84 Paul Himes 3.2. Second Timothy In 2 Tim, Paul uses thirty-four imperatives, but a substantially higher number of them are aorist (eighteen, including one occurrence of μὴ with the aorist subjunctive). The first two occurrences of the aorist (and of any imperative) are in 1,8. There Paul uses an aorist subjunctive with μὴ to tell Timothy not to be ashamed of the witness of the Lord. He follows that with an admonition to Timothy to join together with others in suffering for the Gospel (συγκακοπάθησον, a second aorist imperative). Here, conceivably, a present could have been used since the concepts of both not being ashamed of the Lord and suffering with others can be viewed from a durative perspective. Yet the reason Paul used aorists may lie in the fact that verse eight, as Philip Towner notes, consists of a “general command to resume ministry”46. Mounce argues that the second verb, the aorist imperative, is “continuing the force of the negated aorist subjunctive”47, but one wonders whether or not “force” is an appropriate term here (if the aorist is viewed generically, as the default tense, it does not possess any “force”). Thomas Lea and Hayne Griffin, Jr. argue that “the use of the Greek aorist tense suggests that at present Timothy was not ashamed”48, but this would seem to be a completely unnecessary conjecture not born out by the aorist prohibition elsewhere in Scripture (regardless of whether or not it fits this particular instance)49. In 2 Tim 1,14, Paul urges Timothy to guard that which had been given over to him, a virtual mirror image of the command in 1 Tim 6,20. Once again it is difficult to see why an aorist was used rather than a present. The act of “guarding” can certainly be seen in a durative/iterative sense. At the very least it is not a punctiliar action in the sense that it would only occur once. In 2 Tim 2,2 and 2,3 Paul uses aorist imperatives, despite having used a present imperative in 2,1. At this point Paul urges Timothy to “be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” while in 2,2-3 Timothy is to deliver what he has heard from Paul to “faithful men” and then to suffer along with others (συγκακοπάθησον, the same verb used in 1,8) “as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Like the other passages, this tense change is difficult to explain. Why use a present for the concept 46 P. H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (NICNT; Grand Rapids, Mich. 2006) 463; Towner does not, however, discuss the tense change here. 47 Mounce, Pastoral Epistles 480. 48 T. D. Lea and H. P. Griffin, Jr., 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (NAC; Nashville, Tenn. 1992) 190. 49 See the third section of the paper for a discussion of this specific issue, namely whether or not the aorist prohibition can be used to halt currently ongoing activity.