And the things that thou hast heard of me
Meaning the doctrines of the Gospel, the form of sound words. The
Arabic version renders it, "the secrets, or mysteries that thou
hast heard of me"; the mysteries of the grace of God, which he
had often heard him discourse of, unfold and explain:
among many witnesses;
or by them; which some understand of the testimonies out of
Moses, and the prophets, with which the apostle confirmed what he
delivered; for the doctrines of justification, pardon of sin by
Christ, were bore witness to by the prophets; though rather the
many persons, who, with Timothy, heard the apostle preach, and
were and would be sufficient witnesses for Timothy, on occasion,
that what he preached and committed to others were the same he
had heard and received from the Apostle Paul; unless reference
should be had here to the time of imposition of hands upon him,
when he received some ministerial gifts, or an increase of them;
at which time the apostle might deliver to him the form of
doctrine he was to preach, and that in the presence of the
presbytery, who joined in the action, and so were witnesses of
what was said to him:
the same commit thou to faithful men;
who not only have received the grace of God, and are true
believers in Christ, but are men of great uprightness and
integrity; who having the word of God, will speak it out boldly,
and faithfully, and keep back nothing that is profitable, but
declare the whole counsel of God, without any mixture or
adulteration; for the Gospel being committed to their trust, they
would become stewards, and of such it is required that they be
faithful; and therefore this is mentioned as a necessary and
requisite qualification in them; and not only so, but they must
be such
who shall be able
or sufficient
to teach others also.
No man is sufficient for these things, of himself, but his
sufficiency is of God; it is he who makes men able ministers of
the word, by giving them gifts suitable for such work; so that
they have a furniture in them, a treasure in their earthen
vessels, an understanding of the sacred Scriptures, a gift of
explaining them, and a faculty of speaking to edification; and so
are apt to teach men, to their profit and advantage, The Ethiopic
version renders it, "who are fit to teach the foolish".