Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by God's will, according to promise of life, the [life] which [is] in Christ Jesus,
Paul's second letter to Timothy opens with what looks like a routine greeting. It is really a statement of footing. He holds his office by God's will, and it lines up with a promise of life that no failure around him can touch. The rest of the letter — the sorrows, the desertions, the coming martyrdom — rests on those two anchors.
Paul wrote these opening words near the end of his life. One commentator sets the tone of the whole letter:
This is the last of all Paul's writings. His own life was about to be poured out in martyrdom for Christ's sake, and so he pours out his heart to his beloved child Timothy. We could not expect this in any letter but a personal one. There is a simplicity and reality here that is beautiful. He felt these sorrows keenly: all in Asia turned away from him (ch. 1:15); others overthrew the faith of some by false doctrine (ch. 2:17, 18); and even those closer to him deserted him when he stood before the Roman Emperor (ch. 4:10, 16). Yet the calm triumph of faith shines out brightly all through this letter.
Paul often introduced himself as a servant. Here he chooses the title that carries authority, and the reason matters:
In other letters he presented himself as a "servant" (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:1). But here he views himself in his apostolic character, as one sent and commissioned by the Lord Himself. As such he had authority — an authority that no unfaithfulness in others could cancel. He might be, as indeed he was, forsaken, if not refused, by many; but the authority entrusted to him survived. The same is true today about gift. Wherever a gift is present, the privilege and responsibility to use it remain, even if the saints do not acknowledge it.
Some read the words "according to" as if Paul's apostleship existed to bring the promise about. Kelly reads them differently:
The words "according to" hold their more ordinary sense here. They mean "in keeping with", rather than "in order to bring about" or "with a view to the fulfilment". They do not state the object and intention of the apostleship, but its character... Timothy never needed that comforting, strengthening knowledge of life more than he did in view of the horrors and dangers this letter looks at — and neither do the faithful. If anything is real in a world of empty show, it is the life which is in Christ; it is eternal, and it is meant to overcome by faith.
Believers already have this life, yet Paul speaks of it as promised. One commentator answers by pointing to where that life appears in full:
Jesus Christ sent Paul to serve in this world of death, with the fulfilment of the promise of life in view — the life we see in all its fulness in Christ Jesus in glory. As so often with the Apostle Paul, he views "life" in its fulness in glory, and in this sense he can speak of it as a promise. No ruin of the church can touch this life that is in Christ Jesus and that belongs to every believer.
Paul names a life that meets the one force which defeats all other life:
In nature life is an immense force, but the life in Christ Jesus is unconquerable. Every form of natural life meets its match in the end, and DEATH conquers it — the life of Adam, which is human life, included. The life in Christ is beyond the reach of death. He became the Fountain-head of life to others as One who had died and risen again. God promised that life before the world began (see Titus 1:2) and brought it to light in the gospel. Its full fruit will appear in ages yet to come.
This verse steadied Paul while the outward testimony was falling apart. One writer adds a careful limit:
This life is unchanging, secured in Christ Jesus by the unchangeable promise of God. That thought was bound to bring powerful comfort to his soul. It is well to keep these two things distinct. As to life and salvation, God will keep every believer through faith by His power (see 1 Peter 1:3-5). But the place of testimony can be lost, and often is. A group or a single believer may forfeit it through unfaithfulness, or by giving in to the influences of this present evil age.
- Sent — Paul held his commission from the Lord Himself, by God's will, so no desertion could cancel it.
- Secured — the same holds for gift today: unrecognised by others, it still carries privilege and responsibility.
- Shaped — "according to" marks the character of his apostleship: it was in keeping with a promise of life.
- Stronger — God promised that life before the world began; death cannot reach it, and its fulness is in Christ in glory.
- Separate — life and salvation are secure; the place of testimony is not, and unfaithfulness can forfeit it.
to Timotheus, [my] beloved child grace, mercy, peace, from God [the] Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul opens this letter with a name and a greeting. But the wording has changed since his first letter to Timothy, and the change matters. Why does he now call Timothy "beloved," and why does he ask for mercy alongside grace and peace?
Paul had called Timothy his true child in the faith. Here he uses a warmer title, and one commentator explains both:
The older translation reads "To Timothy, my dearly beloved son." More exactly it is "[my] beloved child." In the first letter Paul calls him "[my] true child in the faith," marking him out as one who walked in Paul's own footsteps as to the truth. Here Paul expresses his own heart for the one who had served with him in the gospel, as a son serves with his father. The Apostle's heart truly clung to Timothy at such a moment of sorrow. Pouring out his heart like this became the basis for the appeals and urgings he was about to make to his beloved child. The method is divine. It is always God's way to show the depth of His love for His people before He gives them words of guidance or correction.
Hardship is what drew this affection out:
It is precious to see how the pressure of affliction draws out the heart's affections all the more. Here the apostle addresses Timothy as "my beloved child," and not, as in the first letter, "my true child in the faith." This would surely comfort and strengthen Timothy's heart at such a time.
The greeting is not one blessing said three ways. Each word meets something different in a person's life, and all three come from one source:
Paul wishes Timothy "grace," the divine favour that is enough to lift a person above any circumstances. He wishes him "mercy," God's compassion shown to him inside those circumstances. And he wishes him "peace," the calm of soul God gives, so that he can walk through everything in unbroken, untroubled communion with the Lord Jesus. This blessing rests on the unity of the Father and the Son. It comes from no other source, and there it is found perfectly.
Paul's letters to churches ask for grace and peace. When he writes to a person, a third word appears. The difference is not accidental:
When the Holy Spirit sends greetings to churches, He never mentions mercy. He says only "grace and peace." But when He addresses an individual, He adds "mercy." That word assumes the need, the constant wants, the difficulties, the trials and the dangers of individual believers. Timothy was in Ephesus, with savage wolves attacking from outside and false teachers rising inside. He needed mercy, so that he would be kept. As the days grow darker and the turning away from the faith grows plainer, individual believers need mercy upon mercy, to stand and to hold their ground.
Grace and mercy are close, but they look in different directions — one at the giver, the other at the receiver:
Grace refers more to the source and character of the sentiment; mercy to the state of the person who is its object. Grace may give me glory; mercy contemplates some need in me. Mercy is great in the greatness of the need; grace in the thought of the person exercising it.
Grace always stands first in these greetings, and one writer explains why that order is right:
Grace is the general word for that energy and outflow of divine goodness which rises above the evil and ruin of men, and loves despite it all. That is why it rightly comes first in the greeting every time, whether the letter goes to a gathering of believers or to individual believers. "Mercy" then takes its proper place, asking God to look with pity on individual weakness, need, or danger. So it appears not only in 1 and 2 Timothy, but also, unusually and for a special purpose, in Jude.
- Named: Paul greets Timothy as "beloved child," because God shows His love for His people before He gives them guidance.
- Grace: the first word and the foundation. It is divine favour that rises above all evil and ruin, and lifts a person above his circumstances.
- Mercy: added because Timothy is one person, not a church. It is God's compassion, great in the greatness of the need, and needed all the more as the days grow darker.
- Peace: the settled calm to walk through it all in unbroken communion with the Lord.
- Source: all three come from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord, and from nowhere else.