I enjoin thee before God who preserves all things in life, and Christ Jesus who witnessed before Pontius Pilate the good confession,
Paul gives his younger fellow-worker a solemn charge, and he names two witnesses for it: God, and Christ Jesus. Why these two names, and what did Christ confess at His trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate?
Paul does not just give advice. He sets Timothy in front of two Persons and leaves him there. One writer sets the moment beside an earlier commissioning, and shows what each name does for Timothy:
When Moses was about to leave this life, God told him to give Joshua a charge in the sight of all the congregation (Numbers 27:19). Now, before Paul left, he gave Timothy a charge — but in the sight of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, making Timothy aware that he stood in their presence. Timothy was to keep the commandment without spot and beyond reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ… Paul placed him before God, who keeps all things in life, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate. Mentioning God in this character would give him courage, and remembering Christ Jesus as a faithful witness would encourage him.
Commentators differ over how to read one word here. Some translations say God "gives life to all things." Others say He "preserves all things in life." One writer makes the case for the second sense:
"Quickening," or creating, is not the thought. The thought is "keeping alive"… The usage in the New Testament, and in the Greek Old Testament, clearly points to saving alive or preserving. And here it is "all things", not persons, that are in question, though some go so far as to teach the contrary. God, who is the source of life, is also the preserver of all things. The man who takes up His cause in a hostile scene can count on this, and needs to count on it.
That title matters when faithfulness turns dangerous:
The Apostle encourages us to keep this charge. He reminds us that we live in the sight of One who preserves all things in life. Can He not then preserve His own, however severe the conflict they may have to pass through?
One writer defines confession by what it stands against, and by what it costs:
Confession stands by the truth of God against the lie of man, and it stands by it at the risk of everything. Our Jesus bore this witness. Throughout His life and ministry it was the way of the Son of God to hide Himself… He had come in His Father's name and not in His own. He sought not His own glory, but the glory of Him who sent Him. But the time was to come when He must openly stand confessed.
Why single out this one trial? Look at who faced whom, and at how few words the Lord needed:
Here was God's true Representative in the world, standing before the man who represents the world. How precious and clear His witness, though His words were few. He bore witness to the truth. His kingdom was not of this world, but He was a King indeed, God's King, high above everything that only lasts for a time. He sought no prominence in this world, but the glory of His Father (John 18:33-37). This gives precious character to the commandment Paul tells Timothy to keep: "without spot, beyond reproach." There must be no lapse, no tarnishing of this testimony.
Christ is more than an example. He went that way first, and He supports His servants now:
He is on high to support His servants. But here He was, as no one else, "the faithful Witness," the good Confessor. What cheer for the man who might lose heart through timid advice, or through the demoralising effect of compromise… He has to follow His steps in this as in all things. And if he knows his weakness — as he surely will, more and more, in the hard conflict — he has only to spread it out before the One whose grace is enough and whose strength is made perfect in weakness.
- Two witnesses. The charge is a commission, not private advice. Paul gives it in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, with Timothy aware that he stands before them both.
- Preserver. The first witness is God, who holds all things in life. His servant in a hostile place can count on Him to preserve His own.
- Confession. The second witness is Christ, who stood by the truth of God against the lie of man, at the risk of everything.
- Pilate's hall. There God's true Representative stood before the world's representative. In a few words He owned that He was King, though His kingdom was not of this world.
- Untarnished. Such a Model stands over the charge. So keep the commandment without spot and beyond reproach, leaning on the grace that is made perfect in weakness.
that thou keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Paul does not simply advise Timothy here; he places him under a formal charge, spoken as if in a courtroom where God and Christ Jesus are looking on. One writer sets the moment beside the day when Moses handed his commission to Joshua, his successor, in front of the whole nation.
When Moses was about to leave this life, God told him to give Joshua a charge in front of the whole congregation (Numbers 27:19). Now, before Paul left, he gave Timothy a charge too. But it was in the sight of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He set Timothy in their presence, aware of it, and told him to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ... Thinking of God in this character would make him bold. Remembering Christ Jesus as a faithful witness would give him courage.
The word is not narrow. It covers everything Paul has laid on Timothy in this letter. Timothy keeps it by refusing every human improvement on it.
This commandment no doubt covered everything the apostle charged Timothy with in this letter. It covered all that concerns behaviour in the house of God, all he was to avoid and all he was to pursue. Timothy was to surrender nothing. He was not to stain the commandment with human tradition, with compromises, or by bringing in anything that came from the heart or mind of man.
Christ's own testimony before Pilate, the Roman governor, sets the standard for Timothy's witness.
Here was God's true Representative in the world, standing before the man who represents the world. How precious and clear His witness, though His words were few. He bore witness to the truth. His kingdom was not of this world, yet He was a real King, God's King, far above everything that only belongs to this passing age... This gives precious character to the commandment Timothy is told to keep unstained and free from reproach. There is to be no lapse, no tarnishing of this testimony that would leave him open to rebuke, because it is all in view of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Two different events are in view, and Paul names one of them on purpose. One writer shows that Christ's public appearing, not His coming to take His own out of the world, is what settles the question of a servant's faithfulness.
The coming of the Lord does not display us before the world; it takes us right out of it to be with Christ... There the apostle urges his faithful fellow-worker to keep this commandment unstained and free from reproach, until — the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? No; but "the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." The coming of our Lord will not prove whether Timothy has been faithful. His appearing will prove it completely. The appearing of the Lord Jesus therefore is the right and proper word, and none other.
Some read the verse as though Paul expected Timothy to live until that day. Another writer answers that the appearing marks the finish line of responsibility, whatever happens to the servant before it.
Timothy is urged to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of Jesus Christ. This verse is often used to argue the opposite, but it in fact shows how such words are to be taken. The appearing is the goal of responsibility. Whatever fills the time between now and the end of his path here would not change the exhortation. And no one would claim the apostle meant to guarantee that Timothy would live until the appearing.
What keeps a grip like that firm? One writer points to the faith of Christ Himself, and to the promise Timothy was told to hold on to.
The brightness of "the joy set before Him" never dimmed in the perfect faith of Jesus, even though the cross tested His hold on it to the very limit. In the same way, Timothy was to keep his grasp of eternal life, whatever else he might give up. God had set that promise before him. He would bring it out in all its promised blessing and glory at the appearing of Jesus. Timothy was to cling to it despite the whole world.
- Charged — Paul sets Timothy in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, as Moses commissioned Joshua before the whole nation.
- Entrusted — "the commandment" covers all Paul has told him about conduct in God's house. Timothy surrenders nothing and adds nothing of human origin.
- Unstained — Christ's clear witness before Pilate sets the pattern. No lapse, no stain on the testimony, nothing that leaves the servant open to rebuke.
- Until the appearing — Paul names Christ's public appearing, not His coming to take His own out of the world. Only the appearing will show how faithful a servant has been.
- Not till death, but till that day — the appearing is the goal of responsibility, not a promise that Timothy would live to see it. Hope of that day keeps his grip firm against the pull of the world.
which in its own time the blessed and only Ruler shall shew, the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.