Bible Commentaries
2 Timothy 2

XII

A FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST

2 Timothy 1:7-2:5

We closed the last chapter with the statement that when Paul laid his hands on Timothy’s head, the power of the Spirit came upon him. He reminds Timothy of the fact that the gift of the Spirit has for one of its purposes to confer boldness and courage. That leads us to see the application, verse 7: "For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love, and discipline."

We see the force of the "therefore" with which 2 Timothy 1:8 commences: "Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God." Paul did not know but that Timothy over there, with all that outgoing tide might do like some of the others – get scared and be ashamed of the gospel and its testimony. I have known preachers who were ashamed of it in what is called "polite society."

Paul illustrated by referring to God’s salvation and calling, "Who saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal [he never loses sight of the doctrine of election and foreordination], but hath now been manifested by the appearing of our Saviour, Jesus Christ." Now comes a great text. I have preached from it about thirty times in my life: "Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

When the Southern Baptist Convention met in New Orleans, I was appointed to preach at a Presbyterian church at night. I took that text and for just about one hour, without stopping, and with great fervor, I preached on it. The Presbyterian preacher’s wife said she knew I had written it and memorized it word for word. But I had not. My heart was in it, and speaking of the King my tongue became as the pen of a ready writer.

"Jesus Christ, who abolished death." Very few people believe that. He said to Martha: "Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this?" What is meant by it? Not altogether as death was abolished in the cases of Enoch and Elijah, and the living who are to be changed at the second coming of Christ, as it was originally intended that man should, by access to the tree of life, be freed from all susceptibility to weakness and death and mortality, and become immortal. That is not the meaning here. What is meant is that in the separation of soul and body there is a difference between the believer’s case and the sinner’s case. To one, in a true sense, death is abolished, and to the other it is not abolished.

The meaning can more accurately be conveyed by an illustration: In the Pentateuch Canaan is the Land of Promise, and Egypt is this world. There are types running all through the pilgrimages. The last barrier intervening between them and the Promised Land is the river Jordan. When they got to the river it was at its flood – no bridges, no boat. They had to cross that – men, women, children, flocks, and herds. Without any explanation God commands them to go straight forward: and it came to pass that when the feet of the priest who went before the ark of the covenant, touched the brim of the water, the river divided. God stayed the waters, and the waters backed up against his will, his will being the dam that stopped it, all the water below ran off, and they crossed over dry-shod. In that illustration we see that when they came to the last barrier separating them from the Promised Land, that dreadful river was no river to them. The channel was there, but they passed over dry-shod. It is represented this way in our hymnology:

Could I but climb where Moses stood and view the landscape o’er Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood could fright me from the shore.

When the Christian dies, no matter what suffering his body may seem to go through, in the hour of dissolution of his soul and body, there is no death, no matter whether he is a young Christian or an old one. It is no more than stepping over a chalk mark on the floor; it is no more than stepping through a door into another room. It is to him all light – no darkness.

Take the case of Lazarus: "And it came to pass that the beggar died [no pause at all], and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom." Abraham reclining at a banquet in the kingdom of heaven, many coming from the north, south, east, and west, and reclining with him; one of them is Lazarus, who was starving on earth, begging the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. At the very instant of his death he passed to the heavenly banquet, and received the honorable place next to Abraham, so that his head is against Abraham’s bosom, as John at the Lord’s table rested his head on the bosom of Jesus.

That is what Paul means by abolishing death. There is no sting. My soul has so taken possession of that thought, and I have witnessed so many cases where dying Christians realized it, that I have not had any fear of death whatever for many years. There is nothing horrible in it to me, not a bit more than just lying down and going to sleep. Jesus has abolished death to his people.

I have before quoted the testimony of a Methodist bishop, who all of his lifetime feared death; it was a terrible thing to him. He was afraid that when he came to die his agitation would bring reproach on the cause of Christ. He was not afraid of any external enemy, but was afraid that in dying his fear might reproach Christ’s name. But just as he was dying his eyes were opened) his face was shilling, and looking around the room he said, "Brethren, brethren, is this death – this light, this glory? Why should I have dreaded it?" That is the thought. "Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, hath abolished death." The bearing of this on Timothy’s case was this: "Persecutors are seeking your life, as they seek mine. Remember that the Lord said they cannot kill the soul. They cannot even bring terror to the soul, in the dissolution of soul and body." There is no sting in death to the Christian. The sting of death is sin, and sin has been blotted out. The strength of sin is the law, and the law has been satisfied. The power of death is the devil, but he has been conquered.

Now look at the second part: "Who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." What is life? Life everlasting for the soul. A man dies and there lies his cold body. Where is that which a few moments ago warmed and animated that body? As Job said: "Man dieth and giveth up his spirit. Where is he?" When Jesus brought life to light, and he himself entered into the realm of death, that bourne from which no traveler has ever returned, and came back from it, he flashed a flood of light upon the status of the spirits of the departed saints. That status existed before, but had never been brought to light.

The river Niger has many mouths and empties itself into the Gulf of Guinea. It has always had them, ever since it has been a river, but the fact was not brought to light until a few years ago. Travelers inland would speak of a great river flowing southwesterly) which must somewhere empty into the Atlantic Ocean. But sailors who had coasted along the coast of Africa and finding no such great river emptying into the Atlantic, were positive that it was all a lie – that there was no such river) for a river must flow somewhere. Finally Dr. Lardner went inland and struck it. He got in a boat and determined to follow it to the ocean to find out where the river went. Thus by actual experiment he discovered that before reaching the Atlantic the river divided into a great many small streams) reaching the ocean through a delta.

Just so, Jesus, having entered personally into the disembodied state, and returned to the embodied state of his resurrection, opened up to us the path of life – that is, the path of the soul. It goes right to heaven. Now, immortality is quite a different thing; that concerns the body. When he came back he brought to light the immortality of the body through his resurrection, that God intended to save the whole man, not only his soul, but to raise and glorify his body.

In view of the fact that our Saviour had abolished death and brought to light the life of the soul and the immortality of the body, by the power of his resurrection, why should we be afraid of death? What is there frightful in it? Paul says, Jesus having brought back these messages, concerning both the state of the soul, and the future redemption of the body, the next thing is the gospel, the story of God, or glad tidings. He says, "I was appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and & teacher."

Look at these three words. I was appointed to go out and preach these things to the people intimidated by formidable adversaries, in bondage to the fear of death, the sting of sin, the strength of the law, and back of it all the power of the devil which pressed to pallid lips the cup of death. I was appointed to go out and tell everybody these good things. That is preaching.

Then he says, "I was appointed an apostle." That is a very different idea. An apostle must be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He testified that he was an eyewitness. How? "I have seen the Lord since he came back. He appeared to me on the road to Damascus. He has stood by me many times since. I saw him in his glory, and therefore I am an apostle. I am a witness to that resurrection."

The other thought is that he was appointed a teacher. That is somewhat different from a preacher. A teacher instructs and expounds; a preacher proclaims. The teacher takes the word of God and rightly divides it, giving to each one his portion in due season, administering the sincere milk of the word to young converts, and the meat to the more mature Christians. That is the distinction between preacher, apostle, and teacher.

He goes on: "For which cause I suffer all these things, yet I am not ashamed." "These things have not come upon me because I have done wrong. How can there be shame unless I have sinned? I have robbed no temples, I have committed no murder, I have violated neither the Jewish nor the Roman law; but these sufferings have come upon me because I have preached these glad tidings, witnessed these glad tidings, and taught these glad tidings."

He continues the thought (Paul’s thoughts are always connected) : "am not ashamed." "If I had stolen something, or had killed a man and had been convicted therefore before the court, I might be ashamed. But these things have come upon me because I have done what I ought to do, and I am not ashamed and you ought not to be."

That brings us to the next great text: "I know him whom I have believed." Faith is not credulity; it is founded on knowledge, as Dr. Taylor so well put it in a sermon, the outline of which appears in chapter 3. "Knowledge brings you near to the kingdom, faith puts you in it." Knowledge precedes faith. "I know him whom I believed. I never would have attained this serene confidence by some kinds of knowledge. It is not what I know, but whom I know, the personality of Christ, and I am persuaded, I have assurance in my mind, that Jesus is able to guard what I have committed to him."

Paul by faith received Christ, and then by faith committed to Christ his life: "Now I have turned that over to the Lord; it is in his keeping. If you say that I am not a skilled swordsman and am therefore unable to defend my life, I will admit it. If you say that my powers are below the powers of the devil, who seeks my life, I will admit it. But I have this persuasion: The very day I believed in Christ I committed all to him, and my life is hid in Christ with God, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard it today, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next year, when I die, after I die, and clear on until that day, i.e., the time when he will come back, and when he comes he will bring it with him. He will guard what I have committed unto him through all peril periods. There will be no after perils when Jesus comes again."

1 Timothy 1:13: "Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus." Modern people say, "Don’t have much creed, and when you state it, don’t let it take any particular form. Somebody might object." Paul said, "I delivered you a pattern of sound words, and you are to take it just as I gave it to you. You are not to change it." No man is true to the faith who departs from the pattern.

Suppose, for example, baptism, the pattern is this: "They both went down into the water; John baptized him and they both came up out of the water." What did he do when he baptized him? Christ was buried in baptism, and we with Christ were buried in baptism in the likeness of his death and raised in the likeness of his resurrection. That is the pattern. Why not just sprinkle a few drops on one’s head? That changes the pattern. It changes the thought. Let it stand as it was given.

We may apply that pattern to the Lord’s Supper. We notice how carefully a Baptist preacher, when he administers the Lord’s Supper, quotes Christ’s very words, and the words that Paul used in repeating the ordinance. Why? He must stick to the pattern. He must present the ordinance just as we received it.

He refers to the same thing again in 1 Timothy 1:14: "That good thing which was committed unto thee, guard through the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in us." Some say it makes no difference what a man believes if his heart is all right. If his heart is all right he will not believe all sorts of things. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is." It is the faith we have that forms the life we live.

In the introductory chapter I expounded 1 Timothy 1:15-18. What Paul refers to here is what took place when the storm broke on him. All Asia turned away from him. Only Onesiphorus and Timothy stood by him. Speaking of Onesiphorus: "How many things he ministered at Ephesus thou knowest very well." Then when he heard that Paul was a prisoner at Rome, he went to Rome and many times refreshed him there. That closes the chapter.

1 Timothy 2:1: "Thou, therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Jesus Christ." When Paul wrote this he knew that the time of his departure was at hand, and he knew that he had given to Timothy a pattern of sound words, he had given him the faith. But he knew that Timothy would die after a while, and what then? "And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." That is the way the gospel is handed down.

A truly sound preacher is possessed with the desire that somebody who hears him will receive the gospel in full from him, and long after he has passed away will transmit that very thing to somebody else, and that one in turn to his successor, and then to another, and just keep it going. That is succession, and I believe in the succession of the past, but especially in the succession of the present. No matter what we believe about succession back yonder, this is my day and I have the deposit of faith and the injunction is on me to transmit it to somebody else. I am more concerned about present succession than in spending my life trying to prove that there was one way back yonder, though there was one way back yonder, too. Remember the soldier hymns: "Am I a soldier of the cross," and "My soul, be on thy guard."

Listen to Paul’s soldier talk: "Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." Soldiers do not sleep in the parlor (by the way, that is the worst room on the place to sleep in) ; he does not attend many banquets. Sometimes we see him with just one shoe, and sometimes none. Sometimes he has to stand guard all night, and sometimes "double quick." Sometimes he is cold and sometimes hot. Sometimes he is hungry and sometimes gorged. The army that can endure such hardships is going to win.

The fashion soldiers in times of peace, with their hurrahs, gorgeous uniforms, flags flying, drums beating, attending receptions, making speeches, these we call "holiday soldiers"; but the soldier who goes into the fight when the command, "charge!" is given, never stops to consider the wisdom in it, but storms the fortress crowned with belching artillery and bristling bayonets, is the real soldier.

"No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier." When a man enlists he is on service as a soldier. He cannot go to the exchange to gamble; cannot go to the farm to make a crop; he cannot entangle himself with the affairs of this life; he is committed to a special line of duty. "Now, Timothy, you are a soldier on duty; beware of entangling alliances."

I knew one preacher who ran fifteen kinds of secular businesses, and was then surprised that he was not equal to Paul as a preacher! He had that many irons in the fire. I would advise the preacher not to try to ride, at the same time, two horses going in opposite directions. But that is as easy as it is for a preacher to entangle himself with the affairs of this world. If he makes a good deal of money, he will take the sore throat, and every time one sees him he will explain how he had to quit preaching on account of his voice failing; that his physicians advised him to stop.

But let a preacher be nearly barefooted, with not much of this world’s goods, and with the fire burning in his heart that he must preach, and he will preach. But if he is able to go in a coach and six, he always says, "Put up some of the other brethren."

I knew one preacher who was doing well as a pastor until a rich man called him to be his private secretary. Since then he has quit preaching, and is now only a millionaire.

"And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned except that he contend lawfully." Every man must conform to the law relating to the line in which he is engaged. If he is a farmer he must be ready to go to work just as the sun rises. There are some other occupations that do not call for such early rising. But whatever his line of work, he must conform to the laws governing it.

QUESTIONS

1. What the force of "therefore" in 1 Timothy 1:8?

2. How does Paul illustrate here?

3. What great text follows, and what the meaning of "abolished death"?

4. Illustrate by Canaan and Egypt; also by the case of the Methodist bishop.

5. What the bearing of this on Timothy’s case?

6. What the meaning of "life" here? Illustrate.

7. What the meaning of "immortality"?

8. What effect should the teaching of this text have on a child of God?

9. Distinguish between the meanings of the words "preacher," "apostle," and "teacher."

10. What are some causes for shame, and what not a cause for shame?

11. What the relation of faith to knowledge?

12. What kind of knowledge brings salvation?

13, What had Paul committed to Jesus Christ, and what his confidence?

14. What the meaning of "pattern of sound words"? Illustrate.

15. What God’s method of preserving the truth and keeping it always before men?

16. What was Paul’s idea of a good soldier of Jesus Christ?

17. What general principle cited here by Paul?

Verses 6-26

XIII

ILLUSTRATIONS OF A FAITHFUL MINISTER

2 Timothy 2:6-26

This section includes 2 Timothy 2. In the preceding chapter we discussed somewhat the first five verses of this chapter, but in order to a full understanding of the connection we now glance at the whole chapter.

The first question I propound is this: What the gospel provision for the transmission of the correct teaching? The answer to that question is this: "And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). Evidently the gospel contemplates a succession of the gospel ministry from the days of Christ to the end of the world. What Christ gives to Paul, Paul gives to the churches and commits to the preachers, and charges the churches and the preachers to commit that same thing, without variation, to faithful men coming after, that they in their turn may teach others. It is not my intention to show that there has been, historically, such a succession of churches and gospel preachers. I think there has been such succession, but I think it would be very difficult to prove it according to human history, if for no other reason, because so very large a part of that history was written by the enemies of evangelical Christianity. Particularly in the dark ages, those faithful to apostolic doctrines were so hunted and persecuted they had no opportunity to preserve records. But we do see faithful churches and faithful preachers now, and every one would be able to say, as far as his own knowledge goes, it was transmitted to him. I don’t suppose that anybody ever originated it. From this day back to Christ, in some way, by some faithful preacher or other, or by some faithful church, the truth has been handed down. That is the answer to that first question.

The second question is: What is the first metaphor, or figure, by which the apostle illustrates the faithful minister? The answer to that is to be found in 2 Timothy 2:3-4: "Suffer hardships with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier."

In this illustration, or metaphor, the Christian is compared to a soldier, a regularly enlisted soldier, and as a soldier gives up his private business, places his whole time and his entire service under the direction of the power that enlisted him, so the Christian preacher should not entangle himself with the affairs of this world. As a faithful soldier has no time to run a farm, or be a merchant, or be a banker, or to follow any other kind of business, so it was certainly the purpose of our Lord that the preacher should make preaching his life’s business.

On that similitude of the Christian as a soldier, much of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is founded, using that chapter in Ephesians about putting on the helmet, the breastplate, the girdle, the sandals, the shield, the sword. The Christian is contemplated as waging warfare. Paul says of himself in this letter, "I have fought a good fight." From that idea come some of our best hymns: Am I a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause,

Or blush to speak His name? Must I be carried to the skies

On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas?

What the second metaphor, or illustration of the faithful preacher? That is found in 2 Timothy 2:5: "And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned except he contend lawfully." References to the games in Paul’s letters are so abundant, we cannot interpret him without a knowledge of them.

The principal games in Greece were called the Olympic games. These games were held on the plain of Olympia, on the river Alpheus. The isthmus of Corinth connects upper and lower Greece. The lower part is called the Peloponnesus, which is almost an island. In the western part of the Peloponnesus is the river Alpheus. On the right bank of that river lies a level plain. In that plain is a grove sacred to Jupiter, and in that grove is a marvelous temple. In that temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – a colossal statue of Jupiter Olympus, done in gold and ivory, by Phidias, one of the greatest of the Greek sculptors. Then there was the statue to Minerva overlooking Athens. She was the patron goddess of the city and so here this gigantic statue, made of ivory and gold, represented the patron of the Olympic games. These famous games were held from 776 B.C. to A.D. 394, over a thousand years. They were discontinued by an edict of a Christian emperor of Rome – Theodosius, but for that thousand years they attracted the attention of the world.

These games were held every four years – the first full moon after the summer solstice. From them chronology was reckoned for the Greek world. The first Olympiad was 776 B.C., the second four years later; so by four-year periods they continued until their abolition. Pagan Rome reckoned from the building of their city, until the new epoch of Christ’s birth superseded both.

Commencing 776 B.C., for one or two Olympiads these games were foot races only. Soon after were added quoit and javelin throwing, wrestling, boxing, leaping, and still later chariot races. A hippodrome was built covering a circuit of 2,400 feet. The chariots had to drive around that circle twelve times, making a five-mile race. In Ben Hur there is a brilliant description of the chariot race. In the Greek games were no combats with weapons, no gladiators, no fights with lions. The Romans added these bloody contests.

That the whole Greek race might attend the Olympic games, a truce was established so there would be no war anywhere between the petty states while the Olympic games were being played. No state was allowed to send an armed man up to these games. It was a time of peace and festivity. The general and peaceful gathering of all the petty Greek states at the Olympic games gave them the name "panegyris" as opposed to each particular "ecclesia." This distinction Paul utilizes in the letter to the Hebrews. The general festive assembly of all the saints when warfare is over, the eternal feast in the presence of God.

Now let us consider 2 Timothy 2:5: "And if a man contend in the games, he is not crowned except he contend lawfully." That brings us to the rules of the games. In the first place, they were open to all classes of competitors. Whatever might be the home distinction between the plutocrat and the poor man, at the Olympic games they were on a dead level. It was not how rich is the man, nor how illustrious, but can he now as a man win this athletic contest?

The second rule was that he must be of pure Greek descent. A mixed blood could not contend. He must make proof of that before the judges.

The third was that he must have had ten solid months of preparation under competent coaches. After that ten months of training he must give one more month to exercise. No man, whatever his wealth or social status, could compete without this thorough training and exercise on the field itself. Mark the bearing of this on the training of preachers, if you please, because this is a preacher illustration.

The next rule was that he, and every member of his family, must take an oath that he would observe the rules of the games, that he would not play foul. His own father or brother must take the oath that he would play fair. If he played foul in one of these games he was judged a degraded man and must pay a heavy fine. All over the grove were seen remarkable works of art paid for out of the fines assessed on men who would not play fair. Hence we have in our times the proverb: "Play the game according to the rules."

The next rule was that no form of bribery should be used, either to bribe a judge, or to bribe a competitor, paying him so much money to let them win. Whoever offered or took a bribe was disgraced.

The next rule was that the crown awarded to the victor must have no intrinsic value. They wanted no financial incentive. Honor and glory – not gold and jewels – must be the incentive.

The next rule was: No women were ever permitted to be present. In all of my readings I do not remember but one woman being present at these games. A woman might enter a chariot in competition, but some male friend must drive the chariot.

The next rule was that this competitor, having shown that he was born a pure Greek, must also show that he had never been disfranchised, that he had never been guilty of a sacrilege, like robbing a temple or anything of that kind. These were the rules.

Let us see again: "And if a man contend in the games, he is not crowned except he contend lawfully." He must observe every regulation, and his crown of victory was a wreath. In order to deepen the interest in those panegyric assemblies, the great poets were here accustomed to recite their poems, and the great sculptors and painters to exhibit their masterpieces, so that it was somewhat of the nature of a fair. They could sell these poems, or those pieces of sculpture, or paintings. After a while people not only came from Greece proper, but from all the colonies of Greece, all along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea – wherever in the world the Greeks had a city, wherever Alexander’s conquest had extended, the Greeks would come here to witness or to contend. At first the assembly lasted just one day. Just think of what it would cost to be present for one day! Later it lasted five days. It was a glorious time, those five days.

Those were the Olympic games. And yet we must see in some of Paul’s writings references to the Isthmian games near Corinth and the amphitheaters of Greek cities, as at Ephesus. Later when the Roman idea dominated, they put in gladiators, and fights with lions. They became blood-crazed, and women were allowed to attend. When gladiators fought until covered with blood, it was at the option of the crowd to indicate whether they wanted the combat to stop without death. They voted by turning their thumbs up or down; and it was noticeable that women usually voted for a fight to the death. So are they merciless in the Spanish or Mexican bull fights. But all these bloody combats were of Roman origin. Paul may have spoken literally in saying, "I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus."

Now, brother preacher, you are entering a race. As Paul says, "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." You will not receive your crown if you do not contend lawfully – if you do not observe the rules of Christ’s games. As they must be of pure Greek descent so must you be born of the Spirit. You must train, you must lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset you. You must fix your eye upon the heavenly crown, not of fading laurel or olive bough, but the crown which Christ, the righteous Lord, will give to us at his appearing. Said Paul: "I have run my race and finished my course, and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown which Christ, the righteous Judge, will give to me." It is laid up in some of the mansions of heaven, and if you were permitted to visit heaven’s gallery of waiting crowns, you might see the most dazzling crown ever designed for human brow. That is Paul’s. When does he receive that crown? When Jesus comes, in the presence of the universe, he will be crowned for being faithful to the game, for playing the game according to the rules. One of the most convincing arguments in the whole Bible for the necessity of ministerial training is this illustration of Paul comparing the preacher’s preparation to the work of a soldier and to a contender in the Olympic games.

The next illustration or metaphor is 2 Timothy 2:6: "The husbandman that laboreth must be the first to partake of the fruits." It is the farmer this time. First a soldier, then a con tender in the games, now a farmer. What about his work? Whoever does the work must receive first pay. No matter who owns the land, this man who did the plowing, who did the hoeing, who did the planting and cultivating, before anybody else gets anything, he is entitled to his part. What a fine thought to apply to political economy: not to let the man who does the work be deprived of what is coming to him. Therefore, they who preach the gospel shall live of the gospel. The laborer is worthy of his hire.

The fourth metaphor or illustration is covered in 2 Timothy 2:10-12, the thought culminating in, "If we suffer with him we shall reign with him," and it is expressed in these words: the cross before the crown. We do not come to the crown first; we go by the way of the cross. That is the given order. What Shylock said of the Jew is true of the Christian, "Sufferance is the badge of all our tribe," and we must suffer if we would reign. On that point we have some magnificent hymns. One of them is:

Must Jesus bear the cross alone And all the world go free?

No, there’s a cross for every one, And there’s a cross for me. Or, the way that hymn was originally written: "Must Simon bear the cross alone." On the way to Calvary, they found a man named Simon coming in from the country, and when Jesus broke down they compelled Simon to bear his cross and that song originally read: "Must Simon bear the cross alone and all the world go free?"

I knew a preacher who once invited all who thought their sufferings beyond their strength, more than they could bear, to come and hear him preach a sermon. There was a big crowd out, and it was a burdened crowd. He took this text: "If we suffer with him we shall reign with him," his theme being the cross before the crown. He drew a picture of the pilgrim who bears the cross. "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." He showed how the disciple from a child must bear a heavy cross, and how at times he stumbles with it, groans under it, is weary of it, envies people who have no burden, but how after a while, bowed down with the burden of the cross of long carrying, with trembling feet he comes to the Jordan of death. And when he gets there he shouts and takes his cross, as Elijah took his mantle, and smites the river of death with it and divides the river, going over dry-shod, leaving his cross behind never to be seen any more forever, and goes up to his waiting crown. So it pays to carry the cross even that long, as with it he divides the river of death.

Notice in 2 Timothy 2:10: "Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake." There we come to a new motive. "Why do you endure all this suffering, Paul?" "Not only for Christ’s sake, but for the elect’s sake. I am anxious for their salvation. If I can reach more men by suffering, I will bear it. If I can save souls by my bleeding wounds, by my jangling chains, by my stripes, and by my imprisonment – if that gives me more power in converting men, then for the elect’s sake I will bear it."

I next call attention to a great theme in 2 Timothy 2:15: "Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth." What a commentary that is upon the necessity of ministerial training. Be careful to present thyself approved, tested. God puts us to a test, and we are to endure this test, and we should be very careful that we are approved under any test he may propose. "Handling aright," or as a good rendering states it, "dividing aright the word of truth." I have heard many sermons on "the right dividing of the word of truth." The idea is that of a farmer plowing a straight furrow, not crooked, curved, or zigzag. I have seen in a great field men plowing a straight line for a mile – straight as an arrow. So, when we come to the discussion of the truth, we should plow a straight furrow, divide it right, handle it right to flush something, but go straight to the mark. We should not zigzag around among words as if we were tryline, and if we are tested as a minister of God we can do that. Here is one way by which we may know that we are plowing a straight furrow: If we put on some passage an interpretation which in the next book will run up against a wall, or strike it, that furrow won’t go clear through the Bible and we have the wrong idea about it. If we have the right idea it will be a straight furrow from Genesis to Revelation. It will be according to the canon, or rule of the truth.

For instance: If we so preach election that we knock over some other doctrine; or if we so preach on human effort as to plow up the doctrines of election and predestination, then we have not plowed a straight furrow. What a great theme for ministerial training!

Now let us consider 2 Timothy 2:18: "Hymeneus and Philetus, men who concerning the truth have erred, saying the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some." What do they mean by saying the resurrection had passed already? Mainly this: They argued that the resurrection of the body that dies is foolishness) and that what is meant by the resurrection is the conversion of the soul. That the quickening of the soul in regeneration is the only resurrection. Later this idea succeeded: That the resurrection is when the soul, at death, escapes from the body which held it. It has no more use for the body than a butterfly has for its cast-off chrysalis. Paul says that that doctrine eats like a cancer. It denies the salvation of the body, and thus denies the real resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice further he says that they overthrow the faith of some. Does this mean that these men so fell away from grace as to be lost forever? Let us look at the next verse: "Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal." Here were men who professed to be Christians. Now come these false teachers and persuade them to abandon the true teaching, overthrowing their faith. Does that mean apostasy in the modern sense of the word? "The foundation of God standeth, having this seal." What is the seal? ,The seal is the impress of the Holy Spirit, and on every seal there are two surfaces, and on each surface is an inscription. On this seal the first inscription is: "The Lord knoweth them that are his." The Lord’s true man is scaled, and the impress on one side of the seal saith: "The Lord knoweth them that are his," whether men do or not, God does. Judas was not sealed.

Now let us look at the other side of the seal: "And let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteous-ness." One inscription shows God’s infallible knowledge of their salvation. The other shows that whom God saves departs from iniquity. These are the two inscriptions on the seal. Let us never talk about baptism being the seal. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that seal has two sides – two different impressions on it. First, "The Lord knoweth them that are his." Second, those that are sealed depart from iniquity. And if a man never departs from iniquity, Jesus will say, "I never knew you."

We now come to 2 Timothy 2:20: "Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work." In every great house – that is, in every great congregation, every great church – are different vessels. They are not all the same thing. Some are vessels unto dishonor, some unto honor. One may be compared to gold, another to silver; others are just wood, inflammable, and will perish in the fire. That is what is meant by a vessel of dishonor in the church. Compare 1 Corinthians 3:12-13. But though a man be a false professor while in the church, the way is yet open for his conversion. If he will purify himself from that dishonor, seek purification in the blood of Jesus Christ, he shall become a vessel of honor.

QUESTIONS

1. What the gospel provision for transmission of correct doctrine and what does this necessarily imply?

2. What the first illustration in 2 Timothy 2 to show ministerial fidelity, and what the particular lesson taught?

3. What the second illustration and its particular lesson?

4. Cite from Paul’s writings at least six metaphors based on the athletic games of ancient Greece and Rome.

5. Give an account of the Olympic games, the place and its celebrities, what the time interval between them, how long did the festival last, how long the period of their observance, how used in chronology, when and by whom abolished?

6. What the games?

7. What additions to the Greek games made by the Romans?

8. What the rules of the Olympic games?

9. What the bearing of the illustration on the necessity of ministerial training?

10. Name another distinguished place for these games.

11. What other arenas for these games in all great Greek cities, citing one?

12. How did the Greeks provide for peace between, the petty warring Greek states at the Olympic games?

13. How did they distinguish in name between this general gathering and the governing body in a particular state and how does Paul use and apply both names?

14. What the crown awarded, why not of intrinsic value and how does Paul contrast the Christian’s crown?

15. When is the Christian’s crown awarded?

16. What features of a fair characterized the Olympic games?

17. What Paul’s fourth illustration of ministerial fidelity and in what phrase do we embody it?

18. Cite the hymn based on this illustration and how did it originally read?

19. Give some account of the preacher’s sermon to all who felt that their cross wag too heavy and how did it end?

20. What new motive does Paul introduce in Christian suffering and how do you apply it?

21. Show the application to ministerial training in the great theme in 2 Timothy 2:15.

22. What is the idea in "rightly dividing" or "handling aright" the word of truth?

23. What is the original meaning of those who said: "The resurrection ia already past"?

24. The later meaning?

25. How does Paul characterize the heresy?

26. Expound the reference to the seal and its inscriptions?

27. Expound the passage concerning vessels of honor and of dishonor in a great house, i. e., (1) What the meaning of the house? (2) Who are meant by vessels of honor? (3) By vessels of dishonor? (4) The hope held out to vessels of dishonor? (5) Compare with the passage in 1 Corinthians 3.