1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, a
according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
(a) Sent of God to preach that life which he promised in
Christ Jesus.
1:31 I thank God, whom I serve from [my] b forefathers with
pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of
thee in my prayers night and day;
(1) The purpose that he aims at in this epistle is to confirm
Timothy to continue constantly and bravely even to the end.
And he sets first before him the great good will he has for
him, and then reckons up the excellent gifts which God
would as it were have to be in Timothy by inheritance, and
his ancestors, which might so much the more make him bound
to God.
(b) From Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for he speaks not of
Pharisaism, but of Christianity.
1:62 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou c stir
up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my
hands.
(2) He urges us to set the invincible power of the Spirit which
God has given us, against those storms which may, and do
come upon us.
(c) The gift of God is as it were a certain living flame
kindled in our hearts, which the flesh and the devil go
about to put out: and therefore we as their opponents
must labour as much as we can to foster and keep it
burning.
1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of d fear; but of
power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
(d) To pierce us through, and terrify us, as men whom the
Lord will destroy.
1:83 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me e his prisoner: but be thou partaker of
the afflictions of the f gospel according to the g power
of God;
(3) He proves that the ignominy or shame of the cross is not to
be ashamed of, and also that it is glorious and most
honourable: first, because the Gospel for which the godly
are afflicted is the testimony of Christ: and secondly
because at length the great virtue and power of God appears
in them.
(e) For his sake.
(f) This Gospel is said to be in a way afflicted in those
that preach it.
(g) Through the power of God.
1:94 Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was h given us in Christ Jesus i before
the world began,
(4) He shows with how great benefits God has bound us to
maintain boldly and constantly his glory which is joined
with our salvation, and reckons up the causes of our
salvation, that is, that free and eternal purpose of God,
to save us in Christ who was to come. And by this it would
come to pass, that we would at length be freely called by
God through the preaching of the Gospel, to Christ the
destroyer of death and author of immortality.
(h) He says that that grace was given to us from
everlasting, to which we were predestinated from
everlasting. So that the doctrine of foreseen faith
and foreseen works is completely contrary to the
doctrine which preaches and teaches the grace of God.
(i) Before the beginning of years, which has run on ever
since the beginning of the world.
1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought
life and immortality to k light through the gospel:
(k) Has caused life and immortality to appear.
1:115 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle,
and a teacher of the Gentiles.
(5) That is, the Gospel which the apostle preached.
1:126 For the which cause I also suffer these things: 7
nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day.
(6) He confirms his apostleship by a strange argument, that is,
because the world could not abide it, and therefore it
persecuted him that preached it.
(7) By setting his own example before us, he shows us how it
may be, that we will not be ashamed of the cross of Christ,
that is, if we are sure that God both can and will keep the
salvation which he has as it were laid up in store by
himself for us against that day.
1:138 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast
heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
(8) He shows in what he ought to be most constant, that is,
both in the doctrine itself, the essential parts of which
are faith and charity, and next in the manner of teaching
it, a living pattern and shape of which Timothy knew in the
apostle.
1:149 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep 10
by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
(9) An amplification, taken from the dignity of so great a
benefit committed to the ministers.
(10) The taking away of an objection. It is a hard thing to do
it, but the Spirit of God is mighty, who has inwardly
endued us with his power.
1:1511 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be
turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
(11) He prevents an offence which arose by the means of certain
ones that fell from God and the faith, and utters also
their names that they might be known by all men. But he
sets against them the singular faith of one man, that one
good example alone might counterbalance and weigh down all
evil examples.
