2 Timothy 1:1-18
2 Timothy 1:1-7
An Apostle’s Glory and an Apostle’s Privilege
Paul’s apostleship was always certain things.
His apostle ship was: (a) an honor, (b) a responsibility, and (c) a privilege.
The Inspiring of Timothy
(1)Paul reminds Timothy of his own belief and confidence in him. There is no greater inspiration than to feel that someone believes in us.
(2)He reminds Timothy of his family tradition. Timothy was walking in a fine heritage. A fine parentage is one of the greatest gifts that a man can have.
(3)He reminds Timothy of his setting apart to office and the gift which was conferred upon him.
(4)He reminds Timothy of the qualities which should characterize the Christian teacher.
These are:
(a) Courage. It is not craven fear, it is courage, that the Christian service should bring to a man.
(b) Power. In the true Christian there is the power to cope with things, the power to shoulder the back-breaking task, the power to stand erect in face of the shattering situation, the power to retain faith in face of the soul-searing sorrow, and the wounding disappointment.
(c) Love. In Timothy’s case this is love for
the brethren, love for the congregation. He must love his people so much that
he will never find any toil too great to undertake for them. He must love his
people so much that no threatening situation will ever daunt him. No man need
ever enter the ministry of the
(d) Self-discipline. The word is sophronismo. This is one of these great Greek untranslatable words. Someone has defined it as “the sanity of saintliness.” The Falconer defines it as “control of oneself in face of panic or of passion.” It is Christ alone who can give us that self-mastery, that self-discipline, that self-control which will keep us alike from being swept away and from running away. Sophronismo is that divinely given self-mastery which makes a man a great ruler of others because he is first of all the servant of Christ and the master of himself.
2 Timothy 1:8-11 The Gospel Worth Suffering
For
For Timothy, loyalty to the
gospel and loyalty to Paul meant loyalty to a man who was regarded as a
criminal, because as Paul wrote he was in prison in
(1) It is the gospel of power. The gospel was, and is, power, power to conquer self, power to master circumstances, power to go on living when life is unlivable, power to be a Christian when being a Christian looks impossible.
(2) It is the gospel of salvation. God is the God who saves us. The gospel is rescue. It is rescue from sin. It is that which liberates a man from the things which are unbreakable; power to conquer the sins which have become woven into the very fiber of life.
(3) The gospel is the call to consecration.(a nay-gazah tin thee- in Pali). The gospel is summons to walk the way of holiness.
(4) The gospel is the gospel of grace. It is not dependent on our achievements but on God’s purpose. It is
It is not something which we have achieved, but something which we accept. God did not call us because we are holy; God called us to make us holy. The gospel is the free gift of God. God does not love us because we deserve His love, God loves us out of the sheer generosity of His heart.
(5) The gospel is the gospel of God’s eternal purpose. It was planned and designed before the world and time began. We must never think that once God was stern law and that since the life and death of Jesus, God has been forgiving love. From the beginning of time God’s love has been seeking and searching for men, and God’s grace and forgiveness have been offered to men. Love is the very essence of the eternal nature and being of God.
(6) The gospel is the gospel of life and immortality. It is Paul’s conviction that Christ Jesus brought life and incorruption to light.
(7) The gospel is the gospel of service. It was this gospel which made Paul a herald, an apostle and a teacher of the faith.
(8) The gospel is the gospel of Christ Jesus. Without Him we would never have known it. It was full displayed through the appearance of our Lord Christ Jesus. It is the word epiphaneia. It was his manifestation. The gospel was full of displayed with the epiphaneia of Jesus ; and the very word shows that Jesus was God’s great, rescuing intervention and manifestation into the world.
2 Timothy 1:12-14 Trust Human and Divine
Paul says that he has made his deposit with God. Paul means that he has entrusted both his work and his life to God. It might seem that this was the end for Paul; but Paul had entrusted his life to god; and he was sure that in life and in death he was safe. Why was Paul so sure? Because he knew whom he had believed in. Paul’s certainty came from a personal knowledge of God. He knew God personally; he knew God intimately; he knew what God was like in love and in power; and to Paul it was incredible and inconceivable that God should fail him or let him down. No matter whether we live or die, we can entrust life to god. With Him in this or any other world life is safe, for nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But there is another side to this matter of trust. Paul urges Timothy to safeguard and to keep inviolate the trust that God has reposed in him. Not only do we put our trust in God; God also outs His trust in us.
2 Timothy 1:15-18 The Faithless Many and
the Faithful One
Here is a passage in which pathos and joy are combined. In the end the same thing happened to Paul as happened to Jesus, his Master. His friends forsook him and fled. But however others might fear and desert, one man was loyal to the end. His name was Onesiphorus, and the very name means profitable.
Onesiphorus- we know nothing of him except that in his loyalty to Paul he risked – and perhaps lost- his life. Onesiphorus goes down to his history as the friend who stuck closer than a brother.