1 Timothy 1:2 – To Timothy

To Timothy, a genuine child in faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God, our Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The letter we are looking at bears the name of the addressee: Timothy. It is a personal letter, just like the other Timothy letter, as well as the letter to Titus and Philemon. They are usually referred to as ’the pastoral letters’, but that is a rather unfortunate name. Because the congregational letters are also pastoral. However, what sets these letters apart is that they are personal in nature and addressed to one person.

We first meet Timothy in Acts 16:1-4. He was the son of a religious Jewish woman but of a Greek father. Timothy had become a believer through Paul’s preaching and that is why Paul says: “a genuine child in faith.” Paul took him with him on his journeys and he accompanied and assisted him to the end. He calls Timothy “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1Cor.4:17).

It is in that atmosphere that Paul wishes him “grace, mercy and peace”. Or better: he tells Timothy, as a guarantee. “Grace, mercy and peace” from the one God, the Father. And from Christ Jesus, the one Mediator of God and mankind (1Tim.2:5).

Delen: