Hebrews 4

Hebrews 4:1

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:2

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:3

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:4

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:5

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:6

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:7

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:8

Praise and Final Exhortations

1 Timothy 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (John 8:51; John 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Revelation 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him.

No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1 Timothy 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1 Timothy 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psalms 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Revelation 1:7).

1 Timothy 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (John 1:14; John 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; Colossians 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1 Timothy 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1 Timothy 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (James 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Proverbs 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psalms 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (James 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1 Timothy 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Proverbs 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1 Timothy 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1 Timothy 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1 Timothy 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

Hebrews 4:11

Introduction

After Paul was released from his first imprisonment (cf. Philippians 1:23-26; Philippians 2:19-24; Philemon 1:22), he wrote the first letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus. Paul has written this second letter to his young friend during his second imprisonment. His second imprisonment is much heavier than his first one. He also knows that he will not be released again, but that he will be sentenced and will suffer the martyr’s death.

If you bear this background in mind you will experience the power of the letter while reading. The bold witness and the confidence in God in hard times come from a man who is willing to die for what has been entrusted to him by God. Therefore this letter is a warning and an encouragement for the man of God in the last days.

You may call this letter a farewell message of Paul, like the farewell (or last) words we have from Jacob (Genesis 49:1-33), from Moses (Deuteronomy 33:1-25) and from Samuel (1 Samuel 12:1-25). Maybe it is still better to speak of the spiritual testament of the apostle. In a testament a person declares what he wants to be done with his properties after his death. Paul knows that his earthly life will soon end. He leaves a spiritual inheritance behind: the truth that God has committed to his trust. How are the believers supposed to deal with it when he is not there anymore? In this letter he will exhibit it.

Paul has established and built the church of God on earth through the gospel. His work is finished. But as it happened to everything that God has given into the hands of man, it will also happen to the church on earth. Paul foresees its deviation and decay. At the same time, he also keenly sees the condition the church will end up to after his death (cf. Acts 20:29). He sees that it will increase after his death. The instructions he writes down in this spiritual testament are therefore of great importance for the church through the time from the death of the great apostle.

You encounter much passion and emotion in the letter. Paul was a man with a nature like ours. He looks back at his life work and sees what has become of it. He doesn’t do that as an emotionless analyst who looks at cold statistics. He again experiences his work and he also has a presentiment of how things will develop. From those feelings he passes on guidelines for a time that all things will deteriorate even more and that the origin of the church will be hardly recognizable.

When you read the letter you hear him sharing the concerns of his heart with a (young) man who is concerned about that, just like him. He does that in a way that makes the letter important for all times. Therefore, it is clearly a Holy Spirit-inspired letter and therefore part of the Bible. Through this letter the Spirit teaches us about the deviation of the church from its original state.

The letter also informs about the way of security for those who seek God and desire to live to His honor. That way of security rests on two principles from which everyone in the midst of mixture and confusion can find consolation, as the apostle did. These two principles are: 1. the firm foundation of God and 2. to abstain from wickedness.

What that means will become clear when we discuss chapter 2.

Beside the warning and encouraging character of this letter, it is also combative, because despite all decay you should not despair. The greater the decay, the greater the challenge to be a man of God (M/F). A man of God is someone who shows Who God is in an environment that does not consider the rights of God. We do not have the power in ourselves to do that, but in the Spirit of God Who is working in a man of God, even when professing Christianity is full of complacency. I hope you want to be a man of God.

The Promise of Life and Blessing

2 Timothy 1:1. Although the tone of the letter is confidential and amicable Paul starts with determining his apostleship and in that way his apostolic authority. He connects his apostleship with some things that are of great importance for the authority with which he writes down the guidelines in this letter for the time of decay. In the first place the Person of “Christ Jesus” arises behind his apostleship. Christ Jesus has sent him and determines the content of his ministry. What Paul is saying is in His Name.

In the second place he has not arrogated this apostleship to himself nor has he received it from men. No, he is an apostle “by the will of God”. The apostleship is a part of the plan of God with his life.

In the third place his apostleship is connected with “the promise of life in Christ Jesus”. That makes the ministry he performs as an apostle inviolable to death. Although Paul has died, the ministry of his apostleship remains through this letter. His apostleship is in fact connected with spiritual, heavenly and eternal things. Those are things that are beyond the earth and the decay of the church. Therefore this letter continues to keep its full meaning for the church in each time.

The life that is in Christ Jesus, is from before the ages. The Father has promised in eternity to the Son to give this life (Titus 1:2). To whom? To all who believe in the Son (John 3:36; 1 John 5:11-12). Do you believe in the Son? Then that may be the anchor from which the storms you hear about in this letter that threaten your life of faith cannot tear you away.

2 Timothy 1:2. Therefore it is wonderful and encouraging that Paul shows you first what remains unchangeably and eternally true for each child of God personally. Only then he speaks about the decay of the church. That will have done Timothy good, too. Paul says even more that will do him good. He calls him “my beloved son” to make him feel the warmth of the heart of a father toward his son.

In his first letter he calls Timothy a “true son”. But because the spiritual climate is getting colder it is more necessary to emphasize the warm love to one another. Especially at a time when many oppose or turn away from you, expressions of love are the best basis for encouraging someone to do a service. Not only toward Timothy is this expression of love important. You also notice in this expression that Paul in his nearing end even more realizes how precious Timothy is to him.

For the exercise of the tasks of Timothy there is no better wish to be thought of than what Paul speaks of here. Also in his first letter to him Paul wishes him these things. That shows that for your personal life you always need the “grace, mercy [and] peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord”. It also proves that that is sufficient for all imaginable circumstances where you may find yourself in.

Just ponder on the rich content of the separate words ‘grace’, ‘mercy’ and ‘peace’ for a moment. ‘Grace’ is God’s love for men who are not worthy of it because they are evil. ‘Mercy’ is God’s love for men who are weak and incapable, who have no capability to do something good. With grace and mercy God has fulfilled in love what you as a weak and sinful man needed. Then you realized that He also granted you His ‘peace’. Now you are a child of God you need that same grace and mercy to live as a child of God. When you are aware of this, you will experience the peace of God in your heart.

Think also for a moment about their origin, the Persons from Whom they come: ‘God the Father’ and ‘Christ Jesus, our Lord’. I assume you have learnt to know the Father and the Lord Jesus better since your conversion. You surely have found more and more reasons to thank the Father and the Lord Jesus for these rich gifts of grace, mercy and peace. It is also the first thing that Paul does here.

Now read 2 Timothy 1:1-2 again.

Reflection: Which encouragements have you found in these verses? Thank the Lord for that.

Hebrews 4:12

Introduction

After Paul was released from his first imprisonment (cf. Philippians 1:23-26; Philippians 2:19-24; Philemon 1:22), he wrote the first letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus. Paul has written this second letter to his young friend during his second imprisonment. His second imprisonment is much heavier than his first one. He also knows that he will not be released again, but that he will be sentenced and will suffer the martyr’s death.

If you bear this background in mind you will experience the power of the letter while reading. The bold witness and the confidence in God in hard times come from a man who is willing to die for what has been entrusted to him by God. Therefore this letter is a warning and an encouragement for the man of God in the last days.

You may call this letter a farewell message of Paul, like the farewell (or last) words we have from Jacob (Genesis 49:1-33), from Moses (Deuteronomy 33:1-25) and from Samuel (1 Samuel 12:1-25). Maybe it is still better to speak of the spiritual testament of the apostle. In a testament a person declares what he wants to be done with his properties after his death. Paul knows that his earthly life will soon end. He leaves a spiritual inheritance behind: the truth that God has committed to his trust. How are the believers supposed to deal with it when he is not there anymore? In this letter he will exhibit it.

Paul has established and built the church of God on earth through the gospel. His work is finished. But as it happened to everything that God has given into the hands of man, it will also happen to the church on earth. Paul foresees its deviation and decay. At the same time, he also keenly sees the condition the church will end up to after his death (cf. Acts 20:29). He sees that it will increase after his death. The instructions he writes down in this spiritual testament are therefore of great importance for the church through the time from the death of the great apostle.

You encounter much passion and emotion in the letter. Paul was a man with a nature like ours. He looks back at his life work and sees what has become of it. He doesn’t do that as an emotionless analyst who looks at cold statistics. He again experiences his work and he also has a presentiment of how things will develop. From those feelings he passes on guidelines for a time that all things will deteriorate even more and that the origin of the church will be hardly recognizable.

When you read the letter you hear him sharing the concerns of his heart with a (young) man who is concerned about that, just like him. He does that in a way that makes the letter important for all times. Therefore, it is clearly a Holy Spirit-inspired letter and therefore part of the Bible. Through this letter the Spirit teaches us about the deviation of the church from its original state.

The letter also informs about the way of security for those who seek God and desire to live to His honor. That way of security rests on two principles from which everyone in the midst of mixture and confusion can find consolation, as the apostle did. These two principles are: 1. the firm foundation of God and 2. to abstain from wickedness.

What that means will become clear when we discuss chapter 2.

Beside the warning and encouraging character of this letter, it is also combative, because despite all decay you should not despair. The greater the decay, the greater the challenge to be a man of God (M/F). A man of God is someone who shows Who God is in an environment that does not consider the rights of God. We do not have the power in ourselves to do that, but in the Spirit of God Who is working in a man of God, even when professing Christianity is full of complacency. I hope you want to be a man of God.

The Promise of Life and Blessing

2 Timothy 1:1. Although the tone of the letter is confidential and amicable Paul starts with determining his apostleship and in that way his apostolic authority. He connects his apostleship with some things that are of great importance for the authority with which he writes down the guidelines in this letter for the time of decay. In the first place the Person of “Christ Jesus” arises behind his apostleship. Christ Jesus has sent him and determines the content of his ministry. What Paul is saying is in His Name.

In the second place he has not arrogated this apostleship to himself nor has he received it from men. No, he is an apostle “by the will of God”. The apostleship is a part of the plan of God with his life.

In the third place his apostleship is connected with “the promise of life in Christ Jesus”. That makes the ministry he performs as an apostle inviolable to death. Although Paul has died, the ministry of his apostleship remains through this letter. His apostleship is in fact connected with spiritual, heavenly and eternal things. Those are things that are beyond the earth and the decay of the church. Therefore this letter continues to keep its full meaning for the church in each time.

The life that is in Christ Jesus, is from before the ages. The Father has promised in eternity to the Son to give this life (Titus 1:2). To whom? To all who believe in the Son (John 3:36; 1 John 5:11-12). Do you believe in the Son? Then that may be the anchor from which the storms you hear about in this letter that threaten your life of faith cannot tear you away.

2 Timothy 1:2. Therefore it is wonderful and encouraging that Paul shows you first what remains unchangeably and eternally true for each child of God personally. Only then he speaks about the decay of the church. That will have done Timothy good, too. Paul says even more that will do him good. He calls him “my beloved son” to make him feel the warmth of the heart of a father toward his son.

In his first letter he calls Timothy a “true son”. But because the spiritual climate is getting colder it is more necessary to emphasize the warm love to one another. Especially at a time when many oppose or turn away from you, expressions of love are the best basis for encouraging someone to do a service. Not only toward Timothy is this expression of love important. You also notice in this expression that Paul in his nearing end even more realizes how precious Timothy is to him.

For the exercise of the tasks of Timothy there is no better wish to be thought of than what Paul speaks of here. Also in his first letter to him Paul wishes him these things. That shows that for your personal life you always need the “grace, mercy [and] peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord”. It also proves that that is sufficient for all imaginable circumstances where you may find yourself in.

Just ponder on the rich content of the separate words ‘grace’, ‘mercy’ and ‘peace’ for a moment. ‘Grace’ is God’s love for men who are not worthy of it because they are evil. ‘Mercy’ is God’s love for men who are weak and incapable, who have no capability to do something good. With grace and mercy God has fulfilled in love what you as a weak and sinful man needed. Then you realized that He also granted you His ‘peace’. Now you are a child of God you need that same grace and mercy to live as a child of God. When you are aware of this, you will experience the peace of God in your heart.

Think also for a moment about their origin, the Persons from Whom they come: ‘God the Father’ and ‘Christ Jesus, our Lord’. I assume you have learnt to know the Father and the Lord Jesus better since your conversion. You surely have found more and more reasons to thank the Father and the Lord Jesus for these rich gifts of grace, mercy and peace. It is also the first thing that Paul does here.

Now read 2 Timothy 1:1-2 again.

Reflection: Which encouragements have you found in these verses? Thank the Lord for that.

Hebrews 4:13

Thanks, Power, Love and Discipline

2 Timothy 1:3. Paul doesn’t give thanks to God because of the special ministry he was given and which he had now almost accomplished. No, he gives thanks to God because of Whom God is. Could the reason be that he had experienced much of the grace and mercy of God and that with the peace of God in his heart he was able to go through all hardships?

Of course he has known God for a long time now. He served God with a clear conscience the way his forefathers did. In their footsteps he has been serving God. They enabled him to serve God. He doesn’t make any judgment about their inward condition, he only writes down what characterized them. He acknowledges what was in them for God. With gratefulness he looks back at his relationship with his parents and forefathers at the end of his life. Those relationships are not nullified when we come to conversion. Also now it is of great importance that the Lord is being served in the families and generations.

Paul already knew and served God before he converted. He did that to the best of his knowledge and with a clear conscience. That doesn’t mean that his service had the consent or blessing of God. It only means that what he did, he did in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:12-14). He was sincerely convinced that with everything he was doing he was serving God (cf. John 16:2-3). That’s why his conscience did not accuse him for anything he did. His conscience remained clean; he never fought against his conscience. Herein also lies an exhortation for Timothy to keep a clean conscience.

He always remembers Timothy in his prayers. Timothy may know that and that must have encouraged him. How nice it is if others tell you that they pray for you. It is also nice if you can tell others that you pray for them. Through prayer the remembrance you have of others for whom you pray, remains vivid. In that way you still feel the connection between you and them. As a result, they and you do not stand alone.

2 Timothy 1:4. That doesn’t mean they don’t need to see one another. Paul has a strong desire to see Timothy. He needs company, especially that of Timothy (cf. 2 Timothy 4:9). He certainly has the company of the Lord (2 Timothy 4:17), but that doesn’t mean that he despises the relationships given by God. On the contrary, he, the great apostle, needs them. He is being encouraged by them (Acts 28:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:10). It is not a proof of a spiritual mind if believers experience their faith individually. That’s not according to the purpose of the Lord.

The tears of Timothy have moved the apostle. These are tears of sadness he saw when Timothy said goodbye to him, his older friend. The tears are the proof of true friendship. That is precisely what makes it so precious for Paul if Timothy would come to him. The joy that it would give him will be a full joy, probably again with tears, but then of joy. The tears of Timothy remain, as it were, fresh in his memory. He always remembers them.

2 Timothy 1:5. And there is something else that Paul calls to remembrance and that is the sincere faith of his young friend. The word ‘sincere’ or ‘unfeigned’ comes from the Greek word ‘hypocrite’. A Greek actor was called ‘hypocritis’. An actor always plays the role of another person. He is not himself, but he pretends to be someone else (cf. 2 Samuel 14:2). Timothy certainly doesn’t pretend, he is not characterized by counterfeit, but he is true. That’s also the reason why Paul wants to see him. You also love to be accompanied by sincere believers, by people who truly live with the Lord, don’t you?

The faith dwells in him, it has its home there. Faith is not a side matter to him, something for special occasions. Besides, he has had good examples of faith. Paul reminds him of his grandmother and mother. This is an example of the working grace of God in the generations. There are many changes, the apostasy is continuing, but there are also things that remain. There are always people who have a sincere faith in Him.

Paul doesn’t remind him of heroes of faith from a far past, of long-ago-days but of very close examples, his mother and grandmother. That should mean to you: Look around and you will surely find examples in your neighborhood in whom the faith dwells. The touch stone is faithfulness and obedience to God’s Word.

2 Timothy 1:6. If a sincere faith dwells in you, then there is a reason to remind you that you have received a “gift of God” and which you therefore ought to use. Things may probably be quite difficult in the church, but that should be a challenge to your faith. Timothy has to be reminded of it. That may be the case with you. We all tend to avoid difficulties, don’t we?

Paul gives Timothy an extra stimulus “to kindle afresh” his gift. He reminds him of the way he received the gift. That is through the laying on of Paul’s hands. In his first letter to him Paul also encouraged him in his ministry. That encouragement is the reminder that others already had announced that there was a ministry ready for him (1 Timothy 1:18). Then the elders also laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14) and in that way they made themselves one with him in his ministry. If in a weak moment he thinks he just imagines all this, he can recall this again. And now he adds a third remembrance in order to encourage Timothy. Paul personally has granted him that gift. Timothy will undoubtedly remember that event.

2 Timothy 1:7. After all Paul has not acted at his own discretion, but by God’s commission. Each gift comes from God; it is ‘the gift of God’. What is said here to Timothy is therefore an encouragement for you too. Like Timothy you may know what God has given to you.

If you focus on the circumstances you might become afraid. All kinds of arguments may arise in you that can cause you not to use the gift given to you. You could probably think that it all makes no sense after all or you may fear for the adversary that your performance may stir up. This timidity, or cowardice, is a kind of fear of loss of face or to be ridiculed. Paul points out that this “spirit of timidity” is not from God (cf. John 14:27; 1 John 4:18).

What certainly is from God is His Holy Spirit, Who wants to prove Himself in you as a Spirit “of power and love and discipline”.

1. You may know that God with the gift He makes sure that for the exercise of it He gives through His Holy Spirit the necessary power and ability.

2. The exercise of a gift also demands self-sacrifice, for the gift is not meant to edify yourself but to serve others with it. Therefore the Holy Spirit will give you love as the true motive to serve.

3. Finally, it is also important that in the exercise of your gift you act with discipline or self-control. This happens if your spirit acts in harmony with the Holy Spirit, so that you know that He is guiding you and that you do not act from uncontrolled impulsiveness (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:32). The Holy Spirit leads you to well-balanced actions and thoughtful words. It doesn’t show a work of the Spirit when a person says: ‘I couldn’t help, it was the Spirit Who urged me to.’

Still a remark about the order of these three aspects in which the work of the Holy Spirit can be recognized. ‘Love’ stands between ‘power’ and ‘discipline’. Love is in the center. It is about love. Love is the oil between power and discipline, through which both aspects ‘run’ well.

You see that also in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Chapter 12 summarizes the gifts and in chapter 14 it is about the exercise of it. The chapter in between, chapter 13, is about love. The gifts of chapter 12 can only be exercised as they are described in chapter 14, if the motive for the exercise is the love that is described in chapter 13.

2 Timothy 1:8. God has given us His Spirit to testify through the Spirit boldly of the Lord Jesus. Like Peter who was first ashamed for his Lord and denied Him (Mark 14:66-72), but witnessed through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost with great boldness of his Lord (Acts 2:14; 36). The power of the Holy Spirit has been given to us to testify of our Lord and not to perform all kinds of spectacular signs and works of power in order to stir up people’s attention. That is precisely what happens if spectacular things happen and not if someone in all simplicity gives a clear testimony about the Lord Jesus.

We all need these words so that we will not be discouraged. Unfortunately it happens often that we as Christians testify in a way we should be ashamed of. If believers become lukewarm and worldly minded and if committed witnesses are being silenced, it requires a lot of courage to persevere.

Paul connects himself to the testimony of the Lord Jesus. That is not boasting, but reality. After all, he is imprisoned because of the testimony he gave of his Lord. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t see himself as a prisoner of Nero, but of his Lord. His testimony has caused him tribulation.

Timothy is, and you are too, called to consciously accept the tribulation that goes together with the gospel and not to avoid it. Preaching the gospel and tribulation go together. But it is the power of God that enables you to go through that tribulation, not as a fate, but as a privilege (Acts 5:41).

Now read 2 Timothy 1:3-8 again.

Reflection: In what way could you stir up your gift?

Hebrews 4:14

Thanks, Power, Love and Discipline

2 Timothy 1:3. Paul doesn’t give thanks to God because of the special ministry he was given and which he had now almost accomplished. No, he gives thanks to God because of Whom God is. Could the reason be that he had experienced much of the grace and mercy of God and that with the peace of God in his heart he was able to go through all hardships?

Of course he has known God for a long time now. He served God with a clear conscience the way his forefathers did. In their footsteps he has been serving God. They enabled him to serve God. He doesn’t make any judgment about their inward condition, he only writes down what characterized them. He acknowledges what was in them for God. With gratefulness he looks back at his relationship with his parents and forefathers at the end of his life. Those relationships are not nullified when we come to conversion. Also now it is of great importance that the Lord is being served in the families and generations.

Paul already knew and served God before he converted. He did that to the best of his knowledge and with a clear conscience. That doesn’t mean that his service had the consent or blessing of God. It only means that what he did, he did in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:12-14). He was sincerely convinced that with everything he was doing he was serving God (cf. John 16:2-3). That’s why his conscience did not accuse him for anything he did. His conscience remained clean; he never fought against his conscience. Herein also lies an exhortation for Timothy to keep a clean conscience.

He always remembers Timothy in his prayers. Timothy may know that and that must have encouraged him. How nice it is if others tell you that they pray for you. It is also nice if you can tell others that you pray for them. Through prayer the remembrance you have of others for whom you pray, remains vivid. In that way you still feel the connection between you and them. As a result, they and you do not stand alone.

2 Timothy 1:4. That doesn’t mean they don’t need to see one another. Paul has a strong desire to see Timothy. He needs company, especially that of Timothy (cf. 2 Timothy 4:9). He certainly has the company of the Lord (2 Timothy 4:17), but that doesn’t mean that he despises the relationships given by God. On the contrary, he, the great apostle, needs them. He is being encouraged by them (Acts 28:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:10). It is not a proof of a spiritual mind if believers experience their faith individually. That’s not according to the purpose of the Lord.

The tears of Timothy have moved the apostle. These are tears of sadness he saw when Timothy said goodbye to him, his older friend. The tears are the proof of true friendship. That is precisely what makes it so precious for Paul if Timothy would come to him. The joy that it would give him will be a full joy, probably again with tears, but then of joy. The tears of Timothy remain, as it were, fresh in his memory. He always remembers them.

2 Timothy 1:5. And there is something else that Paul calls to remembrance and that is the sincere faith of his young friend. The word ‘sincere’ or ‘unfeigned’ comes from the Greek word ‘hypocrite’. A Greek actor was called ‘hypocritis’. An actor always plays the role of another person. He is not himself, but he pretends to be someone else (cf. 2 Samuel 14:2). Timothy certainly doesn’t pretend, he is not characterized by counterfeit, but he is true. That’s also the reason why Paul wants to see him. You also love to be accompanied by sincere believers, by people who truly live with the Lord, don’t you?

The faith dwells in him, it has its home there. Faith is not a side matter to him, something for special occasions. Besides, he has had good examples of faith. Paul reminds him of his grandmother and mother. This is an example of the working grace of God in the generations. There are many changes, the apostasy is continuing, but there are also things that remain. There are always people who have a sincere faith in Him.

Paul doesn’t remind him of heroes of faith from a far past, of long-ago-days but of very close examples, his mother and grandmother. That should mean to you: Look around and you will surely find examples in your neighborhood in whom the faith dwells. The touch stone is faithfulness and obedience to God’s Word.

2 Timothy 1:6. If a sincere faith dwells in you, then there is a reason to remind you that you have received a “gift of God” and which you therefore ought to use. Things may probably be quite difficult in the church, but that should be a challenge to your faith. Timothy has to be reminded of it. That may be the case with you. We all tend to avoid difficulties, don’t we?

Paul gives Timothy an extra stimulus “to kindle afresh” his gift. He reminds him of the way he received the gift. That is through the laying on of Paul’s hands. In his first letter to him Paul also encouraged him in his ministry. That encouragement is the reminder that others already had announced that there was a ministry ready for him (1 Timothy 1:18). Then the elders also laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14) and in that way they made themselves one with him in his ministry. If in a weak moment he thinks he just imagines all this, he can recall this again. And now he adds a third remembrance in order to encourage Timothy. Paul personally has granted him that gift. Timothy will undoubtedly remember that event.

2 Timothy 1:7. After all Paul has not acted at his own discretion, but by God’s commission. Each gift comes from God; it is ‘the gift of God’. What is said here to Timothy is therefore an encouragement for you too. Like Timothy you may know what God has given to you.

If you focus on the circumstances you might become afraid. All kinds of arguments may arise in you that can cause you not to use the gift given to you. You could probably think that it all makes no sense after all or you may fear for the adversary that your performance may stir up. This timidity, or cowardice, is a kind of fear of loss of face or to be ridiculed. Paul points out that this “spirit of timidity” is not from God (cf. John 14:27; 1 John 4:18).

What certainly is from God is His Holy Spirit, Who wants to prove Himself in you as a Spirit “of power and love and discipline”.

1. You may know that God with the gift He makes sure that for the exercise of it He gives through His Holy Spirit the necessary power and ability.

2. The exercise of a gift also demands self-sacrifice, for the gift is not meant to edify yourself but to serve others with it. Therefore the Holy Spirit will give you love as the true motive to serve.

3. Finally, it is also important that in the exercise of your gift you act with discipline or self-control. This happens if your spirit acts in harmony with the Holy Spirit, so that you know that He is guiding you and that you do not act from uncontrolled impulsiveness (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:32). The Holy Spirit leads you to well-balanced actions and thoughtful words. It doesn’t show a work of the Spirit when a person says: ‘I couldn’t help, it was the Spirit Who urged me to.’

Still a remark about the order of these three aspects in which the work of the Holy Spirit can be recognized. ‘Love’ stands between ‘power’ and ‘discipline’. Love is in the center. It is about love. Love is the oil between power and discipline, through which both aspects ‘run’ well.

You see that also in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Chapter 12 summarizes the gifts and in chapter 14 it is about the exercise of it. The chapter in between, chapter 13, is about love. The gifts of chapter 12 can only be exercised as they are described in chapter 14, if the motive for the exercise is the love that is described in chapter 13.

2 Timothy 1:8. God has given us His Spirit to testify through the Spirit boldly of the Lord Jesus. Like Peter who was first ashamed for his Lord and denied Him (Mark 14:66-72), but witnessed through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost with great boldness of his Lord (Acts 2:14; 36). The power of the Holy Spirit has been given to us to testify of our Lord and not to perform all kinds of spectacular signs and works of power in order to stir up people’s attention. That is precisely what happens if spectacular things happen and not if someone in all simplicity gives a clear testimony about the Lord Jesus.

We all need these words so that we will not be discouraged. Unfortunately it happens often that we as Christians testify in a way we should be ashamed of. If believers become lukewarm and worldly minded and if committed witnesses are being silenced, it requires a lot of courage to persevere.

Paul connects himself to the testimony of the Lord Jesus. That is not boasting, but reality. After all, he is imprisoned because of the testimony he gave of his Lord. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t see himself as a prisoner of Nero, but of his Lord. His testimony has caused him tribulation.

Timothy is, and you are too, called to consciously accept the tribulation that goes together with the gospel and not to avoid it. Preaching the gospel and tribulation go together. But it is the power of God that enables you to go through that tribulation, not as a fate, but as a privilege (Acts 5:41).

Now read 2 Timothy 1:3-8 again.

Reflection: In what way could you stir up your gift?

Hebrews 4:15

Thanks, Power, Love and Discipline

2 Timothy 1:3. Paul doesn’t give thanks to God because of the special ministry he was given and which he had now almost accomplished. No, he gives thanks to God because of Whom God is. Could the reason be that he had experienced much of the grace and mercy of God and that with the peace of God in his heart he was able to go through all hardships?

Of course he has known God for a long time now. He served God with a clear conscience the way his forefathers did. In their footsteps he has been serving God. They enabled him to serve God. He doesn’t make any judgment about their inward condition, he only writes down what characterized them. He acknowledges what was in them for God. With gratefulness he looks back at his relationship with his parents and forefathers at the end of his life. Those relationships are not nullified when we come to conversion. Also now it is of great importance that the Lord is being served in the families and generations.

Paul already knew and served God before he converted. He did that to the best of his knowledge and with a clear conscience. That doesn’t mean that his service had the consent or blessing of God. It only means that what he did, he did in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:12-14). He was sincerely convinced that with everything he was doing he was serving God (cf. John 16:2-3). That’s why his conscience did not accuse him for anything he did. His conscience remained clean; he never fought against his conscience. Herein also lies an exhortation for Timothy to keep a clean conscience.

He always remembers Timothy in his prayers. Timothy may know that and that must have encouraged him. How nice it is if others tell you that they pray for you. It is also nice if you can tell others that you pray for them. Through prayer the remembrance you have of others for whom you pray, remains vivid. In that way you still feel the connection between you and them. As a result, they and you do not stand alone.

2 Timothy 1:4. That doesn’t mean they don’t need to see one another. Paul has a strong desire to see Timothy. He needs company, especially that of Timothy (cf. 2 Timothy 4:9). He certainly has the company of the Lord (2 Timothy 4:17), but that doesn’t mean that he despises the relationships given by God. On the contrary, he, the great apostle, needs them. He is being encouraged by them (Acts 28:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:10). It is not a proof of a spiritual mind if believers experience their faith individually. That’s not according to the purpose of the Lord.

The tears of Timothy have moved the apostle. These are tears of sadness he saw when Timothy said goodbye to him, his older friend. The tears are the proof of true friendship. That is precisely what makes it so precious for Paul if Timothy would come to him. The joy that it would give him will be a full joy, probably again with tears, but then of joy. The tears of Timothy remain, as it were, fresh in his memory. He always remembers them.

2 Timothy 1:5. And there is something else that Paul calls to remembrance and that is the sincere faith of his young friend. The word ‘sincere’ or ‘unfeigned’ comes from the Greek word ‘hypocrite’. A Greek actor was called ‘hypocritis’. An actor always plays the role of another person. He is not himself, but he pretends to be someone else (cf. 2 Samuel 14:2). Timothy certainly doesn’t pretend, he is not characterized by counterfeit, but he is true. That’s also the reason why Paul wants to see him. You also love to be accompanied by sincere believers, by people who truly live with the Lord, don’t you?

The faith dwells in him, it has its home there. Faith is not a side matter to him, something for special occasions. Besides, he has had good examples of faith. Paul reminds him of his grandmother and mother. This is an example of the working grace of God in the generations. There are many changes, the apostasy is continuing, but there are also things that remain. There are always people who have a sincere faith in Him.

Paul doesn’t remind him of heroes of faith from a far past, of long-ago-days but of very close examples, his mother and grandmother. That should mean to you: Look around and you will surely find examples in your neighborhood in whom the faith dwells. The touch stone is faithfulness and obedience to God’s Word.

2 Timothy 1:6. If a sincere faith dwells in you, then there is a reason to remind you that you have received a “gift of God” and which you therefore ought to use. Things may probably be quite difficult in the church, but that should be a challenge to your faith. Timothy has to be reminded of it. That may be the case with you. We all tend to avoid difficulties, don’t we?

Paul gives Timothy an extra stimulus “to kindle afresh” his gift. He reminds him of the way he received the gift. That is through the laying on of Paul’s hands. In his first letter to him Paul also encouraged him in his ministry. That encouragement is the reminder that others already had announced that there was a ministry ready for him (1 Timothy 1:18). Then the elders also laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14) and in that way they made themselves one with him in his ministry. If in a weak moment he thinks he just imagines all this, he can recall this again. And now he adds a third remembrance in order to encourage Timothy. Paul personally has granted him that gift. Timothy will undoubtedly remember that event.

2 Timothy 1:7. After all Paul has not acted at his own discretion, but by God’s commission. Each gift comes from God; it is ‘the gift of God’. What is said here to Timothy is therefore an encouragement for you too. Like Timothy you may know what God has given to you.

If you focus on the circumstances you might become afraid. All kinds of arguments may arise in you that can cause you not to use the gift given to you. You could probably think that it all makes no sense after all or you may fear for the adversary that your performance may stir up. This timidity, or cowardice, is a kind of fear of loss of face or to be ridiculed. Paul points out that this “spirit of timidity” is not from God (cf. John 14:27; 1 John 4:18).

What certainly is from God is His Holy Spirit, Who wants to prove Himself in you as a Spirit “of power and love and discipline”.

1. You may know that God with the gift He makes sure that for the exercise of it He gives through His Holy Spirit the necessary power and ability.

2. The exercise of a gift also demands self-sacrifice, for the gift is not meant to edify yourself but to serve others with it. Therefore the Holy Spirit will give you love as the true motive to serve.

3. Finally, it is also important that in the exercise of your gift you act with discipline or self-control. This happens if your spirit acts in harmony with the Holy Spirit, so that you know that He is guiding you and that you do not act from uncontrolled impulsiveness (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:32). The Holy Spirit leads you to well-balanced actions and thoughtful words. It doesn’t show a work of the Spirit when a person says: ‘I couldn’t help, it was the Spirit Who urged me to.’

Still a remark about the order of these three aspects in which the work of the Holy Spirit can be recognized. ‘Love’ stands between ‘power’ and ‘discipline’. Love is in the center. It is about love. Love is the oil between power and discipline, through which both aspects ‘run’ well.

You see that also in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Chapter 12 summarizes the gifts and in chapter 14 it is about the exercise of it. The chapter in between, chapter 13, is about love. The gifts of chapter 12 can only be exercised as they are described in chapter 14, if the motive for the exercise is the love that is described in chapter 13.

2 Timothy 1:8. God has given us His Spirit to testify through the Spirit boldly of the Lord Jesus. Like Peter who was first ashamed for his Lord and denied Him (Mark 14:66-72), but witnessed through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost with great boldness of his Lord (Acts 2:14; 36). The power of the Holy Spirit has been given to us to testify of our Lord and not to perform all kinds of spectacular signs and works of power in order to stir up people’s attention. That is precisely what happens if spectacular things happen and not if someone in all simplicity gives a clear testimony about the Lord Jesus.

We all need these words so that we will not be discouraged. Unfortunately it happens often that we as Christians testify in a way we should be ashamed of. If believers become lukewarm and worldly minded and if committed witnesses are being silenced, it requires a lot of courage to persevere.

Paul connects himself to the testimony of the Lord Jesus. That is not boasting, but reality. After all, he is imprisoned because of the testimony he gave of his Lord. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t see himself as a prisoner of Nero, but of his Lord. His testimony has caused him tribulation.

Timothy is, and you are too, called to consciously accept the tribulation that goes together with the gospel and not to avoid it. Preaching the gospel and tribulation go together. But it is the power of God that enables you to go through that tribulation, not as a fate, but as a privilege (Acts 5:41).

Now read 2 Timothy 1:3-8 again.

Reflection: In what way could you stir up your gift?

Hebrews 4:16

Thanks, Power, Love and Discipline

2 Timothy 1:3. Paul doesn’t give thanks to God because of the special ministry he was given and which he had now almost accomplished. No, he gives thanks to God because of Whom God is. Could the reason be that he had experienced much of the grace and mercy of God and that with the peace of God in his heart he was able to go through all hardships?

Of course he has known God for a long time now. He served God with a clear conscience the way his forefathers did. In their footsteps he has been serving God. They enabled him to serve God. He doesn’t make any judgment about their inward condition, he only writes down what characterized them. He acknowledges what was in them for God. With gratefulness he looks back at his relationship with his parents and forefathers at the end of his life. Those relationships are not nullified when we come to conversion. Also now it is of great importance that the Lord is being served in the families and generations.

Paul already knew and served God before he converted. He did that to the best of his knowledge and with a clear conscience. That doesn’t mean that his service had the consent or blessing of God. It only means that what he did, he did in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:12-14). He was sincerely convinced that with everything he was doing he was serving God (cf. John 16:2-3). That’s why his conscience did not accuse him for anything he did. His conscience remained clean; he never fought against his conscience. Herein also lies an exhortation for Timothy to keep a clean conscience.

He always remembers Timothy in his prayers. Timothy may know that and that must have encouraged him. How nice it is if others tell you that they pray for you. It is also nice if you can tell others that you pray for them. Through prayer the remembrance you have of others for whom you pray, remains vivid. In that way you still feel the connection between you and them. As a result, they and you do not stand alone.

2 Timothy 1:4. That doesn’t mean they don’t need to see one another. Paul has a strong desire to see Timothy. He needs company, especially that of Timothy (cf. 2 Timothy 4:9). He certainly has the company of the Lord (2 Timothy 4:17), but that doesn’t mean that he despises the relationships given by God. On the contrary, he, the great apostle, needs them. He is being encouraged by them (Acts 28:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:10). It is not a proof of a spiritual mind if believers experience their faith individually. That’s not according to the purpose of the Lord.

The tears of Timothy have moved the apostle. These are tears of sadness he saw when Timothy said goodbye to him, his older friend. The tears are the proof of true friendship. That is precisely what makes it so precious for Paul if Timothy would come to him. The joy that it would give him will be a full joy, probably again with tears, but then of joy. The tears of Timothy remain, as it were, fresh in his memory. He always remembers them.

2 Timothy 1:5. And there is something else that Paul calls to remembrance and that is the sincere faith of his young friend. The word ‘sincere’ or ‘unfeigned’ comes from the Greek word ‘hypocrite’. A Greek actor was called ‘hypocritis’. An actor always plays the role of another person. He is not himself, but he pretends to be someone else (cf. 2 Samuel 14:2). Timothy certainly doesn’t pretend, he is not characterized by counterfeit, but he is true. That’s also the reason why Paul wants to see him. You also love to be accompanied by sincere believers, by people who truly live with the Lord, don’t you?

The faith dwells in him, it has its home there. Faith is not a side matter to him, something for special occasions. Besides, he has had good examples of faith. Paul reminds him of his grandmother and mother. This is an example of the working grace of God in the generations. There are many changes, the apostasy is continuing, but there are also things that remain. There are always people who have a sincere faith in Him.

Paul doesn’t remind him of heroes of faith from a far past, of long-ago-days but of very close examples, his mother and grandmother. That should mean to you: Look around and you will surely find examples in your neighborhood in whom the faith dwells. The touch stone is faithfulness and obedience to God’s Word.

2 Timothy 1:6. If a sincere faith dwells in you, then there is a reason to remind you that you have received a “gift of God” and which you therefore ought to use. Things may probably be quite difficult in the church, but that should be a challenge to your faith. Timothy has to be reminded of it. That may be the case with you. We all tend to avoid difficulties, don’t we?

Paul gives Timothy an extra stimulus “to kindle afresh” his gift. He reminds him of the way he received the gift. That is through the laying on of Paul’s hands. In his first letter to him Paul also encouraged him in his ministry. That encouragement is the reminder that others already had announced that there was a ministry ready for him (1 Timothy 1:18). Then the elders also laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14) and in that way they made themselves one with him in his ministry. If in a weak moment he thinks he just imagines all this, he can recall this again. And now he adds a third remembrance in order to encourage Timothy. Paul personally has granted him that gift. Timothy will undoubtedly remember that event.

2 Timothy 1:7. After all Paul has not acted at his own discretion, but by God’s commission. Each gift comes from God; it is ‘the gift of God’. What is said here to Timothy is therefore an encouragement for you too. Like Timothy you may know what God has given to you.

If you focus on the circumstances you might become afraid. All kinds of arguments may arise in you that can cause you not to use the gift given to you. You could probably think that it all makes no sense after all or you may fear for the adversary that your performance may stir up. This timidity, or cowardice, is a kind of fear of loss of face or to be ridiculed. Paul points out that this “spirit of timidity” is not from God (cf. John 14:27; 1 John 4:18).

What certainly is from God is His Holy Spirit, Who wants to prove Himself in you as a Spirit “of power and love and discipline”.

1. You may know that God with the gift He makes sure that for the exercise of it He gives through His Holy Spirit the necessary power and ability.

2. The exercise of a gift also demands self-sacrifice, for the gift is not meant to edify yourself but to serve others with it. Therefore the Holy Spirit will give you love as the true motive to serve.

3. Finally, it is also important that in the exercise of your gift you act with discipline or self-control. This happens if your spirit acts in harmony with the Holy Spirit, so that you know that He is guiding you and that you do not act from uncontrolled impulsiveness (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:32). The Holy Spirit leads you to well-balanced actions and thoughtful words. It doesn’t show a work of the Spirit when a person says: ‘I couldn’t help, it was the Spirit Who urged me to.’

Still a remark about the order of these three aspects in which the work of the Holy Spirit can be recognized. ‘Love’ stands between ‘power’ and ‘discipline’. Love is in the center. It is about love. Love is the oil between power and discipline, through which both aspects ‘run’ well.

You see that also in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Chapter 12 summarizes the gifts and in chapter 14 it is about the exercise of it. The chapter in between, chapter 13, is about love. The gifts of chapter 12 can only be exercised as they are described in chapter 14, if the motive for the exercise is the love that is described in chapter 13.

2 Timothy 1:8. God has given us His Spirit to testify through the Spirit boldly of the Lord Jesus. Like Peter who was first ashamed for his Lord and denied Him (Mark 14:66-72), but witnessed through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost with great boldness of his Lord (Acts 2:14; 36). The power of the Holy Spirit has been given to us to testify of our Lord and not to perform all kinds of spectacular signs and works of power in order to stir up people’s attention. That is precisely what happens if spectacular things happen and not if someone in all simplicity gives a clear testimony about the Lord Jesus.

We all need these words so that we will not be discouraged. Unfortunately it happens often that we as Christians testify in a way we should be ashamed of. If believers become lukewarm and worldly minded and if committed witnesses are being silenced, it requires a lot of courage to persevere.

Paul connects himself to the testimony of the Lord Jesus. That is not boasting, but reality. After all, he is imprisoned because of the testimony he gave of his Lord. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t see himself as a prisoner of Nero, but of his Lord. His testimony has caused him tribulation.

Timothy is, and you are too, called to consciously accept the tribulation that goes together with the gospel and not to avoid it. Preaching the gospel and tribulation go together. But it is the power of God that enables you to go through that tribulation, not as a fate, but as a privilege (Acts 5:41).

Now read 2 Timothy 1:3-8 again.

Reflection: In what way could you stir up your gift?