1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prison affords a person much time to think, and in Paul’s case, to write. This second letter of his to Timothy, his disciple, protégé, and delegate in the ministry of the Word, is one such example. We see evidence of this in what he writes:
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. (2 Tim. 1:8).
He wrote other letters from prison as well (Eph. 3:1; Phil. 1:12–14; Phile. 1, 9). One can imprison the messenger, but one cannot imprison the message, as Paul wrote, “for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned” (2 Tim. 2:8–9). The apostle was relentless in his propulsion in sending out the Word, no matter his circumstances. One wonders how many more letters he wrote that have been lost to antiquity—but God preserved these for our benefit (see 2 Tim. 3:16).
We can’t be sure whether this was written during Paul’s Roman imprisonment recorded in Acts 28 or later when he was incarcerated under the reign of the infamous emperor Nero, during which NT scholars tell us he was probably beheaded. Being an apostle was not an easy life calling, but Paul did not shrink back from calling others to join him in the sacrifice of suffering for the service of the gospel.
Paul called many believers “beloved,” and some he called “beloved brothers” (like Philemon, Onesimus, and Tychicus). But Timothy is the only one he referred to as “my beloved son.” The Greek word he used is “teknon,” which can span a wide age range from pre-adolescence and up. Some have mistakenly thought Timothy was in his teens, but some twenty years had passed since Paul had begun to bring Timothy along on his missionary trips. (See Acts 15, where Timothy’s age is not mentioned, but he likely would have been at least the typical age at which an apprenticeship would begin, around thirteen to fourteen years old). Like many parents refer to their adult offspring as “my children,” so Paul speaks affectionately about his unique relationship with Timothy by referring to him as “my beloved son [or child, ESV, NET].” Theirs was a lifelong, mutually faithful relationship.
Lord, thank You for the grace, mercy, and peace You supply to us in abundance.
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