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Still we find our apostle prosecuting the great and general design of this epistle, which is to direct Timothy in the faithful discharge of his office, as a minister of the gospel, and particularly to prepare for sufferings, and to inure himself to hardship, and to encounter with difficulties and dangers:
Hence, he compares him to a soldier, to a wrestler, and an husbandman:
1. To a soldier; endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Learn hence, That every faithful minister is a spiritual soldier, warring under Jesus Christ, his captain and chief commander:
Must the soldier be called and to do all by comission? so must the minister.
Must the soldier be armed, trained up, and disciplined, and made fit for service? so must the minister.
Must the soldier shun no dangers, stick at no difficulties, pass through thick and thin?
must he use allowed weapons, approved armour of his general's directing, not of his own inventing? all this must the minister be and do.
In a word, must the soldier please him that hath chosen him to be a soldier, and in order thereunto, not entangle himself with the affairs of this life? Such a life of freedom from incumbrance by secular affairs, should the minister of God desire and endeavour after.
Soldiers must be as free as may be from distractions; a soldier that fights in fetters, fights thereafter: he must put off his fetters before he puts on his armour; the ministers work lies in the affairs of the other life:
Now, he that is entangled in the affairs of this life, will do little about the affairs of the next.
He must also please his captain, not please himself, his appetite, his pride, his covetousness, much less must he please the enemy he is to fight against, the devil, the world, and the flesh.
Again, 2. The minister here is compared to a wrestler; If a man strive for the mastery: that is, for the prize, the garland, the crown, at the end of the race; he shall be crowned if he strives lawfully, if he runs fairly according to the rules of the game, and perseveres finally till he comes to the end of the goal.
Thus must the ministers of the gospel strive for the crown of life, by putting forth all their strength, exerting theri utmost endeavours; such as are now wrestlers, shall ere long be conquerors.
Lastly, Timothy, and all with him in the work of the gospel, are here compared to husbandmen: As the husbandman must first toil and labour before he can partake of the fruits of the earth, he must plough and sow before he can reap and gather; so must the minister of God, by a laborious diligence, cultivate and improve the people, before he can hope to reap that great fruit and benefit, by gaining and converting of souls to Christ. God will regard no ministers but the laborious, he will never dignify drones in the church triumphant.
Farther, by comparing Timothy to an husbandman, he intimates to him his duty, not to be discouraged if he doth not reap fruit presently; the seed sometimes lies under the clods long before it does appear; we must not despair of men too soon.
And, lastly, By comparing Timothy to an husbandman, he seems to intimate, that he was to be sustained and maintained by those for whom he laboured.
Thus having laid Timothy's duty before him, under the metaphor of a soldier, a wrestler, and an husbandman; he counsels him to consider what he had said unto him, and desires of God to give him a right understanding and sound judgment in all things; intimating that they that will have God's word and good counsel blessed by God to their understanding and practice, must ponder upon it, consider of it, and duly apply it to themselves; Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.