IV.

(1) I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.--The parchment, or papyrus, in the prison room of St. Paul on which, probably, Luke (2Timothy 4:11), the faithful friend, was writing to the Apostle's dictation, was nearly filled up. What has still to be said to the chief presbyter of the Church of Ephesus must be brief. But St. Paul would have the last words introduced by a most impressive preface. So before he sums up his directions and exhortations, he appeals to him in these stately and solemn words. The Greek word rendered "I charge (thee)," is more accurately translated by, I solemnly charge (thee), before those divine witnesses, the Eternal Father and the Blessed Son, present with me in this prison of mine in Rome, present equally with you in study-chamber or church in Asia.

Who shall judge the quick and the dead.--These words must have sounded with strange power in the ears of men like Timothy, and must have impressed them with an intense feeling of responsibility. The Apostle in his divine wisdom was charging these teachers of the Church to be faithful and zealous in their work, by the thought, which must be ever present, that they--either alive on the day of the Coming of the Lord, or, if they had tasted death already, raised from the dead incorruptible (comp. 1Thessalonians 4:17)--must stand before the Judge and give an account of their stewardship; on that awful morning must every man and woman render up, before the Judge who knows all and sees all, a strict account of the deeds done in the body. The looking forward to the judgment morning must surely be a spur to any faint-hearted, dispirited servant of the Lord disposed to temporise, or reluctant to face the dangers which threaten a faithful discharge of duties.

At his appearing and his kingdom.--The older authorities here--instead of the preposition "at"--read "and." The rendering then would be: "I charge thee in the sight of God and Jesus Christ, who will judge quick and dead (I charge thee) by His appearing (epiphany) and by His kingdom," the construction in Greek being the usual accusative of adjuration, as in Mark 5:7; Acts 19:13. So, too, Deuteronomy 4:26 (LXX.): "I solemnly charge you to-day by heaven and earth." The passage, by this restoration of the ancient, and, at first sight, more difficult reading, gains, as we shall see, immeasurably in strength and power. "By his appearing," or by His manifestation or epiphany, refers, of course, to the Lord's coming a second time to judge the earth in the glory of the Father with His angels. (Matthew 16:27; 1Thessalonians 4:16-17.) "And by His kingdom:" His kingdom, that kingdom is here meant which, in the words of the Nicene Creed, "shall have no end." This glorious sovereignty of Christ is to succeed what Pearson (Creed, Article VI., p. 529, Chevallier's edit.) calls "the modificated eternity of His mediatorship," which will end when all His enemies shall have been subdued, and He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father. The "kingdom" here spoken of is to commence at Christ's glorious epiphany or manifestation, when "the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15). Timothy was conjured by the "appearing" of Christ when he would have to stand before Him and be judged; he was conjured, too, by "His kingdom," in which glorious state Timothy hoped to share, for was it not promised that His own should reign with Him? (2Timothy 2:12.) There seems in this solemn ringing adjuration something which reminds us of "a faithful saying." The germs at least of one of the ancient creeds are apparent here, where allusion is made to God (the Father) and to Jesus Christ, the judge of quick and dead, to His coming again with glory and then to His kingdom.

Verse 1. - In the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus for therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, A.V. and T.R.; and by for at, A.V. and T.R. I charge thee (διαμαρτύρομαι); as 2 Timothy 2:14 and 1 Timothy 5:21 (where see note). The words οϋν ἐγώ, wanting in some of the best manuscripts, are "rejected by Griesbach, Tischendorf, Lachmann," and by Huther, Alford, Ellicott, and others. The chapter opens rather abruptly without the connecting "therefore." And by his appearing and his kingdom. The reading of the T.R., κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν κ.τ.λ.., "at his appearing and kingdom," makes such excellent sense, and is in such perfect accordance with the usual grammar, and with the usual connection of events, that it is difficult not to believe that it is the right reading (see Matthew 27:15, κατὰ ἑορτήν, "at the feast;" κατὰ πᾶν σάββατον, "on every sabbath;" Acts 13:27, κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν, "in the day;" Hebrews 3:8 for the grammar; and the universal language of Scripture and the Creeds connecting the judgment with the Lord's appearing and kingdom). On the other hand, the reading καὶ is almost impossible to construe. No two commentators scarcely are agreed how to do so. Some take τὴν ἐπιφανείαν καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν as the object governed by διαμαρτύρομαι as in the LXX. of Deuteronomy 4:26, "I call to witness... Christ's epiphany and kingdom," taking διαμαρτύρομαι in two senses or two constructions. Others take them as the accusatives of the things sworn by, "I charge thee before God and Jesus Christ, and by his epiphany and kingdom," as Mark 5:7, τὸν Θεόν, "by God;" Acts 19:13, τὸν Ἰησοῦν, "by Jesus;" 1 Thessalonians 5:27, τὸν Κύριον, "by the Lord." But how awkward such a separation of the thing sworn by from the verb is, and how unnatural it is to couple with καὶ the two ideas, "before God" and "by Christ's epiphany," and how absolutely without example such a swearing by Christ's epiphany and kingdom is, nobody needs to be told. Others, as Huther, try to get over part at least of this awkwardness by taking the two καιs as "both:" "by both his epiphany and his kingdom." Ellicott explains it by saying that as you could not put "the epiphany and the kingdom" in dependence upon ἐνώπιον (as if they were persons like God and Christ), they "naturally pass into the accusative." But surely this is all thoroughly unsatisfactory. The T.R. is perfectly easy and simple. Appearing (ἐπιφανεία); ver. 8; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Timothy 6:14; Titus 2:13. His kingdom. So in the Nicene Creed: "He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead: whose kingdom shall have no end" (comp. Matthew 25:31, followed by the judgment).

4:1-5 People will turn away from the truth, they will grow weary of the plain gospel of Christ, they will be greedy of fables, and take pleasure in them. People do so when they will not endure that preaching which is searching, plain, and to the purpose. Those who love souls must be ever watchful, must venture and bear all the painful effects of their faithfulness, and take all opportunities of making known the pure gospel.I charge thee therefore before God,.... Whose word the Scriptures are, and by whom they are inspired; who had made Timothy an able minister of the New Testament, and to whom he was accountable for his ministry:

and the Lord Jesus Christ; who is equal with God, and bestows ministerial gifts on men, and from whom Timothy had his; whose Gospel he preached; in whose cause he was embarked; and before whom he must appear, to give an account of his ministry, talents, and souls under his care:

who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; it is certain there will be a general judgment; the day is appointed, and Christ is ordained the Judge of all men; all judgment is committed to him, and he is ready to exercise it; for which he is abundantly qualified, being God omniscient and omnipotent; and which he will execute in the most righteous and impartial manner. The persons that will be judged by him are, "the quick and the dead"; by which are meant, not the different parts of men, their souls which are living and immortal, and their bodies which die and will be raised from the dead, though they will be judged in their whole persons; nor the different sorts of men, as good men, who are made alive by the Spirit and grace of God, and evil men, who are dead in trespasses and sins, and die in their sins; though this is a truth that God will judge both the righteous and the wicked: but rather by the "quick", are meant, such as will be found alive at Christ's coming; and by the "dead", such as having been dead, will be raised by him; and in short, the characters include all mentioned; who must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The time when this will be, is,

at his appearing, and his kingdom; which may be considered as an hendyadis, expressive of one and the same thing; and so the Syriac version renders it, "at the revelation of his kingdom"; or as two things, the one as antecedent and preparatory to the other; the former refers to the appearance of Christ at the last day. He appeared frequently to the Old Testament saints in an human form; and he really appeared in human nature in the fulness of time; and after his resurrection to his apostles and others, and even after his ascension to some; and he appears in a spiritual manner to believers in all ages; but to them that look for him, he will appear a second time in person, in a most glorious manner: for the present he is received up into heaven, where he is as it were hid, and is unseen to corporeal eyes; but in his due time he will be manifested in his own and his Father's glory, and in the glory of his angels; and this appearance will be greatly to the advantage of the saints, who will then appear in glory, and be like him, and see him as he is, and hence they look for it, and love it; and at this time will be the judgment, and then will the kingdom of Christ take place. Christ has a kingdom now, and ever had, which is not of this world, but is of a spiritual nature; and which will be more manifest in that latter day, by the spread of the Gospel, the numerous instances of conversion, and the revival of powerful religion and godliness, which we commonly call the spiritual reign of Christ; but the kingdom here designed, is the personal reign of Christ, for a thousand years: at the beginning of which will be the judgment of the saints, who having the crown of righteousness given them by the Judge, will reign with him as kings and priests; and at the end of this period will be the judgment of the wicked. The charge made before these two divine Persons, God and his Son Jesus Christ, follows.