2 Timothy 4.15-Paul Directs Timothy to Protect Himself Against Alexander the Metal-Worker
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 22, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 4:15-Paul Directs Timothy to Protect Himself Against Alexander the Metal-Worker
Lesson # 104
2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. (NASB95)
“Be on guard against him yourself” is composed of the following: (1) accusative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “against him” (2) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (3) nominative second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), “yourself” (4) second person singular present middle imperative form of the verb phulassō (φυλάσσω), “be on guard.”
The personal pronoun su means “you” and refers of course to Timothy and is emphasizing with Timothy the gravity or seriousness of this situation with Alexander the metal-worker.
The verb phulassō is in the middle voice and means, “to protect yourself, to guard yourself” against some eventuality indicating that Timothy was to “protect himself” against Alexander the metal-worker.
The present imperative form of this verb phulassō is an ingressive-progressive present imperative which expresses the idea of Timothy entering into the action of guarding himself or protecting himself against Alexander the metal-worker and continuing to do so.
The relative pronoun hos means “whom” which refers to Alexander the metal-worker and is in the emphatic position in this statement emphasizing with Timothy the danger of coming into contact with Alexander the metal-worker.
The conjunction kai is emphatic meaning the word is emphasizing the importance of Timothy obeying Paul’s command to protect himself against Alexander the metal-worker.
“For he vigorously opposed our teaching” is composed of the following: (1) adverb of means lian (λίαν), “very” (2) conjunction gar (γάρ), “for” (3) third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb anthistēmi (ἀνθίστημι), “he opposed” (4) articular dative masculine plural form of the adjective hēmeteros (ἡμέτερος), “our people” (5) dative masculine plural form of the noun logos (λόγος), “teaching.”
The conjunction gar means “for, because” since it is functioning as a marker of cause meaning it is introducing an assertion which serves as the reason why or the basis for Paul’s previous command that Timothy protect himself against Alexander the metal-worker.
The verb anthistēmi means “to oppose” since it pertains to setting oneself against someone or something and indicates that Alexander the metal-worker “opposed” Paul’s apostolic teaching in the sense that he set himself against Paul’s apostolic teaching.
This word is modified by the adverb of manner lian which means “vehemently” since it pertains to performing an action with intense emotion and is forcibly expressed and done so with bitter antagonism.
The noun logos is in the plural and means, “words, teachings” and refers to the content of Paul’s apostolic teaching, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit and originated with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.
The noun logos is modified by the articular form of the adjective hēmeteros which means “those who are ours” or in other words it means “our teachings” and refers to the communicators of the gospel in the Christian community.
The noun logos is functioning as a dative direct object meaning it is receiving the action of the verb anthistēmi which indicates that the teachings of Paul and his fellow communicators of the gospel received the action of being vehemently opposed by Alexander the metal-worker.
The word is put in the dative rather than accusative case since Paul is emphasizing that Alexander the metal-workers vehement opposition to the teachings of Paul and his fellow communicators was personal in that he personally opposed the teachings of Christianity.
Second Timothy 4:14 In his own selfish interests, Alexander the metal-worker committed many evil actions against me. To his detriment, the Lord will repay because of his actions, 15 whom, you must indeed begin and continue to protect yourself against because he vehemently opposed our teachings. (My translation)
In our study of Second Timothy 4:14, we noted that Paul informed Timothy that a man named Alexander whose occupation was a metal-worker committed many evil actions against him.
He then predicts that the Lord Jesus Christ will repay this man for his actions.
In our study of this verse we noted that this Alexander is not the same one mentioned in First Timothy 1:20 since the former is identified as a well-known coppersmith or metal-worker and no such identification is given of the individual in First Timothy 1:20.
There is also no indication in Second Timothy 4:14-15 that Alexander the metal-worker was a Christian.
However, the Alexander mentioned in First Timothy was indeed a Christian as indicated by the fact that Paul administered church discipline to this man.
He would have no authority over a non-Christian but only a Christian according to his teaching in First Corinthians 5:9-13.
The Alexander mentioned in Second Timothy 4:14-15 was more than likely a non-Christian whose business was adversely affected by Paul’s teaching against idols which would have cost this man a lot of money since he was in the business of making idols.
Thus, he attacked Paul.
This Alexander the metal-worker more than likely lived in Troas where Paul was arrested by the Roman civil authorities and thus he did not live in Rome but Troas which is indicated by a several factors.
First, Paul asserts in Second Timothy 4:15 that this man vigorously opposed his teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and unlike his first Roman imprisonment he was not permitted to teach during his second and final Roman imprisonment.
Secondly, Paul directed Timothy to be on guard against this man which would not make sense if Alexander lived in Rome but it would make sense if he lived in Ephesus or Troas since Timothy was stationed in Ephesus when he received this second epistle and this city was near Troas.
The object of Timothy coming to Rome would not be to teach but simply to visit Paul in Rome before the apostle’s execution.
Thus, it is not likely that Alexander the metal-worker lived in Rome but rather more than likely he lived in Ephesus or Troas.
Lastly, Paul’s requests in Second Timothy 4:13 imply that he was arrested at Troas since he left his cloak, scrolls and parchments in that city with Carpus.
Also, if Alexander the metal-worker lived in Ephesus, Timothy surely would have been aware of him since he lived in that city.
The fact that Paul has to warn Timothy about this man would imply that this man did not live in Ephesus but in a place where Timothy did not live and was not familiar with all the opponents of Christianity in that city.
We must compare this situation with Alexander the metal-worker described by Paul in Second Timothy 4:14-15 with Acts 19 which records a riot against Paul in Ephesus because of this very thing.
In Acts 19:24, Luke writes that Demetrius a silversmith made silver shrines of Artemis and was making a lot of money doing so.
Thus, Luke asserts in Acts 19:25-27, that this man stirred up his fellow tradesmen against Paul because the people of the city were forsaking their idols as a result of the apostle’s teaching to forsake these idols.
In Second Timothy 4:14, we noted that Paul’s second statement regarding Alexander the metal-worker asserts that to the detriment of this man, the Lord Jesus Christ will repay him because of these evil actions.
This does not speak of the suffering the non-believer will experience in the eternal lake of fire or in other words, eternal condemnation but rather it refers to the Lord punishing Alexander the metal-worker in direct proportion to his treatment of Paul.
Paul is not speaking of eternal condemnation because the non-believer is not thrown into the Lake of Fire because of their sins since Jesus Christ paid for all their sins through His death on the cross in their place.
When Paul asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ will repay Alexander the metal-worker for the many evil actions he committed against him, he means that the Lord will punish this man in direct proportion to his treatment of Paul.
In other words, the Lord would repay this man in his life on earth with adversities and suffering which would be in direct proportion to the adversities and suffering he inflicted upon Paul.
This punishment is distinguished from the suffering this man would suffer in the lake of fire for being a non-believer since eternal condemnation is the suffering inflicted by a holy God on the non-believer for their rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior.
The suffering Paul is speaking of the Lord inflicting upon Alexander is the suffering he would experience in life because of his evil treatment of Paul.
Therefore, the punishment that Alexander the metal-worker would receive from the Lord is a manifestation of the fact that human life is governed by the Lord Jesus Christ or in other words, He is the judge of human affairs.
By punishing Alexander the metal-worker for his many evil actions against Paul, the Lord Jesus Christ would be manifesting the fact that He is the judge of human affairs and does administer justice to those who cry out to Him.
Now, here in Second Timothy 4:15, Paul continues to discuss Alexander the metal-worker by issuing Timothy a command to begin and to continue protecting himself against this man.
His reason for issuing this command is that this individual vehemently opposed the teachings of Christianity.
Again, this command is protect Timothy from this man whose business was adversely affected by the teachings of Christianity since it taught the sinner to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and to stop practicing idolatry.