I. Exposition of 2 Timothy 1: 6-12 as a Foundation in Outlining 2 Timothy 1:13-18: Exhortations for Persevering
V.6) After laying up the foundation of Paul’s identity as an apostle of God’s Gospel, Paul’s concern while in prison for his beloved son in the faith Timothy and that he is encouraged by Timothy’s faith –the same unfeigned faith that Timothy’s grandmother and mother had; Paul in his greeting also puts into remembrance personal reasons why he is writing a letter of encouragement to the young pastor:
As an Apostle
As Timothy’s Spiritual Father
Strong Faith is in Timothy’s Family
Paul reminds Timothy of the significance of being given the “Gift of God” by the laying on of hands, and that for this very reason he must intentionally rekindle the fire and passion he had as a soldier of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Gift of God here may mean both the Salvation a believer receives by grace through faith and the calling that we who are in Christ should fulfill, which we would confirm in the next few verses. However, it is not clear if the gift mentioned by the Apostle Paul through the ceremony of laying on of hands was the Spiritual Gift that all believers receive for the purpose of building up the church (cf. 1 Tim. 4:14; Acts 6:6) or if it was the initial indwelling of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 8:18; Heb. 6:2). In this regard the latter may be cogent. Though it may be that in the apostolic church, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and endowment of gifts for service practically happened at the same time.
V.7) Paul continues to define the kinds of character that the Holy Spirit indwells believers:
Not of fear but of power that Timothy should be afraid
Love, that Timothy should ever deny men access to hear the Gospel (in his fear)
Discipline (Self-control), that Timothy should be taken away by waves that destabilize the foundations of his faithfulness and enjoin himself with the world.
V.8) And with the strong character of the Lord’s Spirit that indwells Timothy (and the rest of sincere believers), how can he ever afford to be ashamed of the Gospel entrusted to him and of his spiritual father? Paul wanted Timothy to join him and continue to work with him and not desert the mission in the midst of the battle. Notice that as Paul is writing this from Mamertine prison, he is not asking Timothy to join him in his chains but in his pursuit. Paul understood that the Spiritual warfare for evangelism was greater than the workers themselves, that it should be confined or silenced. Paul is reminding us of the greater power of God that is behind the Gospel and is also in all that believed, that we should stop and be discouraged in our current difficulties. To be not ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord and our fellow soldiers in the mission is to acknowledge the power of God working in, through and over all of us (cf. Phil. 4:7)
V.9) Paul continues to explicitly spell out the meaning of our calling through theological truths, showing us where the early believers placed their living hope in. The Apostle calls the One who called us and speaks of the Holy Calling that they receive in a tone of common understanding that all who are saved in Christ by God, are also called by God for service. Called in this context means KALEO in Greek, meaning to bid or call forth, as to been given a task, order or a command. This calling is given to every brethren, that we should live a holy & set-apart life, not for the purposes that we have set for ourselves but for God’s. This Salvation that we have from the God by the Gospel that we received, we also preach not because of our merit that we should continue for our selves. Our Salvation is duly by the grace of God and that for the purposes of God that we should live. Our calling we have received the moment we placed our faith in Christ. We can even say that this call of duty is one that comes with our security. We are first saved in Christ by God’s grace through the Gospel, then we are called to preach the same Gospel that saved us. This process of salvation (i.e. by faith in hearing the Gospel of grace) and the task that comes with it, is what God has prepared for us even before the ages.
V.10) Paul speaks of the dispensation of God’s progressive revelation for our time (i.e. Church age) That the plan of God in v.9, since eternity was only manifested by the appearing of Jesus (cf. Heb. 1:1-2) That the eye witnesses of how Jesus abolished death once and for all through His perfect life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension (i.e. the Apostles) and everyone in the Gospel age such as Timothy, are very much privileged to be recipients and donors of the eternal life that lights the Testimony of Jesus.
V.11) The Gospel –planned since eternity past, revealed in Christ, entrusted by grace for the purpose of God unto the church, is to which Paul was called. He again speaks of his apostleship but this time as a function: to preach & teach the gentile world. In verse 1, Paul pertains to his apostleship as a distinct calling from Jesus, not given to Him by men (i.e. the Church and in contrast to false preachers) but here in verse 11, he speaks of his apostleship in light to the calling that all Christians are meant to have. Not that apostleship was common to all believers but that to be called for a particular service, was meant to be given to all Christians.
V.12) Paul then continues to emphasize to Timothy that: no one is exempt from suffering and that he was not in prison for anything wicked but for righteousness. And because Paul is confident of his calling from God –based on the eternal will of God for all who are in Christ and Paul’s personal encounter with the risen Lord (cf. 1,9), he is not ashamed of the Gospel that he preaches, as if to think that the power of God in verse 8, has failed him. Paul declares to Timothy that his personal and full awareness of the One who commissioned him is sovereign even in times where it seems the mission has stalled. Paul uses the word EIDO, in Greek meaning knowledge, to tell Timothy that with a clear understanding that God is sovereign, He must persevere in and by faith.
How should we then interpret the passage: "I am persuaded that He (God) is able to guard that which I have committed unto Him against that Day.”
By this we can say in context that Paul is convinced that he is not suffering and labored in vain, because God remains to be involved in the success of the propagation of the Gospel by the Churches in Asia-minor that Paul planted, God’s proactive involvement in every individual: 1st for the unbelievers that Paul is unable to reach due to his confinement. 2nd to the churches that God nurtures even in Paul’s absence –including Timothy!
On the other hand, verse 12 may not speak of eternal security in the contemporary sense of the once saved always saved teaching. For the trail of thought that Paul had was encouragement to persevere due to the privilege Christians have to be recipients and donors of eternal life, through the Gospel. Instead we find God’s sovereignty even in persecution, proven by the fact that Christianity prevailed through-out history by the blood of the martyrs implying God’s proactive effort, by the Spirit in cooperation with the individual, to guard and push the believer to persevere through the trials.
Verse 12 may also speak of Paul’s and every believer’s “inheritance” in Jesus. That Paul believed God will keep Paul’s eternal life & glorification along with his rewards as promised. That when the time of Paul comes to an end (and it did) he would have all the eternal blessings of God, as a finisher is to his crown of glory. God will keep His promises.
In all the probabilities, nothing in the context of Paul’s intent in writing the letter prohibits all 3, with the 3rd point as the immediate & natural interpretation. This said, Paul is able to give his beloved son in the faith a great example of a Saint’s Diligence. Even Paul understood and is fully aware of the correlation of his Salvation to his Commission and that they are almost spoken of by Paul as one. It is possible that Paul was applying a literary style of Double-Entendre given that Paul and Timothy would be both familiar to Hebrew Scriptures (cf. 2 Tim. 3:15) (ref. Expressions of double meaning and their function in the Gospel of John, Cambridge university press: 05,Feb. 2009). Paul is able to successfully lay yet another layer of foundation to exhort Timothy by:
Theological truths regarding salvation by grace
The privilege of a Christian’s calling
By his very life as an example of diligence.
II. Outlining 2 Timothy 1:13-18: Practical Awareness
v. 13-14 Paul’s practical command to Timothy
v.15 The World’s view of practicality
v.16-18 The Biblical view of practicality
PAUL’S PRACTICAL COMMAND TO TIMOTHY
V.13) Paul gives an imperative-active command to Timothy, that is to: Hold Fast to the sounds words he has heard from Paul and to actively follow them as a way of living. With Paul’s word choice and tense, it is as if he wants Timothy to be the new Paul while he was awaiting sentence, in practice & echoing Paul’s life and teachings in his speech and actions done in faith of Jesus and in His love. That because Timothy received, so should he also give (cf. 7,8,9)
V.14) Paul gives another imperative-active command to the young pastor, and that is to guard or keep (Gk. Phulasso) what has been sacredly entrusted to him. The Gospel that saved them and will save others. Notice that Paul used the same exact word Phulasso in verse 12 in commanding Timothy here in verse 14. This may suggest an intention to connect the two thoughts: That the commitment of Paul to God for his inheritance and the success of the Gospel propagation, should also be Timothy’s because God also committed Timothy unto the holy calling of the Gospel propagation while his inheritance awaits for him in God’s care. Keep in mind that with Paul, Salvation is closely followed by our calling. These two go together in Paul’s theology (cf. Rom. 6:11-14) Both Timothy’s salvation and calling are only by the purpose and grace of God in Jesus Christ. So as believers, just like Paul, we should hopefully endure by entrusting our life and ministry to God. Also let us not forget that God also gives us a small portion of the responsibility in keeping faithful to this Salvation which we received by grace and that is to abide in His pattern of sound words and in making disciples of nations (cf. Mt.11:28-30; Jn. 15:4 and Mt.28:18-20) (cf. 7-9) Our willingness to diligently obey and remain in God’s calling even in the midst of great persecution, just like Paul & Timothy, speaks of how true our faith is to the person of our Salvation –Jesus Christ.
Paul’s 2 Practical Commands to Timothy & to All Believers
Hold fast & Follow the pattern of the sound teachings of Christ
Guard & Keep safe our commission to teach & preach the Gospel
We may not be an apostle like Paul or a preacher like Timothy but we as Christians are all entrusted by God to abide in Him through faith and share the Gospel of God’s love through God’s particular calling for us, in the power of His indwelling Spirit (cf. 8,14)
THE WORLD’S VIEW OF PRACTICALITY
V.15) When “all in Asia” is spoken of here, Paul must’ve meant most of the people in the churches he planted. Paul mentions Phygellus and Hermogenes, who were never mentioned again in Scripture after. They may have been from one of the churches in Asia-minor where Ephesus was the capital city. And though the churches in Asia-minor had a relatively good standing with Paul, even to his journey back to Jerusalem at the end of his 3rd missionary journey, it appears that in the latter years of the Apostle, in the time of Nero, most of the churches have turned away from him! This is probably because of the atrocities and harsh persecutions done against Christians by the deranged emperor. Aside from the 2 aforementioned, another personality who left Paul, of notable mention was Demas. This gives us insight of the degree of backsliding Phygellus and Hermogenes had. However, because none has been said of these 2, aside from this record, we can not conclude whether both ever repented or were condemned beyond repentance unlike what we read about Judas Iscariot when he betrayed the Lord Jesus (cf. 2 Tim. 4:10; Acts 1:25) For the world practicality is keeping afloat and having the advantages of these earthly life. It means that when the going gets tough the tough get going. This is a consistent theme of Paul’s and that Christians are the recurring subject in Paul’s warning against apostasy letters. We can clearly see here without a doubt the reality that as believers, when persecution arises, to save our earthly lives, turning away from our calling and forfeiting our heavenly inheritance might be tempting substitutes for suffering and dying for the Gospel.
THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF PRACTICALITY
V.16-17) Paul contrasts worldly practicality with biblical practicality from his gracious experience from Onesiphorus, a believer from the church of Ephesus (2 Tim. 4:19). This man who worked with Priscilla and Aquila, when he traveled to Rome sought Paul and ministered to him. This act of faith gained Paul’s blessing for God’s mercy. And not just on him but to his whole family, possibly because what Onesiphorus did, meant great risk. Because anyone who is a known Christian or an associate of Paul meant certain danger, even death! Paul continues to emphasize the lack of shame that Onesiphorus displayed for the Testimony of Jesus and His messenger, evidence of saving faith and sincere loyalty to his calling, unlike the worldly practicality of Phygellus and Hermogenes.
The Role of a Pastor or an Elder
As a spiritual father - Paul empathizes with Timothy by sharing his own sorrows to his beloved son in the faith and at the same time strengthen him by setting an example of hopeful continuance that he should echo.
As a discipler – Paul is teaching his disciple the contrast between worldly practicality and biblical practicality as he had written. 2 Opposing sides of the same coin, or should I say church. In this way he is also showing Timothy the reality of pastoring a local church, that there will be sorrows coming not just from outside persecution but also disloyalty from within. Forfeited brethren who, as Peter says in his 2nd letter, verse 22: the dog returns to his own vomit & the sow after washing returns to the mire.
V.18) Paul mentions the “Day”, which in biblical terminology meant the Day of the Lord’s coming. Paul used this term also in verse 12 and now here again in verse 18, both to identify as:
A day of receiving inheritance (v.12)
A day of receiving judgment (v.18)
Though it is not clearly mentioned, it is implied in the tone of Paul’s tenses and in the context of the letter’s concern that: Our commitment to the promise of life and our calling determines God’s verdict and treatment of us in His coming. As a Christian, we are to heed Paul’s and Onesiphorus’ standard of faith seen in their diligence to hold on to the Gospel of Salvation & their Commission, if we expect to receive mercy from the Lord on that Day –to be resurrected (or raptured) and at His Bema seat rewarding us according to our rendered services. Not just in these would we receive grace & mercy from the Lord on His Day, but also for our families here on earth – that they may be lead into Christ unto Salvation and by sparing them from greater testings of sin and of the world system (cf. v.16).
OUR MAIN GOAL
As Christians we are both saved and being saved when we placed our faith in Jesus. We have been made a new creature, with a new Master and a new purpose and these are all but by the grace of God. Yet the completion of our Salvation in its fullest potential is yet to be given to us as our inheritance; with the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us as His guarantee. A guarantee that God’s unchanging promises –with its conditions based upon the faithfulness of God to His holy character (cf. 2Tim. 2:11-13), are reliable and true. The Spirit will empower us to persevere in the Gospel that is saving us and commissioned us. Or it will destroy us for turning away from the Testimony of Jesus as it is said in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him (cf. 1 Tim. 4:16) Therefore, we are called to continue until the very end. The Spirit of God knows our weaknesses and we can call upon Him for strength and power, we should also follow the examples of godly men within the fellowship and at the same time, without yielding, be prepared for men who would cause us (further) hurt.
OUR BIG IDEA (cf. 2 Timothy 4:7-8)
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