Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

The
202 Second Timotht II. 2.
apostle under the conviction of his speedy departure. We have
here illustrated that feature of the epistle which allows the apostle
to turn readily aside for any incidental and passing thought. Such
once so methodical and so free.
is not the manner of a fabricator, at
The import of the verse is that Timothy is not only to he personally
faithful in promulgating the apostolic doctrine, hut also to take
care that it be in its purity received and propagated by others.
What Timothy has heard is the vyiaivov-eg A6)'o/, the apostolical
doctrine with its knowledge of the truths of salvation and its morally
renovating power ; Chrys. a I'jKovaa^, ovx a owei^riTTjaac . subjoined
d(d zToXXoJv iiaprvpcjv is difficult. It is ungrammatical, with Heydenreich
and others, to supply iiaprvpoviieva : did belongs to /'jKovaag.
With this falls the view -which understands by these many witnesses
the apostles and eye-witnesses generally (as 01s. corup. Heb. ii. 3) or,
as Clemens Alex, with fficumenius, ISIoses and the Old Testament
prophets. For it was not his hearing, but the substance of the
communication that could be represented as mediated by them :
but the apostle would hardly thus make his doctrine depend on the
testimony of others ( Gal. i. 11, seq.) ; or thus have cited as witnesses
of his doctrine the prophets of the Old Testament who testified
only what was yet to happen, not that manifested grace (i. 10) on
which all depends. Still less satisfactory is Mack's explanation who
takes cJtd 77oA. jiap. = 6ul TrpocpTjreiagj 1 Tim. iv. 14. What can be
meant by " what thou hast heard under occasion of many witnesses/'
and these two in no way witnesses of what was heard by Timothy,
but of his cajjacity ! Connecting did with ijKovaa^^ Winer's explanation
(Gr., § 47, i. p. 338), becomes the only admissible one, viz.,
intcrvenientibus multis testibus, unter vermittelung, i. e. "in presence
of many witnesses." We need not, therefore, take did as strictly =
ivu)niov (1 Tim. vi. 12); the presence of many as witnesses is a constituent
element in that act to which the apostle liere refers, and
which can be no other than that to which throughout the ej)istle he
perpetually recurs as Timothy's perpetual ground of obligation, viz.,
his solemn investiture with the office of evangelist. As Timothy on
this occasion had solenmly witnessed his good confession, we must
conceive that the apostle had (previously) delivered and entrusted to
him the substance of that apostolic doctrine which he was to announce.
Comp. at 1 Tim. i, 18, iv. 14, vi. 13, i. 6. The reference then is
not to instruction jjrcceding bai)tisin, but to instruction preceding
his entrance on his office of evangelist. This also may be inferred
from the fallowing direction. For the instruction which TiuK^thy
had received as a Christian he would not need to impart to faithful
men ; as Christians they must already possess it : but only what
had been committed to him as a future evangeUst he is required
similarly to entrust to others. These others then are such as will