This charge, [my] child Timotheus, I commit to thee, according to the prophecies as to thee preceding, in order that thou mightest war by them the good warfare,
Paul hands a young man a commission and ties it to prophetic words spoken over him earlier. By those words Timothy was to wage the good warfare. Two questions rise at once. What is the charge? And what use are old prophecies to a man facing a hard campaign?
The charge itself
The word points back, not forward. Paul had already told Timothy why he left him at Ephesus. That instruction is what he now hands over.
He had left Timothy at Ephesus to command certain people there not to teach any doctrine other than the truths of the gospel. Now the aim of that command, of this gospel commission, was love flowing from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith… The apostle now entrusted this commission to Timothy, his own son in the faith. He was to maintain it with an authority grounded in divine testimony. But he held that authority officially from the apostle who appointed him to it.
The reason for such a guard lies in what it protects. Grace is easy to twist into permission.
"This charge" of verse 18 refers again to verse 3. For the precious revelation of the grace of God must not stay in men's hands, for them to trifle with as they please. Those who treat grace as mere indulgence will soon turn it into loose living, and God supplied safeguards against this from the beginning.
The prophecies made about him
These prophecies did two things at once. And Timothy was not the first man God marked out this way.
First, prophecies had already been spoken about Timothy (1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14). They did not only mark him out; they also pointed to the gift God was about to give him… There were prophetic messages, probably from more than one person, about the work God had chosen him for. It was not unlike the way God called Barnabas and Saul and set them apart for their first missionary journey… Paul reminds him of them in this charge — "that by them you may wage the good warfare" — though that would be useless without "holding faith and a good conscience"… It would strengthen his spirit to remember that God had appointed him to a work of such difficulty and danger.
No one knows the wording or the occasion. One writer adds that God's choice came long before Timothy knew of it.
God chooses His servants long before they know it. But it matters that they fulfil the purpose He chose them for. We do not need to know what form these prophecies took. Timothy no doubt knew what Paul meant. Other believers may have spoken them before Timothy was ever called to the work. But he was not to forget them.
Not sent out at his own risk
Timothy may be gentle and easily frightened. What matters is Whose word sent him.
It is no mere battle but a campaign that the apostle puts before his "child" and fellow-labourer. He must wage the good warfare, but he is not asked to go at his own risk. The Master had given the word. However gentle, sensitive or timid Timothy might be, he could trust Him. It was He Who had prophesied about Timothy through His servants.
Without such a prophecy
Not every servant has such words spoken over him. One writer sees courage in the certainty — and honour in going without it.
By the prophecies: knowing for certain that God had called a man out would give him great courage. But it may be an extra honour put on us to work without it. Yet, in itself, this would give great strength. Such a person would, of course, still need the strength of God every moment. Faith may give a man the same place now.
Equipped, or defeated
This warfare is not Timothy's alone. And no soldier fights without equipment.
An army without the equipment it needs is an army headed for total defeat… The whole armour of God is available to all believers in Christ (Eph. 6:13-18). That armour is necessary — vital, in fact — for the fight against the unseen forces of satanic evil. Believers must put on every part of the armour. Any part left off leaves a place where Satan's fiery darts can pierce the soldier.
Summary
- Charge. Paul hands over the instruction of verse 3: teach no other doctrine. Its aim is love from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.
- Guarded. The charge is needed because men trifle with grace and turn it into permission for loose living.
- Called. The prophecies marked Timothy out and pointed to God's gift to him. God called and set him apart much as He did Barnabas and Saul — long before Timothy knew it.
- Braced. He fights "by them." The prophecies steady him. A timid man enters a long campaign not at his own risk, but on his Master's word.
- Armed. Faith can give a man the same footing today. But every soldier still needs the whole armour. Every piece left off is a place where the enemy can strike.