Ver. 1. Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. This is the practical result which the preceding statements were intended to produce in the mind of Timothy. The therefore, which indicates the connection, points back mainly to the apostle himself, and subordinately to his sympathizing friend Onesiphorus, who had shown themselves to be possessed of a moral power that was adequate to the greatest trials and emergencies of life. And this power the apostle had also been careful to represent as derived solely from the grace of a redeeming God. Therefore, when calling upon his child Timothy to follow in the same path of suffering and obedience, his primary exhortation is as to the source of strength: Be strengthened—
ἐíäõíáìïῦ
—not simply “be strong,” for the verb in the passive signifies to become strong, to get strength (comp. Rom_4:20, Eph_6:10); and this in the grace that is in Christ Jesus—that is, in the supply of the Spirit of life, which is ever ready to be given to those who are savingly united to Him. The being in Christ by a childlike faith is the sphere in -which the gift of grace is to be found. But the injunction to be strengthened therein, implies that, in order to be realized, it must be actively laid hold of by the believer. The grace that is provided to sustain him and carry him forward in the life of faith, is cooperating grace; and at every step it requires his willing respondency and implicit obedience. This is what was seen so nobly exemplified in the case of Abraham (Rom_4:18-22), and is explicitly enjoined upon all believers (Php_2:12-13). So that the “more grace” which is said to be given to believers (Jas_4:6), is always given in proportion as they feel their need of more, and are prepared to receive and use it.
