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2 Timothy 1:1-8 - An Introduction to Paul's Last Letter · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and welcome to the
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  Speaker 2: Bible Explain podcast. We're going to be in a brand
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  Speaker 2: new book of the Bible today. We're starting in two Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: chapter one, and very likely this is the last book
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  Speaker 2: that Paul ever wrote before he died. All righty, faithful listeners,
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  Speaker 2: Here is a quick word from one or two of
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  Speaker 2: our sponsors before we begin today's episode. So just a
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  Speaker 2: is the one who pushes them to the podcast, and
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  Speaker 2: Life Audio, however it works. They try to filter out
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  Speaker 2: the weird ones so that pharmacies aren't selling some sort
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  Speaker 2: of drug on my podcast, or casinos aren't selling their
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  Speaker 2: when I've gone back to listen to my podcast episodes
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  Speaker 2: in the past, I have not heard any bizarre advertise yet.
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  Speaker 1: But a couple people reached out.
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  Speaker 2: So I apologize for that, and I apologize if that
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  Speaker 2: happens in the future as well, and I will let
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  Speaker 2: Life Audio know that there's a bizarre advertisement in the mix.
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  Speaker 2: But faithful listen, theres let's go ahead and read Tewod
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  Speaker 2: Timothy one one through eight today. I'll be reading, as
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  Speaker 2: I always do, from the web version, but feel free
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  Speaker 2: as always to grab your version of the Bible, and
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  Speaker 2: also your cup of coffee or your cup of tea
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  Speaker 2: to share with me this morning. But I have water
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  Speaker 2: here with me. That's all I'm drinking today. But I
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  Speaker 2: will live vicariously, especially through you coffee drinkers, not through
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  Speaker 2: ut drinkers. Though. All right, guys, let's read twod Timothy
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  Speaker 2: one one through eight and give reverence to God's word together.
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  Speaker 2: Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of
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  Speaker 2: God according to the promise of the life which is
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  Speaker 2: in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my beloved child, Grace, mercy
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  Speaker 2: and peace from God the Father and Christ, Jesus our Lord.
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  Speaker 2: I thank God whom I serve as my fo or
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  Speaker 2: fathers did with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my
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  Speaker 2: memory of you in my petitions night and day, longing
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  Speaker 2: to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be
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  Speaker 2: filled with joy having been reminded of the sincere faith
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  Speaker 2: that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother
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  Speaker 2: Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in
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  Speaker 2: you also for this cause, I remind you that you
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  Speaker 2: should stir up the gift of God which is in
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  Speaker 2: you through the laying on of my hands. For God
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  Speaker 2: didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power,
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  Speaker 2: love and self control. Therefore, don't be ashamed of the
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  Speaker 2: testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but
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  Speaker 2: endure hardship for the good news according to the power
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  Speaker 2: of God. As we go through the Book of two Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: you're going to notice an urgency in this book. And
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  Speaker 2: that's because this is likely the last book that Paul
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  Speaker 2: ever wrote before he died, and First Timothy would have
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  Speaker 2: been written around sixty four to sixty six a d.
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  Speaker 2: And now Sewod Timothy written around sixth sixty eight eighty,
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  Speaker 2: so it's a possibility that up to four years had
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  Speaker 2: passed since the writing of First Timothy. So a lot
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  Speaker 2: can change in four years for Paul. We know that
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  Speaker 2: in the Book of First Timothy, based upon his language
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  Speaker 2: and based upon historical documents, Paul was a free man.
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  Speaker 2: He was traveling the earth, most likely on his fourth
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  Speaker 2: missionary journey, after he had been in prison for two
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  Speaker 2: long years.
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  Speaker 1: In Rome.
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  Speaker 2: But now in two Timothy, Paul tells us that he's
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  Speaker 2: back in prison once again, and historical records tell us
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  Speaker 2: that Paul died either sixty nine AD or a couple
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  Speaker 2: years before that at the hands of Nero, and by
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  Speaker 2: seventy eight Nero was no longer the emperor. So that's
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  Speaker 2: how we get the timeline of things regarding first and
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  Speaker 2: Tewod Timothy. So there's some urgency. You know, when you're
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  Speaker 2: reading the Book of Two Timothy, Paul is writing a
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  Speaker 2: letter to his best friend. You know, Timothy had been
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  Speaker 2: and with Paul all the way back, possibly twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: five years prior to this, when Timothy was just a
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  Speaker 2: young man, a little boy, even Paul took him under
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  Speaker 2: his wing and trained him for preaching and evangelism and
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  Speaker 2: ministry around the globe. And now Timothy for however many
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  Speaker 2: years it was, is most likely still in Macedonia, very
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  Speaker 2: likely still at the church that Paul left him at.
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  Speaker 2: So you're gonna see at the end of this letter,
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  Speaker 2: Paul desperately asking Timothy to come and see him one
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  Speaker 2: last time. It's actually a really sad thing when you
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  Speaker 2: think about it. This is the last letter most likely
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  Speaker 2: that Paul ever wrote before his death. So let's start
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  Speaker 2: in verse one. It says, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: through the will of God, according to the promise of
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  Speaker 2: the life which is in Christ Jesus. That is a
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  Speaker 2: very different way that Paul writes this introduction compared to
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  Speaker 2: a lot of his other letters. Like if you look
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  Speaker 2: at his other letters, he often starts and by saying,
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  Speaker 2: I am Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ. Grace and
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  Speaker 2: peace to you. I'm praying for you all the time.
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  Speaker 2: Like that is essentially how Paul usually starts his letters.
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  Speaker 2: But he says right here, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: through the will of God, according to the promise of
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  Speaker 2: the life which is in Christ Jesus. So he's reminding
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  Speaker 2: himself and Timothy that he is an apostle because of
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  Speaker 2: God's will and because of the promise of the life
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  Speaker 2: which is in Christ Jesus. Paul most likely knew he
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  Speaker 2: was going to die, and he's reminding everybody who reads
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  Speaker 2: this letter that there is life in Christ Jesus. No
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  Speaker 2: matter what happens to him, no matter who kills him,
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  Speaker 2: he has a life in Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: They can't take his soul away, they can't take his
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  Speaker 2: life away. Then he says in verse two, to Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: my beloved child, Grace, mercy and peace from God the
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  Speaker 2: Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. So this letter is
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  Speaker 2: addressed directly to Timothy, not to Timothy in the church,
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  Speaker 2: but just to Timothy. He says, Timothy, my beloved child, Grace,
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  Speaker 2: mercy and peace be to you from God the Father
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  Speaker 2: and our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not the first
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  Speaker 2: time we see Paul call himself Timothy's father. Like I
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  Speaker 2: said earlier, Timothy had been traveling around with Paul from
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  Speaker 2: a very young age. Timothy was very close to Paul.
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  Speaker 2: They were kind of like father and son. You know
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  Speaker 2: what's interesting, Timothy's real dad is barely mentioned. Timothy's dad
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  Speaker 2: was a gentile man. He was a Greek man, I believe,
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  Speaker 2: but Timothy's mom was mentioned far more often. She was
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  Speaker 2: a Jewish woman. So it's very possible that Timothy's dad
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  Speaker 2: was actually not a believer. So if you think about it,
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  Speaker 2: Paul kind of did become Timothy's spiritual father in a sense.
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  Speaker 2: Paul kind of seems to have adopted Timothy a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: So he says, I thank God, whom I serve as
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  Speaker 2: my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. Now, as we know,
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  Speaker 2: Paul's ancestors were from the line of Benjamin, but his ancestors,
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  Speaker 2: it sounds like, did actually serve God, and maybe Paul's
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  Speaker 2: appreciative of that. He says, I serve as my forefathers
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  Speaker 2: did with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory
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  Speaker 2: of you in my petitions night and day, longing to
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  Speaker 2: see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled
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  Speaker 2: with joy. Paul remembers Timothy's tears, and I wonder if
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  Speaker 2: that's because Timothy was left in Macedonia when it's very
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  Speaker 2: likely that he didn't want to be. You remember as
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  Speaker 2: we were going through first Timothy last month that Timothy
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  Speaker 2: it kind of sounded like didn't want to be there.
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  Speaker 2: The entire letter was Paul almost convincing Timothy to stay
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  Speaker 2: in Macedonia while Paul was on his fourth missionary journey.
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  Speaker 2: Or maybe Timothy had cried the first time Paul had
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  Speaker 2: gone into prison back in Rome, so many years earlier
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  Speaker 2: than that, and Paul is reminded of this deep friendship
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  Speaker 2: that he and Timothy have. He says, I remember your tears,
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  Speaker 2: and I long to see you, that I may be
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  Speaker 2: filled with joy having been reminded of the sincere faith
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  Speaker 2: that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother
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  Speaker 2: Lois and your mother Eunice. And I am persuaded in
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  Speaker 2: you also. So at the beginning of this paragraph, remember
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  Speaker 2: that Paul mentioned his forefathers, and that was a common
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  Speaker 2: thing that Jewish people would do if you think about it.
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  Speaker 2: They were very big into their ancestry. They kind of
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  Speaker 2: believed that their ancestry saved them. But Paul did not
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  Speaker 2: believe that. He's not giving credit to all of his
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  Speaker 2: ancestors that have ever existed like the Jewish people would have. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: he gives credit to the forefathers that truly did serve God.
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  Speaker 2: And he might be like, well, Jen, what was the
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  Speaker 2: point of Paul saying that, Like, that's kind of a
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  Speaker 2: bizarre thing to say. Well, maybe he said it as
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  Speaker 2: a segue into commending Timothy's family, because that's what he
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  Speaker 2: does right here. He's like, you have such sincere faith,
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  Speaker 2: which first lived in your grandmother Lois and also your
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  Speaker 2: mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in you also, So
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  Speaker 2: in spite of the fact that Timothy had an unbelieving father,
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  Speaker 2: Timothy's grandmother and mother went against the grain and taught
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  Speaker 2: Timothy the scriptures early on. Here's what it says if
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  Speaker 2: you go back to Acts sixteen when Paul first met Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: Verses one through three, it says he came to Derby
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  Speaker 2: and Lystra and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: the son of a Jewis who believed, but his father
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  Speaker 2: was a Greek. The brothers who were at Lystra and
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  Speaker 2: Econium gave a good testimony about him. Paul wanted him
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  Speaker 2: to go out with him, and he took and circumcised
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  Speaker 2: him because of the Jews who were in those parts,
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  Speaker 2: for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
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  Speaker 2: So Paul goes to Listra and a disciple named Timothy
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  Speaker 2: was already there, meaning that Timothy had already believed in
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  Speaker 2: Jesus by the time Paul had come to Listra. Now
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  Speaker 2: we do know that Paul went to Listra one time
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  Speaker 2: before this, actually in Acts chapter fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: That story has talked about.
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  Speaker 2: But Paul didn't have a lot of success there initially
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  Speaker 2: because he was stoned, possibly to death, and also the
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  Speaker 2: people of Listra tried to worship him as a god.
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  Speaker 2: So the first time Paul went to Listra, it wasn't
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  Speaker 2: a great situation for him, but still the message of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus could have spread even from the short time that
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  Speaker 2: Paul was in Listra, and maybe Eunus, Timothy's mom or Lois,
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  Speaker 2: Timothy's grandmother, heard about Jesus and started believing and taught
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  Speaker 2: their entire family about Jesus. That's going against the grain
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  Speaker 2: for the time period because the dad was the one
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  Speaker 2: who controlled the entire household, including the religion in these days.
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  Speaker 2: So these two women were truly evangelists, and they taught
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  Speaker 2: Timothy all about Jesus to the point that Timothy was
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  Speaker 2: already a disciple of Jesus by the time Paul met
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  Speaker 2: him when he went to Lystra again in Acts chapter sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: So I think this shows that ancestry does not mean nothing.
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  Speaker 2: Your family definitely has an impact on you, whether for
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  Speaker 2: good or for bad. You know, I'm sure people in
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  Speaker 2: the day were claiming that Paul was against all things Jewish,
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  Speaker 2: that he was against the Old Testament law, that he
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  Speaker 2: was against talking about ancestors, and yet Paul is proving
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  Speaker 2: right here, He's like, no, I will commend the family
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  Speaker 2: members who believed in Jesus that taught their family members
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  Speaker 2: about Jesus. I will absolutely commend them, But I'm not
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  Speaker 2: going to commend every single one of my ancestors just
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  Speaker 2: because they're Jewish. And same goes for Timothy. So, yes,
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  Speaker 2: your family does have power over you, if that makes sense,
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  Speaker 2: And that's why Paul commends the ones in his family
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  Speaker 2: and Timothy's family who went against the grain to ensure
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  Speaker 2: their family members truly believed in Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: But before I move.
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  Speaker 2: Past this paragraph real quick, there's one more thing I
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  Speaker 2: want to say. It says in verse three, how unceasing
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  Speaker 2: is my memory of you in my petitions night and day.
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  Speaker 2: That means Paul was praying for Timothy night and day.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when Paul was in prison, you could tell
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  Speaker 2: the first time around that he did not like it.
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  Speaker 2: He wanted to be out on the streets. He wanted
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  Speaker 2: to be preaching, he wanted to be evangelizing and traveling around.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure he was like, why am I stuck in prison?
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  Speaker 2: It very well could be that Paul thought that he
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  Speaker 2: was useless in prison, but that couldn't be further from
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  Speaker 2: the truth. When he was in prison unable to preach,
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  Speaker 2: he was praying night and day. He says, I pray
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  Speaker 2: for you constantly. You are in my memories all the time,
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  Speaker 2: and in my prayers and petitions night and day. So
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  Speaker 2: we are definitely not useless if God has us put
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  Speaker 2: in one position, Like if you feel like you are
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  Speaker 2: stuck in a certain place you can't go out and
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  Speaker 2: do what you want to do, you are not useless.
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  Speaker 2: God has a different purpose for you. If you are
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  Speaker 2: stuck in one position, you can pray, You can sit
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  Speaker 2: down and have conversations with God. You can keep a
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  Speaker 2: prayer journal, you can write down anybody and everything that
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  Speaker 2: you want to pray for. That is what Paul did
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  Speaker 2: when he was stuck in prison. But moving down to
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  Speaker 2: verse six, for this cause, I remind you that you
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  Speaker 2: should stir up the gift of God which is in
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  Speaker 2: you through the laying on of my hands. Now, once
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  Speaker 2: again we do not know what Timothy's gift is. It
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  Speaker 2: was mentioned very briefly again in first Timothy and Paul
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  Speaker 2: said something very similar like, Timothy, you have a gift
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  Speaker 2: that you received through the laying on of hands, use it.
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  Speaker 2: And he says the same thing here. But man, like,
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  Speaker 2: I'd really like to know what Timothy's gift is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: But I guess we didn't have to know. Timothy knew
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  Speaker 2: what it was, and that was what was important. Lot
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  Speaker 2: of people guess that it was the gift of evangelism
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  Speaker 2: or the gift of being able to speak very well
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  Speaker 2: or teach very well. Kind of makes sense that those
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  Speaker 2: were his gifts if he was going to be a
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  Speaker 2: shepherd of a church. But whatever it is, Paul once
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  Speaker 2: again encourages Timothy to stir up the gift of God
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  Speaker 2: which is in him. So whatever spiritual gifts he has,
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  Speaker 2: use them, stir them up, fan the flames, get excited
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  Speaker 2: about the spiritual gift that God gave you. For God
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  Speaker 2: didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love,
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  Speaker 2: and self control. And those two verses are tied together.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of people take verse seven and kind of
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  Speaker 2: use it like all on its own, and that's fine.
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  Speaker 1: You can.
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  Speaker 2: I am not one of those people that say that
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  Speaker 2: you can't take individual verses and apply them to your life.
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  Speaker 2: You definitely can. And I think it's good to take
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  Speaker 2: this verse. God didn't give us a spirit of fear
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  Speaker 2: and use it in your day to day life. But
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  Speaker 2: it is tied to get with verse six. So what's
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  Speaker 2: the context of verse seven. Well, the context is that
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  Speaker 2: we should not be afraid to use our spiritual gifts.
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  Speaker 1: God didn't give us.
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  Speaker 2: A spirit of fear. He gave us a spirit of power, love,
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  Speaker 2: and self control. So this is just me spitballing here.
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  Speaker 2: But maybe Timothy was kind of like a shy guy,
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  Speaker 2: because there's there's multiple times in first and tewod Timothy.
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  Speaker 2: Now where Paul really encourages Timothy to use his gift.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe Timothy was just naturally very shy, or maybe he
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  Speaker 2: was insecure about something we don't know. But whatever it was,
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  Speaker 2: Timothy was hesitant to use his gift that he received.
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  Speaker 2: He was hesitant to use it. And so that's why
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  Speaker 2: Paul says, use this gift. God didn't give you a
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  Speaker 2: spirit of fear, Timothy. He gave you a spirit of power, love,
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  Speaker 2: and self control. Therefore, don't be ashamed of the testimony
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  Speaker 2: and of ours Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but
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  Speaker 2: endure hardship for the good news according to the power
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  Speaker 2: of God. So that's the second context of verse seven,
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  Speaker 2: that God doesn't give us a spirit of fear, but
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  Speaker 2: he gives us a spirit of power to endure all
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  Speaker 2: sorts of persecutions for the faith. And he doesn't give
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  Speaker 2: us fear, but he gives us love of our enemies.
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  Speaker 2: And he gives us also self control, the ability to
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  Speaker 2: not be super angry or bitter against our enemies. He
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  Speaker 2: gives us the power to endure under every circumstance. For
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  Speaker 2: some reason, I keep receiving in the mail the Voice
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  Speaker 2: of the Martyrs. I don't know what happened. I think
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  Speaker 2: with my husband and I purchased some Bibles for the
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  Speaker 2: church for the youth group, and we received like a
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  Speaker 2: free copy of Voice of the Martyrs. And so now
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  Speaker 2: I keep getting this magazine. And I remember when I
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  Speaker 2: was a little kid, my mom would read it all
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  Speaker 2: the time, and so I had never had any interest
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  Speaker 2: in it. I'm like, that's an old person magazine. But
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  Speaker 2: for some reason, one of them caught my attention. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't just throw it in the trash as like spam mail.
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  Speaker 2: I actually sat down and read it and it touched
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  Speaker 2: my heart to read with some of these martyrs around
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  Speaker 2: the world are going through. And so now I love
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  Speaker 2: the magazine. I want to read it every time it
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  Speaker 2: comes in the mail. But it's amazing what these martyrs
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  Speaker 2: go through. It's amazing the fortitude that they have to
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  Speaker 2: endure under some of the worst circumstances. One of the
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  Speaker 2: stories recently was talking about this Muslim woman who lived
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  Speaker 2: in a Muslim household. She was transformed by Jesus, but
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  Speaker 2: she still had a Muslim husband and Muslim children, and
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  Speaker 2: her husband would beat her because of her faith, and
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  Speaker 2: yet she would still express her faith. She would still
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  Speaker 2: go to church even when he was beating her. And
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  Speaker 2: now two of her four children are saved because of
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  Speaker 2: her testimony, and her husband is beginning to attend a
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  Speaker 2: church with her, even though he's still a Muslim and
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  Speaker 2: he's still pretty anti faith, he is now coming around
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  Speaker 2: to the idea of faith because of his wife. And
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  Speaker 2: man like that is that story like made me cry.
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  Speaker 2: Even thinking back on it, I'm getting a little teary
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  Speaker 2: eyed because God truly does give people power, love, and
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  Speaker 2: self control under some of the worst possible circumstances. And
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  Speaker 2: who knows what Timothy was going through right now. He
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  Speaker 2: could have been going through some kind of persecution, or
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  Speaker 2: maybe Timothy was afraid because of Paul's situation. Maybe Timothy
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  Speaker 2: knew that Paul was about to die, that Paul was
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: being persecuted for his faith, and Timothy looks up to
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Paul so much, and he's like, is that going to
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: happen to me someday? And maybe Timothy is starting to
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: feel some fear. Paul says, God didn't give you a
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: spirit of fear, Timothy. He gave you a spirit of power,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: of love, of self control. Trust in God that He
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: is going to help you when the time comes, when
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: persecution comes your way, because we know from Jesus that
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: all of us are going to be persecuted from our
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: faith at some point in time or another. Here in
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: America we have it a little easier because Christianity is
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: kind of common around here. We have freedom of religion,
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: which is wonderful. But elsewhere around the world that's not
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: the case. And for Timothy that certainly was not the case.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: There is no freedom of religion in the Roman world.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: But Timothy, in spite of that, should be unafraid to
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: show his gift. He should boldly declare the Gospel to
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: these people. Because God doesn't give us a spirit of fear,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: He gives us power love and self control.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Alrighty, faithful listeners.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: As usual, here is a quick word from our sponsors
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: before I end the episode for today.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: So guess what.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: We only have eleven books left in the New Testament,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: and a lot of the books we have left are
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: less than five chapters long. A couple of them are
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: one chapter. So we are flying through the New Testament.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: We're gonna be done, I would guess pretty soon, maybe
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: in the next year and a half, maybe earlier.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: So I'm gonna have to figure out what to do
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: because we're only halfway through the Old Testament right now.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: We've got a long way to go in the Old Testament.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: So maybe when I'm done with the New Testament, I'll
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: switch to the Psalms and the Proverbs on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: I have not decided what I'm going to do with that,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: but we'll see in the future. All Right, faithful listeners,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I hope you have a fantastic and wonderful rest of
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: your day. As you all know, there is not a
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: regular scheduled episode on Fridays. Friday is for the members
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: and if you want to gain access to the Friday
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: podcast episode, which by the way, is ad free and
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: will remain ad free. Then click the link in the
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: description that says kofee and sign up to become a
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Coffee Tier member over on kofee, and you will gain
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: access to the Friday podcast and you can listen to
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: an extra Let's see here about seventy episodes that I've
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: done on Fridays over the past couple years. All right,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day, happy.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Listening, and God bless.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I just want to take a second to thank the
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: lifeudio dot com you'll find dozens of other faith centered
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: and more.