2 Timothy 2:1-7
Soldier, Athlete, Farmer
1You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.
3Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him.
5Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules.
6The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops.
7Consider what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all things.
Berean Standard Bible
So far the letter has been about what God gave, what Paul handed over, and who stayed with him when things got expensive. Now Paul turns and speaks to Timothy about Timothy.
You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
He does not say be strong and leave it there. He says where the strength is kept. Timothy is not being asked to find some reserve of nerve inside himself that he has failed to locate so far. He is being told to draw on something that was never his in the first place and is being held out to him.
Then comes the job.
And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.
Follow the handing over in that sentence. Paul said it among many witnesses. Timothy heard him, and he was not the only one in the room. Timothy is to put it into the hands of reliable people, and those people are to teach others after that. A prisoner who expects to be executed is making sure his work outlives him, and the way he does it is to give it away rather than hold it together. The people he wants are described as faithful, which is not the same as clever, or gifted, or good in front of a crowd. Paul asks for two things: that they be faithful, and that they be qualified to teach others.
After that he hands Timothy three pictures and explains almost nothing about them. The first is a soldier, who keeps out of ordinary civilian business so he can please the man who enlisted him. Ordinary life is not the enemy there. A soldier has one person to satisfy and cannot be running two sets of orders at once.
The second is an athlete, who does not get the crown unless he competes according to the rules. Effort alone will not do it. A man can train harder than anybody in the field and still be disqualified over how he went about it. The third is a farmer, and he is the slowest of the three. He works a long time with nothing showing above the ground, and when the crop comes in he is the one who eats first.
Then Paul stops.
Consider what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all things.
He does not sort the pictures out or say which part of the job each one answers. He hands over the images, asks the young man to think, and tells him where the understanding will come from when it arrives. It is a great deal of trust to place in somebody who has been afraid, and Paul places it there on purpose.
How We Know
Verse 2 sits on top of a word the letter has already used twice, in two different directions, and it completes the sequence without saying so.
In 1:12 Paul says he has entrusted something to God and is convinced God can guard it. In 1:14 Timothy is told to guard the treasure entrusted to him. In 2:2 Timothy is told to entrust it onward, to faithful men who can teach others.
Deposited with God, deposited with Timothy, and deposited by Timothy with the next set of hands. Nothing in the letter draws the line between the three, and they arrive in that order across two chapters.
Questions
1 Paul tells Timothy to be strong. Strong in what?
AnswerIn the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Not in his own nerve. Paul does not ask a frightened young man to dig up courage he has not got. He points him at something outside himself that is being handed to him.
2 Paul tells Timothy to entrust what he heard to faithful men. Who passes what to whom in that sentence?
AnswerPaul said it in front of witnesses, Timothy heard him, Timothy is to hand it to reliable people, and those people are to teach others. Four sets of hands, arranged by a man who expects to be executed and wants the work to go on without him.
3 Which is hardest for you: keeping to one thing, doing it the right way instead of the quick way, or waiting a long time before anything shows? Paul has a picture for each.
AnswerThe soldier is the first one: one person to please, not two sets of orders. The athlete is the second: you can work harder than everybody and still be disqualified over how you did it. The farmer is the third: a long stretch of work before anything comes up, and then he eats first.
4 Paul gives three pictures and then tells Timothy to think about them. Why not explain them himself?
AnswerBecause he trusts him with the thinking. Paul says the Lord will give him insight, which means the understanding is not Paul's to hand over anyway. He has already told him where it comes from.
What This Means for Us
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Paul says that first, and everything after it hangs off it: the entrusting, the teaching, the soldier, the athlete, the farmer. The strength is not Timothy's to summon.
Verse 7 does it again at the other end of the passage: consider what I am saying, Paul writes, for the Lord will give you insight. Even the understanding needed to work out what a soldier and an athlete and a farmer have to do with any of this is handed over rather than achieved.
So name one thing you are holding that somebody else in this house should be learning, and start teaching it this month, badly, before you feel ready. You can afford to do it badly. The strength and the insight are both being supplied by somebody other than you, which is the only reason any of it moves at all.
Prayer
Father, we make ourselves necessary and call it faithfulness. Thank you for a prisoner who spent his last letter giving his work away. Show us what we are holding too tightly, and give us somebody to hand it to. Amen.