Paul closes 1 Timothy and opens 2 Timothy with the same imperative: RUN! In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul writes, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
As in 1 Timothy 5:11, Paul calls on Timothy to flee from some things while simultaneously pursuing other things. In this passage, Timothy is to flee youthful passions. To understand what Paul means by “youthful passions” we look to the preceding verses. In vv20-21, Paul speaks of two kinds of vessels, those for honorable uses and those for dishonorable uses. An honorable vessel has cleansed himself from filth and is set apart as holy to the Lord for good works. So what are youthful passions? Anything in heart or conduct that would cause one to be dishonorable to the Lord. In simple terms, stay away from evil, perverse, self-indulgent sin!
Paul commands Timothy to pursue four virtues in this text. The first three are found in Paul’s list in 1 Tim 5. The fourth one, peace, is an additional virtue for believers. (Note the similarity between these virtues and the fruit of Spirit and the Beatitudes!) As believers, we understand that these kinds of virtues should be present in our lives. What we may not realize is that these kinds of virtues ARE present in the lives of true believers! Notice Paul says, “along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
When an individual runs in this way, that is, away from sin and to godliness, he finds himself in the camp of believers! As well he should, for he is a believer too! So lace up those running shoes believer! We were saved to run like this! If we are saved, we will run like this!
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