Gives life (2225) (zoogoneo compare zoogonos = life giving. From zoos = living + gegesthai = aorist middle infinitive of ginomai = to become, to come into existence) means to make alive or keep alive, to "give birth" to living creatures, to preserve alive. In short God is the Giver and Preserver of all life! In medical letters zoogoneo was commonly used in the sense of "to endue with life" or "to produce alive." Here are the other 2 (of 3 total) NT uses of zoogoneo (and no uses in the Septuagint)... (1) Jesus used it in the sense of preservation of life in Luke 17:33. Whoever seeks to keep his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it. (2) In Acts 7:19 Luke uses it also with the sense of preservation of life in describing the exposure of the Jewish infants as commanded by the evil Pharaoh... It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. (would not be preserved alive) Zoogoneo - used 10x in the non-apocryphal Septuagint - Ex 1:17, 18, 22; Lev 11:47; Jdg 8:19; 1Sa 2:6; 27:9, 11; 1Ki 20:31; 2Ki 7:4 Timothy had just been charged to fight the good fight of faith, and this fight would be against powerful adversaries, and it might cost him his life. So Paul explains that God is the Giver of life, which would have blunted any fear of death Timothy (cp 2Ti 1:7) might be experiencing. Indeed, because God is the Author of life, death has lost it's sting for believers (1Cor 15:55, 56, 57) and even provides the "doorway" through which we enter into eternal life with Christ! As Paul said to the saints at Rome.... “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Ro 8:31KJV) Comment: As the Roman historian Tacitus tells us below, these Roman Christians would soon experience the evil hand of Nero who would accuse them of burning Rome and in turn end up using them as human torches! How black and dark and evil is the heart without Christ! Adam Clarke says it this way... God, Who is the fountain of life, and who is the resurrection; and who will raise thee up at the last day to a life of ineffable glory, if thou be faithful unto death. And should thy life fall a sacrifice to the performance of thy duty, all will be safe; for thy life is hid with Christ in God, and when he who is thy life shall appear, then shalt thou also appear with him in glory! White agrees writing that zoogoneo has... has the sense preserve alive...A good example from OT (Septuagint - Lxx) is 1Sa 2:6, "The Lord kills and makes alive (zoogoneo)". The word has here a special appropriateness. Timothy is stimulated to exhibit moral courage by an assurance that he is in the hands of One whose protective power is universal, and by the example of One who, as Man, put that protective power to a successful test, and was “saved out of death” (Heb. 5:7-note). Jamieson agrees writing that Paul... He urges Timothy to faithfulness here by the present manifestation of God’s power in preserving all things John Gill...writes that God quickens (makes alive) all His people, at first conversion, when dead in sin, and afterwards when dull and lifeless; and who will quicken the dead at the last day. This seems to be mentioned to strengthen Timothy against the fears of death, that should he die in fighting the Lord's battles, he was able to raise him from the dead, and would do it. TDNT... In Greek zoopoieo, like zoogoneo, is used from the time of Aristotle. and Theophrastus in the sense of “to make alive,” usually of the birth of animals or in the med. of the growth of plants. In this sense it is also used of the Godhead. Comment: The Greek Textus Receptus uses zoopoieo (make life), but the better manuscripts favor zoogoneo. Steven Cole sees this truth that God gives (and preserves) life as an encouragement to ministry in difficult circumstances, writing... I read about a pastor in India who felt God’s call to go to the second most sacred site for a Hindu pilgrimage and plant a church there. His wife chose to go with him, taking along their children, even though the last missionary who tried to live there had been murdered and his head placed in the temple. They went and lived in poverty, in filthy conditions, with no human means of support. In the fifteen years he has been there, this man of God has been beaten many times, he has been threatened with being skinned and thrown into the sea, his oldest son has been beaten and threatened with crucifixion for preaching, and the schools he has built for pastors have been burned to the ground, and he has built them again. But he perseveres, willing to lay down his life for Christ, because he trusts in the God who gives life to all and he knows that Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate is with him. (Reference) AND OF CHRIST JESUS, WHO TESTIFIED THE GOOD CONFESSION BEFORE PONTIUS PILATE: kai Christou Iesou tou marturesantos (AAPMSG) epi Pontiou Pilatou ten kalen homologian,: (Who testified: Mt 27:11 Jn 18:36,37 19:11 Rev 1:5 3:14) And of Christ Jesus - This combined name signifies His divinity about which the OT prophesied (Christ = the promised Messiah - Mk 12:35, Mk 14:61, 62, Lk 3:15, 4:41, 9:20, 24:26) and His humanity (Jesus - Mt 1:21, cp Jn 1:1, 14, 17). W E Vine has some additional thoughts on these names noting that... The order of the titles Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus is always significant: “Christ Jesus” describes the one who was with the Father in eternal glory, and Who came to earth, becoming incarnate; “Jesus Christ” describes Him as the One who humbled Himself, who was despised and rejected, and endured the Cross, but who was afterwards exalted and glorified. “Christ Jesus” testifies to His preexistence; “Jesus Christ” to His resurrection and exaltation. Christ Jesus describes the Exalted One who became incarnate and testifies to His preexistence; Jesus Christ describes the despised and rejected One Who was afterwards glorified (Php 2:11), and testifies to His resurrection. “Christ Jesus” suggests His grace, “Jesus Christ” suggests His glory. (see "glory" and "grace" in Jn 1:14) In the epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, men who had companied with the Lord in the days of His flesh, “Jesus Christ” is the invariable order of the name and title, for this was the order of their experience; as “Jesus” they knew Him first; that He was Messiah they learnt finally in His resurrection. But Paul came to know Him first in the glory of heaven (Acts 9:1—6), and, his experiences being thus the reverse of theirs, the reverse order, “Christ Jesus,” is of frequent occurrence in his letters, but, with the exception of Acts 24:24, does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.