19 But God's strong base is unchanging, having this sign, The Lord has knowledge of those who are his: and, Let everyone by whom the name of the Lord is named be turned away from evil.
I am the good keeper; I have knowledge of my sheep, and they have knowledge of me,
But if anyone has love for God, God has knowledge of him.
My little children, let no man take you out of the true way: he who does righteousness is upright, even as he is upright; The sinner is a child of the Evil One; for the Evil One has been a sinner from the first. And the Son of God was seen on earth so that he might put an end to the works of the Evil One. Anyone who is a child of God does no sin, because he still has God's seed in him; he is not able to be a sinner, because God is his Father. In this way it is clear who are the children of God and who are the children of the Evil One; anyone who does not do righteousness or who has no love for his brother, is not a child of God.
And he said to Korah and his band, In the morning the Lord will make clear who are his, and who is holy, and who may come near him: the man of his selection will be caused to come near him.
For this cause says the Lord God, See, I am placing in Zion as a base, a stone, a tested stone, an angle-stone which is certain and of great value: and he who has faith will not give way.
But he will say, Truly, I have no knowledge of you or where you come from; go away from me, you workers of evil.
My sheep give ear to my voice, and I have knowledge of them, and they come after me: And I give them eternal life; they will never come to destruction, and no one will ever take them out of my hand. That which my Father has given to me has more value than all; and no one is able to take anything out of the Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
I have knowledge of your works (see, I have put before you an open door which may be shut by no one), and that you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have been true to my name.
And they will see his face; and his name will be on their brows.
Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods; Because of which the wrath of God comes on those who go against his orders; Among whom you were living in the past, when you did such things. But now it is right for you to put away all these things; wrath, passion, bad feeling, curses, unclean talk;
So make your minds ready, and keep on the watch, hoping with all your power for the grace which is to come to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; Like children ruled by God, do not go back to the old desires of the time when you were without knowledge: But be holy in every detail of your lives, as he, whose servants you are, is holy; Because it has been said in the Writings, You are to be holy, for I am holy. And if you give the name of Father to him who, judging every man by his acts, has no respect for a man's position, then go in fear while you are on this earth: Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction, But through holy blood, like that of a clean and unmarked lamb, even the blood of Christ:
For the grace of God has come, giving salvation to all men, Training us so that, turning away from evil and the desires of this world, we may be living wisely and uprightly in the knowledge of God in this present life; Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, so that he might make us free from all wrongdoing, and make for himself a people clean in heart and on fire with good works.
This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit, Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard; Who having no more power of feeling, have given themselves up to evil passions, to do all unclean things with overmuch desire. For this was not the teaching of Christ which was given to you; If in fact you gave ear to him, and were given teaching in him, even as what is true is made clear in Jesus: That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit;
Let love be without deceit. Be haters of what is evil; keep your minds fixed on what is good.
Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is,
Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.
And do not give grief to the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were marked for the day of salvation.
Let it then be your desire to be like God, as well-loved children; And be living in love, even as Christ had love for you, and gave himself up for us, an offering to God for a perfume of a sweet smell. But evil acts of the flesh and all unclean things, or desire for others' property, let it not even be named among you, as is right for saints; And let there be no low behaviour, or foolish talk, or words said in sport, which are not right, but in place of them the giving of praise. Being certain of this, that no man who gives way to the passions of the flesh, no unclean person, or one who has desire for the property of others, or who gives worship to images, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and God. Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him. Have no part with such men; For you at one time were dark, but now are light in the Lord: let your behaviour be that of children of light (Because the fruit of the light is in all righteousness and in everything which is good and true), Testing by experience what is well-pleasing to the Lord; And have no company with the works of the dark, which give no fruit, but make their true quality clear;
So that the rest of men may make search for the Lord, and all the Gentiles on whom my name is named,
And the wall of the town had twelve bases, and on them the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
The beast which you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the great deep, and to go into destruction. And those who are on the earth, whose names have not been put in the book of life from the first, will be full of wonder when they see the beast, that he was, and is not, and still will be.
They went out from us but they were not of us; if they had been of us they would still be with us: but they went out from us so that it might be made clear that they were not of us.
And through this he has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued; so that by them we might have our part in God's being, and be made free from the destruction which is in the world through the desires of the flesh. So, for this very cause, take every care; joining virtue to faith, and knowledge to virtue, And self-control to knowledge, and a quiet mind to self-control, and fear of God to a quiet mind, And love of the brothers to fear of God, and to love of the brothers, love itself. For if you have these things in good measure, they will make you fertile and full of fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the man who has not these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having no memory of how he was made clean from his old sins. For this reason, my brothers, take all the more care to make your selection and approval certain; for if you do these things you will never have a fall:
So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false; And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil;
Making ready for themselves a safe place for the time to come, so that the true life may be theirs.
Making it my purpose not to take the good news where Christ was named, so that my work might not be resting on that of others;
And so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercy; as it is said, For this reason I will give praise to you among the Gentiles, and I will make a song to your name.
What may we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not keep back his only Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not with him freely give us all things? Who will say anything against the saints of God? It is God who makes us clear from evil; Who will give a decision against us? It is Christ Jesus who not only was put to death, but came again from the dead, who is now at the right hand of God, taking our part. Who will come between us and the love of Christ? Will trouble, or pain, or cruel acts, or the need of food or of clothing, or danger, or the sword?
And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.
And when he had come across him, he took him to Antioch. And they were with the church there for a year, teaching the people; and the disciples were first given the name of Christians in Antioch.
And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.
Because the Lord sees the way of the upright, but the end of the sinner is destruction.
The days of the upright are numbered by the Lord, and their heritage will be for ever.
Be turned from evil, and do good; and your place will be for ever. For the Lord is a lover of righteousness, and takes care of his saints; they will be kept safe for ever; but the seed of the evil-doers will be cut off.
He will not ever be moved; the memory of the upright will be living for ever.
<A Song of the going up.> Those whose hope is in the Lord are like the mountain of Zion, which may not be moved, but keeps its place for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from this time and for ever.
When the storm-wind is past, the sinner is seen no longer, but the upright man is safe for ever.
What answer, then, will my people give to the representatives of the nation? That the Lord is the builder of Zion, and she will be a safe place for the poor of his people.
And your name will become a curse to my people, and the Lord God will put you to death, and give his servants another name:
For see, the stone which I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: see, the design cut on it will be my work, says the Lord of armies, and I will take away the sin of that land in one day.
Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you will become level: and he will let all see the headstone, with cries of Grace, grace, to it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have put the base of this house in place, and his hands will make it complete; and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you.
And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.
And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock.
Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
Because there will be false Christs and false prophets, and they will give signs and wonders in the hope of turning even the saints from the true way.
I am not talking of you all: I have knowledge of my true disciples, but things are as they are, so that the Writings may come true, The foot of him who takes bread with me is lifted up against me.
And here he has authority from the chief priests to make prisoners all who give worship to your name.
Resting on the base of the Apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief keystone,
In the measure of the grace given to me, I, as a wise master-builder, have put the base in position, and another goes on building on it. But let every man take care what he puts on it. For there is no other base for the building but that which has been put down, which is Jesus Christ.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Timothy 2
Commentary on 2 Timothy 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter our apostle gives Timothy many exhortations and directions, which may be of great use to other, both ministers and Christians, for whom they were designed as well as for him.
2Ti 2:1-7
Here Paul encourages Timothy to constancy and perseverance in his work: Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, v. 1. Observe, Those who have work to do for God must stir up themselves to do it, and strengthen themselves for it. Being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus may be understood in opposition to the weakness of grace. Where there is the truth of grace there must be a labouring after the strength of grace. As our trials increase, we have need to grow stronger and stronger in that which is good; our faith stronger, our resolution stronger, our love to God and Christ stronger. Or it may be understood in opposition to our being strong in our own strength: "Be strong, not confiding in thy own sufficiency, but in the grace that is in Jesus Christ.' Compare Eph. 6:10, Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. When Peter promised rather to die for Christ than to deny him he was strong in his own strength; had he been strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, he would have kept his standing better. Observe,
The apostle further commends what he had said to the attention of Timothy, and expresses his desire and hope respecting him: Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things, v. 7. Here,
2Ti 2:8-13
2Ti 2:14-18
Having thus encouraged Timothy to suffer, he comes in the next place to direct him in his work.
2Ti 2:19-21
Here we see what we may comfort ourselves with, in reference to this, and the little errors and heresies that both infect and infest the church, and do mischief.
2Ti 2:22-26