 |  |
(5)
"This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works"
(Titus 3: 8).
The testimony concerning the prize and the crown is as much a faithful saying as the
testimony that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: may we believe all that
God has spoken.
#19.
(2: 14-26). The Structure of the passage as a whole,
The warning of verse 14 in particular.
pp. 89 - 93
We have now considered together the following sections of this second epistle to
Timothy:
(1)
THE SALUTATION AND REMEMBRANCE (1: 1-7).
(2)
THE FORSAKEN MESSAGE (1: 8-18).
(3)
THE GOOD SOLDIER (2: 1-13).
These members find their correspondence in the third and fourth chapters of the
epistle, leaving the two central members:
D | 2: 14-26. "Approved" (dokimos).
D | 3: 1-9. "Disapproved" (adokimos).
to complete the epistle and its corresponding members.
Throughout the epistle, so far, there has been an intermingling of sunshine and
shadow, rejoicing and suffering. This is obvious to the most superficial reader. In the
salutation we find not only encouraging words for Timothy's benefit, remembrances of
his home life and Christian upbringing, reminders of the special gift that he had received
by the laying on of the Apostle's hands, but we find also the exhortation to stir up this
gift, and the very solemn reminder that God had not given to us a spirit of cowardice, but
of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
In the second section, we have the exhortation, "Be not ashamed", and the repeated
reference to the fact that suffering is often the mead of faithfulness here, and we have
also the triumphant testimony of the Apostle to the faithful keeping of the Lord. In the
section now concluded, namely 2: 1-13, if there be the necessity to endure, to suffer
evil, to strive and to wait, there is also the counterbalance of crown and reign. Timothy
therefore would be led by these succeeding steps to the glorious conclusion that the only
thing that really matters in this present sphere is that we shall be approved unto God
(II Tim. 2: 15), with its dreadful counterpart in chapter 3:, of those like Jannes and
Jambres who are disapproved concerning the faith (3: 8).