A Promise of Life Spoken from Confinement

“By the will of God” is Paul’s usual opening formula (1 Corinthians 1:1, Colossians 1:1), where 1 Timothy had “by the commandment”. “According to the promise of life” states what the apostleship is for: it serves a promise. Few of Paul’s letters name life in the first line, and this one will end in sight of his death.

In 1 Timothy 1:2 Timothy was “my own son”, the legitimate child; here he is agapetos, “dearly beloved”, the word Paul used of him years before in 1 Corinthians 4:17, “my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord”. The three-part greeting of grace, mercy and peace is repeated from the first letter.

“Serve” is latreuo, the verb for worship and priestly service. “From my forefathers” claims continuity with the faith of Israel, as Paul told Felix: “so worship I the God of my fathers” (Acts 24:14). Letters of the period regularly opened with thanks to the gods and a report of prayers made for the reader.

“Greatly desiring” is epipotheo, to yearn for. The occasion of the tears is not given; Acts 20:37 records a comparable parting, when the Ephesian elders “all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck”. “That I may be filled” shows how Paul pictures the reunion: a joy that is at present incomplete.

Acts 16:1 describes Timothy’s mother as “a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek”. Lois and Eunice are both Greek names, common among Jews of the Diaspora; Eunice means “good victory”. “Dwelt” is enoikeo, to live in as in a house, the verb that returns in verse 14 for the Holy Ghost who dwells in believers.

“Stir up” is anazopyreo, found only here: to rekindle embers, to fan a fire back into flame. The picture is of a fire already lit, burning low. 1 Timothy 4:14 spoke of the hands of the presbytery; here Paul mentions only his own hands, the more personal memory.

“Fear” is deilia, cowardice or timidity, found only here; the adjective is Jesus’ word to the disciples in the storm, “Why are ye so fearful?” (Mark 4:40). “A sound mind” is sophronismos, also found only here, which can mean self-control or the power to bring others to their senses.

“Be thou partaker of the afflictions” is one compound verb, synkakopatheo, suffer hardship together with, a word that appears only in this letter. Paul calls himself “his prisoner”, the Lord’s, not Rome’s, as in Ephesians 3:1 and Philemon 1. The chains are counted as belonging to the one he serves.

“Before the world began” is literally “before eternal times”, before the ages themselves were set running; Titus 1:2 uses the same phrase for eternal life “promised before the world began”. “An holy calling” may mean a call to holiness or a call that comes from the Holy One; the Greek allows either.

“Appearing” is epiphaneia, which elsewhere in these letters means Christ’s return (4:1, 4:8); here alone it means his first coming. “Abolished” is katargeo, to put out of work, make idle, the verb of 1 Corinthians 15:26, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” “Immortality” is aphtharsia, incorruption, not the athanasia of 1 Timothy 6:16.

The same three titles close 1 Timothy 2:7, without the oath this time; Timothy needs no persuading. Some of the oldest manuscripts lack “of the Gentiles” here, and it may have been copied in from the earlier letter. The line sets up the reason for the suffering in the next verse.

“I have believed” is a perfect tense: trusted once and trusting still. “That which I have committed unto him” is literally “my deposit”, paratheke, which could be what Paul has entrusted to God, his life and work, or what God has entrusted to Paul, the gospel. Verse 14 uses the same word for what Timothy holds.

“Form” is hypotyposis, the outline sketch of 1 Timothy 1:16, where Paul was the “pattern” of mercy. The sound words are a template Timothy has heard and can follow, not a set of phrases to recite. “Sound” again means healthy, the medical image that runs through these letters.

“That good thing which was committed” is “the good deposit”, the same banking word as verse 12, now on Timothy’s side of the account. “Keep” is phylasso, to guard as a sentry does. “In us” includes Paul and Timothy together: the guard is not posted alone.

Asia is the Roman province of western Asia Minor, whose chief city was Ephesus, where Timothy was. “Be turned away” is a single past event, which some connect with Paul’s arrest or trial. Phygellus and Hermogenes appear nowhere else in the New Testament; the second-century Acts of Paul makes Hermogenes a coppersmith and false companion.

“Refreshed” is anapsycho, to cool again, to give someone room to breathe, found only here. “Chain” is halysis, the actual chain that linked a prisoner to his guard; Paul uses the same word in Acts 28:20, “for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” It is the house that receives the blessing.

“Very diligently” is a comparative in Greek, all the more eagerly, perhaps because the search was hard. This is the only verse in the letter that names Rome, and it fixes where Paul is held. Rome was a city of perhaps a million people, and asking after a prisoner in chains was not a safe errand.

The Greek plays on the verb: Onesiphorus found Paul in Rome; may the Lord grant him to find mercy on that day. “Ministered” is diakoneo, served. “Very well” is a comparative, better than I could tell you: Timothy, living at Ephesus, had seen that service first hand.