2 Timothy 1 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Tim 1:1-7

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my dear son:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 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.

A. Find Out:      

1. What was Paul and why? v.1
2. What did he do daily? v.3
3. What was his desire and why? v.4
4. Who had he known with faith? v.5
5. What was he exhorting Timothy to do? v.6
6. Why? v.7

B. Think:

1. What sort of support did Paul give Timothy?
2. What is revealed of Timothy’s background?
3. What other resources does Timothy have?

C. Comment:

     In these opening verses of this second letter to Timothy, we see the tremendous foundation Timothy has for his ministry.

     First, he has a GODLY UPBRINGING. Christian parents don’t make you a Christian but they provide an environment of love, support, encouragement, protection and prayer which can act as a seed bed for a young life to come to Christ. Timothy had that. If you have had that sort of background, praise God for it, as imperfect as it was.

     Second, he had the FRIENDSHIP and PRAYER SUPPORT of Paul. Paul seems to have been his spiritual father and he clearly carried on praying for Timothy on a regular basis. All those in ministry very much need this sort of support.

      Third, he had the HOLY SPIRIT within him, the Spirit who had imparted gifting to him to fulfil his calling. Within us the Holy Spirit brings power to live and minister, love as the expression of God’s heart to us and to others through us, and self control or self discipline to help us order and control our lives to keep them pursuing Him. With all this you would think Timothy had few needs, but the truth is that he is still a human being and he still needs Paul’s encouragement.

D. Application:

1. God provides the resources we need for life and service, His own power and presence.
2. We also need support & encouragement from other Christians.

Passage: 2 Tim 1:8-12

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 Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light 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.

A. Find Out:

1. What was Timothy to do and not to do? v.8
2. What had God done and why? v.9
3. When was the grace given? v.9c
4. How has it been revealed? v.10
5. What was Paul appointed to be? v.11
6. Why wasn’t he ashamed? v.12

B. Think:

1. How, from this passage, could Paul cope with the suffering he was experiencing in prison?
2. Why was Paul not afraid of death?
3. How was Paul’s position both a cause for alarm and encouragement?

C. Comment:

     In encouraging Timothy to go all out in his ministry, Paul is aware that in the back of Timothy’s mind might be the thought, “Perhaps if I do I might end up like Paul in prison”, and so Paul encourages him by confronting the possibilities head on.

     First, he exhorts Timothy not to be ashamed to go all out in his ministry, even though it might have negative consequences. Paul not only recognises that it might happen but expects it to happen.

     Second, Paul explains why Timothy can handle that possibility: God’s grace is available to help you cope. The power of God in Paul was what was helping him in prison, not merely to cope but to carry on his ministry of encouragement by writing.

      Third, Paul reminds Timothy that he is what he is because God called him and that his future was all planned by the godhead before time began. God is simply working out His wonderful purposes and Timothy is part of those. God’s purposes and grace are what the Gospel is all about. Not only that, they extend to eternal life which means that with immortality we don’t have to fear death. Therefore if you have God’s grace and power for the present and an assurance for after death, what is there left to worry about!!!

D. Application:

1. God’s grace IS available for today.
2. Your future is assured for eternity.

Passage: 2 Tim 1:13-18

13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

A. Find Out:

1. What does Paul instruct Timothy to do? v.13
2. What does he further instruct? v.14a
3. What help would he have? v.14b
4. What had happened to Paul? v.15
5. What had Onesiphorus done and why? v.16
6. What had he done to prove this? v.17

B. Think:

1. What had Paul been speaking about in the previous verses?
2. What signs are there in this passage that this is a continuation of that?
3. What further signs are there of Paul’s suffering for the Gospel here?

C. Comment:

     Paul has been speaking about the glorious gospel and had been challenging Timothy not to be ashamed of either he, Paul, or the Lord and His gospel. Here he first challenges Timothy to hold onto that gospel and then illustrates the ways of shame and of faithfulness.

     First the CHALLENGE: keep sound teaching and guard the deposit, i.e. hold onto the truth that has been conveyed to you, Timothy. Don’t let it be a sterile doctrinal thing though, but let faith and love administer it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

    Second, the SHAME: many had deserted Paul as soon as he was in prison. Perhaps they feared the same might happen to them, perhaps they were jealous of Paul (see Philippians 1:15), but the result was the same, Paul had been abandoned. What a shame on the church.

    Third, the FAITHFULNESS: a man named Onesiphorus has been an example of the very thing that Paul had been talking about. He had not been ashamed of Paul or the gospel and, quite to the contrary, he had put himself out to find where Paul was imprisoned and had gone to him, regardless of how it might affect his own life. This is being faithful in friendship and in the gospel.

D. Application:

1. Will we be faithful to God and the gospel, wherever we are?
2. God grace and presence is there for us.