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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 2 Timothy 2:24 - 2:26
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Vers. 24-26. But the servant of the Lord, it is added, must not strive, but be gentle toward all: not a person of contentious and combative disposition, but of mild and conciliatory bearing. Every one who is a true believer in Christ, and in any sphere of life is called to do service to Him, ought to be such; for it is what Christ Himself, the great pattern of believers, pre-eminently was; but the connection makes it plain that servant of the Lord is here taken in the more emphatic sense—of those who, like Timothy, were set apart to special service—evangelists and ministers of the word. In such a case it is more in accordance with our idiom to say the than a servant of the Lord, though the äïῦëïí of the original is without the article; but the prominent position of the word, at the very commencement of the sentence, and its being coupled also with a defining genitive ( Êõñßïõ ), serve substantially the same purpose as our definite article. Besides being gentle in his bearing, the Lord’s servant must be apt to teach (1Ti_3:2, which see), I ( ἀíåîßêáêïí , enduring evil), in meekness correcting those who oppose themselves—meaning thereby persons within the professing church, but who, taking up some false notions, or misled by perverted counsels, set themselves to withstand the pure teaching and goodly order of Christ’s kingdom. Such persons need to be firmly met, and brought under a corrective, wholesome administration ( ðáéäåýïíôá , see at 1Ti_1:20, Tit_2:12), yet conducted with a meek and forbearing spirit. And the reason follows: if peradventure, or sometime perchance, God may give them repentance unto the full knowledge of the truth. The form of expression is peculiar, indicative of hope, yet mingled with much doubt and hesitancy: ìÞðïôå äþῃ áὐôïῖò ὁ Èåὸò , literally, lest at any time God may give them. But what is meant is, plainly, not something to be dreaded, but something to be desired and hoped for, only of so uncertain or improbable a kind, that there was only a faint prospect of seeing it realized. Ìç ̀ is here used somewhat irregularly, in its dubitative sense; ðïôå ̀, with which it is united, is not otiose, but brings its own signification of indefinite time; and while marking clearly the complete contingency of the change, still leaves the faint hope that at some time or other such a change may, by God’s grace, be wrought within” (Ellicott). See also Winer, Gr. § 56, 2, b, note by Mr. Moulton, who suggests as a translation, whether haply; and Scherlitz, Grundzüge der Neutest. Gräcität, p. 365, perhaps fully better, whether God may not still give. It is an elliptical sentence, and cannot, as it actually stands, be very definitely construed; while yet there is plainly enough expressed a hesitating, yet not altogether groundless hope, that the desired good might be ultimately reached. The if peradventure, therefore, of the Authorized Version gives the sense nearly as well as any rendering that could be adopted.
In regard to the good itself to be sought in behalf of the opposers in question, a twofold description is given: first, that through a ìåôÜíïéáí , a benignant change of heart wrought by the grace of God, they might come to the full knowledge ( ἐðßãíùóéí ) of the truth—might not know it in part merely, or in so superficial a manner as to leave the spirit and temper of the inner man still unsubdued by its hallowed influence. Only the full knowledge, apprehended and embraced by a properly receptive heart, would be sufficient to win them over to the obedience of Christ. The other aspect presented of the good in question is contained in the next verse, 2Ti_2:26 : and that they may return to soberness out of the snare of the devil. Such is the only ascertained sense of the verb ἀíáíÞøùóéí , found only here in the New Testament writings. The parties in question are contemplated as having sunk into a kind of drunken or benumbed state, through the artful devices of the great adversary, and capable only of being recovered to sobriety of thought and soundness of moral perceptions by being dealt with in a kindly and temperate, yet faithful exercise of authority. In that case, with God’s blessing on the means employed, the delusive spell might possibly break, and a position of freedom and safety be gained by them. The sentence is here, again, elliptical; and the full import plainly is, that they may return to soberness, [and so escape] out of the snare of the devil. The bewildered or stupefied state into which they had fallen was as if they had been caught in a snare of the wicked one; and so the dispelling of the one brought an escape from the other.
The remaining clause is attended with some difficulty, and has been variously interpreted: ἐæùãñçìÝíïé ὑð ʼ áὐôïῦ åἰò ôὸ ἐêåßíïõ èÝëçìá , being, or having been, taken captive by him, for, or according to the will of him. Such is the plain rendering of the words, which in themselves are simple enough. But in the original there are two pronouns, which are at least most naturally referred to different subjects, as indeed they do refer, in a passage quite near (2Ti_3:9), where the one ( áõ ̓ ôï ́ ò ) has respect to a nearer, the other ( å ̓ êåé ͂ íïò ) to a more remote party. Cases have been produced in which both pronouns, when occurring in a single sentence, have respect to the same subject (Kühner, § 629, 3). But they are somewhat exceptional, and, as stated by Alford, it took place only when it was sought by such a use of å ̓ êåé ͂ íïò to emphasize the subject. The meaning, therefore, can hardly be that given by the Vulgate, a quo captivi tenentur ad ipsius voluntatem; reproduced in our English version, “who are taken captive by him at his will,” adopted still by De Wette and Huther; for, so rendered, the devil would be the subject of both pronouns, with no more emphasis in connection with the one than the other: áὐôïῦ would have served equally well in both places. The objection applies also to the view of the Greek expositors, who ascribe the taking captive not to the devil, but to God, and as the product of His will, which is liable to the further objection that it represents men, who had just returned to the free use of their intellectual and moral powers, as now taken captive, though in a better sense than before—borne away by another power than their own. Nor is the matter much mended by Bengel, Wetstein, and others, who would refer the áὐôïῦ , who takes captive, not to God Himself, but to the servant of God, through whose instrumentality the blessed captivity is effected, and God’s will in this respect made good. This gets rid, indeed, of the objection as to the two pronouns being made to refer to one subject; but there still remains the apparent unnaturalness and impropriety of representing persons, just restored to sense and liberty, going into captivity—carried captive, on this supposition, by a human agent, who, immediately before, was taught to regard his working upon them to any good purpose as only a bare possibility. A transition of this sort wants verisimilitude. It seems necessary, therefore, to a satisfactory explanation, that we understand by the power who takes captive the devil, and, as a matter of course, that the captivity so effected be associated with the preceding period of spiritual intoxication, when the parties lay locked, as it were, in a stupefying delusion. The tense also confirms this view—the perfect, not the aorist—pointing, therefore, not to a single act, but to a continued state: having been taken captive by him. Then the concluding clause, åἰò ôὸ ἐêåßíïõ èÝëçìá , unto (in pursuance of, or for the carrying out of) the will of Him—namely, of God: this may grammatically be connected, either with their captivity to the power of evil, which in that case comes to be regarded as under His appointment and control; or, as appears more natural, with their recovery from that state—the restoration to sobriety of mind, which is all one with escaping from the snare and captivity of the devil, being the fulfilment, in their experience, of His gracious will. The whole passage, then, might be read, pointed, and slightly paraphrased thus: In meekness correcting those who oppose themselves, if peradventure God may give them repentance [to come] unto the full knowledge of the truth; and that they may return to soberness, [and so escape] out of the snare of the devil (by whom they had been taken captive), according to the will of Him (God), who for this end seconds the efforts of His servant, by giving the spirit of repentance and true enlightenment.