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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 2 Timothy 2:15 - 2:15
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Ver. 15. Give diligence to present thyself to God approved: äüêéìïí , one who can stand, or has actually stood, the test appointed by God, and come forth stamped with His approval. The object of the exhortation was to lead Timothy, in contrast to the frivolous disputes mentioned before, to realize himself as a servant of God, and to guide his course through the trying and perilous circumstances around him, so as to be able to appear before the Divine Majesty as one that had proved faithful to the trust reposed in him. A workman not ashamed: ἀíåðáßó÷õíôïí , in New Testament Scripture found only here, and in classical Greek signifying shameless, impudent, but used by Josephus in the sense of not being ashamed of, or having no occasion to blush for (Ant. xviii. 7. 1, ìçäå ̀ äåõôåñåõ ́ åéí á ̓ íåðáé ́ ó÷õíôïí ç ̔ ãïõ ͂: “nor think that one should not be ashamed to be inferior to”. . .; so also in Agapetus, quoted by Wetstein). The sentiment is the same as that expressed by Paul respecting himself in Php_1:20, ἐí ïὐäåíὶ áἰó÷õíèÞóïìáé , In nothing shall I be ashamed—meaning that his behaviour would be such as to afford no occasion for such a feeling. And as the more special ground of this confidence, we have the still further characteristic—rightly handling the word of truth. Here again there is a word of singular occurrence in the New Testament— ὀñèïôïìïῦíôá , primarily signifying to cut straight, with reference, as is supposed by some, to the cutting and distributing of bread (Calvin, Vitringa); by others, to the right division of the victims in sacrifice (Beza, Mel.); by others, to the drawing of straight furrows in ploughing (Theodoret); but by the majority to the cutting of a line of road, in which sense it occurs figuratively in Pro_11:5, Sept. The question is, how the word may most naturally be understood when applied, as it is here, to the treatment of God’s word? To divide rightly, in one point of view, might give an appropriate meaning, but scarcely one quite suited to the connection; for as the subject under discussion is the true as opposed to the false, the serious and earnest as opposed to the frivolous and unprofitable, dealing with spiritual things by a minister of the gospel, one does not so naturally think of the mode of distributing or administering the word of truth among the hearers (a matter of tact and wisdom rather than of fidelity), as of a fair and conscientious or straightforward handling of the word itself. This, as opposed to all kinds of tortuous interpretations, or by-plays of ingenuity for sinister purposes, is pre-eminently what becomes the teacher who would stand approved in the judgment of God: like a sincere and honest workman, he must go right on in his use of the word, maintaining it in its integrity, and applying it to the great spiritual ends for which it has been given. This appears at once the simplest and the most suitable explanation of the phrase; it is that which substantially was expressed by the Vulgate, recte tractantem, and is acquiesced in by Huther, Alford, and others. (Deyling has the merit of establishing the correct view in a very full dissertation on the verse; Obs. Sac. vol. iv. p. 2, c. 3. After examining the other views, and stating that here, as in many other compound words, we cannot adhere to the etymological sense of cutting, he adds: Nam quemadmodum êáéíïôïìåé ͂ í non est res novas secare, sed res novas moliri, ita similiter ï ̓ ñèïôïìåé ͂ í est recte tractare, et ï ̓ ñèïôïìé ́ á , tractatio recte, prout decet, instituta, traducta significatione a specie ad genus. Idem confirmat versio Syriaca pervetus, quae ï ̓ ñèïô . ôï ̀ í ëï ́ ãïí transtulit recte praedica re sermonem veritatis, hoc est, recte tractare et exponere Scripturam sacram, etc.)