---

The apostle here returns to the duty of directing Timothy.

I. IT IS NECESSARY FOR EVEN GOOD MINISTERS TO BE REMINDED OF THEIR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. "This charge I commit to thee, my son Timothy."

1. The charge may have indirectly alluded to the commands already given, but refers immediately to the good warfare in which he is to war as the fulfillment of his calling.

2. It is committed to him like a precious deposit to be guarded and kept. How anxious the apostle is that Timothy should be faithful to his position and his responsibilities!

II. IT IS A SOLEMN THING TO INVOKE THE MEMORY OF PROPHECIES OR PIOUS ANTICIPATIONS IN AID OF A DIFFICULT CAREER. "According to the prophecies that went before on thee, that by them thou mightest war a good warfare."

1. The allusion is to prophecies uttered probably at his ordination by the prophets of the Church, foretelling his future zeal and success. Such prophetic intimations were not uncommon in the primitive Church. We trace them at Jerusalem (Acts 11:27, 28), at Antioch (Acts 13:1), at Corinth (1 Corinthians 14.), at Caesarea (Acts 21:8-10).

2. Such prophecies would act with a stimulating, self-protective power upon a temperament like that of Timothy, inclined, perhaps, to softness and timidity. They would encourage him in the midst of his present perils and trials at Ephesus.

3. It is a serious thing to disappoint the hopes of the pious.

III. THE PURPOSE CONTEMPLATED BY THE COMMAND AS WELL AS ITS IMMEDIATE SUBJECT. "That by them" - that is, in virtue of them - "thou mightest war a good warfare." The figure is a familiar one with the apostle (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4; 2 Timothy 2:3).

1. Christian life, and above all that of a minister, is a good warfare.

(1) It is good because it is against evil - the world, the flesh, and the devil;

(2) because it is directed toward the good of men;

(3) because it is for a good end, the glory of God.

2. It is to be carried on

(1) under Christ as Captain (Hebrews 2:10);

(2) with watchfulness and sobriety (1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6);

(3) with an enduring hardness (2 Timothy 2:3, 10);

(4) with self-denial (1 Corinthians 9:25-27);

(5) with prayer (Ephesians 6:18).

IV. THE WEAPONS IN THIS WARFARE ARE FAITH AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE. "Holding faith and a good conscience. The two must go together, but faith must necessarily go first. You cannot have a good conscience without faith, nor faith in its reality without a good conscience. There must be faith in your teaching, conscience in your actions.

1. Faith. There is "the shield of faith." It is not the mere doctrine of faith, but the grace of faith. It is by this faith we overcome

(1) the world (1 John 5:4, 5);

(2) the flesh (Galatians 5:24);

(3) the devil (1 John 2:14);

(4) everything that exalts itself (2 Corinthians 10:5);

(5) death and the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54, 55).

A mere intellectual belief could not produce such results; for "the devils believe and tremble."

2. A good conscience.

(1) It is good because it is sprinkled with the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:14).

(2) Because it helps to keep the faith in purity (1 Timothy 3:9).

(3) Christians ought to seek the approval of their consciences in all things (Acts 24:16).

(4) Its testimony ought to be a source of joy (2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 John 3:21).

(5) Ministers ought always to commend themselves to the consciences of their people (2 Corinthians 4:2).

V. THE WOEFUL SHIPWRECK OF CONSCIENCE. "Which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck." The figure is a nautical one. When the cargo or ballast of a good conscience is tossed overboard, the ship becomes unmanageable, and is easily shipwrecked. "Some" at Ephesus resolutely stifled the admonitions of conscience, and thus turned faith into a mere matter of speculation, with no influence whatever upon their practice.

1. These persons made shipwreck of the doctrine of faith; for they held that the resurrection is past already (2 Timothy 2:18).

2. If they made shipwreck of the grace of faith, it may not have been a total shipwreck; for the discipline imposed upon them by the apostle was for the saving of the spirit, "not for the destruction of the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:5).

3. The apostle's method of dealing with these off riders. "Of whom are Hymeaeus trod Alexander; whom I delivered unto Satan, that they may be taught not to blaspheme."

(1) Hymenaeus was almost certainly the same as the impugner of a future resurrection (2 Timothy 2:17); and Alexander was probably, but not so certainly, the same as Alexander the coppersmith (2 Timothy 4:14), who was a resolute personal enemy of the apostle.

(2) The apostle delivered them unto Satan, which seems to have included

(a) a solemn excommunication from the Church, carried out no doubt by the Church at the apostle's command; and

(b) the infliction of bodily disease. Cases of the exercise of this terrible apostolic power are those of Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas, and the incestuous person at Corinth.

(3) It was not an irrevocable sentence, for its remission depended upon the return of the offenders to faith and. repentance. "That they may be taught through chastisement not to blaspheme." The design was the recovery of the offenders; but neither this Epistle nor the next throws any light upon the ultimate effect of the severe discipline inflicted by the apostle. - T.C.

---

---

KJV: This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

WEB: This instruction I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may wage the good warfare;