Paul
knew that no one has immunity to the propensity of man, not even Timothy. So
here he gave him a series of personal charges. The four charges are four active
verbs in the imperative: to flee, to pursue, to fight and to take hold.
Firstly,
Timothy was commanded to flee all these things. What are the “things” that he
had to flee? In the context, it seems like he was to flee from love for riches that
would lead to departure from the faith and end in ruin and destruction.
Secondly, he was strongly challenged to pursue after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Thirdly, he was instructed to fight
the good fight of faith. And finally, he was told to take
hold of the eternal. The goal of the battle was to lay hold of eternal life.
Timothy’s ministry had to do with
eternal issues and so he had to keep faith with God. Paul was reminding him of
the pledge of faithfulness which he made before many witnesses during his
ordination. Timothy was charged to be faithful to the truth entrusted to him,
for the charge was given in the presence of the Omnipresent God, the Giver of
all things and the faithful Lord Jesus Christ, Who demonstrated faithfulness
before Pontius Pilate. Furthermore, Timothy was told to keep the commandment
with vigor, not giving any reason or room for accusation to discredit the
commandment. He must learn to live life in expectation of the appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ that could take place anytime.
In verses 15-16, Paul rounded off in a
doxology to praise the greatness of God. “He who is the blessed and only
Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of Lords; who alone possesses immortality
and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be
honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
We can live a life pleasing to God by fleeing
lust and inordinate passion for riches; by pursuing godliness, righteousness, faith
love,
perseverance and gentleness; by remaining steadfast
and consistent in contending for the faith; and by steadily focusing and moving
toward our goal and our hope of eternal life.
No comments:
Post a Comment