APOSTOLIC ADVICE TO A YOUNG CHRISTIAN.
-JUNE 13.-2 TIM.
1:1-7; 3:14-17.-
“From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation.”-2 Tim. 3:15.
THE WORDS of this
lesson, addressed by the Apostle Paul to Timothy, are sound advice to all
Christians, especially to such as are young in the truth, and particularly if
they have consecrated their lives to the Lord and his service, and are seeking
to be useful according to their consecration as his ministers or
servants-whether in a public or in a private service, according to their
talents and opportunities.
These words were addressed to Timothy, when the Apostle Paul was an old
man, a prisoner in Rome, because of his testimony for the Lord. Nor was
Timothy a child in years at the time this epistle was addressed to him.
Timothy’s mother and himself were converts to the gospel of Christ presumably
at the time of Paul’s visit to their home at Lystra during his first missionary
tour. It is presumed that at the time of his receipt of this letter Timothy
must have been about forty years of age. Tradition has it that he was about
sixteen years old at the time of his own and his mother’s conversion to the gospel.
When he was about twenty-one years of age, he with Silas accompanied the
Apostle Paul on his second tour through Asia Minor, and from that time on for
some sixteen years he was closely identified with the Apostle in his service of
the truth, until left by the Apostle with the Church at Ephesus, that he might
help them over some difficulties into which they had fallen. It was while
Timothy was thus serving the Church at Ephesus that he received the two
epistles which bear his name.
Paul introduces himself not by calling attention to his personal qualities
as a logician, nor by boasting of any service which he had performed as the
Lord’s servant and minister of the truth; but, properly, by reminding Timothy
of his apostleship (one of the twelve, taking Judas’ place) specially
commissioned by the Lord to introduce his gospel, and specially prepared for
the work by being made a witness of the Lord’s resurrection, having been
granted a glimpse of his glorious person on his way to Damascus and commissioned
to declare the conditions for the fulfilment to men of God’s promise of life,
provided in Christ Jesus.
Altho the Apostle had no natural children of his own, his tender address
to Timothy as his “dearly beloved son,” and his invocation upon him of a divine
blessing, shows that he lacked none of those fine, noble and endearing
sentiments, which belong to a true parent. Indeed, the very fact that he had
no natural children seems to have broadened the Apostle’s sentiments to such an
extent that figuratively he took into his affections, as his own children, all
who accepted the gospel. We remember that he frequently used this figure of
speech, “Altho ye have many teachers, ye have not many fathers in the
gospel”-“I have begotten you in my bonds.” On another occasion he represents
his efforts for a development of a fully consecrated Christian life amongst the
believers under the figure of a mother travailing for her children. This being
true of the Apostle’s general sentiment toward the household of faith, it would
be much more true in the case of Timothy who had so nobly and truly filled the
part of a son to him.
Incidentally the Apostle here points out the purity of his conscience
toward God, before his eyes were opened to a recognition of the Lord Jesus,
while making mention to Timothy that he prayed for him day and night with great
desire to see him, and a remembrance of Timothy’s tears, when they parted
company at Ephesus in the interest of the truth. It was not according to the
personal preferences of either that they had separated, but both had sunk
personal convenience and preference in the interest of the Lord’s cause.
We note with appreciation the Apostle’s care over this younger brother in
the truth, in whom he sees such great promise of present and future service.
He realizes, perhaps better than Timothy does, the snares of the adversary, by
which one placed in so prominent a position is likely to be assailed. Would he
become heady and high minded?-Would he lose his faith in the cross of
Christ?-Would he fall into the snare of some of the philosophies, falsely
so-called?-Would he become vainly puffed up by a fleshly mind, and get to
feeling himself to be a “somebody?”-Or, would he, on the contrary, be a
faithful soldier of the cross, meek, humble, gentle toward all, an example both
in faith and practice to those with whom he came in contact? And withal, would
he hold fast to the Scriptures and be apt to teach others to look to this
divine source of information? He remembered that heretofore Timothy had been
so close to himself in the work that he had been measurably shielded from many
trials to which he would now be exposed; and yet, no doubt he realized that, if
Timothy would be prepared to take the work of a general minister, which Paul
the prisoner and growing old must shortly lay aside, it was time that he was
learning how to stand, complete in the strength which God supplies through his
Word, without leaning so particularly, as heretofore, upon any earthly prop.
These reflections no doubt had much to do with the Apostle’s prayers for
Timothy “night and day;” and he now writes with a view to strengthening him
along these lines, reminding him of the genuine faith and piety which he had
inherited both from his mother and his grandmother, and assuring him that he
believed that this had laid a deep foundation of true piety and faith in
Timothy’s own heart. We pause here to notice the fact everywhere kept
prominent in the Scriptures that according to the divine arrangement not only are
the sins of the parents visited upon the children for several generations, but
also that the faith and godliness of the parents, when rightly based on the
Word of God and the true promises of that Word, lay the foundation of character
in their children, upon which there is the greater hope that a life of
godliness and usefulness may be built.
Not only does the Apostle strengthen Timothy’s mind by a remembrance of
the goodly heritage of faith and piety received from his mother and
grandmother, but in addition he reminds him of the grace of God specially
conferred upon him (Timothy) at that certain time when he made a full
consecration of himself to the Lord, to be God’s servant; when the Apostle,
exercising his power as an Apostle, and as was common in those days,
communicated to Timothy by supernatural power an outward gift or token of the
holy spirit, through the laying on of his hands. The Apostle had evidently
either heard or surmised that Timothy was allowing the fervor of his zeal for
God to die out, and hence here he urges him to “stir up the gift of God which
is in thee.” The Greek word here rendered “stir up” has the significance of re-enkindle:
as tho the Apostle said, Reenkindle your gift by renewed energy.
The next verse enforces this view, implying that the Apostle thought that
Timothy was in danger of being overcome by fear, so as to allow his zeal
to abate. And hence he reminds him that the spirit of
the Lord imparted to his people is not a spirit of fear, but on the contrary a
spirit of power, energy, zeal awakened by love;-loving devotion to God, and a
desire to please and serve him; loving devotion to the truth, and a loving
devotion to God’s people and a desire to build them up in holy things, and to
do good unto all men as we have opportunity. And yet, lest Timothy
should get the thought that the spirit of God led only to a zeal or energy-that
might at times be unwise in its exercise and do more harm than good,-the
Apostle adds that the spirit of God which he bestows upon those who are
begotten as his sons is a spirit of a “sound mind;”-a
mind that is fortified and strengthened by the Word of the Lord on every
subject, and hence, while thoroughly fearless of man, is wise in judging of
times, seasons and methods for using the energy of love which burns as a fire
within the consecrated heart. O that all of God’s children might
appreciate, and more and more obtain, the spirit of a sound mind, by which all
of their talents might be used, not only fearlessly but wisely, in the Master’s
service.
Continuing his exhortation (3:14-15) the Apostle impresses upon Timothy
two things: (1) That he had been taught of God, and (2) that this teaching of
God had come to him through the Scriptures, which, he assures him, are
sufficient to bring him all the way to the complete realization (in the
resurrection) of that salvation which God has provided through faith in Christ
Jesus. It will be well for us all to remember that
all the graces of the spirit, all the progress in the knowledge of divine things
to which we already have attained, that may have really helped us nearer to God
and to holiness, have come to us through the Scriptures of the Old Testament
and through the words of our Lord and his inspired apostles: nor will it ever
be necessary to go to other channels for the true wisdom which would prepare us
for the salvation promised.
Proceeding the Apostle shows (Vss. 16,17) that the Scriptures which
God inspired are profitable in every direction, and quite sufficient for the
man of God. Needing no supplements of visions or dreams, either his own or
other men’s. They are profitable for doctrine, containing the full statement
of the divine plan; and no human authority is competent to add thereto.-Who
hath known the mind of the Lord?-Who hath been his counselor? They are useful
also for reproof toward others: No words that we can use in correcting the
errors of others either in word or doctrine could possibly be as forcible for
reproof, as the inspired words of Scripture. They are useful also for
“correction,” literally, “to bring up and establish one in the right.” No
standard of morals or of discipline can so thoroughly search out the heart and
correct its waywardness as the Lord’s Word.
Not, however, that God’s Word is merely a statement of platitudes and
moral instruction: it is far more than this; it searches the heart, the
motives, the intentions, the thoughts, the ambitions, the aspirations. It
pronounces a blessing upon the “pure in heart,” those whose intentions are
upright, honest, clean. The Word of the Lord as a correcter “in righteousness”
takes hold upon all the affairs of life, and to those who are exercised thereby
gives not only the spirit of a sound mind so that they are able to weigh and
appreciate things from the true standpoint-God’s standpoint of righteousness;
but it also inculcates a righteousness toward God, and the propriety of seeking
that holiness of which God is the perfect example. Moreover, it reaches down to
the relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and
neighbors. If permitted, it settles every matter for us on lines of justice
and love.
The Apostle assures us, accordingly, that God’s teachings through the
Scriptures are given-“That the man of God may be furnished completely unto
every good work.”-Revised Version.
Here the Apostle has reference to perfection of character (he makes
no reference to perfection in the flesh, elsewhere assuring us that even in his
own case he realized “in my flesh dwelleth no perfection”). The perfection of
character here pointed out as the proper and desirable aim of all Christians,
and prepared for by the Lord through the giving of his inspired Word, should be
the aim, the mark, toward which all the soldiers of the cross running in the race
for the great prize should bend their energies. Perfection of character was
exemplified to us in the person of our dear Redeemer, whom God has exalted to
the right hand of majesty and power; and we are informed by the Apostle that
the Father has predestinated that all of the “little flock” who will share the
Kingdom with Christ must be conformed to this glorious image of his Son-must
have perfected characters, hearts, minds, fully submitted to the will of the
Father and to all righteousness, in all things;-however imperfect the earthen
vessel may be, and however incompletely we may be able at our best to carry out
in every thought and word and deed all the desires of our hearts and the
endeavors of our transformed minds,-new characters, the earnest or beginning of
the new natures which will be completed in the first resurrection.