I testify before God and Christ Jesus, who is about to judge living and dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom,
Paul lays a charge on Timothy in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, with a coming judgment in view. Why does he bring in Christ's appearing and His kingdom to press home a command about preaching, and what does that say about how God measures service?
Paul begins by naming two Persons. One writer explains what he was doing:
Paul wanted to put forward God Himself and the risen Man, who is to deal with mankind supremely in the coming day.
These words are not for Timothy alone:
These are solemn and weighty words. They need to be weighed reverently in God's presence, especially by the Lord's servants. They set Timothy, and with him the worker in every age, in full view of his responsibility. At the same time they remind him of the judgment seat where the character of all service will finally be tested. It is, in fact, a searching appeal to the conscience. Everything that has to do with responsibility, government and judgment is gathered here into one view.
Christ is named as the one who is to judge the living and the dead. Older translations read "about to judge" — a judging always close at hand, and one that runs on over time:
That solemn testimony which Paul speaks of is before God and Christ Jesus, who is about to judge living and dead. This judging is always near. Another apostle puts it this way: Christ "is ready to judge the living and the dead" (1 Peter 4:5). Only our text speaks of the judgment as a continuous process, while the other sums it up in its conclusion.
The two groups do not face Him at the same moment. The gap between them is long:
He will judge the living at His appearing, as the Tribulation comes to an end. He will judge the dead a thousand years later, at the Great White Throne. The Son of Man will be reigning in His kingdom, bringing every enemy into subjection before He delivers up the kingdom to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).
The charge is made by His appearing and His kingdom. That small word "by" joins them to the charge itself, not to the judging:
"…and by His appearing and His kingdom, proclaim the word." We have had the equipping of the man of God, and now we have his active engagement. Service is connected with the future, and so Paul charges him by His appearing.
Why appeal to those two things at all?
Christ's appearance and His kingdom are therefore fitting and most impressive grounds of appeal. On that ground he was solemnly charging Timothy, or others like-minded and responsible, to preach the word. It is these that gave the charge immeasurable weight and awe.
Christ will come to catch His people up to Himself — the rapture. He will also appear in public. Paul presses the second of these on Timothy:
The rapture is grace to all the saints equally caught up to Christ on high. The appearing will manifest the fidelity or the failure of each saint. That is why the apostle presses His appearing and His kingdom on Timothy still more closely, in preaching the Word and in all his other service.
What does the charge ask of a servant?
The charge is given before God, and before the Lord Jesus Christ as Judge. His appearing and kingdom are the great limit of all responsible service… It means standing for God and proclaiming His grace with energy, while all the weight of the trials of "the last days" presses on the servant, and all the power of the enemy is set against him.
What makes such preaching urgent?
Two things will give him urgency. First, the judgment that will come on those who refuse the gospel. Second, the glorious results for those who receive it at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, too, the appearing goes together with the Kingdom of Christ, for the appearing introduces the Kingdom.
- Before whom — Paul speaks the charge in the presence of God and of the risen Christ. Preaching is never a private matter between speaker and listener.
- Who judges — Christ is the Judge of living and dead. That judging is always near. He judges the living at His appearing, and the dead a thousand years later.
- On what ground — His appearing and His kingdom give the charge its weight, and the appearing brings in the kingdom.
- Why the appearing — Grace gathers all His people alike when He comes for them. The appearing shows up each servant's faithfulness or failure, so responsibility looks to that day.
- To what end — Preach the word, and hold to it while the last days press hardest. Judgment awaits those who refuse it; glory awaits those who believe.
proclaim the word; be urgent in season [and] out of season, convict, rebuke, encourage, with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Paul gives Timothy a charge for a time when the people around him were turning away from sound teaching. What is "the word" he must preach, who is it for, and how does a servant keep going when people stop listening?
The commands of verse 2 hang on the solemn appeal of verse 1. One writer shows how each duty answers to something in that appeal:
Having stated the grounds of his appeal, the Apostle delivers his charge to serve. Men are responsible to God, so "proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season." Christ is going to judge, so "convict" and "rebuke" those who live in a way that calls for judgment. Christ will reward the saints at His appearing, so "encourage, with all long-suffering and doctrine."
Paul does not tell the servant to preach his own views, his experience, or even "the gospel." He must preach the word.
That is why the command comes: "Preach the Word." It is not merely to go on preaching, but the Word is the word of God — the full revelation given to us of His mind. There must be more activity than ever. In season and out of season, we must seize every opportunity to set the great truths of Christianity before people.
Commentators differ on who is mainly in view. Some read the charge as covering sinner and saint alike. Others say the surrounding verses settle the question:
"Be ready in season" is said to the saint. The time will come when they will not receive sound doctrine. This applies to the dealing with the saints. People often apply it to the gospel. The trouble is that they take verses without reading the context… Timothy was to keep pressing on, because soon they would not listen to him. Whether it was seasonable or not, he was to go on with it, because very soon there would be no season at all.
Things around Timothy were only going to get worse. That was not a reason to slow down:
This was his one responsibility, whatever the state of things around. Indifference, decay, and corruption were increasing, and would go on increasing. Timothy was not to lose heart or treat this as a reason to do nothing. For this very reason he was to proclaim the Word all the more… He was not responsible for the effect of his testimony. Signs of blessing, or the lack of them, were not to sway him.
"Be ready" is not about convenient moments. A servant who carries the message inside him will not find any hour unsuitable:
All times were alike to Timothy. His work must never stop. He must always watch for a chance to carry out his calling. No time would be wrong for a man who carried a "burden of the LORD" on his heart. Like the prophet Jeremiah, he would find the Word in his heart like a burning fire. Holding it back would wear him out, and he would not be able to keep silent (Jer. 23:38; 20:9).
The three verbs do not give room for personal criticism. They are still forms of preaching the word, and that difference decides whether they work:
Both saints and sinners may need conviction and rebuke. But this can only be by the preaching of the word, for it is only the word that produces conviction. We may seek to convict and rebuke by our own words and arguments, only to find that we irritate people and stir up resentment. Rebukes only work if they rest on the word of God. Those willing to bow to the word and accept its conviction and rebuke then hear the word of encouragement.
The closing phrase is not decoration. It anticipates a reaction and supplies the answer to it:
Whatever form the service takes, the servant must carry it out with all long-suffering and according to the truth, or "doctrine". The word will stir up opposition from the sinful nature. That opposition calls for long-suffering in the servant. The only answer that works is the doctrine, or truth, of Scripture.
The verbs come one after another, and the pace is part of the point:
The form of each verb implies prompt action… Proclaiming the word comes first. Urgent attention to the work, in season and out of season, follows the preaching. Then comes convicting — pressing the truth home. It is a healthy duty, even though it is painful to a tender spirit… Who was sufficient for these things? Timothy's sufficiency, as the apostle's, was from God. So may ours be in our little measure!
- Charge. The commands rest on verse 1: God is watching, Christ will judge, and His appearing is where He measures all service.
- Content. The servant preaches "the word" — the full revelation of God's mind, not his own material.
- Constancy. Decay in the church around us is a reason for more activity, not less. The servant answers for faithfulness, not for results.
- Conviction. Reproof and rebuke reach the conscience only when they come from Scripture. Our own arguments just stir up resentment.
- Capacity. The rapid-fire verbs demand more than any man has. Timothy's sufficiency, like Paul's, came from God.
For the time shall be when they will not bear sound teaching; but according to their own lusts will heap up to themselves teachers, having an itching ear;
Paul has just told Timothy to preach the word. Here he gives the reason: a time is coming when people will not put up with healthy teaching. So who refuses it, why, and what should a preacher do when his hearers have already decided what they want to hear?
The word translated "sound" is about health. One writer points to a familiar English word from the same root:
It is worth noting that the word translated "sound" comes up again and again. It is the word from which we get "hygienic," which is so often on people's lips today. It means healthful. Sound doctrine is in every sense doctrine that makes for spiritual health.
The verse does not blame corrupt teachers first. It describes hearers who refuse sound teaching and then pick teachers to suit themselves.
Notice, though, that this corruption begins with the hearers. It is they who "will not endure sound doctrine" (teaching). It is they who "after their own lusts … heap to themselves teachers" to satisfy a diseased and itching ear… Plain scriptural teaching only explains and applies the mind of God as contained in the Scriptures. That is not enough for such hearers. Neither are the teachers whom the Lord sends, since they prefer to "heap" up, to choose, their own.
The people here are not strangers to the message. They have heard it, and they still keep their teachers — but on terms that leave them undisturbed.
Whether teachers fail or not, the time will come. The people, "having itching ears", will not endure sound doctrine. Following their own lusts, they will heap up teachers for themselves. This does not describe those who have never heard the truth. It describes Christendom, where people have heard the gospel but will no longer endure it. Even so, they do not give up the Christian profession, for they still heap up teachers for themselves. But those teachers must be ones who will not get in the way of their worldly desires by preaching the truth.
Paul traces the drift to the hearers' own passions. The appetite is what has changed.
New, sensational things deceive even Christians — things that leave out the sound doctrine of the Word. But notice that this happens because "their own lusts" are involved: it is what the flesh desires. They become like people in love with a diet of wine and pastry, and they turn away from the healthy, solid food of the Word.
An itching ear is a symptom, and what it craves does its own damage:
One danger for Christians at the present moment is the desire for stimulants in teaching… But stimulants are not food. Worse, in the end they create a distaste for it. They only stir the imagination, the intellect, or the nature. They never reach the conscience or the heart. The evidence of this desire is the itching ear (2 Tim. 4:3). Christ, and Christ alone, is the food of His people.
When Paul wrote, this evil had not yet arrived. And some hearers always welcome sound teaching.
Here the time had not yet come for such widespread evil, but the Spirit of God speaks of it as close at hand: "For the time will be when they will not endure the sound teaching." It assumes people who were used to hearing the truth. But now the truth is hard to swallow, and its sound teaching cannot be endured — a frightful time for men who bear the name of the Lord. Sound teaching is always welcome to those whose desire is to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
What does this mean for the preacher? He will not be popular, and he keeps preaching anyway.
And the result? Timothy would never be a popular preacher… There is no shortage of preachers now, but there is a shortage of those who preach the Word. It is one thing to preach about the Word, and another to preach the Word itself. There is a great danger in trying to please the popular ear. The people's ear is about as false as its voice is uncertain. Happy is the man of God who keeps preaching the Word to the end, when the crowd has turned away and listened to fables.
- Health — "Sound" means healthful. Sound doctrine makes a soul well, so refusing it is refusing medicine.
- Appetite — The refusal comes from the hearers' own passions, not from better arguments. A taste for wine and pastry replaces solid food.
- Choosing — It starts with the hearers. They heap up teachers of their own choice instead of the ones the Lord sends.
- Profession — This happens inside Christianity. People keep their teachers, but only ones who leave their desires untouched.
- Faithfulness — The same times that make a preacher unpopular are the reason to keep preaching the Word. Sound teaching is still welcome to everyone who wants to grow.
and they will turn away their ear from the truth, and will have turned aside to fables.
Paul warns Timothy of a coming day when the problem is not only bad teachers but eager hearers who turn their ears from truth to myths. Who are these people, what are these "myths," and how does someone who once heard the gospel end up preferring stories?
The people in view are not those who have never heard. One writer sets the scene. These people keep the outward form of Christianity while refusing what it teaches.
This is not about people who have never heard the truth. It is about Christendom, where men have heard the gospel but will no longer put up with it. Even so, they do not give up the Christian name. They still pile up teachers for themselves. But those teachers must not preach the truth and get in the way of their worldly desires.
Blame tends to land on the teachers. One writer traces the fault back to what the listener already wants.
Notice that this kind of corruption starts with the hearers. They are the ones who will not put up with sound teaching. They pile up teachers for themselves to suit their own desires and to satisfy a diseased, itching ear... Such hearers are not satisfied with plain teaching from Scripture — teaching that only explains and applies the mind of God as found in the Scriptures. Nor will they have the teachers the Lord sends. They prefer to heap up, to choose, their own... There could be only one outcome. They turn away from the truth and turn to fables, because only fables can feed their unhealthy appetites.
"Myths" here does not mean a story with a helpful moral. Older translations use the word "fables."
In the New Testament the word does not carry the meaning it often has today: a made-up incident that teaches some moral truth. It means myths, false stories — one passage calls them godless old wives' tales.
The same word appears in Paul's first letter to Timothy. Writing there, one writer names what such stories feed, and the one guard against it.
Imagination is never faith. Faith delights in knowing God and His will, and so trusts nothing but His word... Imagination is where people turn when they do not know the truth. The truth in Christ is the only perfect guard against it.
Commentators differ on the sequence. One reads the shut ear as the opening move:
Satan's usual way is to stop the ear from hearing sound teaching first, and then to open it to take in corrupt teaching.
Another notes a reading that runs the other way, drawn from the grammar of the sentence:
From the structure of the phrase, one writer of fine judgment draws this. They have already turned aside to fables, and that is what leads them to turn their ear away from the truth.
They do not just lose the truth. Something takes its place, and the whole inner life shifts.
Here is the fatal result. Who can measure the dishonour done to God and His word? Who can tell what they lose in their own souls? They are not only cut off from the truth; they now have a real appetite for imaginative falsehood... The conscience is no longer governed by the sense of God's presence. Grace is unfelt, and so the constraining power of Christ's love no longer works. The holy fear of displeasing God disappears.
One writer follows this drift to its end point — the last and greatest fable of all.
But the greatest fable that ever existed, or ever could exist, is still to come. That lawless one will bring it in. Christendom is preparing itself today to receive it, and it will fall under its power. The Lord will consume him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him with the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:8).
The verse is given as a reason to keep going, not to stop.
Truth may look as if it has fallen in the street. The crowd may "turn away from listening to the truth" and "wander off into myths." Still he preaches the Word all the more earnestly and insistently.
- Appetite. The drift starts with what hearers want, not with what teachers offer. The itching ear picks its own teachers.
- Substitute. Myths fill the gap — false stories that feed imagination. And imagination is never faith.
- Sequence. Does the closed ear invite the myth, or does the myth close the ear? Commentators differ. Either way, the two travel together.
- Cost. The end is a real appetite for falsehood. Conscience goes unmoved, grace unfelt, the fear of God gone.
- Answer. The warning is a reason to preach, not to stop. The emptier the ears around him, the harder the servant preaches the Word.
But *thou*, be sober in all things, bear evils, do [the] work of an evangelist, fill up the full measure of thy ministry.
Paul has just warned that people will stop putting up with sound teaching. They will pile up teachers who tell them what they want to hear. Against that, he gives Timothy four short commands. Commentators read them as the shape of faithful service when everything is going wrong.
Older translations put the first command as "watch." One writer weighs the Greek and settles on a different sense:
A workman and leader needs more in a day of widespread and dangerous decline, when intoxicating influences were as common as they were varied: "But you, be sober in all things." The word does not mean vigilance, as the Authorized Version has it, nor a sound mind, though that sense is close. It means sobriety of judgment. Timothy was to keep clear of anything that excites or dulls the mind. Others were drifting with the crowd, away from the truth and into fables.
Another writer names what clouds the mind today:
He is to "watch," or rather "be sober" in all things. The word used means "that sober clearness of mind that comes from being free of false influences — not muddled by the influence of what intoxicates." This is a very important word for all of us. Nothing so intoxicates the mind and muddles the perceptions as the false modern teaching we have just mentioned.
Timothy had already been told to suffer. Here the call is wider:
He is called to "suffer evils," or hardships, and this in the most general way. In 2 Timothy 1:8 it was to suffer evil "with the gospel"... In 2 Timothy 2:3 the thought is different. There Timothy takes his part in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Here all idea of "sharing" is left out. Readiness to endure ills in his place and service is what the apostle claims. Paul did not lay a burden on his young colleague which he himself had not long and fully borne.
Hardship is not a signal to stop:
The enemy watches for any chance to spoil the testimony given to Christ. Afflictions are not sent to turn us aside, but to be endured.
Why tell Timothy this at all? One writer points to the troubles inside the church:
People often misunderstand the next call. They read it as if the apostle meant Timothy to do an evangelist's work when he did not have that gift, and so was not really an evangelist! There is not the shadow of a sound reason for such a reading. The real danger was different. The growing difficulties and troubles of the church might distract the young and sensitive worker. Demands from inside might make him give up the gift he truly had for work outside, though it was not his only gift.
One writer sets the question of gift aside:
Do the work of the evangelist. People ask me, "Are you an evangelist?" "I don't know," I reply. I do not know or care whether I am one or not, if only I can do the work of one. The work of the evangelist is to bring Christ before souls, and to bring souls to Christ. In a day when everything is out of order, the servant of Christ is to be a "man of all work."
Paul wrote it with his own death close at hand:
The very last instruction of a public nature given by the apostle Paul was that Timothy should "do the work of an evangelist"... He was about to drop his pen forever and lay down his life for the sake of Christ and the Church. With his parting breath, and in view of all the coming ruin that would fall on the Church, this devoted servant charged his son in the faith to attend to the work of the gospel. It was no question of gift, but of heart for Christ's interests.
The closing command gathers up the rest. The Greek word points to filling something up to the brim:
Lastly, Timothy is told "fully to perform" his ministry (v. 5)... It means filling his service to the full measure. Evangelizing binds the one who has the gift. Even so, it was not the whole of the ministry Timothy had received in the Lord, and he is told here to fulfil all of it.
That leaves no room for a job left three-quarters done:
The Lord's work is not to be half done. We are to seek to finish to perfection what He gives us to do.
- Sober — the first command guards the mind. Keep clear judgment while the crowd drifts into fables.
- Steady — hardship comes with the work. Endure afflictions; they do not come to turn the servant aside.
- Sent — keep the gospel work going however bad the day gets. The question is a heart for Christ's interests, not a title.
- Full — "fulfil" means filling service up to its measure. Evangelizing was real work, but not all of Timothy's ministry.
- Finished — the Lord's work is not to be half done; the aim is to finish what He gives.
For *I* am already being poured out, and the time of my release is come.
Paul writes with his death close, and he makes his own ending the reason Timothy must throw himself into the work. The verse gives two pictures: a drink offering poured out, and a departure. Both raise the same question. How does a servant of Christ face the end of his own life?
The older translation reads "I am now ready to be offered." That softens what the original says is already happening.
The Authorized Version does not give the form correctly. "Now ready to be offered" differs in several ways from "am already being poured out," which is the exact sense of the original. This is not the first time the apostle uses the picture of a drink offering. A little earlier he wrote to his dear friends at Philippi, "But if also I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith …" (Phil. 2:17). Now he drops every condition, because his release is in view. He speaks as though the drink offering were already being poured out.
The picture comes from the law, where wine was poured over other sacrifices.
The word "offered" in Philippians 2:17 is "poured out," as the margin shows. Paul uses the same word in 2 Timothy 4:6, when his death as a martyr was close. He was pointing, of course, to the drink offerings the law required. A "fourth part of a hin of wine" had to be poured over certain sacrifices, before the Lord.
A drink offering was never the main sacrifice. It was poured over another offering.
It was as though he was a drink offering, poured out on the far greater offering of his Lord. This showed his joy in the One who was the true grain offering, whose perfection and beauty shine out even in suffering and death. For the drink offering was poured over the grain offering (Ex. 29:40, 41).
Some translations render "departure" as "release."
The end of his devoted life, and of the persecution from the world that came with it, was so near that he could say, "I am already being poured out." He speaks of his departure as the time of his "release." Leaving this scene released him from a body that kept him from Christ. Yet he uses it as a reason for Timothy to fill up the full measure of his ministry. How often since that day has the Lord used the removal of a devoted servant to stir up those who remain to active service.
Paul's certainty about his own death was unusual. Commentators warn against making it the normal Christian hope.
Only a special, personal word from the Lord could have enabled Paul, like Peter (2 Peter 1:14), to speak with such certainty about his own death. But the very fact that he was an exception here confirms that the general hope of believers was not to depart and be with Christ, but the Lord's coming to receive them to Himself.
The verse begins with "For." Paul's death is the reason for the charge he has just given Timothy. When Paul went, apostolic ministry went with him.
So the absence of apostolic ministry — a serious thing for the position of the church — makes the duty of the man of God more urgent. Paul's absence is a reason for working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. In the same way, it is a reason for anyone doing the work of the gospel to give himself to his ministry more than ever.
What remains for those who come after is not to repeat what Paul did, but to build on it.
We cannot be apostles, or lay the foundation of the church. That is already done. But we can build on that foundation: with the truth we have received from the apostle, with the Scriptures God has given us, and with a tireless love in the truth for souls. The foundation is not to be laid a second time.
The pouring out was not only the moment of death. It was the shape of the whole life that led to it.
Paul was about to be poured out as a drink offering — a precious ending to a devoted life, and a wonderful privilege. His life on earth had come to its close. Before he left the arena where his very life went up to God as a sacrifice, he could say that he had fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith. It is a wonderful passage, and it should wake us up to ask whether each one of us is finishing his course as the Lord wants.
- Already — the verb is present, not future: the pouring out has begun. Paul is not bracing for sacrifice; he is in the middle of one.
- Poured — the drink offering was wine poured over another sacrifice. Paul's death is the addition, laid on the far greater offering of his Lord.
- Released — "departure" also means release. For Paul it meant leaving a body that kept him from Christ. He speaks of his own end with a certainty given him personally, not one every believer should expect.
- Passed on — apostolic ministry was leaving the scene, so Timothy's duty grew more urgent, not less. The Lord still uses a servant's removal to stir up those left behind.
- Built on — the foundation is laid once. Our work is to build on it, with Scripture and tireless love for souls. And to ask whether we are finishing our own course as the Lord wants.
I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Paul writes these words with his own death in view, and he sums up his whole life in three short claims. Commentators ask two things about it. What was he claiming, and could anyone else say the same?
The verse holds three images side by side, each drawn from a different arena.
Paul speaks of his past life in three ways. As a Christian soldier, he has "fought the good fight." As a runner, he has "finished his course." As a witness for God in this world, he has "kept the faith."
The wording matters. Paul does not say a good fight, as though he were rating his own performance.
As he faces death there is no hint of disappointment or regret, but fresh, living joy. He had "fought the good fight," not "a good fight." He was not drawing attention to his own fighting. He meant the fight that all Christianity fights, against evil and for the glory of God. His part in it was about to end. He had finished the course, he had kept the faith. He is not saying how well he had fought, or how well he had run, or how well he had kept the faith. God would judge those things. But there was no other good fight, no other proper course, no other true faith except Christianity. In this he had continued to the finish.
Another writer makes the same distinction from the side of the conflict itself: Paul knew the fight was a good one, and "only speaks of the character of the conflict, and not of the manner in which he had carried it on." That the words could be written at all is treated as a mercy — "precious grace of God to His devoted servant, to permit him to write such words with the unerring pen of inspiration."
Paul had longed for this end long before. Now the word "finished" is his to say.
No end is more triumphant than this. He had held that hope dear before, when he said, "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus." Now he was getting that wish… so there was a charm, with the last contest over, in saying, "I have finished." He knew he had left nothing undone, or half-done, in all his wide service.
Paul kept the faith by losing everything else.
The effort of the enemy is to rob us of the precious faith. Whatever we may lose in the battle is not really loss if we keep the faith. Paul lost everything in defence of the faith. He lost his property, reputation, religion, liberty and life. But he kept the faith… It is a great thing to say, when the battle is over, "I have kept the faith."
Paul had already listed many who did not keep it. That list runs through both of his letters to Timothy.
In these two letters he has spoken of people who failed over the faith. Some have "made shipwreck of their faith" (1 Timothy 1:19). Some "depart from the faith" (1 Timothy 4:1). Some have "denied the faith" (1 Timothy 5:8). Some have "wandered away from the faith" (1 Timothy 6:10). Some have "swerved from the faith" (1 Timothy 6:21). Others are "upsetting the faith of some" (2 Timothy 2:18). Others are "disqualified regarding the faith" (2 Timothy 3:8). But he had kept the truth God gave him. So he could say, "I have kept the faith." The devil wants us, dear friends, to give up what God has given us.
Every claim here is in the past tense. Paul says it only at the end.
Paul was leaving the battlefield. He was putting off his armour. He had given a good account of himself, not in his own power, but in the power of God… He does not boast until the battle is over. The time to boast is not when the armour is being put on, but when it is being put off. Peter boasted too early, and so did all the disciples. Failure taught them how foolish that was.
Paul was speaking from the finish line. The reader is not.
The Apostle could say that he had fought a good fight, that he had finished his course and had kept the faith. He was at the finish, we are in the middle of the fight. Do we sleep on beds of ease? Are we taking our place in the fight of faith?
Another writer turns it into a question for every reader:
This should wake us up to ask if each one of us is finishing his course according to the Lord's mind.
- The fight — Paul names the fight all Christianity fights, not the quality of his own fighting. God alone judges how well he fought.
- The course — "Finished" means Paul left nothing undone or half-done. The end he had longed for was the end he got.
- The faith — He lost property, reputation, liberty and life. Nothing lost in the battle is real loss as long as you keep the faith.
- The timing — He boasts only as the armour comes off. Peter boasted too early, and failure taught him the folly of it.
- The turn — Paul stands at the finish; we stand in the middle. The question is whether we are finishing our course according to the Lord's mind.
Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will render to me in that day; but not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing.
Paul writes with death close at hand, looking back on a finished race and forward to a day of reward. Three questions follow: what is this crown, why is it a crown of righteousness, and who else receives it?
The same Lord meets the believer at the start and at the finish, but in different characters:
These verses show the two ends of the Christian course here on earth. At the start the chief of sinners receives salvation and accepts that trustworthy saying. At the end the same man looks forward to a crown of righteousness, which he is sure is kept ready for him. And let us note it well. The One who gives salvation at the beginning as the Saviour gives the crown at the end as the righteous Judge, to all who have loved and do love His appearing.
Its name points to the One who gives it, and to the fairness of the gift:
There is a crown of righteousness promised to those who love the Lord's appearing. Why is it called a crown of righteousness? Because He will give it to those to whom it is righteous to give it: "which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me" (2 Tim. 4:8). And God "is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name" (Heb. 6:10).
Human courts have taught us to expect unfairness. This title of Christ answers that:
It is a happy thing for us that we have a righteous Judge. He makes no mistakes when He gives out justice, whether to saints or to sinners. We have seen so much injustice that a truly just judge is hard to imagine. But the righteous Judge will give a crown of righteousness to Paul, and to all those who love His appearing. The setting up of that kingdom, when the glorified saints will reign with Jesus, is seen as the end of the warfare. All who are for Him, and who have fought loyally for Him while He has been away, will receive the honour and glory due to their faithfulness in that day.
The crown comes not when the Lord takes His own to Himself, but when He appears in public view:
His coming for us would not fit here. That would simply mean being caught up to be forever with Him. But His appearing is the day that brings faithfulness into the open and shows the work of each one. If the work stands the test of that day, each will receive reward according to his own labour.
The last clause is a searching test, because that day closes down everything the world enjoys:
"Love!" — do you love, can you love, that which will put a stop to everything that is pleasant in the world? It asks the heart. How this marks a spirit entirely in contrast with the spirit of the world!
Nor is this love merely about what we will gain when He comes:
It is fitting for the Christian to "love His appearing" (2 Tim. 4:8). We should love it not for the relief and reward it will bring us, but for what that Day will mean for Christ. We love that Day in advance; we delight to think of the vindication and glory it will yield to the Lord Jesus.
Commentators differ on how wide the promise runs. Some tie the crown to a faithful walk, not to being a Christian:
The crown the Apostle speaks of is not given for being a Christian, but for a faithful walk. Poor Lot will not have it, nor Demas... All are to be in glory on the ground of free grace. But Christ watches to see if we run well. He will give a reward where there has been faithfulness, and a crown of righteousness if we have loved His appearing.
Others say the final phrase covers every believer, though rewards will still differ:
"All who have loved His appearing" describes all believers, but not all will have the same crown. All alike, as subjects of grace, will be conformed to Christ in glory. But rewards will differ, and the righteous Judge will hand them out. So they will follow His judgment, which never fails... This too is of grace, for if Paul laboured more than the other apostles, it was by the grace of God.
- Saviour, then Judge. He saves the chief of sinners at the start. At the finish He meets the same man as the righteous Judge, with a crown.
- Righteous, not random. God calls it a crown of righteousness because giving it is right; He does not forget work done for His name.
- Reserved, not held back. The crown lies ready now. The Lord awards it at His appearing, the day that brings each one's work into the open.
- Loved, not merely awaited. The final phrase tests the heart: only a heart out of step with the world can love the day that ends it.
- Shared, not exclusive. Paul does not keep the promise to himself. Commentators differ: some tie the crown to faithful service, others give it to every believer who loves His appearing.