Fear Not

2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, 5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

You can almost feel Paul’s aching heart as he writes Timothy this second letter. It is now a few years following his first letter to Timothy, and we see much has changed.

When Paul was first at Rome, he was held under house arrest, and he had many opportunities to visit and share the Gospel with all those who came to see him. (He was allowed to see visitors freely.) The newly-presented “good news” was being investigated and received, and Paul’s ministry had life, even if in a vastly different form than he may have had as a traveling missionary. But he was making the best of a bad situation. (Some even believe Paul witnessed to Emperor Nero, as he would certainly have appeared before him for trial, and it is difficult to imagine Paul not sharing the gospel.)

At some point Paul was released from prison, but then as Nero went mad, Paul was re-arrested, and this time he was held alone, chained in a dank dungeon. This is where Paul writes Timothy from, and it is important to understand this as we study this letter. Here is the great evangelist of the world at the end of his service, and at the end of his life. This would be his last recorded word.

It is in this environment Paul’s faith receives its final test, as he is abandoned by all his friends save for Onesiphorus. Paul’s last words to Timothy are meant as encouragement. “Fear not,” he writes. “In Christ, we have no need to fear, because no matter where we are…perfect love casts out fear.”

The promise of immortality from life-giving Christ is more than the sentence of death from death-giving man. Fear not indeed!

-  Pastor Bill