2 Timothy 4:14...the coppersmith?

[jethro]

Does anyone have any idea exactly what "Alexander the Coppersmith" did to Paul in this verse?

2 Timothy 4:14

I have heard that this is the same Alexander that Paul threw out of the church along with Hymeneus in 1 Timothy 1:20, and it was probably for pushing Gnosticism, but it seems as though the coppersmith is emphasized more than others.

[Sing4Him]

(14-15) A warning to beware of Alexander the coppersmith.

Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.

a. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm: In 1 Timothy 1:20 Paul mentioned Alexander as someone who whose faith had suffered shipwreck. Now Paul warned Timothy about this same man. Paul simply wrote that Alexander did me much harm - but that he would also oppose Timothy (You also must beware of him).

i. It would have been wrong of Timothy to respond to this by saying to Paul, “Paul, Alexander has always been nice to me. He has his faults, but don’t we all?” Instead, we can be sure that Timothy respected Paul’s judgment - and took his counsel to beware of Alexander.

ii. Coppersmith “Does not mean that he worked only in copper. The term came to be used of workers in any kind of metal.” (White)

b. Did me much harm: The implication of this phrase is that he “informed many things against me.” Perhaps Alexander was a traitor, an informer who betrayed Paul to the Roman government and was responsible for his current imprisonment. Perhaps the thought of he has greatly resisted our words meant that Alexander was a witness against Paul at his first defense.

i. “Informers were one of the great curses of Rome at this time. And it may well be that Alexander was a renegade Christian, who went to the magistrates with false information against Paul, seeking to ruin him in the most dishonourable way.” (Barclay)

ii. “They were accused to ‘atheism,’ (because they eschewed idolatry and emperor-worship), of cannibalism (because they spoke of eating Christ’s body), and even of a general ‘hatred of the human race’ (because of their supposed disloyalty to Caesar and perhaps because they had renounced the popular pleasures of sin). It may be that some of these charges were being leveled against Paul.” (Stott)

c. May the Lord repay him according to his works: Alexander’s judgment would be simple. It is a terrible thing to be judged according to one’s works.

i. “This is neither a curse nor a railing speech, saith an ancient, but a prediction well beseeming an apostle, that avenged not himself, but rather gave place to wrath, Romans 12:19.” (Trapp)

http://blueletterbible.org/Comm/david_guzik/sg/2Ti_4.html

[Buzzardhut]

It would have been wrong of Timothy to respond to this by saying to Paul, “Paul, Alexander has always been nice to me. He has his faults, but don’t we all?” Instead, we can be sure that Timothy respected Paul’s judgment - and took his counsel to beware of Alexander.

Hmmmm
Interesting concept

[Sing4Him]

Hmmmm
Interesting concept

Guzik's commentary on it..

Timothy was quite younger!

Maybe he listened well after Paul told Peter off! LOL!!

[God's Trombone]

It seems to me from the weight of the scriptures available that it was Alexander's resistance or opposition to Paul's doctrine.

There are many mentions of those who "turn away" from the "Grace message" Paul preached.

II Tim. 1:15
15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

Acts 20:29
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.