Paul’s last letter was written from a Roman dungeon, where he waited for a verdict he knew would mean his death. Most of his friends had deserted him. Yet the first chapter of 2 Timothy is not a complaint. It is a call to courage. Paul reminds Timothy of the faith he inherited, the gift God gave him, and the gospel that has abolished death. And he gives his own testimony, one of the great confessions of the Christian life: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
A study in 2 Timothy 1 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 18 min read
A Letter From A Dungeon
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;”
2 Timothy 1:1-4
Things had changed since Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome. Then he had lived in his own rented house, receiving visitors freely (Acts 28:30-31; see the study of Acts 28). He seems to have been released and to have traveled again, writing 1 Timothy and Titus. But now, during Nero’s persecution of the Christians, he had been arrested again. This time there was no house and no expectation of release.
“Sitting day after day in his gloomy cell, knowing that at a word or a nod from Nero his life might be sacrificed, Paul thought of Timothy and determined to send for him. … Since his conversion, Timothy had shared Paul’s labors and sufferings, and the friendship between the two had grown stronger, deeper, and more sacred, until all that a son could be to a loved and honored father, Timothy was to the aged, toilworn apostle. It is little wonder that in his loneliness and solitude, Paul longed to see him.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 498
Notice how the letter opens: “according to the promise of life.” A man facing execution begins by speaking of life. And he remembers Timothy’s “tears,” probably shed at their last parting. The greatest missionary in history longed to see his friend one more time.
Thy Grandmother Lois, And Thy Mother Eunice
“When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”
2 Timothy 1:5
Timothy’s faith had a family history. His father was a Greek who seems not to have shared it (Acts 16:1), but his grandmother and mother taught him the Scriptures “from a child” (3:15). The faith that “dwelt” in them — lived there, made its home there — now lived in him. Paul does not underestimate what faithful women accomplished in a home, often with little recognition.
“Such, too, was the early life of Christ at Nazareth; such the training by which the child Timothy learned from the lips of his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15), the truths of Holy Writ.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 592
Not The Spirit Of Fear
“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;”
2 Timothy 1:6-8
“Stir up” means to fan into flame, like blowing on embers that have burned low. Timothy seems to have been timid by nature, and the times were frightening. Christians were being arrested and killed, and to be associated with a condemned prisoner was dangerous. Paul reminds him that fear does not come from God. What God gives is “power” to act, “love” that seeks others’ good, and “a sound mind” — self-control, a clear and disciplined judgment that panic cannot overthrow.
“Before men and angels Satan has been revealed as man’s enemy and destroyer; Christ, as man’s friend and deliverer. His Spirit will develop in man all that will ennoble the character and dignify the nature. It will build man up for the glory of God in body and soul and spirit. ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’ 2 Timothy 1:7.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 341
Who Hath Abolished Death
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.”
2 Timothy 1:9-11
Why be unashamed? Because of what the gospel is. God “hath saved us” — “not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.” That grace was planned “before the world began” and has now been revealed in Christ’s coming. And Christ “hath abolished death” — broken its power, made it powerless over those who are His. He has “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
That phrase matters. Immortality is not something humanity already possessed in the dark, waiting to be discovered. It was lost at the fall, and it is brought to light, made available, only “through the gospel.” As 1 Timothy 6:16 said, God “only hath immortality”; He gives it through Christ (see the study of 1 Timothy 6).
“Adam could not transmit to his posterity that which he did not possess; and there could have been no hope for the fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their reach. While ‘death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,’ Christ ‘hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’ Romans 5:12; 2 Timothy 1:10. And only through Christ can immortality be obtained.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 533
I Know Whom I Have Believed
“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”
2 Timothy 1:12-14
Notice: not “I know what I have believed,” but “I know whom.” Paul’s confidence rested on a Person he had come to know through thirty years of trial. He had committed his life into Christ’s keeping, like a deposit placed with a trustworthy guardian, and he was sure it would be safe “against that day” — the day of Christ’s appearing.
“Through his long term of service, Paul had never faltered in his allegiance to his Saviour. Wherever he was—whether before scowling Pharisees, or Roman authorities; before the furious mob at Lystra, or the convicted sinners in the Macedonian dungeon; whether reasoning with the panic-stricken sailors on the shipwrecked vessel, or standing alone before Nero to plead for his life—he had never been ashamed of the cause he was advocating.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 500
These were not just words written in a quiet hour. Ellen White describes Paul repeating them to the few believers who walked with him to the place of his execution.
“For a little season they might be in heaviness through manifold temptations; they might be destitute of earthly comforts; but they could encourage their hearts with the assurance of God’s faithfulness, saying, ‘I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.’ 2 Timothy 1:12. Soon the night of trial and suffering would end, and then would dawn the glad morning of peace and perfect day.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 511
And Timothy has a deposit too: “that good thing which was committed unto thee” — the gospel itself. He is to guard it, not by his own strength, but “by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”
Not Ashamed Of My Chain
“This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.”
2 Timothy 1:15-18
Two examples close the chapter. The first is painful: “all they which are in Asia,” the region around Ephesus where Paul had labored for years, had turned away from him. When association with Paul became dangerous, they kept their distance.
The second is beautiful. Onesiphorus, a believer from Ephesus, came to Rome and did not stop searching until he found Paul in the crowded prisons of the capital. He “was not ashamed of my chain.” He came often, and he “refreshed” the apostle — the word means to cool, to revive, like a breath of fresh air.
“In this trying time Paul’s heart was cheered by frequent visits from Onesiphorus. This warmhearted Ephesian did all in his power to lighten the burden of the apostle’s imprisonment. His beloved teacher was in bonds for the truth’s sake, while he himself went free, and he spared himself no effort to make Paul’s lot more bearable.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 491
Paul asks that Onesiphorus “may find mercy of the Lord in that day” — once again, the day of Christ’s return. That is when every kindness done to one of His suffering servants will be remembered.
So the chapter sets two paths before Timothy, and before us. One is the way of fear and shame, the way of those who turned away when the cost rose. The other is the way of Onesiphorus, and of Paul himself: unashamed of the gospel, unashamed of Christ’s suffering servants, trusting the One who has abolished death and will keep all that is committed to Him until that day.
