Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Timothy 1:13

"Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." — 2 Timothy 1:13 (ASV)

Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me.—It was not sufficient for Timothy to renew his failing courage and to strengthen himself for fresh efforts; he must do something more—in his teaching he must never let those solemn, established forms of words he had once received from him be changed.

Perhaps in the heart of Saint Paul lurked some dread that the new interpretations and misleading explanations which the group of false teachers, so often referred to in these Pastoral Epistles, chose to add to the great doctrines of Christianity would be more likely to be listened to by Timothy when the hand of his old master was cold and the heart had ceased to beat. So he urged him to hold fast those inspired, established forms of words he had heard from Saint Paul’s lips—for instance, those “faithful sayings” that appear so often in these Epistles to Timothy and Titus.

In faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.—Timothy, in days to come, must model and shape his teaching according to the pattern of his master Saint Paul’s teaching, and he must do this in the faith and love that alone comes from a life lived in communion with Christ.

Saint Paul's very frequent reference in these Epistles to “sound, healthy words”—words from which he urges his disciples and successors never to depart—indicates to us the deep importance that Saint Paul and the first generation of believers attached to the exact words and expressions used by the apostles and those who had been with the Lord.

False doctrines might easily creep in, and loose forms of expression regarding great truths were an ever-present danger.

Saint Paul also knew that a lax life almost invariably accompanied false doctrine.

Hence his repeated exhortations to these representative teachers of the second generation of Christians, Timothy and Titus, to hold fast the form of sound, healthy words—words such as these had been heard again and again from the lips of apostles and hearers of the Lord—words which thou hast heard of me (Saint Paul).