Τιμοθέῳ ἀγαπητῷ τέκνῳ
χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son:
Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Timothy 1:2 KJV
Timothy, beloved son of an Apostle
Paul is about to send Timothy out as his continued Apostolic voice to a next generation of faithful believers.
Paul’s final Epistle from Rome is little different from that of Peter, also sent from prison prior to their forthcoming executions.
“Dearly BELOVED..”
Do any recognize the greeting of such intimately connected believers so joined in Christ Jesus?
This is how Paulos, a Jew of Cilicia, addresses his Galatian gentile protege Timotheus —
Greek by heritage of his father (apparently deceased or absent) and raised Jewish by the faith of his Grandmother Lois and convert mother, Eunice (as we detailed in our Introduction) —
as his SON, a beloved and chosen adoptive son — not just an exceptional student and faithful follower.
τέκνον – teknon – child or son
- Strong’s G5043 – teknon – “a child” (akin to tikto, “to beget, bear”), is used in both the natural and the figurative senses. In contrast to huios, “son” (see below), it gives prominence to the fact of birth, whereas huios stresses the dignity and character of the relationship. Figuratively, teknon is used of “children” of
- (a) God, Jhn 1:12;
- (b) light, Eph 5:8;
- (c) obedience, 1Pe 1:14;
- (d) a promise, Rom 9:8; Gal 4:28;
- (e) the Devil, 1Jo 3:10;
- (f) wrath, Eph 2:3;
- (g) cursing, 2Pe 2:14;
- (h) spiritual relationship, 2Ti 2:1; Phm 1:10.
- (2X from the Pastoral Epistles of Paul)
- See DAUGHTER, SON.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
As mentioned in our introduction to Timothy, the Apostle Paul has adopted this young man of Galatia and mentored him along with others as trusted servants, sons and companions in his apostolic mission to the Gentiles.
Historical Context:
2 Timothy was likely written around AD 67, during Paul’s second imprisonment in Rome, shortly before his martyrdom. This period was marked by intense persecution of Christians under Emperor Nero. Paul, aware of his impending death, writes with a sense of urgency and finality.
Audience and Purpose:
Paul’s second letter to Timothy, left in Ephesus to oversee the church, guides both him and the broader Christian community. It encourages church leaders and believers in the face of persecution. Paul urges Timothy to protect the gospel, endure hardships, and teach sound doctrine.
As to the role of Timothy to the Church, we might in a later era address this esteemed son of the Apostle to the Gentiles as Bishop Timothy of Ephesus,
or possibly Arch-Bishop Timotheus of Asia.
But regardless of Timothy’s personal importance to Paul as a fellow servant of Christ and the Gospel, you can see from the definition of son above that his spiritual relationship to the Apostle and Christ’s Church stand foremost to any role of administrative authority (which he had, as did the Apostle Paul) or imaginative royal-like religious title.
From Personal Sonship to Apostolic Responsibility for the Gospel
In the fifteen or so years since Timothy as a young man had first followed and served Paul, he has proven himself faithful, and a capable pastor (or shepherd trusted with local flocks of followers of The Way, loyal to Paul and true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;
2 Timothy 1:6 RSV
“.. rekindle the gift of God that is within you..” – the word Paul uses here in this introduction of his pastoral epistle is: anazōpyreō
– stir up that by which the fire is kindled anew or lighted up, a pair of bellows);
Don’t you love Paul’s imagery of a fire of holiness, perhaps neglected and cooling to Christ as its last embers of your faith — REKINDLING through the Holy Spirit (received by the Apostle’s laying on of hands)?
Of course you know Paul’s word for ‘the gift of God’ – the charisma of Theos.
Paul reminds by building up in the power of the faith already well-known in and to Timothy:
for God did not give us a spirit of timidity
that is, fearfulness of cowardice
but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
THREE gifts of the Spirit required of pastors and the faithful of the flock of every church.
- dynamis – strength power and ability
- agapē – (not just any love, but agapē love) – affection, benevolence, good will, charity, love for the brothers and sisters of the church
- sōphronismos – The KJV translates as sound mind (1x).
- (this you may not know and in this the saints so often find ourselves lacking)
- an admonishing or calling to soundness of mind, to moderation and self-control
Power in the Spirit, Agape Love and a yielding of the mind to God
Paul could have easily been forgotten in his prison cell in Rome, even more distant in Europe across the Aegean — than Derbe and Antioch from Ephesus, all in Asia where Timothy remains pastoring the church.
Therefore, be not ashamed
So the Apostle writes:
Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
2 Timothy 1:8-10 RSV
The faithful and unfaithful to Paul and Apostolic faith
Paul is about to begin an important point and reason for this second epistle (which we will study more next time), but here he lists some remembered for their works.
This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me,
among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain;
but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me.
The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.
2 Timothy 1:15-18 NKJV
NEXT: For this Gospel I was appointed
Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
