2 Timothy 1:3

2 Timothy 1:3. Whom I serve from my forefathers. The English word suggests more remote ancestors than were in St. Paul's thoughts. We have no word that precisely answers to the Greek, and are compelled to choose between ‘parents' (as in 1 Timothy 5:4), which is too narrow, and ‘forefathers,' which is too wide. The connexion of thought is probably that St. Paul, having Timothy's mother and grandmother in his thoughts (as in 2 Timothy 1:5), goes back in memory to the influences that had surrounded his own childhood, and inserts out of natural sympathy a reference to them.

With a pure conscience. This was the point in the past on which St. Paul dwelt with an ever-increasing thankfulness. In childhood, youth, manhood, his conscience had always been free from the guilt of hypocrisy or wilful sinning against knowledge. Comp. Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16.

That without ceasing. The parallel phrase in Romans 1:9 suggests the thought that the special turn of the phrase (‘ haw without ceasing') was determined by the formula, ‘God is my witness,' which commonly preceded it. There is, however, nothing incongruous in the construction as it stands. It was a thing to thank God for that he had his beloved son ever present in his thoughts and prayers.

Mention. The Greek has the article, implying the constant practice that had become a personal habit.