2 Timothy 2:6

Husbandman. Gr. georgos, literally, “tiller of the earth,” from which the English name “George” is derived. Paul now compares the minister with a farmer, as he already has to an athlete (v. 5), and a soldier (vs. 3, 4).

Partaker. The farmer’s produce feeds both himself and the rest of the world. If the farmer did not share in his produce, he would die and the rest of the world would go hungry. Hence, the minister must first partake of the Christian graces (see on Gal. 5:22, 23) before he is able to share these graces with others. No one can share something he does not have. The world needs both the produce of the farmer and a genuine exhibit of the fruits of Christianity, but if the farmer does not eat the food he produces and the minister does not exhibit the truths he preaches, the world suffers.