2 Timothy 1:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how he indicates that Timothy was in great sorrow and despondency? He speaks as though saying: do not think that I despise you. Know that I do not despise you and have not forgotten you. If no one else, then remember your grandmother and mother.

I know that you have unfeigned faith, and therefore I remind you: you need zeal in order to kindle the gift of God. As fire requires wood, so grace requires our zeal, that it may be kindled.

“I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” That is, the grace of the Spirit which you received for presiding in the Church, for signs, and for every ministry. It depends on us both to quench and to kindle it.

“For this reason I remind you to stir up the gift of God.”

Since I know, he says, that you have unfeigned faith, I urge you to stir up the grace of the Spirit. You received it for presiding in the Church, for the working of signs, and generally for every ministry proper to a bishop. Stir up this grace, that is, make it always living and flourishing.

As fire needs wood, so the grace of the Spirit needs zeal, attention, and watchfulness in order always to burn brightly. If these are absent, it is quenched, as the Apostle says elsewhere: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5:19).

“Which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

This grace is in you, which you received when my hands were laid on you, when I ordained you bishop. But you must make this fire stronger. Fill the word you have received with boldness and courage. Stand manfully.

Therefore I exhort you to stir up, renew, and kindle the grace of God that you received through the laying on of my hands, that is, the Holy Spirit, Whom you received through this laying on of my hands.

Thus Timothy renews in himself the gift of grace received through ordination to the presbyterate, when he warms his spirit by the liveliness of his mind, rejoicing within himself as he rejoiced in the newness of ordination.

Being confident of this concerning you, I ask you by zeal to stir up the grace of the Spirit, which you received through my ordination of you. For as oil makes the flame in a lamp stronger, so the good zeal of the soul attracts the grace of the All-Holy Spirit.

“And I am persuaded that it is in you also.”

I am not merely conjecturing. On the contrary, I am completely persuaded of this.

“For this reason I remind you to stir up the gift of God.”

I remind you to kindle more strongly in yourself the grace-filled gift of presiding in the Church. From despondency and faintheartedness it grows dim, but from vigilance and zeal it burns more brightly.

“Which dwells in you through the laying on of my hands.”

This gift exists and remains in you. Kindle it, then, more strongly. How does the Apostle say here, “through the laying on of my hands,” when in the previous Epistle he wrote: “which was given to you with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery” (1 Tim 4:14)?

“To stir up the gift of God,” α̉ναζωπυρεΐν. The image is taken from fire, which lies under ashes and can be stirred up only by vigorous blowing and the addition of wood. The grace of the Holy Spirit is compared with fire both in its power and in the actions it produces. Here it is also compared in this respect, that it must be sustained by zeal and labors. Therefore the Apostle says elsewhere: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess 5:19).

The gift of God received through laying on of hands is the gift of presiding in the Church. This gift, like the gifts received by a Christian in Baptism, can weaken. The pastor of the Church then begins, as it were, to grow cold. He becomes faint in his activity and indifferent toward members of the Church who think wrongly and live impiously.

Cf. 1 Tim 4:14.

A sequential exegetical analysis of the Epistle.

In the Second Epistle to Timothy, the following distinct parts are visibly observed. There is an introduction with inscription and greeting, and with an indication of the chief subject of the Epistle (2 Tim 1:1-6). There is an instructive part, which speaks of pastoral activity, and Saint Timothy is encouraged to fulfill it properly in all its parts (2 Tim 1:7-4:8). There is an afterword, containing the personal motives of the holy Apostle Paul for writing the Epistle (2 Tim 4:9-22).

The reminder to stir up the gift of apostolic succession constitutes the chief subject of the Epistle. According to Saint John Chrysostom, the Apostle speaks as though saying: “I know that you have unfeigned faith, and therefore I remind you: one must have zeal in order to stir up the gift of God. As fire requires wood, so grace requires our zeal, that it may be kindled. The gift of God means the grace of the Spirit, which you received for presiding in the Church, for signs, and for every ministry. Stir it up, for it depends on us both to quench and to kindle it. Therefore elsewhere he also says: ‘Do not quench the Spirit’ (1 Thess 5:19). From carelessness and laziness it is quenched. From attention and zeal it is kindled.”

The holy Apostle Paul, giving instructions to Bishop Timothy for his sacred ministry, wrote among other things in his Epistle: “I remind you to stir up the gift of God which dwells in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6).

Thus the God-inspired man testifies, first, that in sacramental ordination a gift of God is imparted. Second, he testifies that this is not simply a gift deposited and handed over to the will of the recipient, but one that “dwells” in him, and, as belongs to what is living, has its own power and action.

Knowing of this faith of Timothy, the Apostle now addresses him with an exhortation, which Timothy will of course receive with attention and obedience. The Apostle reminds him to perfect ever more and more the ability given him by God (1 Tim 4:14), namely the ability to teach.

For the spirit dwelling in Paul and Timothy is not a spirit of some fearfulness before men, δειλίας. On the contrary, it gives power, love that moves one to offer every sacrifice for the work of Christ, and true self-mastery, σωφρονισμός. The Apostle says this, of course, with Timothy’s hesitant character in mind.

Having thus prepared Saint Timothy, Saint Paul now confidently commands him to fulfill zealously the work entrusted to him. This is the work to which he was called by ordination, the work of pastoral ministry or apostolic succession. The Apostle called the active fulfillment of this the stirring up of the gift of God, which began to live in him by virtue of ordination.

Pastoral ministry or apostolic succession is not a matter of external appointment, as happens in civil offices. It is the consequence of an inward, grace-filled making of a pastor. By this the one chosen becomes capable of pastoral ministry and is sealed as pastor. Whether he fulfills his work or does not fulfill it, he remains a pastor by the gift of grace dwelling in him.