The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Timothy — Section 14

Vera. 1-14.-...4.ddress and salutation. 11 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy my beloved child: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus ou; Lord." The language is simi!Rr to what is found in other of Paul's Epistles. The peculiarity is t~at his apostleship is ~ere ~ssociated with the promise of the gospel, which like a rambow spans our sky 1n this dark world. It is the promise by pre- eminence; for its object is life, which is a name for all that can be needed here, or manifested under better conditions. It is a promise which has actually secured sure footing in <Jhrist Jesus, being the realization of the sure mercies of David. But, in order that this promise may be.come the means of life to men, it must be proclaimed; and this points to the employment of an instrumentality by God. It was according to the promise in this view that Paul was employed as an apostle. It is further to be observed that his true child in the First Epistle is here his beloved child. If the one points to the possession of his spirit, the other points to the love that is properly founded on it. Good past to be followed by a good future. L THANKSGIVING. 1. Personal as&0eiation in giving lhanks. "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience." He implies that Judaism was the forerunner of Christianity, and lays claim to the possession of a godly anceetry. The pure conscience (notwithstanding Acts xxi.i.i. 1) is not to be absolutely applied to his whole life. He did turn aside from the godly direction in an unenlightened and culpable resistance to Christianity as seeming to threaten the existence of his inherited and beloved Judaism. But in the Christian position which he had so long maintained, as he had been indebted to godly forefathers, so he had preserved the godly continuity in his family. It is in view of what he has to say about Timothy that he makes this pleasing and interesting rererence to his forefathers. 2. Feelings toward Timothy in giving t1,anksfor him. "How unceasing is my remembrance of thee in my supplica- tions, night and day longing to see thee, remembering thy tears, that I may be filled with joy." Always in the underground of the apostle's consciousness, the thought of his beloved Timothy came up uninterruptedly at his times of devotion. Every night and morning he felt the spell-so tender was this strong man's heart-of the tears shed by Timothy at th,•ir parting; and the desire rose within him that he might be filled with the joy of another meeting. 3. Matter for thanksgiving in Timothy's faith which was hereditary. "Ha ,·ing been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in thee also." Something had come to the apostle's knowledge which reminded him of the reality of Timothy's faith. It was not feigned faith, that fails under trial. The apostle thinks of it as a kir,d of heirloom in the family. He could go back himself to two ancestresses of his in whom it dwelt. There was first Lois, his grandmother, who, we can believe, besides being godly according to the Jewish type, was before her end a Christian believer. She bad to do with her daughter Eunice becoming a Christian believer. We are told of Eunice, in Acts xvi. 1, that she was a Jewess who believed, while her l,usband was a Gentile. She in turn had to do with her son becoming a Christian believer. The apostle h,id all the greater confidence in the reality, and also vitality, of Timothy's faith that (apart from Jewish influences of a godly nature) he was a Christian believer of the third ge,,eration. We have the promise that God will keep covenant ar,d mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thouaand generations. God's intention is that godly and Christian influence should be transmitted. He made one generation to follow another, proceeded on a principle of succession and not of contemporaneousness, that he might thereby ban a godl,y aeed (Mai. ii, 16). The best established Christians are among those who are of a godly stock. Therefore let the godly upbringing of the young be attended to. At the same time, let thoae o■. L 1-18.] THE SECOND EPIBTLII TO TIMOTHY. 16