τὶ not ashamed, therefore, of the Gos- pel to which our Lord was not ashamed to testify; nor be ashamed of me, who. am in prison because of testimony borne to Him and it. Share our sufferings in, the strength given by God, whose power is displayed in the Gospel of life of which I was appointed a preacher. This is the direct cause of my present lot; but I am not ashamed; for I know the power of Him to whom I have committed myself in trust. Do you imitate His faithfulness + guard the deposit committed to you. 1 am not asking you to do more than some others have done. You know Onesi- phorus and his work as well as I do. When all turned their backs on me, he was not ashamed to make inquiries for me; and, finding me in prison, he con-
156
ΠΡΟΣ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΟΝ B i.
h2Tim.ii. ἀλλὰ ἢ συνκακοπάθησον τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ κατὰ δύναμιν Θεοῦ, 9. τοῦ
3, ποῖ LXX. i Rom. viii.
σώσαντος ἡμᾶς καὶ καλέσαντος κλήσει ἁγίᾳ, οὐ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα ἡμῶν,
28, ix.11, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἰδίαν ᾿ πρόθεσιν καὶ χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ
Eph.i.11, iii. 11.
stantly cheered me by his visits. May God bless him and his! Do you, then, welcome the strengthening grace of Christ, and provide for a succession of faithful teachers to preserve intact the sacred deposit of the faith.
Ver. 8. μὴ οὖν ἐπαισχυνθῇς: The Say- ing of Jesus (Mark viii. 38 = Luke ix. 26) was probably in St. Paul’s mind. He alludes to it again, ii.12. The aor. subj. with μὴ forbids the supposition that Timothy had actually done what St. Paul warns him against doing (Winer- Moulton, Grammar, p. 628, and J. H. Moulton, Grammar, vol. i. p. 122 sq.). See note on 1 Tim. iv. 14. Personal ap- peals are a feature of this epistle cf. ver. πα μα πο 1. Τὰν 1V. Ly 2; 5.
τὸ μαρτύριον τ. Κυρίου: Testimony borne by our Lord, His words, His ethi- cal and spiritual teaching, by which Christianity has influenced the ideals and practice of society. The gen. after μαρτύριον is best taken as subjective. See 1 Cor. i. 6, ii. 1; 2 Thess. i. ro.
τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν: See note on 1 Tim. i. 14.
ἐμὲ τὸν δέσμιον αὐτοῦ: This does not mean one made prisoner by the Lord, but one who belongs to the Lord and is a prisoner for His sake. There is nothing figurative about δέσμιος. St. Paul calls himself ὁ δέσμ. τ. Xp. Ἴησ. in Eph. iii. 1, Séop. Xp. “Ino. Philem. 1 and ο. The idea is more clearly expressed in ὁ δέσμ. ἐν Κυρίῳ Eph. iv. 1. He is a prisoner; he is also ‘in Christ”. The expression also suggests the thought that his earthly imprisonment is ordered by the Lord, not by man. The present captivity is alluded to again in ver. 16 and Π. 9. It is not the same figure as in 2 Cor. ii. 14, “God which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ’’ as His captives. See Lightfoot on Col. ii. 15.
συνκακοπάθησον τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ : Foin us [the Lord and me] in our sufferings for the Gospel’s sake. More than once in this epistle St. Paul declares that he is suffering (πάσχω, ver. 12; κακοπαθῶ, ii. 9). He has said, “Be not ashamed... . of me’’; but he has just coupled the testimony of the Lord with his own ; and further on (ii. 8) Jesus Christ is noted as the great illustration of the law, ‘‘No cross, no crown”’. See noté there. It is
saving grace in the past.
best then to give a wider reference than pot to the συν in συνκακοπάθ. The R.V., Suffer hardship with the gospel is needlessly harsh. The dat. τῷ evay- γελίῳ is the dativus commodi.
κατὰ δύναμιν θεοῦ must be connected with συνκακοπάθ.; and this suggests that the power of God here means power given by God, as in 2 Cor. vi. 7, 1 Pet. 1. 5, ‘*the power that worketh in ας”) (Eph. iii. 20), the assured possession of which would brace Timothy to suffer hardship. Alf. and EII., following Bengel, take it subjectively: the power of God displayed in our salvation (as in Rom. i. 16; 1 Cor. i. 18, 24, ii. 5; 2 Cor. xiii. 4). But St. Paul could scarcely exhort Tim- othy to display a degree of fortitude com- parable to God’s active power. The next verse, τοῦ σώσαντος, κ.τ.λ., is not a detailed description of God’s power to save, but a recalling of the fact that Timothy had actually experienced God’s This consider- ation would stimulate Timothy to play the man.