After Paul’s diversion onto the topic of three individuals, two who abandoned the faith, and one who stayed strong, he returns to his plea for Timothy to “endure hardship” and stay faithful to the message, and to Paul.

You can see this week’s passage in 2 Timothy 2:1-3:

Over the next few verses, Paul will encourage Timothy to stay strong in the faith. He will use a series of illustrations to make his point throughout this chapter. He will use the image of a son (verses 1-2), a soldier (verses 3-4), an athlete (verse 5), a farmer (verses 6-13), a workman (verses 14-19), a utensil (verses 20-23), and as a servant (verses 24-27).

Paul’s words throughout this chapter paint a vivid picture of how a believer, and a minister, should live.

Paul starts off with the phrase “you then.” This is an emphatic link to the previous chapter. Some believe that it links back to verses 6-14, connected by the repetition of the call to endure hardship and suffering. Others feel that it serves as a contrast to the three men mentioned in the last verses of the preceding chapter, calling Timothy to be more like Onesiphorus and not like Phygelus and Hermogenes. If this is the case, Paul may be calling Timothy to leave Ephesus and come to Rome. I’m not certain this is the case, because too much of this letter lends itself to the instructions Timothy would need to continue in ministry there.

So that means that Paul has come back to his point after digressing on the matter of those three other men. Paul exhorts Timothy to stay strong in the face of opposition. How is he to do that? Only by the grace of Christ is that possible.

So far, in 2 Timothy 1, Paul has encouraged Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God, and to join with him in suffering for the gospel. However, this isn’t enough. Paul has further instruction for Timothy to pay attention to.

You can see if for yourself in 2 Timothy 1:13-14:

Paul now tells Timothy that he must keep in the forefront of his mind the apostolic pattern, the standard, of sound teaching as he teaches others.

A couple of insights into the phrases Paul uses may be helpful.

• Sound teaching – This term conveys the idea of “healthy” teaching, and parallels with 1 Timothy 1:10.
• Pattern – This is a term used to signify an outline, a sketch, much like an architectural draft.

The point that Paul is making is that Timothy preach and spread the same message that he received from Paul. Paul’s concern here is valid, because just like a photo copier, a copy of a copy of a copy soon looks nothing like the original. Paul wants the message of the gospel to endure with little or no change.

This alludes to the doctrine of inerrancy. This is the idea that the Scriptures contain God’s message to man, and in its original manuscripts, contains no errors and is completely accurate. Closely aligned with that is the idea of infallability, what the Bible says regarding matters of faith is wholly useful and true, again without error.

And, thanks to God’s involvement, the Scriptures we have today reflect very few errors or mistakes compared to the earliest manuscripts found to date. There may be the occasional copyist error, but these are almost all found in incidental texts, and rarely in any passage that is foundational for any doctrine.

In last week’s passage, Paul concluded his sentence with a brief and spontaneous break into a worshipful, creed-like statement. Basically, he gave a brief summary of the gospel for which he was suffering, and for which he encouraged Timothy to stand strong. It is to this gospel that he speaks in this week’s passage.

Check it out in 2 Timothy 1:11-12:

This is the gospel to which Paul was appointed as a messenger and an apostle. In fact, Paul refers to three different functions to which he was called by God.

• He was appointed to be a herald. This is someone who publicly proclaims messages of importance. Paul used this word in 1 Timothy 2:7.
• He was appointed to be an apostle. Paul’s mind was no doubt on his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, where he was called and commissioned by Christ himself. Paul stated this at the beginning of 1 Timothy, in his greeting, as well as 1 Timothy 2:7.
• He was appointed to be a teacher. Again, Paul used this term in 1 Timothy 2:7, understanding his role to be that of a bold messenger. He knew he was appointed by God to share the gospel with as many people as possible.

From this self-description, Paul turns to his present sufferings. Paul knows why he is suffering. It is because of this gospel that he is preaching to the world. But his next statement is targeted to strengthen Timothy, who, being younger, may have been wavering in his faith because of the difficulties he was facing in the Ephesian church.

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. This phrase is reminiscent of Romans 1:16, where Paul makes a similar statement. Paul’s unashamed attitude may actually be more of case where Paul is proud of his sufferings, and proud of the gospel that he preaches. Paul is not ashamed because he knows that the God in whom he places his trust is powerful enough to guard something very special to Paul.

The question in this passage, then, is what is this “entrusted” thing? There are two possible translations of this passage.

Paul expressed in last week’s passage just how joyful he was to see Timothy’s sincere faith. In this week’s passage, he expands on that comment, giving us a deeper glimpse into Timothy’s ministry.

Take a look at the passage in 2 Timothy 1:6-7:

This passage is an often quoted passage, focusing on the difference between the spirit of timidity and the spirit of power. This is usually quoted to encourage someone to be bold in regards to their faith, encouraging them to speak out about God and what he has done and will do.

However, that’s only a portion of the truth contained in these two verses. Yes, Paul is encouraging Timothy to be bold. But there is much more going on here.

Last week, we saw Paul express joy for Timothy’s sincere faith. Now, he reminds Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God.” This is directly connected to the previous verses, evidenced by the clause “for this reason.” This is an unusual expression for Paul to use, occurring only here in all of his letters. It indicates that his thought here is directly connect to what he has just said.

He encourages Timothy to “fan into flame” the gift he received from God. The tense used here in the Greek is a present infinitive, and can mean to either “kindle anew” or “keep on fanning into flame.” The second idea makes the most sense here. Paul isn’t suggesting that Timothy needs anything further than the gift from God that he has already received, or that it has dwindled and needs refreshed. Rather, Paul is simply encouraging Timothy to continue steadfastly in his faithfulness to God and in his ministry to him.

True to form, Paul begins his second letter to Timothy with a brief statement of thanksgiving. This is fairly typical of Paul’s writings. He makes a point to bring thanksgiving to God to the table in everything he does. This letter is no different.

You can see his statement of thankfulness in 2 Timothy 1:3-5:

Thankfulness is an attitude that has suffered in our culture in recent years. We’ve opted for a sense of entitlement and superiority, instead of gratitude thanksgiving. This is unfortunate, because the Bible has much to say on the topic of being thankful. It’s often very obvious, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

But much of what the New Testament, and especially the writings of Paul, has to say about being thankful seems to slip past us without being noticed. That’s because a lot of it is found in the greetings of his letters, which we sort of gloss over. After all, it’s just a greeting, right?

There is a lot of theology packed into Paul’s greetings. Remember the deep theology we unpacked in 1 Timothy 1:1-2, Paul’s first greeting to Timothy? There was a lot there, and his greeting to Timothy in the second letter is no different.

Paul is thankful. For what? It’s unclear exactly what Paul is thankful for, because he doesn’t explicitly state what he is thankful for in this passage. However, from what he does say, we can infer that he is thankful in at least two areas.