2 Timothy 1

2 Timothy 1:1

I Paul,—called and qualified to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the free and sovereign appointment of God the Father, to bear witness to, and preach, the once crucified, but now risen and exalted, Saviour among Jews, and especially Gentiles; according to the promise of eternal life, which was given in him before the foundation of the world, and in due time made to Abraham, to be fulfilled in his divine seed, by whom that life is purchased and dispensed, and in whom it is deposited; and which is obtained through faith in him

2 Timothy 1:2

To Timothy, my dear son in the faith, of whose conversion to Christ, and appointment to the ministry, God made me the honoured instrument—with the most abundant and manifold manifestations and effects of God’s free favour and infinite compassion; and all peace and prosperity, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, from God the Father, as the first Mover in the work of our salvation, and from Jesus Christ, our common Lord and Saviour, as the mediatorial purchaser and bestower thereof

2 Timothy 1:3

I heartily thank and praise that only true God, whom, after the example of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other pious ancestors, I now religiously worship and adore with a heart and conscience purified by faith in the blood of his Son, that, in my daily prayers, morning, evening, or at noon, I am particularly led out to recommend you to his grace and care. 4, 5. Being exceedingly desirous to see you once more before my approaching death, that I may leave with you my dying charges and paternal instructions;—and my desire is much inflamed by my deep and lively remembrance of that affectionate and filial grief which you manifested at our last parting, and of the manifold evidence you have given of that sincere and unfeigned principle of faith which dwells in your heart, as it did in the heart of your worthy mother and grandmother

2 Timothy 1:6

Therefore, in my great affection for you, and in consideration of God’s distinguished favour in so remarkably fitting you for ministerial service, I again earnestly beseech you, by diligent reading, meditation, and prayer, to cherish, improve, and stir up to action, those spiritual gifts which were so plentifully and freely bestowed upon you in your ordination to the sacred office of an evangelist

2 Timothy 1:7

And let no opposition of adversaries discourage you from, or in, the exercise of it; for God has not formed in us a cowardly temper of fear or timidity, but a spirit of holy fortitude and undaunted courage, to encounter all difficulties and danger,—and of fervent love to Christ, his cause, people, and the souls of men,—and of a sober and judicious government of ourselves, in stedfastly adhering to, and patiently suffering for, the gospel of Christ

2 Timothy 1:8

Never then be discouraged in, or ashamed of, bearing a bold and open testimony to our Lord Jesus, and to his gospel, in which he attests his own character and work by the declarations and influences of his Spirit,—or of owning, vindicating, and visiting, me his imprisoned apostle; but let your whole soul be animated to sympathize with me and others in our persecutions, and cheerfully to endure the like yourself, for the sake of the gospel, in an humble dependance upon the supporting, encouraging, and strengthening, assistance of that God of infinite mercy and grace

2 Timothy 1:9

Who, to glorify himself and furnish us for every good word and work, has provided for us an almighty Saviour, and a free, infinite, and everlasting, salvation in him;—and has by the gospel, and the influences of his Spirit, effectually called us to holiness and happiness,—not as influenced by any foresight of our good works, but entirely of his own free favour, according to his sovereign purpose and his mere unmerited kindness, which was fixed upon us in Christ our Head, before the world was created: 10. Which gracious purpose lay, from eternity, as a secret in the mind of God, and was long concealed under dark types and predictions,—but is now discovered with illustrious brightness, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to purchase and apply our redemption;—who, by dying for our sins in our nature and stead, and rising again as our conquering Head, has taken away the sting of death, broken its power, and turned it into a blessing to them that believe, and delivered them from eternal death;—and who, by the preaching of the gospel, has made a certain and plain revelation of a blessed, excellent, spiritual, and eternal, state of happiness and glory for both soul and body in the heavenly world, and of the proper means of our arriving at it through him: 11. For the ministration of which glorious gospel I am immediately furnished and commissioned by Jesus Christ, as an authentic publisher and inspired messenger, to declare unto men, especially the Gentiles, the glad tidings of salvation therein contained, that they may hear and believe to the saving of their souls: 12. And it is for my faithfulness and zeal in discharging that office that I now actually suffer all the disgrace and severities of my present imprisonment, and am daily expecting martyrdom; but, in consideration of the glorious excellency of the cause, instead of being ashamed of Christ, or of his or my sufferings, I glory in them, and have the most joyful expectation of a happy issue of them in the future state:—for, in the light of God’s word, and upon long trial and experience, I well know what a gracious, all-sufficient, faithful, and divine, Saviour he is whom I have received and relied on by faith,—and on the most certain and infallible grounds am persuaded that he has a firm purpose, full power, authority and will, to secure my soul, and all its eternal concerns, with which I have intrusted him, against the day of the last judgment, in which the everlasting misery or happiness of every man will be publicly, solemnly, and unalterably, decided

2 Timothy 1:13

Whatever trials therefore you meet with or may expect, in the cause of Christ, see that, encouraged by my example of faith, patience, and hope, you keep in memory, cleave to, and resolutely profess, and publish, the platform of the uncorrupted, wholesome, nourishing, and healing, doctrines of the gospel so productive of faith and love, which I have taught you by word or writing—as things which you, through Christ’s grace, heartily believe and love,—and in order that faith in and love to him may be produced among your hearers

2 Timothy 1:14

And those useful and edifying gifts and doctrines, and that ministerial office, which have been committed to you in your ordination, see that you faithfully maintain and improve, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, who, in his person and influences, dwells in us, and other faithful ministers and believers, to enable us to fulfil the duties of our station in the face of all opposition and danger

2 Timothy 1:15

In these things you ought to be the more faithful and diligent, as you cannot but know, to your grief, that the generality of the Asian professors of Christianity, at least those here at Rome, have shamefully deserted me in my present sufferings, as being afraid or ashamed to stand by me in them

2 Timothy 1:16-18

But may the God of all grace multiply his merciful favours, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, upon the family of Onesiphorus, as a return for his distinguished kindness to me; for, notwithstanding the cowardice of pretended friends and the fury of open enemies, with a truly Christian courage and compassion, he often relieved, comforted, and refreshed, me in my various distresses, by his kind visits and necessary supplies.—Yes, instead of being ashamed of me, or my ignominious imprisonment and reproach, from love to Christ and his cause, and to me, when he came to Rome, he took great pains to inquire after and obtain access to me.—May that Lord Jesus, for whose sake he shewed me this kindness, according to the riches of his grace, reward him, not only in this world, but especially in that which is to come, mercifully owning him in the last judgment before his Father and an assembled world, and publicly adjudging him to eternal life.—And you know that at Ephesus, in many instances and forms, he supplied and comforted me under my trouble

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. I.—It is delightful for ministers to have a clear call from Christ to their work, remarkable success in it, and an habitual practice answerable to it. It is a singular mercy to have religious parents; and great is the blessing when God’s grace is continued from age to age in a family. Happy they who receive the gospel with unfeigned faith and love, and serve God with pure hearts, after the example of pious progenitors, and diligently apply themselves to propagate it to others. For O the transcendent excellency of the gospel! It promises eternal life through Christ; it lays open the gracious purposes of God; it is the mean of our effectual calling by his power and grace; it manifests death conquered, and immortal blessedness secured for men in Christ. Who would not delight to be an authorized teacher of it! Who would not, without fear or shame, cheerfully undergo the severest persecution for the sake of it and its blessings! Who would not, on the footing of it, commit his eternal salvation to the care of God!—A deep concern to discharge their office and improve their gifts; a holy fortitude, love, sobriety, wisdom, and sound judgment; great regard of, love to, sympathy with, and earnest prayers for, their fellow labourers, should signalize every minister of Christ. And infinite is the mercy that, when some shamefully desert the cause of Christ and his persecuted servants, others are, by his grace, emboldened to own and regard them; nor shall they in the last judgment lose their gracious reward