2 Timothy 1 - Introduction

Paul's love to Timothy, and the unfeigned faith which was in Timothy himself, his mother, and grandmother: he is exhorted to stir up the gift of God which was in him, to be steadfast and patient in persecution, and to persist both in the form, truth, and power of that doctrine which he had learned of him. Phygellus, and Hermogenes, and such like are noted, and Onesiphorus is highly commended.

Anno Domini 67.

THE apostle begins this epistle with a delicate praise of Timothy. He told him, that he gave thanks to God, that he had unceasing remembrance of him in his prayers, as a faithful minister of Christ, 2 Timothy 1:3.—And that recollecting the sensibility and gratitude, which he discovered by the tears of joy that he shed, when the apostle instructed him in the doctrines of the gospel, he had a strong desire to see him once more, now that be was in prison for their common Master, 2 Timothy 1:4.—That this desire was increased, when he called to remembrance the unfeigned faith which first dwelt in his grandmother Lois, and then in his mother Eunice, and he was persuaded in him also; so that Timothy was come of a pious race, 2 Timothy 1:5.—The apostle's thanksgiving to God in his secret prayers, for Timothy's faithfulness as a minister of Christ, I call delicate praise, because being bestowed in the presence of God, out of the hearing of the world, it was a praise in which there was neither insincerity nor flattery. The apostle, it is true, mentioned this to Timothy himself, along with the other particulars which were so honourable to him. But he did it in a letter to himself, and with no view, except to stir him up strenuously to exercise the spiritualgifts which were imparted to him, for the purpose of defending and spreading the gospel, 2 Timothy 1:6.—Moreover, to excite Timothy the more effectually to exercise his spiritual gifts for these ends, the apostle put him in mind, that, together with the spiritual gifts, God communicated to his faithful servants, fortitude, benevolence, and temperance, to enable them to exercise these gifts without fear, and in a prudent manner, for the benefit of mankind, 2 Timothy 1:7.—He, therefore, desired him not to be ashamed of the things which he was to preach concerning Christ, namely, that he is the Son of God, and Saviour of the world; neither to be ashamed of him his spiritual father, although a prisoner for preaching these things, but courageously to suffer evil jointly with him for the gospel through the assistance of God, 2 Timothy 1:8.—who hath saved both Jews and Gentiles; having called both unto his kingdom by the gospel, not on account of their good works, as the Judaizers affirmed concerning their own calling, but merely through faith in Christ from God's free grace, bestowed on them through Christ, agreeably to the promise of pardon and salvation made to the first parents of mankind at the fall, long before the Jewish dispensation began, 2 Timothy 1:9.—This promise, the apostle observed, was now published to all, through the appearing of Christ in the flesh; insomuch that the Gentiles, by the gospel, had obtained a clear knowledge of the immortality of the soul, and of an eternal state of happiness hereafter for good men of all nations, who, before the gospel was published, had no certain knowledge of these great truths, 2 Timothy 1:10.—Farther, the apostle assured Timothy, that to publish these joyful doctrines, he was himself appointed a herald, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, 2 Timothy 1:11.—And that for preaching these doctrines to the Gentiles, and not for any crime, he now suffered the miseries of a jail. Nevertheless, he was not ashamed of his imprisonment, because he knew in whom he had believed, that he is the Son of God, and the Governor of the world, 2 Timothy 1:12.—He therefore ordered Timothy to hold fast the form of sound words, in which he had delivered the doctrines of the gospel to him, as well as these doctrines themselves, which had been revealed to him by Christ, 2 Timothy 1:13.—Then he mentioned the desertion of the Judaizing teachers in Asia, 2 Timothy 1:15.—And spake with the warmest gratitude ofthe kindness of Onesiphorus, who had gone among the different prisons of Rome seeking him; and when he found him, had ministered to him with the greatest affection, as he had done to him formerly in Ephesus, as Timothy well knew, 2 Timothy 1:16.

II. TIMOTHY.] It is commonly supposed that this epistle was written during St. Paul's last imprisonment at Rome, not very long before he sealed the truth with his blood, (Ch. 2 Timothy 4:6.) about the year 67. That Timothy was at Ephesus, or in the Lesser Asia, when this epistle was sent to him, appears from the frequent mention in it of persons residing at Ephesus. The false teachers, who had before thrown this church into confusion, grew worse and worse every day; insomuch that Hymeneus and Philetus, two Ephesian heretics, now denied the resurrection of the dead. They were led into this error by a dispute about words: at first they only annexed improper significationstothewordresurrection,till at last they denied the thing; pretending that the resurrection of the dead was only a resurrection from the death of sin, and so was already past. This error was probably derived from the eastern philosophy, which placed the origin of sin in the body. The apostle's chief design in this epistle seems to have been, to prepare Timothy for those sufferings to which he foresaw he would be exposed; to forewarn him of the apostacy and corruption which had already begun, and would continue to advance in the church; and at the same time to animate him by his own example, and from the motives which the gospel furnishes, to the most vigorous and resolute discharge of every part of the sacred function, to which he had been called. St. Paul appears throughout this epistle, to have felt a strong conviction of the truth of those principles which he had embraced, and to glory in the sufferings that he had endured in the support of them; triumphing in the full assurance of being approved by his great Master, and of receiving at his hands a crown of distinguished lustre. A behaviour like this, in one who had so considerable a share in establishing the Christian religion, and expected in a short time to seal his testimony with his blood, must be acknowleged a strong confirmation of the truth of those facts on which our faith depends; that the apostle himself was sincere in what he professed to believe; and that as he could not possibly be deceived himself, so he could have no design to deceive others.