Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

Second Timothy I. 9. 198
Rom. V. 9, " We shall be saved through him {Christ), 1 Cor. i. 21,
^^ It pleased God . . . to save'''? At KaXeaavrog De Wette himself
points to the fact that even with Paul it is God who calls. Gal. i. 6 ;
Rom. viii. 30. On the expression KaXelv kX/joel, 1 Cor. vii. 20 ; Eph.
i. 4. This calling, the apostle styles lioly, not barely as issuing
from God—for then every thing must be alike holy—but from its
character. It is a call to a separation from the world and an entrance
into the fellowship of his kingdom : hence the name saints
(ayioi). Here where the individual is to suffer for the gospel, the
term is peculiarly appropriate. The apostle portrays before Timothy
the power of God in their personal experience of salvation, but
enhances the obligation by the added " not according to our works"
(comp. Tit. iii. 5) ;
this experience of the divine power is one of pure,
unmerited grace, and demands their grateful love in return. Kara,
" by virtue of," comp. Tit. iii. 5. The true incentive to it (properly,
with Huther, the " measure, standard") is furnished in the words,
" according to his own purpose and grace," etc. The " purpose" as
the essential ground is defined by the " grace" as its mode of manifestation
;
see Tit. iii. 5, "not of works—but according to his mercy.''
lipodsai-g, therefore, is not a purpose in reference to individuals =
e/cAoy?/, Kar' enXoyriv npod. Rom. ix. 11 ; viii. 28 (Mack), but the decision
accomplished in ver. 10 : comp. Eph. i. 9, "his good pleasure
which he purposed." Eph. iii. 11. That -npodeotg is not= predestination
but =n resolution, decision (jTporidsadai, properly, to purpose,
resolve) is clear, from passages like Rom. i. 13 ; iii. 25 ; Eph. i. 11,
comp. Harless at Eph. i. 9. "Wwg in contrast with an impulse from
without (t'pya TjnoJv). The substance of this purpose, proceeding
from God, is marked by the following %aptv r?yv, k. t. A.— '"By virtue
of the grace given in ancient times in Christ Jesus he has saved
us." 7ach individual act of salvation has its ground in this grace
bestowed on the world in Christ. In Christ—for from eternity he
holds the position of Mediator between God and man, so that all
God's love and grace can reach the world only through him : comp.
Harless at Eph. i. 4, p. 13 ; i. 6, 7, 28, 29. 'Ev, not per : but in
(comp. Winer's Gr., § 48, a, p. 347, note), =: in his person ; not in
fellowship with him, as Mack, against which comp. Harless above
p. 29. In this case %ap*? would denote the grace conferred on individuals,
which view, besides our remarks on npodeatg, conflicts with
ver. 10, and would involve the incongruous idea that this grace is
bestowed on those already enjoying fellowship with Christ. ILgb
Xpovcjv aicovMv =^ Trgb rdv alwvi^v (1 Cor. ii. 7) or^Trpo KarafSoXiig
KoofioVj Eph. i. 4, comp. with iii. 11, see at Tit. i. 2. AoOeloav not
" destined," as Heydenreich, but " given," so that it needs only to
become known to us in time by the manifestation of him in whom it
is bestowed. This manifestation in all its stages is but the actual
realization in time of that eternal act of love.
Vol. VI—13.