2 Timothy 1:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He fittingly portrays his own character, so that his words about love may also be credible. The meaning of his words is this: I do not lie. I do not think one thing and say another.

Thus he was compelled to praise himself before, as is clear from the book of Acts. When they began to accuse him as a rebel and innovator, he says that Ananias “said to me: The God of our fathers appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice from His mouth, for you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:14-15).

So here also, lest an opinion be formed of him as a man alien to friendship and conscience, and forgetful of those near him, he rightly says in self-praise: “without ceasing I remember you.” And not simply so, but “in my prayers.” That is, this enters into my prayer. At all times, without ceasing, I fulfill this. This is precisely what the words express: “Night and day I pray to God, longing to see you.”

Do you see his burning attachment? Do you see the abundance of his love? Do you see his humility, by which he defends himself before his disciple?

He says all this as though suggesting: do not suspect that I have one thing in mind and another on my lips. My conscience is pure, as always, and so also now. Therefore I do not lie when I say that I love you and always remember you.

“That without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you.”

I thank God that I remember you. And not simply so, but in prayers, night and day, asking God for you, that my desire may be fulfilled, the desire to see you. How then could I have deprived myself of such pleasure voluntarily, if only I had been able to come?

But why does the Apostle not plainly state the reason, namely that he was detained by Nero? So as not to grieve him suddenly. Toward the end, however, he reveals this reason.

“That without ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy.” The construction has made the meaning unclear, but the Apostle says the following: “Remembering your tears, I am filled with great joy and inflamed with love, longing to see you again. And, praying for you without ceasing, I hymn God.”

It is likely that Timothy shed tears when he parted from his teacher and took leave of him.

Or otherwise: “with a pure conscience” means without guile and hypocrisy toward Timothy. For he was about to tell him that he remembers him without ceasing and longs to see him.

“That without ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day.”

I thank my God, he says, because I constantly remember you. For this too is a work of God’s grace, that while I am in temptations I preserve remembrance of you and pray for you.

“Without ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers.” It belongs to a father to pray for his children and remember them. Yet the Apostle was moved even more to pray for Timothy, seeing in him the same zeal for piety, inherited from his parents, that was in himself.

For this reason he mentioned the piety of his own forefathers and of Timothy’s parents.

In the introduction, after expressing his strong love for Timothy and his desire to see him, and after recalling the unfeigned faith of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, the holy Apostle Paul reminds Timothy “to stir up the gift of God which is in him through apostolic laying on of hands.”

According to Saint John Chrysostom’s explanation, the Apostle Paul speaks here as though saying: “Do not suspect that I have one thing in mind and another on my lips. My conscience is pure, as always, and so also now. Thus I do not lie when I say that I love you and always think of you. He says: I have unceasing remembrance, and not simply so, but in my prayers. That is, this enters into my prayer. At all times, without ceasing, I fulfill this, for this is expressed by the words: night and day.”

To this Bishop Theophan adds: “Remembrance in prayer is sacred, sanctified by God, honored, and therefore entering into the work of attaining salvation. True worshipers of God admit nothing discordant with reverence before God, nothing with which, in a pure conscience, they could not stand before God in their prayers. Such was the Apostle’s remembrance of Timothy: pure and holy.”

Here he thanks God because he has unceasing remembrance of Saint Timothy in his prayers. The thought is this: unceasing remembrance of someone is a sure testimony of love.

When Saint Paul gives thanks for the remembrance of Saint Timothy, he gives thanks for his love toward him. Thus Chrysostom says: “I thank God, he says, because I remember you. So greatly do I love you.

This is a sign of extraordinary love, when someone loves so much that he himself is enraptured by this love.” It is “when someone sees great praise for himself and a beautiful adornment in his love for another” (Theophylact, Oecumenius).

Yet another thought is hidden beneath this. The Apostle remembers Saint Timothy unceasingly because Timothy is worthy of remembrance. In thanking God for this remembrance, he thanks Him that Saint Timothy is worthy of it.

He is such a man that one cannot fail to remember him. Moreover, the remembrance of him gives birth to thanksgiving to God.

There are people whose memory also does not depart, but it torments the heart. The memory of Saint Timothy stirred in Saint Paul’s soul joyful feelings and thanksgiving to God.

Ambrosiaster adds a particular nuance: “Since it is worthy to remember the good, the Apostle thanks God that he remembered Saint Timothy, a wondrous man.

He knows that this too is a gift of God. For it is not without merit if someone thinks of good men.”

“Whom I serve from my forefathers.” How is it from his forefathers, when they did not serve God as he now serves Him, and when he did not learn this new service from them?

The form of service is new, but the God served is one and the same. The spirit of service is also the same.

The service which he received from his forefathers he held with his whole soul, in obedience to God. When this same God commanded him to leave that and receive the new, he began to hold this new service with the same whole-souled devotion.

He held it as he had held the former service, again by the same whole-souled obedience to God with which he had been filled while serving Him in the former way.

Thus both God and the spirit of serving Him remained one and the same in Saint Paul.

My whole family, he testifies, believed with its whole soul in the one true God. It obeyed Him with its whole soul in the service He had commanded.

I also keep the same thing. I confess the one true God and serve Him as He has commanded.

This disposition is expressed in the words: “with a pure conscience,” εν καθαρα συνειδησει, that is, in a pure conscience, or according to a pure conscience.

The conscience is pure when nothing is allowed in thoughts, feelings, desires, words, or deeds that contradicts what is recognized as true, good, and obligatory. Nothing contrary to conviction is admitted.

Previously Saint Paul served God in the Jewish manner by the conviction that the one God willed this. Now he serves Him in the Christian manner by the same conviction.

This conviction was not deceptively suggested to him. It was impressed upon him tangibly by God Himself when He appeared.

Therefore in regard to his service there was not the slightest shadow of hesitation in him. His conviction shone like the sun in a cloudless sky at midday. So also did his conscience.

Ambrosiaster writes: “Since the God of Christians is the same as He who was the God of the Jews, the Apostle truly testifies that he offers thanksgiving to the same God whom he served from his forefathers.

If he confesses and preaches the very thing for which his forefathers hoped, then their faith is one and the same.

Thus, since he entered into the inheritance of his forefathers’ service to God, and since it was already in them when they served God, he rightly says, ‘whom I serve from my forefathers.’

But how does he say, ‘with a pure conscience,’ when he persecuted the Church? He persecuted the Church in such a way that he did it out of love for God, not out of malice.”

We read the same in Theophylact: “How with a pure conscience, when at first he did not know Christ? He says this either by understanding life under conscience, since though he Judaized, he was blameless in life.

Or he says it because, when he persecuted the Church, he persecuted out of zeal, not from any human motives. Others defend heresy for glory, while fully aware of its rottenness.

He says all this as though suggesting: do not suspect that I have one thing in mind and another on my lips. My conscience is pure, as always, so now also.

Thus I am not lying when I say that I love you and always remember you.” This is abridged from Chrysostom. Oecumenius says the same.

“As I have remembrance of you without ceasing in my prayers.” “He says, ‘I have remembrance without ceasing,’ and not simply so, but ‘in my prayers.’ That is, this enters into my prayer.

At every time, unceasingly, I do this. For this is what the words ‘night and day’ express” (Chrysostom).

Remembrance in prayer is sacred remembrance, accounted as sanctified by God. Consequently it enters into the work of accomplishing salvation.

True worshippers of God allow nothing inconsistent with reverence before God. They allow nothing with which they could not, in a pure conscience, stand before God in their prayers.

Such was the Apostle’s remembrance of Saint Timothy. It was pure and holy, with nothing fleshly in it.