2 Timothy 1:3-5

Vers. 3-5. I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience. The form of expression at the commencement, χάριν ἔχω occurs only once again in St. Paul's acknowledged epistles 1 Timothy 1:12; elsewhere it is ἐχαριστῶ (see there). In mentioning God as entitled, on a certain account, to receive and actually receiving thanks from him, the apostle couples a statement as to his own present and past relation to Him: the God he now served was also the God of his forefathers, and the service was done in a pure conscience toward Him, as theirs also had been. By forefathers (προγόνων) maybe understood either the nearer or more remote ancestry, but most naturally the former; as also at 1 Timothy 5:4, where the same word is used of grand-parents, the parentage just a step further off than the immediately preceding Scottice, forbears. The apostle's service or worship (λατρεύω) formally, indeed, differed from that of his forefathers, inasmuch as it was all offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; but then, holding this Jesus to be the Messiah promised to the fathers, and ever looked for by them, there was both the same God, and essentially the same worship, with him and with them. The one faith which he and they alike professed was only more developed now, and the worship adapted to the fresh stage that had been reached; and he would have Timothy to bear this perpetually in mind, not only because he also stood in the same relation to a pious Jewish ancestry (presently to be noticed, 2 Timothy 1:5-6), but also because the apostle's approaching condemnation and death as the abettor of a new religion was sure to expose Timothy to opposition and danger on the same ground. It was meet, therefore, that he should know well here the foundations of his faith, and hold firmly by them. Substantially, the same assertions respecting his worship, and the manner in which he discharged it, were made by St. Paul in Acts 23:1; Acts 24:14-16. And that what he says here is no way inconsistent with the admissions he makes respecting his native depravity, see at Titus 3:4.

But for what precisely does the apostle give thanks to God? That it is mainly for what he believed to be in Timothy, the unfeigned faith which he had, in some sense, as a heritage from his ancestors, but which he personally and stedfastly continued to hold, there can be no reasonable doubt. But this is not formally introduced till 2 Timothy 1:5, and there is an involved construction of two or three clauses going before, commencing with the particle ὡς, which presents some difficulty, and has been variously explicated by commentators. Some, as Chrysostom, Luther, Authorized Version, take ὡς in the sense of that (which it never properly means), and so make the apostle's remembrance of Timothy in his prayers the direct object of his thanksgivings, this being only supplemented afterwards by a reference to Timothy's sincere faith. That, however, appears unnatural; and so also are the renderings of ὡς by when, as often as (Calvin, Conybeare, “whenever I remember thee”), because, quod, quoniam (Common Vulg., Chrys., Leo), or even by as, which is adopted by Winer, De Wette, Huther, Ellicott. For though, by this latter method, as indeed also by the others, we get the substantial import of the passage, yet not in the precise form in which it seems to have been presented by the apostle: he would be made to tell Timothy, that since he did constantly in fact remember him in his prayers, he could, while he did so, bring into consideration his unfeigned faith. It seems best, most in accordance with the order and connection of the several clauses, to take ὡς in the ordinary sense of how, quam (which is the rendering also of the Vulg. in the Codex Amiat.: quam sine intermissione habeam tui memoriam), and thereby bring the prayerful remembrance of Timothy into a somewhat closer relation to the thanksgivings than if it were merely parenthetical. Thus: I give thanks to God... how unceasing remembrance I have of thee in my prayers night and day, longing to see thee, mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy, recollecting the unfeigned faith [that is] in thee, which dwelt first, etc. Reading the passage thus, in what seems the most natural and simple manner, the apostle must be regarded as including the perpetual mention of Timothy in prayer as a ground of thanksgiving; but then it is not so properly the mention or remembrance itself, as the way in which he found himself able to do it, that he is thankful for: it was that he had, and still continued to have, such an image upon his mind of Timothy's affection to himself and his faith in God, that he could unceasingly bring him into remembrance before God for an interest in the divine favour and blessing, being assured that in so doing he might look for acceptance with Heaven. There is nothing strange in such a line of thought; but it obviously proceeds upon the conviction of Timothy's spiritual state and character being such as to awaken only grateful feelings and recollections; and it does seem strange that any one should think of discovering, in so friendly and glowing a representation, indications of spiritual declension on the part of the much-loved evangelist. This is what Alford does, but on the slenderest possible grounds.

The epithet of unceasing, which the apostle couples with his mention of Timothy in his prayers, must, as its prominent position indicates (ὡς ἀδιάλειπτον ἔχω τὴν μνείαν), be emphasized: it was an unceasing reminiscence in ever recurring acts of devotion, because the tender and agreeable impressions on his mind respecting Timothy pressed him continually into the foreground of his thoughts and desires, when drawing near to God. Something of this the apostle ascribes to the working of natural affection longing to see thee, ἐπιποθῶν, “participle dependent on ἔχω μνείαν, expressing the feeling that existed previously to, or contemporaneous with, that action, and connected with the final cause, ἵνα πληρωθῶ ” (Ellicott) the full experience of joy. The apostle's longing, he goes on to state, was much increased by the remembrance of Timothy's tears the tears, doubtless, which he shed at parting with his beloved father in Christ, and shed afresh, we can well suppose, as the perils deepened around the apostle's condition. He could not, therefore, but wish to have this dear companion again at his side, in order that their common sadness might be turned into joy; nor can we doubt that the ordering of events, so as to accomplish this natural desire, was one of the things which he sought from God, when making such frequent mention of the object of his affectionate regard. But such considerations and desires, however proper in themselves, and suitable for expression in prayer to God, would have failed in their end, nor would they have found any record here, unless they had been associated with another from the first the more essential element in the apostle's estimate of Timothy's condition as a subject of thanksgiving and prayer namely, the recognition he could make of his unfeigned faith. The expression is a little peculiar, ὑπόμνησιν λαβὼν, literally, taking reminiscence, or simply recollecting; as λήθην λαβὼν, in 2 Peter 1:9, is unquestionably forgetting, and α ̓ ρχη ̀ ν λαβ. Λαλεῖσθαι, took beginning = began to be spoken. This recollecting of Timothy's faith is not to be connected with the apostle's longing to see him, but is to be referred back to his thanksgivings and constant remembrance of Timothy in prayer; such recollection gave him confidence in naming Timothy to God, and filled him with gratitude. And in designating the faith unfeigned, he clearly ascribes to it the most essential attribute of goodness; it was a genuine principle, the opposite of a hypocritical or wavering profession. That the possession of this faith was also an abiding characteristic of Timothy a thing of the present as well as of the past is plainly implied in the unceasing mention made of him by the apostle to God as a man of faith.

The faith in question is further characterized as that which also (ἥτις, quae et, Vulg., that sort of faith which) dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois; meaning, not first absolutely in this ancestral line, but first in that portion of it with which the apostle and Timothy had personal acquaintance the first so far as they could take cognizance of it; and thy mother Eunice; and not only so, but I am persuaded (πέπεισμαι, have been and still am persuaded) that in thee also (viz. ἐνοικεῖ, dwells). That there is a want of entire confidence expressed here, as Alford, after some earlier commentators, thinks, has no proper foundation. Paul simply expresses his persuasion that Timothy had the same unfeigned faith which belonged to his godly parentage on the female side; and we have no more reason to imagine that this connection with the past implies suspicion in regard to Timothy's stedfastness, than the apostle's declaration a little before respecting himself, that he served God from, or after the example and spirit of, his forefathers, bespoke some failing in his own piety.