To Timothy my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

“What is the reason of his writing this second Epistle to Timothy? He had said, "I hope to come unto thee shortly" (1 Tim. iii. 14), and as this had not taken place, instead of coming to him, he consoles him by a letter, when he was grieving perhaps for his absence, and oppressed by the cares of the government, which he had now taken in hand. For even great men, when they are placed at the helm, and are charged with the direction of the Church, feel the strangeness of their position, and are overwhelmed, as it were, by the waves of business. This was particularly the case when the Gospel was first preached, when the ground was everywhere unturned, and all was opposition and hostility. There were, besides, heresies commencing from the Jewish teachers, as he has shown in his former Epistle. Nor does he only comfort him by letters, he invites him to come to him: "Do thy diligence," he says, "to come shortly unto me," and, "when thou comest, bring with thee the books, but especially the parchments." (2 Tim. iv. 9 and 2 Tim. iv. 13.) And he seems to have written this Epistle when his end was approaching. For he says, "I am now ready to be offered up"; and again, "At my first answer no man stood with me." (2 Tim. iv. 6 and 2 Tim. iv.16) To set all this right, he both offers consolation from his own trials, and also says, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." Thus at the very commencement he raises up his mind. Tell me not, he says, of the dangers here. These obtain for us eternal life, where there is no peril, where grief and mourning flee away. For He hath not made us Apostles only that we might encounter dangers, but that we might even suffer and die. And as it would not be a consolation to recount to him his own troubles, but rather an increase of his grief, he begins immediately with offering comfort, saying, "According to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ." But if it is a "promise," seek it not here. For, "hope that is seen is not hope." (Rom. viii. 24.)”

“This epistle is divided into a greeting, and a narration. The second part begins at "I give thanks." Again, first the person greeting is set down; second, the person greeted; third, the goods wished for. The person greeting is described from the name "Paul," which signifies smallness, which befits him on account of humility of mind and tribulation, which make a man small — to such an extent that Christ is said to have been made small on account of his sufferings. Heb. 2:9: "him who was made a little lower than the Angels," etc. Again, from dignity, which he sets down first; second, the origin of the dignity; third, the fruit. The dignity is great, because he is "an apostle of Jesus Christ," that is, sent by Christ. Lk. 6:13: "he chose twelve from among them, whom he also named apostles." He obtained this dignity because he labored more than all, 1 Cor. 15:10, and Gal. 2:8: "he who worked in Peter unto the apostolate of the circumcision worked also in me among the Gentiles." The origin of the apostolate is the will of God, whence he says "through the will of God" — which some forestall, because they thrust themselves in; against whom it is said, Heb. 5:4: "no one takes the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was." Again, some are permitted it on account of the sins of the people. Job 34:30: "who makes a hypocrite man to reign, on account of the sins of the people." But this is "through the will of God," which he says, because not through his own will. The fruit, however, is not something earthly, but "according to the promise of life, which is," etc., that is, for obtaining the eternal life promised by Christ. This ought to be the end of prelates. 1 Cor. 9:25: "they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one." Dan. 12:3: "they who instruct many unto justice, as stars unto perpetual eternities." The person greeted is Timothy, his son, converted by him, Acts 16:1. "Dearest," because of one mind with him. Phil. 2:20: "I have no one so of one mind," etc. The goods wished for are three, namely "grace," through which there is remission of sins; "mercy," through which we obtain the final good; "peace" — the Gloss: that is, tranquility of mind; this befits a prelate, who is appointed for this, that he may procure peace. In John, the Lord said: "peace be to you"; and he commanded those entering a house to offer peace, as is found in Matt. 10:12. And this "from God the Father," who is the giver of every good, Jas. 1:5. Again, "from Jesus Christ," who is mediator inasmuch as he is man, of God and men. 2 Pet. 1:4: "through whom he has given us the greatest and precious promises."”

“To Timothy, my dearly beloved son,.... Not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; and not on account of his being an instrument of his conversion, but by reason of that instruction in the doctrines of the Gospel which he gave him, it being usual to call disciples children; and he calls him so, because as a son, he, being young in years, served with him, and under him, as a father, in the Gospel of Christ; for whom he had a very great affection, on account of his having been a companion with him in his travels, and very useful to him in the ministry, and because of his singular and eminent gifts, great grace, religion, and holiness: Grace, mercy, and peace, &c. See Gill on Ti1 1:2. . 2 Timothy 1:3 ti2 1:3 ti2 1:3 ti2 1:3I thank God,.... After the inscription and salutation follows the preface to the epistle; which contains a thanksgiving to God upon Timothy's account, and has a tendency to engage his attention to what he was about to write to him in the body of the epistle. God is the object of praise and thanksgiving, both as the God of nature and providence, and as the God of all grace; for every good thing comes from him, and therefore he ought to have the glory of it; nor should any glory, as though they had not received it: and he is here described, as follows, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience; the apostle served God in the precepts of the law, as in the hands of Christ, and as written upon his heart by the Spirit of God, in which he delighted after the inward man, and which he served with his regenerated mind; and also in the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, in which he was very diligent and laborious, faithful and successful: and this God, whom he served, was the God of his "forefathers", of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Benjamin, of whose tribe he was, and also of his more immediate ancestors. The Ethiopic version renders it, "from my original"; for though he preached the Gospel of Christ, and asserted the abrogation of the ceremonial law, yet he worshipped the one, true, and living God, the God of Israel, and was not an apostate from the true religion, as his enemies would insinuate: and this service of his was performed with a "pure conscience": every man has a conscience, but the conscience of every natural man is defiled with sin; and that is only a pure one, which is sprinkled and purged with the blood of Christ; and whereby a person is only fitted to serve the living God, without the incumbrance of dead works, and slavish fear, and with faith and cheerfulness; and such a conscience the apostle had, and with such an one he served God. For this refers not to his serving of God, and to his conscience, while a Pharisee and a persecutor; for however moral was his conduct and conversation then, and with what sincerity and uprightness soever he behaved, his conscience was not a pure one. He goes on to observe what he thanked God for, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; that God had laid him upon his heart, and that he had such reason to remember him at the throne of grace continually. We learn from hence, that the apostle prayed constantly night and day; and if so great a man as he stood in need of continual prayer, much more we; and that in his prayers he was not unmindful of his friends, though at a distance from him; and in both these he is to be imitated: it becomes us to pray without ceasing: to pray always, and not faint and give out, to pray every day and night; and to pray for others as well as for ourselves, for all the saints, yea, for our enemies, as well as for our friends.”

“my dearly beloved son--In Ti1 1:2, and Tit 1:4, written at an earlier period than this Epistle, the expression used is in the Greek, "my genuine son." ALFORD sees in the change of expression an intimation of an altered tone as to Timothy, more of mere love, and less of confidence, as though Paul saw m him a want of firmness, whence arose the need of his stirring up afresh the faith and grace in Him (Ti2 1:6). But this seems to me not justified by the Greek word agapetos, which implies the attachment of reasoning and choice, on the ground of merit in the one "beloved," not of merely instinctive love. See TRENCH [Greek Synonyms of the New Testament].”