¹³I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Whether Paul and Timothy ever met up again in person, we don’t know for sure, but there seems to be a certain finality to Paul’s two letters to his younger disciple. Three times he “charges” Timothy (see 1 Tim. 5:21, 2 Tim. 4:1), as though he is packing in last-time instructions. Each time he qualifies his instructions with the phrases “in the presence of God” and “of Christ Jesus.” His tone takes on a certain graveness. This is the God who gives life to all things. And this is the Christ who made “the good confession” when doing otherwise could have saved Him from crucifixion. This statement connects back to the previous verse, where Timothy is to take hold of eternal life and hold on to his confession of faith—true Christlikeness in the absolute sense.

What commandment does Paul charge Timothy with? It may refer to the charge to fight the good fight. Or it could refer to all that Paul has to say to Timothy in this letter. While we cannot be certain, we prefer to see it as the holding fast to the truth of the Christian faith, the sum total of the truth of Jesus Christ. Whichever is in Paul’s mind, the truth must be held to faithfully and purely. We (listening in over the shoulder of Timothy) must take our doctrine seriously, being careful of ourselves as well as those over whom we have charge (see Acts 20:28, of elders).

Why is holding the truth so important? The answer is this: because of who Jesus Christ is. If He were just one god of many, or a mere man, the consequences of error in our teaching might not carry eternal significance. But this is the truth of Jesus Christ:

• “the blessed and only Sovereign”
• “King of kings and Lord of Lords”
• “who possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light”
• “whom no man has seen or can see” (referring to God the Father)
• “To Him be honor and eternal dominion!”

That is the final word about God as manifested in Jesus Christ. Anything less diminishes the person of Jesus Christ. And that truth matters!

Father, I exalt Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my immortal Sovereign.