2 Timothy 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
Paul reminds Timothy that he (Paul) didn’t become an apostle because he (Paul) thought it was a good idea, but because God wanted it to be.
Paul was motivated to be an apostle because of the promise that all who believe will escape spiritual death and receive spiritual life, which is a new body that will never be tempted. This is the hope that Paul had and it was that hope that energized him every day to get up and do what God wanted him to do.
You see, our current situation is pretty pathetic – we have this flesh that tempts us to sin, and if we don’t want to sin we have to fight against it. We can’t be saved if we want to sin, so we have to set ourselves against sin, and this means fighting against the flesh all the time. It is an upward battle that will only end when we die. But what happens after we die? If we die and go to hell, we are in deep trouble. If we die and go to heaven, and still have to fight against our flesh, for eternity, so that we never sin there so that we can be with God, it is not a very attractive thing.
To fix this, God will change us when we are raised from the dead, and give us a body that cannot be tempted. That frees us forever from having to fight against sin. That is the promise of life that Paul finds very attractive – and you should to – and that is what motivates Paul (and should motivate you too) to do whatever God wants of you.
2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy {and} peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul considered Timothy as a son – a beloved son. Timothy was very precious to Paul and Paul wrote to Timothy the things that were very dear to his heart. So we should pay very careful attention to what Paul wrote.
Grace is help from God to overcome sin and accomplish spiritual goals (like building His kingdom). Peace with God is a state where God is on your side and not opposing you. Mercy is not getting the punishment you deserve. You can’t do anything for God if He hasn’t shown you mercy and forgiven you your sins, or if He is opposing you instead of being on your side, or if He is not actively helping you to get things done. Paul realized how important it is to have mercy, peace and grace from God, and that is why the first thing he wishes Timothy is that he have mercy, peace and grace from God.
Given that Paul wished grace, mercy and peace for everyone he wrote to, don’t you think that Paul himself always ensured that he was in a position to receive grace, mercy and peace from God? Shouldn’t you too?
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,
4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.
Paul, being in prison, couldn’t see Timothy as often as he wished. So he wrote to Timothy. Also, he prayed for Timothy, night and day. Nowadays, we can pretty much contact, see, or write to, people anywhere in the world. As a result, we don’t value our meetings as much.
When Paul met Timothy, he didn’t chit-chat and jibber-jabber. He imparted value by speaking about things that mattered. When we meet with believers, we too must cut the useless talk to the minimum, and seek to give and receive spiritual value to each other. Yet, it should never be forced, or artificial, or done for the sake of sounding spiritual. Rather, it should come from a deep inner desire to bless and be blessed spiritually. If the other person is more spiritual than us, we must speak less and listen more, and if we are speaking with people who can benefit from our life (people like our children, our nephews and nieces), then we should spend time thinking about what we can say to bless them in their current or future situation.
5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that {it is} in you as well.
Paul knew Timothy’s family across several generations, and he had great regard for his mother and grandmother, particular because they had sincere faith (for not everyone has sincere faith). Having spiritual parents and grandparents is a very valuable thing. If you are fortunate to have such parents and grandparents you should treasure them and listen to them and seek advice from them and learn from them. You can receive the sincere faith that they have too. It would be a shame if you choose to ignore the value that you can receive from conversations with them and from observing how they handle different situations in life. And yes, they are not perfect, and may stumble and fall every so often, but it would be a great mistake on your part to discard what they have to say just because you’ve seen them fall every now and then – remember God’s response to Noah’s sons when they witnessed Noah in an embarrassing position. Therefore, adopt a large-hearted attitude towards godly people who have taken the time to nurture you and develop you. However, the other side of the coin is that you shouldn’t blindly accept what they say, no matter how much they have helped you and blessed you. You should always compare what they say with Scripture, and if what they say doesn’t match Scripture you should reject what they say.
6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
Timothy had a valuable spiritual gift, which he received when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit, which happened when Paul prayed for Timothy. But Timothy was somewhat timid and didn’t develop his gift as strongly as he should have. If you are like Timothy, neglecting your gift, then what the Holy Spirit says to Timothy here is also what the Holy Spirit says to you – don’t neglect the valuable gift you have, but start using it. Remember that, on judgment day, God will ask you what you did with that gift, and you don’t want to be like the guy who buried the one talent that he was given.
There are three things to remember when developing your spiritual gift. One, it is a source of power – i.e. it can accomplish stuff, and so you have to use it; don’t waste its power. Two, the motive behind using it must be love – it is for the benefit of others, and not to exalt you. Three, you must use it with discipline – when and how God wants you to use it, and not otherwise.
What can stop you? Your timidity! If you worry about what others will think and say, you will hesitate to use it. If you are too embarrassed to make mistakes while using it, you will hesitate to use it. Don’t let these things stop you. If you make a mistake, learn from your mistake, and repent, and bounce back. The apostles made a few mistakes too; so did many men of God; but that didn’t stop them from exercising their gift, and neither did the thought of making a mistake.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with {me} in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
When you use your gift, you become a representative of God. Don’t be ashamed of representing God – He is very great, and it is a great honor to be His representative. Further, the true servants of God will be maligned, and standing with them can make you look bad. But don’t be ashamed of standing with the true servants of God either, for they are God’s choice partners, highly favored in God’s eyes.
As you represent God, and stand for His gospel, you will very likely suffer through all kinds of humiliation. God will give you power to handle that. So don’t worry about whether you will be able to handle that.
Remember the greatness of what you’ve been called to – you’ve escaped damnation; you’ve been given responsibility in God’s kingdom. You didn’t really deserve it, but God was kind enough to bring you in, and give you gifts, and make you useful, and help you get through. All that is awesome, and worth suffering for! You have a great future, a great purpose, and nothing beats what you have. Therefore, be confident; there is really no – and I mean ‘NO’ – place for timidity!
‘Life and immortality’ refers to that fact that in the future God will give us a body that can never be tempted and therefore never sin. As a result, spiritual death is abolished. That great news is worth suffering for. In the latter part of Romans chapter eight, Paul talks very ecstatically about the same topic.
This plan of bringing you in and using you for His kingdom wasn’t something that God thought about yesterday. No, it was planned from all eternity. Therefore, it has no flaw, and it is something that God really wanted to do. You have full support from God and all His favor when you go about exercising your spiritual gift – another reason to throw away all timidity.
11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.
12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
Paul received a piece of the action too – he was a preacher and apostle and teacher of this gospel. He received all the benefits that he mentioned above, and that is why he was willing to undergo all the humiliation and the sufferings. He knew that God, whom He believed, doesn’t lie (Tit 1:2, Heb 6:18) and this is why he is sure that God will keep His promise and give Paul life and immortality – the things he has entrusted to Him until the day of the resurrection.
If you read Tit 1:2, you will see that Paul tells Titus the same thing, as did the writer to the Hebrews in Heb 6:18.
What about you? Are you excited about the promise of immortality and life? Do you derive energy from the hope of eternal life? When things go wrong, and circumstances let you down, and people let you down, is this promise an anchor to your soul? This promise is one of the secrets of a successful Christian life, and a wise Christian will learn to draw strength from it whenever needed.
13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to {you.}
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he encouraged Timothy to stop people from teaching false doctrine, and to ensure that the truth (i.e. the standard of sound words) was not drowned out. Here, Paul is reminding Timothy of what he asked him to do in the first letter.
This truth about God and man, or ‘sound words’ as Paul describes it, is treasure to the people of God, and has to be guarded by the people (like Paul and Timothy) to whom it has been entrusted to.
This was the chief thing that was on Paul’s mind when he wrote to Timothy. As we read in the fourth chapter, Paul believed that he was going to die soon, and he wanted to pass the baton to Timothy – the baton of guarding this treasure.
You have to guard truth through the Holy Spirit. If you guard it through the flesh you will end up persecuting and killing the true prophets of God and the guardians of the treasure, just like the Pharisees, and many others, have done throughout history. They didn’t guard truth, by the way, but falsehood, or even things that were once true, but were no longer truth in God’s eyes.
From verse 14 we see that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. He dwells in us as a seal, or identification mark, to identify us as children of God when it is time to raise us from the dead. This requires us to use our body in ways that will not disgust Him.
15 You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
While Paul was in prison, people turned away from him. When you stand up as a leader, whether you are anointed or not, some people will follow you, and even do as you say. But few will remain with you when you are ‘down and out’. Adversity is a great filter of friends, and those who stand with you in adversity are the friends worth keeping.
16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains;
17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me –
18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day – and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.
Onesiphorus was one of the few who remained faithful to Paul, and Paul blessed him with a very special blessing – that he may find mercy with God on the Day of Judgment.
On the Day of Judgment, all our flaws and foolishness and sin will be examined. Just imagine how valuable it will be if God decides to overlook all of them. God will do this to a special kind of people – those who show mercy to others. If you overlook the flaws of others, God will do the same for you (Mt 5:7). This truth is worth mediating on, and remembering!
In summary, the first chapter reminds us that we have a task to fulfill in God’s army, and that we should be faithful to get it done.
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