2 Timothy 1.1-Paul Identifies Himself as the Author of Epistle and Describes His Position and Purpose in Life
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 29, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 1:1-Paul Identifies Himself as the Author of the Epistle and Describes His Position and Purpose in Life
Lesson # 4
2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2 to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB95)
“Paul” is the nominative masculine singular form of the proper name Paulos (Παῦλος), which means, “little” and is his Gentile name.
He uses this name since the Lord Jesus Christ authorized him to be the apostle to the Gentiles and the Ephesian church was primarily Gentile (See Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9).
“And an apostle of Jesus Christ” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the noun apostolos (ἀπόστολος), “an apostle” (2) genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ.” (3) genitive masculine singular form of the proper noun Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), “Jesus.”
The noun apostolos is used by Paul to describe himself and refers to the office of an apostle, and appears in the salutation of several of his epistles (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1. However, it doesn’t appear in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philippians and Philemon).
Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth served God the Father exclusively and this was manifested by His execution of the Father’s salvation plan which was accomplished by His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross.
The word signifies that Jesus of Nazareth has been given authority by God the Father to forgive sins, give eternal life, and to rule over all creation and every creature as a result of His execution of the Father’s salvation plan.
It also denotes that Jesus of Nazareth was perpetually guided and empowered by God the Holy Spirit during His First Advent.
Lastly, Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised deliverer of the human race from the bondage of Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature.
In 2 Timothy 1:1, the noun Christos functions as a possessive genitive indicating that when Paul states that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus he is acknowledging the fact that he has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ from the slave market of sin and delivered from Satan’s power and authority and is now possessed by Him.
“By the will of God” is composed of the following: preposition dia (διά), “by” and the genitive neuter singular form of the noun thelēma (θέλημα), “the will” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “of God.”
This same exact prepositional phrase is used by the apostle Paul in Romans 15:32, 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, 8:5, Ephesians 1:1, and Colossians 1:1.
Five times this prepositional phrase is used by Paul with regards to being an apostle of Jesus Christ in the salutation of a letter to one of the churches (1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1).
The noun thelēma is used by Paul in regards to being an apostle of Jesus Christ expressing the fact that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of the Father.
The word is the object of the preposition dia which means “by” since it functions as a marker of personal intermediate agency indicating that Jesus Christ selected Paul to be His apostle through the intermediate agency of the Father’s will.
The noun theos means “God” referring to the Father and not the Son or the Holy Spirit since the Son is mentioned in the previous phrase “apostle of Christ Jesus” and the Spirit inspired Paul to write this epistle and He always glorifies the Son and the Father.
“According to the promise of life” is composed of the following: (1) preposition kata (κατά), “according to” (2) accusative feminine singular form of the noun epangelia (ἐπαγγελία), “promise” (3) genitive feminine singular form of the noun zoe (ζωή), “life.”
The noun epangelia refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s promise of experiencing eternal life during one’s lifetime on earth as well as throughout all of eternity.
The word contains the figure of metonymy meaning that the promise of eternal life is put for the communication of this promise to others.
Therefore, Paul is saying that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of the Father for the purpose of communicating the promise of eternal life which is in Christ Jesus.
The noun epangelia in 2 Timothy 1:1 is the object of the preposition kata which functions as a marker of purpose indicating that Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of the Father “for the purpose of” communicating the promise of eternal life.
The noun zōē means “life” and refers to eternal life which is the life of God and is received as a gift by the sinner the moment they exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
“In Christ Jesus” is composed of the following: (1) genitive masculine singular form of the definite article ho (ὁ) which is not translated. (2) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (2) dative masculine singular form of the noun Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” (3) genitive masculine singular form of the proper noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), “Jesus.”
Christos is the object of the preposition en which is a marker of means indicating that Paul was chosen to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of the Father for the purpose of communicating the promise of eternal life which is by means of “union with” the Christ who is Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:1 From Paul, an apostle owned by Christ who is Jesus by the will of God for the purpose of communicating the promise of life which is by means of union with the Christ who is Jesus. (My translation)
Now, as was the case in 1 Timothy 1:1, Paul describes himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ here in 2 Timothy 1:1 even though he is writing to a faithful disciple and dear friend.
The reason he does this is that 2 Timothy is both a protreptic letter as well as a paraenetic letter.
The latter is a type of letter written to exhort someone and to advise them to pursue a particular course of action and discourage other particular courses of action.
Paul is presenting himself to Timothy as his spiritual father to his beloved spiritual son and repeatedly warns Timothy of the models that he can imitate, namely himself and then explains this model to imitate with a series of spiritual axioms.
Here in Second Timothy Paul is presenting spiritual axioms to Timothy and in antithetical fashion using a polemic against false teachers in order to present to Timothy actions which are to be avoided.
In 2 Timothy 1:1, Paul describes his position in life in that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ which refers to the unique and temporary spiritual gift which held maximum authority in the church and was sovereignly delegated by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The twelve men who were selected by the Lord Jesus Christ to the office of apostle were Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, Simon the Canaanite, James, the son of Alphaeus, not the lesser, Thaddaeus, also called Jude, and Saul of Tarsus, also known as Paul.
In Acts 1:26, Matthias was selected to be an apostle by lot to replace Judas Iscariot, however, this selection was not honored by God since he was not personally selected by the resurrected Christ as the other eleven men were, nor did he demonstrate any sign gifts.
One of the requirements for holding the “office” of apostle was the experience of seeing the resurrected Christ as Paul had when defending his ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2.
Another requirement for holding the “office” of apostle was that of possessing the “sign gifts” such as healing, which Paul demonstrated he had many times during the course of his ministry (Acts 14:10; 16:18; 19:11; 20:10; 28:8) or “tongues,” which Paul also demonstrated he possessed (1 Corinthians 14:18).
The office and spiritual gift of apostleship was not appointed until after the resurrection and ascension and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (See Ephesians 4:1-16).
Distribution of spiritual gifts was authorized by the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of His death, resurrection, ascension and session, however, the actual appointment of the spiritual gift of apostleship was made by God the Holy Spirit according 1 Corinthians 12:11.
Paul was personally commissioned by the resurrected Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles (See Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9; Ephesians 3:1; First Timothy 2:7).
In 2 Timothy 1:1, the apostle Paul reminds Timothy that he was an apostle of Christ Jesus “by the will of God” which means that in eternity past the Father sovereignly chose Paul to be an apostle of His Son and thus, his apostleship was based upon God’s initiative and choice and not his or any human being’s.
In 2 Timothy 1:1, Paul reminds Timothy that the purpose for which he was chosen by the will of the Father to be an apostle of Jesus Christ was to communicate the promise of eternal life.
At the moment of conversion, when the sinner experiences eternal life by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and after conversion, they can continue to experience this life through faith in the Word of God.
2 Timothy 1:1 closes with Paul communicating to Timothy that eternal life is experienced by means of being in union with Jesus Christ.
The sinner experiences eternal life the moment they exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior at their conversion which results in the Holy Spirit placing them in union with Jesus Christ and identifying them with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
After conversion, the justified sinner experiences eternal life by appropriating by faith their position in Christ which would involve considering oneself dead to sin and alive to God.
Therefore, if one is in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father one is experiencing eternal life.