2 Timothy 1
McGeeCHAPTER 1THEME: Afflictions of the gospel
2 Timothy 1:1
INTRODUCTION"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." You recall that in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy he said, “by the commandment of God” (1Ti_1:1), and we saw that the commandments of God revealed the will of God, but that they were not the total will of God. Here he says “by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.” How do you accept a promise? You do it by faith. That is the only way you can obtain eternal life. He offers it to you as a gift. You accept a gift because you believe the giver.
You receive eternal life by believing in the Giver. The Lord Jesus gives you eternal life when you trust Him as Savior because He paid the penalty of your sin. He today can offer you heaven on the basis of your faith and trust in Him. When you believe Him and come His way, you honor Him. Therefore “the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus” makes it clear that through Christ is the only way you can get eternal life, my friend.
2 Timothy 1:2
Paul greets Timothy as his “dearly beloved son” because Timothy was a great joy to the apostle Paul. Then he goes on to say, “Grace, mercy, and peace.” As we mentioned in studying 1 Timothy, the salutation includes the word mercy (which is not found in the greetings of Paul’s other letters). God is merciful when He does not give us what we deserve; that is, judgment and condemnation. Paul needed a great deal of mercy, and we do too. Fortunately, God is rich in mercy toward us. “From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” The emphasis here is upon the lordship of Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 1:3
Timothy was on the apostle Paul’s prayer list. When I taught at a Bible institute, I always had the students find out who was on the apostle Paul’s prayer list. They made the list by going through the letters of Paul and noting every time Paul said he prayed for somebody. By the way, how many preachers do you have on your prayer list? I hope you have your pastor.
2 Timothy 1:4
It is quite obvious that Paul loved Timothy, and this verse tells us that Timothy also loved Paul. The fact that Paul has been arrested, is back in prison, and even faces death really affects Timothy. Paul says, “I am mindful of your tears. And if I could only see you, that would bring joy to my heart.”
2 Timothy 1:5
Paul came out of Judaism, but this boy Timothy, apparently, was brought up in a Christian home. Both his grandmother and his mother were Christians. I’m sure that had a lot to do with this young man turning to Christ. Timothy’s father was a Greek, and it is not known whether he was in the faith.
2 Timothy 1:6
When Paul put his hands on Timothy, that meant that Timothy was a partner with Paul; he shared with him the gift of teaching the Word of God. I am of the opinion that Paul intended for his mantle to fall upon Timothy. This young man was close to Paul, and when Paul was in prison in Rome, he said of Timothy, “…I have no man likeminded …” (Php_2:20). Here was a man who could carry on the teaching and preaching of Paul, and therefore Paul made him his partner. They were together in the ministry. Now notice that Paul admonishes Timothy to “stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.” This man had a gift, and Paul urges him to stir it up. What would that indicate to you? I wonder if Paul was concerned about Timothy there in Ephesus. Ephesus housed the temple of Diana and was one of the great “sin spots” in the Roman world. Paul had spent three years in Ephesus himself, and he knew that there were many allurements and enticements in the city. I wonder if he was afraid that Timothy might be reluctant and hold back from teaching the whole counsel of God. We can see Paul’s concern for this young man whom he called “my dearly beloved son.”
2 Timothy 1:7
The word fear is better translated “cowardice.” I think that many of us have misinterpreted thisI know I have in the past. I remember that when I first began to travel by air, I didn’t want to, but I was forced to use that mode of travel to meet my engagements. I certainly didn’t enjoy it. At first, this disturbed me a great deal. I would make a flight, and then I would rebuke myself because of my fear. I tried to fight my fear. Well, fear is a natural thing, and it is a good thing. For example, I am afraid of a lion. If there were one loose in the street, I would find a good place to hide. It is normal and good to have a sense of fear. But many of us, for some reason, have a fear of height, which makes us fear flying. I prayed about it and wondered why God didn’t remove that from me, because I read in this verse that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear.” However, Paul is speaking not of a good kind of fear, but of cowardice. Paul is saying, “God hath not given us the spirit of cowardice; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” “A sound mind” means discipline. In other words, God does not intend that defeat should be the norm of Christian living. We should be disciplined Christians rather than slaves to our emotions. We are all moved by our emotions. That is why people will send money to organizations that advertise with the picture of a poor, hungry, little orphan. But Christians are not to be motivated by their emotions. Our emotions are not to master us. We are to be disciplined. How does this apply to the question of fear? Is it wrong for me to have a fear of flying? No. It would be wrong for me to stay at home. You see, if I am a disciplined Christian, I am going to grit my teeth, go down and get that ticket, and take that trip because God has called me to an itinerant teaching ministry. Overcoming emotions means not letting your emotions stop you from doing something you should be doing.
When you have a fear of flying, you discipline yourself to fly anyway. But you still live with your emotions. If you do like I do, you sit there on the plane, gritting your teeth and wondering how many more hours it will be, with every hour seeming like an eternity. If the plane starts bouncing around, I have a tendency to grab the seat in front of me. I know that the seat in front of me is not any safer than the seat I’m sitting in, but somehow I feel better when I have hold of it! Paul’s admonition to Timothy is a wonderful help to me.
God is telling me that I am not to be a defeated Christian; I should not let my emotions control my life. On a tour to Bible lands I didn’t want to go with the tour to Egypt, because on a previous trip I’d had a bad experience there, and I was very emotional about it. I didn’t like Cairo, and I didn’t want to go there. But the Lord forced me to overcome my feelings. I had planned to go ahead to Jerusalem, rest there a couple of days, and wait for the tour to reach me. But every hotel was filled, and we couldn’t get a reservation. Then I thought of another way. I could stay in Athens and then just fly into Jerusalem at the same time the tour group did. But do you know what? There wasn’t any hotel space in Athens, either. The only place I could go was to Cairo! The Lord made me overcome my emotions, and I’m thankful He did, because I had a delightful visit, and I learned a great deal.
2 Timothy 1:8
NOT ASHAMED, BUT A PARTAKER OF AFFLICTIONI have labeled this chapter, “Afflictions of the gospel” because there is a feeling today that the Christian life is a life that ought to be very easy, nice and sweet, bright and breezy. A great many of us think that we have an indulgent heavenly Father who is just going to put us on a bed of roses, remove every stone out of our pathway, and not let anything serious happen to us. A retired lawyer sent me this statement which he found in a will. It read: “To my son I leave the pleasure of earning a living. For twenty-five years he thought the pleasure was mine. He was mistaken.” And a great many Christians expect their heavenly Father to make things easy for them. The Lord Jesus made it clear that we would have trouble. He said, “…In the world ye shall have tribulation [trouble]” (Joh_16:33). Christians will not go through the Great Tribulation, but you and I are certainly going through our own little tribulations. Samuel Rutherford made this statement: “If you were not strangers here, the hounds of the world would not bark at you.” The Lord Jesus warned us that the world would not like Christians. He told His disciples, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (Joh_15:18). There is something wrong if you become too popular as a Christian.
I am afraid that many Christians are thinking like a little boy in Sunday School whose teacher asked, “Johnny, which of the parables do you like best?” The little fellow answered, “The one where everybody loafs and fishes.” No, my friend, the Christian life is not a bed of roses. We are to be “partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”
2 Timothy 1:9
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling"not because of who we are or what we have done"not according to our works.” But “According to his own purpose and grace.” God’s wonderful purpose in the gospel was hidden in ages past but is now revealed through Paul. It had been a mystery in the Old Testament, an unrevealed secret, but is now revealed in the New Testament. “Which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began"all along God had this plan for us.
2 Timothy 1:10
Now this is a verse that deserves great emphasis. “Who hath abolished death” is literally since He has made of none effect death. Death means something altogether different to the child of GodChrist made it of no effect. Now, God did not eliminate death. Remember that Paul is writing this letter from prison where the sentence of death is upon him. But Paul is not talking about physical death. He means spiritual death, eternal death, which is separation from God.
Christ has indeed abolished spiritual death so that no sinner need go to a place where he’ll be eternally separated from God. Christ is our Mediator, the one Mediator between God and man. God is satisfied with what Christ has done for us. The question is: Are you satisfied? Or are you trying to save yourself by your own good works? Let me repeat what I have said before: Man cannot be saved by perfect obedience, because he is incapable of rendering it.
He cannot be saved by imperfect obedience, because God will not accept it. There is only one solution to the dilemma, and that is the One who said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Joh_14:6).
2 Timothy 1:11
Paul says he’s a “preacher,” a herald of the Word of God. He also says that he’s “an apostle, and a teacher.” As an apostle he had several gifts. I personally doubt whether any man since the apostles has more than one gift. I’ve met preachers who thought they could sing, but my experience has been that either they couldn’t sing or they couldn’t preachit was one or the other. I don’t believe He will give us two or more gifts, because it is difficult enough to exercise one.
2 Timothy 1:12
NOT ASHAMED, BUT ASSURED"I am not ashamed.” Although he was in prison and the sentence of death was upon him, he was not ashamed of the gospel. Paul had written to the Romans in Rom_1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth….” And back in verse 2Ti_1:8 of the first chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul urges Timothy not to be ashamed either. Sometimes Christians are very reluctant to witness. We are all tongue-tied at times, but we ought not to be. “He is able to keep that which I have committed [entrusted] unto him.” Literally, the deposit. This means that Paul deposited his faith in Christ until the day of judgment. Or it can mean that “God made a deposit with me.” God’s deposit of gifts in Paul’s life made him a debtor to the entire world. My friend, you and I are debtors. Perhaps you are saying, “I want you to know that I pay my honest debts.” Well, you and I have not paid our honest debts until every person on the topside of this earth has heard the gospel. “He is able to keep that which I have committed.” It is a great comfort to know that all we are and all we have is in His hands.
2 Timothy 1:13
“Sound words"the words of Scripture are inspired. I believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of the Word of God and do not think that any other viewpoint is satisfactory, and certainly it does not satisfy the demands of Scripture.
2 Timothy 1:14
It is important to see that the Christian life can be lived only in the power of the Holy Spirit. Back in verse 2Ti_1:7, Paul talked about power, love, and a sound mind, all of which are fruits of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote that “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance …” (Gal_5:22-23).
2 Timothy 1:15
Paul gives the actual names of those who have been unfaithful to him. Back in the first chapter of 1 Timothy Paul noted that some had fallen away, here it is allthat is, all who are now in Asia who had formerly been with him in Rome. I call your attention to this because it seems to me that apostasy is not the thing that characterizes only the last days of the church. It has occurred throughout the entire history of the church. I had a church history professor who said that the history of the church is the history of apostasy or, as he put it, the history of heresies. How true that has been.
2 Timothy 1:16
Here is a wonderful saint of God. I’d have loved to have been Onesiphorus (and I would have hated to have been Hermogenes). Onesiphorus, apparently from Ephesus, was in Rome on business. He was a busy man, but he had time to look up Paul who was in prison. How lovely! Probably Paul had led him to the Lord, and you can’t despise a man who has led you to Christ.