Ezekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 6:14 - 6:14

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Ezekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 6:14 - 6:14


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Ver. 14. Here follows the thing charged upon Timothy: that thou keep the commandment spotless and unrebukeable until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Various shades of meaning have been put upon the commandment ( ôὴí ἐíôïëὴí ) which Timothy was enjoined to observe or keep. As there is nothing of a special kind mentioned in the preceding context to which it can fitly be referred, it is most naturally understood of the moral obligation generally, the injunction or rule implied in the very nature of the gospel to adhere to the great principles of truth and righteousness, or to give the gospel as to what it teaches and requires a practical and embodied form. This practical imperative of the gospel (if we may so speak) the apostle calls Timothy to keep spotless and unrebukeable,—a somewhat peculiar form of exhortation, certainly, as these epithets are strictly applicable to persons only, though there are not wanting instances of a more extended application in other writers (as in Philo, de Opif., ç ̔ á ̓ íåðé ́ ëçðôïò ôå ́ ÷íç ; Plato, Phil. 43, á ̓ íåðéëçðôï ́ ôåñïí ôï ̀ ëåãï ́ ìåíïí ). Considered by itself, of course, a thing inherently good cannot become subject to any real tarnish or defilement: it must ever remain what its own essential nature makes it; and of nothing involving moral obligation may this more properly be said than in respect to the ethical bearing of the gospel. But contemplated from a popular point of view, a reproach or charge is naturally conceived to be brought on a scheme of doctrine or duty when its acknowledged representatives give an exhibition of it which palpably offends against men’s notions of the pure and good; or, in the case of the gospel, is contrary to its real character. And this is plainly what is meant here: it is that Timothy might be careful so to bear himself in the ministry of the gospel, and the intercourse of daily life, as to prevent God’s word and service from suffering reproach through his failures; and though the expressions used by the apostle have immediate respect to the commandment itself, not to the observance of Timothy, yet practically it is all one with saying, as Chrysostom puts it, that Timothy should beware of contracting any stain in respect to his doctrine or manner of life. And this till the appearance (the epiphany) of our Lord Jesus Christ—the second advent, which was certainly contemplated by the eye of faith as near, yet not so as to be confidently expected at any definite period, or within the limits of that generation. This is rendered clear by the statements of Paul in one of his earliest epistles (2Th_2:1-12), and also in a measure by what follows here.