A Solemn Charge to Timothy to Make Full Proof of His Ministry
2 Timothy 4:1, 2
I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;…


The prospect of his approaching death led the apostle to address his young disciple with deep and earnest feeling.

I. THE SOLEMN ADJURATION. "I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom." The object of the apostle is to impart to Timothy a solemn sense of responsibility in the discharge of his ministry.

1. All preachers must one day give an account of their stewardship. Such a thought ought to stimulate them to greater faithfulness.

2. Their responsibility is to God and Jesus Christ, who are Witnesses of their work, as they have made them good ministers of the New Testament.

3. Jesus Christ is the Judge of the two classes of living and dead saints, who in the last day shall appear before his judgment seat. All judgment is committed to him, and he will exercise it righteously.

4. The judgment will take place at "his appearing and his kingdom;" that is, at his second coming.

5. The reward of fidelity is also held out to faithful servants in connection with the glory of his kingdom.

II. THE DUTIES OF THE FAITHFUL MINISTER. "Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching."

1. His first and pre-eminent duty is to preach the gospel, because it is the power of God to salvation. There is no injunction to administer the sacraments, though that would be included in his duties. There is nothing, therefore, to justify the higher place which Tractarians assign to the sacraments beside the Word. It is a significant fact that the success of the apostles, as recorded in the Acts, is never once attributed to the sacraments, but always to the Word.

2. The minister must have an earnest urgency in every part of his work. He must create opportunities where he cannot find them; he must work at times both convenient and inconvenient to himself; he must approach the willing opportunely and the unwilling inopportunely.

3. He must reprove, or convince, those in error as to doctrine.

4. He must rebuke the unruly, or immoral in life.

5. He must "exhort with all long suffering and teaching - exercising due patience, and using all the resources of a sanctified understanding, to encourage men to keep to the ways of good doctrine and holiness. - T.C.



Parallel Verses
KJV: I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

WEB: I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:




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