Labor like a good soldier of Christ
1 You, my son, be strong with the grace you have in Christ Jesus.
2 Entrust to reliable people everything you have learned from me in the presence of many witnesses, that they may instruct others.
3 Labor like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4 No soldier gets in volved in civilian trade; the soldier’s aim is to please his commanding officer.
5 No athlete is crowned un less he competes accord ing to the rules.
6 And again, the farmer who tills the land is the first to enjoy the fruits of the harvest.
7 Think over what I am telling you; the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
8 Remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, Jesus, son of David, as preached in my Gospel.
9 For this Gospel I labor and even wear chains like an evildoer, but the word of God is not chained.
10 And so I bear everything for the sake of the chosen peo ple, that they, too, may obtain the sal va tion given to us in Christ Jesus and share eternal glory.
11 This statement is true:
If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;
12 If we endure with him, we shall reign with him;
If we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.
Do not fight over words
14 Remind your people of these things and urge them in the presence of God not to fight over words, which does no good, but only ruins those who listen.
15 Be for God an active and proved minister, a blameless worker correctly handling the word of truth.
16 Do not take part in useless con ver sations, alien to the faith. This leads to a greater impiety.
17 Such teach ing spreads like gangrene: I am thinking of Hyme neus and Philetus.
18 They strayed from the truth, holding that resurrection has already taken place; and with this they upset the faith of some.
19 But the solid foundations laid by God are not shaken; on them it is written: The Lord knows those who are his, and: Let him who confesses the name of the Lord turn away from evil.
20 In a large house we find not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some are reserved for special uses, others, for ordinary ones.
21 All who clean themselves of what I speak of, will become a noble vessel, useful to the Lord, prepared for any holy purpose.
22 So shun the passions of youth and seek righteousness, faith, love and peace, together with those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart.
23 Avoid stupid and senseless discussions, since such are the cause of mis under stan d ing.
24 God’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, always teaching and patient with those who do not understand,
25 gently correct opponents; perhaps God may grant them to repent and discover the truth,
26 withdrawing them from the snare of the devil who held them captive to his own will.
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Comments 2 Letter to Timothy, Chapter 2
• 2.1 Entrust to reliable people (v. 2). We have seen in Paul’s first missions that he took care to establish elders in each community (Acts 14:23; see also Titus 1:6). They must be able to preserve the faith in full. We often give more importance to immediate effectiveness of our actions rather than to doctrinal exactitude. In the long run, there is never an error that is not paid for. Saint Irenaeus affirms that the primary mission of the Church is to maintain in the world a true knowledge of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. See however the com. on Galatians 2:5.
Then Paul invites Timothy to surrender completely, with the assurance that his efforts will be rewarded.
Be strong with the grace you have in Christ Jesus, Christ’s witness must be courageous and strong, as the messenger of the victorious Christ. His own conviction will convince others. He must avoid the many ways of wasting time and getting off track in his mission: idle conversations devoid of value. Things that do not promote a better service of God (1 Tim 1:4): false religious problems un related to real life.
No soldier gets involved (v. 4). It happened at times that Paul earned his living while preaching (2 Cor 11:9; 2 Thes 3:7), but now here the letter speaks for those who waste their time in working for a living when the community has the duty of seeing to their needs. For a minister of the Church, work can be a way of placing oneself in the world and in the midst of people; but it could also be a way of escaping the difficulties and humiliations of every apostolic task.
• 14. Return to the experiences of the apostolic worker. In time the converted are tested: some make progress and others are lost. The apostle should not be astonished: no fall, no scandal can shake the solid foundations laid by God (v. 19): the Church will never be defeated.
They hold that the resurrection has al ready taken place (v. 18). Faith in the resurrection was accepted with as much difficulty in those times as it is today, and many wanted to keep the word without being embarrassed by a God who shatters our way of thinking. Per haps those named here held that a spiritual resurrection took place at baptism and there was nothing more to hope for after death. On this subject, see in the Gospel of John the precision given in 5:28 immediately following 5:25.