One of the most masterful ways that a teacher can convey a concept to a student is through a modern-day illustration. Jesus used many parables related to farming and family life and the society around him to teach His followers. Nathan used a story to point out to King David what he had done wrong. James described the great power of the tongue by comparing it to a bit in the mouth of a horse, the rudder of a ship, and a small spark capable of lighting a forest on fire.
Paul offered several parallels between the spiritual life of the Christian and the activity of certain members of society. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul defined the Christian life according to the lives of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. The soldier is not to be engrossed in the affairs of life so that he might please his enlisting officer. The athlete is not crowned if he does not compete according to the rules. The farmer who works hard ought to receive first of the fruit he reaps. What was Paul trying to impart to his disciple Timothy through these models?
First the context must be considered. This letter to Timothy is presumably Paul's last written communication before his death. In 2 Timothy 4:6 he wrote, "[The] time has come for my departure." As a result it is filled mostly with exhortations to Timothy summarized at least in part by 2 Timothy 4:5-"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."
Chapter 2 begins with three exhortations: be strong in God's grace, entrust to reliable men the truths Paul had taught Timothy, and endure hardship like a good soldier. Following verse 7, Paul defined his gospel by Christ's resurrection and His ancestry. Then he declared that he endured everything, suffering and being chained, in order that God's elect may hear the gospel and believe. Endurance through hardship seems to be the surrounding theme.
The first character Paul used he related directly with enduring hardship in verse 3. The next verse explains what is meant by "a good soldier of Christ Jesus." A good soldier is not entangled in the business of everyday life; he is focused on pleasing the one who enlisted him. The verb "entangled" is illustrated well by Walter Bauer: "The word is used literally of a sheep or a hare being caught in the thorns" (Gilbrant 397). Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed makes the same point with the seed that falls among the thorns; that man who becomes consumed with the worries of life and the pursuit of money becomes unfruitful in ministry. "[Then] does it become unlawful, when such occupation, from its engrossing the man, becomes a hindrance to the work of the ministry" (Alford 379). Paul's concern for Timothy was that something "might stand in the way of his readiness to obey" the One enlisting his service (Kittel 641).
Was Paul telling Timothy that as a minister he must abstain from civil affairs and business affairs and even from marrying? By no means! Peter was married (1 Corinthians 9:5), and Paul claimed his Roman citizenship several times and worked leather with Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth. Instead, as soldiers of Christ, all Christians should be wary of holding too tightly to the temporal things that this world has to offer.
Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat. This applies directly to those who would compete in the Olympian and Isthmian Games in Greece. Paul reminded Timothy that competitors must prepare according to the rules of the competition if they intend to win the crown. For the Grecian games, "athletes subjected themselves to ten months of rigorous training and diet" (Berry 53). According to John MacArthur Jr., contestants would have to swear before a statue of Zeus that they fulfilled the training requirement to compete (46).
Was Paul telling Timothy that he had to have seminary training before he could preach the gospel? Certainly not! Paul was instructing Timothy, however, that the Christian life requires discipline if one intends to receive heavenly rewards. "There must be discipline and sacrifice as well as energy" (Kent 268-69). To be accomplished in any field, these three elements must be present; to leave out any one will render one's efforts useless by comparison. In evangelism, for example, the Christian must have the discipline to study the Word as well as history, philosophy, science, and modern man in order to answer the smokescreen arguments that people raise with a sharpness of mind that is respectable. He must be willing to sacrifice time, money, popularity, and even safety at times to reach out to the lost sinner. He must also have the energy to persist in his task despite rejection and failure.
"'Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life'" (Genesis 3:17). The farmer has no easy task. Drought or flood may destroy his crop; burrowing animals and birds may steal some of his fruit away; pestilence may infect his produce. Not only does nature work against him, but his task is also very time consuming: tilling, then planting, then fertilizing, then watering, then harvesting. This is especially so for the farmers in Paul's time. Those who were hard working ought to receive from the first of the crop.
What parallel is Paul trying to draw here for Timothy? Albert Barnes writes, "It was to remind Timothy that labour (sic.) must precede reward; that if a man would reap, he must sow" (222). Homer A. Kent Jr. disagrees, suggesting that the emphasis is not laboring first but "the assurance that God is not unmindful, and that appropriate reward will be given, both in this life and the next" to those who labor long and hard for the cause of Christ (270). The farmer is a model for believers today because of his intense labor day after day. Though the farmer's reward is uncertain, the Christian's reward is sure if he will sow bountifully.
