2 Timothy 1:10

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) But is now made manifest.—The grace, a gift given to us in Christ from all eternity, but hidden during unnumbered ages, till the fulness of time—the appointed time—arrived; the “now,” when it was made manifest.

By the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ.—The simple act of the Incarnation by no means covers the “appearing.” The “appearing” (Epiphany) here includes not only the birth, but the whole manifestation of Christ on earth, including the Passion and the Resurrection.

Who hath abolished death.—More accurately, when he abolished, or, made of none effect. The Greek word thus rendered, signifies that by the action of the Lord, death was rendered inoperative, comparatively harmless—its sting was removed. The “death” thus made of none effect has a far more extended meaning than that separation of soul and body we are in the habit of calling death. It signifies that awful punishment of sin which is best described as the exact opposite to “eternal life.” The death we are acquainted with by sad experience here is only the forerunner of the death eternal. Already to the believers in Jesus this death of the body counts for nothing; the time will come when it will even exist no more.

And hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.—The Greek word rendered “immortality” is more accurately translated by incorruption. “Life” here is that true life, in its highest and completest sense, which includes the most perfect happiness—a happiness a foretaste of which is enjoyed on this side the grave; over it (this bliss) death now has no power—indeed, death is the gate, so to speak, through which we pass to its complete enjoyment. St. Paul says Christ “brought to light” life and incorruption, not only from having imparted to His own these glorious and divine attributes, but chiefly because He has displayed (or manifested) the life and incorruption in His own resurrection body before our very eyes. When St. Paul wrote to Timothy, we must remember, many an eye-witness of the resurrection glories still walked on earth; with these must St. Paul, and Timothy too, often have conversed. Thus it can, with all literal truth, be predicated of Jesus Christ that He brought life and incorruption out of that darkness in which, as far as men were concerned, these things lay, into the clear and bright light of day. And as the hearers of Christ and the eye-witnesses of His resurrection were, when we consider this great mass of mankind, comparatively few, the medium by which these glorious truths were made known to men was the preaching of the gospel, in which gospel the Holy Ghost had enshrined both the words and the story of Christ.

On the Greek text of this grand verse Ellicott observes that it is remarkable that “Death,” being then a known and ruling power, has in the original the article, while “Life” and “Incorruption,” being then only recently revealed and unknown powers, save to few, are written without the article.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:6-14 God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power, of courage and resolution, to meet difficulties and dangers; the spirit of love to him, which will carry us through opposition. And the spirit of a sound mind, quietness of mind. The Holy Spirit is not the author of a timid or cowardly disposition, or of slavish fears. We are likely to bear afflictions well, when we have strength and power from God to enable us to bear them. As is usual with Paul, when he mentions Christ and his redemption, he enlarges upon them; so full was he of that which is all our salvation, and ought to be all our desire. The call of the gospel is a holy call, making holy. Salvation is of free grace. This is said to be given us before the world began, that is, in the purpose of God from all eternity; in Christ Jesus, for all the gifts that come from God to sinful man, come in and through Christ Jesus alone. And as there is so clear a prospect of eternal happiness by faith in Him, who is the Resurrection and the Life, let us give more diligence in making his salvation sure to our souls. Those who cleave to the gospel, need not be ashamed, the cause will bear them out; but those who oppose it, shall be ashamed. The apostle had trusted his life, his soul, and eternal interests, to the Lord Jesus. No one else could deliver and secure his soul through the trials of life and death. There is a day coming, when our souls will be inquired after. Thou hadst a soul committed to thee; how was it employed? in the service of sin, or in the service of Christ? The hope of the lowest real Christian rests on the same foundation as that of the great apostle. He also has learned the value and the danger of his soul; he also has believed in Christ; and the change wrought in his soul, convinces the believer that the Lord Jesus will keep him to his heavenly kingdom. Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast the Holy Scriptures, the substance of solid gospel truth in them. It is not enough to assent to the sound words, but we must love them. The Christian doctrine is a trust committed to us; it is of unspeakable value in itself, and will be of unspeakable advantage to us. It is committed to us, to be preserved pure and entire, yet we must not think to keep it by our own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us; and it will not be gained by those who trust in their own hearts, and lean to their own understandings.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But is now made manifest - The purpose to save us was long concealed in the divine mind, but the Saviour came that he might make it known.

Who hath abolished death - That is, he has made it so certain that death will be abolished, that it may be spoken of as already done. It is remarkable how often, in this chapter, Paul speaks of what God intends to do as so certain, that it may be spoken of as a thing that is already done. In the meaning of the expression here, see the notes at 1 Corinthians 15:54; compare the notes at Hebrews 2:14. The meaning is, that, through the gospel, death will cease to reign, and over those who are saved there will be no such thing as we now understand by dying.

And hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel - This is one of the great and glorious achievements of the gospel, and one of the things by which it is distinguished from every other system. The word rendered "hath brought to light" - φωτίζω phōtizō - means to give light, to shine; then to give light to, to shine upon; and then to bring to light, to make known. Robinson, Lexicon. The sense is, that these things were before obscure or unknown, and that they have been disclosed to us by the gospel. It is, of course, not meant that there were no intimations of these truths before, or that nothing was known of them - for the Old Testament shed some light on them; but that they are fully disclosed to man in the gospel. It is there that all ambiguity and doubt are removed, and that the evidence is so clearly stated as to leave no doubt on the subject. The intimations of a future state, among the wisest of the pagan, were certainly very obscure, and their hopes very faint.

The hope of a future state is styled by Cicero, Futurorum quoddam augurium saeculorum - "a conjecture or surmise of future ages. Tusc. Q. 1. Seneca says it is "that which our wise men do promise, but they do not prove." Epis. 102. Socrates, even at his death, said, "I hope to go hence to good men, but of that I am not very confident; nor doth it become any wise man to be positive that so it will be. I must now die, and you shall live; but which of us is in the better state, the living or the dead, only God knows." Pliny says, "Neither soul nor body has any more sense after death, than before it was born." Cicero begins his discourse on the subject with a profession that he intended to deliver nothing as fixed and certain, but only as probable, and as having some likelihood of truth. And, having mentioned the different sentiments of philosophers, he concludes, - "Which of these opinions is true, some god must tell us; which is most like to truth, is a great question."

See Whitby, "in loc." Such doubts existed in regard to the immortality of the soul; but of the resurrection and future life of the body, they had no conception whatever; compare the notes at Acts 17:32. With what propriety, then, may it be said that these doctrines were brought to light through the gospel! Man would never have known them if it had not been for revelation. The word "life," here, refers undoubtedly to life in the future world. The question was, whether man would live at all; and that question has been determined by the gospel. The word "immortality" means, properly, "incorruption, incapacity of decay;" and may be applied either to the body or the soul. See it explained in the notes at 1 Corinthians 15:42. It is used in reference to the body, in 1 Corinthians 15:42, 1 Corinthians 15:53-54; in Romans 2:7, it is applied to the future state of rewards, without special reference to the body or soul. Here it seems to refer to the future state as that in which there will be no corruption or decay.

Many suppose that the phrase "life and immortality," here, is used by hendiadys (two things for one), as meaning immortal or incorruptible life. The gospel thus has truths not found in any other system, and contains what man never would have discovered of himself. As fair a trial had been made among the philosophers of Greece and Rome as could be made, to determine whether the unaided powers of the human mind could arrive at these great truths; and their most distinguished philosophers confessed that they could arrive at no certainty on the subject. In this state of things, the gospel comes and reveals truths worthy of all acceptation; sheds light where man had desired it; solves the great problems which had for ages perplexed the human mind, and discloses to man all that he could wish - that not only the soul will live for ever, but that the body will be raised from the grave, and that the entire man will become immortal. How strange it is that men will not embrace the gospel! Socrates and Cicero would have hailed its light, and welcomed its truths, as those which their whole nature panted to know.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. But … now … manifest—in contrast to its concealment heretofore in the eternal purpose of God "before the world began" (2Ti 1:9; Col 1:16; Tit 1:2, 3).

appearing—the visible manifestation in the flesh.

abolished death—Greek, "taken away the power from death" [Tittmann]. The Greek article before "death" implies that Christ abolished death, not only in some particular instance, but in its very essence, being, and idea, as well as in all its aspects and consequences (Joh 11:26; Ro 8:2, 38; 1Co 15:26, 55; Heb 2:14). The carrying out of the abolition of death into full effect is to be at the resurrection (Re 20:14). The death of the body meanwhile is but temporary, and is made no account of by Christ and the apostles.

brought … to light—making visible by the Gospel what was before hidden in God's purpose.

life—of the Spirit, acting first on the soul here, about to act on the body also at the resurrection.

immortality—Greek, "incorruptibility" of the new life, not merely of the risen body [Alford], (Ro 8:11).

through—by means of the Gospel, which brings to light the life and immortality purposed by God from eternity, but manifested now first to man by Christ, who in His own resurrection has given the pledge of His people's final triumph over death through Him. Before the Gospel revelation from God, man, by the light of nature, under the most favorable circumstances, had but a glimmering idea of the possibility of a future being of the soul, but not the faintest idea of the resurrection of the body (Ac 17:18, 32). If Christ were not "the life," the dead could never live; if He were not the resurrection, they could never rise; had He not the keys of hell and death (Re 1:18), we could never break through the bars of death or gates of hell [Bishop Pearson].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour

Jesus Christ; which purpose of God in Christ Jesus was in a great measure hidden under the Old Testament, but by the coming of Christ is made evident.

Who hath abolished death; by his death he hath taken away the sting and power of death, delivering us from that which is the second death.

And hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel; and through the doctrine of the gospel he hath made the promises of eternal life plain and clear; which though existent under the law, yet were very obscurely revealed, so as they lay out of the sight of most men and women, but are now brought to light, so as he who runneth may read them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ,.... The grace according to which the elect of God are saved and called; though it was given to them in Christ, before the world was, yet lay hid in the heart of God; in his thoughts, council and covenant; and in Jesus Christ; and in the types, shadows, sacrifices, prophecies, and promises of the Old Testament; but is now made manifest in the clearness, freeness, and abundance of it by the appearance of Christ, as a Saviour in human nature; who is come full of grace and truth, and through whom there is a plentiful exhibition of it to the sons of men:

who hath abolished death; the law of sin and death, which is the cause of death; and has destroyed him which has the power of it, the devil; he has abolished corporeal death with regard to his people, as a penal evil, he has took away its sting, and removed its curse, and made it a blessing to them; and he has utterly, with respect to them, abolished the second death, so as that it shall have no power over them, or they ever be hurt by it; all which he did by dying, and rising again: for though he died, yet he continued not under the power of death; but rose again and triumphed over it, as having got the victory of it; and the keys of it are in his hand:

and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Christ was the first that rose again from the dead to an immortal life; the path of life was first shown to him, and brought to light by him; and though the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was known by the Old Testament saints, yet not so clearly as it is now revealed in the Gospel; and in which is so fully attested the resurrection of Christ, and of many of the saints with him, as well as the general resurrection at the last day: and besides, eternal life, which is the free gift of God, lay hid in his purpose, promise, and covenant, and in his Son Jesus Christ, into whose hands it was put; and which he has brought to light in a more clear manner than ever it was before; by his appearance in human nature, by his personal ministry, by his death and resurrection from the dead, and through the Gospel, as preached by his ministers; which gives an account of the nature of it, shows the way unto it, and points out and describes the persons that shall enjoy it.

Geneva Study Bible

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to {k} light through the gospel:

(k) Has caused life and immortality to appear.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Timothy 1:10. Φανερωθεῖσαν δὲ νῦν] These words form a contrast with τὴν δοθεῖσαν … πρὸ χρόν. αἰων., the grace being concealed which was bestowed on Christians in Christ before the ages. It is to be observed that the idea of the φανέρωσις does not refer here to the decree, but to the grace of God; Heydenreich is therefore inaccurate in saying that “the φανεροῦν here denotes the execution of the divine decree which was made from eternity, and has now come forth from its concealment.” The means by which the φανέρωσις of the divine grace has been made, the apostle calls the ἐπιφάνεια τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Ἐπιφάνεια is used only here to denote the appearance of Christ in the flesh. As a matter of course (so, too, van Oosterzee, Plitt, and others), it denotes not only the birth of Christ, but also His whole presence on the earth up to His ascension. There is added τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν in reference to τοῦ σώσαντος ἡμᾶς, 2 Timothy 1:9, in order to make it clear that the grace eternally given to us was made manifest by the appearance of Christ Jesus, because He appeared as our σωτήρ (see on 1 Timothy 1:1). The means by which He showed Himself to be this, and by which He revealed that grace, are told us in the two participial clauses: καταργήσαντος μὲν τὸν θάνατον, φωτίσαντος δὲ ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου.

καταργεῖν, properly, “make ineffectual,” means here, as in 1 Corinthians 15:26, Hebrews 2:14, “bring to nought.” Θάνατος is death, as the power to which man is, for his sins, made subject, both for time and for eternity. It is not the “prince of the realm of the dead,” as Heydenreich thinks (also in Hebrews 2:14 there is a distinction between θάνατος and διάβολος). Still less to the point is the hypothesis of de Wette, that the καταργεῖν τὸν θάνατον is spoken “with subjective reference to the power of death over the mind, or the fear of death;” the discussion here is not of subjective states of feeling, but of objective powers. The question whether θάνατος means here physical or eternal death, may be answered in this way, that the apostle regards the two as one in their inner relation to one another.[15] The second clause: ΦΩΤΊΣΑΝΤΟς ΔῈ Κ.Τ.Λ., corresponds with the first: ΚΑΤΑΡΓ. Κ.Τ.Λ. ΦΩΤΊΖΕΙΝ has usually the intransitive signification: “shine,” Revelation 22:5; but it occurs also as transitive, both in the literal and derivative sense, Revelation 21:23, John 1:9. In 1 Corinthians 4:5, it is synonymous with ΦΑΝΕΡΟῦΝ: “bring to light from concealment;” so, too, in Sir 24:30, and in this sense it is used here. The expression is all the more pointed that θάνατος is “a power of darkness” (Wiesinger); comp. Luke 1:79.

Heydenreich’s explanation: “Christ raised the hope of immortality to fullest certainty,” weakens the apostle’s meaning. ΖΩΉ denotes the blessed life of the children of God, which is further described as eternal, ever-during, by the epexegetical ΚΑῚ ἈΦΘΑΡΣΊΑ (Wiesinger). This life was originally hid in God, but Christ brought it to light out of concealment, and brought it ΔΙᾺ ΤΟῦ ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΊΟΥ. These added words are to be referred only to the second clause, for the annihilation of death was not effected by the gospel, but by Christ’s death and resurrection.

On the other hand, the revelation of life was made by the preaching of the gospel, inasmuch as Christ thereby places before us the ΖΩῊ ΚΑῚ ἈΦΘΑΡΣΊΑ as the inheritance assigned us in Him.

It is incorrect, with Wiesinger, to separate ΔΙᾺ ΤΟῦ ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΊΟΥ from the nearest verb to which it is thoroughly suited if taken in a natural sense, and to connect it with the more distant ΦΑΝΕΡΩΘΕῖΣΑΝ, the means of which, moreover, is already given in ΔΙᾺ Τῆς ἘΠΙΦΑΝΕΊΑς. Plitt wrongly thinks that the construction here is somewhat careless, and that ΔΙᾺ Τ. ΕὐΑΓΓ. is to be co-ordinated with ΔΙᾺ Τῆς ἘΠΙΦΑΝΕΊΑς, giving a still more precise definition to ΦΑΝΕΡΩΘΕῖΣΑΝ.

[15] Wiesinger: “Death as the power to which the whole man, both body and soul, has fallen a prey in consequence of sin, and which makes the bodily death the precursor of death eternal.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Timothy 1:10. φανερωθεῖσαν: See note on 1 Timothy 3:16. Bengel calls attention to the fit juxtaposition of illustria verba: φανερωθεῖσαν, ἐπιφανείας, φωτίσαντος.

διὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας, κ.τ.λ.: See on 1 Timothy 6:14. The ἐπιφάνεια here must not be referred to the Incarnation, considered as having taken place at a particular moment in time. It includes it; the ἐπιφάνεια began then; and will be continued, becoming ever brighter and clearer, until its consummation, to which the term ἐπιφάνεια is elsewhere restricted.

καταργήσαντος: We cannot, because of the absence of an article before the participles, safely translate, when he brought to nought, rather than, who brought to nought. Abolished does not express the truth. Christians all “taste of death” as their Master did (John 8:52, Hebrews 2:9), though they do not “see” it; and they are confident that they too will be “saved out of death” (Hebrews 5:7). Death for them has lost its sting (Hebrews 2:14-15). It need not cause any difficulty that here the undoing of death is spoken of as past, whereas in 1 Corinthians 15:26; 1 Corinthians 15:54, it is “the last enemy that shall be abolished” (see Revelation 20:14). We have a parallel in John 16:11, “The prince of this world hath been judged”.

τὸν θάνατον: Alf., following Bengel, sees a special force in the art.—“as if he had said Orcum illum”.

φωτίσαντος: To be connected with διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. The Gospel is that by which the presence of Christ, the light, is apprehended. That light does not create life and incorruption: it displays them.

ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν: Immortality or Incorruption defines the life more clearly.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. is now made manifest] but manifested now; the opposition thus put between the ‘given’ and the ‘manifested’ implies that the gift had been, in the phrase of the other parallel passage, Romans 16:25, ‘kept in silence through times eternal.’ Compare 1 Timothy 3:16, ‘who in flesh was manifested.’

by the appearing] The one use of the substantive ‘epiphany’ for the Incarnation, and so the authority for our use of it in the Church’s season of Epiphany. See notes on 1 Timothy 6:14 and Titus 2:13. The verb, with this reference, occurs again Titus 2:11; Titus 3:4.

our Saviour Jesus Christ] Again, with the best mss., Christ Jesus; the title now especially frequent, see note 1 Timothy 1:1.

who hath abolished death] More exactly, abolishing death, as he did, and bringing into light instead life and immortality. The verb for ‘abolish,’ lit. ‘to make useless, powerless,’ is used here of the Incarnation; in Hebrews 2:14, of the Atonement; in 1 Corinthians 15:26, of the Second Advent, as effecting this victory; at each stage the victory is assured. To us the Incarnation and the Atonement are extended through union with Christ in Holy Baptism. Compare Dr H. Macmillan, Two Worlds are Ours, p. 22. ‘Naturally, we are the creatures of days and months and years that vanish, regulated by sun and moon and stars that will perish. But, born anew in Christ, we enter into a sphere where time has no existence, where one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; we lay hold on eternal life.’

hath brought … to light] Vulg., Th. Mops., ‘illuminavit,’ i.e. ‘shed over them a full mid-day light.’ The use of the corresponding substantive 1 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 4:6, shews the force best, the illuminating power of the Gospel of the glory of Christ. ‘Life,’ ‘the life that is truly life,’ 1 Timothy 6:19, the spiritual life, which is ‘immortality;’ see notes on 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:19; 1 Timothy 4:8. The Ember hymn well expresses the present glory of this ‘life’ thus illuminated,—‘our glory meets us ere we die.’

through the gospel] Added to the second half of the clause, as coming back to the thought of 2 Timothy 1:8, where ‘the gospel’ personified represents the saving work of the Lord and the suffering ministry of St Paul as here.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Timothy 1:10. Φανερωθεῖσαν, manifested) Those remarkable words, τῆς ἐπιφανείας, the appearing, and φωτίσαντος, bringing to light, agree with this expression.—ἐπιφανείας, appearing) in the flesh. It does not merely mean here the very act of His coming, but the whole time of the abode of Christ among men.—τὸν θάνατον, death) The article is used here emphatically and designedly. Paul in this passage, as it were, directly abolishes death. Hence the soldier of Christ ought now no longer to fear death.—φωτίσαντος, bringing to light [exposing to the light]) An abbreviated expression: implying, and has procured for us (that should be supplied from the antithetic word καταργήσαντος, who has abolished) and has brought to light by the Gospel; comp. Ephesians 2:17.—ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν) A Hendiadys.—διὰ τοῦ) Schoettgenius construes this with καλέσαντος, 2 Timothy 1:9. We may construe thus: φανερωθεῖσαν διὰ τῆς—(καὶ) διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, made manifest by His appearing—(and) by the Gospel.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Hath now been manifested for is now made manifest, A.V.; Christ Jesus for Jesus Christ, A.V.; abolished for hath abolished, A.V.; brought for hath brought, A.V.; incorruption for immortality, A.V. Hath now been manifested (φανερωθεῖσαν); a word of very frequent use by St. Paul. The same contrast between the long time during which God's gracious purpose lay hidden, and the present time when it was brought to light by the gospel, which is contained in this passage, is forcibly dwelt upon in Ephesians 3:1-12. The appearing (τῆς ἐπιφανείας), applied here, as in the name of the Festival of the Epiphany, to the first advent, but in ch. 4:1 and Titus 2:13 and elsewhere applied to the second advent, "the glorious appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). Abolished (καταργήσαντος); i.e. "destroyed," or "done away," or "made of none effect," as the word is variously rendered (1 Corinthians 15:26; 2 Corinthians 3:11; Galatians 3:17; comp. Hebrews 2:14). Brought... to light (φωτίσαντος); as in 1 Corinthians 4:15. Elsewhere rather "to give light," or "to enlighten" (see Luke 11:36; Hebrews 6:4; Hebrews 10:32, etc.). For a full description of the abolition of death and the introduction of eternal life in its stead, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, see Romans 5. and 6, and especially Romans 6:8-11. Through the gospel; because the gospel both declares the death and resurrection of Christ, and calls us to share in them. These mighty glories of the gospel were good reasons why Timothy should not be ashamed of the testimony of his Lord, nor shrink from the afflictions of the gospel. They were signal evidences of the power of God. 2 Timothy 1:10

Vincent's Word Studies

Made manifest (φανερωθεῖσαν)

See on 1 Timothy 3:16. In contrast with the preceding clause, this marks the historical fulfillment in time of the eternal, divine counsel. Comp. Titus 1:3. There is an implication that the divine counsel was hidden until the fitting time: comp. Ephesians 3:5, and see Colossians 1:26.

By the appearing (διὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας)

See on 2 Thessalonians 2:8; see on 1 Timothy 6:14.

Who hath abolished (καταργήσαντος)

Better, since he made of none effect. In Pastorals only here. Frequent in Paul. See on make without effect, Romans 3:3, and comp. is swallowed up, 1 Corinthians 15:54. Notice the association of the verb with ἐπιφάνεια appearing in 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

Brought to light (φωτίσαντος)

Only here in Pastorals. In Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:5; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 3:9.

Immortality (ἀφθαρσίαν)

Better, incorruption. With this exception, only in Paul. See Wisd. 2:23; 6:9; 4 Macc. 9:22; 17:12.