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in 2: 1 and 3: 14, comes in the phrases "Heard of me" and "Of whom thou hast
learned them". In 2: 3 and 4: 5 the word kakopatheo, "suffer evil", is used, while the
central reference sums up the whole of the Apostle's example. Those who use the R.V.
will observe that the Revisers were a little uncertain as to whether they should read
sugkakopathesan, "suffer hardship with me" and so lose the su, "thou", but replacing it
by sug, "with" or whether the Received Text should stand. But when once the perfect
structure of these seven occurrences has been seen all doubt vanishes and the A.V. is seen
to be correct.
In connection with these structures, perhaps it will be well if we remind the reader that
we may claim to be discoverers, for we have not seen them in the writings of other
commentators, but we are not inventors, for, whether we see them or not, the seven
pronouns are there, with their contexts.
We understand therefore that the Apostle intentionally used the emphatic pronoun in
1: 18 and in 2: 1 to compel Timothy to consider his own position in the light of the
example of others. That this is so, the presence of the word "therefore" makes plain, just
as we have opened this paragraph with the words "We understand therefore", the reason
being that we are concluding an argument based upon the material that has gone before.
This particle oun, translated "therefore", "then", and similar connectives of argument,
should never be passed over lightly.
We find the Apostle using this particle of argument several times in this letter to
Timothy. Let us notice the occurrences.
A | 1: 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed.--Appeal made to early upbringing and gift.
B | 2: 1. Be thou therefore strong.--Appeal made to be like Onesiphorus,
but to avoid likeness to Phygellus and Hermogenes (1: 15).
C | 2: 3. Thou therefore endure.--Appeal to character of trust committed.
B | 2: 21. If a man therefore purge.--Appeal to be a golden vessel,
and to avoid likeness to Hymenæus and Philetus (2: 17).
A | 4: 1. I charge thee therefore.--Appeal to early training in Scripture and equipment.
Here are the five occasions upon which the Apostle used oun, and once again we
cannot but marvel at the Divine superintendence of their order, even to the two pairs of
names that come in the argument, Phygellus and Hermogenes, in the one case, and
Hymenæus and Philetus in the other. The appeal, at the beginning and end, to Timothy's
home training in the Word would be very strong to one of his nature.
The third item in the Apostle's appeal to Timothy is the use of the title "son". "Thou
therefore my son." Three words are used in the N.T. to translate "son". Huios, which
carries with it some sense of the dignity of sonship, and teknon, which is more a term of
endearment. The latter is derived from tikto, "to bear", and is equivalent to the Scotch
"bairn". The third word, pais, also means a child, but does not so strongly convey the
idea of endearment. It is sometimes translatable by the word "boy", sometimes by the
word "servant", in much the same way as the word garcon is used in French.