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#4.
II Timothy.
pp. 181 - 183
---Illustration---
(BE-XXIV.181).
This last prison epistle corresponds with Philippians, for it speaks of the athlete
(II Tim. 2: 5), the possibility of winning or losing a crown (II Tim. 2: 5, 12; 4: 7, 8),
the finishing at a race course (II Tim. 4: 7).
Three "good" things are mentioned by the apostle:--
(1) THE GOOD DEPOSIT (II Tim. 1: 14, see I Tim. 6: 20 and II Tim. 1: 12, 2: 2).
(2) THE GOOD SOLDIER (II Tim. 2: 3) where endurance rather than fighting qualities
are uppermost in the apostle's mind.
(3) THE GOOD FIGHT (II Tim. 4: 7). This too is not a "fight" in a military sense, but
rather a "contest", and is translated "race" in Heb. 12: 1.
There are four emphatic statements about the Word in this epistle.
(1) Preach the Word (II Tim. 4: 2).--Here the word "preach" means "to herald"--
not to "evangelize", and looks to the character of the times when men will not endure
sound doctrine.
(2) The inspiration of the Word (II Tim. 3: 16).--The word scripture (graphe)
means something which is written down, not something merely in the mind, or spoken by
the mouth. The words "given by inspiration of God", if translated literally, mean
"God breathed", and indicated that what is "written" in our Scriptures is what God said,
thereby eliminating the interference of the mind and short-comings of the human
instrument. As a speaker once summed up the passage: It is a matter of dictation than of
composition.
(3) The pattern (form) of sound words (II Tim. 1: 13).--The word "form" indicates a
pattern from which others may work. The chart shows the planning of a pattern. One
square is complete, and shows "the unit of repeat". This unit is turned over and over and
covers the whole surface, thereby making a balanced and harmonious pattern. Should
anyone venture to place in one square a rose, in another a bird, in another a geometric
pattern, we should get variety, but the pattern would vanish.
Paul's life and doctrine have been given to us as "the unit of repeat". Timothy, so far
as grace was given him, continued the design. We are not all like Paul or Timothy.