1 Timothy 1:2

1:1-4 Jesus Christ is a Christian's hope; all our hopes of eternal life are built upon him; and Christ is in us the hope of glory. The apostle seems to have been the means of Timothy's conversion; who served with him in his ministry, as a dutiful son with a loving father. That which raises questions, is not for edifying; that which gives occasion for doubtful disputes, pulls down the church rather than builds it up. Godliness of heart and life can only be kept up and increased, by the exercise of faith in the truths and promises of God, through Jesus Christ.

Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, {a} mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. (a) There is as much difference between mercy and grace, as is between the effect and the cause: for grace is that free good will of God, by which he chose us in Christ, and mercy is that free justification which follows it.

He dignifies Timothy with the title of his Song of Solomon in the faith; that is, being converted by him to Christianity, and begat to the Divine life: and by styling Timothy his own son, he signifies his piety and virtue, that rendered him a worthy son of such a father, whom he imitated and honoured, and with whom he corresponded in a grateful, obedient affection. Having thus designated the person to whom he writes, he expresses his ardent desires of his complete felicity; which is included in grace, mercy, and peace. By grace he means the free favour and good will of God, with all the spiritual gifts that proceed from it, either requisite for salvation, or the great work of the evangelical ministry. By mercy, his compassionate tender love, pardoning, relieving, supporting, and assisting us in our Christian course. By peace he signifies, principally, the peace of God, that divine calm of conscience, that tranquillity and rest of soul, which proceeds from the assurance that God is reconciled to us in Christ, and our freedom by the sanctifying Spirit from the tyranny of carnal lusts: this peace can never be to the wicked. And besides this principal peace, we may understand peace with man, that is, a quiet state, exempt from hatred and persecutions, that Timothy might more comfortably and successfully perform the work of his ministry.

He prays for these blessings from God, who is the original Fountain of all good: and from Jesus Christ as the channel, by which all the gifts of God are conveyed to us; for without his mediation the Deity is as a sealed fountain, no grace would flow to us. He styles God our Father, because he has adopted us in his Son, and in that quality he communicates his grace, mercy, and peace to us: he styles Christ our Lord, who hath supreme power over us, as well by the right of creation as of redemption.

1 Timothy 1:2 . Τιμοθέῳ , to Timothy ) The epistles sent to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, as being addressed to individuals, have some things which are rather sealed, than explicitly set forth, for example 1 Timothy 1:18 . If there were no epistle to Timothy extant, we should have particularly wished that there was one, in order that we might see what Paul would chiefly recommend to Timothy; now, since there are two, we ought the more earnestly to turn them to use.— τέκνῳ son ) Acts 16:12 .— χάρις , ἔλεος , εἰρήνη , grace, mercy, peace ) Paul, when addressing the churches, writes, grace to you and peace . When writing to Timothy, he adds mercy in this passage, and many years after, in 2 Timothy 1:2 : comp. Jeremiah 16:5 ; Galatians 6:16 . Mercy implies grace, as it were, of a more tender kind towards the miserable, and the experience of this divine mercy produces fitness for the Gospel ministry; 1 Timothy 1:13 ; 1 Timothy 1:16 ; 2 Corinthians 4:1 ; 1 Corinthians 7:25 : comp. Hebrews 2:17 .— Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ , Christ Jesus [1]) Paul often, especially when writing to Timothy, puts the surname Christ before the name Jesus , in respect of [as having a view to] the promises of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah , which were fulfilled in Jesus and were well known to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:15 . [1] So the order of Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ stands in AD( Δ )G fg Vulg. But other MSS. of Vulg., Orig. 2, 739 b , and Rec. Text, read Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ .—ED.

My own son in the faith (γνησίῳ τέκνῳ ἐν πίστει) More correctly, "my true child in faith." Comp. Titus 1:4. With these two exceptions, τέκνον or υἱός ἐν πίστει does not occur in N.T. Ἑν πίστει or τῇ πίστει is not come on Paul; see 1 Corinthians 16:13; 2 Corinthians 8:7; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:13. In the Pastorals, nine times. In Paul joined with ζῇν to live, εἶναι to be, στήκειν to stand, βεβαιοῦσθαι to be established. For γνήσιος true, see 2 Corinthians 8:8; Philippians 2:20; Philippians 4:3. It means natural by birth-relation, therefore true or genuine. Mercy (ἔλεος) This addition to the usual form of salutation is peculiar to the Pastorals.

2. my own son—literally, "a genuine son" (compare Ac 16:1; 1Co 4:14-17). See [2460]Introduction. mercy—added here, in addressing Timothy, to the ordinary salutation, "Grace unto you (Ro 1:7; 1Co 1:3, &c.), and peace." In Ga 6:16, "peace and mercy" occur. There are many similarities of style between the Epistle to the Galatians and the Pastoral Epistles (see [2461]Introduction); perhaps owing to his there, as here, having, as a leading object in writing, the correction of false teachers, especially as to the right and wrong use of the law (1Ti 1:9). If the earlier date be assigned to First Timothy, it will fall not long after, or before (according as the Epistle to the Galatians was written at Ephesus or at Corinth) the writing of the Epistle to the Galatians, which also would account for some similarity of style. "Mercy" is grace of a more tender kind, exercised towards the miserable, the experience of which in one's own case especially fits for the Gospel MINISTRY. Compare as to Paul himself (1Ti 1:14, 16; 1Co 7:25; 2Co 4:1; Heb 2:17) [Bengel]. He did not use "mercy" as to the churches, because "mercy" in all its fulness already existed towards them; but in the case of an individual minister, fresh measures of it were continually needed. "Grace" has reference to the sins of men; "mercy" to their misery. God extends His grace to men as they are guilty; His "mercy" to them as they are miserable [Trench].

Verse 2. - My true child in faith for my own son in the faith , A.V.; peace for and peace , A.V.; the Father for our Father , A.V. and T.R.; Christ Jesus for Jesus Christ , A.V. and T.R. My true child in faith. A most awkward phrase, which can only mean that Timothy was St. Paul's true child because his faith was equal to St. Paul's, which is not St. Paul's meaning. Timothy was St. Paul's own son, because he had begotten him in the gospel ( 1 Corinthians 4:14-16 ; Philemon 1:10 ) - his spiritual son. This is best expressed as in the A.V. by "in the faith" (comp. Titus 1:4 , where the same idea is expressed by κατὰ κοινὴν πίστιν ). Grace, mercy, and peace. This varies from the blessing at the beginning of the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, by the addition of the word "mercy," as in 2 Timothy 1:2 and Titus 1:4 in the T.R., and also in 2 John 3 and Jude 1:2 . It seems in St. Paul to connect itself with that deeper sense of the need and of the enjoyment of mercy which went with his deepening sense of sin as he drew towards his end, and harmonizes beautifully with what he says in vers. 12-16. The analogy of the other forms of blessing quoted above strongly favors the sense our Father rather than the Father .

2 . my own son in the faith ] Better, my true child in faith with R.V.; child , because the word is used, as the Greek teknon is, (1) of specially tender affectionateness, (2) of the spiritual relationship of a disciple to a teacher; true , that is, shewing a real and marked resemblance in character to your ‘father in God’; in faith , or as we should say, spiritually ; apparently by this time a recognised adverbial or adjectival phrase, as in Titus 3:15 , ‘salute them that love us in faith,’ or, as we should say, ‘our Christian friends.’ The same argument from the growth of this abstract applies here; the earlier and more concrete ‘in the Lord’ ( 1 Corinthians 4:17 ), and ‘in the Gospel’ ( 1 Thessalonians 3:2 ) gives place to ‘in faith,’ or as in Titus 1:4 ‘in communion of faith.’ Compare 2 John 1:1 , ‘whom I love in truth ,’ St John’s corresponding word for spiritual Christianity, and the combination in ch. 1 Timothy 2:7 . Grace, mercy , and peace ] ‘Mercy’ here and in 2 Timothy 1:2 ; while in Titus 1:4 according to the best mss. it is ‘grace and peace,’ as in the salutations of St Paul’s other epistles. ‘Why,’ asks Fairbairn, ‘is “mercy” specially needed for St Paul’s dear child of faith?

The nearer he was in character to St Paul the more would he too feel himself “the chief of sinners,” and so appreciate a prayer so truly faithful and sympathising; a lesson,’ he adds, ‘for all future ministers of the Gospel which it well becomes them to ponder.’ St John’s private letter to the ‘Elect lady’ has the same salutation. God our Father ] Read God the Father , as in 2 Timothy 1:2 and Titus 1:4 ; ‘our Father’ was the usual form in the earlier epistles.