2 Timothy 2:6

2Ti_2:6

The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

The laboring husbandman

The order of the Greek shows that the emphatic word is labours. It is the labouring husbandman who must be the first to partake of the fruits. It is the man who works hard and with a will, and not the one who works listlessly or looks despondently on, who, according to all moral fitness and the nature of things, ought to have the first share in the fruits. This interpretation does justice to the Greek as it stands, without resorting to any manipulation of the apostles language. Moreover, it brings the saying into perfect harmony with the context. It is quite evident that the three metaphors are parallel to one another, and are intended to teach the same lesson. In each of them we have two things placed side by side--a prize, and the method to be observed in obtaining it. Do you, ass Christian soldier on service, wish for the approbation of Him who has enrolled you. Then you must avoid the entanglements which would interfere with your service. Do you, as a Christian athlete, wish for the crown of victory? Then you must not evade the rules of the contest. Do you, as a Christian husbandman, wish to be among the first to enjoy the harvest? Then you must be foremost in toil. (A. Plummer, D. D.)

The minister a husbandman

1. He must prepare good seed--i.e., sound doctrine. For in this sense we may truly say: what a man soweth, he shall reap; such as thy seed is, such will be thy harvest.

2. Understand the nature of the soil, the spiritual estate of thy people, and let the seed be in degree and measure suitable. Seed that is hot and dry must be sown in a cold and moist ground; if cold and moist, in a land that is hot and dry, else no multiplication. He that preaches mercy to the wicked is like him who soweth wheat on dry sandy mountains; judgment to the righteous, rye in wet and watery valleys--neither of both will, can prosper.

3. Get skill in the manner of sowing.

4. When the seed is sown, weeds will grow up with it. These must be plucked up, kept under, else the corn will not prosper.

5. In any case, go not thou beyond thy bounds, but sow in that soil where God commands thee. That great seedsman, Paul, had ill success among the Jews, being chiefly sent to teach the Gentiles.

6. Cast not off thy calling; wax not weary in this husbandry; and to encourage thee, consider the excellency of thy function. The husbandman waiteth long; be thou also patient, for a time of gathering will come--shall come. (J. Barlow, D. D.)

What the Christian teacher can learn from the husbandman

1 No fruit without labour.

2. No labour without reward. (Van Oosterzee.)

The minister a husbandman

1. He must cultivate the people, and sow the good seed.

2. He must not be discouraged if he does not reap fruit at once.

3. As the fruits of the ground sustain the husbandman, so should the people sustain the minister. (W. Burkitt, M. A.)

Reward of work

A few years since, Motley shot up to the first position as an historian. Many wondered; but it was no wonder. He had wrought patiently for years in the libraries of the Old and New Worlds, unseen of men. The success of the great artist Dore was years of study in the hospitals, and practice in the studio behind it. This path to success is open to all. (New Cyclopaedia of Illustrations.)

No work, no reward

Gilbert Wakefield tells us that he wrote his own memoirs, a large octavo, in six or eight days. It cost him nothing, and, what is very natural, is worth nothing, You might yawn scores of such books into existence; but who would be the wiser or better? We all like gold, but dread the digging. The cat loves the fish, but will not wade to catch them. (J. Todd, D. D.)

The pleasure of sloth inconsistent with the reward of toil

They are utterly out that think to have the pleasure of sloth and the guerdon of goodness. (J. Trapp.)

Work and joy

Work is heavens condition of prosperity and enjoyment in everything. A workless world would be a joyless world. (Homilist.)

Partaking of the fruit

A young man came to a man of ninety years of age, and said to him, How have you made out to live so long and be so well? The old man took the youngster to an orchard, and; pointing to some large trees full of apples, said, I planted these trees when I was a boy, and do you wonder that now I am permitted to gather the fruit of them? We gather in old age what we plant in our youth. Sow to the wind, end we reap the whirlwind. Plant in early life the right kind of a Christian character, and you will eat luscious fruit in old age, and gather these harvest apples in eternity.

The present rewards of service

Of the husbandman it is said that he first shall eat of the fruit of his labour. Here we have an intimation of the rewards of Christian life that come before the final distribution. The soldier must wait until the war is over; the contestant shall not be crowned until the games are over; but the husbandman has continuous incomings of the fruits of his labours all the time. He first partakes of the fruit of his labour. The loaf on his table, the milk in his dairy, the fruit of his storehouse--these are kept plenished and plentiful all the time. Then comes harvest and autumn, with their laden garners and their orchard spoil. So it is with the rewards of the Christian. Let him be as a soldier brave, as contestant striving, as a husbandman diligent and thrifty, and he shall have the reward of his labours even now--in grace and favour, in strength and peace, in hope and heavenly mindedness, and in the joy of doing good. Plenty to go on with, and a harvest to follow--the fruits immortal, that await the plucking from the bending branches of the trees of life! (J. J. Wray.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti_2:6. To the two foregoing sentences Paul adds still another, expressed figuratively: τὸν κοπιῶντα γεωργὸν δεῖ πρῶτον κ.τ.λ. Many expositors assume that there is here an inversion of phrase, and explain the words as equivalent to τὸν γεωργόν, κοπιῶντα πρῶτον, δεῖ τῶν καρπῶν μεταλ., or as Wahl and Winer (in the earlier editions of his Grammar) put it, τὸν γεωργὸν, τὸν θέλοντα τῶν καρπῶν μεταλ., δεῖ πρῶτον κοπιᾷν, so that πρῶτον is attached to κοπιᾷν in meaning, and the sentence contains an exhortation; Beza: necesse est agricolam, ut fructus percipiat, prius laborare. Heinrichs, on the other hand, remarks: nihil attinet, mutare quidquam, aut transponere, dummodo πρῶτον cum Grotio adverbialiter pro ita demum dictum putemus, emphasinque ponamus in τὸν κοπιῶντα. But this explanation of πρῶτον cannot be justified. Matthies, de Wette, and others reject the supposition of any inversion, and explain πρῶτον as first before all others, so that the meaning would be: as the husbandman first enjoys the fruits of the field, so, too, has the servant of the gospel a notable reward to expect for his work (de Wette); but this thought diverges entirely from that contained in 2Ti_2:4-5, and neglects, besides, the emphasis laid on κοπιῶντα.

It is accordingly to be explained: Not every one, but that husbandman who toils hard at his work, is first to enjoy the fruits; Wiesinger: the working farmer has the right of first enjoying the fruits, not he who does not work; therefore, if thou dost wish to enjoy the fruits, work. So, too, van, Oosterzee. Hofmann, against this explanation, upholds the meaning of δεῖ, which does not express what ought to happen, but what must happen, in so far as it lies in the nature of things. Δεῖ certainly has this meaning of necessity (not that of duty); but if κοπιῶντα be regarded as furnishing the condition under which the husbandman tilling the ground must, before all others, be partaker of the fruits of the ground tilled, then δεῖ in the former explanation presents no difficulty; in this case it cannot be said, with Hofmann, that the πρῶτον is meaningless. It is to be observed that κοπιῶντα does not contrast the husbandman who works with the husbandman who does not work, but the husbandman who works hard with the husbandman who carries on his work lazily.

Hofmann, in interpreting the sentence as declaring that Timothy must bear everything, whether good or bad, that arises from his work, departs from the figure, which clearly does not say that the husbandman must content himself alike with good fruit and with weeds, but rather that in the nature of things the husbandman should before all others enjoy the fruit for which he has laboured. It is incorrect, with Theodoret and Oecumenius, to understand πρῶτον of the preference over the pupil which is the teachers due; or to find in the words of the apostle the thought that the teacher must appropriate to himself the fruits of the spirit which he wishes to impart to others. Even Chrysostom rightly rejected the opinion,[24] that here the apostle is speaking of the bodily support due to the teacher; but he himself gives the words a wrong subsidiary sense when he thinks that Paul wishes to console Timothy regarding the preference shown in the reward.

[24] This opinion is also brought forward by Otto, who refers all three sentences to anxiety regarding bodily wants, as if Timothy had become careless in his office through fear of suffering want in it. This, however, is a reproof which cannot be justified. Van Oosterzee rightly says: It is undoubtedly a Pauline principle that the teacher has a right to suitable support from the church; but this is not the principle taught here.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti 2:6 . The difficulty in this verse is that the principle here laid down seems to be employed in 1Co 9:7 ; 1Co 9:9 , as an argument from analogy in support of the liberty of Christian ministers to enjoy some temporal profit from their spiritual labours; whereas here St. Paul is urging a temper of other-worldliness. It is sufficient to say that there is no practical inconsistency between the two passages; “each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that”. There is a time to insist on one’s liberty to “use the world,” and there is a time to warn ourselves and others that self-repression is necessary to keep ourselves from “using it to the full”. The main connexion here lies in the word κοπιῶντα , which is emphatic; while πρῶτον , which is also emphatic, expresses in the illustration from the γεωργός the idea corresponding to τῷ στρατ . ἀρέσῃ , and to στεφανοῦται in the others respectively. The labourer receives his hire, no matter how poor the crop may be: his wages are the first charge on the field. Cf. γῆ … τίκτουσα βοτάνην εὔθετον ἐκείνοις διʼ οὓς καὶ γεωργεῖται (Heb 6:7 ); his reward is sure, but then he must really labour. “The fruits” are the reward of faithful labour in the Lord’s vineyard, the “well done!” heard from the Captain’s lips, “the crown of glory that fadeth not away”. We must not press all the details of an allegory.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Another similitude tending to the same end: no man may look for the harvest, unless he first take pains to plow and sow his ground.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

must be first partaker--The right of first partaking of the fruits belongs to him who is laboring; do not thou, therefore, relax thy labors, as thou wouldest be foremost in partaking of the reward. CONYBEARE explains "first," before the idler.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. The husbandman that laboureth] That is: The husbandman must first till his ground before he can expect a crop; and he must till it according to the proper rules of agriculture, else he cannot have a crop. The combatant must fight and conquer, and fight according to the laws of the agones, before he can be crowned; so the Christian minister must labour in the spiritual vineyard, and labour too under the eye and according to the direction of his Master, before he can expect that crown of righteousness that fadeth not away.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6 The husbandman must labor before he receive the fruits I am well aware that others render this passage differently; and I acknowledge that they translate, word for word, what Paul has written in Greek; but he who shall carefully examine the context will assent to my view. Besides, the use of (κοπιῶντα) to labor instead of (κοπιᾷν) to labor, is a well-known Greek idiom; for Greek writers often make use of the participle in place of the infinitive.

The meaning therefore, is, that husbandmen do not gather the fruit, till they have first toiled hard in the cultivation of the soil, by sowing and by other labors. And if husbandmen do not spare their toils, that one day they may obtain fruit, and if they patiently wait for the season of harvest; how much more unreasonable will it be for us to refuse the labors which Christ enjoins upon us, while he holds out so great a reward?

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.—Again the picture is painted from every-day life. “The husbandman that laboureth”—with an emphasis upon “that laboureth”—is the successful tiller of the ground; “the labouring husbandman” it is, for whom the earth brings forth her increase. It is the enduring, patient, self-sacrificing toil that is rewarded in the affairs of common life—the man that “endures hardness,” whether as a soldier, or athlete, or tiller of the ground, wins the reward; and as in the world, so in religion. Further on in the Epistle the Apostle speaks of his having won the crown of righteousness. He had endured hardness of every conceivable kind; every affliction for the Lord’s sake he had endured save death, and that he was expecting, and knew it could not long tarry. The teaching of St. Paul in this triple picture is—not every soldier wins its commander’s applause, but only the veteran who devotes himself heart and soul to his profession; not every athlete wins the crown or prize, but only he who trains with anxious, painful care; not every tiller of the ground gathers the earth’s fruits, but only the patient toiler. So must it be in religious life. It is not enough to say we are Christians, or even to wish to be of the brotherhood of Christ. Men must really live the life they say they love.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. The husbandman that laboureth] This third illustration is well known from St Paul’s use, 1Co_3:6-9, where the substantive corresponding to ‘farmer’ or ‘husbandman’ occurs. ‘Ye are God’s husbandry’; lit., ‘God’s farmed, tilled, land.’ The stress of meaning lies on the participle ‘that laboureth’ and we must give the old full sense to the English word; as the Vulgate putting the participle in the emphatic first place in the sentence ‘laborantem agricolam oportet primum de fructibus percipere.’ See the bearing of the same word, 1Ti_4:10, and especially 1Ti_5:17 where see note. It is true, as the Wise man says, ‘the profit of the earth is for all,’ Ecc_5:9, and the laziest vagabond can claim from the Poor-law his ‘right to live.’ But the husbandman who has ‘toiled with honest sweat,’ putting sinews, brains, and conscience into his work, must be the first to partake of the fruits, as the R.V. rightly renders, more clearly shewing the point. If the Christian knight wishes for any prize worth having, the farmer’s, as well as the athlete’s and the soldier’s life, will say ‘no pains no gains’:

‘For more of wisdom, health, or wealth,

We’ll trust and labour on;

They come to neither life by stealth,

No cross no crown.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The husbandman that laboureth,.... In manuring his ground, in ploughing, in sowing, in weeding, in reaping, &c.

must be first partaker of the fruits; of his labour, before others; and the design may be to observe that the ministers of the word ought first to be partakers of the grace of God, the fruits of the Spirit, and of the Gospel, and rightly and spiritually understand it, before they preach it to others; or that such who labour in the word and doctrine, ought in the first place to be taken care of, and have a sufficient maintenance provided for them, Co1 9:7 or that as they shall have in the first place some seals and fruits of their ministry, in the conversion of souls, so they shall shine in the kingdom of heaven as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever. Though the words may be rendered, and which seems more agreeable to the context, and to the apostle's argument, "the husbandman must first labour before he partakes of the fruits"; so a minister of the Gospel must first labour, and endure hardships in this life, before he sits down in the kingdom of heaven, and takes his rest, and enjoys the crown of glory, which fades not away, which the chief Shepherd shall give unto him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

Ver. 6. The husbandman labouring first] Spes alit agricolas. Nae illi falsi sunt (saith Salhst, in Jugur.) qui diversissimas res expectant, ignaviae voluptatem, et praemia virtutis. They are utterly out, that think to have the pleasure of sloth and the guerdon {a} of goodness.

{a} A reward, requital, or recompence. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The husbandman that laboureth - The margin is, “labouring first, must be partaker.” The idea, according to the translation in the text, is, that there is a fitness or propriety (δει dei) that the man who cultivates the earth, should enjoy the fruits of his labor. See the same image explained in the notes at 1Co 9:10. But if this be the meaning here, it is not easy to see why the apostle introduces it. According to the marginal reading, the word “first” is introduced in connection with the word “labour” - “labouring first, must be partaker.” That is, it is a great law that the husbandman must work before be receives a harvest. This sense will accord with the purpose of the apostle. It was to remind Timothy that labor must precede reward; that if a man would reap, he must sow; that he could hope for no fruits, unless he toiled for them. The point was not that the husbandman would be the first one who would partake of the fruits; but that he must first labor before he obtained the reward. Thus understood, this would be an encouragement to Timothy to persevere in his toils, looking onward to the reward. The Greek will bear this construction, though it is not the most obvious one.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The husbandman who laboureth [3] must first partake. Both the Latin and Greek texts admit of two interpretations: the sense may either be, that it is fitting the husbandman partake first and before others of the fruits of his labours, or that he must first labour and then partake. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Laborantem Agricolam, oportet primum de fructibus percipere, It has the same ambiguity in the Greek.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As the apostle had before compared the minister of the gospel to a soldier, and from thence concluded his duty not to entangle himself unnecessarily in secular employments; and to those that exercised themselves in their public games, and from thence concluded the obligation upon him to keep to the Divine rule in the management of his office, and of himself under the opposition he should meet with; so here he compares him to a husbandman, (as Christ himself had done, Mat 13:1, &c.), either to mind him of his duty, first to look to save his own soul, then the souls of others, or of his advantage, it being the privilege of a husbandman, being the proprietor of the fruits, (if he will), first to eat thereof, thereby intimating the privilege of those who turn many to righteousness, Dan 12:3.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. First—Many commentators think that St. Paul’s first should be so placed as to qualify laboureth, and so should mean that there must first be labour before there can be enjoyment of fruits. But the emphasis must be on laboureth, and the meaning is, that it is he who laboureth that has the first, and best, and, in truth, only, right to the fruits. He who laboureth but slightly, or not at all, comes after, or is nowhere.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The first to partake for first partaker, A.V That laboureth (ton kopiwnta). Let not Timothy think to shirk labour and yet enjoy its fruits. (For kopiaw, see note on (1Ti_5:17)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unless he labour first, he will reap no fruit.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 6. The toiling; (κοπιῶντα, hard-working) husbandman must first partake of the fruits, or, must be first in partaking of them; his very character as a man of hard labour gives him in this respect a precedence and superiority over others: he first partakes, partakes even while he works, somewhat like the ox who might eat while in the act of treading the corn (1Ti 5:18). So, the apostle means to say, it is in the Lord’s husbandry. There is here also a compensation; for they who grudge not the hardship, the present sacrifice involved in doing God’s work, have a blessing which others know not—they reap, in a measure, while they labour, having an immediate satisfaction in the fruits which they have been enabled to gather. Such appears to be the precise import of the apostle’s statement; and it is one quite suited to the connection, though we would rather, perhaps, have expected him to put it somewhat differently, so as to express the idea that the husbandman must first labour if he is to partake of the fruits, or labour before he can do so. This is, indeed, what many commentators have actually extracted from his words, with so exact a scholar as Winer to countenance the exposition as grammatically tenable (Gr. § 61, 5, f). But it is without support from any properly parallel passages, and manifestly does violence to the natural order and meaning of the words. The object of the apostle in using the illustration was not, seemingly, to mark the distinction between the active and the idle husbandman: he assumes that Timothy would not be exactly idle, that he would be a worker in the Lord’s vineyard; but he would have him to be a worker in the stricter sense, like the husbandman who labours hard, who toils at his employment, and so reaps the first and fullest recompense. This is so clearly the preferable sense of the passage, that it is needless to recount other interpretations, and equally needless to go into the various applications which have been made of it by the Fathers and others in later times. Some of these are fanciful enough. We must keep hold of the great principle which the statement is brought to establish—that the most willing and hard labourer is the most speedily and richly blessed. This holds good in the spiritual as in the natural sphere; and only those things which can be called real exemplifications of such a principle are fair applications of the apostle’s similitude.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. The husbandman that laboreth. The farmer has the first right to the fruits. Three illustrations, that of the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer are here given. They all bear on the life of Timothy. “All three must deny themselves and suffer, in order to receive the reward. The soldier denies himself the world; the athlete obeys rigid laws; the husbandman labors and waits for a reward. So you must be content to deny yourself, to suffer, and to wait for your reward.”

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

It is necessary that the hardworking farmer receive his share of the crops first

This is the third metaphor Paul gives Timothy about working. The reader should understand that Christ's servants need to work hard. (See: Metaphor)

Think about what I am saying

Paul gave Timothy word pictures, but he did not completely explain their meanings. He expected Timothy to figure out what he was saying about Christ's servants.

in everything

"about everything"

translationWords

lord

understand

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

6. c. THE EXAMPLE OF THE HUSBANDMAN

6. τὸν κοπιῶντα γεωργὸν δεῖ κ.τ.λ., the husbandman that laboureth must first, sc. before him who is lazy and careless, partake of the fruits. The emphatic word is κοπιῶντα; as in the preceding verse, the main thought is that labour, discipline, striving are the portion of him who would succeed in any enterprise, be he soldier or athlete or farmer; E cura quies. On κοπιᾷν cp. 1Ti 4:10. The fruits to which the apostolic labourer may look forward are not here specially in question; they are only fully to be reaped in the world to come (Mat 5:12; Mat 19:21). The verb μεταλαμβάνειν (cp. 1Ti 4:3) does not occur elsewhere in St Paul’s letters; but cp. Act 27:33-34.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6.] Another comparison shewing the necessity of active labour as an antecedent to reward. The husbandman who is engaged in labour (who is actually employed in gathering in the fruit: not κοπιάσαντα) must first partake of the fruits (which he is gathering in: the whole result of his ministry, not here further specified. The saying is akin to βοῦν ἀλοῶντα μὴ φιμώσεις—the right of first participation in the harvest belongs to him who is labouring in the field: do not thou therefore, by relaxing this labour, forfeit that right. By this rendering, keeping strictly to the sense of the present part., all difficulty as to the position of πρῶτον is removed. Many Commentators (Calv., E. V. marg., al., Grot., al., take πρῶτον for ‘ita demum’) not observing this have supposed, in the sense, a transposition of πρῶτον, and given it as if it were τὸν γεωργὸν δεῖ, κοπιῶντα πρῶτον, τῶν καρπῶν μεταλ., or as Wahl and Winer (so in older editions of his grammar, e.g. edn. 3, p. 458: but now, edn. 6, § 61. 5, he merely states the two renderings, without giving an opinion),—τὸν γ. τὸν θέλοντα τῶν κ. μεταλ., δεῖ πρῶτον κοπιᾷν: but in both cases κοπιάσαντα would seem to be, if not absolutely required, yet more natural. Thdrt. and Œc. understand πρῶτον of the preference which the teacher has over the taught,—πρὸ γὰρ τῶν κεκτημένων οἱ γηπόνοι μεταλαγχάνουσι τῶν καρπῶν. Ambr., Pel., Mosh. believe the bodily support of ministers to be imported by τῶν κ. μεταλ.: but Chrys. answers this well, οὐκ ἔχει λόγον· πῶς γὰρ οὐχ ἁπλῶς γεωργὸν εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν κοπιῶντα; but his own idea hardly seems to be contained in the words,—πρὸς τὴν μέλλησιν ἵνα μηδεὶς δυσχεραίνῃ, ἤδη, φησίν, ἀπολαμβάνεις, ἢ ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ κόπῳ ἡ ἀντίδοσις: and certainly there is no allusion to that of Athanasius (in De W.), that it is the duty of a teacher first to apply to himself that which he teaches to others: nor to that of Bengel, ‘Paulus Timothei animam excoluit, c. i. 6, ergo fructus ei imprimis ex Timotheo debentur’).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. γεωργόν] cf. γεώργιον, 1Co 3:9. τῶν καρπῶν. This may well include (a) the “honour” and maintenance he receives from the Church, cf. I 5:17, 18; and δεῖ seems to point to some regulation that Timothy is to enforce; (b) the spiritual reward which comes here on earth in the sense of God’s approval and blessing on the work; cf. Php 1:22 καρπὸς ἔργου: Rom 1:13 ἵνα τινὰ καρπὸν σχῶ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν: cf. Jas 1:25 μακάριος ἐν τῇ ποιήσει αὐτοῦ: Chrys. (here) ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ κόπῳ ἡ ἀντίδοσις.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The husbandman that laboreth [τον κοπιωντα γεωργον] . The verb implies hard. wearisome toil. See on 1Th 1:3; 1Th 5:12. Gewrgov Husbandman, only here in Pastorals. o P. See on Joh 14:1.

Must be first partaker [δει πρωτον - μεταλαμβανειν] . Better, Must be the first to partake. His is the first right to the fruits of his labor in the gospel. The writer seems to have in his eye 1Co 9:7, where there is a similar association of military service and farming to illustrate the principle that they who proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel. Metalambanein to partake, o P, and only here in Pastorals. Paul uses metecein. See 1Co 9:10, 12; x. 17, 21, 30.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.