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14. τηρῆσαί σε τὴν ἐντολὴν κ.τ.λ., to keep the commandment &c, sc. not (a) the special commands of 1Ti 6:11-12 nor (b) vaguely, the Gospel considered as a rule of life, but (c) the baptismal charge, to which allusion was made in 1Ti 6:12. The words are clearly taken thus in [2 Clem.] § 8: τηρήσατε τὴν σάρκα ἁγνὴν καὶ τὴν σφραγῖδα (sc. of baptism) ἄσπιλον, ἵνα τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν ἀπολάβωμεν. And so they are understood by Cyril of Jerusalem, who in quoting 1Ti 6:13-14 (Cat. 1Ti 6:13) substitutes τὴν παραδεδομένην πίστιν for ἐντολήν.
ἄσπιλον, without spot. We have ἄσπιλον ἑαυτὸν τηρεῖν in Jam 1:27, and the word occurs 1Pe 1:19; 2Pe 3:14, but not elsewhere in the Greek Bible. For ἀνεπίλημπτον see on 1Ti 3:2. It is a question whether these two words go with σε or with ἐντολήν; but although the former is a possible construction and is favoured by the fact that the words are applied to persons elsewhere in the N.T., yet it is more natural to take them with ἐντολή, as they are taken (see above) by Cyril and 2 Clement, in company with the ancient versions. We have ἀνεπίλημπτος applied to τέχνη in Philo (de Opif. 22) and to προαίρεσις in Polybius (Hist. XIV. 2. 14), so that it is plainly not restricted to persons.
μέχρι τῆς ἐπιφανείας κ.τ.λ., until the Manifestation &c., sc. the Second Advent, which St Paul always kept in the foreground of his thoughts and hopes. There is nothing in this passage which suggests that he expected it soon; indeed καιροῖς ἰδίοις of the next verse shews that he recognised that its time is only known to God.
ἐπιφάνεια is frequently used in the LXX. (esp. 2 Macc.) of manifestations of the Divine glory; it is not found in the N.T. outside the Pastorals save at 2Th 2:8. The expressions used by St Paul as descriptive of the Second Advent are worth collecting: (i.) ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου, at 1Th 5:2; 1Co 1:8; 1Co 5:5; cp. Php 1:10; 2Ti 1:12. (2.) ἡ ἀποκάλυψις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰη., at 2Th 1:7; 1Co 1:7. (3.) ἡ παρουσία at 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:15; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 2:1; 2Th 2:9. (4.) ἡ ἐπιφάνεια τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ at 2Th 2:8. (5.) ἡ ἐπιφάνεια αὐτοῦ at 1Ti 4:14; 2Ti 4:1; 2Ti 4:8 (it is applied to the Lord’s First Coming in 2Ti 1:10) and (6.) ἡ ἐπιφάνεια τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ (Tit 2:13). The variety of these shews significantly that the argument, which has been sometimes urged against the genuineness of the Pastorals, resting on the usage in them of ἐπιφάνεια instead of παρουσία, the usual word for the Second Advent in the Thessalonian Epistles, is destitute of any solid ground. In [2 Clem.] 12 and 17 we have the similar phrase ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ θεοῦ.