The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Timothy — Section 15

who have had the advantage of a godly upbringing iree that t.hey are not left behind by those who have been reclaimed from ungodly society. II. EXHORTATION. 1. Timothy is to stir up his gift. "For the which cause I put thee in remt>mbrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the layin" on of my hands." Paul is an adept at exhortation. Timothy, from the memory of Loi~ and Eunice, must catch fire. Nay, he had a personal association with Timothy, in hning laid hands on him at his ordination. On that ground he can call upon him to stir up the gift then received, viz. the ministerial gift. Let him be true to his duties 118 a minister of Christ. 2. Oonfirmatory reasoo pointing to special ezhcrlati<m. " For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline." Let him stir himself up against cowardice to which, as persecuted, he was exposed, and by this consideration that the imparted spirit in its amplitude excludes cowardice. It is a spirit of poWtJr. God hu no jealousy of :is; he wishes to be served with our strength and not with our weakness. It ia a spirit of love; warmth of feeling, and not coldness, God would put into our service. It is a spirit of discipline. So far as this is to be distinguished from the other two words, ii points to the guidance of reason. God wishes to be served, not with our ignorance, but with our well-disciplined thoughts. With more power ·in our wills, with more glow in our affections, with more reason in our thoughta, we shall not cower before opposition. 3. Timothy is called upon to be specially on hi, guard agaimtfalse shame. "Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer h.udship with the gospel." "Shame attends fear; when fear is conquered false shame takes flight" (Bengel). He had no reason for being ashamed on account of his association with the Lord to whom he testified. Neither had he reason for being ashamed on account of his association with Paul, who was not the Lord's servant, but, more honourably (Gal. vi. 17), the Lord's prisoner, i.e. by the will of Christ, more than by the will of Ciesar-a prisoner, the disposal of him extending to the time, and all the circumstances, of his imprisonment. To suffer hardship with the gospel involves an unusual collocation of person and thing. It is usual to interpret the hardship as being suffered with Paul for the gospel. But as the thought requires the fixing of the attention, not on the second, but on both of the preceding clauses, it is better to leave indefinite with whom he is associated in suffering hardship. 4. Reason against false shame in the power of God. "According to the power of God." The idea ia that we should be free from shame in suffering for the gospel, according to the power on which we have to rely. (1) It is a saving power. "Who saved us, and called us with a holy calling." Power has already been displayed toward us in ..Zwticm, which we can think of as completed outside of us. It has also been operative within us, in our beil:1g called. When our unwillingness to accept of salvation was broken down, then we were called of God. It was with a holy calling that we were called, and it belongs to it as holy that we should be above shame in connection with Christ's cause. The power that l1as already been displayed toward us is all in the direction of our being saved from this shame. (2) It is a free power. "Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal." It is a power that is not determined in its exercise by our works or deservings. It was according to his own purpose, i.a. not from outward occasion, but arising in the depths of his own being. It was according to a purpose of grace, i.e. in which sinners, or the undeserving, were contemplated as in need. It was according to a purpose of grace in Christ Jesus, i.e. in which there was a looking to human merit only as in Christ. It was according to a purpose of grace before times eternal, i.e. long before mau could have to do with it. Being a power so entirely pending on God, we can have confidence that it will go out, in the freest, most gracious manner, toward us. (3) It is <J glorious pOWtJr. "But bath now been manifested by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought light and incorruption to light through the gospel." Hidden in God in eternity, it was for a time partially manifested. The time of its full manifestation corresponded with the appearing of Christ, which was also the medium of the manifestation. This is the only place in the New Testament in which the appearing is to be identified with the Incarnation, or the whole of Christ's appearance in flesh. That appeariug was as one of the weak things of the world. Especially did Christ seem to be the very Impersonation of weakness when he was on the cross. Aud yet this was the grandest H THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, [OIL L 1-18,