From the unmasking of these various forms of evil, then germinating within the sphere of Christian profession, the apostle turns to the very different path and walk of his fellow-laborer.
“'But thou hast followed closely my teaching, course; purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, persecutions, sufferings; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that desire to live piously in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. But wicked men and impostors shall advance for the worse, deceiving and being deceived” (ver. 10-13).
It was energy of unfeigned faith and love, acting by the Spirit in the life which is in Christ Jesus, which thus drew out Timothy. Unbelief stumbled and made not only difficulties but opposition to that which attracted and sustained the young fellow-laborer, because it was to his soul the living witness to a rejected but glorified Christ. He was not ashamed, as wore many, of the testimony of our Lord or of Paul his prisoner. Whatever might be the timidity of his character naturally, in faith he found strength, giving glory to God. The promise of life was an assured reality, and he too suffered evil along with the gospel according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before ages of time, but now manifested by the appearing of our Savior. Christ in short decided and drew him onward in a path otherwise impossible.
Now Paul's “teaching” has justly the first place in that which acted on Timothy: not truth only, but cast in the mold of the apostle's mind, heart, and moral force, where the person and heavenly glory of Christ governed with a power unequaled. And this in the main we have as God was pleased to give it permanence for our instruction, and cheer, and warning, and general blessing in his epistles, to speak of no more, though we cannot have what Timothy enjoyed so largely—speaking “mouth to mouth,” as another apostle expresses it who laid great store on such communications, as compared with paper and ink and pen. Yet each has its excellency, and all is surely ordered in its season; so that, while recognizing what Timothy had for the help and furnishing of his soul, we can own the wisdom of the Lord in our portion.
Then the “course” or “conduct” of the apostle had its great value as a practical expression of the truth which swayed his judgments and feelings habitually. There is no better comment on the inspired word than in the walk of those subject to it, whether individually or in the assembly. If this be true generally of all the spiritual and intelligent, so far as they are led in obedience, what a bright illumination of holy writ was there not in one privileged as Timothy was, perhaps beyond all others, with the intimacy of the great apostle so long and so variously!
“Purpose” shone in that life of ceaseless serving the Lord Christ with a splendor which none but the malignant could misinterpret, none but the dark and blind overlook. From the time that there fell from his eyes, as it were, scales, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared to both those of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judaea, and also the Gentiles, that they should repent and believe the gospel. He preached the kingdom boldly; he shrank not from declaring the whole counsel of God. And in the midst of these labors night and day, he could say, as perhaps no other with equal truth, “One thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Practical, present, living “faith” it was that kept alive the holy fire in the heart of the apostle; and this accordingly is here pointed out for fixing its place on Timothy's memory, and stimulating him to perseverance in the like path. For indeed, as there is but one path, even Christ, for all that are His, so it is faith alone that finds and pursues it with patience: we walk by faith, not by sight, as by faith we stand. No other means suits the children of God, and none other glorifies God Himself, who world be owned immediately by them, as they thus derive fresh blessing in the enjoyment of His light and love. If “faith” be then the ever ready, ever needed, means of direction and power for all, how much more for those who have the added and most trying service of the Lord in the word! What did it not recall, to His genuine child in faith, of calm reckoning on God against all appearances? What of gracious answers even beyond expectation? For God will not be outdone even by the truest heart, and grace will ever flow beyond the faith which it creates and exercises.
“Long-suffering” too had Timothy seen in Paul as nowhere else. For in truth it is no fruit ripened in earthly soil but that which comes from Him who was and is its fullness, now on the throne of God. Least of all was it natural to Saul of Tarsus, who speaks of himself as once a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, that is, a man characterized by insolent overbearing. lint boundless mercy was shown, and wondrous “long-suffering” was the fruit.
“Love” wrought there, love seen and known and proved in Jesus our Lord, love reproduced by the Spirit as the energy of that nature which is light in its principle. For if all the godly become by grace partakers of divine nature, in him who was given to write 1 Cor. 13 love wrought mightily. Nor if knowledge spoke haughtily and to the stumbling of the weak, did any man deal so trenchantly with it as he who beyond all his fellows knew all mysteries and all knowledge? Timothy had truly had a rich sample of “love” before his eyes.
“Patience” therefore did not fail, though put to the proof in the utmost variety of form and degree. As we read 2 Cor. 11, we think a little of what Timothy had beheld or known in so many details. The signs of the apostle were wrought among the saints in all patience, by both signs and wonders, and works of power.
This is followed by “persecutions,” and “sufferings,” as the trials in which the “patience” or endurance was manifested. And the same chapter accordingly furnishes in the most unobtrusive way such a roll as no hero of the world could match. Yet the apostle was pained to the quick to say a word about them. “I am become foolish,” he said: “ye have compelled me.” He took no pleasure in recounting what they should have otherwise learned or remembered, though he could add, “I take pleasure in weakness, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in straits, for Christ's sake.”
Timothy was thoroughly acquainted with what things happened to the apostle at Antioch (of Pisidia), and at Iconium, and at Lystra. It was in this order that persecution befell Paul; in the reverse that he and Barnabas made their return journey, establishing the souls of the disciples converted a little before. In all these sufferings and opposition Jews played the guilty part of inciting the Gentiles against the word of life, and those who preached it. Hence when they came to close quarters, stoning was the method employed. What occupation for the ancient people of God! What anguish for him who so loved them, even when not a blow fell on him! But if the apostle recalled the vivid recollections of Timothy, for he was of Lyeaonia, and brought to the knowledge of Christ through the apostle at this very time, he could say, “What persecutions I endured, and out of all the Lord delivered me.”
A twofold statement concludes this part of the Epistle, which those who look for progress in Christendom as a whole would do well to ponder. For the apostle speaks as generally as he lays down the truth positively. Not a hint does he give of a temporary interruption to be followed by blessing and triumph for the gospel. That the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea, is certain; that the nations shall seek unto the Messiah, and that His resting place shall be glorious, cannot be questioned by the believer; but none of these things shall be before He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips slay the wicked. Till then, however truly the gospel may save individuals here and there, or even affect communities, especially where it is mixed up with law and rendered earthly—till the Lord is revealed in judgment of the quick, those that are in heart godly must suffer, and evil men advance to greater impiety. Partial appearances deceive; the word of God abides forever.
Thus, on the one hand, the apostle declares, “Yea, and all that desire to live piously in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted.” It is wise, and even incumbent on saints to make up their minds thus to suffer for righteousness, and for Christ. They will then think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among them, which comes upon them to prove them, as though a strange thing happened unto them.
On the other hand, they will not be appalled that the world, yea, the professing mass, grows distinctly worse as a whole in the face of every testimony of God's grace and truth. On the contrary, they will cleave the more to the word which the prevalence of evil only confirms, while conversion goes on actively. “But evil men and impostors shall advance for the worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Can words more graphically, as well as accurately, set out the real character of the progress for him who bows to scripture? If we refuse this subjection, a blinding power is already on us, and we are led astray ourselves as we mislead others in the measure of the error and of our influence.