PT-1 "Intro to 2 Timothy "

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/14/2024 9:37 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus: “Intro to 2 Timothy”

 

            It is my plan this morning to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on 2 Timothy, that is quote his introduction so that as I begin to move through this letter I will have a firm background as to what to look forward to as I study this book.  “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

             

“AUTHORSHIP”

 

            “Some critics question Paul’s authorship of this second letter, arguing that, in such an intimate message, he would not have bothered to emphasize his apostleship, which Timothy would never have questioned.  But Paul mentions many truths in this epistle that Timothy already knew and firmly believed.  He confirmed his apostleship in writing in order to strengthen and encourage his beleaguered and sometimes fainthearted young friend and to undergird the authority of Timothy’s leadership and teaching.

 

            “This letter has been called Paul’s last will and testament.  He knew that the time of his departure was near (4:6) that his earthly ministry and life were soon to end.

 

“BACKGROUND”

 

            “A few years earlier (A.D. 64), Nero had ordered the torching of his own capital city of Rome, which burned furiously for six days and nights.  Now only the wooden shacks of the poor but also the stone mansions of the rich, the massive public buildings, and the magnificent pagan temples and shrines were gutted.  The Roman historian Tacitus wrote, ‘But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor and the propitiations of the gods did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of any order by Nero.  Consequently, to get rid of the report Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.’

 

            “During Paul’s first incarceration in Rome, he was under house arrest.  Within those confines he apparently was free to have visitors and to preach and teach (Acts. 28:30-31).  But by the time of this epistle, some five or six years later (A.D. 66), he was in chains (2 Tim. 1:16), languishing in a Roman prison and treated as a criminal (2:9)—with little light to read or write by, no sanitation, and no prospect of relief except by death.  Whereas in his first imprisonment he had a measure of comfort and was granted some freedom, he was now confined in a dank and perhaps crowded dungeon.  It is remarkable that, in addition to witnessing to his fellow inmates, he was able to write letters.

 

            “Worse than that, however, he was tragically deserted by everyone in Asia Minor (1 !5; 4:16) but Onesiphorus (1:16), and only Luke was with him (4:11).  The apostle freely forgave the defectors, saying, ‘May it not be counted against them’ (4:16), but their cowardly ingratitude must have brought him great pain and disappointment.  Like his Lord, he was forsaken by those he had served and loved the most.  He had led many of them to the Lord and nurtured them not only as an apostle but as a spiritual father and fiend.

 

            “The church as Ephesus had fallen still further into corrupt theology and ungodly behavior.  Church leaders, including Timothy to some extent, were weaker and less effective than when 1 Timothy was written.  Heresy apostasy, and even persecution had become more destructive.

 

            “That situation, as well as the abandonment by most of his friends, made Paul’s longing to see Timothy particularly poignant, and he twice implores him to ‘make every effort to come’ and see him soon (2 Tim. 4:9, 21).

 

MESSAGE

 

            “Paul was passing the mantle of ministry to his son in the faith and urged him to persevere in strength and faithfulness (2:1).  He also understood that, despite Timothy’s soundness in doctrine and personal godliness, he was prone to waver.  He therefore reminded him that ‘God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline’ and lovingly commanded him ‘not [to] be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,’ to ‘restrain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus,’ to ‘guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you,’ to ‘be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth,’ to ‘flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,’ and to avoid being caught up in ‘foolish and ignorant speculations’ (2 Tim. 1:7-8, 13-14; 2:15, 22-23).

 

            “Paul wanted Timothy to fully understand that he (Timothy), like the apostle himself, was under divine compulsion as a minister of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 9:16).  His final words to Timothy include few commendations but many admonitions, including some twenty-five imperatives of command—several of them just cited above.  Nine of the imperatives are in chapter 4, by far the most personal section of the epistle.  Paul wanted Timothy to understand that these were not merely suggestions from a loving friend and adviser but were divinely inspired commands from an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            “In its wider purpose, the epistle is a call for every believer to seek strength and pursue faithfulness in spiritual service.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  For me as a believer to overcome temptations through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, to seek strength and to pursue faithfulness in spiritual service.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Holy Spirit will work a work in my life to cause me to overcome temptations that are harmful to me.

 

11/14/2024 10:29 AM