Musings on 2 Timothy 1:5-7

I've been meaning to write on 2 Timothy for a little while now, but I (as with every typical student) have been caught up with schoolwork and have put it off until now. I suppose that's no excuse, but I've also at least had more time to think through the verse and understand it a little better.

First things first--the verses:

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:5-7).

Normally, when I think of these verses, I start from verse 6 and think upon Paul's reminder to Timothy, but verse 5 goes along with Paul's reasoning here.

It's clear that because Paul is persuaded (the Greek passive verb comes from the verb "to persuade") of Timothy's sincere faith, he issues Timothy this reminder. While I am hesitant to expound on why Paul is persuaded (i.e., what signs of maturity marked Timothy as having such a sincere faith), I will offer up the idea that Paul's "sureness" of Timothy's faith (and of God's gift in him) has very little to do with Timothy. That is, whatever reason Paul had for believing that the faith of Timothy's grandmother and mother is in Timothy is independent of Timothy's actions. After all, Timothy is the one shying away from "the gift of God" in a "spirit [...] of fear." Timothy is the one that Paul has to gently remind, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord" (2 Timothy 1:8). Reasonably, there's plenty to be ashamed about a crucified Savior. Furthermore, Timothy is not some great personality with immense leadership qualities and charisma. If he were, wouldn't we have a "Book of Timothy" somewhere? (Let me know if you find such an apocryhal book. :-D) Or some significant page in church history for him? No, whatever--and I offer, "Whoever"--convinced Paul of Timothy's faith, it was not Timothy himself.

For us, I think it means a couple of applications, but I'm only going to dwell on one. For those of us (and I count myself among these) who believe that Christian leadership is for the great, the brilliant, the charismatic, the successful, or the fearless--for those of us who think "to make it big" is to be like Calvin, et al.--and not for the "rest of us" ordinary folk. I think upon Timothy, who was probably a very ordinary leader with an extraordinary faith. Christian servant-leadership is too often mistaken for the movers and shakers of the world; when, in reality, they are anything but. In fact, to use Paul's own words, they are the "scum of the world" (1 Corinthians 4:13). In 1 Corinthians, there are plenty of "great leaders"--those with the proper rhetoric, the wily arguments, and so on--but Paul dismisses them all as foolish, not having known the Spirit of God. In 1 Timothy, one of Paul's requirements for being an overseer in the church is that "he must not be a recent convert [...]" (1 Timothy 3:6); stated positively, Paul is saying that he must be a mature Christian. Thus, I think the aim of anyone who aspires to Christian service (in any way shape or form, vocationally or not) is not to seek great "leadership" skills (though I do not deny that having certain abilities makes one more effective, but also gives one more room for arrogance) but rather to seek utmost maturity in Christ. If the aim of Christian service is to "reach and equip" (as we often say in RUF) others for Christ, how can we do it if we ourselves do not have a firm grasp of this gospel?

And precisely because Paul is so convinced of Timothy's faith and maturity, he encourages him, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (6-7). Why? Because it would be an utter waste of Kingdom resources for someone who understands the gospel so thoroughly to let its fire simmer out because of an oppressive fear. (Caveat: I'm not suggesting all "mature" Christians become firebrand preachers, etc. but I'm only trying to point out what I think is Paul's motivation for encouraging Timothy, which is not because of any disappointment in Timothy's performance.) I think Timothy's fear may have been a very understandable fear of other people, since Paul concludes that because God did not give Timothy a spirit of fear, Timothy should not be ashamed of the gospel.

But what is this "spirit [...] of power and love and self-control"? I leave you with Romans 8:15. "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" Granted, the word used for "fear" here (roughly, phobia) is different than the one in Timothy (which is more or less associated with cowardice), I think the general idea--which is not a focus on different types of fears--remains the same. This "spirit [...] of power and love and self-control" and the "Spirit of adoption as sons" are the same. After all, what better way to "overcome" fear--which we'll personify as the big bully we all had to deal with as young kids (unless you were the bully; in which case, let me have the honor of letting you know what it's like to be bullied... :-D)--than to remember our adoption as sons and daughters of God? Because, when we were kids, the best retort we could come up with against the bully was, "My Dad is bigger than your dad." And, even now, in the face of our crippling fear, our best retort, which we can say with utmost certainty, still remains, "My Dad is bigger than you."