2 Timothy 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. To the word "lust" a specific meaning is now popularly attached, which we do not find in the original; the term there used being much more extensive, and, with the addition of the epithet, "youthful," much more expressive. It signifies the inclination of the mind; and thus it includes what is evil in the spark as well as in the flame, in the blossom as well as in the fruit, in the deep, though still fountain, as well as in the rolling, turbid, and impetuous stream. And with good reason; for however small and obscure the beginning, the end may be most momentous, most irreparable. Hear it plainly stated: "Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Watch over inclination, lest it become desire; watch over desire, lest it become appetite; watch over appetite, lest it become passion; watch over passion, lest it become, in the evil and extreme sense, "lust." And this applies equally to voluptuousness, ambition, covetousness, revenge, and all the characteristic vices of youth. I. And this is to be done BY AVOIDING, AS FAR AS IT BE POSSIBLE, THE COMPANIONSHIP OF THE UNGODLY. On this subject, indeed, the wise man, teaching from experience, is earnest even beyond his wont; counselling with an emphatic iteration: "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men; avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." It is against the first step that young men should be exhorted especially to guard; to beware of the first act, against which conscience enters and records its solemn protest. II. While, however, you "flee youthful lusts" by avoiding companionship with the wicked, FLEE THEM ALSO BY CULTIVATING COMPANIONSHIP WITH THE HEART; AND WEIGH WELL THOSE ASSOCIATIONS, HABITS, AND PURSUITS, WHICH GIVE A DIRECTION TO THE MIND. Beware lest inclination assume the reins of action; beware lest interest or convenience usurp that supremacy over the purposes and the practices, which ought to be exercised only by conscience and by principle. Test all things by one standard; try all men by one rule; and let that be the Word of God. Whenever, therefore, in a judgment administered upon such principles, and directed to such an cud, the bent of the mind and the will are found to be in any particular instance opposed to the great purpose, for which all who bear, by their own consent, the name of Christian, must for that very reason profess to live, it is clear that the course of life must be altered, the stream of thought and desire must be turned, the current must be made to flow in an opposite direction. And if this only be done as soon as the necessity is discerned, it will be done effectually, and it will be done comparatively without an effort. III. Not only, however, are we exhorted in the text to "flee youthful lusts," BUT TO CULTIVATE THOSE CHRISTIAN GRACES AND DISPOSITIONS, WHICH CAN NEVER APPEAR TO GREATER ADVANTAGE THAN WHEN THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE NATURAL TRANSPARENCY ANN INGENUOUSNESS OF YOUTH. 1. Follow, then, after righteousness. Give God what is His due; and you will never withhold from man what is his. 2. Follow not only after righteousness, but, as the apostle exhorts his son Timothy, after "faith." Account, that as practical righteousness, the rendering of everything that is due to man, so faith is the expectation of all that is needful from God. 3. Next, you are exhorted to follow "charity" or love. Love is the essence of righteousness, for it is "the fulfilling of the law"; it is also the evidence of faith, for "faith worketh by love." 4. Lastly, in the words of the apostle, "follow after peace." This, indeed, is the subject of one of the most earnest petitions that ever fell from human lips: "Now the God of peace Himself give you peace always by all means." Nor can the apostles of the Lord and Saviour better express the fervour of their love for the brethren than by the prayer that "grace, mercy, and peace may be multiplied to them through Jesus Christ." Yes, peace is indeed an object worthy to be followed by man, a blessing worthy to be multiplied by God. Follow after peace, then, and ye will find it, in all its varieties of excellency and of loveliness. Peace of conscience; for your sins, however multiplied and aggravated, shall be made as though they had never been. Peace of mind; for "great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them." Peace with man in life, for "the work of righteousness is peace"; and peace — the "peace that passeth understanding" — in death, for "mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Now we have looked upon four objects of moral excellency and social usefulness, which the young Christian is to follow — righteousness, faith, charity, peace. Let us contrast these with four "youthful lusts," desires, inclinations, or tendencies, call them which you will, from which he is to flee. The love of self, as opposed to righteousness; the pride of philosophical unbelief — unbelief that calls itself philosophical — as opposed to faith; covetousness, or the desire of accumulation, as opposed to charity; and the turbulence of mirth, revelry, and excess, as opposed to peace. (T. Dale, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. |
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