Paul provides reassurance and encouragement to Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:1-7

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“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:1-2

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are what we are in the presence of the Holy Spirit. God’s will for us is to believe in His Son Jesus Christ who puts sin in remission and gives life in His Spirit. Walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh makes us who we are in the will of God. Every person walking in the Spirit is a witness to the promise of life that is in Jesus. Our born-again experience shines with life, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2 With that, we are witnesses of the promise of eternal life, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17

Timothy was a son to Paul, not a son by the flesh, but a son whom Paul raised in the way of Jesus Christ. Paul had no desire to be condemning but to show grace, no desire to be ruthless but to be merciful, no desire to stir up conflict but to be peaceable. As Christians, our desire is to embody grace, mercy, and peace that is given to us from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

“I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy,” 2 Timothy 1:3-4

Having a pure conscience is for the Holy Spirit to live within our conscience so that the fruit of the Spirit shines through us. To Timothy, Paul was saying that he had a pure conscience, like those of his forefathers in the Old Testament. Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul’s conscience was not offended by Jesus Christ even though Paul was once a Pharisee. Even if our conscience condemns us by something that seems contradictory in our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit says, “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.” 1 John 3:20-21

We need to remember our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, without condemnation, with a pure conscience filled with the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. We have a desire to be with fellow Christians in these perilous days of this atheistic culture, knowing that many in countries around the world are filled with heartache and tears. There is no better joy than the joy of coming together with fellow Believers, a time of peace and grace.

“…when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.” 2 Timothy 1:5

Paul first met Timothy, his mother, and his father in Lystra. Timothy’s mother was a believer in Jesus Christ, but his father was an unbelieving Greek. That is described in the posts on Acts 16:1-5. Paul expresses his confidence in Timothy that the faith of Jesus Christ was living in him, the same as was in his mother and grandmother. Sometimes, our brothers and sisters in Christ need us to express our confidence in them as faithful witnesses of Jesus. We need to let them know that we are persuaded that the same faith lives in them as other faithful witnesses within the family of Christ.

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7

In the Old Testament, one purpose of the laying on of hands was to transfer something from one person to something else. For example, the priests laid their hands on the animal to be sacrificed to transfer the sins of the Jewish people onto the animal. The animal would then be sacrificed and the sins of the Jewish people would then be atoned for. In a similar way, Paul was transferring to Timothy the gift of ministry, courage, boldness, peace, power, love, and a sound mind that is found in the Holy Spirit.

Paul was encouraging Timothy to stir up that gift that was so richly in Him through Jesus Christ. Today, we know that flesh and blood hands can do nothing to give someone else a gift of the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit can give spiritual gifts, and comes by faith in Jesus Christ.

Today, the beast that has power over physiology can give people gifts by mimicking the laying on of hands. Those gifts include physical healings, emotional feelings of peace and courage, uncanny knowledge, heightened intuition, wisdom, etc. However, the gifts that the beast gives involves having to deny the Living God, reject Jesus Christ, and opposing the Holy Spirit. That is the same beast that gives people what to speak, do, think, and feel. As followers of Jesus Christ in today’s culture, our faith must rest solely on believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

John 3:16 is truly the Gospel of Jesus Christ in one verse. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1