That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Paul charges Timothy before God who gives life to all things and before Jesus who witnessed a good confession before Pilate to keep the entrusted commandment pure and blameless without stain or ground for rebuke until Jesus appears. To keep it is to flee the desire to be rich and the love of money which bring temptation and a snare and drown men in destruction and pierce them with many sorrows, and instead to follow righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness, fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life. The appearing waited for is the coming of Jesus as King which God will show in His own appointed time, God the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone has immortality, dwelling in light no man can approach. The charge reaches beyond Timothy to every professed Christian surrounded by temptations, calling for faithful obedience through life while looking toward Christ's return. That obedience means searching actions by God's Word, repenting and correcting wrongs, departing from iniquity, overcoming peculiar traits of character to stand without spot or wrinkle, and using entrusted means such as money for God's glory and the saving of souls.
Charge Words and Setting
Paul's word to Timothy is a solemn charge given in the sight of God who gives life to all things and quickens all things, and before Jesus Christ who witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate. It is his dying charge to Timothy, his son in the gospel, dictated to a companion in prison while shut in a dungeon, pressed with sickness, fearing wicked Nero would cut his life short before he could see Timothy again, and urging Timothy to come to him without delay. To keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable means to keep the entrusted commandment pure and blameless, without stain or fault and without grounds for rebuke. That blameless keeping is sustained by God's grace in truth, which alone makes a person steadfast.
As the man of God, Timothy is commanded to flee the desire to be rich and the love of money, which bring temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition, cause them to err from the faith, and pierce them with many sorrows. In its place he is to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. He is to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life to which he was called and for which he professed a good profession before many witnesses. Keeping the commandment pure and blameless until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ is the way that fight is fought and that life is laid hold of.
The charge also commands him to charge those who are rich in this world not to be highminded nor to trust in uncertain riches. They are to trust instead in the living God who gives richly all things to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to share. By so doing they lay up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Christ's Appearing Promised
The appearing until which the commandment is to be kept is the future coming of Jesus Christ as King, which God will show in His own appointed times. It is the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ to which the charge to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life looks forward. That keeping without spot and unrebukeable is to continue until that appearing is revealed by God in His times.
The God who will show it is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He only has immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach, whom no man has seen nor can see. To Him belong glory and honour and everlasting power.
The light in Daniel and Revelation points to that coming and directs minds to the truth about it. Interest in Daniel and Revelation is to continue as long as probationary time shall last. The verse belongs to God's pointing out of the peril of the latter days when some depart from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
Faithful Obedience in Life
Though first spoken to Timothy, the charge to keep the commandment without stain or blame until the appearing of Jesus Christ lays its duty on all who profess to be Christians and on the individual believer surrounded by temptations, calling for faithful obedience throughout life while looking toward Christ's return. Keeping it means fighting for the faith and taking hold of eternal life by holding the beginning of confidence firm to the end rather than following individual choice and inclination. This requires looking at actions through the Word of God to see defects of mind, thought, and action, then repenting and correcting wrongs.
It requires close work to overcome peculiar traits of character and a thorough reformation in order to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, unrebukable before God and man. Without that reformation a person will be no special benefit to the church but a hindrance and a burden. It is joined to the charge that everyone who names Christ's name must depart from iniquity, by letting God's Word speak to the soul and making it the counselor. Safety is found only in deep searching of the sure word of prophecy, never turning from the fountain of living waters to drink at the broken cisterns of human teaching.
Keeping the commandment pure and blameless includes the talent of money committed as a trust for His glory. To be entrusted with money is not to devalue it or misapply it by selfishly appropriating it to selfish ends to the injury of the user, but to employ it wisely to confer its benefits for the saving of souls for whom Christ died. The same chapter appeals to the Wessels family to choose faithful service to God rather than service to mammon, to show obedience without weighing God's call by personal advantage, to keep their profession of faith faithfully, and to make straight paths so that those who are tempted or spiritually weak are not led astray.
Applied to students fresh from medical college and workers in the sanitarium, it calls them to submit to rules and regulations, to reject self-indulgence, rebellion, and careless habits brought from college life, and to maintain a clean character and deportment that can be trusted with grave responsibilities instead of demoralizing the institution. It calls for firm, spiritual-minded, earnest workers who arouse to duty, who are not deceived, and who do not turn to the right or to the left to accommodate a worldly standard.
Paul charges Timothy before God who gives life to all things and before Jesus who witnessed a good confession before Pilate to keep the entrusted commandment pure and blameless without stain or ground for rebuke until Jesus appears. To keep it is to flee the desire to be rich and the love of money which bring temptation and a snare and drown men in destruction and pierce them with many sorrows, and instead to follow righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness, fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life. The appearing waited for is the coming of Jesus as King which God will show in His own appointed time, God the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone has immortality, dwelling in light no man can approach. The charge reaches beyond Timothy to every professed Christian surrounded by temptations, calling for faithful obedience through life while looking toward Christ's return. That obedience means searching actions by God's Word, repenting and correcting wrongs, departing from iniquity, overcoming peculiar traits of character to stand without spot or wrinkle, and using entrusted means such as money for God's glory and the saving of souls.
Charge Words and Setting
Paul's word to Timothy is a solemn charge given in the sight of God who gives life to all things and quickens all things, and before Jesus Christ who witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate. It is his dying charge to Timothy, his son in the gospel, dictated to a companion in prison while shut in a dungeon, pressed with sickness, fearing wicked Nero would cut his life short before he could see Timothy again, and urging Timothy to come to him without delay. To keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable means to keep the entrusted commandment pure and blameless, without stain or fault and without grounds for rebuke. That blameless keeping is sustained by God's grace in truth, which alone makes a person steadfast.
As the man of God, Timothy is commanded to flee the desire to be rich and the love of money, which bring temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition, cause them to err from the faith, and pierce them with many sorrows. In its place he is to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. He is to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life to which he was called and for which he professed a good profession before many witnesses. Keeping the commandment pure and blameless until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ is the way that fight is fought and that life is laid hold of.
The charge also commands him to charge those who are rich in this world not to be highminded nor to trust in uncertain riches. They are to trust instead in the living God who gives richly all things to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to share. By so doing they lay up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Christ's Appearing Promised
The appearing until which the commandment is to be kept is the future coming of Jesus Christ as King, which God will show in His own appointed times. It is the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ to which the charge to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life looks forward. That keeping without spot and unrebukeable is to continue until that appearing is revealed by God in His times.
The God who will show it is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He only has immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach, whom no man has seen nor can see. To Him belong glory and honour and everlasting power.
The light in Daniel and Revelation points to that coming and directs minds to the truth about it. Interest in Daniel and Revelation is to continue as long as probationary time shall last. The verse belongs to God's pointing out of the peril of the latter days when some depart from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
Faithful Obedience in Life
Though first spoken to Timothy, the charge to keep the commandment without stain or blame until the appearing of Jesus Christ lays its duty on all who profess to be Christians and on the individual believer surrounded by temptations, calling for faithful obedience throughout life while looking toward Christ's return. Keeping it means fighting for the faith and taking hold of eternal life by holding the beginning of confidence firm to the end rather than following individual choice and inclination. This requires looking at actions through the Word of God to see defects of mind, thought, and action, then repenting and correcting wrongs.
It requires close work to overcome peculiar traits of character and a thorough reformation in order to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, unrebukable before God and man. Without that reformation a person will be no special benefit to the church but a hindrance and a burden. It is joined to the charge that everyone who names Christ's name must depart from iniquity, by letting God's Word speak to the soul and making it the counselor. Safety is found only in deep searching of the sure word of prophecy, never turning from the fountain of living waters to drink at the broken cisterns of human teaching.
Keeping the commandment pure and blameless includes the talent of money committed as a trust for His glory. To be entrusted with money is not to devalue it or misapply it by selfishly appropriating it to selfish ends to the injury of the user, but to employ it wisely to confer its benefits for the saving of souls for whom Christ died. The same chapter appeals to the Wessels family to choose faithful service to God rather than service to mammon, to show obedience without weighing God's call by personal advantage, to keep their profession of faith faithfully, and to make straight paths so that those who are tempted or spiritually weak are not led astray.
Applied to students fresh from medical college and workers in the sanitarium, it calls them to submit to rules and regulations, to reject self-indulgence, rebellion, and careless habits brought from college life, and to maintain a clean character and deportment that can be trusted with grave responsibilities instead of demoralizing the institution. It calls for firm, spiritual-minded, earnest workers who arouse to duty, who are not deceived, and who do not turn to the right or to the left to accommodate a worldly standard.