2 Timothy 2.14a-Paul Commands Timothy to Continue to Remember His Teaching in Second Timothy 2.11-13
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 5, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 2:14a-Paul Commands Timothy to Continue to Remember His Teaching in Second Timothy 2:11-13
Lesson # 41
2 Timothy 2:14 Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. (NASB95)
The apostle Paul is once again employing the figure of asyndeton in order to emphasize the solemn nature of this command here in Second Timothy 2:14 which is directly tied to his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13.
“Remind them of these things” is composed of the following: (1) accusative neuter plural form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “these things” (2) second person singular present active imperative form of the verb hupomimnēskomai (ὑπομιμνῄσκομαι), “Remind.:
The verb hupomimnēskomai can have two meanings: (1) remember for oneself, to recollect for oneself (Luke 22:61); (2) to remind someone of something, to put something in the mind of another (John 14:26; Titus 3:1; 2 Pet. 1:12; 3 John 10; Jude 5).
Here in Second Timothy 2:14, the verb hupomimnēskomai means “to remember, to recollect for oneself” indicating that Paul is commanding Timothy to remember his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13.
The present imperative form of the verb hupomimnēskomai is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to simply continue making it his habit of bringing into his remembrance Paul’s statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 which constitute a hymn in the apostolic church.
The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos refers to Paul’s teaching in Second Timothy 2:11-13.
Second Timothy 2:14 Continue to make it your habit of bringing into remembrance these things. (My translation)
The apostle Paul solemnly issues another command to Timothy.
This command in Second Timothy 2:14 is directly tied to his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 since Paul is commanding Timothy to remember these statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 which constitute a hymn in the apostolic church.
Therefore, in Second Timothy 2:14, the apostle Paul employs the figure of asyndeton because he wants Timothy to understand the eternal implications of remaining faithful to the gospel in face of persecution and underserved suffering.
In other words, this figure emphasizes how serious Paul viewed his teaching in Second Timothy 2:11-13.
“These things” refers to Paul’s statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 which constituted a hymn in the apostolic church.
It thus refers to the Christian’s identification with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection since it is mentioned in Second Timothy 2:11.
It also refers to the rewards that the faithful Christian will receive at the Bema Seat from the Lord if they persevere since this is mentioned in the first conditional statement in Second Timothy 2:12.
It also refers to the fact that the Lord will refuse unfaithful Christians rewards at the Bema if they refuse to follow Him since this is mentioned in the second conditional statement in Second Timothy 2:12.
Lastly, “these things” refers to the fact that if the Christian is unfaithful, the Lord will continue to remain faithful to them because He can never be untrue to Himself.
Specifically, the Lord always keeps His promises and in particular the promise of the forgiveness of sins.
We have an interpretive problem with this command in Second Timothy 2:14.
Is Paul commanding Timothy to remind the Ephesian Christian community of his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13?
Or, is he commanding Timothy to remember these things himself?
All the English translations and most expositors with the exception of Luke Timothy Johnson interpret this word hupomimnēskomai as Paul commanding Timothy to remind the Ephesian church of his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13.
However, the problem with this interpretation is that it would require the dative third person masculine plural form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “them.”
However, autos does not appear here in Second Timothy 2:14.
The English translations and interpreters all view this word as being implied by Paul even though it is omitted.
Thus, they view Paul using the figure of ellipsis at this point in Second Timothy 2:14.
Now, if we interpret the verb hupomimnēskomai to mean that Paul is commanding Timothy to remember his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13, we don’t’ need to interpret Paul as using this figure of ellipsis.
Interpreting the verb this way also fits the context since Paul’s teaching in Second Timothy 2:1-13 has been designed to encourage Timothy to continue fulfilling his duties in communicating and exemplifying the gospel.
To interpret this verb as meaning that Paul is commanding Timothy to remind the Ephesian church of his statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 does not fit the context since Paul has been speaking to Timothy exclusively in the preceding context and continues to do so throughout the rest of the chapter.
To interpret that autos is implied here in this command in verse 14 despite the fact that there is no indication from the immediate preceding statements in verses 1-13 or in the ones to follow that Paul is commanding Timothy to remind the Ephesians of his statements in verses 11-13 is eisegesis.
Therefore, the verb hupomimnēskomai means “to remember” indicating that Paul is commanding Timothy to continue to make it his habit of bringing to his remembrance the apostle’s teaching in Second Timothy 2:11-13.
Thus, this word denotes that Timothy was to bring to his remembrance his identification with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection which is mentioned in Second Timothy 2:11.
The verb hupomimnēskomai also indicates that Timothy was to bring to his remembrance that he will receive rewards at the Bema Seat from the Lord if he perseveres in communicating and exemplifying the gospel which is mentioned in the first conditional statement in Second Timothy 2:12.
This verb also indicates that Timothy was also to bring to remembrance that the Lord will refuse him rewards at the Bema if he refuses to follow the Lord which is mentioned in the second conditional statement in Second Timothy 2:12.
Lastly, this verb hupomimnēskomai also denotes that Timothy was to bring to his remembrance that if he is unfaithful, the Lord will continue to remain faithful to him because He can never be untrue to Himself.
Specifically, the Lord always keeps His promises and in particular the promise of the forgiveness of sins.
As we noted, the present imperative form of the verb hupomimnēskomai is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to simply continue making it his habit of bringing into his remembrance Paul’s statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 which constitute a hymn in the apostolic church.
The present imperative of the verb is not an ingressive-progressive imperative implying that Timothy was not doing this and Paul wanted him to begin again to do this since Paul’s statements up to this point in Second Timothy imply Timothy was already obeying this command in Second Timothy 2:14.
If you recall, in Second Timothy 1:5, the apostle Paul tells Timothy that he clung to the memory of his sincere faith and in fact Paul says that he was convinced of this.
The warnings that Paul issues Timothy throughout this epistle does not imply that Timothy was starting to fall away from the gospel or was no longer faithful but rather they were to protect him from falling into apostasy and unfaithfulness.
Undoubtedly Timothy already knew of this teaching in Second Timothy 2:11-13 because of Paul teaching him these things in the past.
So this first command is addressing Timothy’s own walk with God or in other words, the apostle is addressing his spiritual life.
Paul is not addressing the conduct or attitudes of the Ephesian Christian community.
There is nothing in the context which would indicate this.
Of course, this is not to say that the Ephesian Christian community could not benefit from this first command since they would benefit spiritually by remembering Paul’s statements in Second Timothy 2:11-13 because these statement would apply to them as well.
However, in context, Paul is speaking directly to Timothy with this first command.
He is not speaking of Timothy’s responsibility of communicating Paul’s apostolic teaching to the Ephesian Christian community but rather he is speaking of Timothy’s own walk with the Lord.
The purpose of this first command here in Second Timothy 2:14 is to exhort and encourage Timothy to continue to remain faithful in his own walk with the Lord.
In other words, its purpose is to protect Timothy from going into apostasy.
He does not want Timothy to end up in apostasy like the majority of Christians in Asia and in particular Hermogenes and Phygelus (cf. 2 Timothy 1:15).
Another purpose for this first command is to protect Timothy from the Judaizers and those apostate pastors in Ephesus who were adhering to the false teaching of the Judaizers which is indicated by the content of the second command here in Second Timothy 2:14.