Paul's second letter to Timothy opens with an outpouring of encouragement and Timothy certainly needs it! Paul's first and second letters are challenging to Timothy in and of themselves. Timothy is challenged to "stir up the gift" (2 Timothy 1:6), to "be not ashamed" (2 Timothy 1:8) and to "be strong" (2 Timothy 2:1) amongst other challenges and exhortations. We decidedly get the impression that Timothy is being challenged if not a little corrected at times by these two epistles. Far greater than the…

2 Timothy chapter 1 - Inspiring the Next Generation: Challenging and Encouraging - Dr J Stewart Gillespie

2 Timothy is one of the New Testament second epistles. Like 2 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians and 2 Peter there is an eye to the future, an eye to the next chapter of the world in general and to individual lives in particular, a perspective beyond the here and now and on to the eternal. There is an eye to the future, the next chapter, the eternal whilst leaving behind a provision for another generation…