2 Timothy 2:19

‘However that may be the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his’, and, ‘Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.’

‘However that may be the firm foundation of God stands.’ Whatever the heresies that arise, and however many are led astray or have their faith overthrown, it will not affect the firm foundation that God has laid, which stands solid and has been sealed by God with two seals, one declaring that He knows those who are His, and the other declaring that all who name the Name of the Lord must depart from unrighteousness. The basic principle is clear. Here is certainty. Nothing can stand in the way of God’s purposes. Those who are His elect are secure, and in return they are being called on to turn from unrighteousness.

But what is the ‘firm foundation of God’?

1) Some have referred this foundation to the ‘sure foundation’ described in Isaiah 28:16, (although the rendering in LXX does not specifically lend itself to the connection). If we do refer it to this verse on the basis of the Hebrew text (‘the sure foundation’) then the firm foundation that stood there was the statement ‘he who believes will not be in a hurry’ (because ‘in quietness and confidence would be their strength’ - Isaiah 30:15). That would tie in well with the fact that the foundation here also connects with two such statements and would in the end make the firm foundation here refer to the sovereign purpose of God, as it did there.

2) Others see the firm foundation as simply indicating the foundation which is God’s eternal purpose, which is sealed in two ways, one by the certainty that He knows those who are His, and the other by the requirement that those who name the Lord’s Name depart from unrighteousness. We can compare how in the Old Testament ‘the prophetic teaching ‘ was sealed (Isaiah 8:16), and the prophetic future was sealed (Daniel 12:4; Daniel 12:9). Here then we may see the foundation as God’s sovereign overall purpose seen as a firm foundation that is sealed, just as it is God’s purposes that are sealed and opened up in Revelation 5-6. Then the statements can be seen as revealing the working out of that eternal purpose.

3) Others see the foundation as Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 21:42). As it was in Him that the eternal purposes of God for the salvation of His own was being accomplished, this is very similar to 1) and 2), but with the additional element of His personal Being and activity. And the assurance is that He knows those who are His, and the requirement is that those who name His Name should depart from unrighteousness. This certainly agrees with the idea that the Lord ‘knows’ His own as found on His own lips in Matthew 7:23; Matthew 25:12; John 2:24; John 5:42; John 6:64; John 10:14; John 13:18; and also in Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:9; 1 Peter 1:2, compare also Amos 3:2. It is also made clear in Matthew 7:23 that those who do not depart from unrighteousness are not known by Him.

4) Others see it as referring to the foundation that God has laid in the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. Then it is the foundation on which is built the whole household of God which is growing into a holy Temple in the Lord, as a dwellingplace of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:20). Thus in the end the firm foundation here is the church, as founded on Jesus Christ and His words (see Matthew 16:18), whether worldwide or local. The ancient practise of engraving inscriptions on buildings in order to indicate their purpose then explains the two sealing statements. This would certainly then tie in to some extent with the idea of the ‘great house’ mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:20, but if that was the intention why was the latter ‘a great house’ and not the Temple (as it could easily have been)?

5) Others suggest that the firm foundation is simply the foundation of the household of God, the church, seen as a regular household set up by the Father (which would fit in with the following illustration). See 1 Timothy 3:15, where the ‘household of God’ is ‘the church of the living God’, and compare John 8:35-36; Hebrews 3:1-6. See also all the parables which depict the people of God as a household (e.g. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 11:36-40; Luke 11:42-48; Luke 15:11-32; Luke 16:1-13).

6) Still other suggestions are that the foundation is the truth of the Gospel, or the work of God in the believer.

The two statements which are the seal of the firm foundation have been connected with Numbers 16:5; Numbers 16:26, where Moses says to Korah and his friends, ‘in the morning YHWH will show who are His, and who are holy’, which in LXX is ‘God has visited and known those who are His’ (Numbers 16:5) and ‘depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins’ (Numbers 16:26). (‘Depart from unrighteousness’ could then indicate that those who name the Name of the Lord should remove themselves from the presence of the false teachers). That incident is very pertinent here, for there too men were rebelling against God’s truth, and were opposing the appointed leaders of the people of God. And there too the Lord knew who were His, and called on all his people to depart from unrighteousness. Others see the second statement as coming from Isaiah 52:11, ‘Depart, depart, go you out from there, touch no unclean thing, go you out of the midst of her. Be you clean who bear the vessels of the Lord.’ The same verb for ‘depart’ is used in LXX, but there they are bearers of the vessels of the Lord, not the actual vessels.

Whichever interpretations we prefer we must not lose sight of the fact that the general principle is the same. Firstly that God’s purpose is sure and firmly founded whatever happens, and secondly that He knows who are true and who are not, and that He requires those who are true to depart from unrighteousness.