The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Timothy — Section 61

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1, 2.-..d solemn charge to Timothy to make full proof of hie ministry. The prospect of his approaching death led the apostle to address his young disciple with deep and earnest feeling. I. THE SOLEMN ADJURATION. <'I charge thee in the sight of God,and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom." The object of the apostle is to impart to Timothy a solemn sense of responsibility in the discharge of his IIDnistry. 1. ..dll preache'T's must one day give an account of their stewardship. Such a thought ought to stimulate them to greater faithfulness. 2. Their respomibility is to God and Jesus Christ, who are Witnesses of their work, as they have made them good ministers of the New Testament. 3. Je.sv.s Christ is the Judge of the two claB/1611 of living and dead saints, who in the last day shall appear before his judgment-seat. All judgment is committed to him, and he will exercise it righteously. 4. The judgment will take place at "his appearing and his kingdom;" that is, at his second coming. 5. The reward of fidelity is a/,so held out to faithful servants in con- nection with the gl<Yry of" his kingdom." II. THE DUTIES OF THE FAITHFUL MINISTER. " Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching." 1. Hi,firat and pre-emintnt duty is to preach the gospel, because it is the power of God to salvation. There is no injunctiou to arlminister the sacrament~, though that would be included in his dutioH. There is nothing, therefore, to justify the higher place which, Tractarians assign to the sacraments beside the Word. It is a significant fact that the success of the apostles, as recorded in the Acts, is mver once attributed to the sacra- ments, but always to the Word. 2. The minister must have an earnest 'WT'gency in every part of his w<Yrk. He must create opportunities where he cannot find them; he must work at times both convenient and inconvenient tu himself; he must approach the willing opportunely and the unwilling inopportunely. 3. He must reprove, or convince, those in err<Yr a, to doctrine. 4. He must rebuke the unruly, <Yr imm<Yral in life. 5. He must "exh<Yrt with a/,l long-su.ffering and teaching "-exercising due patience, and usiug all the resourres of a sanctified understanding, to encourage men to keep to the ways of good doctrine nnd holiness.-T. C.