Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which as been entrusted to you.
- 2 Timothy 1: 8-14
We start this passage with "Therefore." I've always heard that when you read the word "therefore" you should always look to find out what it's "there for." This usually involves looking at what immediately preceded it. In this case, it is preceded by a somewhat familiar passage, verse 7:
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
- 2 Timothy 1:7
Since we have the power of the Holy Spirit, we should not be ashamed of the gospel or of our own faith in Christ. Usually, being a prisoner was (and still is, to many) a shameful thing. But, if one is a prisoner or is suffering because of their faith in Jesus, this is not something to be ashamed of. Paul invites Timothy to this same sort of suffering, knowing that as he continues to grow in faith, he too will be persecuted and likely imprisoned.
He makes it clear that it's God who saved us and it wasn't anything about us or what we have done that caused Him to do so. It wasn't that we did such wonderful things that God looked down and said, "Wow! Look at that one. I have to make sure to save him." God called us "with a holy calling." Recall the "holy" basically means "set apart" because our lives should be quite distinctly different from others once He gives us His Spirit.
Paul also mentions that this salvation has a purpose and that this has been God's plan since before time began. This plan was more fully revealed in Christ. Jesus defeated death, which essentially means "separation." We have been separated from God, who is Life, and to be separated from life is death. But, in Christ, we are reconciled to Him and His life giving power for eternity.
This message was given to Paul when he was "appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher." So, Paul was to preach the gospel, he was "sent" as an apostle to the gentiles so that they, too, could share in the good news of the gospel and he was given the position to teach about Christ and His saving grace. Why this distinction between preaching and teaching? They are two different things. I think a good explanation of the the difference can be found in this article at Ligonier Ministries.
It is because of this preaching and teaching that Paul is suffering. Remember that, at this time, Rome is a pagan culture with many different religions. Much like today, though today it is not (yet) to the same degree, all religions were viewed as equal. There were no right or wrong religions. People had no trouble believing that all the various gods and goddesses of all the different religions could coexist (just like on those silly bumper stickers we see all over the place today). Granted, today the larger movement is to abolish any and all belief in any and all gods. But for many who allow for religions, they prefer the idea that all religions get you to the same place. Thanks for that, Oprah.
But Paul preaches and teaches boldly and without shame because he understands who Jesus is. He gets that Jesus really is "the Way, the Truth and the Life." He prioritizes things with an eternal perspective which allows him to focus on the truth of Christ rather than just "getting along" with the various beliefs of the culture of the day.
He also uses the word "convinced." For those who belief that you can't use logic and reason to bring someone to faith, it seems that Paul disagreed with you. Paul routinely used historical facts and philosophical arguments to convince people of the truth about Christianity. And he also mentions what he "entrusted" to Christ. What was he referring to? I assume he was referring to his life, itself. Paul dedicated his entire life to Christ, trusting that He would keep His promise and that, when Paul stood before the Greate White Throne of Judgement and was accused before God of all his earthly sins, Jesus would step forward and advocate for him, covering him in His own righteousness so that he could be reconciled to God for eternity.
Timothy is exhorted to continue to teach the very same things that Paul taught and to not deviate from it. He also reminds him that he should combine truth with love and that both faith and love come from Jesus. And finally, he tells Timothy to "guard" what he has learned by continually tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit to help him discern whether or not any teaching diverges from the original message that he learned about Christ. This is a very important aspect of our faith. We should always search the scriptures prayerfully, that the Spirit would guide our understanding and keep us from interpreting things incorrectly.
Yes, there are many denominations of Christianity and all of them claim to do this. Considering how recently in history these denominations have proliferated, I wonder if we have collectively forgotten how to study the scriptures with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I am certainly no expert as I'm sure there are things I have misunderstood within this very post. But, as I pointed out in my bio, I am not an expert. I'm just someone trying to understand. And one thing I understand all to well is that my prayer life is abysmally bad and needs to get a whole lot better for me to have a high degree of certainty that my understanding of these things is better or more accurate than someone else's.
With that, I'll stop here and we'll pick things up next time. Until then, grace, love and peace.
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