2 Timothy 1:12
Leonard Bernstein once conducted the New York Symphony in a rendition of Charles Ives’s “The Unanswered Question.” The director explained to his television audience the meaning of the composition: Six times the trumpet repeats a phrase representing the question, “Why am I here?” In each instance, the woodwinds respond with increasing confusion, reflecting man’s unsuccessful attempts to answer this question. For the seventh time, the trumpet repeats the question. There is no answer—only the soft background of the orchestra intended to represent the movement of the stars in space. The composer seems to be saying, “There is no answer to man’s question, ‘Why am I here?’”
A boldly confident man writing a letter in a
Roman prison 21 centuries ago raises his hand
in protest. With settled conviction, this man says,
“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced
that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to
him until that day” (1 Tim. 1:12). “Why am I here?”
was an answered question in Paul’s mind, and the
answer was centered in Jesus of Nazareth. This
affirmation in Paul’s letter to Timothy has brought
meaning to the lives of untold millions of people.
I. FIRST PART OF THE TEXT
“I know whom I have believed.” This passage
may be translated, “I know Him whom I have
been trusting.” The tense of the verb indicates a
trust that began in the past and continues into the
present. This is a picture of a constant, unwavering
faith. How did Paul arrive at this kind of experience?
How did he know? Imagine him reviewing
his life as he paced his prison cell. He may have
recalled Stephen’s sermon on the day of his martyrdom
and the witness this man of God made for
his Lord. He doubtless remembered vividly the light
that shone on the Damascus road and the voice
that spoke to him on that occasion. He lived again
those years of preparation, preaching Christ in Damascus,
retiring in Arabia, visiting with Peter and
James in Jerusalem.
In memory he traveled again the Roman
roads of the Mediterranean world, preaching the
risen Christ to all who would listen. To the jailer in
Thessalonica who asked, “What must I do to be
saved?” Paul had a quick answer: “Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ.” To the skeptical philosophers
on Mars’ Hill in Athens, Paul preached what was
to the audience the greatest scandal of all—the
resurrected Lord. Then there was that dark night in
Corinth where things were going badly. “One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid;
keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with
you . . .’” (Acts 18:9, 10). And there was another
dark night following his arrest in Jerusalem, when
His Lord stood by him again and said, “Take courage!
As you have testified about me in Jerusalem,
so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11).
No doubt Paul often relived his recent, stormy
voyage on the prison ship to Italy. Could there have
been a more heroic moment for Christianity than
that perilous day when he announced to the sailors,
“Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong
and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do
not be afraid, Paul’” (Acts 27:23, 24).
Out of a storehouse of experiences such as
these Paul brought forth this gem: “I know whom
I have believed.” His life has been built around his
relationship with Christ. There were no doubts, no
quibbles, no uncertainties in his experience. He
knew without question the Master to whom he had
devoted his life.
He knew the presence of Christ in his own
life—an experience he described 164 times as
being “in Christ.” He knew Christ as a conscious,
thinking, loving, communicating Being. If Christian
theologians and biblical scholars would share
Paul’s knowledge of Christ, Christianity might find
the “renewal” for which it is seeking.
II. SECOND PART OF THE TEXT
The second part of our text, as translated in
the King James Version, says, “And [I] am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him.” Some of you who read
modern versions of the Bible may have noticed
that this familiar passage is often translated in a
different way. For example, the Phillips translation
says, “And I am perfectly certain that the work he
has committed to me is safe in his hands.” The
New English Bible says, “And [I] am confident of
his power to keep safe what he has put into my
charge.” The meanings are opposite: “that which I
have committed unto him” vs. “what he has put in
my charge.” Why the difference?
It happens that one word of the passage in
Greek makes it capable of two translations, either
of which is grammatically correct. The question
as to which meaning was intended by Paul can
be determined only by the context. A similar expression
is used in two other passages in Paul’s
letters to Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:20 (“Guard what
has been entrusted to your care”) and 2 Timothy
1:14 (“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you”). Judging by these verses, it seems that
modern-language translations are probably correct.
It seems that Paul was, in effect, saying to
Timothy, “Timothy, after you and I are both gone,
Christ is able to guard that gospel that He has committed
to us.”
There is a tremendous lesson here for us. We
need to be persuaded that Christ is able to guard
the gospel that He has committed to us. We must
not be an anxious group, huddling around a flickering
fire, trying to keep it from going out. The gospel
is an unquenchable flame—it may flicker, but
it cannot be extinguished. We are asked to guard
this flame, but we are reminded that the One who
lighted it in the first place will see that it continues
to burn.
III. THIRD PART OF THE TEXT
The third part of the text comprises three very
significant words—“against [until] that day.” Look
at the sweep of this text. The first part deals with the
past: “I know whom I have believed.” The second
part is in the present tense: “I am persuaded.” The
final thrust of the text is toward the future: “against
that day.” There is no place in Paul’s teaching for
the type of “immediacy” that is unconcerned about
the past and the future.
We who live in this age must not forget “that
day.” If it was important to Paul, it should be doubly
important to us. The message of the coming Christ
is a vital part of the gospel. It is in harmony with
the character of a God who will not allow suffering,
hunger, and sin to go on forever. This great truth of
the return of our Lord must not be used as an escape
from the realities of life, but it is an authentic
hope for the Christian.
CONCLUSION
In an age like ours, only a fool can face the
future without concern. There is no guarantee
against atomic war. There is no solution in sight for
the world’s population problems. Pollution is not an
imaginary problem. There is no obvious remedy for
the world’s economic ills. Your dreams and mine
may not come true. But we have a Lord who will
finish what He started. His gospel will not fail.
This is the final answer to man’s eternal
question.
This sermon by Norval F. Pease is excerpted from
the book If I Had One Sermon to Preach, edited
by Herbert E. Douglass. It has been used with
permission and lightly edited for Elder’s Digest.
