2 Timothy 2

A great house has vessels of gold and of silver and of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, some for dishonor. The church as we see it is mixed. Wesley’s next line will treat dishonorable vessels as those to be purged from fellowship.

The picture explains why Hymenaeus-types appear without proving the gospel false. It does not freeze anyone as clay with no way to become useful (v. 21). The house is God’s; the uses are presently visible and morally serious.

Calvin: when some who made a show of piety fall, we should not be troubled as if the arrangement were unseemly. In a large house there is varied furniture. The context leads us to the Church: we ought not to think it strange that bad men are mixed with the good, which happens chiefly there.

God as head of the family has various kinds of men. The reprobate’s dishonor does not disgrace the house. Romans 9 may widen the image to the world; here Paul comforts the church that scandals do not undo God’s household.

Wesley: If a man purge himself from these—vessels of dishonour, so as to have no fellowship with them. Cleanse yourself: separate from the dishonorable use and company. The result is honorable use, holiness, usefulness to the Master, readiness for every good work.

The “if anyone” is an earnest invitation. Purging is required, not automatic. This is not self-election into the book of life by raw will; it is obedient separation that grace enables and that a person may refuse. Usefulness is the Master’s, through a servant who actually comes out from the unclean.

Calvin: if any man shall cleanse himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour. Paul is not here arguing the cause of election, as in Romans 9. We do not deny that believers are commanded to purify themselves; yet we ought to supplicate the Lord to cleanse us, rather than vainly try our strength without his assistance.

The duty is not imaginary; the power is God’s. Misusing the verse to make a man the author of his own adoption is, for Calvin, frivolous. The honorable vessel is set apart for the Master’s good work by a holiness God both commands and gives.

Flee youthful passions; pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Flight and pursuit are both commands. Pure heart matches the second seal of v. 19.

Holiness is social—along with those who call. Youthful passions include the rash heat that loves a fight (vv. 23–24), not only bodily lust. Grace that can be resisted must be used: flee, pursue, stay with the pure-hearted.

Calvin: flee youthful desires—not only uncleanness, but the impetuous passions of that age: quick heat, irritation, rash confidence in debate. Follow righteousness, faith, love, peace with all who call on the Lord.

God sets the servant in a holy fellowship and commands the flight. The opposite feelings restrain youthful excess. Calling on the Lord out of a pure heart describes the true worshippers among whom peace is to be kept.

Foolish, ignorant controversies breed quarrels. Have nothing to do with them: this is the same refusal as v. 16, now aimed at the servant’s own appetite for a fight.

Knowing they breed quarrels is enough reason to refuse. A quarrel can ruin hearers (v. 14). Avoiding the bait is not cowardice; it is love of peace and of the opponent who might still be won (v. 25).

Calvin: avoid foolish and uninstructive questions; they contribute nothing to godliness. We are truly wise only when we are wise in a useful manner. Such questions beget quarrels—what we experience every day.

Usefulness is the test of questions. Ambition to please by acuteness is a snare. The servant of the Lord is being prepared for the gentleness of vv. 24–25, which cannot live in a diet of strife.

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness. Kindness is not softness toward error; it is the manner of a teacher who still hopes to be heard.

Everyone includes opponents. Ability to teach dies in a quarrel. Patient endurance of evil is a cost, offered so that people who now resist might yet receive the truth. The servant’s tone is a means of grace, not a decoration.

Calvin: the servant of God must stand aloof from contentions. Gentle toward all, qualified for teaching: there will be no room for instruction if he has not moderation. Patient toward the bad, even trying whether obstinate persons can be brought back, which cannot be done without gentleness.

Quarrelsome theology unfits a man for serving Christ. God uses a gentle, teaching servant as his instrument. Patience is commanded because the work is God’s, and the manner must match the Master.

Correct opponents with gentleness; perhaps God will give them repentance that leads to a full knowledge of the truth. Wesley: in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. For it is wholly his work. The acknowledging of the truth would then quickly follow.

Both camps say repentance is God’s gift. May perhaps grant keeps the servant humble and hopeful. Gentleness is a means that can be received or resisted; God grants, and the opponent is not a stone. Peradventure does not make the gift insincere, and it does not make the servant’s meekness pointless.

Calvin: “if sometime” or “if perhaps” points out the difficulty of the case, nearly desperate. Even toward the most unworthy we must exercise meekness. Since conversion is in the hand of God, repentance is the gift and work of God. Our duty is sowing and watering; we look for the increase from God.

God sovereignly grants repentance to those he will. “Perhaps” is from the minister’s view—he does not know whom God will suddenly change—not a maybe at the throne. Gentleness is still commanded, because God is pleased to use the servant’s labor, which in itself is no advantage and yet not fruitless through grace.

Wesley: who at present are not only captives, but asleep; utterly insensible of their captivity. Coming to their senses is waking; escape is possible from the devil’s snare. Captured to do his will is a dreadful bondage, not the last word if God grants repentance.

Sleep and snare explain why opponents rage, without making them non-responsible. They may come to their senses—the gospel addresses captives as people who can be awakened. The devil’s will is not equal to God’s; the snare can break.

Calvin: illumination is followed by deliverance from the devil’s bondage; unbelievers are so intoxicated by Satan that, being asleep, they do not perceive their distress. When the Lord shines by the light of his truth, he wakens us, breaks the snares, and trains us to obedience. They are held captive at Satan’s will, a shocking condition, yet a voluntary captivity: they sin not by constraint but with their whole heart.

God must shine if anyone wakes. The snare is Satan’s tyranny among unbelievers, visible in rushing to evil. Escape is the Lord’s deliverance of those he brings to the knowledge of the truth. The captivity explains the fury; it does not excuse the sin.