Vi.
2ο. Ὦ Τιμόθεε, τὴν “ παραθήκην 1 °P φύλαξον, “ ἐκτρεπόμενος
Lev. vi.2, τὰς "" βεβήλους "' κενοφωνίας 2 καὶ " ἀντιθέσεις τῆς “ ψευδωνύμου x.
4, Tob.
13, 2 Macc. iii, 10, 15. p See 1 Tim. v. 21. ii. 16. t 2 Tim. ii. 16, not LXX.
1 παρακαταθήκην many cursives.
q See 1 Tim. i. 6. u Here only, not LXX.
r See 1 Tim. i. 9. s 2 Tim. v Here only, not LXX.
2 καινοφωνίας FG, a few cursives, ἆ, 6, f, δ, m5°, vg. (vocum novitates).
Stability is the essential characteristic of a foundation. There is a contrast im- plied between the shifting uncertainty of riches, as a ground of hope, and the firm and permanent foundation of a Christian character. (So, nearly, Theod.) Ingenious conjectures have been sug- gested for θεμέλιον ; but it is safe to say that the mixture of metaphors—due to the condensation of language—does not distress those who read in a devout rather than ina critical spirit. For the sentiment cf. Matt. vi. 19,20. There is some support given to the conjecture of Lamb-Bos, θέμα λίαν, by the parallel from Tobit iv. 8 sq. cited by Bengel, μὴ φοβοῦ ποιεῖν ἐλεημοσύνην " θέμα γὰρ ἀγαθὸν θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ εἰς ἡμέραν
ἀνάγκης. See, on the other hand, what Ecclus. i. 15 says of Wisdom, pera
ἀνθρώπων θεμέλιον αἰῶνος ἐνόσσευσεν. θεμέλιος is used metaphorically also in reff. It is to be observed that in 2 Tim. ii. 19 there is again a confusion of imagery: the foundation has a seal.
eis τὸ μέλλον is found in a slightly different sense (thenceforth), Luke xiii. 9.
ἐπιλάβωνται: See on ver. 12.
τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς: the life which is life indeed, an expression which is one of the precious things of the R.V. It is “the life which is in Christ Jesus ”’ (2 Tim. i. 1).
For ὄντως see ν. 3.
Ver. 20. As Ell. points out, this con- cluding apostrophe, like the last para- graph in 2 Cor. (xiii. 11 544,), is a sum- mary of the whole epistle.
On the intensity of the appeal in the use of the personal name see on i. 18.
τὴν παραθήκην : depositum. The term occurs in a similar connexion with φυλά- σσω, 2 Tim. i. 14, and also in 2 Tim. 1. 12, where see note. Here, and in 2 Tim. i. 14, it means, as Chrys. explains, 4 πίστις, τὸ κήρυγμα; so Vincent of Lerins, from whose Commonitorium (c. 22) Alf. quotes. “Quid est depositum ? id est, quod tibi creditum est, non quod a te inventum; quod accepisti, non quod ex- cogitasti; rem non ingenii, sed doctrinae ; non usurpationis privatae, sed publicae traditionis . . . catholicae fidei talentum
inviolatum illibatumque conserva. . . . Aurum accepisti, aurum redde: nolo mihi pro aliis alia subjicias: nolo pro auro aut impudenter plumbum, aut fraudulenter aeramenta supponas.” That the “de- posit” is practically identical with the “charge,”’ ch. i. 5, 18, ‘the sound doc- trine,’’ i. 10, ‘the commandment,”’ vi. 14, is indicated by the use of the cognate verb παρατίθεμαι in i. 18, 2 Tim. ii. 2, and the correlative παρέλαβες, Col. iv. 17, and even more by the contrast here be- tween it and “the knowledge falsely so called”’.
ἐκτρεπόμενος : turning away from, devitans.
τὰς βεβήλους κενοφωνίας : In 2 Tim. ii. 16 the Vulg. has vaniloquia. The rendering vocum novitates found here in Vulg. and O.L. represents the variant καινοφωνίας. The term does not differ much from µαταιολογία, i. 6, which is also rendered vaniloquium.
ἀντιθέσεις : In face of the general an- arthrous character of the Greek of these epistles it is not certain that the absence of an article before ἀντιθ. proves that it is qualified by βεβήλους. The meaning of ἀντιθ. is partly fixed by κενοφωνίας, to which it is in some sort an explanatory appendix; but it must finally depend upon the signification we attach to τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως. The epithet ψευδων. is sufficient to prove that γνῶσις was specially claimed by the heretics whom St. Paul has in his mind. That it should be so is in harmony with the other notices which we find in these epistles suggestive of a puerile and profitless intellectual subtlety, as opposed to the practical moral character of Christianity. We are reminded of the contrast in I Cor. viii. 1, “ Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up”. Hort (¥udaistic Christianity, Ῥ. 139 544.) proves that γνῶσις here and elsewhere in N.T. (Luke xi. 52; Rom. ii. 20 sq.) refers to the special lore of those who interpreted mystically the O.T., especially the Law. Knowledge which is merely theoretical. the knowledge of God professed by those who “by their works deny Him” (Tit. 1.