The life and work of St. Paul

652 THK LIFE AKD WORK OF ST. PAUL,
life eternal Now to the King of the Agea, 1 the incorruptible, invisible, only God,*
houour and glory unto the ages of the agea. Amen. 8
" This charge I commit to thee, son Timothy, in accordance with the prophecies
which in time past were prophesied of thee, 4 that thou in them mayest war the good,
warfare, 8 having faith and a, good conscience, which some rejecting have been
wrecked as regards the faith; of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I
handed over to Satan, that they may be trained not to blaspheme u '
It will be seen that in this section he begins with the false teachers, and
after two digressions one suggested by the mention of the Law, the other by
his personal commission to preach the Gospel returns to them again.
'
The second chapter contains regulations for public worship, the duty of
praying for those in authority, and the bearing and mutual relations of men
and women in religious assemblies broken by brief and natural digressions
on the universality of God's offered grace, and on his own Apostolic office. He
directs that
"Petitions, prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings 7 should be made for all,
and especially for kings, 8 and those in authority, that we may spend a calm and
quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is fair and acceptable before our
Saviour, God, who wills all men to be saved, and to come to full knowledge of the
truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, 9 who gave Himself a ransom for all the testimony in its own seasons.
For which testimony I was appointed an herald and an Apostle (I speak the
truth; 10 I lie not, 11 ) in faith and truth.""
' '
" 1 Not here in its technical sense of the moms ; of. Ps. oxlv. 13, " "
a kingdom of all ages.
2 Omit o-ocfxp (, A, D, F, G, &c.).
8 For similar personal digressions, see GaL i. 12 ; 1 Thess. ii. 4 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; iv. 1,
&c. ; and for the dpxology (Rom. xv. 33 ; xvi. 27 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; ix. 15 ; Phil. iv. 20,
&c. The passage is intensely individual, for " all Paul's theology is in ultimate analysis,
the reflex of his personal experience " (Reuss, Les Epttres, ii. 352).
4 Perhaps a reference to his solemn ordination, as in iv. 14, when Silas, who was a
prophet (Acts xv. 32), was present among others (Acts xiii. 3).
vrpaTtia, not a^uv, as in 2 Tim. iv. 7. It is St. Paul's favourite metaphor (Rom. xiiL
12 ; 2 Cor. x. 5 ; 1 Thess. v. 8, &c.).
4 i. 12 20. It is impossible to know the exact circumstances referred to. For
Hymenaeus, see 2 Tim. ii. 17. For Alexander, 2 Tim. iv. 14 ; Acts xix. 33 ; but even
the identifications are precarious. For " delivering to Satan," see 1 Cor. v. 5. "Whether
it was excommunication, or generally giving up from all Church influences, and leaving
Satan to deal with them, or the delivery to preternatural corporal sufferings, iheintention,
we see, was merciful and disciplinary (irot&vdwert)-
7 The synonyms are mainly cumulative, though perhaps Stfati* means special,
7rpoeru\a? general, and vrevfis earnest prayers (see Phil. iv. 6).
8 Baur sees in this plural an indication that the Epistle was written in the times of
the Antonines, when Emperors took associates in the Empire. Can theorising be more
baseless? The word "kings" does not necessarily refer only to local viceroys, &c., like
the Herods, but was in the provinces applied genetically to the Emperors, as it constantly
is in the Talmud. It was most important to both Jews and Christians that they should
not be suspected of civic turbulence (Jos. B. J. ii. 10, 4 ; Bingham, xv. 8, 14). Hence
we see how baseless is the conjecture of Pfleiderer (Protestcmten bibel) that it was written
in the time of Hadrian, who befriended the Christians (Euseb. H. E. iv. 8, 9).
9 The word ^.tvi-ny; as applied to Christ is new, but not the conception (Rom. v. 10 ;
2 Cor. v. 19). There may be a silent condemnation of incipient Docetism in avdpuiros,
as well as of the supposed mediation of angels in U (Col. ii. 15, 18).
Om. iv Xprr (A, D, F, G, &c.).
11 A natural reminiscence of the occasions when such asseverations had been BO
necessary that they had become habitual (2 Cor. xi. 31 ; Rom. xi. 1).
a ii. 17.