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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Introduction and Greeting.
v. 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God, our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our Hope,
v. 2. unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord.
This superscription characterizes both content and tone of the entire letter. While Paul does not emphasize his apostolic authority with the force which he uses in the letter to the Galatians or with the firm insistence of the first epistle to the Corinthians, yet the stress is unmistakable: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God, our Savior, and Christ Jesus, our Hope. Paul was an apostle, an ambassador, with a message, in obedience to the command or precept of the Lord. He considered himself under orders from the great Lord of the Church, and distinctly names God the Father and Christ Jesus as the two equal persons from whom the command proceeded. He was an official organ of Christ, an authorized representative of the Lord. It is to be noted that Paul calls God the Father our Savior, a designation which is altogether familiar to earnest Bible-readers, Luk_1:47; Isa_12:2; Isa_45:15. See also 2Co_5:18-19. God is the Source of our salvation; God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. At the same time Christ Jesus is our Hope. In His capacity as Redeemer, in His office, He is the object of the hope of our glory, Col_1:27. Through Him we have free access to the grace of God; in Him we confidently expect the future glory, Rom_5:1-2. As we are even here on earth united with Christ through faith and are partakers of all His blessings and gifts, thus we also have the certain confidence of attaining to the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.
The address of Paul shows the cordial relationship which obtained between him and his young assistant: To Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. Timothy was Paul's spiritual child: he had begotten him through the Gospel on his first missionary journey; See Phm_1:10; 1Co_4:15; Gal_4:19; through his preaching regeneration, a new spiritual life, had been wrought in Timothy. By virtue of the faith which had been kindled in him in conversion, Timothy was now a true son of Paul; he gave evidence of his father's nature and characteristics. The relationship of faith between the two men was much firmer, much more intimate, than one of blood ties could have been. The salutation of Paul, on account of this intimate fellowship, is therefore extremely cordial. He wants the grace of God, that wonderful blessing merited through the redemption of Christ and intended for poor, helpless sinners, to rest upon Timothy for his person and in his work. But this gift of God, in turn, flows from His mercy, from His sympathetic interest in the condition of fallen mankind, the condition which prompted Him to offer the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son. Quite naturally, finally, there follows from this state of affairs that there is peace between God and mankind through the blood of Christ. The perfect satisfaction which Christ rendered mitigated the wrath of God and removed the enmity between God and man. By faith the believer enters into this state of reconciliation with God. By virtue of the redemption of Christ, which he appropriates through faith, he no longer looks upon God as his enemy, as the just and holy Judge, but as his true Friend, as His dear Father. But these three gifts of grace, mercy, and peace proceed not only from God the Father, who thereby reveals His fatherly heart, but also from Christ Jesus, our Lord. The eternal counsel of love resolved upon in the Godhead was carried into execution in time through the active and passive obedience of the Redeemer. He, therefore, the Lord of the Church, dispenses the gifts of His love with a free hand, through faith, not as a subordinate of the Father, but as the Father's equal from eternity, who donates to men from His own rich store