Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

EXPOSITION
OF THE
SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY,
§ 1. Introductory.
(i. 1-18).
The inscription (ver. 1, 2), is followed by the usual introductory
language of thanksgiving, in which the apostle mentions at the same
time his desire to see Timothy again. The ground of his thanksgiving
is the unfeigned faith of Timothy, of which the apostle is persuaded
(3-5); on this conviction he bases his admonition to Timothy to
arouse himself, not to be ashamed of the gospel and of the imprisoned
apostle, but to suffer with him for the gospel ; and he points to
the power of Grod which Timothy has already experienced, and to his
own example as one whom Timothy sees suffering as apostle of the
gospel (6-12). In his conscious fidelity as an apostolical model, he
exhorts Timothy to remain faithful to the doctrine which he has received
from him, faithful to his teacher, and to receive at once
warning from the example of the unfaithful, and encouragement
from that of Onesiphorus. These admonitions prepare the way for
all his subsequent instructions to Timothy as to what is becoming
him as an evangelist, and what duties of love he owes to the
imprisoned apostle.
Vers. 1, 2.—Inscription and greeting. Paul— hy the ivill of God,
is Paul's usual designation, at the opening of his epistles, of himself
in his divinely appointed position : entirely so 1 Cor. i. 1 (except
/cA-T/rdf), 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Eph. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1. It expresses here the
consciousness under which the apostle writes, not the design of establishing
his apostolical dignity ; as the epistle is a purely private
communication to Timothy, This passage shews how groundless the
assumption that the term apostle at 1 Tim. i. 1 ; Tit. i. 1, implies a
joint destination of the letters also to the churches ; for here anything
of the kind is utterly out of the question. The words Kar'
i-nayyeXiav ^ojrjg is, after the analogy of Tit. i. 1, where Kara cannot
be rendered " according to," =/ory to, of purpose; comp. Winer's