2 Timothy 2:21

‘If a man therefore purge himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work.’

Each man must choose, therefore, whether he will be a vessel of gold and silver, or whether he will be one of wood and earthenware, whether he will be more honourable to God or less honourable (compare 1 Corinthians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 3:15). And in order to be the former he must purge himself ‘from these’. ‘From these’ may simply mean that by his response to God he will purge himself from being one of the vessels made of wood and earthenware, that is, he will by his godly behaviour separate himself from being among the wood and earthenware vessels. Alternately ‘from these’ may refer to the unrighteousness from which the one who calls on the Name of the Lord has to depart (2 Timothy 2:19), seen as being in the plural, with the plural pronoun signifying ‘acts of unrighteousness’, or it may refer to shunning profane babblings and the false prophets mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:16-18. For the Christian is not only to seek positive teaching, but must beware of negative teaching, and especially of getting involved above their heads with the teaching of clever men who manipulate the truth. Compare 1 Corinthians 5:7 where the same word purging involves the removal of all that is sinful, including sinful men. We must therefore rid ourselves of, and flee from, all wrong behaviour and all false teaching.

‘He will be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work.’ This is to be the aim of every Christian, to be a vessel whose use is worthy of all honour, and which is valued by all. He is to be ‘sanctified’, that is, his life should be set apart wholly to the service of God, leaving behind all mundane things, and allowing the God of peace to set him apart to Himself wholly, in spirit, soul and body, so that they may preserved entire, without blame, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). He is to be free from all impurity, possessing his vessel in all sanctification and honour. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4). He is to look to Jesus Christ to fulfil His sanctifying work within him (Ephesians 5:26). He is to be sanctified through His truth (John 17:17). Note the threefold aspects of this continuing sanctification. It requires a dedicated and separated heart, it involves looking off to Jesus Christ to do His work within, and it involves knowing and understanding the truth from His word.

‘Meet for the Master’s use.’ His aim is to be that he might be fully satisfactory for the Master to use, both as a result of turning from all impurity and sin, and as a result of a positive response to Him and His word. In the words of Paul in Romans 12:1-2, he is to present his body to Christ as ‘a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God’ and is not to be ‘fashioned according to this world’ but is to be ‘transformed by the renewing of his mind’ that he may ‘prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God’.

The word for ‘use’ (euchrestos) is very much a Pauline word, being found elsewhere only in 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 1:11.

‘Prepared unto every good work.’ This is the theme of this section, compare 2 Timothy 3:17. Those who would serve God must allow themselves to be prepared in every way, and should seek God to that end. For God’s eternal purpose for them includes their fulfilling His ‘good work’ on earth.