2 Timothy 2.21a-Paul Explains the Household Metaphor
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday May 28, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 2:21a-Paul Explains the Household Metaphor
Lesson # 52
2 Timothy 2:20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. (NASB95)
“Therefore” is the inferential conjunction ean (ἐάν), which is introducing a statement that is an inference from Paul’s statement in Second Timothy 2:20, which presents a household metaphor.
“Anyone” is the nominative masculine singular form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις), which means “anyone, someone” and is used as a substantive referring to any male member of the body of Christ, i.e. the church without further identification since the word is used in the masculine gender.
It speaks of any male member of the church without exception and distinction.
Now, though it refers to males in the body of Christ, the third class conditional statement is obviously applicable to every Christian whether male or female.
This interpretation is indicated in that it is found in the protasis of a third class condition that is presenting a spiritual principle that is true of every Christian.
“If” is the conditional particle ean (ἐάν), which is employed with the subjunctive mood of this verb ekkathairō, “cleanses” in order to form the protasis of a third class condition.
In the apodasis is future indicative form of the eimi, “he will be.”
The protasis: “if anyone cleanses himself from these things” and the apodasis is “he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
The third class condition in Second Timothy indicates the “certain fulfillment in the future” meaning that the Christian will as a certainty be a vessel of honor if they cleanse themselves from the false teachings of the apostate pastors in Ephesus.
“These things” is the genitive neuter plural form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), which is referring to what Paul taught in Second Timothy 2:16-18.
This relative pronoun is the object of the preposition apo which means “from” since it is a marker of separation indicating that the Christian must separate himself from the false teachings of these apostate pastors in Ephesus if he is to become a cleansed vessel which honors the Lord.
“Cleanses himself” is composed of the following: (1) third person singular aorist active subjunctive form of the verb ekkathairō (ἐκκαθαίρω), “cleanses” (5) accusative third person masculine singular form of the reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ) “himself.”
The ekkathairō means “to clean out, to cleanse” since it pertains to making a vessel clean by removing what is unclean from it.
Here it used in a figurative sense of the Christian “cleansing” themselves from the false teachings of the apostate pastors in Ephesus which result in making the Christian a vessel of dishonor.
The reflexive pronoun heautou refers to any male Christian without further identification.
However, though it is speaking a male Christian, the spiritual principle taught in Second Timothy 2:21 obviously applies to every Christian regardless of race or gender.
This word emphasizes the action of the Christian cleansing themselves from the false teaching of the apostate pastors in Ephesus.
“He will be a vessel for honor” indicates that the Christian will exist in the state of being a vessel of honor if he cleanses himself from the false teachings of these apostate pastors.
It is indicating the certainty that the Christian who cleanses himself from the false teachings of these apostate pastors will be a vessel of honor.
It teaches that the Christian who cleanses himself from the false teachings of these apostate pastors will act for himself in the sense that this action will result in him becoming a vessel of honor and pleasing to the Lord.
Second Timothy 2:20 Indeed, in a large home, by no means does there exist only gold as well as silver vessels, but also wood as well as clay. In other words, on the one hand, some do exist in the state of being for honorable use while on the other hand, some do exist in the state of being for dishonorable use. 21 Therefore, if someone cleanses himself from these things, he will certainly exist in the state of being a vessel for honorable use. Consequently, he will specifically cause himself to be sanctified, useful for the Master, causing himself to be prepared for every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character. (My translation)
Paul’s statement in Second Timothy 2:21 presents an inference to his household metaphor in Second Timothy 2:20.
In this metaphor, the apostle employs two correlative clauses.
The first states that in a large home of a wealthy person, by no means does there exist only gold and silver vessels but also wood and clay.
The second presents a contrast between those vessels which are for honorable use and those which are for dishonorable use in such a home.
The wood and clay vessels were used in a wealthy home for dishonorable use such as for garbage or excrement and were sometimes thrown out with their contents.
The gold and silver vessels were never tossed out because of their value and were for honorable functions in the home.
Now, here in verse 21, Paul explains this metaphor or applies it to the Christian’s walk with the Lord.
This verse is a third class conditional statement which says that if no particular Christian cleanses himself from the false teachings of the apostate pastors, he will certainly exist in a state of being a vessel for honorable use.
Therefore, Paul is teaching in verse 21 that based upon what this household metaphor states that gold and silver vessels have an honorable use while the wood and clay vessels have a dishonorable use, the Christian should seek to have an honorable use for the Lord and not a dishonorable use.
He is in effect saying that the application of this metaphor is that the Christian should seek to be like the gold and silver vessels which have an honorable use and are considered valuable and useful by the homeowner.
They are not to be like the wood and clay vessels which only have a dishonorable use.
“These things” is referring to what Paul taught in Second Timothy 2:16-18.
In verse 16, Paul commanded Timothy to continue to make it his habit of avoiding the words lacking content which are worldly because they will, as a certainty, promote a greater depth of involvement with ungodliness.
This is a reference to the false teachings of the apostate pastors in Ephesus which were derived from the teaching of the Judaizers.
Then, in verse 17, the apostle warns Timothy that this false teaching will, as a certainty possess the characteristic of spreading like a cancerous disease.
He then identifies Hymenaeus as well as Philetus as the ring leaders of this group of apostate pastors in the Ephesian Christian community.
Lastly, in verse 18, he tells Timothy that these men have committed apostasy with regards to the truth by communicating the resurrection has already taken place.
Consequently, they were regularly overturning that which some believe in the Christian community.
So therefore, in Second Timothy 2:21, “these things” refers to the false teachings of these apostate pastors in Ephesus.
As we noted, Second Timothy 2:21 is an inferential statement which contains a third class conditional statement which indicates “certain fulfillment in the future.”
It expresses the fact that the Ephesian Christian will as a certainty be a vessel of honor if he cleanse himself from the false teachings of the apostate pastors.
The protasis is “if someone cleanses himself from these things” and the apodosis is “he will certainly exist in the state of being a vessel for honorable use.”
The apodosis presents the inference that can be made and should be made by Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community from the protasis or Paul’s premise.
The clear inference is that the Christian will be a vessel of honor if they fulfill the condition of cleansing themselves from the false teaching of the apostate teachers in Ephesus.
Those Christians who were adhering to this false doctrine were out of fellowship with God.
To cleanse themselves would of course first involve confession of sin (1 John 1:9) to be restored to fellowship with God.
This fellowship would be maintained by exercising faith in the gospel or Paul’s apostolic teaching which would result in obedience to the commands and prohibitions in this gospel of Jesus Christ which is sound doctrine.
For those Christians who were not adhering to this false doctrine like Timothy, cleansing themselves of this false doctrine would simply involve rejecting it or refusing to listen to it being taught by listening and obeying the gospel.
The church in Ephesus would also cleanse itself by administering church discipline to these apostate pastors in Ephesus and if they refused to repent after going through the three stages of church discipline (cf. Matthew 18:15-17), then the church was to remove these men from the fellowship of the church.
In fact, in Second Timothy 2:16-18 Paul instructs Timothy as to how he should cleanse himself from this false doctrine.