6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed the idea of death as the end and has brought life and shone the light on immortality through the gospel.
11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
I would like to offer a version of this portion of the letter with all the ‘extras’ filled in. The letter was written in a context that is 2,000 years old, with a different language and different culture and different kind of formative world.
The Bible Project guys like to talk about the Bible being full of all kinds of “hyperlinks” that the original audience would have clicked on in their heads, but which we don’t, often because we don’t even know they exist. It’s hard to see everything that’s going on. As I was reading the commentaries this week with all that kind of information, I though it might be easier to just present this as a letter with all the hyperlinks filled in.
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Timothy, the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the children of God. You, my son, have a supernatural gift – the gift of teaching. This gift comes as an ember from the Holy Spirit; you must respond by making the right decisions and taking the right actions to fan it into flame. You aren’t the only one working that gift – that Holy Spirit is the pneuma, the wind, fanning the ember from God’s side, bringing light and life just as it has done since the beginning of the world. Remember - God never commissions anyone to a task without imparting a special gift appropriate to it.[1]
“Fire may be quenched, not only by pouring water upon it, or heaping upon it earth and ashes, but by withholding fuel from it, or even by neglecting to stir it up. (‘Neglect of cultivating the Christian graces, or of prayer, of the Bible, of the sanctuary, of a careful watchfulness over the heart, will do it. Worldliness, vanity…ambition, pride… indulgence in [impure] thought will do it.’[2]) So the enlightening, quickening, renewing, purifying, and comforting operations of the Spirit may be quenched, not only by the commission of known and willful sin, and by immersing our minds too deeply in worldly business, and burdening them with worldly cares, but by omitting to use the private or public means of grace, the fuel provided to nourish this sacred fire, and by neglecting to stir up the gifts and graces which are in us.” [3]
The Spirit God gave us does not intend for us to be timid with the gift that is given. Timothy, my son, you are a teacher who isn’t teaching. You are ashamed to speak boldly about of the testimony of Jesus. When the Spirit of God blows over the embers of a teacher – which it is - and when a teacher fans that ember into flame – which you will - timidity or shame in talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ is not the result. How do I know this? Because the Holy Spirit brings three very important things to enlarge the gifts of those speaking about Jesus.
First, the Spirit gives us Resurrection power, the reality of placing our faith in Jesus, who has the power to conquer sin as proven by his ability to conquer death. What can separate us from the love of that kind of God? Nothing.[4] This is the rock that cannot be shaken,[5] the cornerstone, the firm foundation[6] on which our life finds stability and hope. In addition, we have the Holy Spirit, the promised Advocate or Helper who will be with us forever.[7] You stand on Resurrection power and receive ongoing power to live the gospel and share the gospel in a way that connects with people. God himself is helping you live with gospel integrity and teach with boldness, because He gave you the gift to ‘fan into flame’ for this purpose. When God calls you, He equips you. When God places you in the world on His behalf, He fills you with the power to do what He has called you to do with your flaming ember in your sphere of influence.
Second, the Spirit fills you with agape love. A teacher who offers truth without love is just bringing noise.[8] Love without truth isn’t a great option either, of course. Teachers need both. But because of the nature of agape love and the Savior who embodied it, you know that agape love demands that you be “broken and spilled out” so the truth can be heard in love. You have the power to serve. You have the power to give yourself sacrificially for others. You have the power to bring humility, gentleness and kindness to beautify your life and your message.
Finally, the Spirit gives you a sound mind, the ability to exercise wisdom and self-discipline. You know how passionately I worked not to disqualify myself from the race of an apostle, the race God called me to and prepared me to run.[9] I am passionate about this for you too. This gift is what helps us do two things: live with gospel integrity, and fit our gift to the situation. Listen, your message has God-given power. You have God’s heart of love. And God will help you to wisely read a room or a situation or a person and speak truth appropriately – with boldness and love.
So, don’t be timid in sharing the testimony about our Lord or of associating yourself with me. God has made you to teach the gospel; don’t deny him like Peter did. God has placed you in his family; don’t deny us. I know persecution will follow when you proclaim - with loving and prudent boldness - that salvation is found in Jesus. For that matter, you will get persecuted when people find out you are associated with me. But if that’s the cost of faithfulness, pay it. You will likely join with me in suffering for the gospel. You can do it by the power of God.
He who saved us has also called us to this holy life, set apart for his purposes. This isn’t because of anything we have done; it’s because of his own purpose and grace – a grace that was planned for us before God created the world, a grace that has now been revealed in bodily form through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus.
He has destroyed death, Timothy. He has made death of no effect, because by His resurrection he destroyed the idea that death is the end. Death is a gateway to the life to come. The resurrection of Jesus shone a spotlight on a reality that had been shadowed for too long: the fact that God offers His children an uncorrupted eternal life with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
“Before the Gospel revelation from God, [we] had but a glimmering idea of the possibility of a future being of the soul, but not the faintest idea of the resurrection of the body.[10] If Christ were not "the life," the dead could never live; if He were not the resurrection, they could never rise; had He not the keys of hell and death,[11] we could never break through the bars of death or gates of hell.”[12] But now we have been shown what is to come.
This idea of real, eternal life after death is going to be a hard notion for people to wrap their heads around.
Our Jewish ancestors had a pretty vague idea of life after death in Sheol, right? They believed in an invisible realm of departed spirits with some kind of distinction between those in misery and those in some kind of joy, but they didn’t really understand what God was truly planning to offer in the world to come.
The Greeks in your church who have gotten saved think that only the gods and maybe some heroes like Hercules can obtain immortality, and half the Romans think they are going to be reincarnated.[13]
You know God has gifted and called me to the Gentiles, so I think there is a way to approach them that might help them understand.
They love Socrates, right? At his death, he said, "I hope to go hence to good men, but of that I am not very confident; nor doth it become any wise man to be positive that so it will be. I must now die, and you shall live; but which of us is in the better state, the living or the dead, only God knows." Only God knows. Hmmm. Cicero, when writing about all the different speculations about the afterlife, said, "Which of these opinions is true, some god must tell us.”[14]
And here is where God steps in! God does know, and God has told us. We know Jesus is God because He raised himself from the dead. He knows what happens after death, and he has told us. We will “taste death,”[15] but we know we will be “saved out of death.”[16] That’s why we say with confidence that death has lost its sting.[17] What hurt can it now do to the believer who dies, any more than a wasp, or hornet, or bee, that has lost its stinger? The thing that presented itself as the conqueror of all flesh is now clearly conquered; it claimed what it thought was a victory, but now, O death, where is your victory?[18]
This, Timothy - this revelation of God through Jesus’ loving life, sacrificial death and death-defeating resurrection and the reality of the Kingdom of God both now and in eternity - this is the gospel message to which I was appointed as a herald, an apostle and a teacher. In fact, it’s why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know the one in whom I have trusted. I am convinced that he is able to guard that which He has given to me and I have entrusted to him[19] – not only my soul, but the sacred trust of my commission to be a teacher of the message of the gospel.[20]
God enables us to be faithful to our calling, in spite of the sufferings which attend it, until the day when we are summoned before the throne of God to give a final account for our lives. This has cost me much in "suffering" and persecution, and it will for you too. But don’t be ashamed, Timothy. Don’t be timid. We know the One in whom he believed, and like me you have been persuaded that God is able to guard[21] our souls, our message and our ministry until the day of the Lord,[22] when our fervent but imperfect service will be reviewed, and the grace-saturated kindness of a perfect God will be revealed when we receive our eternal reward.[23]
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[1] Guthrie
[2] Barne’s Notes On The Bible
[3] Benson Commentary
[4] Romans 8
[5] Psalm 62
[6] Isaiah 28:16
[7] John 14:16
[8] 1 Corinthians 13
[9] 1 Corinthians 9:27
[10] Acts 17:18, 32
[11] Revelation 1:18
[12] Bishop Pearson, as quoted in Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
[13] “Some in the Greco-Roman world believed in transmigration of souls or reincarnation after death since it was introduced to the Greeks by Pythagoras in the sixth century b.c. There is, for instance, a famous and vivid passage in Virgil’s Aeneid where Aeneas visits the underworld only to see the souls of the dead as they flit across the river to reinhabit bodies in the world above (Aeneid 6; late first century b.c.). In contrast, the Judeo-Christian worldview is expressed in Hebrews 9:27: “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” - Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of The New Testament
[14] Barne’s Notes
[15] John 8:52, Hebrews 2:9
[16] Hebrews 5:7
[17] Hebrews 2:14-15
[18] Paraphrase of Matthew Poole’s commentary
[19] “to keep that which I have committed unto him] R.V. places in the margin the alternative sense, according to its rule when the balance of authority is nearly even, ‘that which he hath committed unto me’; and gives the literal Greek ‘my deposit.’ The genitive of the personal pronoun rendered ‘my’ may be either subjective here or objective; hence the uncertainty, which the context does not clear up entirely.” Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
[20] “There is one deposit which, committed to us by God, we ought to keep, 2 Timothy 1:13; comp. ch. 2 Timothy 2:2, παράθου, commit: there is another which, committed to God by us, and mentioned in this verse, He keeps; and this is indeed our soul, 1 Peter 4:19; comp. Luke 23:46, that is, ourselves and our heavenly portion. Paul, with death immediately before him, had two deposits, one to be committed to the Lord, and another to Timothy.” Bengel's Gnomen
“The παραθήκη or thing committed to him was the same as that which he had committed to Timothy that; he might teach others (1 Timothy 6:20). It was the form of sound words (2 Timothy 1:13); that which Timothy had heard from Paul (2 Timothy 2:2); that fair deposit (2 Timothy 1:14). It was the gospel to which Paul had been appointed (2 Timothy 1:11); which had been entrusted to him (1 Timothy 1:11; Titus 1:3; comp. 1 Corinthians 9:17; Galatians 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:4).“ Vincent's Word Studies
[21] “But what has Paul entrusted to God? The Greek speaks of ‘my deposit’. Some have seen it to relate to what God has entrusted to Paul, i.e. his commission or his doctrine, and this would be in agreement with the use of the same word in v 14. But the preceding passage would be better served by regarding Paul’s ‘deposit’ as something Paul is entrusting to God, i.e. himself and the success and continuation of his mission, everything in fact that is dear to him. The words for that day must refer to the day when Paul knows he must give account of his stewardship. He was living and working in the light of the final day of reckoning, but was sure that he could entrust the result to God. This was intended to bring real encouragement to Timothy.” – New Bible Commentary
[22] Paraphrase from Expositor’s Bible Commentary
[23] Paraphrase from Believers Bible Commentary