Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 2:7

"whereunto I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth, I lie not), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." — 1 Timothy 2:7 (ASV)

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle . . . — “Whereunto,” or “for which witness.” St. Paul was ordained an Apostle to announce this witness — the witness being the suffering and the death of Christ — the reference being entirely to what preceded.

I speak the truth . . . and lie not. — The warmth with which St. Paul here asserted his divinely conferred commission as preacher and Apostle was not prompted by any desire on his part to seize an occasion of asserting, in the presence of his enemies (the false, heretical teachers of Ephesus), his special rank and prerogatives as an Apostle chosen and commissioned by the Most High.

These fiery and earnest words had no private reference to him, St. Paul, or to his special claims to be heard. They were uttered solely in view of the surpassing magnitude of the message with which he was charged — solely to bear a weighty and imposing testimony to the truth of his assertion, which so many were ready and eager to dispute — the assertion that the gospel of Jesus Christ was a message of glad tidings, was an offer of salvation, not to a people, but to a world.

A teacher of the Gentiles. — This specifies more clearly the special duties of his apostleship, perhaps not without some reference to the peculiar fitness that marked him out as the declarer of the divine will regarding this gracious offer of redemption to the isles of the scattered, countless Gentiles.

In faith and verity. — This is better rendered in faith and truth. These words specify the sphere in which the Apostle performed his great mission. The first, “in faith,” refers to St. Paul’s own personal faith in Jesus — the grand motive power of his life and work. The second, “in truth,” refers to the truth of Christianity — to the well-known facts of the gospel story.

In other words, St. Paul carried on his ceaseless labors: within, gathering fresh and ever-fresh strength from the inexhaustible spring of his own loving, mighty faith in Jesus; and without, appealing to the generally well-known incidents of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the truth of which all might test.

In those days, there were even many eye-witnesses of the Passion still living.