Chapter Four
2 Tim. 4:1. I solemnly charge you before God and our Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead.
The Apostle instills fear in Timothy in another place as well, having said: "before God, Who gives life to all things, I charge you" (1 Tim. 6:13); but here he makes his speech more fearful by reminding him of that judgment. Him, he says, Who will demand an account, I call as witness that I have not hidden even this from you. By "the living and the dead" he means either sinners and the righteous, or those who have died and also those who will then remain alive. Some, however, understand this as referring to souls and bodies.
2 Tim. 4:1. At His appearing and His Kingdom.
When is He who is to judge coming? At the time of His coming, which will be with glory and royal majesty. For the second coming will not be as humble as the first.
2 Tim. 4:2. Preach the word.
To what exactly does the apostle adjure? What does this mean? "Preach the word," do not hide, or do not bury in the ground, the gift that is in you. Oh, let us be frightened by this, we who are lazy to preach.
2 Tim. 4:2. Persist in season and out of season.
Preach unceasingly, speak tirelessly, not once but always. Let there be no set time for you, but "in season," that is, in time of peace, tranquility, and being in church, and "out of season," that is, in dangers and outside the church—speak and preach. The apostle said "in season" and "out of season" in the same sense in which these expressions are used in ordinary speech. A favorable time for preaching is considered a time of peace and calm, and an unfavorable time for it is a time of calamities. Others again consider preaching in church to be timely preaching, and preaching outside the church to be untimely. Or yet another way: do not wait for the time of someone's fall, but teach before anyone falls.
2 Tim. 4:2. Reprove.
When you see that this must be done, that is, when you find someone sinning or intending to sin, do not let it pass without consequence.
2 Tim. 4:2. Rebuke.
Rebuke him, that is, impose a penance and punishment, after you have exposed and proven to the one erring his error.
2 Tim. 4:2. Exhort.
Prohibition with punishment is like cutting, while consolation is like a pleasant plaster. Therefore, apply the plaster of consolation, lest cutting alone, producing extreme pain, cast one into despair.
2 Tim. 4:2. With all longsuffering and instruction.
Combine this with all preventive measures. For one must also reprove with all longsuffering, so that the one reproved may believe everything not without reason; "and edification," explaining how he sinned and wherein the sin lies. Thus, one must also rebuke with longsuffering, imposing penalties not as upon an enemy, but as upon a son—correction. And in teaching, that is, instructing him of the benefit of punishment. Exhortation most of all requires longsuffering and teaching. With longsuffering not occasional, but "with all," that is, manifested on every occasion—in deeds, in words, and in outward appearance.
2 Tim. 4:3. For the time will come when they will not accept sound doctrine.
So, warn them before they plunge into calamity. This is why he also said above: "in season and out of season"; while you still have the opportunity to persuade, do everything.
2 Tim. 4:3. But according to their own desires they will choose for themselves teachers.
The Apostle indicates by the expression "they will choose" a disorderly crowd of teachers, and also that they are chosen by the people, who will act not according to sound reason, but will choose those who will indulge their lusts and only say and do what is pleasing to them.
2 Tim. 4:3. Which would flatter the ear.
Those who always want to hear what is pleasant, delightful, and flattering to the ear.
2 Tim. 4:4. And they shall turn away their hearing from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.
Do you see? They are not led astray out of ignorance, but willingly. "They will turn away," he says, "their hearing and will turn to fables." Therefore their evil is voluntary. The Apostle says this not in order to cast his disciple into despondency, but to persuade him to make proper use of the present time of safety, and so that he would courageously endure when this happens; just as Christ also says: "they will deliver you up to councils and will beat you" (Matt. 10:17). And Paul himself elsewhere: "after my departure savage wolves will come in among you" (Acts 20:29).