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The Husbandman.--The word so translated is georgos, the origin of our English name
George, and which means "an earth worker", ge meaning "the earth" and ergo "to work".
This work establishes another link between II Timothy and the epistle of James (see
previous article), for the only other occurrence of georgos in the epistle is in James:
"Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long
patience for it, until he receive the early and later rain" (James 5: 7).
Here, as in II Tim. 2:, patient waiting is associated with harvest. The English
"husbandman" is derived from hus (Old English) a house, and bondi (old Norse) to dwell,
and so does not originally mean a married man, but a peasant owning his own house and
land; a freeholder, or yeoman.
Apart from the two references already given, the remaining seventeen occurrences of
georgos in the N.T. are found in the Gospels, where the husbandman are usually
associated with a vineyard. (Matt. 21:; Mark xii; Luke 20: and John 15:). One
occurrence of the verb georgeomai is found in Hebrews; and there the use of the word
transfers the teaching of II Tim. 2: from the husbandman himself to the field that he
cultivates.
"For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth
herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed (georgeomai), receiveth blessing from God:
but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected (adokimos, `castaway', I Cor. 9: 27,
see note above) and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned" (Heb. 6: 7, 8).
The next verse shows that salvation is not in view here, but "things that accompany
salvation". In like manner, the "reigning" or the "denying" of II Tim. 2: 12, 13 has not
to do with salvation itself, but the added glory that may go with it. Yet once more,
georgion, "husbandry", occurs in I Cor. 3:, a passage dealing, not with salvation but
service; not with foundation but superstructure; not with the possibility of "being lost"
but with the possibility of "suffering loss", while at the same time "being saved so as
through fire".
It is not the husbandman merely that is in view in II Tim. 2:: the original reads, Ton
kepionta georgon, "The toiling husbandman". Kopias, it to "labour", "toil", even to
weariness--from kopto, "to strike". There are 23 occurrences of this verb in the N.T. and
of these 14 occur in Paul's epistles. It is usually translated by the word "labour", but
there is one reference where the idea of fatigue is uppermost, "Being wearied with His
journey" (John 4: 6).
Kopos, "labour", occurs 14 times in the N.T. and is once translated "weariness": "In
weariness and painfulness" (II Cor. 11: 27). We have already referred to I Cor. 3: in
connection with the word "husbandry", and we find that in that passage the Apostle
speaks of one's "own reward according to his own labour" (I Cor. 3: 8). Toil, says the
Apostle, must come before partaking of the fruits, even as endurance must come before
the award of a crown.