2 Timothy 4:8

‘Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me at that day, and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.’

And now all that awaits is for him to approach the great King and Judge and collect his award. The picture is of a man being honoured for having fulfilled his role. He will receive what God had purposed for him from the moment of his call (and even before), the gift of God which is finally fulfilled, complete righteousness through and through and eternal life. Some have seen it in terms of a man who is being honoured by the leaders of his country, and others in terms of an Olympic crown, and that he is being honoured because of what he has achieved. But it is clearly stated that it is not some special award only for him. It is the award which will be given to all those who ‘love His appearing’, all of whom will have achieved it. The idea of ‘loving His appearing’ does not simply mean those who are looking forward to the second coming. It refers to the servant who is faithfully working in readiness for His appearing, with the lights turned on and his sleeves rolled up as he prepares for his Lord’s coming. It is only such who can really ‘love His appearing’. Compare Luke 12:35-40; Luke 12:43-44. But in the last analysis Paul intended it to signify all Christians.

Other consider that ‘having loved His appearing’ refers to His first appearing. They rejoice because He has come and lived among us, and because they believe in Him and love Him and have responded fully to Him They will therefore receive the crown of righteousness promised to all who have loved that appearing..

‘The crown of righteousness.’ Compare ‘the crown of life’ where the crown clearly refers to what is received (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10). The thought would seem therefore to be that he was looking forward to being made holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight (Colossians 1:22), not only judicially but in reality. He had hungered and thirsted after righteousness and now he would be filled to the full (Matthew 5:6). At last he would really be like Christ, and would see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Compare how the Bride will be clothed in ‘the righteousnesses of the saints’ (Revelation 19:8). All that is contrary to that will have been done away. Compare here Zechariah 3:3-5 which was a foretaste of this. Like all Christians Paul had been clothed in the righteousness of Christ at his conversion (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21). He had been fully accepted as righteous before God through the blood of Christ (Romans 3:24-25). But now he was to enjoy the even fuller reality of perfect through and through righteousness, as a trophy of grace made perfect. The writer in Ecclesiastes had rightly said, ‘there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin’ (Ecclesiastes 7:20). But the truth is that everyone in Heaven is righteous without exception. Along with eternal life they have received the crown of righteousness.

Others see the crown as his reward for a righteous life, but it seems to us far more probable that he was thinking of his receiving what would bring credit to his Lord. It is the spiritually immature (like the disciples had once been) and the young, who think in terms of their own level of reward. The spiritually mature are fully concerned with bringing glory to Him, for they recognise their own total unworthiness.

SECTION 5 Final Greetings And Instructions.

In these final greetings we have mainly a record of heroes of the faith. Unsung heroes, but heroes nevertheless. A few we know of but the majority are but names. And yet a number of them were Paul’s lieutenants and co-workers and humanly speaking ensured that the church became strong. It is a reminder that it is often the unknown ones to whom much is owed.

But as expressed in the hymn in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 there are not just those who are faithful. There is Demas (short for Demetrius) who seemingly shares with Phygelus and Hermogenes the disgrace of having turned away from Paul (2 Timothy 1:15). He was not faithful at that stage, but if he was a true believer God would be faithful to him, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). Was he the Demetrius of 3 John 1:12, a man restored? And there is Alexander the coppersmith, the treacherous informer and presumably denier of Christ. For him there was probably no hope (2 Timothy 2:12).