work. Bu widows refuse: for when they have waxed pion Christ, they desire to marry; having c elderly women who were appointed church Gian, font only learn the qualification in addition to those of widows indeed’ which were indispensable for enrolment in the order. be over sixty; they must have lived with one } must have been active in good works. - ce The order of widows thus instituted by Paul played siderable part in the sub-apostolic age, They were n by the church; and in return served it by tanta works of charity. Polycarp describes them as ‘ont because of their continual prayers. Ignatius implies ‘time even virgins were admitted to the order peje meh the widows were merged in the deaconesses, and the Theodos Code required that the age limit set by Paul for the widows should’be enforced for the deaconesses. a, cee: wife of one man (cf. iii, 2): i.e. that she had been a f thful wife before her widowhood. ig 10. washed the saints’ feet. Cf. Luke vit, 38; John x ior 14) saints = Christians, Rom. i. 7, xvi. 2. - 11. younger widows refuse (for ‘refuse’ ing 1; 2 ii, 23; Titus iii, 10; Heb. xii. 25): viz. from aoe: ) church widows, not in opposition to the ‘honour’ in ¥ to the enrolment in verse 9. waxed wanton. The metaphor is that of a heifer ying t 0 free itself from the yoke, here ‘Christ’s mild yoke.’ 12. having condemnation. If they had not bape os the list of church widows they might marry bets, see verse 14. But to leave that high h callicig’ ba would be rejecting their first faith, viz. that choice dedication to, Christ’s service in a particular form, — . demnation meant is probably only that of the pie tae * ‘brought up children,’ ‘ used hospitality to strangers’: phrases translate two Greek words which occur only herein the Ge Bible. rate 26 “ae relieved’: a word only here and at verse 16. * “waxed wanton’: a word only found here. Ct tn verb not in a compound.) I, TIMOTHY 5. 13-16 ray because they have rejected their first faith. And withal they learn also Zo de idle’, going about from house to for already some are turned aside after If any woman that believeth hath widows, let | 13. they learn...to be idle. Von Soden, in the Hand-Com- n entar, will not allow the admissibility of this rendering, though doubtful quotation from Chrysostom, ‘if thou wert going to learn fo be a physician,’ gives it some slight support. The alternative is, by a rather strained construction, to find the object in the ‘things that they ought not.’ In this case the second reason for not having younger women as church widows is, that ‘being idle they learn, by going round to the houses—and not only being idle, ‘but also tattlers and busybodies and talking—things which they ‘ought not.’ This mischief done in the houses by young widows Corresponds to that done in the same place by che hetero- | mecbers (2 Tim, iii, 6; Titus i. rr), “15. already some are turned aside. In this statement is found a certain relief to the apparent harshness of Paul’s judgement on roung widows. He had his eye on particular instances, possibly vat Ephesus, and after his manner he rises from particular instances to general rules in preference to constructing general rules a priori. Tt is more than probable that peculiar circumstances in that cor- upt Ionian city made it necessary to warn Timothy against the ntroduction of younger women into the church order. Paul's iew of marriage on the practical side generally tends to be a concession to the less of two evils; our verse here is quite an ‘echo of the longer counsel in x Cor. vii. He only becomes an enthusiast for marriage when he gets a glimpse of its prototype in the union between Christ and the church, or when heretics forbid it (iv. 3). _ 16. If any woman that believeth. This is an afterthought on review of all that has been said about widows since verse g, to 7 1 ‘idle,’ ‘tattlers’: two words used only here, and the former in a LXX quotation (Titus i i. 12) inthe N.T. _ ? “busybodies’: a word used only here by Paul. which are not used elsewhere by Paul. 13 14 15 16 * ‘bear children,’ ‘rule the household,’ ‘reviling’: three words — 17 18 128 I TIMOTHY 5, a7 ts —— her relieve them, and let not the church be that it may relieve them that are widows in Let the elders that rule well be psa double honour, especially those who labour in me and in teaching. For the scripture saith, Thou s muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the com. direct that a widow, even enrolled in the order, 1 still be maintained by relatives if they were able. T. R. her though MSS. evidence weighs against it, ‘if any man or that believes,’ seems to add a necessary word. For it = appear why a woman, any more than a man, should be resp le for relatives who were widows, to save them from coming on th funds of the church. And the omitted words might wea dropped out, because careless copyists were under the that the whole passage is about women, and did not. notioe't this little postscript Paul wished to say that not only éhildrem an grandchildren, as in verse 4, but any relative, male or female, wh was a believer, should accept the responsibility of maintenance fe widowed relatives, and not burden the church. ; 17. the elders that rule well. This is a ad interestin, verse for shewing how the elder in age (see v, 1) related to the, elder in office, who had hitherto in this Epistle been called) ‘overseer,’ except in ili, 14. We seem to see the general wort acquiring its specific meaning. And this is far pub cers ery the order of the words in the Greek than in our version. It is ‘Let the good-ruling elders be counted worthy of double fusenpel (cf. t Thess. v. 12). An elder man as such was to be honow (v. 1), but if he was called to the office of ruling the a double honour was due to him (see Hort, Ezclesia, p. 156) the board, or presbytery, the teaching elders might claim special reverence. As late as the second pore (Zp. xxix) still distinguished the ‘teaching elders > fiom = rest. Gradually the distinction ceased, as presbyters b priests, and they thought no more of teaching but only ruling. those who labour: a stress on the word, meaning more th simply ‘ work.’ The importance attached to the teaching function of the elder in the Pastorals (cf. iii. 2; Titus i. 9) is due no doubt to the fals teaching which was so rife in the churches affected. , 18. the scripture saith: Paul’s way of quoting the O.T. Oo! iv, 3; xi. 2; Gal. iv. go.) He quoted this passage (Deut. xxv. in t Cor. ix. 9. : I TIMOTHY 5. 19-22” 129 ‘he labourer is worthy of his hire, Against an elder eceive not an accusation’, except at the mouth of two or aree witnesses, Them that sin reprove in the sight of ll, that the rest also may be in fear. I charge ‘Hee in 1e sight of God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, vat thou observe these things without prejudice *, doing othing by partiality®. Lay hands hastily on no man, The labourer is worthy of his hire. This is not Scripture, jough the principle might be found in Ley. xix. 13; Deut. xxiv, 4. But, after quoting Scripture, Paul adds a proverbial saying, thich also our Lord once cited (Luke x. 7; Matt. x. ro). It is uite gratuitous to say that Paul is quoting the Gospel of Luke as Scripture,’ and then to use the statement to shew that it cannot 19 20 21 e Paul, but a late second-century writer, who thus places the - ospels | on a level with the canonical Scriptures. Weiss, however, links that it may be a saying of the Lord orally reported, which | by a zeugma coupled with Scripture. 19. The rule is that of Deut. xix. 15 (cf. 2 Cor. xiii. 1; John li. 17; Heb. x. 28). 20. Them that sin: sc. elders, in contrast with the ‘ good- ling” elders. The ‘all’ would then be the rest of the presby- ry, not the whole church. 21. I (solemnly) charge thee. This verse is a kind of paren- iesis, thrown in as Paul realizes the awful responsibility of \dicial functions in the church. the...angels: cf, Luke ix. 26. In the Testament of the Twelve tatriarchs occurs the formula, ‘ the Lord is witness and his angels re witnesses.’ Another apocalyptic book, Enoch xxxix. 1, has the hrase ‘elect angels,’ Paul uses it probably to express those ngels who are chosen to minister to the heirs of salvation, or 10se who are commissioned to be present at each church service t Cor. xi. 10). 22. Lay hands hastily. Paul returns to the relations of imothy with presbyters. For laying on of hands see.iv.14. He fas not to make any elder a presbyter without due consideration, d so to be partaker of the sin of an unworthy minister, It has sen thought that ‘lay hands on’ may be equivalent to ‘rebuke’ Rios t. Ifonly the usage of the Pastorals and the linguistic ¥ = 4 “Against an elder receive not an accusation.’ Both words,‘ receive” nd ‘ accusation,’ are confined to the Pastorals among Paul’s letters. 4 * prejudice,’ ‘ partiality.” Both words not found elsewhere in the reek Bible. 130) I TIMOTHY 6. 224° neither be partaker of other men’s sins: eep thy: 23 pure. ‘Be no longer a drinker of water*, but use a wine for thy stomach’s * sake and thine often ®* inf rm 24 Some men’s sins are evident‘, going before unto possibilities admitted this, it would relieve the ther di effect of the injunctions, and connect ‘verse 22 closely with 20. One instance of avoiding prejudice and partiality fund in ‘being slow to lay the hand of judgement on she even if there were presumptive evidence of guilt” On the o hand a warning would be necessary aaa by uhdue leniency, for the sins of the guilty i interpretation is tempting; for it must be owned the ‘suc introduction of ordination at verse 22 is bewildering. © 7 be ‘laying on of hands’ can hardly support this meaning; and disjointedness is the characteristic of the paasdge;: es = sentence shews. : : Hort (Ecclesia, p. 215) agrees with Ellicott reel, egarding th imposition of Hands as ‘the act of ee ; were received back into the communion of ul’ ul? (ot 2C ii. 6. f.).. Hort maintains that: there is no instance in the N. T. c elders or bishops being ordained by laying-on of hands. The ex’ here, however, affords such an instance if we accept the c ; received meaning. keep thyself pure more naturally connects” itself with + follows than with what precedes. The call to purity is p suggested by the directions about women in verses” 11-1 A man in the prime of life, no less than a only too ae all in his relation with women in the church. And unless | become a positive and trained force in his life (ef. iv. 12 temptation may easily be overwhelming. 23. This injunction against total abstinence is an offence many, and it led Kingsley to resist the total abstinence movem as a new Manicheism. But it should be remembered (1) that t Essenes, on whom the hetero-teachers leaned, were (cf. iv. 3); and (2) the ‘no longer’ implies that annie abstainer up to that point; and he may have based his abstiner on a weak submission to the Essene principle. (3) a. injunction of Paul implies that he regarded wine as ¥ medic for the infirm, and not as a beverage for the strong. 1 “drinker of water.’ The Greek word occurs ‘oly here in t N.T. 2 stomach.’ The Greek word occurs only here in the Bible. 4 ® often.’ The word not used otherwise by Paul. = = > * ‘evident’: a word not elsewhere used by Paul, +e I TIMOTHY 5. 25 131 t; and some men also they follow after. In like 2§ nner also there are good works that are evident; and ich as are otherwise cannot be hid. 4. Some men’s sins are evident. Paul goes back from the srsonal recommendation to the judicial position of Timothy among € presbyters, quite in the fashion of a letter-writer who allows f to throw in thoughts as they occur without regard to cal connexion. In judging offenders one can only escape asty misjudgement by remembering that some sins are flagrant, arrive at the judgement-seat, as it were, before the culprit If; others are only found, lagging behind, when the culprit been examined. 25. And then Paul adds a reflection, which may aid a judge, ie good works are also sometimes quite evident,’ and therefore e a favourable impression on the bench. And, for one’s mfort be it said, though as a warning to hasty judgement, me hey are not evident at first sight, yet in the end they shine by heir inner light and cannot be hid. "Tn chap. v. the most interesting questions are raised by the limpse which is obtained into the organization of the early \ hurch, before the plastic material Lad become stereotyped. We fem to see how the older men were set aside to a the burch, were spoken of as the elders, and became an ‘ order’ of Ministry as the body of elders or the presbytery. At verse 1 the ford means simply the older men; at verse 17 the same word peans the presbyters. The position of Timothy in relation to he elders, displayed in verses 17-25, can only be understood y remembering that he was in Ephesus as the representative f Paul. The modesty of demeanour, and the scrupulous care D1 justice, which are enjoined upon him by his master, are alities which certainly might be expected, but have. not istorically always been found, in diocesan bishops. Indeed, the lifference between Timothy’s position and that of a bishop is mdamental. A bishop stands as the essential element of the ecclesiastical structure: his authority is ex officio, monarchical, Jivine; he is spoken of in terms which are applied only to Bvereigns or the high nobility. Timothy, on the other hand, ands outside the-church constitution, a temporary delegate, scharging a special task of organization and direction. He may t rebuke an elder.’ He, so far from making assumption of jority, has to take care that he is not despised. His rity is moral, and rests on his being an example of the irtues which he commends (iv. 12). Acain, in this chapter we observe the perfectly natural origin f "church widows. ‘The first care of the church was to provide K 2 .. ee yr ¥ nerd Aaa: 132 I TIMOTHY 6. 1 } 6 Let as many as are servants under the jae their own masters ' worthy of all honour, that the n for the wants of the widows,’ says Lightfoot in his com on Ignatius, ad Smyrnzxos xiii. ‘The next step was upon them such duties as they were able to perform in for their maintenance, e.g. care of orphans, nursing of the visiting of prisoners, &c. Hence they were enrolled in an orde which, however, did not include all who received the alms of tl church.’ One must distinguish the church widows from th deaconesses (iii. 11), but we are not able to determine the separ. functions of the two orders. The passage on which ightfoc is commenting shews that in the beginning of the second centu the widows were dignified by the honourable title of virgii and later in the century, it would appear from Tertullian, ¢ Pudicitia, 13, that they were treated with the same re! as presbyters. The age regulation was a little thou Tertullian was greatly scandalized that a virgin under t should have been admitted into the order. After the century the order gradually declined, and finally disap ppe re from the church, as the presbyters, in the apostolic s the deaconesses disappeared. But probably in the organization of the early per in the Pastoral Epistles lie suggestions by which the 8 be reformed and restored and started on a new career of and victory. se Chap. vi. The status of slaves in the honk a 2); and tt epilogue, in which Paul reverts to the hetero- here (3-5), neal leads him to point out the perils of wealth (6-11), andio a fresh exhortation to escape these perils himself (1 116), at tos rich men from them (17-19). And with one closing e: r Timothy by name, and a benediction, the letter ends. uf 1. servants, ive. ‘slaves. After discussing different ages t church orders, one special class demandsattention, that class whi in the eyes of antiquity, were something less than men, but by religion of Christ had been raised to a potential ‘equality ¥ their more fortunate fellow creatures. Aristotle taught hat an implement is a lifeless slave, so a slave is a living in Observe, the gospel does not proclaim the natural rig slaves: its mode of liberation is different. When slaves beca Christian, slavery became gradually impossible. In Christ Jes there is neither bond nor free. As Uncle Tom made s aver * ‘masters.’ The word used here is by Paul only used ii Pastorals (2 Tim. ii. 21; Titus ii. 9). ote * I TIMOTHY 6. 2,3 133 God and the doctrine be not blasphemed. And they 2 that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but let them serve them the rather, because they that partake of the benefit are believ- g and beloved. ‘These things teach and exhort. _ If-any man teacheth a different doctrine, and con- 3 senteth not ' to sound words, even the words of our Lord 23 America intolerable, so in the early church slaves that were heirs together of the same hope as their masters found their fetters wearing thin. _ The precepts cover two cases: (1) If the masters were pagan the slaves were to commend their religion by being good and respectful servants. (2) If on the other hand the masters were Christian, and master and slave worshipped together in the same assembly, there was a fear that the slave, with the sense of ‘mancipation, would become insolent. The Christian teacher therefore bases the service of the slave on the brotherhood (cf. hilem. 16; Gal. iii. 28 ; Col. iii. rr), The masters are to partake of the benefits which a faithful slave can render, for the reason at they are in the slave’s eye believers and beloved (cf. Eph. vi. 1). Seneca taught that a slave could confer benefits on his naster by doing anything which exceeded what was demanded f him. Paul’s thought is similar. A Christian slave will give a Christian master service in good measure, pressed down ind running over. (This is the practical application of Gal. iii. 28 and Col. iii. 11.) ’ That a slave should serve for love and not for fear is the aug wrought by the gospel, which ultimately abolishes avery. : 2. they that partake: a word not used in the Pauline letters, but found in a Pauline speech, Acts xx. 35. is _ 8. If any man teacheth a different doctrine. We come back ) the hetero-teacher. The new feature added is that the motive f the different teaching is to make money. From love of money ting evils of every kind, and, amongst others, that kind of = ative and contentious teaching against which Paul inveighs. religion which feeds self-conceit and gives abundant occasion f quarrelling is for fallen man one which he will gladly support . ith his money. The religion which makes him humble, enjoins love and forbids strife, is not one which is profitable to its feachers (cf. 2 Tim. ii. 6; Titus i. rz). a :. 1 *consenteth not’: not elsewhere in Paul. 134 I TIMOTHY 6. 4-7 Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which ia ac 4 godliness ; he is puffed up, knowing nothing *, but dc about questionings and disputes of words*, w le 5 cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings *, w: of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the 6 supposing that godliness is a way of gain. But g dlin = 7 with contentment is great gain®: for we brought nothii into the world, for neither can we ‘carry anything 0 out sound words. See i. ro, SO ROF the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tis se ts position that the /ogia, or sayings, of Jesus a on os time in the teaching of the apostles. 4. puffed up: rather as in iii. 6, . doting: rather, as in the margin, sick in contrast with th ‘healthful words.’ 5. corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth. This o pression demands a moment’s reflection. Howe & erat! implies missing the truth, because reason and u di I the organs by which truth is received. But mental de results when the mind, instead of being directed exercised in His revelation, is given over to er empty forms. A religion which stultifies the and ¢ a blind obedience to authority will occupy dupes with endless petty affairs of practice or Y peliet ich the ruin of the mind. Then truth cannot at naturally the mind declines on base mai j making of gain. This single phrase thus course of a corrupt Christianity, which begins with d the mind, and ends with emptying the cet of its mis victims. "Godliness has become a way of gain toa vast ¢ co priesthood through the dark ages of the church, 7. we brought nothing into this world becau: carry nothing out. This is the literal translati + Bs Eccles, v. 14): The idea that we brought ootbing int LS knowing nothing.’ This word not elsewhere in Paul. * ‘doting.’ The word occurs nowhere else'in the N. T. ® ‘disputes of words’: not elsewhere in Greek Bible (the Ten. indy . * *surmisings’: nowhere else in Greek Bible. : ® ‘ (incessant) wranglings’: nowhere else in Greek Bible. * “gain’: only here in the N.T. / I TIMOTHY 6. 8-11 135 having food and covering’ we shall be therewith 8 s; such as drown men in destruction and perdition. the love of money? is a root of all kinds of evil: 10 ich some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves * pes with many ecause we can take nothing out of it, which the syntax requires as the meaning, is not so absurd as Dr. Bernard seems to think. is a reasonable if not a common point of view that as at death ‘we are obviously unable to take any earthly thing away with us, it would have been useless—and disturbing to the balance of things— "at our coming into the world we brought anything with ys. ‘At the same time it would be simpler, with Hort, to suppose that use’ is an ‘intrusion. In certain versions it does not occur, ‘we brought nothing in, &c., neither can we, &c.’ E _ 8. we shall be... content: of course only so far as material hings are concerned : cf, Matt. vi. 25. _ 9. they that desire to be rich. This might be a quotation from Seneca (Ep. 87), ‘while we wish to gain riches we fall into many evils.’ But the statement isa truism. Dr, Bernard thinks it is not the possession, but the desire, of riches) which brings asnare. But if Paul knew Luke xii. 2t he would hardly agree With this view ; and therefore the stress is not to be laid on the ‘10. which some reaching after. The ‘ which’ grammatically is the love of money: it is a rather slipshod expression; they reach after the money rather than the love, of it. (It is after Paul’s manner, however, e. g. ‘a hope seen,’ Rom. viii. 24.) __ Now, in contrast with the hetero-teachers, whose work turns on the pivot of money, the man of God is exhorted to teach the healthful doctrine (11-16). 11. man of God. Cf. 2 Tim. iii. 17. \ A man removed from * “food and covering.’ The former a word only found in 1 Macc. Vi. 49, and the latter not at all in the Greek Bible. _ * *hurtful’: a word not found elsewhere in the Greek Testament. * ‘love of money’: a word only here in the N. T., but the adjective a 2 Tim. iii. 2. * “pierced themselves’: only here in the Greek Bible. 136 I TIMOTHY 6. 12-14 after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patienc 12 meckness'. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on‘ the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and dic confess the good confession in the sight of mam 13 witnesses. I charge thee in the sight of God, wh quickeneth ° all things, and of Christ Jesus, who be 14 Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession ; that the keep the commandment, without spot *, without repro: ; earthly things, is Bengel’s explanation. The —_ ae evangelist with the old prophets (1 Sam. ii, 27, ix. 22) and hints that all Christians should deserve the rtig -» 12. Pight the good fight of ... faith. tr is nae ooo it sounds, or as i. 18. For the word means the contest of the great games, Olympian or Isthmian. And the is a fa c one with Philo as well as with Paul (1 Cor. ix. 24 ; iii. 12-14 aeTim. iv. 7). There is a line in the Alcestis of Leds cy which Paul might have been quoting, ‘And yet thou ¥ have fought this good fight.” For the fight of Faith see. v9 means perhaps the wrestle which is pcb on didst confess the good confession. This may refer to th i occasion when Timothy was brought before a r committed to prison (Heb. xiii. 23). And some such r seems required by the repetition of the phrase in verse. 13 Jesus Christ before Pilate, though note the difference : Timotl ‘confessed,’ Christ ‘witnessed’ a good confession. To it to baptism, with Hoffmann, Weiss, Zahn, and Dr. arbitrary: cf. Heb. iii. 1, where Jesus is called the ‘ Apowtic aa High Priest of our confession.’ His confession before i became the model, the motive, and the power of all | confessions which his followers make for him (Matt. v. 11: ¢ Heb. xiii. 15). The emphasis and urgency of verses 13-16 it that Paul was not overwhelmingly sure of Timothy’s steadfastn He had been steadfast in one trial, and had endured bonds s;t there were possibilities of weakness in him, and therefore ppes is made to the most momentous facts—the faithfulness of Chr and the omnipotence of God—to confirm him. 13. God, who quickeneth: i.e. ‘preserveth all things ali anal * ‘meekness.’ The word used not found in the Greek E (2 Tim. ii. 25, a different form of the same root). 2 “lay hold on’: a word used by Paul only here and at verse : ). ‘who quickeneth’: a word only used here ve Paul. - 4 * ‘without spot’: only here by Paul. I TIMOTHY 6. 15, 16 137 until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in 15. ‘its own times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom de 10nour and power eternal. Amen. ment unspotted and without reproach. _ 14. the commandment might mean the direction just given im verse rz. But it seems better to identify” it with ‘that which is ; committed to thee’ in verse 19 (2 Tim. i. 14, or iv. 1 and 5), ‘The whole truth of the gospel entrusted to Timothy to keep and ‘to preach i is treated for the moment as one commandment. :- without spot. The word occurs in Jas. i. 27; 1 Pet. i. 19; 2 Pet. iii. 14; and in each ease applies to persons, It and ‘without reproach apply to thou, not to commandment. _ the appearing. Up lo the last Paul expected the second Advent in his lifetime ; sometimes he called it, as here, Epiphany, ‘sometimes the day of the Lord, sometimes the revelation of the Lord Jesus, sometimes the farousia, and once the epiphany of his farousia (2 Thess. ii. 8). 4 15, which ...he shall shew. The same God that preserveth all things alive will effect the second coming. Timothy is there- fore exhorted to devotion in the presence of this living God by the most majestic description of the God who will bring again in due time the Lord Jesus. This liturgical description of God is ‘marked by several words which are not found elsewhere in Paul's vritings. ' 16. who only hath immortality: (cf. i. 17) the immortality of angels and men is derived. light unapproachable: suggested by Exod. xxxiii. 17-23, where also occurs the saying, ‘no man shall see my face and live.’ it was more exact, with Philo, to apply the word to the mount, than as here to apply it to the light. But it is true that we as Men cannot approach the light in which God dwells; we see i through a glass darkly. __ For the interjection to whom be honour and power sce i. 17; om. i. 25, xi. 36. me * i GROG y; 8. Be not ashamed. As Bengel tersely says, ‘when _ overcome false shame flies.’ the testimony of our Lord: viz. the pane? 1 Gor. & ¢ Rom. i. 16. This latter passage shews that it was not ¢ ) fact of Paul being a prisoner under senténce that gave 0 for shame, but that the humiliation of @ crucified a salvation not by works but by faith, eee human heart to be ashamed of Christ. his prisoner: i.e. a prisoner for his sake: cf Eph 1; Philem. 9, ; suffer hardship with. Cf. ii. 3, which chews that én : understood. The R.V. rendering is not approved by Dr. Be: d « the Hand-Commentar. It should be ‘Suffer with me for the g according to the power of God: i.e. which ‘He g endure verse 7. @ 9. who saved us: not Paul and Timothy only, ars Titus iii.5. This saving purpose of God, by grace and not o is Paul’s peculiar doctrine (Rom, viii. 28, xi. 293; 1 Con. i. i. 6; Eph. ii.9’. It is an offset against the prevailing in attached to works in the Pastorals. The purpose of God being before timeis also thorough Rom. xvi. 25; Eph. i. 4 (cf. Acts xv. 18); 2 ‘Cor-ii. 7. say that the grace was given to us before time is a step into concrete which Paul does not elsewhere take. By being g 2 “aor * ‘discipline’ : not found elsewhere in the Greek Te the verb is in John xiv. 27 and the adjective in Rev. frequent i in the Pastorals, see 1 Tim. ii. 9. id ‘suffer hardship with’: only here and at ii. 3. 4a al ® ‘the appearing’ (cf. 1 Tim, vi, 14); ch af he i (cf. Titus iii. 4). n _ Il TIMOTHY 1. 1, 12 i48 of ou Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel, whereunto I was appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher. For the which cause I suffer also these things : yet I am not ashamed; for I know him whom. I have believed, and I am pduaded that he is able to guard that which I have commipted unto him against > fie pre-existent Christ it is regarded-as being given to us. Cf. om, xii, 3, 6, xv. 15; 1 Cor. i. 4, iii: t0; Gal. ii. 9; Col, i. 25, ph, ili. 2, 7, iv. 7. 10. Jesus Christ: that is the order of the majority, though not e oldest of MSS. It is more suitable here than the common order ‘Christ Jesus,’ because it lays stress on the historical person Jesus, and adds that he was Christ (Messiah). abolished death: viz. physical death, because its sting is Sin, and Christ by dying destroyed sin (z Cor. xv. 56). se and brought life and immortality to light: hendiadys for ternal life.’ The verb * brought to light’ is that in John i. 9, ‘which lighteth every man.’ It implies that ‘life and immortality,’ before the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus, were shadowy and insubstantial, guesses, hopes, aspirations rather than solid realities, The shadowy realms of Hades, under the gloom of the grave, filled the Greek mind with dejection, while among the Jews only ne party admitted the future life at all, while the strict legalists itly denied it.. But through the gospel, i.e. the glad tidings Mf arisen Lord, who could bring again from the dead those who believe in him, this dim region of hope was illuminated. Christ ithin, the hope of glory, corresponded to Christ without who was risen from the dead: Life and immortality were henceforth lit up with the double certainty of an’ objective resurrection, and ofa subjective experience of the risen One. » 11. preacher,...apostle,... teacher. See1 Tim. i.12, ii, 7; the ‘ of the Gentiles’ in the latter passage is here, according to the best manuscript authority, omitted. It is only in the Pastorals that Paul ranks himself as a teacher (Eph. iv. 11). 12. whom I have believed: rather; ‘have trusted’; cf. Tit. iii. 8. The trust has been placed in him, and remains. able: rather, ‘mighty.’ _ that which I have committed unto him should be ‘my deposit,’ see 1 Tim. vi. 20. The word is in LXX, Lev. vi. 2, 4; 2 Macc. iii. 10, 15. In the latter passage the deposits. represent money entrusted by widows and orphans to the temple, and.the Priests pray that God will keep them safe. . As was. pointed out L It 12 sa Il TIMOTHY 4. 43, %4 13'that day. Hold the pattern of sound words v hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Ch 14 Jesus. That good thing which was committed un at 1 Tim. vi. 20, it is necessary to keep the same meaning in tl three places where the word occurs in the and requires us to adopt the marginal reading rather than that whic * the Revisers admitted into the text. Itis quite arbitrary to id the deposit with ‘the pattern of sound words’ in verse 13. doctrinal forms are not the deposit, but merely the intellectu account of it. Far nearer the mark would it be to identify th deposit with ‘the faith and the love in Christ Jesus.” Acco the ‘beautiful deposit’ of verse 14, which must be identical v that of verse 12, viewed now not as Paul's, but as Timothy received from the master, is to be guarded, not as doctrine m be, in a creed or symbol, nor as an ecclesiastical office by the church, but ‘ through the Holy Ghost which dwelleth a The attempt of von Soden, for example, to identify this de with a body of orthodox doctrine which, entrusted to Pat handed over to Timothy, for transmission to his determined by the conviction that the whole Epistle comes fro a later age, when such a notion would be intelli But ii abide by the simple meaning of the words there is nothing in ¢! which is un-Pauline. That the church misunderstood 4 wrested the words of Paul, and turned his purely living notion of a deposit, as the power of an inward formal idea of orthodox doctrine, does not shew that Paul had at such intention, but only ¢hat this passage gave a verbal star point for such an inn ine development. Pts against that day: a phrase, says the cat aoa found in Paul, but borrowed from the Synoptic Gospels ; 2 Thessalonians is Paul’ s, he uses it there (i. 10): ef. 2 Tim. i iv. 8. Paul is persuaded, having kept his deposit, the s; entrusted to him, up to the present time, when his: fought and his course ended (iv. 7), that God was» maintain it for him through the dark passage of death end.» it to him in ‘that day,’ viz. the day of judgement. He u Timothy, during the course that lay before him, to deposit in the same way, implying that, if he does, he be able to commit it in confidence to God in — mortis. 13. pattern. See 1 Tim. i. 16. sound words. Seer Tim. i. to, vi. a The healthfal w come from God, who is life and health. It is only im the : and love in Christ Jesus that one can hold the sound we apart from such faith and love, the sound words themselves & be anwholesome, the source of contention and damning. | ‘ > , ‘ a pp : Pr- 11 TIMOTHY 1. 15, 16 ie Magee thee guard through the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. _ This thou knowest, that all that are in Asia turned away from me; of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy ' unto the house of Onesiphorus : for he oft refreshed’ me, and was not ashamed of my 14. which dwelleth in us. Dr. Bernard says ‘especially in you and me,’ to whom grace for ministry has been given, This is quite an un-Pauline contraction of interpretation, Paul recognizes the Spirit equally in all Christians, Rom. viii. 11. ; _ Verses 15-18 hold before Timothy two concrete instances, one as warning, the other as an example, to encourage him to guard his deposit. _ 15. thou knowest, in verse 15, is a different Greek verb from that in verse 18. The first is a mere head-, the second a heart- knowledge. Asia: the Roman province of that name, Asia Minor, Ephesus was its metropolis. Certain Christians from that quarter had evidently been in Rome and had repudiated Paul the prisoner. Probably Phygelus and Hermogenes were Ephesians, and are therefore named. In the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla the writer introduces Hermogenes, borrowing no doubt from this passage, as a coppersmith and full of hypocrisy. But the names are mere names to us. _ 16. Onesiphorus (cf. iv. 19), who, in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, is represented as a householder of Iconium, and a friend to Paul on his first missionary journey, had evidently been in Rome, and taken pains to find out Paul in his confinement and to cheer him with love and sympathy. This example of one who ‘was not ashamed of the prisoner is held up-to Timothy, who evidently (verse 8) shewed some tendency to such a false shame. It would seem that Onesiphorus had subsequently died, and there- re it is only for his family that Paul invokes the blessing. During Paul’s stay at Ephesus Onesiphorus had rendered him service, to Timothy’s personal knowledge. They who are anxious to support prayers for the dead, having otherwise no scriptural authority except from the Apocrypha (2 Macc. xii. 44), clutch at this passage. Assuming, with some probability, that Onesiphorus was dead, they findin the exclamation, €The Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord in that day,’ an instance of the Apostle praying for the dead. Dr. Bernard assents eC quotes an epitaph in the second half of the second century, in which Abercius, Bishop of Hierapolis, asks for the prayers-of all * “rant mercy,’ ‘refreshed’: both words only here in the N. T. } L2 4 ee | Cal 6 148 Il TIMOTHY 1. 1y%,18 | 17 chain; but, when he was in Rome, he sought ff 18 diligently, and found me (the Lord grant unto him t find mercy ' of the Lord in that day); and in how man things he ministered at Ephesus, thou knowest very well who see his tomb (Lightfoot, Jgnatius, i. 496). wien this is a prayer for the dead, it brings the e into the second century, and negatives the ne eh But there is a difference between an optative and a prin expresses the wish, he does not utter a prayer, that Sy may find mercy. That wish we are entitled to entertain But to pray for the dead, and to offer Masses for rested remote from the apostolic mind ;-it had its o eo interests of the dead, but in those ‘of the living. is paid to pray for the dead. It is a lucrative tebiinad “for it touching with the finger of superstition the tenderest f a bereaved heart. There may be nothing to hinder the sc soul from breathing out its prayers for the de inta Father’s ear, but there is every reason to discourage a of prayers for the dead which, based on superstition, is viniitd for filthy lucre’s sake. And while the Council of Trent 2 Maccabees canonical, in order to get scriptural ‘ort abuse, we are bound to insist that the Roman rch r content with that slender scriptural support. Certainly the of Onesiphorus affords no slenderest foothold for the prea. the first place it is only a surmise that he was dead at the tin and in the second place there is here no prayer eee The peculiar interest of this first chapter lies Pigs it establishes between Paul and his co: very dear to him. He broods on the childhood in ordination of his young friend. He proposes his own -xample him. He is most anxious not to lose the younger man’s Sympz and support. He puts Timothy and Timself side by side recipients of the great deposit, which they must both faith keep. He cites the instances of desertion, and invokes a bles on the faithful friend Onesiphorus, as if to say, with an z nervous solicitude: God grant that my beloved son Timothy not be like Phygelus and Hermogenes! God grant =a search me out and bear my reproach as bravely as Or did! And it is in this eager anxiety that he passes on in ¢ to exhort Timothy to courage. 18. very well is ‘better,’ viz, better even than he 1 find mercy’: only here in the N.T. — ? ‘very well’: only here in the N.T. uc II TIMOTHY 2. 1,4 149 2 Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the 2 grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which 2 hou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the ii. 1-7. A more personal exhortation to Timothy. 1. Thou therefore: as against Phygelus and Hermogenes, and with Onesiphorus. | my child: in contrast with the aliens who turned away from be strengthened : Eph. vi. ro. - in the grace:.-i.e. by abiding in the ane of Christ strength comes. Cf. 1 Tim. i. 12. 2. the things which thou hast heard from me through many witnesses is the original Greek. We naturally refer to i. 13. And we explain the phrase as a reference to the intercourse which othy had enjoyed with Paul for twelve years. In that period he had received much of Paul's instruction directly (i. 1g), but much had come indirectly through the other companions of Paul, who had all been either observers of the Christian verities or as authorities, they are referred to as independent witnesses of the truth. These things which Timothy heard from Paul we may discover not only in the Pastoral but in the other Pauline Epistles. There is absolutely no reason for supposing that there was any esoteric doctrine privately handed down by the apostles to their Successors. The only reason why Paul lays stress on the trans- mission here is that as yet he did not think of. his own letters as Scripture. When these letters were admitted into the Canon the demand which Paul makes here was secured. And thus the sufficiency to teach others, mentioned here, turns upon the ac- quaintance with the apostolic tradition contained in the N. T. The Roman claim, that Paul handed down to Timothy the deposit truth which has subsequently been developed and authorized by the infallible church, is just one of those desperate afterthoughts by which Rome endeavours to justify her assumptions from a text of Scripture interpreted in her own way. It was in order to realize the command of verse 2 and to save it from perversion that ie letters of Paul were gathered together and treated as holy ripture (2 Pet. iii. 15). But the Roman Church has used this passage as an excuse for neutralizing all that Paul taught, and would have us believe that what Timothy heard from Paul through Many witnesses was, not the great principle of justification by faith (i. 9), but a principle of justification by works and faith; not a doctrine of one Mediator, but a doctrine of Mary as the mediatrix between us and her Son, and the saints as mediators through whom we approach God; not a faith in a sacrifice offered once for all; but i petty, 150!” II TIMOTHY 2. a same commit thou to faithful men, who sl al 3 teach others also. Suffer hardship with 2 4 soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldi¢n dius himself in the affairs" of his life ; that he ma’ s who enrolled’ him as a soldier. And if also contend in the games *, he is not crowned °, a ne have 6 contended lawfully. The husbandman that labouretl 7 must be the first to partake ‘ of the fruits. Consid the practice of a daily sacrifice of the Mass, after the pi tabernacle which, Paul saw, was done away in makes use of the Scriptures to wrest from them an authe - tradition which supersedes them. This is the way in’ w oh th followers of the Apostle have carried out his command in th verse. + Od 8. suffer hardship with. See i. 8. : ss ineel ole & good soldier: especially in conflict with the several teach of heresy (Phil. ii. 25; Philem. 2)—the church militant, Chi 1 Tim. i. 18, vi. 12; Phil. i. 30; Col. i. 29, Pr 4. The immediate reference is to work for momenee (cf. Mark xii. 44; Luke xv. 12, 30). sisi 5 in 1 Cor. ix. 4, 11; cf. Gal. vi. 6. or 5. See on x Tim. vi. 12, lawfully (see 1 Tim. i. 8): i.e. submitting to the rules contest, training, age, &c. Epictetus uses just the same and shews how the athlete eating ‘by rule’ to _conquer Olympian games is like the philosopher who aims at tru self-discipline. In Timothy’s case the ‘rule’ is that he m abstain from worldly and renumerative employments, givil wholly to his ministry. 6. The husbandman that laboureth must. It is an necessity that the actual tiller of the soil should get his m out of it; the wages of labour is the first ¢ on agric produce. From this is inferred the right of sti to receive the temporal things by which he may live 4 ministers spiritual th‘ngs. (Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 7, alsot Cor, i the idea of husbandry.) “A a. * ‘affairs’ and ‘him who enrolled’: both words only fe in the Greek Bible. ? “contend in the games’: a word = be an athlete, 01 the Greek Bible. * ‘crowned’: a word not elsewhere in Paul (but cf. Heb. ae ‘partake’: not used elsewhere in Paul’s letters, Il TIMOTHY 2. 8-10 151 I say ; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all tk lings, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel: wherein I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor’; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure. all %. Consider... for the Lord shall give. The Lord would make Paul’s meaning the more plain, and reconcile Timothy to the ‘idea of living on astipend instead of working for a maintenance, all the more because it was the definite teaching of the Lord that they who preach the gospel should live by it. There are few respects in which the soldier of Christ is more hampered and humiliated than this; he has to lay aside the ordinary work by which he might earn his bread, and to be dependent on the harity of others. This is rightly described as a hardship ;. but e Master made it easier for every servant of his by himself setting the example. 8. Remember Jesus Christ. This is the highest motive for he preceding exhortation. Keep the risen Christ before the mind ; risen and yet human (for this combination see Rom. i. 3). ; according to my gospel: Rom. ii. 16, xvi. 25. ' 9. wherein I suffer: viz. in proclaiming which. As Bengel ‘Says, Paul uses the example of Christ, according to his custom, to give life to his ow:. example. malefactor: thus Paul identifies himself with Christ’s fellow ‘sufferers on the cross. Prof. Ramsay (Church in the Roman Empire, Pp. 249) sees in this strong word an indication of the Jlagitia imputed to Paul and the Christians in the Neronic persecu- tion (Tac. Anu. xv. 44). If Prof. Ramsay is right in this view, it points to the Pauline authorship, or at least to the date of the early persecution. Up to Domitian’s time Christianity was not a forbidden religion; Paul and the other sufferers under Nero were proceeded against as common criminals, charged with ‘setting the city on fire. Of course one could not rest the genuine- ‘ness of the Epistle on this use of the word ‘malefactor,’ but it is an undesigned indication of an historic situation. __. the word of God is not bound: he rejoices in the thought that he can write, and, like Rutherford, Baxter, Bunyan, Law, and Penn in later times, the tyranny which binds the preacher may oe result” in sending his written word farther and making it _ 4 “a malefactor’: a word not used by Paul, but by Luke : agen Fe 152) Il TIMOTHY 2 tg things for the elect’s sake, that they also may ¢ salvation which is in Christ Jesus with prion 11 Faithful is the saying: For if we died with aaah 12 also live with him: if we endure, we shall — 13 him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us: are faithless, he abideth faithful; for ne cannot 4 himself. we 10. I endure all. .. for the elect’s sake. For the fo Rom. viii. 93; Col. iii. ra; Titus i, x. Paul hed a he could fill up the measure of Christ’s sufferings, way enable the elect to obtain salvation as he himself But it is evident, from his attitude of humility sem F in the sole sufficiency of Christ, that he does not mean 20 | : his sufferings on a level, or in the same category, with Christ's. They are not vicarious or redemptive. But by enduring, without giving way, he takes part in establis the of the ’ and his sense of identification with Christ, | t out in 11-13, enables him to share in Christ's vedaaptes ate houg humility and love alike prevent him from even eae in as redeemer. The point of view is readily : supposition : What would have happened if ayn Sp’ If he, like Demas, had proved traitor to the scope, JB speaking the elect would not have heard the good news, the stream of truth would have been dammed up at its source, — 11. Paithful is the saying (see on 1 Tim. i. 35 i a Though the R. V. does not favour the view, the sim - to treat the faithful saying as the personal tru jot a uttere: (cf. 1 Tim, i, 15', then, as in 1 Tim. iv. 9, it concludes a strong ai passionate assertion. But if we follow the Revisers, set in the faithful saying which follows, verses 11-13, a that case the ‘for’ remains quite unexplained, except as part a quotation. Whichever view is taken, the truth of these remains unaffected: cf Rom. yi, 8, viii. 17; ch wv. 19, : Dr. Bernard notices that the phrases are all (exe {re sone fom x. 33) taken from parallels in Paul’s own istles, that Paul here is ‘quoting a popular a of Onn great Epistle, which had become stereotyped by li | ; to such odd conclusions are men driven when they a are bi a "finding a justification of liturgies in the N, 5 died with him in this connexion refers to martyrdom. — 13. he abideth faithful. It is a consolation that our fai ness may be counteracted by his faithfulness (Rom. iii. 3), 3 Dr. Bernard sees; but that can hardly be the reference h II TIMOTHY 2. 14-17 153 Of these things put them in remembrance’, charging 14 Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, 15 a workman that needeth not to be ashamed”, handling aright ° the word of truth. But shun’ profane babblings : 16 for they will proceed further in ungodliness, and their 17 destroys the whole connexion of the passage. God is faithful abiding by His eternal principles of action. His faithfulness } im. This truth is not so palatable to our day, but it can hardly e doubted that this is the meaning in the present context. ‘II. The warfare against error and apostasy. ii. 14—iv. 8. ii. 14—ili. 9. Circumstances existing among the Christians among vhom Timothy had to work. _ First there are certain phenena which are stated negatively and positively (verses 14, 15), then the negative is developed ( (36-20), and the positive, with a ‘fresh recapitulation of the negative (224, 23), is more clearly expressed (21-26). Then iii. 1-9, description of certain false teachers that are to come. _ 15. approved unto God. Cf. 2 Cor. x. 18. _ Chrysostom took needeth not to be ashamed to mean ‘ who is ot to be put to shame.’ _ The meaning of handling aright may be found from LXX, Prov. ii. 6, xi. 5, ‘giving a right direction to the word of fruth,’ i.e. applying the gospel fearlessly and appropriately, the opposite of corrupting it (2 Cor. ii. 17), and contrasted here with striving about words. 16. profane babblings. See 1 Tim. vi. 20. for they (sc. they who utter the profane babblings) will proceed further in ungodliness: the opposite of godliness for a see on 1 Tim. ii. 2. ‘put them in remembrance’: a word only used by Paul here and ¥ Titus iii. 1. 8 strive not about words’: only here, but the noun in1 Tim. vi. 4: '* profit’: a word only here in the N. T. subverting’: only here in the N. T. : ® “that needeth not to be ashamed *: a word only here in the sreek Bible. -® “handling aright’: a word only tei’ in the N. T. 7 shun’: “the word is only used here and at Titus iii. 9 by Paul, 4 < ‘ 3 y 154 _ TI TIMOTHY 2, 1819 word will eat as doth a gangrene’: of whom 18 and Philetus ; men who concerning the tr saying that the resurrection is past 19 throw? the faith of some. Howbeit* the dation of God standeth, having this seal, Ch eat; marg. ‘spread’: Jit. ‘ will have pasture,’a ek medic term for the spreading of a disease, Polyb. i. Br. 6. ys eet gangrene: opposed to the ‘healthy words.” ee Hymeneus and Philetus. For the first see r Tint. i. it seems that Paul’s rebuke had not succeeded, ‘and verse 16, 18. concerning the truth have erred: it. ‘missed the m 1 Tim. i. 6, vi. 21. saying that the resurrection is past already. The'p form of this false opinion is matter of conjecture. mentions a man who said that there was neither no judgement, and in the sermon called 2 Clement, § 9, tl r 7 a warning against saying that the flesh is not | and does no rise. In the Acts of Paul and Thecla there is mention of ai opinion that the resurrection was to be sought in fact live again in our children, the notion expressed in ‘choir invisible.’ In the second century Justin (Dial. § Ireneus (Her, ii. 31. 2) refer to the Gnostic ee resurrection was to be understood allegorically. fav “we ¢i hardly identify’the present opinion with any of these developments. Rather there must have been visionaries, li the Fifth-Monarchy men of the Commonwealth ; thought that the millennium had come, and death was aboli and the second coming of Christ had taken place. It is like that the ‘forbidding to marry’ (1 Tim. iv. 3) was connected ' this illusion and justified by Luke xx 35; Matt. xix, ra. wild conceptions have in all ages of the church subve faith of many. 19. the firm foundation of God (see 1 Tim. iit, I Christian society which, in spite of individual to the truth. Inscribed on this foundation are the two | which are the essence of a Christian church, bes ‘T knoweth them that are his,’ cf, John x, a ; and, ‘Let every one that nameth,’ &¢., Pay tell Boe vii. xiii. 27; 4r Cor. viii. 13, xiii. 12; Gal. Av. The C ari 1 © gangrene’: only here. ? ‘overthrow’: a word only here and at Titus i. 11. ; * ‘howbeit’ and ‘firm’ are both words oe used here by Ps II TIMOTHY 2. 20, 21 155 eth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteous- ess. Now ina great house there are not only vessels gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honour, and some unto dishonour. If aman therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel at ciety, built on the corner-stone Christ Jesus—he is the Lord ; ere meant—is distinguished by the intimate mutual knowledge of the Lord and his members (see Paul's assurance, ii. 10), and by the purity and guilelessness of those who form his body. A true church can only be composed of those to whom God’s knowledge ‘them has brought a personal knowledge of acceptance, and tho have been so affected by the name they name as to carry the will of their Lord into practical ethics. It is such a society—the Puritans dreamed of it and toiled for it—that is a solid foundation, a security against the vagaries of individualism, a pillar and ground of the truth. _ 20. The thought of the church as the Lord’s house (cf. r Tim. iii. 15), in which every implement must be clean, suggests the variety of members that are needed to make up the whole. All may be clean, but all cannot be for honour. Dr. Bernard declares that this is like the parable of the draw-net (Matt. xiii. 47), and ids : ‘It is noteworthy that this is the only place where Paul irectly expresses the thought of the church embracing evil embers as well as good.’ It is so noteworthy that if this passage yntained that thought, we might suspect that it was not Paul’s. nd Dr. Bernard in his own interpretation falls into a curious iconsistency, for he interprets verse 21 of purging out the false achers, shewing that it would be the church’s duty to get rid of il members. But, natural as is the desire to justify from cripture the conception of an impure church, this passage gives mo countenance to it. In the house the wooden things are as needed as the golden, and the vessels of dishonour are as useful as the vessels of honour (cf. 1 Cor. xii. 23). And this is the point.of the whole simile. We cannot choose whether we should be gold and silver, or wood and earthenware ; nor can we choose hether our service shall be what appears to men honourable ‘the opposite. But each of us, if he is clean, will be counted is a vessel unto honour ; it is sufficient honour to be of use to the laster, sanctified and ready for good works, however humble they may be. ' 21. purge himself from these. ‘These’ can only mean the vi arious false notions described in verses 14-18. i 156 II TIMOTHY 2. 22, 23 unto honour, sanctified, meet for the master's us 22 prepared unto every good work. — But flee youthful lust and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, wi 23 them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Bu foolish and ignorant questionings refuse, knowing th meet for... use is the word in iv. 11 and applied Onesimus in Philem, 11. ; ‘ 22. flee youthful Insts. The older man speaks to younger. One feels that such a warning implies a certain we ness in Timothy, as ‘the Lord’s servant must not strive," verse implies that Timothy was inclined to do so, But another vie is possible. This passage (ii. 22) is exactly to 1 Tim. vi. ‘Flee youthful lusts’ corresponds to ‘flee these things,’ an ‘ these things’ were the errors and practices of the hetero-teacher From iii. 6 and iv. g it is evident-that these under cove of their teaching, practised sexual immoralities. it may b these lusts, of the kind into which young men lly fall, tha Timothy is to avoid; and then the contrast, in righteous ness faith, love, &c., exactly corresponds to that in 1 Tim, vi. © Only here is added peace, with them that call on the Loz which seems to suggest that in his contention members | the flock Timothy had shewn some hastiness of temper, a disposition to contention. be 23-26. The folly and ignorance of the false teaching strife, and the Lord’s servant must not strive, but try to the victims of error’. } 23. The word ignorant is in the Greek the negative of ‘ cc ing’; we could keep this connexion by translating “unins' questions,’ i. e. questions unworthy of a trained ‘mind ‘instructing them that oppose themselves.’ This latter phr also may be connected with the ‘oppositions’ of x Tim. v y and may mean ‘those who are only capable of ng end verbal antitheses, or contradictory statements.’ We have & that all through, Paul's crusade against the Peo lin teaching is based upon their emptiness and futility. The a caustic saying of a college don that the discussion the planets are inhabited was one eminently suited for theol because no evidence was available on either side of the que s xs aR. 2COl ae 1 These four verses contain five wotds, viz. * ignorant,” ‘forbearing,’ ‘oppose themselves,’ and “recover themse! found elsewhere in the Greek Bible, and a conjunction never used by Paul. : r ie Ii TIMOTHY 2. 24-26 ee 157 t is discussion of this kind, speculative, remote from life and fact, which leads to the bitterest of verbal wrangles, and is in the end ‘as fatal to religion as sensuality, with which, strange to say, “it easily connects itself; for if thought is diverted to empty and barren discussions, it renounces its proper religious function of “grasping the verities which, as ideas, move the will and cleanse the passions, Thus while the brain is idly occupied, the corrupt nature, left to itself, falls into uncleanness. (Cf. 1 Tim. i. 4, 7, Wv. 7, Vi. 4, 20; Titus iii. 9. These parallels in the three Epistles should be used to illustrate each other, though the greater everity of Paul in 2 Timothy seems to imply that the heresy had gone farther than in x Timothy and Titus, and deserved a more uncompromising suppression.) _ _ 25. For meekness refer to the Supreme Example, Matt. xi. 20. "repentance: only twice, besides here, does Paul use this word, Rom. ii. 4; 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10. : knowledge of the truth: so iii. 7; see 1 Tim. ii. 4. | 26. recover themselves: i.e. ‘return to soberness,’ as in Margin (the verb with another compound in 1 Cor. xv. 34). __ That the snare of the devil (cf. on 1 Tim. iii. 6) is a spiritual toxication represents visrbly the diabolical possession of man. distinguished brewer ence spoke of drink as the devil in Solution. And in the same way the devil's method of taking men captive is to benumb the conscience, confuse the senses, and Paralyse the will. This is effected sometimes by the excitation ‘of physical passions, sometimes by the daring promulgation of religious lies or superstitions, but often, as here, by diverting the mind with trivialities and the vanity of empty discussions, so that it does not settle steadily on the ideas of God, the Soul, and Life, or on the facts of Sin, Redemption, and Salvation. ys _ By a faithful ministry the servant of God may win men to Tepentance, so that they may be taken captive (/it. ‘taken alive ”) y him unto the will of God. The Revisers have settled the meaning of this last clause by boldly putting for the two pronouns the Lord’s servant and God. That is the only rendering which does justice to the distinction ‘of the pronouns, nor is it possible in English to bring out the sense except by substituting for them the implied noun. Dr, Bernard runkenness is a most striking suggestion, for in that case 158 Il TIMOTHY 3 Fie out of the snare of the devil, having bet e by the Lord’s servant unto the will of God. — 3 But know this, that in the last days prefers the rendering suggested in the margin, aE > ‘by him’ could not refer to the distant subject, the : but must necessarily refer to the nearer ne dome as the main subject of the sentence is the quite natural that a pronoun Pat otherwise refer to him, And the meaning Dr. Bernard's ts. of the words is far too intricate and farefetched to c viz. that the heretics have been taken captive ro ‘the ¢ but are now recovered in order to do God's will. _If this w the meaning it may be surmised that Timothy, no ‘te would have needed a commentary to understand, lis master’ letter. iii. 1-9. Characteristics of the false teachers of te aes ‘The prophecy,’ say Schmidt and Holzendo: flagrantly as a, description of the present,’ For ‘this juc verses 5, 9 are referred to. And it must be owned tere verses cannot be explained except as a comment on Desk before the Apostle’s eye. But, asa mange 7 pasts a 1 that is in the strict sense a prophecy, i and sees hard times in the last days; firey rigids eturn to justify his expectation by noting the signs of ory (cf. 1 Tim. iv. 1), It must be remembered that the days were not a distant future: the time was iS ined ne | was at the gate, and ‘not far off he seemed to hear thet un his chariot-wheels.’ Like John (1 John ii. 18), he felt that k living in the last times, and in recollection, perhaps, of the se own apocalyptical utterances, he saw in the ‘corruption and he 1 ‘taken cy the word not used by Pani bat onipatlaclatqil ‘grievous’: the word nowhere else in Paul, and in pereincaber. Matt. viii. 28. ; ° These nine verses contain no fewer than fifteen anol culiar some sense to this passage: ‘lovers of self’ (not in the Greek Bible ‘implacable’ (not in the Greek Bible), ‘ without self-control’ (not it the Greek Testament), ‘ fierce ’ (not in the Greek ayer wer for good’ (not in the Greek literature), * trai in Paul), ‘lovers of pleasure’ (not i in the N. T.), * anna & in the Greek Bible), ‘turn away’ (not in the N. T. phat ato’ ¢ in the N. T.), ‘silly women’ (diminutive only here) aout confined to the Pastorals, Titus iii. 3), corrupted’ ‘(not * manifest ’ (not in the N. T.). TL TIMOTHY 3. 2-5 159 shall come. For mien shall be lovers of self, lovers of 2 ‘money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, ‘unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, 3 ‘slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, ‘traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather 4 ‘than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but 5 shaving denied the power thereof: from these also turn of believers a sign of the last times. ‘ When the Son of man “cometh, shall he find faith in the earth?’ So far then from treating ‘this and the other passage in rt Tim. iv. I as independent prophecies, it is a juster view to regard Paul as recalling the prophecies, and what ‘ the Spirit saith,’ to confirm faith by shew- ing that what has come to pass was foretold. It is not necessary _to suppose that/a// the features in verses 1-8 were already realized, but from what he actually saw he filled in the details of what was yet to be. All Apocalyptic is of this character. 1. the last days: taken from Isa. ii. 2: cf. Acts ii. 17; Jas. Vv. 3; points to a more remote period than the ‘later times’ of I Tim. iv. 1. That Paul felt these hard times already present (2 Cor, vii. 26; Gal. i. 4; Eph. v. 16) only confirms what has “just been said about the close connexion of the last days with the present. We are reminded of 2 Pet. iii. 3 and Jude 18. _ 2. Cf. Rom. i. 29-31. . lovers of self. Philo (de Prof. 15) speaks of ‘lovers of self ‘Yather than lovers of God.’ ~ : boastful, haughty: word and thought; cf. Rom. i. 3o. | _ without self-control. Cf. Prov. xxvii. 20; the noun 1 Cor. ‘vil. 5. In Greek the common word for one who is at the mercy of x passions, 4, puffed up. See-on t Tim. iii. 6. lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. There is an 1 teresting parallel in Philo (de Agric. § 19), who speaks of making one ‘a lover of pleasure and a lover of passion rather than a lover f virtue and a lover of God.’ ws holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power (ef. Rom. ii. 20): this is paralleled by Titus i. 16. The word used for ‘form’ does not mean the philosophical ‘form,’ which is the mce, but the hypocritical ‘ form,’ which is the denial, of a ng. This inimitable description of a ceremonial religion was rophetic of later days. ‘It is,’ says Wiesinger, ‘a new heathen- iom under a Christian name.’ 7 . from these... turn away: of course plainly shews that Paul i is speaking of actual persons and not of future apostates. 160 II TIMOTHY 3. 6-9 6 away. For of these are they that. creep into 10us and take captive silly women laden with sins, led ; 7 by divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come tc 8 the knowledge of the truth. And like as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand | he truth ; men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning th 9 faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their foll shall be evident unto all men, as theirs also came to be 6. silly women. It is not the peculiarity of the Gre systems of the second century, but the common of a empty or sensuous forms of religion, that men, under 4 teaching, seduce and corrupt unheeding women. This g therefore is no argument for the later date. As the | men are strong, and the hearts of women are - ev evil and error are, the things suggested in this verse occur, Th mastery of the passions, on the other hand, and the security i female virtue are found only in a living and redemptive p God, working not in forms, but in the Spirit. ‘Jed away by divers lusts: 1 Tim. vi. 9; ‘tas at 9 %. 7. ever learning, &c., applies to the women, not the teacher It is significant that the mind which gives itself to idle spe al tions ‘ finds no end, in wandering mazes lost,’ and becomes wu to come toa knowledge of truth. 8. Jannes and Jambres. In the Jewish tradition Gea are given to the magicians of Exod. vii. 1r-aa. In the Tai Jonathan on that passage they are said to be the sons of Origen thought Paul was quoting from an apocryphal ba et Mambres liber. It is curious that both Pliny and 4 of Moses and Jannes together as magicians living after The ‘comparison with these men cannot be pressed; the w ‘impostors’ in verse 13 hardly justifies us in ia tot Bi teachers magical pretensions. Phar corrupted in mind: 1 Tim. vi. 5. ; reprobate concerning the faith: Titus i. 16; I ‘Tm 1 ®. they shall proceed no further. ” that the} teachers are the same here as in ii. 16, the words seem ‘ exact contradiction of the words there, but it is not ‘S05. i. contradiction is only verbal. They will proceed further in w liness, and as that senselessness will be their ruin, proceed no further in their career. j as theirs also: Exod. viii. 18, ix. 11. _ iii. to—iv. 8. Resicwnes the personal alam i, 6—ii. 1g. : II TIMOTHY 3. 10, 1 161 But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct', purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, persecutions, suffer- ings ; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra ; what persecutions I endured: and out of them - 10. But thou (in contrast with the false teachers) didst ‘follow (at the outset of his Christian life): sc. when Timothy at -Lystra first made the acquaintance of Paul as a man, who, carry- ‘Ing a great teaching, was despised, stoned, driven from city to ‘city. This reminiscence of the first days of their meeting is very jatural for an elder man, in solitary confinement, going over the past. And this psychological suitability is a sufficient answer to the remark of Schmidt and Holzendorff: ‘If Paul were the writer ‘of the Epistle, it would be impossible to understand why he should choose to instance these persecutions of the first missionary journey (Acts xiii, xiv), when Timothy was not yet in his com- ‘pany. But to the actual writer of the Epistle, these persecutions, ‘as the first, lay nearest to hand, and it never occurred to him that Timothy was not there at the time.’ It is to be noted that the “writer does not imply that Timothy was present at those sufferings, but that he took the course of teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, ‘&c. (viz. Paul’s), which, as he well knew, led to those famous persecutions. It was the fact that Timothy came from that ‘region of suffering (Acts xiii. 50; xiv. rf. 8f., xvi. 1), and yet deliberately chose to follow the prime sufferer, that gave Paul ‘confidence in him now, and led to this exhortation to stand fast, in spite of the deliration of the magicians of heresy. To this ground of confidence he adds soon (14-17) the early grounding in the inspired Scriptures which Timothy had received. faith, longsuffering, love, patience. Paul’s injunction to ‘imitate his virtues, and his enumeration of them, is relieved from “egotism by the conception underlying his theology, that it is ‘God that worketh in us to will and to do.’ It cannot be urged that is egotism of humility is unlike Paul and therefore a reason for suspecting his authorship here. ‘Be ye imitators of me,’ ‘I would to God that you were altogether such as I except these bonds,’ is the tone which is characteristic of him, especially in these later days. it. The mention of patience leads him from graces to perse- cutions, and with Timothy in mind he naturally recalls the persecutions which befell him in and around Timothy’s home. * What things,’ ‘ what persecutions,’ rather, ‘such things as,’ ‘such ‘persecutions as,’ because he is dwelling not so much ‘on the hii as on the kind of instances. j ; 1 “conduct’: a word not used elsewhere in the N. T. 162 II TIMOTHY 3. 12,13 12 all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all , 13 godly ' in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 1] men‘and impostors * shall wax worse and worse, out of them all: not only those in southern G: more serious troubles at Philippi, at Ephesus, at J Czesarea, and even the first imprisonment at alway: delivered him until now ; and the deliverance which now j w him was the best of all (iv. 8). a 12. all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall : ff persecution. This is implied in Matt. v. 10 and perhaps John 2 : ao. The life in Christ Jesus is a life of spiritual or mystic: identification with him, and consequently it involves a partakin of his sufferings as surely as a partaking of his victory. t certainty, therefore, of persecutions does not depend on the accide: of a persecuting government or society: Nero or ‘Domitian but the outward minister of a bad and persecuting world. persecution in the Christian life is intrinsic ; as common in hiatal England as in heathen China; endured as truly by the faithful is the kindly atmosphere of the church as by the missionary in the midst of savages or heathen powers. The per arises from the fact that the life in Christ-is alien to thi world, and involves an inward and constant crucifixion of usts tendencies, which the world admits, but which Christ ¢ Consequently, not the least tragic of sufferings have been t Molinos or Madame Guyon; those of Covenan Stundists ; those of persons ‘who to-day are set on ways J and the fullness of life in Christ ;- ; though in all these cases it is. Christian society and a Christian church that inflicts the persec tion. The life of Christ, in which the believer shares, is which, if not against, is always athwart, the world. Its x and springs, its standards and precepts, its modes and de ments, its goal and its ends, are as different from the yeas light is from darkness. And as day and night are p battle between the light and the darkness, so the Christi an unceasing struggle against principalities and pare rulers of the darkness of this world. The woman flees wilderness, and the dragon follows her with his a 13. impostors; Jit. ‘wizards’ or ‘conjurors,’ s the comparison with Jannes and Jambres. shall wax worse and worse: ch. ii. 16, they will g 1 € godly.’ This adverb occurs only here and at Titus on 121 T ® “impostors.’ The word does not occur elsewhere in Bible. se) Pats II TIMOTHY 3. 14, 15 163 nd being deceived. But abide thou in the things which 14 hou hast learned and hast been assured of', knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a babe 15 thou hast known the sacred * writings which are able to even greater lengths of ungodliness along the road of deceit, where the deceiver is always himself the most deceived. And yet, as verse g says, they will proceed no further; their very deceit will be their ruin, for the worse men get, the more surely are they discoyered. This paradox of progress and no progress, of apparent success and actual failure, is curiously illustrated by the history of the Jesuits. * Within a generation they covered the earth: ‘Que regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?’ was their boast. Their workings and their powers have never ceased: Pascal riddled their ethics, but Alphonso vindicated their worst impostures; a pope suppressed the order, and half a century after another pope restored it; they have been formally ejected from nearly every country in "Europe; at present they are twisting their shackles around the vitals of Germany, England, and America. And yet with all their progress they proceed no further. Their folly becomes evident with each generation. Their perverted ethics, their underhand machinations, their misguided faith in the virtue of the crushed will, are always rousing men afresh to shake off the seduction and to crush the imposture. And as verses 14-17 remind us in the case of those first perverters of the gospel, the Holy Scriptures abide in constant protest against them, so that whoever is instructed in the Bible is impregnable against all the guile, subtlety, and far-reaching designs of the Jesuit. 14. knowing from whom. The best MSS. make ‘whom’ plural, in which case it would refer to Timothy's mother and Brandmother, according to verse 15. But the /extus receptus as the singular, in which case it would refer to Paul, whose teaching Timothy followed, and verse 15 would go on to adduce another fact from Timothy’s infancy. The Revisers take the side of the leading MSS. _ 15. the sacred writings. Following the Revised text we must omit the article, and it would be better to read ‘hast known sacred letters.’ It is the word in John vii. 15 and v. 47. And in this case it would point to the written truth as opposed to merely oral teaching (Rom. i. 2; ii. 27). But if, with the majority of 'MSS., we retain the article, then the term ‘the holy writings’ is the technical term, used in Philo and Josephus, for the O. T. The phrase was first applied to the N.T., and the “assured of ?: a word not elsewhere in the N. T. ‘sacred,’ only here in the N. T. is the word applied to writings. M 2 164 ul TIMOTHY 3.6 make thee wise unto salvation aad 16 Christ Jesus. Every scripture’ inspired® word ‘inspired’ was first used of the N.T. wr of Alexandria at the end of the second ere rd vii. 16, § ror). which are able to make thee wise. Paul y that even without the O. T. men might be saved (| fom. i. 30); he cannot therefore! mean that these anc tin, necessary to Salvation, t he dwells on their abiding pe make wise unto ation, aig: hele faith in Christ Jesus. Scriptures, whether the O. T. or the N.T., make ie salvation it is because they lead us to faith in Geman if, without Scripture, men are led to salvati unknown to themselves, they have gained ae in lighteth every man coming into the world” ic regarded the O. T. Scriptures as ‘they which a And the Christ-given exposition of them in ‘Luke xziv. essentially the possession of Christians from the frst. 1 truly be said that the use made of the O. T. by the apostle especially by Paul, is often allegorical and apparently a Passages are quoted out of their context, and with— things which the writers never dreamed of; of the quotation is found in the LXX version ‘and not Hebrew, and sometimes words are quoted as are not found in our O.T. But the Scriptures are 3 > less able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ k allegorical and other methods of interpretation a them. In proportion as faith in Christ Jesus t possessing, the intepreter, it has been found from ti Origen to those of Swedenborg that the O. T, from b end forms a text-book for the preaching of Jesus. The text-t may, as Paul saw, be read with a veil on the heart, with ther that Jesus is not manifest in the O.T.; bué directly turn the Lord the veil is taken away, and all the a eloquent of him. lp oie, 16. Every scripture. In the fifty places pare a occurs in the N. T. it means the O.T. ‘Every individual writing | in what Paul and others more generally ‘Holy Scriptures’ (Rom. i. 2), or ‘ Prophetic Scriptures” (xvi. in the plural. ~M is inspired of God: sothe A. V. Butthe older ir : Eeaftare,’ The BES not elsewhere used by Paul (so used in Acts viii. 32, 35). tian dD ? Sinspired ’: only here in the N. T. gees * II TIMOTHY 3.17 . 165 profitable for teaching, for reproof', for correction’, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of 17 ' God may be complete’, furnished completely ' unto every good work. Origen, the Vulgate and Syriac; Luther, Wycliffe, Tyndale, -Coverdale—and our Revisers put the predicate, which is unex- pressed, after the word: ‘every scripture inspired of God is profitable.’ The meaning is not materially altered either way; for in any case we must understand by Scripture the O.T. as commonly received and admitted to be inspired in Paul’s time; -and it matters not whether the statement made here is that _ Scripture being inspired is profitable, or that Scripture is inspired and also profitable. The former is more in keeping with the context, for Paul's point is that the training Timothy had received 'was the kind to furnish him completely for his work, and the inspiration of Scripture was not in question (2 Pet. i, ar). Whether the so-called Apocrypha, or any of them, were included in the idea of Scripture when this was written; whether we are justified with Clement in bringing under this designation the N. T. “writings, to which 2 Timothy itself belongs; whether in dealing with the writings of the N.T., classed as inspired, ought to be _ excluded some that are in, or included some that are out (Ireneeus, _for example, speaks of Hermas as Scripture—Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, p. 320); and what is to be understood by the word Inspired, whether it precludes errors, and practically eliminates a human element, or how far the human element is reconcilable with inspiration ;—these are momentous questions, but they are hot in the least affected by the passage before us. inspired. 1 Clement 45° imitates this: ‘the true scriptures which are through the Holy Ghost.’ ‘About the measure and “means of this Divine afflatus nothing is said’ (von Soden in _ Hand-Commentar). _ If inspired it must be ‘profitable for teaching, reproof, and correction, and for discipline in righteousness’; but it is a further dogmatic assertion that the Scriptures of the O. T. are sufficient to make the man of God (1 Tim. vi. 11) complete and thoroughly furnished unto every good work. Certainly, to justify this broad Statement, we must constantly understand ‘through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ err __ 1 The words for ‘reproof,’ ‘correction,’ ‘complete,’ are only here in the N. f., and ‘ furnished compietely’ is a term not elsewhere used by Paul. 166 Il TIMOTHY 4 4 Icharge ¢/ee in the sight of God, and of Cl who shall judge the quick and the 4 d by 2 appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; _ instant in season, out of season’; reprove, rebuke, ex 3 with all longsuffering and teaching. For heitioats come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; bt having itching * ears, will heap to themselves * teachers af 4 their own lusts; and will turn away their ears frc iv, 1-8 rises to a passionate exhortation to hips 9 4 be € in view of (1) the growing power of error, oe approaching death. 1. Icharge thee. Cf. 1 Tim. v. a1. appearing, See on 1 Tim. vi. 14. ‘ : 2. preach, be instant, reprove, &c. These are aorist wu present imperatives, The tense therefore lays stress on individual act, and not on its perpetual repetition. 2 the word (ii. 9, 15): i.e. the Divine message of the ¢ (Gal, vi. 6; Col. iv. 3). es oa in season, out of season. Latin: op Needless to say, ‘be instant’ does not refer to 5a ‘keep steadily pressing on in all the duties of ane t all times, and under all circumstances’; we are no arpa hich is: ‘in season’ and which is ‘out of season.’ It is ours to be lways, abounding in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ; for, stric ly, speaking, in that work there is no season, but every day : spring-tide, and harvest. longsuffering and teaching : the latter, because reproo! out instruction is negative, and it is more important to tell what they ought, than what they ought not, to do; the fe because the best efforts of the worker for God will ot boyy ah cessful, or overceme the lasting opposition of worldliness and e 3. For the time will come. As we saw in iii. 1-9, the that will come, in Paul’s mind, to a great extent already sound doctrine: 1 Tim, i. 10. tees having itching ears: Wycliffe’s translation, ious ho wish to be tickled with novelty, eloquence, or Wa tees desiring only the health-giving truths of the gospel. eet 1 “in season, out of season’: two words not used as aay all where by Paul (but as verbs in 1 Cor. xvi. 125 Phil. iy. 10). : * ‘rebuke?: a word not elsewhere used by, Paul. ° ‘heap to themselves’; a word nowhere on in the Greek Bible; also ‘ itching.’ at II TIMOTHY 4: 5-8 167 th, and turn aside unto fables. But be thou sober in 5 all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, | falfil’ thy ministry. For I am already being offered, and 6 the time of my departure? is come. I have fought the 7 good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of 8 __ 4. fables: myths. (Cf. ii. 17; 1 Tim. i. 4, iv. 7; Titus i. 14.) ‘The baseless Haggadoth of Essenes and Judaizers. 5. be thou sober. See on ii. 26, also 1 Tim. iii. 2. suffer hardship: i. 8, ii. 3. , evangelist (Acts xxi. 8; Eph. iv. 11). This does not mean } that there was a special order of evangelists, but that the work of proclaiming the good news (1 Cor. i. 17)—and that is the meaning _ of evangelize—as it had been the chief work of an apostle, Paul, “must be the chief work of his successor, who could not be an apostle, Timothy. The apostolate ceased with that generation : = seer must exist until the good news is known by all the world. _ - ministry: U7, ‘diaconate.’ See for the general use 1 Tim. i. 12. __, &. Zam... being offered: sc. poured outasalibation: cf. Phil. "ii. 17; the prison walls recall the same image. Then it was ‘if I] am poured out’; nowit is‘I am being poured out.’ Seneca used the same image of his death; so did Ignatius, The contrast with the situation in Philippians may be further noted, Phil. i. 23, ‘having _the desire to depart’; here the time of my departure is come. Also Phil. iii. 13, 14, he is pressing on to the goal; here he has reached it. ; departure. The word suggests ‘loosing,’ ‘weighing anchor’ - (Odyss. xv. 548). 7. the good fight, 1 Tim. vi. 12: sc. ‘of faith.’ For the ‘course’ ef. Acts xx. 24; 1 Cor. ix. 24; Gal. ii, 2; Phil. iii. 12. : I have kept the faith. See iii. 10, viz. the faith by which _he was first saved, and the faith in the Son of God by which he had lived. Dr. Bernard’s rendering, ‘the Christian creed, regarded as a sacred deposit of doctrine,’ becomes more probable, if the letter is un-Pauline, a work of the second century. In proportion as we can retain the Pauline sense of faith, we are able to maintain the Pauline authorship of the Epistle. 7 _ &. the crown of righteousness. If we may interpret by ‘the 1 ‘fulfil? : a word not used in this sense by Paul (Rom. iv. 21, xiy. 53 Col. iv. 12). J E> ‘departure’: a word not in the Greek Bible, though the corre- sponding verb is in Phil, i. 23, but common in the later Apocrypha. 168 Il TIMOTHY 4. 9, 16 righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous give to me at that day: and not only to me, all them that have loved his appearing. a 9, 10 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: for Demas wi crown of life,’ Jas. i. 12; Rev. ii. 10, and ‘the crown of gi ry 1 Pet. v. 4, the genitive is one of substance: ‘a crown hic consists in righteousness.’ But that ed by ee ct of a ‘righteousness of God’ imparted Ms righteousness a present possession (e.g. Phil. i. rr), The immediately following applied to Christ, ‘ the also in favour of interpreting the crown of crown with which righteousness is crowned. Ifwe were i pres the idea of merit (cf. 1 Tim. vi. 18, 19) we should leave ideas and condemn our Epistle as later; but if we hold fast - Paul's doctrine of righteousness, and the thought of earth ho is righteous and yet justifies’ the believer, we can } aconsistent conception. Paul’s righteousness was of God, throu faith in Christ Jesus ; and because he had received that r ness from the righteous judge, the righteous judge will I give to him, and to all who love his , the ci (Rom. ii. 6. £; 1 Cor. iii. 8, 14, iv. 5; 2 Cor. v. 10; Gal. vi. 7, B.) in that day: i. 12, 18. : have (perfect from the standpoint of that future) loved li appearing. As Calvin says, ‘Paul excludes from the number of the faithful those to whom the advent of Christ is we love his appearing? It is a searching question. appearing: not that ofi.10, but thatofiv.1 _ Note. It should be observed, as Riggenbach says, glances at his own finished course and approaching Fi reward, n so much in an outbreak of personal joy as in a jean desire to confirm and encourage Timothy to fight his fight and ran, course with a view to the crown. III. Certain closing injunctions and the inet words, Paul. iv. 9-22. : 9. We probably have in do thy diligence to come motive of the letter (cf. ii. 15, iv. 21; Titus iii. 12). The decided by the request to call at Troas. Timo peat have ta cross Greece by the Egnatian Road to Dyrrachi to Brundisium. Yet, as he only urged him to come ice inter” (verse 21), that might leave him some months of work, during whi - the counsel and exhortation of this letter might be needed, not mention that Paul seems to have a desire to write down ag Song commission of succession as a last will and testament Perhaps even he had some inkling that his letter woul ——- ~ 3 on < -II TIMOTHY 4. 1 169 rsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with rank as Scripture, and abide with Timothy as part of the means of his outfit (iii. 16, 17). 10. The reason ‘for wanting Timothy is very human; it is the cry of affection from a deserted and lonely man. Demas, a fellow worker in the former imprisonment (Philem, 24; Col. iv. 14), perhaps a Thessalonian (Lightfoot points out that the name, in the fuller form Demetrius, occurs twice in the re of politarchs of Thessalonica), left Paul for Thessalonica ecause he loved this present world (for the phrase see 1 Tim. i. 17). This does not justify the tradition that Demas was an apostate from the faith. Unfortunately there are too many Christians who love the present world and shirk positions of danger or discomfort to make this severe judgement of tradition (Epiphanius, Heres, 51) necessary, Crescens to Galatia (Gaul). This might, whichever reading is adopted, be either Gaul, or that Gaul in Asia which in the N. T. is called Galatia. Latin writers of the period called both Gaul, Greek writers both Galatia. Tradition determined in favour of Gaul (Eus. H. £. iii. 4). And Crescens, of whom nothing is known, was regarded as the founder of the Church of Vienne. On the other hand in a writing of Paul's we more naturally think of Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. Dalmatia was in the province of Illyria, Rom. xv. 19. Prof. Ramsay (Galatians, p. 276) points out that the Roman province of Illyricum during Paul's lifetime gradually changed its name until it was generally called Dalmatia. Originally the province was divided into two parts—Liburnia and Dalmatia. From 704.p. the name Dalmatia prevailed. This change, therefore, from Rom. xv. 19 would not prove that 2 Timothy is not Pauline, but only that Paul most sensitively reflected the realities ofhis time. We may suppose that Titus (according to Titus ili. 12) joined Paul at Nicopolis, and went on mission work to Dalmatia, possibly first accompanying him to Rome. 11. Only Luke. This is not depreciatory as it sounds: in Col. iv. 14 he is ‘the beloved physician’; but Paul was accustomed to a group of followers (cf. Philem, 24), and besides, Timothy was so dear that, with him absent, the old man felt lonely. Paul wanted also to get Mark back to him. The former distrust (Acts xv. 38) had gone, and in the first imprisonment Mark had been a companion (Col. iv. 10), He is now regarded as useful for ministering: lit. ‘ diaconate,’ which might mean either personal or missionary service, ‘Useful’ is the word rendered at ii. ar as ‘ineet for use.’ 170 II TIMOTHY 4, or 12 thee: for he is useful to me for ee 13 I sent to Ephesus. The cloke’ that I left at T ees Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, 14 the parchments’. Alexander the coppersmith aid» much evil: the Lord will render to him peri So 15 works: of whom be thou ware also; for he g 42. Tychicus, of the province of Asia (Acts xx. ew Paul on his third missionary journey In Col. iv. 7, 8, he is, as the bearer of por gp : affectionate terms ; in Eph. vi. 21 he is i : connexion. In the letter to Titus Paul Tychicus to take the place of Titus in ys: (iii. 1a). It is pe that I sent is the epistolary aorist, and is valent to. Ta sending’; in this case Tychicus may have sent sa Timothy’s place at Ephesus while the latter came to Rome. 13. the cloke. The Peshito took this to be a case for b 00k: (the word had that meaning). But it is more to on a long-sleeved travelling-cloak useful in wiser. in diminutive was used in Chrysostom’s time for a revieny phe importance of this is evident, for it is an and the only authority, for Ritualistic —- unknown. Needless to say the visit to Troas rue = that in Acts xx. 6, six years before. In the in imprisonments it is evident that Paul had been the books, and especially the prepared skins of vellum. These would bé more precious ordinary books, which would simply be papyrus. The con of these books and parchments, as there are no facts to in with conjecture, have greatly exercised the ingenuity of com: tators; e.g. Thiersch supposes that they were notes on the Jesus; Wieseler, documents connected with the Baumgarten, Greek literature; Dr. Bernard, the O. T. diploma of Paul’s Roman citizenship. A safe conclusion m that Paul was not a man of one book (sais libri). , 14. Alexander the coppersmith: perhaps the as in t Tim. i. 20. Riggenbach takes him to be the. J Acts xix. 33. at the evil was perhaps in revenge fon, Paul’s stern t recorded in t Tim. i, 20, and probably took the forin of ac the prosecution in Rome. He was evidently at E or or some place en route; hence the warning to Timothy ewal ofhim. A tradition identified him with ‘the thorn in the fl sh * “cloke,’ ‘ parchments’: both words found only here. ” II TIMOTHY 4, 16-18 171 rithstood our words. At my first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened €; that through me the message might be fully pro- claimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord will i ’ the Lord willrender. Fortunately the MSS. authority is in favour of this calm forecast in place of the imprecation which another mood expressed in the Received Text (Ps. Ixii. 12). Paul also quotes these words, Rom. ii. 6. _ 15. our words: probably the words Paul used in his defence in his first appearance at the trial; ‘our’ may include Luke and Tychicus. 16. At my first defence: what was called in Roman Law prima actio, not, as Eusebius thought, the earlier trial, which was four years before, but the first step of the last trial. That none stood by him, not even Luke, is explained by von Soden in the Hand-Commentar thus: ‘ As the process turned upon work done in his missionary journeys, the Roman Christians would not be able to help him, and Luke was not in a position to help either. All who could have helped had, for one reason or another, gone at the critical moment.’ Riggenbach suggests no one took my part means as fatronus. No Asiatic or influential Roman Christian stood up to protect and plead for the prisoner. This would imply that Luke had neither the influence nor the other qualifications to serve the part, and would leave no reflection upon his readiness to help his friend. 17. the Lord stood by me: viz. Christ. Cf. 1 Tim. i. 12. _ the message... fully proclaimed: or, ‘the preaching ful- filled,’ either because in his defence all present in the Basilica would on Lal hear the gospel, or because the account of his trial would be noised - throughout the world (Mark xiv. 9) ; what happened in Rome was known in the world. I was delivered: i.e. a no iguet was the verdict in the first action, and therefore the decision was postponed. The lion is perhaps an allusion to Dan. vi. 20 and Ps. xxii. 21, without any more definite reference. But considering the popular cry Chris- tianos ad leones, it is difficult not to see a hint at the awful doom of the condemned to be thrown to the lions in the amphitheatre. To suppose that the lion is Nero, or Satan, ‘who goeth about as a roaring lion’ (x Pet. v. 8), is far less probable. 18. The Lord will deliver. The verse is full of reminiscences of the Lord’s prayer. 7 8 2 Il TIMOTHY 4. oe deliver me from every evil work, and w his heavenly kingdom': to whom de the gl and ever. Amen. ty ce 19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesip 2o Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus I 1 2t Miletus sick. Do thy diligence to come before w Eubulus saluteth thee, and Pudenty, and Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren. = mee try hed sa a ’ et from (not out of) every evil work LE remove me f machinations of evil, no doubt by death; for when the sword & on his neck he would be for ever beyond the reach of all his fi assailants and faint-hearted friends. Tr will save me (and bring me) unto his heavenly ii 19-22. Greetings. 19. Prisca and Aquila (Acts xviii. a Jews, tent were expelled from Rome by an edict of C at Corinth ; went with him to Ephesus (Acts there. They send greetings to the Corinthians, in their house (1 Cor. xvi. 19) ; at Rome wih eeeeiea 1S ' (xvi. 3), now back at Ephesus. Prisca is usually mentioned f perhaps she was a Roman lady of some sera. cece Paul the Traveller, p. 268.) m< house of Onesiphorus (cf. i, 16, 17). Certain acne Lectra as the name of Onesiphorus’ wife, and Simszas: and 2 ren as his sons, 20. Erastus (Rom. xvi. 23) was treasurer of Corinth ; it strange if the Erastus who, we read here, abode at Cc be the same man; but he may be identified with eye ‘person the same name in Acts xix. 22. * Trophimus (Acts xx. 4, xxi. 29): an Ephesian’ with Paul at Jerusalem, a fact which led to the riot and E apprehension. > ody ol soe Of course the facts mentioned about Erastus and Trophir must have happened between the two imprisonments. mention their whereabouts to shew that they had — him in his hour of need. : 21. winter: when navigation was suspended. saluteth. See Rom. xvi. 21, 23, for the construction. - The four Roman Christians mentioned are not otherwise k to Scripture, and it seems odd that they should send | a? * *his heavenly kingdom >: a phrase not elsewhere in the N.T. II TIMOTHY 4, 22 173 _ The Lord be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. cies when Paul had just complained of being alone; but perhaps they were comparative strangers to him, and were not available for his defence. Linus, according to Irenzeus (Har. iii. , Eusebius, Ecc/. Hist. iii. 2), was the first Bishop of Rome. The Apostolic Constitutions (vii. 2,6) improved on this and made him son of Claudia. A Pudens and Claudia appear in Martial’s epigram, iv. 13, and another pair of the same name in an inscription quoted by Lightfoot. But the connexion with the persons in the text is quite fanciful (cf. the still wilder conjecture that the Pudens 22 discovered’ in an inscription at Chichester is the Pudens of this Epistle). _ 22. First, a personal greeting to Timothy; compare it with Gal. vi. 18 and Philemon 25. So Barnabas, ‘ The Lord of glory and of all grace be with your spirit.” Then a greeting to the church at large, ‘the sign in every epistle.’ _ Grace... with you (plur.). See on 1 Tim. vi. 21. Note. No other letter presents Paul in his simple manhood so strikingly as this last which we possess of his ; the loneliness and longing for his younger friend, the anxiety for the truth and its defence, the gratitude to Christ who stood by him when all else forsook him, the little personal commissions, and lifelike touches of the closing verses, bring Paul the man before us, and endear him to us for ever, : » he a THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TITUS 2 Pav, a servant of God, and an apcbile of Jest Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, ane knowledge of the truth which is a ae to 2in 1 hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot r i. 1-4. The Salutation: 1. a servant of God. One requisitioned for the, servic the kingdom of God. Paul's usual phrase is ‘a b Christ’ or ‘of the Lord’ (2 Tim. ii. 24). But the © curs James i. t and in Rev. xv. 3 of Moses. The apostle of Jesus Christ gives a specific character to ‘ae duction. One can hardly imagine a forger inventi ‘this kind o slight innovation; but the real Paul with his ity of min would quite naturally designate himself suitably to the hie hand. : according to (see 2 Tim. i. r). A nearer ipo of the preposition would be ‘for.’ His service of God and aj DO Christ is to produce faith in God’s elect and knowledge truth according to godliness. ‘The objective truth» h subjective godliness correspond, and this cata ’ the criterion of the genuineness of both’ (Rigge: )». (E 1 Tim. ii. 4; for the elect, 2 Tim. ii, ro.) 1 2. in hope of. The apostleship rests on this hope of © life as on a sure ground ; all its labours and suffering are s by it (2 Tim. i. 1). In what sense did God, who cannot lie, promise the life eter: before times eternal? See 2 Tim. i. 9. A ies > to Gen. i 15 and Luke i. 70 is inadequate to the expression. Paul goes b into the purpose of God, and sees in that ‘vast backward an abysm of time,’ in the eternity which preceded time, this promi: of God. Butwhile that might justify the statement God purp TPNOS, 1) S04” 175 ‘promised before times eternal; but in his own seasons 3 ‘manifested his word in the message, wherewith I was jntrusted according to the commandment of God our Saviour ; to Titus, my true child after a common faith: 4 Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour’. to give eternal life, how does it justify promised? One can only give definite meaning to the word: by supposing Paul to refer to the truth which John expresses in the doctrine of the Logos. ‘Before the beginning of years, when God said to His Son, ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,’ He gave a promise to ‘man who would be made in His image, a promise of eternal life. This underlying thought leads up to the next words. 3. in his own seasons manifested his word. Here the writer trembles on the verge of the Logos doctrine of John. It would not be appropriate to translate it ‘the incarnate Logos’; but the thought almost breaks through the language. E his own seasons (1 Tim. ii. 6, vi. 15). The idea of the Incarnation and Advent occurring at a suitable point in time is rendered peculiarly fruitful by our modern conception of evolution. Why did not Christ appear before ? is a question sometimes asked. It should be met by another question, Why did not man appear before ? in a (not ‘the’) message: not the act, but the substance, of the message is implied in the word, The ‘I’ is emphatic, as it is 4 in verse 5, ‘I gave thee charge.’ Itis the sublime self-consciousness a an apostle who knows himself commissioned and commissioning atm. iE. 75:4 Lim, i. rx} Gal. ii, 7), d our Saviour God: 1 Tim. i. 1. _ 4. to Titus, true child (no ‘my’ in original) after 2 common faith (x Tim. i. 2). The corresponding phrase to Timothy, ‘in faith,’ only differs in suggesting a closer relation between Paul and Timothy than between Paul and Titus. ‘True child in faith’ suggests that Timothy was his child in faith. ‘True child after a common faith’ would leave it indeterminate whether Paul did not class himself with Titus as heirs together of the same promise, children by faith of the one Father. Altogether there is an originality and personal verve in this salutation which makes it very hard to think of it as a literary forgery. A forger may imitate his original with servility, or he - 1 ©Christ Jesus our Saviour.’ Paul, outside the Pastorals, does not use this exact designation, the nearest being Phil. iti. 20. (See 2 Tim. i. 10; Titus ii. 13, iii. 6; 2 Pet. i. 1, 11, ii. 20, iii. 18.) 176 TITUS 1, 547 5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that th set in order‘ the things that were wanting, anc 6 elders in every city, as I gave thee charge ; if any m a blameless, the husband of one wife, having children tt 7 believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly, For th bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward ; ead se willed *, not soon angry °, no brawler, no striker, not greed may strike into gross divergences; but it is almost b reach of art to be so different that copying is out of the ‘io and yet so like that the personal characteristics REIT unmistakable. I. i. 5-9. The appointment and the qualifications 5. I left thee in Crete. This shews that Pan Crete himself during that busy and eventful time Nir are two Roman imprisonments. For the origin of Cretan Ch ; see Acts ii. 11. . elders. Cf. Acts xiv. 23; 1 Tim, v. 17, 19. = as I gave thee charge invests Titus with the = authority th Paul himself had. 6. The qualifications are the same as those in x Tim. th. r- for bishops (overseers), which shews that ‘presbyter’ and * seer’ are two terms for one office. " J blameless: 1 Tim. iii. ro. having children that believe: anew requirement. — who are not accused of riot or unruly. The word ‘ is found in the story of the Prodigal Son, Luke xv. 13. "3 ”. For the bishop. This again ‘shews that « presbyter’ j identical with ‘bishop’ (overseer). The only other whe episcopus occurs are 1 Tim. iii. 2; Phil. i. 1; Acts xx. 28. as God’s steward: viz. the managet of God's house aT ili. 15). not self-willed. In Aristotle the « gravity’ of 1 Tim, iti, is a mean between self-will on the one side and c on the other. The content of ‘ not self-willed’ is deployed int following words. not soon angry. In Aristotle this ‘anger’ is an ext and ‘inability to be angry’ is the opposite. The mean in he saw virtue is ‘ gentleness.’ r greedy of filthy Incre. In 1 Tim. iii, 8 this is ‘tinea deacons. ied 1 set in order’: a word not elsewhere in the Greek Bible. 2 ‘not self-willed’: only here in Paul (cf. 2 Pet. ii. 10). 5 “not soon angry’: a word only here in the N, T. 3 Te r TITUS .1. 81 i7} ‘of filthy lucre; but given to hospitality, a lover of good ', soberminded, just, holy, temperate* ; holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine; and to convict the gainsayers. For there are many unruly men, vain talkers* and deceivers*, specially they of the circumcision, whose &. just, holy: additions to the other list. The former applies to duties to men, the latter to duties to God. temperate: rather, ‘continent.’ . 9. holding to the faithful word... ‘The whole clause,’ writes Dr. Bernard, ‘indicates the function of the episcopus as the guardian of the deposit of faith’ (x Tim. vi. 20). Commentators like Dr. Bernard are determined to find- here authority for a creed, and for a bishop as the guardian of the apostolic doctrine. As to the latter, we have seen that there can be no thought here of a bishop in the Ignatian senSe: the ‘bishop’ is simply the elder, one of a group appointed in each church. As to the former, it is well to note what Schmidt and Holzendorff say: ‘Faithful . . . the word which corresponds with the doctrine of the church. Hence we have hefe already an ecclesiastical doc- trinal canon, a rule of faith. This supposes the circumstances of the second century.’ If epistopus here meant a ‘bishop’ as distinct from an ‘ elder,’ or if ‘ the faithful word’ meant a doctrinal symbol, we should have to give up all idea of Pauline authorship. But as ‘ bishop’ is identical with ‘ presbyter,’ so ‘ the faithful werd according to the doctrine’ simply means the faithful proclamation of the truth which Paul had taught. the healthful teaching-(marg.). See on 1 Tim, i. 10, gainsayers: 2 Tim. ii. 25. i, 10-16. The hetevo-teachers in Crete. . 10. unruly: 1 Tim. i. 9. they of the circumcision. The Judaizers were the worst of the false teachers in Crete. As we have seen, the wholé character of the heresy in the Pastorals points to a type of Jewish teaching, like that of the Essenes, which had crept into the church. STS Lae En ae ES aa * ‘lover of good’: only here, The negative of this is at 2 Tim. il. 3. _. * temperate”: only here in the N. T. * *vain talkers” and ‘deceivers’: two words only here in the Greek Bible (Gal. vi. 3, the verb of the latter). } N ! Il 12 178 TITUS 1. 12 mouths must be stopped'; men who ¢ rc houses, teaching things which they cums no dex lucre’s sake. One of a a prophet of Lark And Titus, as an uncircumcised Greek, would be especially obnoxious to these men. ; 11. overthrow whole houses: i.e. ‘ealosaeh Indias of. 2Tim. iii.6. This implies that the heretics did not so much teach in the church, in which case their gains would not be prop called base, as surreptitiously get into families, and trade the ignorance, or curiosity, or even vice of the F the women, extracting money from them in a way ’ the strong expression ‘for the sake of shameful gain” ‘ filthy lucre’ is misleading. It is not gain as such that is sha but gain obtained in such a way (the two words are co1 e into one adjective in 1 Tim. iii. 8). It was of the heretics with whom Timothy had to do, that they thought godl: hess was a means of gain (1 Tim. vi, 5). But the bad rep of the Cretans for avarice, to which Men , Plutarch, and Pc refer, might make the words here specially forcible. 12. a prophet of their own: Epimenides, 600 2.c., called by Plato ‘a divine man’ (Laws, 642 D). 8) that the Cretans offered sacrifice to him as to a and in 2 Pet. ii. 16 is the title of ‘ prophet’ ‘to heathen, It is a touch of that consciousness always present in Paul God has nowhere left Himself without a ie a The reference slight as it is, justifies us in ranking some of our poets and teacher among the prophets, without leaving the N.T. standpoint. — Cretans are alway liars, &c. It is a hexameter from Epimenides on Oracles, quoted by Callimachus in his 5 n to Zeus, and well known in antiquity. The Cretans were ranke with Cappadocians and Cilicians, all bee eae K in Greek, as the three worst peoples in the Greek world. a word for ‘to lie’ (Suidas), re al + evil beasts, idle gluttons. Observe, ic aes eristic of the Cretans reappears in these false rp =e vars, vain ke and deceivers of verses 10, II; ‘evil beasts,” unruly and ‘ houses ; ‘idle gluttons,’ the base gain, and perhaps the riot of wine, which are implicitly condemned in the characte abishop. This peculiar aptness in quotation indicates conside! culture in Paul (cf. Acts xvii. 28 and 1 Cor. xv. 33). * “mouths must be stopped’: a word not used by Paul nor the N, arty unless (doubtfully) at Luke xi. 53. “ a | TITUS 1. 13-16 179 This testimony is true. For which cause reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving } nothing is pure ; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny him, being abmrainable? , and | Sata 4 ae 13. Paul's assertion, this testimony is true, is very severe, " especially as the letter was to be read afterwards in the Cretan Church. Holtzmann and Clemen consider it unpastoral tactless- ness to say this; Riggenbach thinks it was only said to Titus, But such outspokenness (Phil. iii. 2) is the privilege of an apostle ; who has ‘felt the spirit of the Highest.’ f “may be sound in the faith: the verb to which corresponds the adjective we have so often had (1 Tim. i. to). Compared with 2 Tim. ii. 25, iv. 2, this treatment of the heretical teachers shews a higher degree of severity. 14. the Jewish fables, and commandments of men: as in t Tim. i. 4; but the special reference, as the next verse shews, is to such ascetic restrictions vas are mentioned in 1 Tim, iv. 3. Such ‘commandments of men’ (the word is always elsewhere in ‘Scripture used only of Divine commandments) have been con- _demned ‘not only by Isaiah (xxix. 13), but by our Lord (Matt. ion 9). Prohibitions of certain foods or of marriage may seem i. ni retain 3 innocent, or to err only on the side of piety, but if they are human and not Divine, they divert our thoughts from the requirements of God, and may be as subtilely hurtful as the gross temptations of ‘the world in just the opposite direction. 15. To the pure, &c. Rom. xiv. 14, 20; Luke xi. 41. When men, though fasting and continent, are yet inwardly defiled and essentially unbelieving, i.e. when understanding and conscience are defiled, the mere outward or physical purity is of no moment in the eyes of God. These Judaizing ascetics, though confessing _ that they knew God, and though practising ostentatiously religious _austerities, were in conduct none the less denying Him, by giving the impression that He who is Wisdom and Love delights in such ‘things. Outwardly correct and even saintly, they were inwardly _ abominable, and disobedient, and reprobate. _ 16. confess; not profess. As Jews, they inherited the great tradition of Monotheism ; they could not plead ignorance of Him ‘abominable’: only here in the N.T. (though the cognate N 2 = 13 14 15 16 180 TITUS 2. 1,2 disobedient, and unto every good probati 2 But speak thou the things which befit ae sounc 2 doctrine: that aged men be temperate, grave, sober- as an excuse for their pervevse presentation of Him, as the that know Him not might (1 Thess. iv. 5). For unto every good work cf. 2 Tim. iii, 17 and Titus iii. 1, reprobate: 2 Tim. iii. 8. a The hetero-teachers of this Epistle are particularized a m- pared with those in r Timothy, by reference to the Cretan n: s character, to the subversion of ‘whole homes, and to special ascetic demands described as ‘the cone ae of men’ ‘as i Matt. xv. 9). In Romans and Corinthians the wdaizers an called ‘weak’; here they are ‘defiled plies, Judaizing tendency i in the church was a disease, Paul's lifetime grew worse and worse; ulti Catholicism, it captured and subdued the church Tee: to ag of the Reformation. In the modern revival of Ca : exhortations of the Pastoral Epistles acquire a néw value. II. ii, r—iii. 7. This main passage of the Epistle is an i Titus to apply the precepts of the healthy doctrine to several classes and conditions of men ; and it incidentally implies that the healthfi influence of the teaching must depend to some extent on the discrimination with which it is thus applied, just as a physici is effective not so much by a theoretical knowledge of medic as by recognizing what medicine must be given to the partic ar patient, and how and when. oe Chap. ii. is complete in itseli First there is ‘speak’ ve then ‘exhort’ (6-10), and lastly ‘reprove,’ implied in 11- Then ‘speak, exhort, reprove’ in verse 15 is the summi The truth in verses 11-14 also Pitas the directions given in verses 2-10, ‘The grace of God hath 5 that is the general healthful truth from which the applications ‘ men and women, to the aged and the young, are drawn. © i 1. But: in contrast with the misleading tenchian, Sie is be active in his right teaching. ; sound doctrine. See on 1 Tim. i. 9; 2 Ti ae 2. aged men. The word used (only Philem. 9; is not the same as in 1 Tim. v. 1, though the idea is the same, } not elder as official, but only in ‘point of age. aa temperate: I Tim. iii. 2. iq grave: 1 Tim. ii. 2, iii. 4. 7 words are in Rom. ii, 22; Rev. xxi. 8; Mark xiii. 143 Lu XVi. 15) d minded, shia in faith, in love, in patience: that aged wo- 3 ~ men? likewise be reverent ® in demeanour *, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good‘; that they may train® the young women to love 4 : their husbands, to love their children, 70 de soberminded, 5 s WG ae 181 y ‘ a ' goberminded: 1 Tim. ii. 9, iii. 2, i. 8. 3 sound in faith. Even Dr. Bernard admits that faith here is _ subjective, and not objective in the sense of creed. But in truth, _the subjective sense is never lost in Paul’s genuine writings. Faith is not a body of truths to be believed, but the spiritual - faculty by which truth is assimilated. And old men are to be kept sound in this faculty, as in love and patience. (Cf. Jas. i. 3 for the connexion between ‘faith’ and ‘patience.’) The three _ graces here named together (as r Thess. i. 3; 1 Tim. vi. 11) are _ thus distinguished by Ignatius (Polyc. 6): ‘faith the helmet, love the spear, patience the armour.’ _ 8. reverent is hardly expressive enough; ‘priest-like’ would _ be more adequate. The original signifiés a demeanour such as becomes a priest engaged in the mysteries of the house of God. Note, one of the few places in which the N.T. refers to the _ hiereus (priest), and here it is applied to ‘old women.’ Cf.1 Tim, _ ii. ro for the religion of women. demeanour. Ignatius (Zyral/l. 3) affords a useful illustration. Speaking of the Trallian bishop, he says that his ‘demeanour’ was itself a ‘ great lesson.’ slanderers: 1 Tim. iii. 6, 11. enslaved to much wine: an expression stronger than ‘ given to much wine’ in 1 Tim. iii. 8, in proportion as the Cretans were worse than the Ephesians, and old women given to drink are “more incurable, more in the bondage of vice (Rom. vi. 18, 22), than young. teachers of that which is good: or, ‘beautiful.’ Does this contradict 1 Cor. xiv. 34? Probably not, because the sphere of their teaching is defined in the following words ; 3 it is not public, but domestic teaching—not ag instruction of men, but of younger “women. ~ ‘aged women’: a word only here in the N. T. ‘reverent’: only here in the N. T.; but cf. 4 Macc. ix. 28, xi. 19. “demeanour’: only here in the N. T. “teachers of that which is good’: a word found only here. ‘train’: the verb used here (akin to ‘soberminded’ in verse 2) does not occur elsewhere in the Greek Bible, neither does the word for ‘love their husbands.’ The word for ‘love their children’ is peculiar to this passage in the N. T, aor © De 182 TITUS 2.5 chaste, workers at home, kind, being in wihjedtiolat own husbands, that the word of God be not pi rt 5. workers at home: if this reading is to be found only here and in a medical writer of the second ; The best MSS. support this unusual word, but the majority of MSS. have a word which means ‘ keeper-at-home.’ Balerky change would be tempting, because this word was a usual term ' describing a good wife (e.g. Philo, de Exsecr. 4). ‘Cleaving to_ one husband, loying the keeping-at-home, and Dra rule, of the one,’ is Philo’s description (de Prof. aa more unusual word would exactly express the thought of F that woman's ‘ work’ was not in the church assemblies, but in the home, And, therefore, intrinsic probability as well as the best MSS. justify’ the Revisers in their renderi kind: /it. ‘good’ (as in Matt. xx. 15 ; 1 Pete ii, 18), in reference to the particular service. 4 being in subjection to their own husbands. See Eph. vy. a2; Col. iii. 18 for'the Christological reason of this s that the word of God be not blasphemed, as in Isa. lil. 5 eae was, by any irregularity of those who bore His name (on See 24). The reference in the last words need not be confined to the clause ‘submitting themselves to their husbands’; it may quite naturally refer to the whole exhortation to 100 Nothing would more discredit the new truth of God than a suspicion that by breathing a spurious spirit of emancipation into young women, it was making them less dutiful wives and mothers, ; Perhaps we should not lay stress on the fact that while was told to treat the younger women as sisters (t Tim. v. 2 Titus was only to instruct them through the elder if the difference was determined by a difference of character and” susceptibility in Titus, it would be a minute evidence of the genuineness of the Epistle. There are some young ministers who can easily treat young women as sisters in all purity, because their passions are not inflammable, or because their persons are unattractive; there are other young ministers whose lies in an austere detachment from young women of every and it is shrewd counsel in such a case to minister to the younger women through older women as deputies. We have not, however, any intimation of Titus’s idiosyncrasies which would give to this argument for authenticity any weight. 6-10. Exhortations to young men, the class from ia deacons would be drawn (1 Pet. v. 5); and slaves, the class in whose con- dition the gospel had made the most revolutionary change. TITUS 2165) 183 the younger men likewise exhort to be soberminded : in 6, 7 all things’ shewing thyself an ensample of good works ; - in thy doctrine shezwng uncorruptness, gravity, sound 8 __ speech, that cannot be condemned ; that he that is of the _ contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say . _ of us. Zxhort servants to be in subjection to their own 9 6. For young men example in the teacher is more powerful than precept ; this is a fine psychological touch. The exhortation to the minister to exhort the young men turns at once to an exhortation to be what he wishes them to be. 7. ensample. Cf. 1 Tim. iv. 12, where the genitive refers to the persons to whom the example is set, and not, as here, to the substance in which the example consists. 4 in thy doctrine should be, as Wycliffe rendered it, ‘in thy _ teaching.’ uncorruptness, i.e. freedom from erroneous teaching (ef. 2 Tim. iii. 8), though this purity of teaching, as its combination with gravity and sound speech shews, is. regarded rather as a quality of the teacher than as a description of the teaching. Indeed, the teacher’s character and life must be orthodox, or his orthodoxy of teaching will not tell (so Luther, Huth, von Soden). a 8. sound speech. Cf. 2 Tim. i. 13 and 1 Tim. vi. 3, where __ ‘sound’ is not the adjective as here, but the participle. is that cannot be condemned. This is a searching epithet. _ The healthful word of the gospel may be criticized and spoken _ against, but when it is tried it is not found wanting, and after trial a verdict of acquittal is passed. he that is of the contrary part is to be sought, not in the heathen world (2 Thess, iii. 14; 1 Cor. iv. 14, vi. 5, xv. 34), but _ among the hetero-teachers of i. 10-16. 4 no evil thing: viz. as regards the life. It is the impeccable - life which gives to the teaching of the healthful doctrine its im- _ pregnability ; whereas, if the teacher does not practise what he _ preaches, men, and especially the young men in question, will _ use the faulty life to discredit even the faultless doctrine. +. servants, i.e. ‘slaves.’ See 1 Tim. vi. 1, and notes there, _ 1? *The phrase translated ‘in all things,’ the usage in ‘ an ensample of good works,’ the words for * uncorruptness,’ ‘ that cannot be con- _demned,’ and the phrase for ‘he that is of the contrary part,’ and ' even the combination in ‘sound speech,’ form a group of six ex- _ pressions that are only found here inthe N.T. (In the eight verses 1-8 there are thus thirteen dag Aeyépueva.) ; To I! 184 TITUS 2. ro, 11 masters, and to be well-pleasing “0 them in al not gainsaying; not purloining, but shewing all gooc fidelity ; that they may adorn the doctrine of God o Saviour in all things. For the grace of God hath well-pleasing: elsewhere Paul uses this word of Christ or in reference to God. But altogether the language gives to slaves a Divine dignity, which was the foretaste of emanci- ation. F 10. purloining: the word used in Acts v. 3 of Ananias and Sapphira. Tyndale rendered it ‘neither be pickers”; it refers to a kind of theft peculiarly easy for domestics, good. See verse 5. that they may adorn, &c. Matt. v. 16: ‘that others may see your good works.’ This stately thought, that slaves, by dutiful- ness and unselfishness, have power to decorate the teaching about — God our Saviour (that must be the force of the genitive here) is one of those touches by which the gospel brings fakin a dh to seas. condition of human life. Epictetus shewed that a slave was no hindrance to an exalted life. But Epler was a philosopher, and by power of brain broke his birth’s invidious bar, It was reserved for the gospel to teach that in the lowly duties a slave as such, it was possible to bring lustre to the sublii truth of revelation, the truth that God is Himself our Saviour. (For this phrase see t Tim. i. 1, iv. 10.) Properly to appreciate verses 11-14 it is necestaty 8s connect the passage very closely with the practical directions and reproofs of the preceding verses. For the smallest as well as the greatest duties or aspects of life the whole force of revealed truth is at hand, just as in a great engincering shed the same store of hydraulic force is applied to hammer an iron beam or to insert arivet. Thus conduct of men and women, old and young, bond and mn! determined by the facts: ‘the grace of God appeared,” * salvation,’ ‘that we should live soberly and ear 8 blessed hope of the appearing of the Divine Saviour,’ * elf- giving to redeem us and make us zealous of good works.’ If you ask how an agéd man should behave, or how a young the home should behave ; how a freeman should behave, or how a bondservant should behave ; the answer is all determined the same supreme facts, Grace, Redemption, Regeneration. connexion, it need hardly be said, is singularly Pauline; and ; it has been a connexion singularly’ easy to lose, eer church have seldom succeeded in grasping or establishi: 11. the grace of God hath appeared: be ‘ap for it points to the Incarnation (cf. John i. 14), and Chris’ life and works (cf. 2 Tim. i. 9). TITUS 2..12,22 * - 18g appeared, bringing salvation’ to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this _ present world ; looking for the blessed hope and appearing _ of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ ; unto all men. (Cf. 1 Tim. ii. 4; Rom. v. 18, xi. 32; John iii, 16, &c,) The universality of the Atonement makes it applicable _ to the all sorts and conditions of men just referred to. e instructing us: i.e. the gospel is. essentially an instruction in life, and its object is to produce characters of a certain kind ; cf. the prominence given to the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel narrative. _ 42. denying: as in chap. i. 16, by deeds and not by words; ’ the reference therefore to baptism which Dr. Bernard sees would _ reduce the whole sentence to chaos; we live soberly and godly ' and righteously, not by having once renounced the world in baptism, but by a daily self-denial and taking up our cross to _ follow Christ. ungodliness refers to the religious, worldly lusts to the _ moral, side of worldly life. (For the latter see r Tim, vi. 9; 2 Tim, “iil. 6, iv. 3; and cf. r John ii. 16.) ; ; soberly: ii. 2. righteously: or, ‘justly,’ asi. 8. godly: 2 Tim. iii. 12. this present world (2 Tim, iv. ro and 1 Tim, vi.17): here the contrast is with the world to come (verse 13). 13. blessed: elsewhere applied only to persons. . hope: meaning rather, ‘the thing hoped for.’ Acts xxiv. 15, in a speech of Paul’s; Gal. v.5; Rom. viii. 24. ‘ our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ: or, ‘the great God our Saviour Jesus Christ.’ The adjective ‘great’ is not > applied to God in the N. T., but applied to Jesus it identifies him with God. Grammatically the sentence might mean ‘ the appearing _ of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ’ (A.V.). But (i) _ the word ‘appearing’ in reference to the Second Advent is ex- _ contrary to N. T. usage, and is only significant if the term God is being applied to Christ; (iii) the peculiar insistence of these _ Epistles on God being the Saviour (1 Tim. i. 1), tegether with the _ omission of the article before ‘ Saviour’ here (as compared with chap. i. 4, where the article is inserted), almost forces us to treat _ the terms ‘ great God’ and ‘ our Saviour’ as clamped together by ; a ‘bringing salvation’; an adjective not used elsewhere in the N,T, 12 T3 clusively used of Christ; (ii) the epithet ‘great’ before God is | 14 186 TITUS 2. ™% who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us f all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people mole es possession ', zealous of good works. the article before ‘great’; and finally so Cha, comp of verse 14, which must refer to Jesus balances the sentence if Christ is to be separated God.’ These considerations justify the and shew that we have here the Pauline found Acts xx. 28 and in Rom. ix. 5, that Jesus Christ is to be id with the great God. Prof. Stevens (New Testament Tha 99 maintains the view taken of Rom. ix. 5 by our Christ should be called @cés does not seem strange after existence, creatorship, being in the form of God, equality wit itl God, and the fullness of the Godhead have been attributed to him. The principal objection to this view is that Paul does where call Christ @eés, much less @eds émt wévraw. answered, on the other side, that Paul does elsewhere attribute creatorship and sovereignty over the universe to Christ (e, g. Cc i, 16), and applies to him terms clearly impl ng Ontres c who hold the genuineness of the Epistle to may appeal ii. 13.’ The ambiguity of the grammar would make us hesita' rest the truth on this passage if it stood alone; but the truth b otherwise authenticated, and being required "to give force to t several details of the sentence, may be nafcly reeceained Mecsas 14. who gave himself. Cfor Tim. ii. 6, the Pauline dese: of the Atonement as in Rom. viii. 32; Gal. i. 4, art a Eph. es 5 that he might redeem : the negative, and purify, the po ; purpose of the self-giving of Christ. redeem (or, ransom) us from all iniquity: /it, ‘lawle 1 John iii. 4, and so in LXX, Ps, cxxx.8: ‘He shall redeem I from all his iniquities.’ The ransom (the term used by the L himself, Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45, and employed here a where in the N.T. on that account) is nowhere From Irenzeus to Anselm it was supposed that the pe es paid to the devil for our liberation, because the Lord would be unjust even tohim. But as the Fathers added the pease the devil was tricked by the death of Christ, and having ai him in lieu of men, found that he could not retain the ra paid, this idea became untenable. The idea which Anselm sul stituted, viz. that the ransom was paid to an abstract law, was artificial to permanently hold its ground. no comp satisfactory account of the image of ransom has been given, as Mr. Scott Lidgett has shewn in his Spirual Principle ' The word ‘ for his own possession’ occurs here, — Par BR: Bu B TITUS 2. 13-3. 187 _ These things speak and exhort and reprove with all 15 thority. Let no man despise thee. Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to 3 tonement, the explanation is to be sought in a spiritual sphere, where ‘the self-giving of the Son of God’ in a perfect obedience to God acquires such a value, that in him the whole race may be regarded as potentially reconciled. (See on 1 Tim. ii. 6, p. 98.) by faith men enter into possession of the fact, they are delivered from lawlessness, and brought-into the obedience of Christ Jesus. rom this point of view the obedience of Christ unto death may be egarded as a ransom,.a price paid, which redeems believing men in. But it is not a commercial or even a legal transaction. For the word ‘ransoming’ see t Mace. iv. 11; Luke xxiv. = 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. a people for his own. possession. The alae of the ession of Christ is what gives ea to all the lives of Christians, even the humblest, such as slaves, verse 9: cf. for the idea, 2 Tim. ii. 20-22. good works, a dominant note of the Pastorals (see 1 Tim. ii. To), has its special force here, since the great fact of redemption has been cited as the sanction of the good living enjoined in verses 2-10. 15. authority : the word rendered in 1 Tim. i. 1 by ‘ command- ment.’ It is the notion that the commandment of God our Saviour is passed on from Paul to Titus; and his ministry is thus to rest not on his personal authority, but on the authority of the truth that he delivers. The phrase, rightly understood, does not raise he minister above the truth, but the’truth above the minister. ' § no man despise thee. From the parallel 1 Tim. iv. 12 we are tempted to see in this a proof that Titus was, like Timothy, a young man. But there are other reasons for contemning a teacher besides youth, e. g. a slackness in speaking, exhorting, d reproving; and it is perhaps this ground for scorn which itus is to avoid by the diligent exercise of his task. III. iii. 1-8. Ox the attitude of Christians to the heathen govern- nent and society around them. 1. Put them in mind: viz. all the different classes referred in ii 1-10. to rulers, to authorities: that Roman Government to which 188 TITUS 3. 2244 authorities, to be obedient ', to be nalieal ( 2 work; to speak evil of no man, not to be ex sntent 3 be gentle, shewing all meekness toward all men. For also were aforetime foolish, disobedient, 4 divers lusts and pleasures*, living in malice 4 hateful’, hating one another, But when the ki Paul always, and with so much reason, shewed rays Ts cf. Rom. xiii. 1. P my every good work, i.e. in reference to os reas Rom. xiii. 6. Perhaps there is q stress on good, limits of obedience to the power that be. 2. to speak evil of no man. Paul pe as one } e7 what it was to be the object of ill-speaking (Rom. iii, 85 Cor 13, X. 30). "' not to be contentious: the word used in r Tim. iii, &. i: gentle: Phil. iv. 5 (marg.). 7 meekness: 2 Tim. ii. 25. He who was ‘meck meek (Mat shewed us that this spirit is to be shewn not Christians, but to all men. 3. For we also were aforetime, kc. The reason ae non-Christians is that we were once in that miserable : condition. This contrast between what we are we were once is very Pauline. (Rom. xi. 30; a ar v. 8; Col. i, 21, iii. 7, 8.) foolish the intellectual, disobedient the iaftar& unbelievers. hateful. Better to keep the distinction of swords a original by translating ‘odious, hating one another.’ ¥ 4. But when the kindness... appeared: cf. ii. 11. “ ppea is the word used of sunrise or of star-rise, Acts xxvii. 20; it sense of the Sun of Righteousness rising with healing in his kindness and love toward men: acombination very co in Greek literature. Paul uses the familiar phrase o f God, a there lies the novelty. This quality of God was mpicgee but, like the sun before sunrise, it arose and shoseya. PP of Christ. love toward men is in Greek ‘philantroPe and : God as the first Philanthropist. 1 “to be obedient’: a word not elsewhere in Paal’s letters t a speech of his (Acts xxvii. 21). 4 ‘pleasures’: this common word occurs Rai bi else in P writings. * ‘hateful’: a word nowhere else in the Greek Bible. TITUS 3. 5 189 God our Saviour, and his love toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did 5 ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration * and renewing of the A God our Saviour. Cf.i.3. Notice the contrast as between light and darkness, of the kindness and love of men in God, and the men odious and hating each other (verse 3). 5. not by works. Cf. Eph. ii. 8, where the connexion is much . ‘the same. This is the great doctrine of the undisputed Epistles, Rom. ix. 11 ; Gal. ii. 16, &c., and is Paul’s most notable contribu- tion to theology. _ according to his (own) mercy: so 1 Pet. i. 3. through the washing should be through a laver of regeneration: so Eph. v. 26 -(cf. Heb. x. 22; John iii. 5; z Pet. iii. 21). Up to this point we have been throughout the passage reminded of Paul’s thought elsewhere. But here a difficulty occurs. That we are saved by faith is Paul's con- stant and distinctive teaching; but here, instead of faith, it is “a laver of regeneration’ that saves us. Commentators agree in regarding the laver as baptism ; and thus it seems that Paul gives the rite of baptism as the means of salvation. In view of the urgent and passionate insistence on faith in the undoubted writings of Paul, we should be forced to the conclusion that if this were the meaning of the passage, the passage did not come from the hand of Paul, but must be referred to that later church doctrine which in the second century rapidly substituted baptism for faith as the means of salvation. But perhaps we may escape this conclusion by laying stress on the connexion of words in the original, which is very imperfectly brought out by our versions. ‘He saved us through a laver (or washing) of regeneration and renewal (which the work) of the Holy Ghost.’ The Holy Ghost governs the laver of regeneration as well as renewal. And as there is no article before ‘laver,’ we are the more justified in regarding it not as ‘the laver,’ but as ‘a laver,’ a laver, that. is, determined by the words following, viz. a laver of the Holy Ghost, who works regeneration and renewal. Thus viewed, the passage is parallel to John iii. 5 and 8, where our Lord, in coupling the water and the Spirit together, shews that his object is to assert the supremacy of the Spirit, implicitly denying the efficacy of the water unless the Spirit be the source of rebirth ; and then at verse 15 he goes on to ew how the Spirit operates by the faith of the believer. By adopting this method of interpretation we bring the passage into _ 7 ‘regeneration’: a word not used by Paul; only found in Matt. xix. 28. . 190 TITUS 3. 6,7 6 Holy Ghost, which he poured out upon us — 7 through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that, being justified t his grace, we might be made hei according to the hop harmony with Paul's thought, though there is no mention of faitt By adopting the method of interpretation of Dr. Bernard, 0 example, we construct a formidable ata arene epuir ness of the Epistle. If we look back om the passage fi ‘ standpoint of later thought, which materialized and extern: the method of salvation, we are sorely to see in the la that baptism which undoubtedly rested itself on this p misunderstood. But if we look from the of F 1 and work up to this passage from his earlier letters, it ag not unnatural to move from the bare idea of faith in as th means of salvation, to the intermediate idea of id ; Christ in death and resurrection, ‘buried with Christ in baptism,’ up to the crowning notion of this later letter, that the faith in Christ as one who dicd for our sins, as one with whom we @ identified in baptism, brings us to a laver which is no a mere water-baptism, but an actual baptism of regen and renewai effected by the Holy Ghost. : Dr. Bernard’s comment that ‘the renewal of the Holy = is the second aspect of baptismal grace, the renovation of the Spiri which is prominent in confirmation,’ is a curious instance : dogmatic prepossession. He thus removes the work of the Spiri altogether from the act of baptism, postponing it till confirmatic with the result that the soul is regenerate by water, and on afterwards confirmed by the Holy Ghost. This is the delusion from which the words of Christ in John iii, 1-16 are meant t deliver us ; and it is certainly a delusion into which our writ here has not fallen, for the laver he speaks of as reger and renewal is the direct work of the Holy Ghost.’ And i this commentator has immediately to retreat from his p in dealing with the following words, for 6. the Holy Ghost, which he poured ont us, as properly says, that baptism of the Spirit was baptism, and not years after in confirmation; see Acts ii. i through Jesus Christ. The outpouring of the } effected by the risen Christ, who himself is Spirit (2 Cor. ii. 3, 17)- 7. justified by his grace: the familiar Pauline thought Rom. iii. 24. his grace: sc. Christ's. This grace of Christ is mentioned in i, 4 and described in ii. 14. heirs according to the hope of eternal life. As the marg shews, the genitive ‘ of eternal life’ can be constructed with ‘ heirs’ TITUS. 3. 89 191 of eternal life. Faithful is the saying, and concerning g these things I will that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they which have believed God may be careful? to maintain good works, These things are good and “profitable unto men: but shun foolish questionings, and 9 or ‘hope.’ The phrase ‘ hope of eternal life’ in i. 1 is decidedly in favour of the latter. And it is no objection that ‘heirs’ is left without further definition; for that is quite a Pauline usage (Rom. iv. 14, viii. 17; Gal. iii. 29: cf. Col. ili. 24). The object of the inheritance is given in such passages as 1 Cor. vi. 9, Xv. 503 Gal. v. 2t ; Matt. xxv. 34; Jas. ii. 5; Heb. xii. 17; 1 Pet. iii. 9; Heb. vi. 12, 17; Rom. iv. 13; Heb. i. 14; Markx. 17; Luke x. 25, Xvili. 18; Matt. xix. 29; Acts xx. 32; Eph. i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 4, ‘the kingdom,’ ‘ the blessing,’ ‘the promise,’ ‘salvation,’ ‘ eternal life.’ 3 =: : g. A recapitulation of the whole passage, ii. 1—iii. 7. Faithful is the saying (cf. 2 Tim. ii. rr) of course refers to what has just been said. The insistence on these truths because one is an heir to eternal life is well illustrated by the title in the salutation, ‘An apostle, in hope of eternal life.’ It is as immortal beings that we have obligations to a holy life here. : confidently affirm: 1 Tim. i. 7. they which have believed God: 2 Tim. i. 12. maintain good works: rather, ‘to be foremost in’ them. This is the perpetual burden of the Pastorals, 1 Tim. ii. 10; and while it forms a contrast, it also gives a necessary complement to 'Paul’s earlier Epistles. But for this recognized meaning of good works in these letters we might, on the strength of the words themselves, adopt the meaning in the margin (cf. verse 14). The Jabour with our own hands at our own calling is a thoroughly “apostolic demand. _ hese things: viz. the proper attention to good works : how this is profitable, see 1 Pet. ii. 12. _ 9. A fresh warning against false teachers before the letter closes, verses 9-11. 2 foolish questionings. See on 1 Tim. iv 4, vi. 4; 2 Tim. ii. 23. The attempt to See different stages of development in the hetero-teachers of the three Epistles, with a view to determine the date (‘The attack upon them is altogether milder here than in Timothy, but at the same time more distinct than in 2 Timothy,’ ‘Schmidt and Holzendorff), is somewhat precarious : the attack here is only milder, in being shorter, than that in 1 Timothy, and the 1 *be careful’; a word nowhere else in the N. Ty to It 192 TITUS 3. 10-42 ~ genealogies, and strifes, and fightings ak they are unprofitable’ and vain. A man th after a first and second admonition refuse ; such a one is perverted °, and sinneth, being sel&cor When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or command to ‘refuse a heretic’ might easily be stronger than anything in 2 Timothy. hr * 10. heretical. If we are to abide within Paul's | must not give to the word an ecclesiastical meaning, but it by 1 Cor. xi. 19; Gal. v. 20, where heresies are sects or parties within a church (so the Sadducees and Pharisees are * heresies” within Judaism, Acts v. 17, XV. 5, XXVi. 5. An he Chats are described as a ‘heresy’ in Judaism, Acts xxiv. xxviii. 22). Apheretic here therefore means one who ns (Rom. xvi. 17) within the community, but does not pal away from it. Titus is told to admonish him once or t fails, to avoid (not to excommunicate) him, In2 Tim, the ‘doctrine, here it is the holder of it, that is to te av The word refuse is the same as in 1 Tim. iv. 7. es 11. such: viz, a person who resists one or - two efforts at admonition (Matt. xviii. 15 ; 2 Cor. xiii, 1). a perverted: in the LXX, Deut. xxxii. 20; Amos vi. t2. Otherwise compounded, the same verb appears sini xvii. 173 Luke ix. 41; Acts xx. go; Phil. ii, 15. sinneth: viz. in rejecting the admonition, __ self-condemned : the same idea in 1 Tim, iv. 2. rs not of course mean that he is conscious of his condemnation; quite the reverse. Having resisted the admonition of his dae Det e Le. condemned, and his condemnation lies at his own door. nard’s comments, therefore, on the danger of theological opponents as self-condemned, and therefore critical, because ‘the power of self-deceit is so strong th condemnation is very unusual,’ though salutary, are irrelevar Paul’s sense of the word a man is self-con -d whe refuses the pleadings of truth; and it becomes unrieces church or minister to pass judgement upon nied De unconsciously passed judgement on himself, IV. iii. 12-15. Directions and greetings. 1 : 12. Artemas: only mentioned here; in seo, Dion « stra. ~! © unprofitable’: a word not elsewhere in Paul. ? ‘heretical’: a word only here in the N. T. — 5 “perverted’: nowhere else in the N.T.. “self-condemned’: nowhere else in the Greek nrc TITUS 3. 13, 14. 193 give diligence to come unto me to Nicopolis; for there I have determined to winter. Set forward Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. And let our Zeop/e also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. Tychicus: 2 Tim. iv. 12. From the fact that later Tychicus was sent to Ephesus (2 Tim. iv. 12), it is likely that not he but Artemas was finally sent to take Titus’s place in Crete. Nicopolis: most probably the city on the Ambracian Gulf in Epirus, built by Augustus to commemorate the battle of Actium, and from that fact called ‘City of Victory.’ The colophon of verse 15 in the Received Text is doubly wrong; it assumes that Paul wrote from Nicopolis in spite of the. distinct there, which shews he was not then at Nicopolis, and it imagines that the Macedonian Nicopolis is meant. Dalmatia was just north of the Epirote Nicopolis (2 Tim. iv. 10). The introduction of this city, nowhere else mentioned in connexion with Paul, has an air of genuineness, Also the two phrases, I have determined (1 Cor. V. 3, Vii. 37), and to winter (1 Cor. xvi. 6), are thoroughly Pauline, 13. Zenas: only mentioned here. : lawyer: either in the Jewish sense (Matt. xx. 35; Luke vii. 30), or, more likely, as the name is Greek, in the sense of juris- consult, ‘ counsel.’ i Apollos is the familiar contemporary of Paul. Acts xviii. 24; t Cor. iii. 4. 14. The duty of setting forward other Christians is emphasized by Paul: Rom. xv. 24; 1 Cor. xvi. 6, 11 ; 2Cor. i. 16 (cf. 3 John 6). This introduction of new names, Artemas, Nicopolis, Zenas, must be counted one of the strongest reasons for holding to the belief that we have to do, not with a studied imitation of a Pauline letter, but with a letter of Paul himself. 14. And let our people also learn, This closing injunction may simply arise from the mention of hospitable help demanded for Zenas and Apollos. But, on the other hand, it may be an echo of the insistence on good works which has run through all the _ Epistle, an after-swell of a wave that has rolled in and begun to - recede, For this view there is a close parallel in Gal. vi. 12, &c., where the pen has been put down, but is resumed to add a con- firmatory postscript. On the marginal reading see verse 8. It is certainly tempting here to take the good works as labour with the hands, which provides the means of helping others, But not only the usage of the Pastorals, but such passages as Rom. xv. a8; 1 Cor, xiv. 14, decide against it, ie) ~ 3 14 15 ri, eke 194 TITUS 3. 15 All that are with me’ salute thee. Salute them that love us in faith. Grace be with you all. 15. All that are with me. The phrase sounds the same as Gal. i. a, ‘ all the brethren with me,’ but the preposition is different in the two cases. And, in studying the terminology of the Pastorals, one has to note that ‘ with’ is in them always revre- sented by perd, as here ; while in other Pauline letters ovr is used, as in Gal. i. a. that love us: the ‘us’ may ‘mean only Paul and Titus, but it would be more natural to take it as covering all true Christians. im faith. Chap. i. 4 and x Tim. i. 2 (in 1 Cor. iv. 17 Paul put — ‘in the Lord’ instead). The grace (sc. of Christ) be with you all. It was the sign- manual which Paul had chosen to mark his Epistles (a Thess. iii, 17). In the other two Pastorals ‘all’ was left out; for, speaking, it is not quite appropriate in writing to an indi But the mention of ‘ our people’ (verse 14) suggested it here. + “All that are with me’: this salutation not elsewhere in Paul’s letters (cf. Acts xx. 34). INDEX [The Numerals refer to the Pages.) Z£ons, 93. Alexander, 21, 32, 41, 95, 170. Apollos, 193. anaf Aeyopeva, 45, 85. Artemas, 26, rga. Asceticism condemned, 116,179. Asia, 147. Augustine, 96. Baptism, 189. Bartlet, Mr. Vernon, 13, 22, a9, 48. Baur, 37, 44- Bernard, Dr., 8, 86, 94, 103, 105, 122, 135, 136, 147, 152, 155, 158, 167, 177, 185, 190, 192. Beyschlag, 45. Bishops, II, 23, 33, 34, 104; 114, 128, 131, 176. Bowen, Rev. W. E., 14. Catholicism, 180. Christ is God, rra, 185. Church, 121, 114, 155. Clement, 28, 154. _— of Alexandria, 94. Confirmation, 190. Crescens, 169. Crete, 26, 27, 53, 176. Cretans, 178. Cyprian, 128. Dalmatia, a1, 27, 169. Deacons, 109, 118, 167. Deaconess, 35, 109, 126, Demas, 32, 169, Deposit, the, 12, 145. Devil, the, 108, 157. Eichhorn, 3. Elders, see Bishops. Ephesus, 23, 50, 84. Epictetus, 184. Erastus, 32, 172. Essenes, 125, 130. érepodiBackadely, 38, 157, 177- Eunice, 142. Eusebius, 27, 53 Evangelist, 167. Faith, 7, 94, 99, 167, r8r. Faithful sayings, 119, 152, 191. Forgery, 18, Gaul, ar, 169. Genealogies, 39. Genuineness of the letters, 19. Gnostics, 12, 37, 83, 85, 116, 139. Godliness, 8, 97. Grace, 144. Grau, 17. Hand-Commentar, 58, 84, 103, 142, 143, 146, Heretics, 192. Hermogenes, 147. Holtzmann, 3. Hort, 4, 45, 86, 94, 107, 111, 121, 128, 130. Hug, 22. Hymenzus, 41, 94, 154. Hymns, 113. Imprisonment, second, 20. Inspiration of Scripture, 164. 196 _Jannes and Jambres, 160. Jesuits, 163. Kingsley, 130. Kurzgefasster Commentar, 4, 8, 58, 87. Laying on of hands, 24, 37, Tai, » 129, 143. Lidgett, Mr., 187. Lightfoot, 132. Linus, 173. Liturgies, 152. Luke, author of the Pastorals, 17. — with Paul, 169. Lystra, 22, ; , McGiffert, 3, 6, 16, 51. Marcion, 7, 12, 43, 85. Mark, 169. Mediator, 98. Monotheism, 93. Mosheim, 12. Muratorian Fragment, go, * Mystery, 109. Myths, 86, 118, 167, 179. Nicolaus, 41. Nicopolis, 26, 27, 193. Onesiphorus, 21, 147, 292. Ordination, 122. Pastorals, why ?, 19. Persecution, 162, Philetus, 154. Prayers for the dead, 147. Priesthood, 123, 181, Prisca and Aquila, 172. Ramsay, Prof, 52, 104, 151, 169, 172. Ransom, 98, 186. Riches, 138. ¢: Riggenbach, 10, 87, 100, 103, PRINTED IN GREAT BR THE PASTORAL EPIS OCT 27 tae ig {3 i887 DEMCO 38-297 DATE DUE wi a - f IN, 337.83 83s School of Religion 52054