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Sketches from the Life of Paul
day, is uncertain, and he fears that Timothy may arrive too late, or
may hesitate through fear of the dangers to be encountered. He has
important counsel and instruction for the young man to whom so great
responsibility is intrusted, and while urging him to come without delay,
he dictates the dying testimony which he may not be spared to utter.
His soul is filled with loving solicitude for his son in the gospel, and
for the church under his care, and he earnestly seeks to impress upon
him the importance of fidelity to his sacred trust.
The words of Paul to Timothy apply with equal force to all the
ministers of Christ, to the close of time: “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: Preach the word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine.”
This solemn charge to one so zealous and faithful as was Timothy,
is an emphatic testimony to the great importance and responsibility of
the gospel ministry. The apostle summons Timothy, as it were, before
the bar of infinite justice, and in the most impressive manner charges
him to preach the word; not the customs or sayings of men, but the
word of God; to preach it as one in earnest,—“instant in season, out
of season,”— whenever an opportunity was presented; at stated times
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and occasionally; to large congregations, to private circles; by the way,
at the fireside; before friends and enemies; to one as well as to many;
whether he could speak with safety or would be exposed to hardship
and peril, reproach and loss.
Timothy suffered from physical infirmities, and the apostle, tender
and compassionate as he was, felt it necessary to warn him to neglect
no duty on this account. And fearing that his mild, yielding disposition
might lead him to shun an essential part of his work, Paul exhorts
him to be faithful in reproving sin, and even to rebuke with sharpness
those who were guilty of gross evils. Yet he is to do this “with all
long-suffering and doctrine;” he must manifest the patience and love
of Christ, and must explain and enforce his reproofs and exhortations
by the word of God.
To hate and reprove sin, and at the same time to manifest pity and
tenderness for the sinner, is a difficult attainment. The more earnest
our own efforts to attain to holiness of heart and life, the more acute
will be our perception of sin, and the more decided our disapproval of