2 Timothy 4.5c-Timothy Must Continue Making it His Habit of Performing an Evangelist's Duty
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 2, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 4:5c-Timothy Must Continue to Make it His Habit of Performing an Evangelist’s Duty
Lesson # 92
2 Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (NASB95)
Once again, Paul is employing the figure of asyndeton meaning he is not using a connective word between the previous command and the one to follow.
As was the case with the second command, this figure is emphasizing the solemn nature of this third command and its critical importance for the success of Timothy’s ministry and the spiritual growth of the church.
“Do the work of an evangelist” is the composed of the following: (1) accusative neuter singular form of the noun ergon (ἒργον), “the work” (2) second singular aorist active imperative form of the verb poieō (ποιέω), “do” (3) genitive masculine singular form of the noun euangelistēs (εὐαγγελιστής), “of an evangelist.”
The verb poieō means “to perform, to act, to accomplish a particular activity or activities with one’s own resources on behalf of oneself.”
Here it is with regards to Timothy functioning as an evangelist or in other words, the activity of evangelizing the non-Christian community in the Roman province of Asia by communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.
Thus, this word is used of Timothy performing actions which pertain to this duty.
Therefore, Paul is commanding Timothy to make it a priority in his life to perform the work or duty of an evangelist.
The aorist imperative form of the verb poieō is a constative aorist imperative which again emphasizes solemnity or urgency of the action.
The constative aorist imperative which emphasizes solemnity or urgency of the action and does not stress “beginning an action,” nor “continuing to act.”
The idea is that one must “make this their top priority.”
Therefore, the aorist imperative form of this verb is emphasizing how important it is for Timothy to perform an evangelist’s work.
The aorist imperative expresses the idea that this is to be a top priority in Timothy’s life and expresses the fact that this command is very solemn and expresses the critical nature of this command.
Paul is being very solemn when issuing this command.
The noun ergon is in the singular and means “work, duty, task” since it pertains to the performance of a particular activity.
Here it refers to the duty, task or work of an evangelist, which is to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the non-Christian community.
The noun euangelistēs means “evangelist” since it pertains to a Christian who proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection on behalf of the sinner.
Second Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge in the presence of God (the Father) as well as the Christ who is Jesus, who is inevitably going to judge the living as well as the dead and in addition by His appearing as well as by His kingdom: 2 to make it your top priority of publically proclaiming with authority as a herald the message. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority of always being prepared to perform this task whether the circumstance is favorable or unfavorable. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to convict. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to rebuke. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to exhort with a patience which is absolute as well as by means of instruction. 3 The reason for this is that the time will come when they will no longer tolerate sound doctrine. But rather, they will, as a certainty accumulate for themselves teachers because of their own sinful desires because they will as a certainty want to have their ears tickled. 4 Consequently, on the one hand, they will, as a certainty turn their ears away from the truth while on the other hand, they will, as a certainty be turned away from the truth because of myths. 5 However, you in contrast to them, continue making it your habit of being sober with respect to each and every thing. I solemnly charge you to make it a priority of enduring hardship. I solemnly charge you to make it a priority of performing an evangelist’s duty. I solemnly charge you to make it a priority of fulfilling your ministry. (Author’s translation)
The third command which Paul issues Timothy in Second Timothy 4:5 required that Timothy make it a priority of performing an evangelist’s duty.
The apostle is speaking of Timothy functioning as an evangelist or in other words, performing the activity of evangelizing the non-Christian community in the Roman province of Asia by communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.
This too is a very solemn command.
An evangelist pertains to a Christian who proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection on behalf of the sinner.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ delivers the sinner from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, the sin nature, personal sins, spiritual and physical death and provided the sinner a way to escape the wrath of a holy God.
The good news for the sinner is that through faith in Jesus Christ they can receive the forgiveness of sins and be delivered from all things.
Thus, it refers to the Christian who communicates the gospel to the non-Christian community.
When Paul speaks of Timothy performing the duty of an evangelist, he is speaking of Timothy functioning in his royal ambassadorship and communicating the gospel to the non-Christian.
There is a gift of evangelist which he did not possess.
But every Christian possesses a royal ambassadorship which requires that they communicate the gospel to the non-Christian.
Ephesians 4:11 says that after the ascension and session of our Lord in heaven that our Lord gave the church four great communication gifts: (1) apostles (2) prophets (3) evangelists (4) pastor-teachers.
First Corinthians 12:28 has a corresponding list.
The third spiritual gift mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 is that of the evangelist.
This too was a communication gift just as the gifts of apostleship and prophet.
This spiritual gift is still in existence today and is for the benefit of the unbeliever and not for the believer.
The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is specifically designed for the believer.
The spiritual gift of evangelism is specifically designed for the unbeliever.
The man with the spiritual gift has the dynamic ability to communicate the gospel to the unbeliever.
The evangelist must be under the authority of a pastor-teacher since He does not have authority over the pastor-teacher.
At the moment of conversion, God gives the church-age believer two royal commissions: (1) a royal ambassadorship (2 Corinthians 5:20), which represents Christ before the unbeliever and (2) a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5, 9), which represents himself before God.
At the moment of his conversion, the church age believer was given a royal ambassadorship in which he is to represent the absent Christ who sits as the right hand of the Father and presents the gospel message of peace with God to the unsaved through faith alone in Christ alone (2 Corinthians 5:20a).
The believer’s responsibility is to clearly present the gospel message to the unbeliever and the rest depends upon the convincing ministry of God the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-11).
He is also to conduct himself with respect to the unsaved in an excellent and praiseworthy manner, bringing no reproach to the name of Christ (1 Pet. 2:12).
The church age believer as a member of the royal family of God represents his King, the Lord Jesus Christ, on official business.
This official business is the communication of the gospel or the good news that Jesus Christ died for every sin committed in the human race-past, present and future and has reconciled us to God the Father with His death.
An ambassador is a high-ranking minister or member of royalty sent to represent his nation in a foreign country.
As spiritual ambassadors, the church age believer represents the Lord Jesus Christ in the devil’s kingdom.
The church age believer represents the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ who is now absent from the earth because He sits at the right hand of God representing us before God the Father as our High Priest.
As royal ambassadors, believers are responsible for “witnessing” to the unbeliever, which is communicating God’s plan of salvation to unbelievers on a personal basis in two ways: (1) The example of your life (2 Corinthians 3:3; 6:3). (2) Your words (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 6:2).
Just like an ambassador in the natural realm has his instructions in written form so the church age believer’s written instructions are found in the Bible.
Just like an ambassador in the natural realm does not belong to the country to which he is sent so church age believers are citizens of heaven, and do not belong to the devil’s world (Philippians 3:20).
Every church age believer as a royal ambassador for Christ has the responsibility to proclaim the gospel to the unbeliever and to conduct himself an excellent fashion with respect to them so as to lead them to the Savior.