2Tim 4:1

“...I desire to guard you beforehand, that ye fall not upon the hooks of vain doctrine, but that you may rather attain to a full assurance in Christ, who was begotten by the Father before all ages, but was afterwards born of the Virgin Mary without any intercourse with man. He also lived a holy life, and healed every kind of sickness and disease among the people, and wrought signs and wonders for the benefit of men; and to those who had fallen into the error of polytheism He made known the one and only true God, His Father, and underwent the passion, and endured the cross at the hands of the Christ-killing Jews, under Pontius Pilate the governor and Herod the king. He also died, and rose again, and ascended into the heavens to Him that sent Him, and is sat down at His right hand, and shall come at the end of the world, with His Father's glory, to judge the living and the dead, and to render to every one according to his works. He who knows these things with a full assurance, and believes them, is happy; even as ye are now the lovers of God and of Christ, in the full assurance of our hope, from which may no one of us ever be turned aside!”

“"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead." He either means the wicked and the just, or the departed and those that are still living; for many will be left alive. In the former Epistle he raised his fears, saying, "I give thee charge in the sight of God, Who quickeneth all things" (1 Tim. vi. 13): but here he sets before him what is more dreadful, "Who shall judge the quick and the dead," that is, Who shall call them to account "at His appearing and His kingdom." When shall He judge? at His appearing with glory, and in His kingdom. Either he says this to show that He will not come in the way that He now has come, or, "I call to witness His coming, and His kingdom." He calls Him to witness, showing that he had reminded Him of that appearing.”

“Concerning the coming judgment of human beings, living and dead, the blessed Paul says this, "I bear witness in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power." At his coming, from the body of the first man which God fashioned from the earth, up until the bodies of all human beings which began to live when they were infused with a soul, all will be raised by him by whose action they were created. In the resurrection, individual bodies will be restored to their individual souls, which they began to have in the wombs of their mothers, in order that they might begin to live—in order that, in the examination of the just judge, souls might receive in their very same individual bodies their reward, of the kingdom or of punishment, in those bodies in which they had led a good or evil life in this world.”

“After giving comfort and encouragement for everyone, he brings up great things at the close of his writing. Now reasonably he brings up such great things, because he was destressed about what he was going to say to the disciple about his own death. So the Scriptures say, from which he said, that "From childhood you have known the Scriptures. (2 Tim 3:15)"”

“The Apostle instills fear in Timothy in another place as well, having said: "before God, Who gives life to all things, I charge you" (1 Tim. 6:13); but here he makes his speech more fearful by reminding him of that judgment. Him, he says, Who will demand an account, I call as witness that I have not hidden even this from you. By "the living and the dead" he means either sinners and the righteous, or those who have died and also those who will then remain alive. Some, however, understand this as referring to souls and bodies. When is He who is to judge coming? At the time of His coming, which will be with glory and royal majesty. For the second coming will not be as humble as the first.”

“Having mentioned the dangers that will appear in the last days, and Timothy's ability to resist them, the Apostle here shows him how to resist: first, he gives the advice; second, its need, at "for there shall be a time." In regard to the first he does two things: first, he adjures him; second, he advises him, at "preach the word." In the adjuration are two things: first, those before whom one is adjured; second, the one by whom. Now one is adjured before two witnesses, namely, before him who is our beatitude and before him who leads us to it. But our beatitude is God: "blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" (Ps 32:12). He says, therefore, "I charge you before God," i.e., I call on God to witness that I am giving this exhortation; for this witness cannot be deceived: "but I call on God to witness upon my soul" (2 Cor 1:23). "And Jesus Christ," who will lead us to beatitude: "by whom also we have access through faith into this grace" (Rom 5:12). Or another way: he leads us because he shall judge the living and the dead. Then by "living," he means those who are still alive when he comes; for they will of course die, but because they will rise shortly they are called living: "we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them who have slept" (1 Thess 4:14). Or "living" refers to the good, namely, who live the life of grace, and "the dead" refers to the wicked: "he that loves not abides in death" (1 John 3:14). These also will he judge: "it is he who was appointed by God to the judge of the living and of the dead" (Acts 10:42). But since Christ is God, why does he use the conjunction, "before God and Christ"? I answer that this could mean before God, namely, the Father, and Christ, i.e., the Son: for the Father is the font of divinity. Then when he says, "by his coming and his kingdom," he adjures him through two things that the saints desire: the first is the coming of Christ: "like to men that wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding" (Luke 12:36); "come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20). The second thing is his kingdom: "your kingdom come" (Matt 6:10). He reigns according to his general power over all creatures: "all power is given to me in heaven and in earth" (Matt 28:18), but according to his special and spiritual power he reigns in the saints at present by grace, and in the future by glory; because the saints are not of this world: "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). But this kingdom begins here and will be completed in the future, when all kingdoms will be subjected to him willing and unwilling: "until I make your enemies your footstool" (Ps 109:1).”

“I therefore seriously charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom. The continuous exhortation and command produces three effects: it makes the command more formidable and undeniable, and it presents what is useful in speech. For if it were not such, it would not be necessary for it to be preached with such great determination. Moreover, what belongs to him who urgently announces it is done, no longer subject, as is likely, to the negligence that usually occurs in preaching. who is to judge the living and the dead, at his appearing. Paul speaks of the sinners and the righteous, or those who have passed away, and those still living, or that many will be left alive then. Paul also says elsewhere, "Indeed, we shall not all sleep." (1 Cor. 15:51) at his appearing. When is the future to be judged? At the Lord's arrival, which will be after the kingdom and glory have come. For he will not come in the same way as he came before.”