1 Timothy 2:6

Who gave himself a ransom for all,.... What the Mediator gave as a ransom for men is "himself", his body and his soul, which were both made an offering for sin; and his life, which is the result of

Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Gave himself (Titus 2:14). Not only the Father gave Him for us (John 3:16), but the Son gave Himself (Phil Gave himself (Titus 2:14).

’ Antilutron, the word here translated ransom, is very emphatical; it signifies the exchanging of condition with another, the laying down of one’ s life to save another’ s. This our Saviour has done for us. The Scripture discovers to us, that by nature we are the children of wrath, and guilty of many rebellious sins, and devoted to eternal death: being in this deplorable state, the Son of God, moved by his Divine love, undertook our restoring to the favour of God; and voluntarily endured the punishment due to our sins, and gave his most precious blood and life the price of our redemption, . If it be objected: How is it consistent with Christ giving himself a ransom for all, that so many perish in their sins? The answer is clear: We must distinguish between the sufficiency of his ransom and the efficacy of it; he paid a ransom worthy to obtain the salvation of all men, and has done whatever was requisite to reconcile God, and make men capable of salvation; but only those who by a lively faith depend upon him, and obey him, are actual partakers of salvation: that is, no person but may be saved in believing; and if men perish, it is not from a defect of righteousness in the Mediator, but from the love of their lusts, and their obstinate rejecting their own mercies. And it is unjust that the glory of his Divine compassion and love should be obscured or lessened for their ungrateful neglect of it.

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Ver. 6. A ransom] Gr. αντιλυτρον, a counterprice; such as we could never have paid, but must have remained, and even rotted in prison, but for our all-sufficient surety and Saviour.

(6) Who gave himself a ransom for all.—The declaration (of 1 Timothy 2:5) that there was one God for fallen man would have been scarcely a joyful proclamation had it not been immediately followed by the announcement that between that one God and sinning man there was a mediator, Now (in 1 Timothy 2:6) we have in a few words the inspired description of the manner in which the Mediator performed His office and work; of His own free sovereign will; He yielded up Himself to death as the price of the redemption of all mankind—His life in exchange for their forfeited lives. St. Paul’s teaching here is very definite, and is utterly irreconcilable with much of the popular (so-called) theology of the day, which rejects this great Christian doctrine, so clearly taught here by St. Paul, of a “satisfactio vicaria.” This teaching asserts, that without pleading the death of Christ, we may, if we please, approach and find access to the Father, and such teaching as this passage shows is irreconcilable with gospel truth. To be testified in due time.—Better rendered, “witness of which was to be borne in its own times. The meaning of the words is,” Jesus Christ in the eternal counsels, gave Himself to death as the price of the redemption of fallen man; at the appointed and fitting season He endured this death—this death was the witness to the truth of the tremendous offering made in the counsels of the eternal and ever-blessed Trinity. So St. Chrysostom, who asserts that “the witness to be borne” was given in the death and suffering of the Lord.

Verse 6. Who gave himself a ransom] The word λυτρον signifies a ransom paid for the redemption of a captive; and αντιλυτρον, the word used here, and applied to the death of Christ, signifies that ransom which consists in the exchange of one person for another, or the redemption of life by life; or, as Schleusner has expressed it in his translation of these words, Qui morte sua omnes liberavit a vitiositatis vi et poenis, a servitute quassi et miseria peccatorum. "He who by his death has redeemed all from the power and punishment of vice, from the slavery and misery of sinners." As God is the God and father of all, (for there is but one God, 1 Timothy 2:5), and Jesus Christ the mediator of all, so he gave himself a ransom for all; i.e., for all that God made, consequently for every human soul; unless we could suppose that there are human souls of which God is not the Creator; for the argument of the apostle is plainly this: 1. There is one God; 2. This God is the Creator of all; 3. He has made a revelation of his kindness to all; 4. He will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth; and 5. He has provided a mediator for all, who has given himself a ransom for all. As surely as God has created all men, so surely has Jesus Christ died for all men. This is a truth which the nature and revelation of God unequivocally proclaim. To be testified in due time.] The original words, τομαρτυριονκαιροιςιδιοις, are not very clear, and have been understood variously. The most authentic copies of the printed Vulgate have simply, Testimonium temporibus suis; which CALMET translates: Rendant ainsi temoignage au tems marqué; "Thus rendering testimony at the appointed time." Dr. MACKNIGHT thus: Of which the testimony is in its proper season. WAKEFIELD thus: "That testimony reserved to its proper time" ROSENMULLEN: Haec est doctrina, temporibus suis reservata. "This is the doctrine which is reserved for its own times;" that is, adds he, quoe suo tempore in omni terrarum orbe tradetur, "the doctrine which in its own time shall be delivered to all the inhabitants of the earth." Here he translates μαρτυριον, doctrine; and contends that this, not testimony, is its meaning, not only in this passage, but in 1 Corinthians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 2:1, c. Instead of μαρτυριον, testimony, one MS., Cod. Kk., vi. 4, in the public library, Cambridge, has, μυστηριον, mystery but this is not acknowledged by any other MS., nor by any version. In D*FG the whole clause is read thus: οὑτομαρτυριονκαιροιςιδιοιςεδοθη· The testimony of which was given in its own times. This is nearly the reading which was adopted in the first printed copies of the Vulgate. One of them now before me reads the passage thus: Cujus testimonium temporibus suis confirmatum est.

6. a ransom] The word is a compound naturally formed, as time passed, to represent Christ’s own teaching, antilutron thus recalling the lutron anti of Mat 20:28; Mark 10:45. On this last verse Maclear distinguishes, from Trench’s Syn., p. 276, the three great circles of images in Scripture used to represent the purport of Christ’s death:(a) sin offering or propitiation, 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10.(b) atonement, i.e. at-one-ment, reconciliation with an offended friend, Romans 5:11; Romans 11:15; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.(c) ransom, or the price paid for the redemption of a captive from slavery, Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:7.This third image, which is St Paul’s latest love, occurs again, Titus 2:14, ‘that he might redeem us from all iniquity,’ and is chosen by St Peter, 1 Peter 1:18, and the writer to the Hebrews, Hebrews 9:12.Our Article II. like this creed, and unlike the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, adds a statement of the purport of Christ’s death to its statement of the fact; but takes the first and second of these images to express it; “who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice not only for original guilt but also for all actual sins of men.” Cf. Art. XV.: ‘He came to be the Lamb without spot, who by sacrifice of Himself once made should take away the sins of the world.’to be testified in due time] R.V. the testimony to be borne in its proper seasons; the neuter substantive having its proper sense, ‘that which was to be testified of.’ The word may well have come into this creed from the familiarity of the Jewish Christians with its use (as Wordsworth suggests) in the Pentateuch, where it occurs 30 times in connexion with the Holy of Holies, the Tables of the law, the Tabernacle and the Ark. Cf. Acts 7:44, ‘Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness.’ ‘The redemption made by the Blood of Christ was the True Testimony which was reserved for its full revelation in its own appointed season,’ Ephesians 1:10, ‘a dispensation of the fulness of the seasons to sum up all things in Christ.’The reading is not doubtful, though from the apparent abruptness (sufficiently accounted for if part of a brief creed) the scribes in the mss. seem to have stumbled at the clause, each giving some variety for smoothness. See note on 1 Timothy 2:5 for the connexion; which makes the force and relevance of the familiar phrases strong and clear.

Who gave himself a ransom for all - This also is stated as a reason why prayer should be offered for all, and a proof that God desires the salvation of all.

6. Gave himself—So that his death was voluntary. Note, John 10:15; John 10:18. While God gave his son, (John 3:16,) the son concurrently yet freely gave himself.