Exhortation to Faithfulness (2:1–7)
Paul continues his exhortations and warnings on false teachers to Timothy in chapter 2. The issue of false teachers has come up already in this letter as well as frequently in 1 Timothy, which should impress us not to think of the church in the apostolic age as dwelling in an idyllic golden age without trial and testing. The early church experienced the same kind of problems that plague the church today, but we also have the same resource today as then: protection given by our faithful Savior (e.g., 2:13).
Entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others (2:2). This statement shows that Paul does not envision the pastoral or teaching ministry to be the actions of one lone man, but of a plurality of leaders in the church.
A good soldier of Christ Jesus (2:3). When Paul tells Timothy to “endure hardship with us,” the young pastor must act “like a good soldier” (2:3). It is the lot of all soldiers to put up with great hardships in the course of their duties, especially in wartime (cf. 4:5). We don’t know exactly when 2 Timothy was composed, but it was around the time of a foiled plot to assassinate Nero in A.D. 65, led by Seneca and a tribune of a Praetorian cohort named Subrius Flavus. When asked by Nero why he broke his oath of loyalty (Latin sacramentum), Flavus replied, “Because I detested you! I was as loyal as any of your soldiers as long as you deserved affection. I began detesting you when you murdered your mother and wife and became a charioteer, actor, and incendiary!”6
ROMAN SOLDIER
A man modeling the typical dress of a Roman soldier at the Colosseum in Rome.
In addition, the year and a half from June of 68 to December of 69 was soon to witness the passing of the imperial crown from Nero to Galba to Otho to Vitellius and finally to Vespasian—all because of the loyalty or the treachery of the Roman troops under each man’s command. Paul was speaking in general and theoretically about the dedication of a soldier to his commanding officer, but current events were witnessing just how important loyalty of soldiers toward their leaders could be. Timothy’s self-denying service was to be to the Lord of lords and King of kings, who was first loyal to his subjects to the point of death on the cross.
As an athlete (2:5). The athlete shares features with the soldier: Both must endure hardship before gaining the victory (cf. 4:7). Yet here Paul invokes the fact that the athlete must compete “according to the rules” if he is to acquire the victory crown, implying that Timothy must acquire his “crown of righteousness” (4:8) by contesting according to the rules governing the servant of Christ. Many of the athletic contests in the Greek world had judges. For example, vase paintings of boxing matches often depict a judge supervising the match with a switch in his hand to enforce his rulings.
The hardworking farmer (2:6). Farming in the Western world today is performed by a small minority of the population. For example, the U. S. Census Bureau lists about 2 million full- and part-time farm operators out of a total population of over 270 million people (this figure does not list all farm laborers, just the “operators” or owners of farms); this is less than 1 percent. In antiquity, however—as well as in many parts of the world today—somewhere around 85 or 90 percent of the whole population was directly involved with growing or getting food as their primary occupation. Perhaps as little as 5 percent lived in ancient cities because a city requires surplus food production in the lands under its control to support the city-dwellers. In other words, Paul’s analogy of the hardworking farmer would have been much more alive to his original readers than to many of us, because many of them were farmers or had farming experience.
The first to receive a share of the crops (2:6). At first sight, it may seem strange to say that a farmer should receive a share of his own crops (2:6; cf. 1 Cor. 9:7). Were they not his crops? The answer is that they typically were not in Paul’s day, since farms were often owned by absentee landlords. Ancient farmers were often like medieval serfs, who were tied to the lands they farmed but they did not own. Typically city residents, temples, or a city itself owned most of the outlying farm lands around a city.7 It can be estimated from the placement of boundary markers that have been uncovered that the temple of Artemis of Ephesus owned as much as 77,000 acres of rich farm lands extending up to thirty miles outside the temple’s precincts (which was itself about a mile outside of Ephesus). As just one example, here is a section out of the Greek novel from the period entitled Daphnis and Chloe, after the principal characters. The father of Chloe (the girl) approached Lamon, the father of Daphnis (the boy) to arrange a marriage between their children (although the usual custom was for the young man’s father to approach the girl’s). Both men worked small farmsteads with grain, grapes, and herds. Lamon responds:
I’d be mad not to think it a great advantage to gain the friendship of your family, now that I’m an old man and need extra hands to get the work done. Besides, Chloe’s a girl who’s very much sought after, pretty and fresh and excellent in every way. But being a slave I can’t make my own decisions about any member of my family. My master will have to be told of it and give his consent. So look here, let’s put off the wedding until the autumn, for then he’ll be here, according to reports that have been reaching us from town (3.31; Penguin trans.).
This small snippet illustrates many interesting features of ancient slave life (e.g., the father cannot control his son’s marriage), as well as the point at hand that a slave worked relatively independently on a small farm owned by someone else in a nearby city.
Christ and Paul’s Chains (2:8–13)
This section begins with a brief statement about Jesus’ resurrection and messianic identity in 2:8 (“raised from the dead, descended from David”), which summarizes Paul’s gospel. This reference may have been part of a longer confession of faith such as found sketched out elsewhere in the New Testament and in the early church fathers. An example of the latter is this passage from Ignatius of Antioch in his letters to the Trallian church dated ca. A.D. 108: “Be deaf therefore when anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David, and of Mary, who was truly born, both ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth; who also was truly raised from the dead, when his Father raised him up.”8
Chained like a criminal (2:9). Paul refers here to his own chains. He was in prison for the sake of Christ, the gospel, and the elect (2:10). From later statements (4:6, 16), Paul was obviously awaiting trial in Rome, probably before a Roman official of the Praetorian Guard.9 Paul had evidently been arrested and sent to Rome from either Troas or from another city in Asia Minor (4:12, 20) rather than from Jerusalem and Caesarea, as in the book of Acts. He was thus awaiting trial after undergoing a preliminary examination by the Roman magistrate (4:16–19). Paul was in chains “like a criminal” (2:9). Not all prisoners were chained, and it shows in Paul’s case that the Romans thought him to be dangerous or unreliable. Paul may have been held in a private home under guard or in one of the public prisons in Rome. The Romans and Greeks did not use prison as a form of punishment, but merely as a way to detain prisoners until trial. Afterward, various punishments such as fines, confiscation of property, banishment, enslavement, hard labor in the mines, or the death sentence were meted out. Paul expected the latter (4:6).
ROMAN COLOSSEUM
The photo shows the area beneath the stadium floor.
Here is a trustworthy saying (2:11). The lines of 2:11b–13 undoubtedly comprise the “trustworthy saying” (see comments on 1 Tim. 1:15).
Instructions to Timothy (2:14–26)
A workman who does not need to be ashamed (2:15). Paul exhorts Timothy to consider his task as a Christian minister and teacher as if he were a construction engineer “who correctly handles the word of truth” (2:15; cf. 1 Clement 34.1). Paul uses a rare verb here for “correctly handles.” The etymology comes from two words meaning “to cut something straight,” and the verb is found with that meaning in the Greek translation of the OT referring to the setting out of a path or roadway in a straight direction (Prov. 3:6; 11:5). If the analogy Paul invokes refers to highway engineering and since the Roman roads back then—many of which are still in use today—are marvelous examples of careful and skillful work, we can understand that Timothy was to skillfully teach the word of God in an upright manner without deviating from the straight pathway into “quarreling about words” or “godless chatter” (2:14, 16).
Their teaching will spread like gangrene (2:17). In contrast with Timothy’s “sound” (or “healthy”) teaching (cf. 1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Tim. 1:13), the teaching of the ungodly “will spread like gangrene” (2 Tim. 2:17). In a world where antiseptics and sterilization were unknown, gangrene was a common malady. This was particularly so in antiquity where a medical consultant was as likely as anything to have his patient visit a hot springs, sleep in the temple of the god of healing (Asclepius), or pronounce a charm over an infection. Gangrene was often the result of such treatments.
Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus (2:17). Paul names Hymenaeus and Philetus as two of the aberrant teachers of whom Timothy is to beware. Paul has already mentioned Hymenaeus, whom he had excommunicated (see 1 Tim. 1:20), but Philetus is otherwise unknown. However, he does mention their error: They claim that the general resurrection of the dead has already occurred and thereby are destroying the faith of some (2 Tim. 2:18; cf. 1 Cor. 15). It is interesting to note that this particular heresy is making a comeback today by those who teach that the return of Christ and the general resurrection of the dead was fulfilled in A.D. 70.
Sealed with this inscription (2:19). The church of God is built on a solid foundation by God himself, who has inscribed his seal on it.10 A seal was used in antiquity to prove the authenticity of something; in this case, God has inscribed his assurance to us that he knows his own and is secretly preserving them as well as issuing his command that all members of the visible church (“everyone who confesses the name of the Lord”) must produce the good fruit of faith and turn away from evil. Inscriptions were found on all the solid marble and granite public buildings in antiquity, and the texts of these inscriptions comprise a major source for our understanding of life back then. Paul turns the commonplace sight of building inscriptions into a spiritual lesson.
Articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay (2:20). Paul refers to various kinds of “articles” or “vessels” found in a large household. Modern archaeologists have unearthed countless quantities of these objects—from delicate glass perfume jars to huge stone wine containers. The “ignoble” articles of 2:20 would include the rough clay chamber pots found in every household. There were public toilets in most of the larger cities—some with underground canals to carry away the waste—but chamber pots were still needed. The “noble” articles would include the fine table service dishes and ornamental painted ceramic jars. One common example of the latter that every Greek household contained was a special, beautifully painted amphora given to a bride at her wedding and then displayed prominently in the home thereafter.
Escape from the trap of the devil (2:26). Paul concludes his exhortations to Timothy in this chapter by telling him to “flee the evil desires of youth” and “foolish and stupid arguments” (2:22–23). Instead, he is to gently persuade and instruct his opponents, “in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (2:25), and thus they will escape the “trap of the devil” (2:26). Trapping was a common form of hunting in antiquity. In early days, wild boar, lions, hare, and deer were trapped with nets, sometimes with the help of hounds. Birds too were trapped in nets or by applying sticky birdlime to branches where they congregated. This is a vivid image for the deadly effects of sin.