2 Timothy 3:10

But thou hast fully known my doctrine,.... This, with what follows, is said in opposition to the characters, principles, and practices of the above wicked men, and for the imitation and encouragement

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Fully, known , [ pareekoloutheesas (G3877)] - 'fully followed up;' traced, with a view to

But thou hast fully known my doctrine: our translation here seemeth a little strange, for the Greek is: Thou hast diligently followed me in doctrine, eu de parhkolouyhdav mou th didaskalia that is: Thou wert in my company, thou wert a follower of me, and so must know what doctrine I preached; what manner of life I lived; what my purpose, whole scope and design, was; what faith I taught and professed; what long-suffering I used, both towards my malicious adversaries and my weaker brethren; what charity or love I showed towards all men, whether friends or foes; what patience I showed in bearing injuries.

10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Ver. 10. But thou hast fully known] παρηκολουθηκας. Or, thou hast exactly trod in my track, followed my footsteps; as Irenaeus did Polycarp’ s, as Paraeus did Ursin’ s; whence Paulus Melissus, "- Sacra docente Pareo, Vividus Ursini spiritus ora movet."

(10) But thou hast fully known my doctrine.—Literally, But thou wert a follower of my doctrine; thou followedst as a disciple, and thus hast fully known. The Greek word translated “fully known” (see 1 Timothy 4:6) denotes a diligently tracing out step by step. See Luke 1:3, where the same word is rendered, in the English version: “having had perfect understanding,” having traced up to their source all the events relating to the foundation of Christianity. Here St. Paul recalls to Timothy’s mind what had been his—St. Paul’s—life, and words, and works. No one knew the history of this life like Timothy, the pupil and the friend, who had been long trained to assist in carrying on his teacher’s work after St. Paul was removed. And this appeal to Timothy’s recollection of the past has two distinct purposes: (1) It was to contrast that life of St. Paul’s, with which the disciple was so well acquainted, with the lives of those false men, of whom Timothy was warned so earnestly, who were poisoning the stream of Christianity at Ephesus; and (2) the memory of the master was to serve as a spur to the disciple, the heroic faith of the old man was to act as an incentive to the young teacher to suffer bravely in his turn. With this pattern of steady faith and heroic work before his eyes, Timothy would never be able to endure the wretched mock Christianity these new teachers were labouring to introduce into the communities of the believers of Asia; he would at once separate himself and his from these evil influences. My doctrine.—Or, teaching, in which the leading of a pure self-denying life was inseparably bound up with a belief in the great Christian doctrines. “This hast thou, my pupil from boyhood, known in all its details. Thou hast known how I taught others.” Manner of life.—“And also how I lived myself:” “my ways which be in Christ,” as he once before phrased it (1 Corinthians 4:17), “my conduct.” Purpose.—“My purpose—from which you know I never swerved—of remaining true to the Gospel of my Lord and to my great life’s mission to the Gentiles.” (See Acts 2:23, where the word is used in respect to others’ purpose.) Faith.—Possibly, trust in God, but better, St. Paul’s faith or belief in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Longsuffering.—Towards his many bitter adversaries, especially those among his own countrymen. In spite of all that long, unwearied, sleepless persecution, which he, the former Pharisee leader, endured at the hands of the Jews, he loved Israel to the end, with a love intense as it was changeless, loved them even to be willing for their sake to give up his eternal hopes. (See Romans 9:3.) Charity.—My love, which (in his own sunny words) beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things—the love which never faileth. (See 1 Corinthians 13) Patience.—That characteristic virtue of St.

Verse 10. Thou hast fully known my doctrine] And having long had the opportunity of knowing me, the doctrine I preached, my conduct founded on these doctrines, the object I have in view by my preaching, my fidelity to God and to my trust, my long-suffering with those who walked disorderly, and opposed themselves to the truth, and did what they could to lessen my authority and render it suspected, my love to them and to the world in general, and my patience in all my adversities; thou art capable of judging between me and the false teachers, and canst easily discern the difference between their doctrines, conduct, motives, temper, spirit, &c., and mine.

10–17. The appeal for pure life and doctrine in view both of St Paul’s own past and the evil futureThe connexion is: ‘You were trained to a life the opposite of all this, in learning to copy me, in learning to rest all upon the Scriptures; see that you live the life.’

But thou hast fully known my doctrine ... - Margin, “been a diligent follower of.” The margin is more in accordance with the usual meaning of the Greek word, which means, properly, to accompany side

2. But as Timothy knows the trueness and purity of Paul, 2 Timothy 3:10-13.10. But—Contrastive; introducing a picture antithetic to the above gloomy portraiture.