THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY - Chapter 2 - Verse 6

Verse 6. 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 (dei) that the man who cultivates the earth, should enjoy the fruits of his labour. See the same image explained See Barnes "1 Co 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 connexion with the word labour—" labouring first, must be partaker." That is, it is a great law that the husbandman must work before he receives a harvest. This sense will accord with the purpose of the apostle. It was to remind Timothy that labour 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 labour 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.

{2} "that laboureth" "labouring first must be partaker"