Tag: Paul

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2 Timothy 1:3a – Pure Paul

Picture of a gold bar marked "99.99% PURE" (GROK)

 I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. 

Summary: Paul’s words at this point in his letter are doing important work.   

I like this passage because it shows us something important about Paul. 

“I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did…” 

How did Paul’s forefathers serve God? Didn’t they serve God the way Paul did before he met Jesus? 

Paul’s service to God was, I am convinced, devoted to the Lord in every way. Even when he was chasing down Christians, he believed that getting rid of these upstart Christians was doing God’s will. When he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, it didn’t change who Paul was—it changed his understanding of who God was. 

Even before his conversion, when Paul served God, he was serving faithfully. He was not serving half-heartedly. He did not have a secret compartment in his heart where he harbored ungodly thoughts. Paul’s family had served faithfully, without reservation. 

This is who Paul is. But why is he making this statement here, at this point in his letter?

I am only guessing, but I think it is fair to speculate that this is a description of who Timothy is too. 

People who stand for God often feel like they are standing alone. Many of the people Paul would have considered his ‘own people,’ before his conversion, were seeking his life just as passionately as he had tried to eradicate Christians himself. 

When the people in your world turn against you, it is a lonely feeling. 

Yet, when a person finds themselves standing alone because of their faith in God and their commitment to his Word, they are not really alone. 

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5)

Perhaps the reason Paul is declaring his faithfulness to the Lord is to assure Timothy that he, too, is not alone. As lonely as his role is, as difficult as the job is, there is no higher calling than to serve God with a clear conscience. 

Application: Serve God continually and in good faith.  

Food for Thought: How does our testimony impact others like us as compared to those who are not like us but want to be?

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2 Timothy 1:2a – A Son Like No Other

Paul works his trade as a tent maker (Grok)

… to Timothy, my beloved child…

Summary: Paul’s words to Timothy provide a clue to the depth of their relationship in the service of the Lord.   

Paul’s opening words to Timothy are touching: “To Timothy, my beloved child….” These are not just words to Paul. He has never married and never had children of his own. 

This reminds me of a passage from Isaiah, Chapter fifty-four, that Paul quotes in his letter to the Galatians: 

“For it is written,
‘Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear.
Break out and shout, you who don’t travail.
For the desolate women have more children than her who has a husband.’” (Galatians 4:27)

In the flesh, Paul is ‘barren.’ In the spirit, Paul has many children. Chief among those Paul considers to be his sons is Timothy. 

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul is explicit in his praise of Timothy: “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare.” (Philippians 2:20). 

Timothy apparently shared Paul’s concern for other believers. He sounds like he was a younger version of Paul himself; praying for the churches, sacrificing to ensure that the Word is heard, and putting others before self. 

The kind of relationship Paul shared with Timothy would have been rare, indeed. Consider the circumstances.

Paul did not earn a living from being a missionary. He earned a living by making tents (Acts 18:3). All of his travel, preaching engagements, and missionary work were self-funded for the most part. (He did receive help on occasion, notably from the church at Philippi. [Philippians 4:15-16]) Paul worked to eat and preached to live. It was a hard life. Finding someone who would be willing to come alongside Paul and sacrifice a normal life for a life of sacrifice was nothing short of a miracle. 

Timothy was that miracle. 

There were others, of course. Titus and Silas come to mind. He worked closely with Barnabas, John Mark, and was supported by Luke, who turned out to be a dedicated personal physician and companion for Paul. 

God used all of these people in special ways, but the special person in Paul’s life was Timothy. 

Application: Rejoice that God sends the people into our lives that we need.  

Food for Thought: How have you seen God work through the people he brings into your life? 

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2 Timothy 1:1a – Introducing Paul

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God…

Summary: Paul is a uniquely qualified emissary for the Lord’s Gospel message.   

Paul didn’t choose to be an apostle. In fact, when he woke up on the morning of the day he met Jesus, the last thing on his mind was being an apostle. His goal that day was to continue his journey to Damascus so he could hunt down and imprison more Christians. 

Up until that day, Paul had been Christians’ worst nightmare. Since the day that he stood by watching over the coats of those who stoned Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), Paul’s passion for purifying the world of this upstart religion had been unquenchable. It wasn’t until Jesus blinded him with his presence and announced who he was that Paul relented (Acts 9:1-9). 

After three days of being blind, when Paul had arrived in Damascus, God sent Ananias to go to Paul and open his eyes. After receiving the Holy Spirit and being baptized, Paul immediately began to proclaim Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Acts 9:10-19). Ever since, Paul’s passion for the Old Covenant was now being poured into the New. 

Because Paul was relentless in preaching the Gospel and starting churches throughout the known world, he was considered an apostle. Because he had been called into the service of the faith by Jesus Christ personally, Paul was considered an apostle on the order of the original eleven apostles who had been chosen by Jesus. (The twelfth, Judas, was the one who betrayed Jesus.)

Paul’s credentials as an apostle are rather unique:

“If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.” (Philippians 3:4-6)

His energy and commitment to the Gospel were unwavering. Because of all this, and because it was through the will of God to call him to the ministry, Paul’s letters have been treasured as “gospel” from the very first days of the church. 

Application: Pay attention to what Paul has written.  

Food for Thought: Do Paul’s letters represent his own thoughts, or are they God’s words? How do we know? 

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1 Timothy 6:11 (Part 3) – Faith

Picture of man praying (Pixabay)

But you, man of God, flee from all this, andpursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 

Summary: Paul’s emphasis on pursuit evokes images of running after something. In this case, we are running after an attitude of trust.   

How are we supposed to “pursue faith?” Is it running away from us? Interestingly, when we look for faith in our own lives, it can seem to be elusive. 

What is faith?

Simply put, faith is another word for trust and confidence in someone or something. Hebrews famously defines faith this way: 

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

You can have faith in things you see, touch, and feel, but it is not as challenging as faith in things we do not see. 

As a Christian, we put our faith in … what? God? Jesus? The Bible? (Oh, wait. We can “see” the Bible!)

Those who believe in Jesus believe in someone who has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2). He is not here in the flesh, but he does promise to come back for us (John 14:3). 

And that is what we have faith in. We are trusting that Jesus won’t leave us behind; that he will come and get us at the proper time. 

So how do we pursue faith? How do we chase after having trust in Jesus? 

The answer is probably different for each of us. After all, we are all in different places in our relationship with Jesus. However, there are some common threads we can all make use of. 

One is to keep our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). The writer of Hebrews compares faith to running a race. If you have ever run a physical long-distance race, you know the challenge of believing you can finish. 

Another thread is to keep our minds focused on where Jesus is. This is the place we pray about when we pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13): “… your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven….”

A third thread is to remain in Jesus:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you… apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

It requires effort to stay in Jesus. He was using a vine and its branches as an illustration. If the branches lose their grip, they lose contact with the source of their life. 

Application: Make it your goal to stay focused on Jesus all day, every day.  

Food for Thought: What other ways of pursuing faith come to mind? 

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1 Timothy 2:7 – Wild Claims

“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11) (Grok)

And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

Summary: Paul’s claim of being a herald, apostle, and teacher requires that we decide whether or not to believe him.   

How do we know what Paul is saying is true? He says he is telling the truth! He even tells us, “I am not lying…” Are you convinced? 

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1 Timothy 2:4 – Knowing Jesus

Timothy is sitting in his room by an open window reading a letter from Paul the Apostle. Behind him, to one side is a Time Machine. A man steps out of the Time Machine in modern clothes, looking out of place compared to the historical setting. (Grok)

[This is good, and pleases God our Savior,] … who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 

Summary: Paul’s words to Timothy are among the most hopeful and inspiring in all of the Bible.   

Perhaps there is no better description of Jesus’ reason for being born a man and dying on the cross than this passage: [God our Savior]… “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 

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1 Timothy 1:13a – A Single Blast of Light

Man looking worried as he enters an office full of people. (Grok)

Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man …

Summary: The change in Paul that occurred on the road to Damascus is not all that different than what we commonly call a “wake up call.”  

How does a person go from seeing himself as a virtuous defender of “All That Is Right” one day, and the next, find themselves believing that their whole life has been a horrible mistake?

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