and faithful servant. "If we patiently endure, we shall also reign with Him" (IITim.ii.12)

and we have already pointed out the vital difference between salvation, membership of

the Body of Christ by grace and living with Him, contrasted with the added prize, reward

or crown. This will give the unspeakable privilege of not only living with Christ, but of

sharing His throne and the administration of the universe in the glory to come, all being

contingent on loyal and unselfish service for the Lord right to the end.

The Lord is the righteous Judge or Umpire, Who will justly award to each member of

the Body his due. We can certainly leave all to His impartial assessment. The opinions

of others concerning our lives will not intrude there and we can safely disregard them

here. One is our Master, even Christ, and all service must be rendered as to Him and not

to men.

The R.V. correctly translates the perfect tense, "have loved His appearing", not "love

His appearing" (A.V.). A sudden love for any phase of the Second Advent at the end of

our lives will not win a crown; it must be the consistent love all along, influencing our

life and witness. The N.T. speaks of various "crowns": (1) an incorruptible crown

(ICor.ix.25); (2) a crown of life (James 1: 12; Rev. 2: 10); (3) a crown of rejoicing

(IThess.ii.19); (4) a crown of glory (I Pet. 5: 4). All these give us various aspects of the

added prize a believer in each calling of Scripture may obtain. With Paul it was a crown

associated with righteousness; righteousness being at the very heart of his ministry,

commencing with Galatians and Romans, "the just (righteous) shall live by faith".

The concluding section of this epistle (4: 9-22) now follows, commencing with some

personal requests. He urges Timothy once more to do his utmost to come to him as

quickly as possible lest the difficulties of traveling should prevent him from doing so, and

it was all the more urgent because of the defection of Demas. His forsaking the Apostle

is attributed to his love of the present age instead of loving the Lord's appearing. How

we need to beware of the insidious pull of present things around us rather than the `things

above where Christ sitteth' (Col. 3: 1, 2). In contrast to disloyal Demas, we find Luke,

the beloved physician, faithful to Paul right to the end. The Lord was merciful in not

only granting him the precious boon of a faithful friend, amidst so many who deserted

him in his time of need, but one who could care for his health.

John Mark, in contrast to Demas, though once unfaithful, causing the dissension

between Paul and Barnabas, is now `profitable (or useful) for the ministry' (i.e. Christian

service of any kind). Timothy is to pick him up en route and bring him along. Of

Crescens we know nothing, but tradition links him with the churches of Vienna and

Mayence in Gaul. The dispatch of Titus to Dalmatia seems to indicate that his work in

Crete had finished. His new sphere was on the eastern shore of the Adriatic sea which is

now Yugo-Slavia.

Tychicus was one of Paul's reliable associates. He was the bearer of the epistles to

both Colossians and Ephesians and it is possible that he was to relieve Timothy at

Ephesus during the latter's absence while visiting Paul in Rome.