The Spirit of Power and Love; Saved and Called (2 Timothy 1:7–9)

The subdivision of the instructions for the first section is itself indicated by the holy Paul in the seventh verse, where he defines the properties of the gift of God received through ordination.

2 Tim. 1:7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound judgment.

“Us”—whom? Christians in general, and all the more Apostles and their successors. Since the spirit given by God is spoken of directly after the mention of the gift of God received through ordination, it is more precise to understand “us” here as the holy Paul together with the holy Timothy—as if to say: you and I both. But since the common Christian spirit is the same, there is no need to distinguish this in the commentary.

“He has not given a spirit of fear,” δειλιασ — of timidity, of faintheartedness. “We did not receive the spirit in order to be timid, but to be bold. God gives many a spirit of fear as well—for example, in war, as is read in Scripture. ‘And there fell,’ it says, ‘upon them a spirit of fear’ (Ex. 15:16), that is, God put fear into them. But to you, on the contrary, He granted a spirit of power” (holy Chrysostom).

“But of power.” “God gave us the grace of the Holy Spirit not so that we should fear dangers for the sake of godliness (for the faith of Christ), but so that we might confess it without fear and proclaim it, being filled with divine power (in the sense of gracious power from God)” (blessed Theodoret). The Saviour also said to the Apostles as He sent them out to preach: “you will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake, as a testimony to them”—and they will persecute you just as they persecuted Me: “do not fear them” (Matt. 10:18, 23, 26). He also encouraged the holy Paul: “do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent” (Acts 18:9). And he, in the sense of power from God, confessed: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). In the sense of this power every Christian likewise, having received grace, goes forth to his work—the work of life in Christ Jesus; and to the faint-hearted question: “who shall deliver me from the body of this death”—he hears within himself the answer: “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 7:24; 8:2).

“And of love.” The outpouring of love in the heart is inseparable from the bestowal of the grace of the Holy Spirit, as the same Apostle testifies in another place: “the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us” (Rom. 5:5)—the love of God: first, love toward God; for the Spirit of grace, having regenerated, instils a sense of sonship, by which the regenerated one confesses that God is his Father, and with filial love is lifted up toward Him, crying: “Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15)—with a love so strong and deep that nothing whatsoever, neither in heaven nor on earth, can separate him “from” this “love of God” (Rom. 8:39). “The love of God”—secondly—is divine, full, and all-encompassing love toward the brethren. The Spirit of God, having regenerated, instils a sense of brotherhood with all the regenerated, by which they confess with the heart that all are sons and daughters of one God—that they constitute one spiritual family of God; therefore they regard one another as of one womb, not in word but in the feeling of the heart, being ready for every sacrifice for their good. This feeling in the Apostles and their successors receives a special breadth, and they sincerely acknowledge themselves to be debtors not to the Jews only, “but to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise” (Rom. 1:14), always ready “to be all things to all people, that by all means they might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Thus all our commentators understand it. Briefly gathering them all, blessed Theophylact says: “of love—both that toward Him (God), and that toward one’s neighbor. For both to love God as Father we have from the Spirit, who makes us cry: ‘Abba, Father!’ And to remain unshaken in love for one’s neighbor is a gift coming from divine power; just as, on the contrary, being scandalized by them (troubled by their unkind treatment of us) comes from timid fearfulness and faintheartedness.” The latter not only testifies to an absence of love, but extinguishes it, as holy Chrysostom explains: “love comes from strength and fearlessness; for ordinarily nothing destroys love so much as timid apprehensions and suspicion of betrayal.”

“And of sound judgment.” “By sound judgment he means either soundness of mind and soul, or that we should live soberly and sensibly, and he endeavors to instruct us and to turn us away from intemperance” (holy Chrysostom)—so that not only should we ourselves be self-controlled and wise, but also “should bring others to self-control and teach them wisdom” (blessed Theophylact). Usually by self-control is understood purity from every fleshly defilement. The Spirit of grace, having come and been received by the heart, detaches it from attachment to all that is sensual and extinguishes its taste for it. If this takes up its dwelling in the heart, what place can carnal desire find there? Those who have received the Spirit become pure in heart. But this same Spirit is also the Spirit of understanding, who, having come, teaches all things, both in knowledge and in life (Jn. 14:26). Therefore it is possible to take this last sense as the one intended here. The Apostle uses the word σωφρονισμου — the bestowing of prudence and sound-mindedness, both in general and particularly when need arises—what to say and how to act, as the Lord also promised: “it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak” (Matt. 10:19); in one hour you will be given what to say, in another, how you ought to act. Thus, here we may understand the practical prudence bestowed upon pastors.

This, then, is what the gift of ordination gives to the one ordained: a spirit of power, love, and wisdom—or, it makes one “strong, loving, and sound-minded” (Ambrosiaster). In keeping with these three aspects of the gift of ordination, the holy Paul gives his instructions to the ordained holy Timothy. As one who has received the spirit of power, he enjoins him: a) preach the Lord and Saviour without fear and without shame, holding firmly to what I have handed on to you (1:8–18); as one who has received the gift of love, he enjoins him: b) as a soldier, as a wrestler, and as a husbandman—labor among the brethren, that they too may obtain salvation (2:1–13); as one who has received the spirit of wisdom and sound judgment, he enjoins him: c) not to become entangled in verbal disputes with the adversaries of truth, but to correct them gently, not leaving without attention even those who live ill (2:14 – 3:9).

d) The instruction to preach the Lord and Saviour without fear and without shame (2 Tim. 1:8–18)

As one who has received the gift of power, do not be ashamed of the testimony concerning Christ the Saviour, but suffer together with Him, guided by: aa) above all, the lofty significance of the incarnate economy of salvation (1:8–10); and together with this: bb) my own example—for I too was not ashamed and am suffering (1:11–14); and: cc) the example of Onesiphorus, who was not ashamed of my chains and was not afraid to find me and minister to me—unlike the Asians who were with me (1:15–18).

2 Tim. 1:8–9. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel of Christ according to the power of God, who saved us.

“Therefore do not be ashamed.” Since you have received, in the gift of God through ordination, a spirit of power, do not be ashamed: for shame is a mark of powerless faintheartedness. “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ”—of the testimony concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation, yet was crucified on the cross, and by that death on the cross saved us; do not be ashamed, troubled by the thought that Christ crucified is “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness,” and that the word of the cross to some “is foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:18, 23); but proclaim the word of the cross with boldness, and with eyes lifted preach Christ crucified, being fully assured that by this shameful death on the cross the salvation of the world was accomplished. The testimony of Christ is here the name given to the entire gospel, as is explained immediately in the words: “but share in suffering for the gospel of Christ.”

Our commentators have said much that is instructive about this false shame. Since it is encountered among us in society as well, we do not consider it superfluous to cite here what they have said, beginning with the later ones and ascending to the foremost. Blessed Theophylact writes: “Many most wretched persons, judging by human notions about what is above our comprehension, regard it as a disgrace to declare that the Son of God was crucified, not knowing that by the power of this cross a condemned man became a son of God. But you, O Timothy, the Apostle says, do not be ashamed to bear witness to Christ and to His death on the cross, but proclaim it with boldness.” Blessed Theodoret enters into the matter more fully, saying: “What was preached was the cross, mockery, reviling, suffering, death. And this seemed to unbelievers to be full of shame. ‘The word of the cross,’ says the Apostle, ‘is to those who are perishing foolishness’ (1 Cor. 1:18). Therefore the Apostle himself said in the Epistle to the Romans: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes’ (Rom. 1:16)—and here also counsels his disciple to proclaim it with boldness.” Ambrosiaster writes similarly: “The Apostle teaches that one must be firm and not tremble at the confession of the faith. For there is nothing in it that should cause shame. If Christ was seen as a man, by His deeds He showed Himself to be God: although He was crucified, He rose from the dead, and before the eyes of many, taken up by a cloud, He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9). And this is not a sign of weakness, but a witness of power: for where weakness seems to be perceptible, there power appears. Therefore it is irrational to regard as weak the One who so demonstrably showed Himself a conqueror of all weakness.” Holy Chrysostom speaks more extensively and fully on this: “Nothing is worse than judging and measuring divine things by human notions; for in that way one may fall far from the rock of faith and lose the light. If one who wishes to embrace the rays of the sun with human eyes not only fails to embrace them and reach his goal, but even moves further away from it and suffers great harm, then much more will one who dares to behold the inaccessible light with his own reasonings suffer harm, offending the gift of God. Look at Marcion, Manes, Valentinus, and all who bring heretical and ruinous teachings into the Church of God—how they, measuring God’s works by human reasoning, were ashamed of the economy of our salvation. Yet it—I mean the cross of Christ—deserves not shame but great praise. Nothing serves as so great a proof of the love of God for humanity—not heaven, not sea, not earth, not the creation of all that exists from nothing, not anything else—as the cross. Therefore Paul also glories in it: ‘but as for me,’ he says, ‘let me not glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Gal. 6:14). But natural men, ascribing to God no more than to men, fall away from the faith, being ashamed of it. Therefore the Apostle, encouraging his disciple and through him all, says: ‘do not therefore be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord’—that is, do not be ashamed that you preach the Crucified, but glory in it. Although all these things—death, prison, chains—are in themselves worthy of shame and reproach; yet here, if one enters into the cause and attentively considers the mystery, they are worthy of great praise and great veneration. This death saved the perishing universe; this death united heaven and earth; this death destroyed the power of the devil, made men angels and sons of God; this death raised our nature to the royal throne. ‘Do not therefore be ashamed.’ He did not say: do not fear, do not be afraid, but with a stronger word encourages him: ‘do not be ashamed’—expressing thereby that the danger as it were does not exist, if shame is overcome. Shame is oppressive only when it overcomes us.”

“Nor of me, His prisoner, be ashamed.” “Do not be ashamed to have a prisoner as your teacher” (Oecumenius). It is true that the reproach of a teacher falls on the disciple as well; but my chains are not a reproach—they are the glory of Christ and my own. The Apostle found it necessary to encourage the holy Timothy from this side as well; for he, looking around and seeing how the teaching was reviled, how he himself was being pressed, and his teacher thrown into chains, could naturally have been troubled. Do not be ashamed, he says; there is nothing reproachful in any of this—neither in the teaching that is held in contempt, nor in my chains. Holy Chrysostom, continuing his discourse, says: “Do not be ashamed either that I—who have raised the dead, who have performed countless signs, who have traversed the whole universe—am now in bonds. I am bound not as an evildoer, but for the sake of the Crucified; if my Lord was not ashamed of the cross, neither am I ashamed of bonds. If our Lord and Teacher endured the cross (not in disgrace, but in glory), then all the more can we bear bonds without disgrace.” “Thus,” to continue this discourse in the words of Ambrosiaster, “neither is there anything shameful in the Apostle who is a prisoner; for while on the one hand his enemies, because of his chains and wounds, call him covered with shame and humiliation, on the other hand he puts his revilers to shame by appearing wondrous, performing signs and miracles by a single motion of his will; that they may understand that if he is subjected to humiliation, it is not from weakness, but by the will of God, for the multiplication of his crowns. For God permits His servants to be humiliated by the unrighteous so that it may be plain to all that He is not unrighteously preparing and awarding them their crowns.”

“But share in suffering for the gospel of Christ.” Not only do not be ashamed of the testimony or the gospel of Christ, but do not refuse to suffer for Him as well; alongside bearing witness and proclaiming the gospel of Christ the Saviour, be ready also to suffer for Him, and conversely—even while suffering for the gospel—do not cease to proclaim it. The Apostle represents him as already suffering something, and encourages him: bear with good cheer and with joy what you endure for the sake of godliness—suggesting by the manner of expression: by enduring thus you will be sharing in the sufferings of Christ the Lord and of me as well. Holy Chrysostom says: “share in suffering”—that is, even if you yourself must suffer this, do not be ashamed; not simply, “do not be ashamed”—but do not be ashamed even to experience it yourself. As I, he says, bear these chains not for my own sake, so you too will endure not something merely human, but will have a share in the same sufferings (of Christ). “Share in suffering,” he says, “for the gospel”—not in the sense that the gospel suffers, but he encourages the disciple to suffer for the gospel. “By trial and in deed show that you are not ashamed of the gospel—precisely by suffering for it; and show it the more willingly in that you thereby become a partaker in the sufferings of Christ the Saviour and mine” (blessed Theophylact). “The Apostle prescribes to the holy Timothy that he manfully and willingly bear sufferings” (blessed Theodoret)—giving this as a commandment, regarding it as obligatory. “For since death has been conquered by the power of God, that we might obtain salvation, for this cause it is fitting that we too should repay our Redeemer, at least in some small part, with sufferings” (Ambrosiaster).

“According to the power of God”—share in suffering. For this you have received strength from God, in the gift of ordination having received a spirit of power. You have received the spirit of power—exercise it, therefore, manifest it, stir it up, bearing with good cheer all that you must bear for the gospel. You have no reason to fear suffering; for the power to endure it already dwells in you. “The Apostle encourages by the reminder of the power of God” (blessed Theodoret). “Not by your own strength, he says, are you to bear this co-suffering. God has already given you such strength and will give even greater, if need be” (Oecumenius). “Your part is to resolve and show readiness; to lighten and give rest—that is God’s part” (holy Chrysostom).

Such is the meaning drawn for the words “according to the power of God” from what precedes—specifically from the fact that God gave us a spirit of power. But by the flow of the discourse, the meaning of these words may also be drawn from what follows: for directly after the words “according to the power of God” comes “who saved us” and the rest, drawing attention to see in these and subsequent words an explanation of which power of God is meant here—namely, that power which was manifested in the ordering of our salvation. Our commentators, after the explanation given above, express also this thought.

2 Tim. 1:9. Who 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 the ages began.

Holy Chrysostom on the meaning of these words says: “The Apostle sets forth also the proofs of the power of God”—and then draws the conclusion: if God manifested such power in ordering our salvation and calling, then “we must not fear; if even then, when He had to save us who were His enemies, He saved us by grace, will He not all the more cooperate with us when He sees our own activity (after the calling)?” The same in Oecumenius: “The Apostle sets forth proofs of God’s readiness, cooperation, and bestowal of the power capable of making us able to bear temptations with manfulness. He saved us, he says, from the death of sin, and called us with a holy calling, when we were turning away from Him and would not acknowledge Him—not because we were worthy of it, but He did this according to His own purpose and grace. Therefore, if (for such is the aim of these words in the Apostle) He showed such good will toward us when we were His enemies—will He not all the more, now that we have become His friends and willingly go into tribulations for His sake, give us the strength to bear them and to be delivered from them?” The same in blessed Theophylact.

These two understandings of the words “according to the power of God” are not in conflict with one another, but the one supplements the other. The spirit of power is received by all Christians, and all the more by the successors of the Apostles—and it is sufficient for bearing sufferings for the faith; but it must be stirred up, as the Apostle indicated together with his indication of its bestowal. By what means is it to be stirred up? Precisely by what is being spoken of now—that is, by the contemplation of the ordering of our salvation. The incarnate economy of our salvation vividly impresses upon the mind the incomprehensibly great power and majesty of God who saves us—and this in such a way that this power and majesty are reflected in the very action of the salvation of each person as his own. Contemplating this, be enkindled to bear willingly and manfully all things for the sake of the economy of salvation, already at work in you, and to the glory of God, who has saved you in so wondrous a fashion. “According to the power of God” will therefore mean: moved and drawn to this co-suffering by the contemplation and awareness of the power of God in the ordering of your salvation—as if to say: you are obliged to co-suffer in proportion to the power manifested in the ordering of your salvation. To fulfil this in deed is impossible; but to strive toward it as much as one’s strength allows, or as much strength as has been received, is both possible and obligatory.

The economy of salvation itself the Apostle depicts in full, as is his custom, beginning with the decree concerning it in the Eternal Council of God—when the Son of God was pleased to undertake its accomplishment through the Incarnation, and together with this all the graces consequent upon that were allotted and given to us. But all this was concealed in the mystery of the Godhead, and became manifest when, having come through the Incarnation, the Son of God destroyed death by His death, and by His resurrection shed the light of life and incorruption—first “in Himself, so as thereafter to impart it to all of us also” (holy Chrysostom). This is accomplished by grace through faith in the sacraments. Faith is stirred up and begotten by the gospel proclamation; he who has followed the proclamation with faith is the one called; the one called receives grace in the sacraments and enters the path of salvation according to God’s economy of it, partaking also of its power. All this the Apostle briefly seals in thought. And who, contemplating all this and all the more partaking of the saving power, would not be ready to endure all things for the saving faith?

“Who saved us and called us.” By the first word is meant salvation as it has been ordered by the Lord—the entire incarnate economy; by the second, how each person being saved enters into participation in it—namely, he enters by being called through the gospel proclamation. So it was in the beginning; so it has always been since, is now, and shall be. Salvation has been ordered, the feast is prepared. And the word of God goes everywhere, inviting all who are willing. Come, taste, and you will be a partaker of salvation. This calling is named “holy” because it comes from the Holy God the Father, is accomplished by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and leads to sanctification in the incarnate Son of God, who sanctifies and hallows all. Just as the economy of salvation itself has been accomplished, so also the calling to receive salvation within it is accomplished by God “not according to our works, but according to His” own “purpose,” κατα προθεσιν — according to His will, which, since it willed our good, is good-pleasure and benevolence. We—our race—presented nothing on our own side for which our salvation was worth ordering, save perhaps our utter incapacity for it and our complete helplessness, which called forth and drew the divine mercy. One may conjecture that it was necessary for the purposes for which the world was given existence and toward which it is led by ways incomprehensible to us. But even all that is the work of God’s good-pleasure. Likewise, that each nation and each person is called to participation in salvation comes to pass by the good-pleasure and grace of God. None of us can present anything for which we might deservedly be called to salvation, save perhaps the inevitability of perishing without it, which draws the mercy of God, which cannot bear that His creature should perish. So it is, and is experienced and acknowledged by all who are called to salvation. None of them can say from where and how the calling Spirit comes, and His voice is heard clearly by the heart with a certain compulsion—and to follow that voice. This is God’s “mercy, God’s good-pleasure.” — “From within Himself, drawn by His own goodness, God accomplishes this” (blessed Theophylact). Let us note in addition that the calling to salvation must not be confused with the actual working out of salvation, which does not come about without our own efforts as well. It is the fruit of the joint action of grace and freedom. For this reason not all who are called are saved, and the called are more numerous than the chosen—that is, those who have actually obtained salvation. — Such “grace” is said to have been given to us before the ages, because the bestowal of it upon us was decreed in the Eternal Council together with the Son of God’s good-pleasure to take upon Himself the work of the incarnate economy of salvation. Therefore it, given before the ages, is also given in Christ Jesus. “Before beginning and before eternity it was foreordained that this grace should be given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is no small thing for us that God was pleased concerning us before all eternity” (blessed Theophylact).