1 Timothy 2:6

2:1-7 The disciples of Christ must be praying people; all, without distinction of nation, sect, rank, or party. Our duty as Christians, is summed up in two words; godliness, that is, the right worshipping of God; and honesty, that is, good conduct toward all men. These must go together: we are not truly honest, if we are not godly, and do not render to God his due; and we are not truly godly, if not honest. What is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, we should abound in. There is one Mediator, and that Mediator gave himself a ransom for all. And this appointment has been made for the benefit of the Jews and the Gentiles of every nation; that all who are willing may come in this way, to the mercy-seat of a pardoning God, to seek reconciliation with him. Sin had made a quarrel between us and God; Jesus Christ is the Mediator who makes peace. He is a ransom that was to be known in due time. In the Old Testament times, his sufferings, and the glory that should follow, were spoken of as things to be revealed in the last times. Those who are saved must come to the knowledge of the truth, for that is God's appointed way to save sinners: if we do not know the truth, we cannot be ruled by it.

’ Antilutron, the word here translated ransom, is very emphatical; it signifies the exchanging of condition with another, the laying down of one’s life to save another’s. This our Saviour has done for us. The Scripture discovers to us, that by nature we are the children of wrath, and guilty of many rebellious sins, and devoted to eternal death: being in this deplorable state, the Son of God, moved by his Divine love, undertook our restoring to the favour of God; and voluntarily endured the punishment due to our sins, and gave his most precious blood and life the price of our redemption, Matthew 20:28 . If it be objected: How is it consistent with Christ giving himself a ransom for all, that so many perish in their sins? The answer is clear: We must distinguish between the sufficiency of his ransom and the efficacy of it; he paid a ransom worthy to obtain the salvation of all men, and has done whatever was requisite to reconcile God, and make men capable of salvation; but only those who by a lively faith depend upon him, and obey him, are actual partakers of salvation: that is, no person but may be saved in believing; and if men perish, it is not from a defect of righteousness in the Mediator, but from the love of their lusts, and their obstinate rejecting their own mercies. And it is unjust that the glory of his Divine compassion and love should be obscured or lessened for their ungrateful neglect of it.

1 Timothy 2:6 . Τὸ μαρτύριον , the testimony ) The accusative absolute, as ἔνδειγμα , 2 Thessalonians 1:5 . A word suited to the character which Paul and Timothy sustained; for they were witnesses. The testimony of universal redemption is intended.— καιροῖς ἰδίοις , in its own due times , or His own due times ) ch. 1 Timothy 6:15 , note.

Who gave himself (ὁ δοὺς ἐαυτὸν) The phrase with the simple verb only here, Galatians 1:4, and Titus 2:14. Paul uses the compound verb παραδιδόναι, Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2, Ephesians 5:25. Comp. Romans 8:32. Ransom (ἀντίλυτρον) N.T.o. olxx. oClass. Λύτρον ransom, Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45, applied to Christ's life given for many. But neither this nor any of its kindred words is used by Paul. He uses ἀπολύτρωσις, but that means the act not the means of redemption. For all (ὑπὲρ) Ὑπὲρ does not mean instead of (ἀντὶ). See on Romans 5:6. Any idea of exchange or substitution which may be implied, resides in ἀντίλυτρον; but it is pressing that unique word too far to find in it the announcement of a substitutional atonement. To be testified in due time (τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις) Lit. (gave himself a ransom) the testimony in its own times. That is, the gift of Christ as a ransom was to be the substance or import of the testimony which was to be set forth in its proper seasons. Thus μαρτύριον testimony is in apposition with the whole preceding sentence, and not with ransom only. Μαρτύριον is used sometimes simply as witness or testimony (Matthew 8:4; Mark 6:11): sometimes specially of the proclamation of the gospel, as Matthew 24:14; Acts 4:33; 1 Thessalonians 1:10. The apostles are said, μαρτυρεῖν to bear witness, as eye or ear witnesses of the sayings, deeds, and sufferings of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:15).

In 1 Corinthians 1:6, μαρτύριον τοῦ Χριστοῦ is practically equals the gospel. In 2 Thessalonians 1:10, τὸ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν ἐφ' ὑμᾶς our testimony among you is our public attestation of the truth of the gospel. The idea of witness is a favorite one with John. See John 1:7. The exact phrase καιροῖς ἰδίοις in its own times, only in the Pastorals, here, 1 Timothy 6:15; Titus 1:3. In Galatians 6:9 καιρῷ ἰδίῳ in due time. Comp. Galatians 4:4.

6. gave himself—(Tit 2:14). Not only the Father gave Him for us (Joh 3:16); but the Son gave Himself (Php 2:5-8). ransom—properly of a captive slave. Man was the captive slave of Satan, sold under sin. He was unable to ransom himself, because absolute obedience is due to God, and therefore no act of ours can satisfy for the least offense. Le 25:48 allowed one sold captive to be redeemed by one of his brethren. The Son of God, therefore, became man in order that, being made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, as our elder brother He should redeem us (Mt 20:28; Eph 1:7; 1Pe 1:18, 19). The Greek implies not merely ransom, but a substituted or equivalent ransom: the Greek preposition, "anti," implying reciprocity and vicarious substitution. for all—Greek, "in behalf of all": not merely for a privileged few; compare 1Ti 2:1: the argument for praying in behalf of all is given here. to be testified—Greek, "the testimony (that which was to be testified of, 1Jo 5:8-11) in its own due times," or seasons, that is, in the times appointed by God for its being testified of (1Ti 6:15; Tit 1:3). The oneness of the Mediator, involving the universality of redemption (which faith, however, alone appropriates), was the great subject of Christian testimony [Alford] (1Co 1:6; 2:1; 2Th 1:10).

Verse 6. - The testimony to be borne in its own times for to be testified in due time , A.V. Τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδιοις . This phrase is somewhat obscure, and is differently explained. But the most literal rendering and the best sense seems to be: " The testimony , at its proper time, to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle," meaning that the mediation and redemption of Jesus Christ was the subject-matter of that testimony which he Paul was appointed to bear at the proper time. Τὸ μαρτύριον εἰς ο{ must be taken together, without any intervening stop. This accounts for the article τό . The exactly parallel place is Titus 1:1, 2 , as a close comparison of the two passages will show. A further proof of the identity of thought in the two passage's is the recurrence in both of the phrase, ἐπιγνωσις ἀληθείας . A ransom ( ἀντίλυτρον ); here only in the New Testament, but it is used perhaps by Symmachus in Psalm 48:9 (Psalms 49:9, A.V.), where the LXX, have Γὴν τιμὴν τῆς λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ , following the reading יְקַר , instead of יֵקַר as in the Hebrew text. " What means a ransom? They were about to perish, but in their stead he gave his Son, and sent us as heralds to proclaim the cross" (Chrysostom).

The equivalent word in the Gospels is ἀντάλλαγμα ( Matthew 16:26 ; Mark 8 :87). Ἀντίλυτρον does at seem to differ materially in me, ulna from λύτρον , the common classical word for "ransom" ( i . e . redemption money), and used by our Lord of his own life given as a ransom for many ( Matthew 20:28 ; Mark 10:45 ). It is the price given as an equivalent for setting free the prisoner, or sparing the forfeited life; λυτρόω ( Luke 24:21 , etc.), λύτρωσις ( Luke 1:68 , etc.), λυτρωτής ( Acts 7:35 ), ἀπολύτρωσις ( Luke 21:28 ; Romans 3:24 , and passim ), have all the sense of "redeem," "redemption," and the like. In its own times. The notion of a time specially appointed for Christ's coming into the world is frequently dwelt upon in Scripture; e.g. , Galatians 4:4 ; Ephesians 1:10 ; Hebrews 1:2 (camp. Acts 17:30, 31 ; 2 Corinthians 6:2 ). (See the same phrase, 1 Timothy 6:15 .) 1 Timothy 2:6

6 . a ransom ] The word is a compound naturally formed, as time passed, to represent Christ’s own teaching, antilutron thus recalling the lutron anti of Matthew 20:28 ; Mark 10:45 . On this last verse Maclear distinguishes, from Trench’s Syn ., p. 276, the three great circles of images in Scripture used to represent the purport of Christ’s death: ( a ) sin offering or propitiation, 1 John 2:2 ; 1 John 4:10 . ( b ) atonement, i.e. at-one-ment, reconciliation with an offended friend, Romans 5:11 ; Romans 11:15 ; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 . ( c ) ransom, or the price paid for the redemption of a captive from slavery, Romans 3:24 ; Ephesians 1:7 . This third image, which is St Paul’s latest love, occurs again, Titus 2:14 , ‘that he might redeem us from all iniquity,’ and is chosen by St Peter, 1 Peter 1:18 , and the writer to the Hebrews, Hebrews 9:12 . Our Article II. like this creed, and unlike the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, adds a statement of the purport of Christ’s death to its statement of the fact; but takes the first and second of these images to express it; “who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice not only for original guilt but also for all actual sins of men.” Cf. Art.

XV.: ‘He came to be the Lamb without spot, who by sacrifice of Himself once made should take away the sins of the world.’ to be testified in due time ] R.V. the testimony to be borne in its proper seasons ; the neuter substantive having its proper sense, ‘that which was to be testified of.’ The word may well have come into this creed from the familiarity of the Jewish Christians with its use (as Wordsworth suggests) in the Pentateuch, where it occurs 30 times in connexion with the Holy of Holies, the Tables of the law, the Tabernacle and the Ark. Cf. Acts 7:44 , ‘Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness.’ ‘The redemption made by the Blood of Christ was the True Testimony which was reserved for its full revelation in its own appointed season,’ Ephesians 1:10 , ‘a dispensation of the fulness of the seasons to sum up all things in Christ.’ The reading is not doubtful, though from the apparent abruptness (sufficiently accounted for if part of a brief creed) the scribes in the mss. seem to have stumbled at the clause, each giving some variety for smoothness. See note on 1 Timothy 2:5 for the connexion; which makes the force and relevance of the familiar phrases strong and clear.

1 Timothy 2:6 . ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτόν : The Evangelists record our Lord’s own declarations that His death was a spontaneous and voluntary sacrifice on His part, Matthew 20:28 = Mark 10:45 , δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν . Cf. John 10:18 ; and St. Paul affirms it, Galatians 1:4 , τοῦ δόντος έαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν ; Titus 2:14 , ὃς ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κ . τ . λ . ( παραδίδωμι is used in Galatians 2:20 , Ephesians 5:2 ; Ephesians 5:25 ). We may note that this statement necessarily implies not only the pre-existence of our Lord, but also His co-operation in the eternal counsels and purpose of the Father as regards the salvation of man. Alford is probably right in saying that δοῦναι ἑαυτόν , as St. Paul expresses it, suggests more than δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ . The latter might naturally be limited to the sacrifice of His death; the former connotes the sacrifice of His lifetime, the whole of the humiliation and self-emptying of the Incarnation. The soundness of this exegesis is not impaired by the probability that τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ may be nothing more than a Semitic periphrasis for ἑαυτόν . See J. H. Moulton, Grammar , vol. i. p. 87, who compares Mark 8:36 , ζημιωθῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ , with Luke 9:25 , ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἀπολέσας ἢ ζημιωθείς . ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων : If we are to see any special force in the ἀντί , we may say that it expresses that the λύτρον is equivalent in value to the thing procured by means of it. But perhaps St.