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`The Word of God' (2:9).
`The faithful word' (2:11).
Suffering for its own sake is to be avoided; it may be merely an
exhibition of morbid and debased feelings. Suffering that comes upon us
because of our own folly and misdeeds must be borne patiently and with
penitence, but suffering that comes upon us because of the truth we hold and
teach, should be a matter of rejoicing, not only for the honour put upon us
to be counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of the Lord, but because
there is associated with this present suffering the crown and the prize.
In introducing this aspect of his teaching to Timothy the apostle uses
three figures, (1) the soldier, (2) the athlete, (3) the husbandman. These
are, as it were, the premises of his argument, and if we have unscriptural
views as to these, we shall also have them in our conclusions.
Take the first figure, the soldier. What we immediately associate with
the profession of the soldier is fighting, but we look in vain in 2 Timothy
2:3,4 for reference to fighting qualities or fighting prowess, the apostle's
use of the word being restricted to the qualities of endurance and non-
entanglement with the things of this life. We must therefore call a halt in
our advance through this third section to make sure that the figures intended
by Paul are understood by ourselves.
The Good Soldier.-- The word used by Paul in 2 Timothy 2:3 for `good'
soldier is kalos. Cremer says of the two words agathos and kalos, that:
`kalos is related to its synonym, agathos, as the appearance to the essence'.
Confining our attention to this second epistle, we find that the apostle
uses agathos twice, `good works' (2:21; 3:17), and kalos thrice, viz.:
`That good thing which was committed' (1:14).
`Endure ... as a good soldier of Jesus Christ' (2:3).
`I have fought a good fight' (4:7).
The true basis of the apostle's teaching lies in what he says of the
`good soldier', and to this we now turn. The apostle was at liberty to
select any one or more of the characteristics of the soldier. As he has done
elsewhere, he could speak of his arms and of his armour; he could speak of
his bravery, his discipline, his prowess, his obedience, his chivalry or his
cruelty. But none of these things were in Paul's mind in the writing of 2
Timothy 2:3,4. What he selects and brings forward are:
(1)
The quality of endurance which was so fully exhibited in the
Roman soldier.
(2)
The complete freedom from all business entanglements and property
which was demanded of the Roman soldier upon his enrolment.
`Enduring hardness' is a passive quality and one not immediately
associated with soldiering. Yet who is there that passed through the horrors
of war, whether personally or in imagination, that does not know that the
long -drawn -out horror of mud, filth and suspense of the trenches demanded
more from the soldier than the short, sharp, decisive, conflict of arms?
These words, `endure hardness', translate the Greek kakopatheo, `to suffer
evil'. Kakos is just the opposite of kalos, the word translated `good' in
the same verse.
Josephus uses this word in his Wars of the Jews, saying: