It has long since been pointed out, that the proclamation of accepted truths involves no reproach. Even worldly men and politicians will contend for popular creeds, and, like Demetrius, the Ephesian, will not hesitate to rouse the passions of the multitudes in their defense. It is new truth-whether for the first time revealed, or recovered after having been long ignored or forgotten-which tests the heart and excites its enmity, and which therefore requires courage on the part of its heralds. This fact will explain the special exhortations addressed to Timothy in this chapter. Some have thought that timidity, or even cowardice, was his peculiar snare. Be this as it may, very clearly he needed no common boldness and endurance in the accomplishment of the mission with which he had been entrusted, and for this very reason, that his work was in connection with “the testimony of our Lord.”
What then are we to understand by this term? Is it to be confined to the truth of “the mystery of Christ”? (Eph. 3:44Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) (Ephesians 3:4)) All will admit that this was the special ministry confided to Paul, while Col. 1 makes it plain that it was not the whole of his ministry. It will be perceived that the apostle uses the term “ gospel “ in this same scripture as co-extensive with “ the testimony of our Lord,” and he connects this again with God’s “purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel: whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” (vv. 8-11) “The testimony of our Lord” could not therefore embrace less than the whole ministry of the apostle, which he often expresses in the one term “the gospel,” or “my gospel.” (See 1 Tim. 1:1111According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. (1 Timothy 1:11); 2 Tim. 2:88Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: (2 Timothy 2:8)) But then the far-reaching significance of “the gospel” in the apostle’s mouth must be carefully borne in mind. It is so narrowed in our conceptions from its popular use that we are apt to forget what “the gospel” implies. It is a term that will include what we understand as “ the gospel of the grace of God,” and “ the gospel of the glory,” according to 2 Cor. 4, a gospel, which, in its fullest expression and consequences, contains the truth bf the body of Christ. For the knowledge of the glory of Christ on high, the fact that He is glorified as man at the right hand of God, is fundamentally requisite to the truth of the mystery. As the glorified man, He is the Head of the body, and it is through the reception of the Holy Ghost by those who have believed the gospel (Eph. 1:1212That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (Ephesians 1:12))-thus sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise-that souls are united to Christ, and made members of His body.
Such then was “the testimony of our Lord; “and it is easy to perceive how its proclamation would stir up the fanatical prejudices of the Jew, as well as excite the opposition of Jewish believers. Peter preached that God had made that same Jesus, whom the Jews had crucified, both Lord and Christ; but this testimony, if received, was in no way, in and by itself, destructive of the special privileges of the Jewish nation. Nay, in Acts 3 Peter tells them, in the long-suffering grace of God, that, if they will repent, God would send back Jesus Christ to them. But Paul’s testimony annulled all distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and he plainly declared, again and again, that in Christ there is “neither Greek nor Jew,” &c. (Col. 3:1111Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11); see also Eph. 1: 3)
We can well understand therefore that the apostle might need to exhort Timothy to stir up his gift, to remind him that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind;” and to exhort him not to be “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner,” because, as we have seen, identification with such a ministry must entail incessant reproach and persecution. Nor will it be less so now when Paul’s testimony is fully declared. Keep back part of it, make something of man, and you may be a popular preacher even in Christendom. Declare it fully the truth of Christ’s rejection, and of His glory at the right hand of God; the consequent end of man, and the judgment of the world in the cross; the truth of Christianity, involving the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth, and the union of believers to Christ by the Holy Spirit, together with the heavenly calling and waiting for God’s Son from heaven, and you must still be accounted “as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things.”
It should, however, be distinctly remarked, that this testimony could never be divinely rendered unless the state of the witness answered in some measure to it, the testimony itself is purely objective; i.e. an external thing; but a sadder exhibition could not be witnessed than a falsification of the truth by the life and associations of any who proclaimed it.
One interesting particular remains to be noticed. “Be not thou therefore ashamed,” says the apostle, “of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner.” The connection of these two things is most significant. Paul was so completely identified with “the testimony of our Lord” as to make it impossible to accept the one without the other. To profess to receive the testimony, and at the same time to be ashamed of him who was the Lord’s prisoner on account of it, would but be an evidence of insincerity and unreality. And yet how often is it the case that truths are avowedly held, and even delighted in, while the standard-bearers of those very truths are condemned and proscribed, and in some cases the light which has thus been received is used to cover with reproach the vessels through whom the light has shone. (See Phil. 1:15,1615Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: (Philippians 1:15‑16)) Such conduct may satisfy man, but it can never be pleasing to the Lord. His witnesses are as sacred in His eyes as the testimony they bear. He thus said to His disciples, on the eve of His departure from them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me.” (John 13:2020Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. (John 13:20)) There are many Christians to-day who would not hesitate to receive “the testimony of our Lord “if they might be ashamed of the cross connected with it; viz., identification with those who bear the testimony. But God has joined the two things together; and if we separate them, we can neither be under the power of the truth itself nor in fellowship with His own mind.