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hands. Those marvelous epistles signed with Paul's "own hand" are more than a
compensation to us for the absence of any such gift, and consequently, we may stand on a
common level of responsibility and blessed equipment with Timothy and every
succeeding "faithful man able to teach others also", to whom the sacred trust has been
committed down the age until the last messenger has been equipped and the last member
enlightened.
Should any demur at this leveling statement, we point to II Tim. 3: 17, where
Timothy, with all his gifts, is nevertheless informed that the Holy Scriptures, possessed
by us as surely as by himself, "thoroughly furnish" the man of God. Before leaving this
word "follow" we must consider the fact that the revised text uses a different tense of the
verb. The Authorized Version uses the perfect tense, which ends with thekas, whereas
the revised text uses the aorist tense, which ends with thesas, substituting "s" for "k".
The translation of the perfect is simple. "Thou hast fully followed", with the unexpressed
idea "and are still following". This meaning can be sensed by those whose grip on
grammar may not be strong. "What I have written I have written", conveys the idea that
such is going to remain written. "That which hath been born of the flesh is flesh" teaches
the same lesson. If however the apostle used the aorist, he must have had a different
intention. We can no longer use the words "have followed", and if we use the timeless
"thou fully followest", it looks so much like the present tense, that we must follow such a
rendering with an explanation. The Revised Version translates "but thou didst follow",
and Alford writes:
"The aorist is both less obvious and more appropriate than the perfect: this was the
example set before him, and the reminiscence, joined to the exhortation of verse 14, bears
something of reproach with it, which is quite in accordance with what we have reason to
infer from the general tone of the epistle. Whereas the perfect would imply that the
example has been really ever before him, and followed up at the present moment; and so
would weaken the necessity of the exhortation."
Before the apostle names Antioch, Iconium and Lystra he draws the attention to
Timothy, and of ourselves, to those characteristics of his own ministry, which he so
earnestly desired Timothy to follow, "my doctrine, manner of life, purpose"
(II Tim. 3: 10). Let us pause here. First of all, let us notice that Paul, with all the
knowledge that he possessed of his own frailty and liability, to err as man, could
unhesitatingly draw the attention of one who had been an intimate companion for years,
to the close relation which "his doctrine" bore to "his manner of life". Few could stand
such scrutiny, few would encourage the investigation and comparison, but whoever can
thus boldly link together doctrine and manner of life, will also know something of the
true success that crowned the apostle's ministry.
One of the most noticeable characteristics of the apostle Paul's life is that he most
certainly "practiced" what he "preached", and to this day, we are prepared to listen to the
man who brings such credentials.
"Doctrine", Didaskalia means teaching, especially the substance of the teaching, and
differs from didache, which refers rather to the process, or the act of teaching. The two
words can be seen together in II Tim. 4: 2, 3.