2 Timothy 1:1-7
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:1-7)
In this text we can see at least three influences that helped to shape and establish Timothy as a Christian:
- An upbringing in God’s Word. In verse 5 the apostle Paul recalls the sincere faith in God that Timothy’s grandmother and mother had. And they did not keep it only for themselves; they passed it on to young Timothy, and he received it.
- Maintaining a relationship with a good spiritual friend. In verses 3–4 the apostle Paul shares that he prays for Timothy without ceasing and longs to see him, because such a meeting would bring him tremendous joy — this is the kind of relationship that can exist only between good spiritual friends.
- His personal discipline. In verses 6–7 the apostle Paul urges Timothy not to neglect his gift and his ministry, and, if necessary, even to press himself so that he does not allow Satan or his circumstances to stop him. When we feel weak, we must learn how to draw from God’s power. When we feel faint, we must be motivated by God’s love. When we come up against hard and burdensome duties, we must not give up, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we must compel ourselves and carry them out.
An upbringing in God’s Word, maintaining relationships with the right people, and imposing serious self-discipline — these are the directions in which we, like Timothy, must work if we want to acquire a good Christian character.
The chief credit for what Timothy had become belonged to God. He had made him what he was. But Timothy also had his own part to play — in his obedience, his choice of friends, and his personal discipline.
AN UPBRINGING IN GOD’S WORD (v.5)
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. (2 Timothy 1:5)
In his greeting to Timothy, the apostle Paul mentions both his own “ancestors,” who served God “with a clear conscience” (v.3), and Timothy’s mother and grandmother, who had a “sincere faith” (v.5).
Who and what our parents are is decisive for our upbringing. And a child’s upbringing, in turn, is the key to the shaping of a person’s character. When someone is ill-mannered, what do people often say about him? “He is missing the first seven years…” Why? Because it is during the first seven years of a person’s life that the foundation of the personality is laid. A little child is like a clean slate. Whatever the parents write on it remains for a lifetime. Consider what a responsibility we have toward our children.
Timothy was born into a godly home. The evangelist Luke tells us that he was the son of a mixed marriage — his father was a Greek and his mother a Jewess (Acts 16:1). We know nothing about his father, but his mother Eunice was a devout Jewess who later became a Christian. Her mother, Lois, also became a Christian. Perhaps all three — grandmother, mother, and grandson — owed their conversion to Paul, who during his first missionary journey had brought the gospel to Lystra, where they lived (Acts 14:6-7). Even before their conversion to Christ, however, these godly Jewish women had instructed little Timothy in the “Holy Scriptures” of the Old Testament (2 Timothy 3:14-15).
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)
Calvin’s comment on these verses is that Timothy “was so brought up from his earliest childhood that he could suck in godliness with his mother’s milk.”
Raising Timothy under the wholesome influence of Eunice and Lois was decisive for the shaping of his character and for determining his future. Today, anyone who was born and brought up in a Christian home has received from God a priceless blessing.
This does not mean, however, that if you grew up in an unbelieving family you are deprived of the chance to build within yourself an approved Christian character. No matter at what age you came to faith, you still have the wonderful opportunity to be brought up in God’s Word. For Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him precisely the “Holy Scriptures.” It is also important that, when he grew up, Timothy did not stop “feeding” himself on the words of faith and training himself in godliness. And these are things anyone can do, regardless of age (1 Timothy 4:6-8).
6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:6-8)
An upbringing in God’s Word is the first direction in which we must work if we want to acquire an approved Christian character. Become a student of the Holy Spirit! Let Him speak to you and teach you from the pages of the Bible. Read the Word systematically. Memorize verses. Study the Old and New Testaments book by book and chapter by chapter. Meditate on God’s Word. In this way it will sink deep into your heart. It will change your value system, your personal worldview, and from there your character as well. Just as through the parental upbringing of young Timothy the sincere faith of his grandmother and mother passed from them into him, so through an upbringing in the Word the genuine faith of the apostles and the biblical heroes will pass from God’s Word into you yourself.
MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE RIGHT, SPIRITUAL FRIENDS (v.3-4)
3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. (2 Timothy 1:3-4)
After our parents, the ones who influence us most are our friends, especially if in a sense they are also our teachers. This is inevitably so, for as the saying goes: “You become like the company you keep.”
The apostle Paul was Timothy’s spiritual father. In verse 2 he calls him “my dear son.” Paul surely had grounds to say these words, for it was he who had been the man used by God as the instrument for bringing Timothy into God’s family. When Paul preached in Lystra during his first missionary journey, Timothy heard and embraced the good news. When, a few years later, the apostle visited Lystra again, Timothy was already one of the leaders of the local church (Acts 16:1-4).
1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. (Acts 16:1-4)
The apostle Paul was indeed a good and caring spiritual father. He remembered his “dear son” without ceasing, wrote him letters full of counsel and encouragement, and prayed for him. He loved him and longed to be with him. When they parted for the last time, Timothy could not hold back his tears (v.3b-4).
as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. (2 Timothy 1:3-4)
The apostle Paul took Timothy with him on his journeys and trained him in the very process of spiritual work. As a result, they were “of one spirit.” Here is how the apostle Paul describes Timothy in his letter to the Philippians 2:19-22:
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. (Philippians 2:19-22)
Spiritual friendship is of tremendous importance for the building and establishing of our character. We need spiritual mothers and fathers (2 Timothy 3:14).
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, (2 Timothy 3:14)
We need friends with whom to share our problems and with whom to pray. In Daniel 2:16-19 we read that when Daniel was faced with an impossible situation, he gathered his companions for shared prayer:
16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. 17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven (Daniel 2:16-19)
Friendship like that between Moses and Joshua, between Elijah and Elisha, between Paul and Timothy, between David and Jonathan, between Daniel and his companions is priceless. Proverbs 18:24 and 17:17 say:
24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. (Proverbs 17:17)
We cannot be friends with someone simply because we have decided to. To be friends, we must share common goals, interests, and experiences. Listen to what the apostle Paul says to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:10-11):
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. (2 Timothy 3:10-11)
We cannot choose our parents, but we can choose our friends. And in this we must be especially careful. For the apostle Paul warns us (1 Corinthians 15:33):
33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)
Here I would like to say a few words about mentoring. It has to do with how we do our work and with finishing our Christian course well. Mentoring is a relationship in which one person passes on to another abilities, experience, and authority, sharing with him what he himself has received from God. In it a real change takes place, a transfer of values and skills.
Mentoring requires relationships. And we Bulgarians are great individualists. In the Orthodox church there is the established practice of the novitiate, but we in the evangelical churches do not have this practice. Moreover, because of our heavy historical legacy from the totalitarian regime, under which almost every second or third person in the country was an informer or a traitor, we are closed in on ourselves and not at all inclined to trust. And in our churches there is often gossip and division, and these keep us from relaxing, let alone deliberately seeking to develop new relationships. This, however, is sad. For mentoring strengthens us and increases our potential as human beings and as servants of Christ.
All these problems, however, need not discourage us. For there is a solution. And it is the model of the constellation of mentors. Paul Stanley and Robert Clinton speak of this model in their book “Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life.” According to them, having a single mentor for everything is far too idealistic and almost never happens in practice. We can, however, have many mentors — in different spheres and for different things in our lives. Our relationships can be many-sided — we can have people above us who are our mentors (spiritual leaders, counselors, teachers, patrons, people we wish to imitate — and the last may not even be living), as well as people below us to whom we ourselves are mentors. Besides this we have people around us as well — inside and outside our organization or church, brothers, sisters, colleagues, and friends from whom we can learn and with whom we can share our experience and our life. For me this is very freeing, because whenever I hear someone talk about mentoring, I want to find a mentor for myself, and I grow discouraged because I cannot. But from this book I understood that in fact I have a whole series of mentors — all those people who have had an influence in my life and who have helped me to grow in every sphere. Think about it, and you will see that you too have such people. The question is for us to realize what benefit comes from good relationships with the right people, and to strive to strengthen and develop them.
And so, if we want to acquire an approved Christian character, first of all, we must be trained in God’s Word. But second — we must maintain relationships with the right spiritual friends. And in the third place — we must be disciplined with regard to our life and our ministry.
PERSEVERANCE AND PERSONAL DISCIPLINE (v.6-7)
6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
In 1 Timothy 4:14 the apostle Paul charges Timothy not to “neglect” his gift, and here he reminds him to “fan it into flame.” The gift is likened to a fire. So that it does not go out, a fire needs to have wood put on it constantly. Paul instructs Timothy not to stop, but to keep blowing on this inner fire, fanning it, keeping it alive in vigorous flames. And this happens through the exercise of the gift. The more a spiritual gift is exercised, the more it is enriched and developed.
Humanly speaking, Timothy was not suited for the responsibility God had entrusted to him. At the time the apostle Paul was writing his letters to him, Timothy was the bishop or leader of the church in Ephesus. But by our standards he was not ready for that heavy burden. Why?
First, at that time Timothy was still relatively young. In 2 Timothy 2:22 the apostle Paul writes to him to “flee the evil desires of youth,” and in 1 Timothy 4:12 he encourages him not to let anyone despise him because of his youth. How could so young a man take on the responsibility of leading such a large and important church as the one in Ephesus?
Second, Timothy had health problems — he was prone to illness. That is why in 1 Timothy 5:23 the apostle Paul tells him:
23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. (1 Timothy 5:23)
Third, Timothy was timid by temperament — a withdrawn, shy man. According to a commentator named Fairbairn, he was “more inclined to yield than to rule.” For this reason the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians to put Timothy at ease and to see that he feels comfortable among them (1 Corinthians 16:10-11).
10 When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. 11 No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers. (1 Corinthians 16:10-11)
All these human features of Timothy’s character — his youthful immaturity, his bodily weakness, and his innate shyness and timidity — explain why the apostle Paul writes to him (v.7):
The Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
It was hard for Timothy to overcome his weaknesses and to carry out his ministry. He needed courage and self-control. Someone has said that “only the disciplined person ever becomes good at anything.” The apostle Paul clearly understood this well. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 he wrote:
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
That is why in this letter to Timothy the apostle Paul speaks of “military” discipline as well (2 Timothy 2:3-7):
3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (2 Timothy 2:3-7)
Suffering, discipline, keeping to the accepted rules, labor and effort — all of this is part of building a godly character. When Paul spoke of the work he had done for the Lord, he mentioned his own labor together with God’s grace. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 he shares:
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)
The glory belongs to God, because the grace is from Him, but the labor and the discipline are from us. The apostle Paul adds his labor to God’s grace. Timothy, for his part, had to add his self-discipline to God’s gifts. The same is required of us, if we want to become good at anything — the answer is one: work and self-discipline.
And when we speak of self-discipline, we cannot fail to say something about the spiritual disciplines. They are efforts of mind and body that help us maintain our spirituality — the awareness of God’s presence in our lives. In them not only our mind takes part, but our body as well. They help us to return our emotions, our intellect, and our will to their proper place in our soul — they are calmed and tuned in such a way that the Spirit can conquer the flesh in us. They help us to begin doing things we cannot do on our own. This may sound absurd to you, but take, for example, prayer, meditation on God’s Word, and fasting. Can we, on our own, change ourselves and our character? No. But through the practice of the spiritual disciplines, which we are able to do, God’s Spirit works in us and changes us. In this way we become different and begin to behave in a way we have not behaved before — not in a negative but in a positive light, of course — and to do things we could not do until now. For example, to witness for the Lord with confidence and without being ashamed.
For instance, if you manage to set aside an hour or two during the day in which you withdraw from everything else and shut yourself away in solitude — whether at home or out in nature. To be alone — without people or noises or other distractions around you. And during these two hours you do nothing but worship God, read His Word, reflect on it, and seek God’s guidance in your life — after this time of calm and of being recharged in God’s presence, you will return to your ordinary duties a completely different person. Because now your will, your feelings, and your mind will have settled into their place, and you will be composed and focused. Or again, if you fast, this will help you to be stronger against temptations. It will help you to sense God nearer to yourself, to feel a peculiar lightness and contentment.
What we are depends to a great extent on ourselves! God’s Word shows us the directions in which to work in order to acquire Christian character, but whether we will do it — that depends on us.
- Will we bring ourselves up in God’s Word?
- Will we maintain relationships with godly, spiritual friends?
- Will we make the effort to persevere in exercising our gifts and not neglect our personal discipline?
The answers to these questions will determine what our Christian character will be.