2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed… The evidences for revelation have been commonly divided under two heads, external and internal. Under the head of external evidence, we may class all those proofs, which, though relating to what is found in the Scriptures, are nevertheless exterior to the Word of God; such, for instance, as the authenticity of the Books of Scripture, and the genuineness of their authorship, the miracles by which the truths that the apostles delivered were attested, and the sufferings and persecution which they underwent. But then the internal evidence is not less important. We might, first, take the internal evidence of Scripture which we gather from the Word of God itself — the harmony of one portion of it with another, and the circumstance that in our investigation of its bright and blessed pages, they seem at once to commend themselves, as what we might expect to come from the God of truth. And then there is the internal evidence, which may be gathered from the Christian's own experience — the attestation, so to speak, of a Christian's own experience to the truths which he finds revealed in the Scriptures of God. Now we believe that it is to evidence partaking of this character that the apostle alludes in our text. There was no confounding of his principles; there was no putting down of the truth which he maintained; nothing was able to terrify him out of what he had embraced as the truth of God. "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." Now this class of evidence, we believe, will, more or less, be the evidence of every believer in the Lord Jesus. I. The first point which is presented for our consideration is THAT THE APOSTLE BELIEVED THE GOSPEL. This is the first act of the sinner with respect to Jesus. II. But the believer goes further. He does not rest with dependence upon the promise, that the Lord will be with him unto the end of the world; but he is assured of this, because he finds THAT SO FAR AS HE HAD TRUSTED THE PROMISE, GOD HAS ACTUALLY BEEN WITH HIM. He has found Him true to His word by positive experience. III. THE CONFIDENCE WHICH PAUL HAD IN THE FUTURE GATHERED FROM HIS EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST. (H. W. McGrath, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. |
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