CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
2 Timothy 1:3. I thank God.—We have here the purely classical form, which means “to entertain and show thankfulness.” Whom I serve.—The idea in the word is that of paid service, but St. Paul would not emphasise it, since he so often styles himself a bond-slave of the Lord. From my forefathers.—There does not seem much to choose between “in the manner handed down by my progenitors” and “with the feelings inherited from my ancestors.” With pure conscience.—With the consciousness that there is no duplicity in what he does. The statement cost Paul ill-usage once (Acts 23:1). Night and day.—St. Luke adopts this order; St. John says “day and night.”
2 Timothy 1:4. Greatly desiring.—An intensive form of the word.
2 Timothy 1:5. Which dwelt.—Made its home. In thy grandmother.—Lois is not elsewhere mentioned.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 2 Timothy 1:3-5
Anxiety for the Spiritual Welfare of the Absent—
I. Evidenced in unceasing prayer (2 Timothy 1:3).—While Paul thanked God for the faith already existing in Timothy, and because of the evidence he gave of growth in faith, he prays constantly and with the greater urgency for its increase. Prayer is the more joyous when offered on behalf of one already saved. Little headway is made in piety where there is not much earnest prayer. Our desire for the spiritual improvement of those we love will break out in prayer; and the more we pray the more anxious we are that prayer should be answered on their behalf, and the greater interest we have in their highest good.
II. Revealed in the intense longing for the joy of a personal interview (2 Timothy 1:4).—While we pray for the absent we are not altogether free from anxiety on their behalf. When Paul last parted from Timothy, he left the young, sensitive evangelist in tears (Acts 20:37), and he remembered the times he had seen him weep under the strain of strong religious emotions. The aged apostle yearned to see Timothy once more, to converse with him, to impart yet more counsel, and to enjoy the fellowship of kindred spirits. A letter, however valued, is a cold medium through which to transmit the love of a warm heart. It is helpful to piety to enjoy congenial intercourse by speech and look and feeling.
III. Shown in recalling the claims of traditional piety (2 Timothy 1:5).—Timothy had a religious training. His mother Eunice was a believing Jewess, though his father was a heathen. Paul also knew his grandmother Lois as a godly woman. So that Timothy was cradled in the midst of pious influences. Paul recognised faith in Timothy, not merely as a blessing transmitted to him from his progenitors, but as a personally enjoyed reality. Children cannot thank God sufficiently for a godly parentage. If they reject the gospel, the piety of their parents will witness against them, and aggravate their condemnation.
Lessons.—
1. The absent should be specially remembered in prayer.
2. Christian fellowship is a stimulus to growth in grace.
3. It is a joy to parents to see their children walking with them in the way to heaven.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Timothy 1:3-4. A Sympathetic Friend—
I. Constantly prays for the absent.
II. Remembers the tears shed at parting.
III. Finds his joy in personal intercourse.
2 Timothy 1:5. How far Grace can be entailed.
I. Though grace be not entailed from parent to child, yet the children of godly parents have a great advantage in religion.—
1. The advantage of the promise.
2. Of good precepts.
3. Of good precedents.
4. Of correction.
5. Of many a good prayer.
II. The persuasion of good in others.—
1. There is the persuasion of infallibility, and this only God hath.
2. The persuasion of charity.
3. The persuasion of a well and strong-grounded opinion.
III. The wisest of men easily may and sometimes are deceived in counting them good which are very counterfeit.—
1. In close-natured men, such as lie in at a close guard and offer no play, whose well is deep, and men generally want buckets to measure them.
2. In various and inconstant men, which like Proteus never appear twice in the same shape, but differ as much from themselves as from other men, and are only certain in uncertainty.
3. In affected dissemblers. Hypocrisy is as like piety as hemlock to parsley, and many hath been deceived therein.—T. Fuller.