”...to Timothy, a true child in [the] faith: grace, mercy, peace from God [the Father] and Christ Jesus the Lord of us.”
-Paul begat Timothy. Yes, God actually did the heavy lifting, but He used Paul (and others of course, including Timothy's family - 2Timothy 1:5) directly to help Timothy learn about and begin to hope in and truly follow Jesus. How about you and me? Got any children? Who has God used you to help hope in Jesus? As he shared the Good News with Timothy along with so many others, and as he helped them to put their trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life to enter in to new life, this spiritual birth, Paul became their spiritual dad (cf 1Corinthians 4.15, Philemon 10, Galatians 4.19). Many tutors, many coaches and mentors perhaps, but just one birth dad (or mom). At least in this instance. And as a good dad, Paul is continuing to play a proactive role in his son’s life. Who was it who helped you to hope in Jesus? Of course there can be situations where God uses multiple people to help a person come to the point of trusting in Christ. The point is, I suppose, that we not only learn something of Paul’s relationship with Timothy but of our own stewardship of the Gospel. God has entrusted His Good News to us, we who have received it, and it is meant to be shared. It needs to be shared. How are we doing?
-What we have in the remainder of this verse is the rest of what is a traditional Middle Eastern greeting, which was for peace, but Paul, as he was wont to do, dresses it up with extra sauce and a side of fries. Shalom (peace) was (and is) how the Jews said hello and goodbye (“Peace be with you” - cf John 20.19, 20.26). Their Arab cousins say the same thing (“salaam”, as in “as-salaam ‘alaykum”). But Paul, as he usually does, feels it is better to greet people with a wish for more than simply peace. He wants to extend wishes for both the grace and the mercy which are the only way for folks to find peace, and that from the one and only Source of the same. Only the one true God and Father of us all, and His only begotten Son, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, offer the requisite grace and mercy by which any of us can find shalom/salaam, that place of overall well-being and goodness which have their source in God alone. Paul doesn’t want to merely wish peace upon someone without reminding them of how they can actually experience it. For Paul, it was not just a wish, some cultural pipedream. He had found real, soul-satisfying shalom - when he hoped in Jesus. In embracing the good news of God’s grace and mercy poured out at the cross. Peace - inner peace, lasting peace, surpassing peace, world peace - you name it, it starts right here...
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