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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 2 Timothy 3:10 - 3:10
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Ver. 10. Thou, however, hast closely followed ( The received text has ðáñçêïëïõèçêá ́ ò , the perfect, with D, E, K, L, the great majority of cursives, Chrys., Theod., Damas.; but à , A, C read ðáñçêïëïýèçóÜò ; also F, G, the simple verb ç ̓ êïëïõ ́ èçóáò . Tischendorf now adopts the second, as do also Alford, El licott, Huther, chiefly on internal grounds, which are referred to in the text.) my instruction, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my long-suffering, my love, my patience, etc. In contrast to the selfish and crafty proceedings of the parties just referred to, the apostle now reminds Timothy of the very different line of conduct he had been made familiar with in the apostle’s own case—what proofs it had afforded of sincere devotion to the truth, self-denial, and all the higher graces of a pure and earnest life. Thou hast closely followed my course, says Paul, in all this, hast gone along with me therein as a sympathizing and approving disciple (see at 1Ti_4:6). The aorist, or indefinite past, is thought by some preferable to the perfect here: not that the reading, as stated in the note, is the better supported, but that it affords a fitter sense, conveying, as it would do, a kind of latent admonition to Timothy to take heed that it was as well with him now in this respect as it was in the past; or, as Alford more strongly puts it, the aorist bears something of reproach with it, virtually implying that Timothy was not the man now he had formerly been. In an earlier part of this epistle the same meaning was extracted from certain things said by the apostle, but without any just grounds, as we endeavoured to show; see at 2Ti_1:3-7. If the aorist were ascertained to be the correct reading, it would still convey no such reproach; it would only indicate that for some reason the apostle thought fit to refer specially to the earlier trials he had undergone, and the spirit he had manifested under them, rather than to those of a later period. Some explanation has been given of it by Paley and others, when tracing the coincidences between this epistle and the narrative in the related chapters of the Acts (Acts 13, 14, 16); the old scenes of persecution and trial which took place at and around Timothy’s earthly home naturally presenting themselves afresh here, and this in the very order in which they occurred: 2Ti_3:11. My persecutions, my sufferings, such as befell me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra; such persecutions as I endured: and out of them all the Lord delivered me. “We have thus the strongest reasons for believing that Timothy was a witness of St. Paul’s injurious treatment; and this, too, at a time of life when the mind receives its deepest impressions from the spectacle of innocent suffering and undaunted courage. And it is far from impossible that the generous and warm-hearted youth was standing in the group of disciples who surrounded the apparently lifeless body of the apostle at the outside of the walls of Lystra” (Howson). We can thus sufficiently account for the peculiar stress laid by the apostle here on matters connected with his first and second mission tour in Asia Minor, and for the reference being couched in the indefinite past, if so be that the aorist is the correct reading. But the other, the perfect, appears to me fully as natural (though the aorist has been retained in the text), because the reference of the apostle is not by any means exclusively to his remote experiences at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, but rather to the spirit, temper, and behaviour exhibited by him during the whole of Timothy’s acquaintance with him, but especially so in connection with what may be called the formative period of Timothy’s Christian life and ministerial agency. Commonly as an eye-witness, always in intimate fellowship and sympathy of spirit, Timothy had made common cause with him in all; and could thus judge at how high a moral elevation he stood above the low and worthless impostors against whom he was warning—yea, had himself shared in it.
The article prefixed to the several items in the apostle’s delineation of his course— ôῇ äéäáóêáëßᾳ , ôῇ ἀãùãῇ , etc.—individualizes them much in the same manner as our possessive pronoun, and may be said to carry forward the ìïõ , which stands at the beginning: the teaching of me, the conduct, namely, of me = my conduct, and so on.