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Just as the emphasis here is on "teaching" so the word "doctrine", the command to
"teach" and to appoint faithful men who shall be "apt to teach" are outstanding features
of II Timothy.
The church has failed to live at the spiritual height revealed in
Ephesians, and its ministry no longer compares with the self-sacrificing service of the
Philippians; nevertheless "the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's
sake" (I Sam. 12: 22), and so this "man of God" promises "to teach" the good and the
right way. While the reader will need no further exposition of this subject he will find a
reading of II Timothy helpful to his understanding thereof.
Following historic sequence, David is the next "man of God", and he is so named by
Nehemiah at the dedication of the wall at Jerusalem:
"And the chief of the Levites . . . . . to praise and to give thanks, according to the
commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward" (Neh. 12: 24).
There is a reference back, here, to a passage already considered, namely,
I Chron. 23:, for there David commanded the Levites "to stand every morning to
thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even" (verse 30). Much was done under the
combined efforts of Nehemiah and of Ezra to bring the service and worship of God back
to conformity with the law of both Moses and David, yet
"Many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that
had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes,
wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy" (Ezra 3: 12).
To such, the prophet Haggai spoke, saying:
"Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it
now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? . . . . . The desire of all nations
will come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts" (Hag. 2: 3, 7).
As he compared the "church" over which he was about to take control, with the
"church" as it was first formed when the revelation of the mystery called it into being,
Timothy might well weep--nevertheless, weak though it was, a glory awaited it, for the
glory of the church consists not in ordinances, ceremonies, or orders of ministry, but in
the personal presence of the risen Lord. Timothy, and all like him, would be encouraged
in the midst of much that was poor and frail and "otherwise than it was written", to stress
the sanctifying presence of the Lord Himself.
Immediately following this reference to Haggai comes the reference to the law of
uncleanness, a passage that makes one think of Paul's words to Timothy, "If a man
therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet
for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (II Tim. 2: 21).
Out of the abundance of material that is discovered when considering the teaching of
Scripture concerning Elijah and Elisha as "men of God", two incidents are so evidently