2 Timothy 4:1, commentary and pictures

Paul on the verge of death for his faith laid a solemn charge on Timothy to carry out his work with all care and diligence. The charge was given before God and the Lord Jesus Christ as witnesses, because Christ is the ordained Judge of the living and the dead who will judge all at His appearing and His kingdom. Though spoken to a zealous and faithful Timothy, it rests upon all Christ's ministers to the end of time and upon everyone who claims to know the truth. In view of that judgment it commands preaching the Word rather than human sayings and opinions, being ready at every opportunity in favorable or adverse times, reproving, rebuking and exhorting with patience and doctrine, watching, enduring affliction and making full proof of ministry. Because that appearing is near and the foretold turning from sound doctrine to fables has come, the charge presses with special urgency in the perils of the last days to hold forth pure gospel truth, meet falsehood with decided reproof, and guide souls back to the narrow way.

Charge and Its Setting

Paul's words are a dying charge to Timothy, given when Paul was about to die for his faith to press Timothy to discharge his duty with all care and diligence. The charge lays out the minister's work to preach the word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist and make full proof of ministry, because the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine but after lusts heap teachers with itching ears and turn from truth to fables. That turning is seen when Christlike preaching of practical piety is refused because it contrasts professed lives, so that a dish of fables from the pulpit tastes better than the sincere milk of the word, and when faithful words are not spoken men come into a wrong religious position. To shun the unpleasant work of correction leaves the blood of souls on the minister's garments, and the charge therefore calls for aggressive work on Bible principles with Christlike simplicity, patience, forbearance and love, convincing not condemning, uplifting Christ and the law, and for full faith in praying and talking with the sick, following Bible methods and acting as an evangelist in God's wisdom under the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Though spoken to Timothy, who was zealous and faithful, the charge shows the importance and responsibility of the gospel minister and applies to all Christ's ministers to the end of time. It is a solemn charge laid on every minister of the gospel who opens the Scriptures to others, and it applies to everyone who claims to know the truth and to all who serve in ministry following Christ's example. It bids him preach the word and not the sayings and customs of men, with pastoral work beyond mere exposition, reproving and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine to show deficiency of character, feeling the burden for souls without lording over God's heritage. Dealing with minds hindered by prejudice requires men of prayer armed with the mind of Christ, valuing every soul as Christ's blood-purchase given a time of trial to weigh eternal interests, not showing partiality for merely prophecies and argumentative portions but giving chief place to the greatest lessons of Jesus Himself.

The charge is made solemn by being given before God and the Lord Jesus Christ as witnesses and authority, summoning Timothy as before the bar of God. Christ will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, and the certainty of that judgment gives solemn weight to the call to proclaim the message faithfully. Timothy is accountable before that judgment and will be condemned or rewarded for his deeds, and this accountability grounds the urgency and seriousness of ministry, making it a solemn responsibility before divine justice.

Quick means the living, and Christ will judge both the living and the dead when He appears and establishes His kingdom. Those who serve are accountable before God and Christ for preaching and correction, and must preach faithfully and earnestly, watching for souls as those accountable to God, while the church watches, waits and prays for Christ's coming. This judgment makes each person accountable to God for honoring Him in words and actions and calls for faithfulness in every duty. The immortal kingdom of glory connected with His appearing and judgment was the next universal kingdom to come in the days of John and Jesus, just as each succeeding earthly empire had been at hand during the rule of the empire before it.

The verse is the charge to be given when a man is ordained to ministry, spoken after prayer and the laying on of hands by fellow ministers, placing him under solemn accountability to God and the Lord Jesus Christ as the coming Judge of the living and the dead. It is to be read together with what follows about preaching, correction and endurance, and with the encouragement to continue in things learned from childhood from the holy Scriptures, which make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and thoroughly furnish the man of God unto all good works, in contrast to evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse while all that will live godly suffer persecution. The faithful teacher is thus to preach the Word and give God's warning message to the world, and this work is to be understood, respected and appreciated.

Solemn Call to Preach

In view of the judgment and of Christ's appearing and kingdom, the charge is to preach the Word itself, not human sayings and customs, opinions and traditions, pleasing fables, worldly news, praise of men, the wisdom of worldly authors, phrenology, human speculation, sensational stories, levity, trifling, fanciful interpretation, or self-exaltation, but God's word from the pure fountain flowing from His throne, holding to the ancient paths. The charge is laid under the authority and presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the living and the dead, making gospel ministry a solemn responsibility to proclaim Scripture with sincerity and deep earnestness as a voice from God to a dying world, bringing what most concerns present and eternal good. It binds all entrusted with the last message and with spiritual responsibility to preach faithfully, and it requires reproving and exhorting erring ones who dishonor God, speaking plainly to every soul in danger of losing eternal life about faults, dangers, and the need to give the heart in obedience to Christ, warning that without change of course the favor of God cannot be had, rather than following impulse, partiality, or praise of men.

It commands being instant in season and out of season, ready to witness for God whenever opportunity presents itself, whether times are favorable or adverse. That readiness extends to large congregations and private circles, by the way and at the fireside, to friends and to enemies, in safety or exposed to hardship and peril, reproach and loss. Where there is no opening, every means possible is to be used to make one, never missing a chance to let the light of heaven shine through the human instrument, for the Judge stands before the door, every soul is precious, and the light and oil which God alone can give are needed to burn and send forth divine truth and knowledge of what is truth. The Word so taught at all times and in all places is truth against error whose enduring power cannot be replaced by anything else.

It commands reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all long-suffering, patience, and doctrine, with pastoral work beyond mere exposition in the desk, showing wherein there is deficiency of character, feeling the burden for souls without lording over God's heritage. Sound doctrine here is Bible truth suited to the present time, kept before the people to deepen piety and devotion and strengthen them in the faith. This duty of correcting and teaching is laid under accountability before God and Christ the coming Judge, and must be carried out faithfully whether circumstances are favorable or not, even when doing so may disturb peace with fellow believers. Dealing with minds hindered by prejudice and undisciplined hearts calls for valuing every soul as the purchase of Christ's blood given a time of trial to weigh eternal interests.

It commands watching in all things, enduring afflictions, doing the work of an evangelist, and making full proof of ministry, because the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine but after lusts heap teachers with itching ears and turn from truth to fables. That work is every minister's work: to preach the word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, hold forth the word of life, and preach the gospel as the power of God unto salvation, not vain philosophy and deceit nor science falsely so called, made possible only through the promise of power by the Holy Ghost to be His witnesses and through Christ's presence with His disciples always even unto the end. It lays upon gospel ministers today the guiding to Christ of those who have wandered from the narrow way, being wise and earnest, holding fast the faithful word and saving some with fear, with fulfillment measured in souls saved as the result of labor, to be seen when looking back at the end of each year. It is sealed by the example of being ready to be offered, having fought a good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith, with a crown of righteousness laid up from the Lord the righteous Judge for all who love His appearing, and it calls for aggressive work on Bible principles with Christlike simplicity, patience, forbearance and love, convincing not condemning, uplifting Christ and God's law before those taught Sunday is the Sabbath, without hurling thunderbolts, storming ears with prejudice, sinking to the level of unreasonable men, or using strong personal feeling and bitterness.

It lays most solemn obligations and most fearful responsibility on ministers under this charge before God and Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and kingdom. It requires having no separate interest aside from the great work of leading souls to the truth, giving all energies to preaching the word and caring for souls, engaging in no traffic or secular business apart from it and not dividing time and strength with separate business or selfish interests. Faithful teaching of Scripture is thus a serious duty for all who serve as Christ's ambassadors.

It makes spreading light by speech and printed materials a duty under this accountability to God and Christ, using every opportunity and snatching opportunities as they come, fully prepared to disseminate light by word and by pamphlet. It means scattering hundreds of little tracts like leaves in autumn, with light on many subjects coming before the people in leaflets and tracts with short articles: messages of warning of the second advent, the Sabbath treated in brief and its relation to doctrines substantiated by the Scriptures, health and temperance principles, and experiences of faith and hope. These silent words make impressions on minds and awaken interest in truth, diffusing light everywhere in jots and tittles, here a little and there a little, in contrast with error to rend away dense darkness and let the true Light shine forth.

Faithful Preaching Described

The minister stands as in God's presence before a dying world, as a voice from God expounding the Scriptures with sincerity and deep earnestness, bringing to hearers what most concerns their present and eternal good. There is in this no place for levity, trifling, fanciful interpretation, self-exaltation, or sensational stories told to move the fancy and excite the emotions. Human opinions and traditions and pleasing fables are forbidden as preaching.

The work sent by the Lord is to hold forth the word of life and to preach the gospel as the power of God unto salvation. It is to be drawn from the pure fountain flowing from the throne of God and kept within the bounds of It is written. Vain philosophy and deceit, science falsely so called, the wisdom of worldly authors, phrenology, human speculation, cheap suppositions manufactured by guesswork to make an impression, and composed fables have no value and are not to be brought forth. Sacred truth is not to be lowered to the level of stories, nor is time to be spent arguing with believers of stories, in an age of error, daydreaming, romance, and groundless fanciful interpretation; ministers and especially young ministers are to learn the first principles of Christ's teaching, keep the third angel's message and the great pillars of faith clear and distinct, and be changed by close Bible study with experienced men long grounded in truth.

Preaching is not to show partiality for merely the prophecies and argumentative portions of Scripture. Chief place is to be given to the greatest lessons given by Jesus Christ Himself, with thorough acquaintance with His doctrines in order to win souls by the love of Christ. The Word is to be dwelt upon from a softened, humble heart so that words enter other hearts to strengthen those constantly harassed by temptation and wrestling with the adversary of souls. Such truths are to shape practical life, transforming body, soul, and spirit and leading to holiness, elevating, ennobling, refining, and purifying imperfect character while keeping the imperfection of finite men out of the ministry and keeping the gospel standing out in its elevated, sacred character.

Faithful declaration of unwelcome truth is required not only in the pulpit but by personal labor. This means giving warnings, rebuking sins, correcting error and wrong, proclaiming straight truth that makes the ears tingle, laying before lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God the dangers and perils around them and the doom awaiting the impenitent, and exposing covered sins on the right hand and on the left, continuing faithful even when the message is not congenial, agreeable, or welcome and when wrongs seem to defy correction. It means reproving and exhorting erring ones who greatly dishonor God by unchristian example, speaking plainly to every soul in danger of losing eternal life by not giving the heart in obedience to Jesus Christ, telling faults and dangers and warning that without change of course the favor of God cannot be had. It includes pointing out duty and urging it, especially touching the plague spot of selfishness and covetousness such as withholding tithes and offerings, in order that every man may be perfect in Christ Jesus. To shun this unpleasant and humiliating work leaves the blood of souls on the minister's garments. Rejecting the Lord's instruction through His servants is rejecting the Lord and brings great blindness.

Warnings, reproofs, and lessons are to be brought directly to bear on individual cases, whether wrongdoers listen or refuse. Correcting wrong conduct is an unpleasant, disagreeable duty, yet neglecting it harms people by allowing harmful attitudes and ways of acting to become stronger. Faithful correction done with patience and sound teaching is part of a minister's work and also protects God's cause and the truth from stigma and reproach.

The work is to be done on Bible principles with Christlike simplicity, patience, forbearance, and love for God and Christ. It convinces rather than condemns, uplifting Christ and the law of God before those taught that Sunday is the Sabbath. It does not hurl thunderbolts, storm ears with prejudice, sink to the level of unreasonable and wicked men, or use strong personal feeling and bitterness as weapons.

The worker is to have an eye single to the glory of God rather than aiming to please hearers or following own impulse, partiality, or praise of men. The aim is thorough, deep heart work rather than surface work that merely moves sympathies. This requires men of prayer armed with the mind of Christ, walking humbly and valuing every soul as the purchase of Christ's blood, given a time of trial to weigh eternal interests. Even if plain dealing costs friends, souls may thus be saved.

Sound doctrine is Bible truth suited to the present time, kept before the people to deepen piety and devotion and strengthen them in the faith. Those who receive such a message of reproof, rebuke, and exhortation with patience and sound teaching should respect it as God's instruction. Men in danger are not to be left to their own will and ways and unsanctified devising, but are to be prayed with, talked with, and dealt with in Bible methods under the Holy Spirit's guidance, acting with wisdom so that those turned to teachers with itching ears and to fables may, when suffering softens the hard mind, be turned to the truth. The charge to preach faithfully rather than turn to fables or unsound teaching stands under the authority of the coming Judge and applies to the present age.

Christ the Coming Judge

Jesus Christ, the Saviour lifted on the cross and crucified under Pontius Pilate, is the ordained, infallible Judge of the living and the dead who shall judge at His appearing and His kingdom. All will stand before His great white throne to hear His decisions and receive according to works. The dead will be resurrected and made immortal to stand before Him, as Job hoped when he looked forward to seeing God in his flesh after his body was destroyed. This life at its best and longest is only long enough to seek the higher, eternal life, and those who spend it chasing empty things and living to please the flesh will gain nothing but corruption.

His appearing is His soon coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and that coming is near with the Judge standing before the door. That appearing in His kingdom is coming speedily, yet professed people deadened by self-love and love of self do not heed the signs of famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, calamities by sea and land, plagues, war and bloodshed. Those whose self-love has dulled spiritual senses will be overtaken by the day of the Lord as by a thief and will not escape. Those living in pride and self-glorification will have to stand before that tribunal, for Christ knows every work.

At the judgment tribunal the books will be opened and every person will be judged according to the works written in the books. It will be a day of final reckoning before the throne of eternal justice, where unjust judges will be arrayed before Him to give an account. Sentence will be pronounced against evil judges who brought oppression upon the innocent and helpless, and it will then be revealed how much suffering they caused. Their injustice came not from ignorance of human rights but from unmindfulness of the privileges God gave to fellow men, for though standing as judges they themselves oppressed men and assisted robbers and thieves in robbing them, and they will be made to behold every deed of injustice and the sufferings thereby caused.

That reckoning makes each person accountable to God for honoring Him in words and actions and for faithfulness in every duty. It requires an account for misusing entrusted talents and means, especially long neglect to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give comfort and relief to suffering humanity. Money spent on pleasure and gratification of appetite in wine and liquor and rich dainties, and on extravagant houses and furniture and dress, while suffering human beings received no pitying look or word of sympathy, will stand as a condemning record at that judgment. The wealthy must be reminded of this accountability and awakened to responsibility for heaven's gifts.

It also requires an answer for failing to share given light with other precious souls met day after day. He will ask why the light He gave was not given to other souls just as precious, why they were met day after day and allowed to come and go without opening the lips to tell them of the riches of Christ and of His grace. This sinful neglect to enlighten souls and to work for the Master wherever possible, in a world lying in wickedness, will charge their blood to those who withheld the truth.

His decisions and warnings cannot be canceled, reviewed, cut up to choose one part and reject another, endorsed, reversed, altered, selectively accepted, or bent to human likings, ideas, and judgments, for that makes God's messages void. Wherever His will is violated a day of retribution comes. At His coming and kingdom sickness and death will no longer have power over the saints. Then, when time is ended, a vast countless multitude of all tribes and all ages will bend the knee before Him in humble silence, confessing belief in Him that died.

The judgment of the living stands at the center of the final work of the great controversy between Christ and Satan as it is about to begin, so loyalty and faithfulness to God matter more than ambition, honor, or anything of value in this world, and people should not be ashamed of their faith. With the end near and every moment fraught with eternal interest, Christ with the angels of God watches with longing, loving interest while each person decides destiny, observing the development of character and weighing moral worth. This calls for no delay and full consecration without reservation: living soberly, righteously and godly in this present life, opening the heart to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness, cooperating with God, letting truth sanctify the soul, loving God with whole heart and undivided affection, and reflecting the image and character of Jesus. Only those who reflect Him will be pronounced worthy of everlasting life.

Urgency for Last Days

Paul's charge to Timothy is for this particular time, for passing safely through the perils of the last days without self-sufficiency, given for the church in a trying time of departure from the faith when many have departed from it. It lays upon God's people the duty to preach the Word in view of judgment and Christ's appearing and kingdom, to be ready in season and out of season, to reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, to watch in all things, to endure afflictions, to do the work of an evangelist and to make full proof of ministry. It is sealed by Paul's example of being ready to be offered, having fought a good fight, finished the course and kept the faith, with a crown of righteousness laid up from the Lord the righteous Judge for him and for all who love His appearing. While the church watches, waits and prays for Christ's coming, God's ministers must preach faithfully and earnestly, watching for souls as those accountable to God.

The foretold time when people will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and turn away their ears from the truth to fables has come. Christlike preaching of practical piety and true godliness is turned from because it contrasts the lives and characters of professed Christians, and a dish of fables from the pulpit tastes better to them than being fed with the sincere milk of the word to grow thereby. That time has arrived in an age of error, daydreaming, romance and groundless fanciful interpretation, so young ministers must not bring forth cheap suppositions manufactured by guesswork to make an impression, for there is no value in composed fables.

That turning includes confusion of faith and corruption of one truth after another. It includes denial of the preexistence, divinity, miraculous incarnation and personal saviourship of Christ as the only-begotten Son of God one with the Father from the beginning by whom the worlds were made, with loss of spiritual discernment, seared consciences, proclaimed self-righteousness and Satanic fables received through Satanic agency. With it come growing unbelief and infidelity, false plans that unsettle minds and false theories taught as truth, and men controlled by human influences presenting a constant set of fables.

Strength is not in keeping silent and allowing fables to be brought in and taught as truth. Strength is in standing strongly linked with God's appointed messengers, letting God's Word go forth as a lamp that burneth, meeting falsehood with decided reproof, and reproving wrong methods and plans rather than yoking up with and endorsing them. Believers must know the truth for themselves and be ready to resist false prophets and deceptive teachings that will lead many away, and the apostolic words warn the church against false teaching and call for faithful ministry that reproves error.

The church of God and its institutions, including sanitariums, are not to be under the jurisdiction of any human power or under the control of one center such as the sanitarium at Battle Creek, but under a plain Thus saith the Lord and under the divine theocracy. Preaching of the word under the influence of the Holy Spirit is required to arrest growing unbelief and infidelity, since when faithful words are not spoken to prevent it men come into a wrong religious position.

The work now is to guide to Christ those who have wandered from the narrow way, holding fast the faithful word and saving some with fear, with fulfillment measured in souls saved as the result of labor, which should be seen when looking back at the end of each year. Those who have the truth for the last days are to present the truth and speak the Word of God to sinners around wherever there is opportunity, whether times are favorable or adverse, and when there is no opening to use every means possible to make one and never miss a chance to let the light of heaven shine. This requires having the light and the oil which God alone can give, to burn and send forth divine truth, bearing the Word to the fallen churches where many precious souls are, improving every way possible to flash Bible light before the people and sowing beside all waters. The message of mercy and warning must go forth now to awaken the world from its sleep of death, with ministers entrusted with a special message keeping the day of judgment before the people and walking by faith and not by sight, doing work today that will live through the eternal ages.

Safety is in appreciating the study of the Scriptures, learning the It is written and how to use the Word of God, and eating and digesting the precious Word, since Scripture is calculated to make the student wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and thoroughly to furnish the man of God unto all good works, in contrast to evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse while all that will live godly in Christ Jesus suffer persecution. Ministers and especially young ministers must not lower sacred truth to the level of stories nor argue with those who believe stories, but remain within what Scripture says, learn the first principles of Christ's teaching, keep the third angel's message and the great pillars of faith clear and distinct, and be changed by close Bible study with experienced men who have long understood truth.

The appearing and kingdom in view is the time when believers are to be preserved blameless, with peace among believers and God's work of sanctifying them wholly. It is the time when sickness and death will no longer have power over the saints. In that hope a physician looking for Christ's appearing should not claim greater pay merely because the work is demanding, but should work within the limits of life and serve with a spirit of sacrifice. The verse applies to parents' foundational, non-negotiable home work of educating children to build character, requiring that obedience, virtue, prudence and piety be presented from Scripture as the obligation of every human being because each person is accountable to God, a truth to be urged upon human consciences.

Because judgment is certain and near, with Christ's soon coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and the Judge standing before the door, the decision for time and for eternity is urgent. It calls for turning from enmity with God and siding with Satan to siding with Christ in response to Jesus giving His life as ransom for the soul. Men in danger are not to be left to their own will and ways and unsanctified devising, and men God has used in the ministry of the Word and in combating disease must exercise full faith in dealing with the sick by praying and talking with them, following Bible methods, acting the part of an evangelist in the wisdom of God and working with greatest faithfulness because the enemy is close beside them, so that those who have been under teachers having itching ears and will not endure sound doctrine may, when suffering softens the hard mind, be turned from fables to the truth if wisely managed under the Holy Spirit's guidance. Every person, including a minister, must give account to God, which makes faithfulness to God a governing duty in life.