1 Timothy 2:7

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle . . .—Whereunto, or “for which witness.” To announce which witness—the witness being the suffering and the death of Christ—St. Paul was ordained an Apostle—the reference being entirely to what preceded.

I speak the truth . . . and lie not.—The warmth with which St. Paul here asserted his divinely conferred commission as preacher and Apostle, was not called out by any desire on his part to seize an occasion of asserting in the presence of his enemies, the false heretical teachers of Ephesus, his especial rank and prerogatives as an Apostle chosen and commissioned by the Most High. These fiery and earnest words had no private reference to him, St. Paul, or to his especial claims to be heard, but were uttered solely in view of the surpassing magnitude of the message with which he was charged—solely to bear a weighty and imposing testimony to the truth of his assertion, which so many were ready and eager to dispute—the assertion that the gospel of Jesus Christ was a message of glad tidings, was an offer of salvation, not to a people, but to a world.

A teacher of the Gentiles.—This specifies more clearly the especial duties of his apostleship, not perhaps without some reference to the peculiar fitness which marked him out as the declarer of the divine will in respect to this gracious offer of redemption to the isles of the scattered countless Gentiles.

In faith and verity.—Better rendered, in faith and truth. These words specify the sphere in which the Apostle performed his great mission. The first, “in faith,” refers to St. Paul’s own personal faith in Jesus—the grand motive power of his life and work; the second, “in truth,” refers to the truth of Christianity—to the well-known facts of the gospel story. Or, in other words, St. Paul carried on his ceaseless labours, within gathering fresh and ever fresh strength from the exhaustless spring of his own loving, mighty faith in Jesus, and without appealing to the generally well-known incidents of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the truth of which all might test. In those days there were even many eye-witnesses of the Passion still living.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Whereunto - Greek, "Unto which;" that is, to the bearing of which testimony I am appointed.

I am ordained - Greek, "I am placed or constituted" - ἐτέθην etethēn. The word "ordain" has now acquired a technical signification, meaning to set apart solemnly to a sacred office by the imposition of hands; but it has not that meaning here. It does not refer to the manner in which he was set apart, or to any act of others in consecrating him to this work, but merely to the fact that he had been placed in this office, or appointed to it. He refers doubtless to the fact that the Lord Jesus had designated him to this work.

A preacher and an apostle - see the 1 Corinthians 9:1-6 notes; Galatians 1:11-12 notes.

I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not - That is, by Christ; or I solemnly appeal to Christ - a form of an oath; notes, Romans 9:1. Paul makes a solemn declaration similar to this in regard to his call to the apostleship, in Galatians 1:20. For the reasons why he did it, see the notes on that verse. It is probable that there were those in Ephesus who denied that he could be an apostle, and hence his solemn declaration affirming it.

A teacher of the Gentiles - Specially appointed to carry the gospel to the Gentiles or the pagan; see the Romans 11:13 note; Galatians 2:7 note.

In faith and verity - These words mean that he was appointed to instruct the Gentiles in faith and the knowledge of the truth.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Whereunto—For the giving of which testimony.

I am ordained—literally, "I was set": the same Greek, as "putting me," &c. (1Ti 1:12).

preacher—literally, "herald" (1Co 1:21; 9:27; 15:11; 2Ti 1:11; Tit 1:3). He recurs to himself, as in 1Ti 1:16, in himself a living pattern or announcement of the Gospel, so here "a herald and teacher of (it to) the Gentiles" (Ga 2:9; Eph 3:1-12; Col 1:23). The universality of his commission is an appropriate assertion here, where he is arguing to prove that prayers are to be made "for all men" (1Ti 2:1).

I speak the truth … and lie not—a strong asseveration of his universal commission, characteristic of the ardor of the apostle, exposed to frequent conflict (Ro 11:1; 2Co 11:13).

in faith and verity—rather, "in the faith and the truth." The sphere in which his ministry was appointed to be exercised was the faith and the truth (1Ti 2:4): the Gospel truth, the subject matter of the faith [Wiesinger].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher; for the publishing and making known of which testimony of the Divine goodness and truth I am set, or appointed, 2 Timothy 1:11, eteyhn, a preacher, or a public officer to proclaim and make it known.

And an apostle; and am immediately called by Christ, and sent out upon that employment.

I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not; I call Christ to witness that I speak nothing but what I know to be true. It is a phrase which hath, if not the form, yet the force of an oath; and was necessary in this case, for it was not easy to persuade the Jews that God had sent any to reveal the way of salvation to the Gentiles.

A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity; and my special province was to teach the Gentiles, Acts 9:15 26:17 Galatians 2:7-9; and to instruct them in the doctrine of faith and truth: or, I was set faithfully and truly to instruct the Gentiles.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle,.... He was ordained or appointed to be a preacher of the Gospel from all eternity, and was separated or set apart unto it in time, and was put into the ministry of it by Christ himself, and was not a common or ordinary preacher of the word, but an apostle, an extraordinary officer in the Gospel church.

I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not; which are a sort of an oath, or an appeal to Christ the omniscient God, for the truth of what he said, concerning his ordination to the Gospel; see a like phrase in Romans 9:1. The phrase, "in Christ", is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in three of Beza's ancient copies, and in some others, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions;

a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity; the Gospel of the uncircumcision, or which was to be preached to the uncircumcised Gentiles, was committed to this apostle; and his work and ministry lay among them, and therefore he is called the apostle of the Gentiles: and so he was in faith and verity; which may regard the subject matter of his teachings and ministry; it was the faith and truth of the Gospel, even the whole of it, the faith which was once delivered to the saints, and the truth as it is in Jesus; or else the character of the apostle, as a teacher, that he was a true and faithful one, who with all integrity and veracity, fully and faithfully preached the Gospel; and since he was appointed a teacher of it to the Gentiles, this is another argument why they, as well as the Jews, should be prayed for.

Geneva Study Bible

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in {c} faith and verity.

(c) Faithfully and sincerely: and by faith he means wholesome and sound doctrine, and by truth, an upright and sincere handling of it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Timothy 2:7. This verse defines more precisely the previous μαρτύριον; it was for proclaiming the μαρτύριον that the apostle received the office entrusted to him. The chief emphasis rests on the universality; the subject of the μαρτύριον is the fact that Christ gave Himself a ransom for all.

εἰς ὃ ἐτέθην ἐγὼ κήρυξ καὶ ἀπόστολος] Comp. on this, Ephesians 3:1-12; Colossians 1:25-28; 2 Timothy 1:9-11.

εἰς ὅ: for which (μαρτύριον), viz. “for proclaiming which.” ἐτέθην is to be taken in close connection with κήρυξ κ.τ.λ.

κήρυξ, it is true, only occurs here and in 2 Timothy 1:11 as a name for the preacher of the gospel (in 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is called a κήρυξ δικαιοσύνης); but κηρύσσειν is used very frequently of the preaching of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1:21, κήρυγμα is identical with εὐαγγέλιον. In order to direct attention to his peculiar apostolic authority, Paul adds to the general idea of κήρυξ, the more specific expression ἀπόστολος. By the addition of ἀλήθειαν λέγω, οὐ ψεύδομαι, the truth of the εἰς ὅ is confirmed;[95] he explains himself sufficiently on account of the heretics who wished that Paul should not be considered an apostle by the appointment of God.

The further definition: ΔΙΔΆΣΚΑΛΟς ἘΘΝῶΝ, is to be taken in apposition to ΚΉΡΥΞ Κ. ἈΠΌΣΤΟΛΟς. It was added to make clearer the reference to the heathen already indicated in ΕἸς Ὅ, not, as Hofmann thinks, to form an apposition to the subject of ἈΛΉΘΕΙΑΝ ΛΈΓΩ; had that been so, we should have had an emphatic ἘΓΏ. The connected words ἘΝ ΠΊΣΤΕΙ ΚΑῚ ἈΛΗΘΕΊᾼ do not form the object of ΔΙΔ. (Heydenreich takes it as “equivalent to ἘΝ Τῇ ΠΊΣΤΕΙ Τῇ ἈΛΗΘΙΝῇ, a teacher of the Gentiles who is to instruct them in the true religion”); they are loosely added, according to a common usage of the N. T., and denote here the sphere in which he was appointed to discharge his office as teacher of the Gentiles. The peculiar point of view must not be lost by arbitrarily changing the words into ἘΝ Τῇ ΠΊΣΤΕΙ Τ. ἈΛΗΘΙΝῇ, or, as Leo does, into ΠΙΣΤῸς ΚΑῚ ἈΛΗΘΙΝΌς. It is wrong also to render ΠΊΣΤΙς here by “faithfulness,” and ἈΛΉΘ. by “verity” (Hofmann: ἘΝ ΠΊΣΤΕΙ, equivalent to “faithfully,” and ἘΝ ἈΛΗΘΕΊᾼ to “in verity”). ΠΊΣΤΙς is faith, the subjective relation, and ἈΛΗΘΕΊΑ is truth, the objective benefit, appropriated in faith (so also Plitt and van Oosterzee).[96]

[95] Wiesinger less suitably refers the addition to the διδ. ἐθνῶν, which in that case should have been preceded by a καί. Otto (p. 117) unjustifiably uses this asseveration of the apostle to confirm his assertion that the epistle was written during the apostle’s stay at Ephesus, insisting that Paul, after he was put in prison in Jerusalem, was acknowledged an apostle in all Christian churches, and from that time, therefore, had no occasion for this asseveration. Apart from other points, Otto errs in referring the words ἀλήθειαν κ.τ.λ. only to the expression ἀπόστολος, whereas they apply to the entire thought in εἰς ὃ κ.τ.λ. Paul does not make asseveration that he was appointed an apostle, but that he was appointed an apostle of the μαρτύριον, the subject of which he had already mentioned. Comp. on this the passages quoted above.

[96] Bengel seems to take the words in a sense corresponding to the formula of asseveration, ἀληθ. λέγω κ.τ.λ. He says in regard to this formula: “pertinet haec affirmatio ad comma praecedens; nam subsequenti additur parallela: ἐν π. καὶ ἀληθ.;” a view for which there is no justification.—Matthies expresses himself somewhat obscurely; for while he in the first place mentions faith and truth not only as the elements, but also as the aims of the teaching, he says at the end of the discussion: “The apostle is teacher of the Gentiles in such a way that he knows himself to be impregnably established thereby in faith and truth.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Timothy 2:7. εἰς ὃ: scil. τὸ μαρτύριον, or τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, as in the parallel passage, 2 Timothy 1:11.

The phrase εἰς ὃ ἐτέθην ἐγὼ κῆρυξ κ. ἀπόστολος [καὶ] διδάσκαλος is repeated in 2 Timothy 1:11, as ἀλήθειαν … ψεύδομαι occurs again Romans 9:1; but there we have the significant addition [λέγω] ἐν Χριστῷ. For similar asseverations of the writer’s truthfulness see Romans 1:9, 2 Corinthians 11:10; 2 Corinthians 12:19, Galatians 1:20.

There is nothing derogatory from the apostle in supposing that the personal struggle in which he had been for years engaged with those who opposed his gospel made him always feel on the defensive, and that his self-vindication came to be expressed in stereotyped phrases which rose to his mind whenever the subject came before him, even in a letter to a loyal disciple.

κῆρυξ is used in the N.T. of a preacher here, and twice elsewhere; see reff. But κήρυγμα and κηρύσσω are constantly used of Christian preaching. Cf. esp. Romans 10:15, πῶς δὲ κηρύξωσιν ἐὰν μὴ ἀποσταλῶσιν; Bengel takes it in the sense of ambassador; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:20.

διδάσκαλος: διδάσκαλοι, in the technical Christian sense, are mentioned in Acts 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28-29, Ephesians 4:11. Here and in 2 Timothy 1:11 the term is used in a general signification. St. Paul does use διδάσκειν of his own ministerial functions: 1 Corinthians 4:17, Colossians 1:28, 2 Thessalonians 2:15.

ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ: It is best to take both these words in connexion with διδάσκαλος, and objectively, in the faith and the truth (see on ch. 1 Timothy 1:2). It is no objection to this view that the article is not expressed; the anarthrousness of common Christian terms is a feature of these epistles. Others, with Chrys., take both terms subjectively, faithfully and truly. Ellicott “refers πίστις to the subjective faith of the apostle, ἀλήθ. to the objective truth of the doctrine he delivered”. This does not yield a natural sense.

Harnack notes that the collocation of ἀπόστολος, διδάσκαλος is peculiar to the Pastorals and Hermas (Sim. ix. 15, 16, 25; Vis. iii. 5, “The apostles and bishops and teachers and deacons”). Harnack opines that “Hermas passed over the prophets because he reckoned himself one of them”. But the opinion of Lietzmann, which he quotes, seems sounder: Hermas “conceives this προφητεύειν as a private activity which God’s equipment renders possible, but which lacks any official character” (Mission and Expansion of Christianity, trans. vol. i. p. 340).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. Whereunto] For the ministry of which, the True Testimony.

I am ordained] There is in the Greek an emphasis on ‘I,’ Whereunto I—remember—was appointed. St Paul is always filled with his special mission to proclaim the universality of the Gospel, and appropriately recals his commission as teacher of the Gentiles. Cf. Galatians 2:9.

I speak the truth in Christ] Here the words ‘in Christ’ have no sufficient authority, and have been introduced from Romans 9:1.

in faith and verity] Better, in faith and truth; see note on 1 Timothy 1:1; a teacher, not in politics or art, but in religion, its morals and doctrine; its spiritual life, that the soul may go out to God in faith that worketh by love and a good conscience; and its spiritual knowledge, that the historic facts revealed may be fully grasped, and the haze of false doctrine be dispelled.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Timothy 2:7. Κήρυξ) [Eng. Vers. preacher] a herald solemnly appointed, sent by God. A word of large import, as 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 2:6, at the end.—ἀπόστολος, an apostle) of Christ.—ἀλήθειαν λέγω, I speak the truth, οὐ ψεύδομαι, I lie not) This affirmation belongs to the preceding clause; for there are added to the subsequent clause the parallel words, ἐν πίστει χαὶ ἀληθείᾳ, in faith and truth; [i.e. parallel to ἀληθ. λέγω, and οὐ ψευδ.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Was appointed for am ordained, A.V.; truth for truth in Christ, A.V. and T.R.; I lie for and lie, A.V.; truth for verity, A.V. I was appointed, etc. It is quite in St. Paul's manner thus to refer to his own apostolic mission (see Romans 1:5; Romans 11:13; Romans 15:16; 1 Corinthians 1:1, 17; 1 Corinthians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Galatians 1:1, etc.; Ephesians 3:2, 8; and many other places). A preacher (κήρυξ; as in 2 Timothy 1:11). So Mark 16:15, "Preach the gospel" is Κηρύξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον; and in ver. 20, "They... preached everywhere" is 'Ακήρυξαν πανταχοῦ; and 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word" is Κήρυξον τὸν λόγον; and generally it is the word rendered "preach." It combines the idea of authority in the preacher who is the authorized herald (Romans 10:15), and publicity for his message (Matthew 10:27; Luke 12:3). I speak the truth, etc. The reason for this strong asseveration of his office as the apostle of the Gentiles is not at first sight apparent. But it was probably made in view of the antagonism of the Judaizing teachers referred to in 1 Timothy 1:3, 19, 20 (comp. Romans 11:13; Romans 15:15, 16). 1 Timothy 2:7

Vincent's Word Studies

I am ordained (ἐτέθην ἐγω)

Better, I was appointed. See on John 15:16.

A preacher (κῆρυξ)

Lit. a herald. See on 2 Peter 2:5. Paul does not use the noun, but the kindred verb κηρύσσειν to proclaim or preach is very common in his writings. See Romans 10:8; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 4:5; Philippians 1:15, etc.

I speak the truth in Christ and lie not

Omit in Christ. A strange asseveration to an intimate and trusted friend. Apparently an imitation of Romans 9:1.

A teacher of the Gentiles (διδάσκαλος ἐθνῶν)

Paul does not use this phrase. He expressly distinguishes between teacher and apostle. See 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11. He calls himself ἐθνῶν ἀπόστολος apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13); λειτουργός Χριστοῦ Ἱησοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles (Romans 15:16); and δέσμιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἱησοῦ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1).

In faith and verity (ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ)

Or faith and truth. The combination only here. Paul has sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:8), and sanctification of the Spirit and faith of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13). The phrase must not be explained in true faith, nor faithfully and truly. It means that faith and truth are the element or sphere in which the apostolic function is discharged: that he preaches with a sincere faith in the gospel, and with a truthful representation of the gospel which he believes.