New Series - 2 Timothy

I've decided to do something new for a little bit, and go through a book of the Bible... I'll show the scripture verse, and then my notes on it. These are just my thoughts and observations, but I would love to hear anyone else's as well!

So, here's the first one! The bible translation used for this is the NET bible, available for download from http://www.bible.org. I highly recommend checking this translation out, as it includes all the translators notes, over 60,000 of them to assist in understanding why they translate certain words and phrases the way they do.

Study:

2 Timothy 1:1-2
1:1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to further the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 1:2 to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

Notes:
1. Paul was an apostle by the will of God, not his own will. He did not decide he wanted to be an apostle, and work really hard to get there, he was placed there by God. - I need to remember this, my life, work, and especially ministry are not things that I am to set personal goals for, or try hard to achieve my own standards for, they are things that are to be determined solely by my relationship with God. I need to find out where he wants me to be, What He wants me to be, Who He wants me to be, and be those things through Him. Not of my own strength, because that robs Him of the Glory, and my business on this earth should be about giving God the glory. Lord, help me to remember this and to do it.

2. Paul was chosen and placed as an apostle of God to further the promise of life, or in NKJV “According to the promise of life” - could be either way because of the structure of the greek sentence(see NET note at bible.org), so the translation is either that he was placed as an apostle to spread the news of the promise of life in Christ, or by the promise of life... not sure where to go with that one. Is the promise of life the Spirit, which makes Paul an Apostle by His working? Or is it that his apostleship gives him the purpose of furthering the promise of life in Christ? Either works.... But, if it is by the promise of life, and that refers to the Spirit, it is a reminder that God will bring about His purposes by His strength, not ours, in those who are willing to allow Him to.

3. Why did Paul ask for or bestow “Grace, Mercy, and Peace” on Timothy from God and Jesus? Peace is understandable... he wanted Timothy to have the peace of God, the peace which passes understanding. Grace, I can say that I believe that that is because we need grace every day, not because we are sinners, Christ died for our sin once and for all, but Grace is more than just a covering for sin, that was a one-time act. Grace is the bestowing of God’s favor on us, “unmerited favor”.. it includes strength, love, the Spirit, and everything we need to live in Christ. Mercy, that’s a tough one, is he asking for Mercy for the times Timothy sins? Is he asking mercy for his past sin? No. Is he asking God just to deal mercifully with Him? I think that may be it. We need God to be merciful toward us every day... we need Him to not carry out just judgment on us every day.