Count Zinzendorf was a contemporary of John and Charles Wesley. He was a German nobleman, who committed his life to the Lord and then looked for ways to use his wealth and position for the glory of God. In 1722, he took in a group of Protestant refugees who came to his estate seeking shelter. More followed, and soon his estate had turned into a thriving community. But when people from a variety of backgrounds are thrown together like this it usually leads to trouble. They started squabbling, as people often do when they try to live together, and eventually the disunity became so serious that the community itself was threatened.
And then God intervened: "... in 1727, five years after the first refugees arrived, the whole atmosphere changed. A period of spiritual renewal was climaxed at a communion service on August 13 with a great revival, which, according to participants, marked the coming of the Holy Spirit to Herrnhut. Whatever may have occurred in the spiritual realm, there is no doubt that this great night of revival brought a new passion for missions, which became the chief characteristic of the Moravian movement. No longer were minor doctrinal differences a source of contention. Instead, there was a strong spirit of unity and a heightened dependence on God. A prayer vigil was begun that continued around the clock, seven days a week, without interruption for more than one hundred years" (Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, pp. 70-71). As a result of this outpouring of the Spirit, the Moravians sent out more missionaries in twenty years than all Protestants and Anglicans had in the previous two centuries.
When we hear stories like this, if we have any concern at all about following Jesus Christ, we instinctively respond, "I wish something like that could happen here, among us." If God poured out His Spirit among us, surely we wouldn't have the kinds of struggles we have. It wouldn't be so hard to get up in the morning for prayer; or we wouldn't have to drag ourselves to church on Sunday morning; surely it would be easier to get along with one another if we had an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our midst. It's a good thing to long for more of God's presence in His Church, but there's also a problem with this way of thinking. God doesn't always choose to work in such a dramatic way. In fact, experiences like the one at Herrnhut are exceptional in the history of the Church. The truth is that God has given the Spirit to His Church; the Spirit is present among us already. God has already done something. He poured out His Spirit on the Church at Pentecost. He is already at work. So our most urgent need is not for God to do something new, although it would be wonderful if He did; the greatest need is for us to respond to what He's already done. God has given His Spirit, and He now calls us to walk in obedience, to cultivate His presence, to avoid grieving or quenching Him, to make it our aim to walk in step with Him.
When I was a young Christian, I spent lots of time praying, crying out to God asking Him to take over my life and then waiting for Him to do it, fully expecting that He would completely overcome me and begin acting through me. But nothing like that ever happened, and as I continued reading the New Testament I saw that I was looking for the wrong thing. The Holy Spirit doesn't bypass our will. My expectations were really more in line with the New Testament picture of demon possession; demons take over their victims, but God calls His people to respond to Him in loving obedience. He empowers us to keep in step with Him, but He values our personality and individuality; He doesn't want to take over our lives, He wants to empower us to become the people He created us to be.
But this doesn't happen automatically. We can grieve the Spirit by our disobedience; we can quench the Spirit by our desire to remain in control of things. And we can also neglect the Spirit by being so caught up in our lives that we don't cultivate His presence, or don't have time to exercise the gifts He's given us for the good of the whole body. Paul is aware of this danger, so he reminds Timothy: "rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands." John Chrysostom was a 4th century preacher (the name Chrysostom means "golden tongued," a name he was given because of his great ability as a speaker). Here's something he said in a sermon from this passage: "For it requires much zeal to stir up the gift of God. As fire requires fuel, so grace requires our alacrity, that it may be ever fervent.... For it is in our power to kindle or extinguish this grace.... For by sloth and carelessness it is quenched, and by watchfulness and diligence it is kept alive. For it is in you indeed, but you must render it more vehement, that is, fill it with confidence, with joy and delight" (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament IX, p. 232). If we're negligent, if we're just drifting along, or if we're completely caught up in the details of life in this world, the Spirit's presence will tend to become less and less apparent; eventually we'll look no different than those in the world who know nothing of the Spirit's presence.
The first quality Paul lists, in verse 7, is power. The NIV, along with most English translations, translates spirit with a small s, which suggests that Paul is referring not to the Holy Spirit, but to general qualities: "God hasn't give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of...." They translate this way because there's no general article in the Greek, so the original reads "spirit," not "the spirit." But even so, there are good reasons for understanding this as a reference to the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere in the New Testament, power, love and self-discipline are qualities that we receive from the Holy Spirit. Verse 7 is closely tied to verse 6 (notice that verse 7 begins, "for God did not give us...."); and verse 6 is talking about the gift of God that Timothy had received through the laying on of Paul's hands, a clear reference to the Holy Spirit. A few verses later, in verse 14, Paul instructs Timothy to "guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us." Throughout this passage, Paul isn't thinking about a general spirit or attitude, but the Holy Spirit living within those who belong to Jesus Christ. Gordon Fee paraphrases Paul's idea in this way: "For when God gave us his Spirit, it was not timidity that we received, but power, love, and self-discipline" (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, p. 227).
Jesus' promise to the apostles, which was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, was that they would receive power through the Holy Spirit. For example, in Luke 24: "And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (v. 49). Or Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The power of the Holy Spirit would enable them to be witnesses. Before the day of Pentecost, the disciples were huddled in fear, hiding behind locked doors because of their fear of the religious leaders. They were gripped by a "spirit of timidity." But after they received the Holy Spirit they became bold witnesses who were willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel.
That's what Paul is reminding Timothy about. He's saying, "don't be like those who profess to believe but are too timid to speak the truth." In John 12 we're told that even during Jesus' public ministry many of the Jewish authorities believed in Him, but they weren't willing to talk about it: "Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God" (vv. 42-43). The Spirit empowers us, enables us to overcome our natural timidity, our natural reluctance to be in the minority. Paul assumes that if Timothy is faithful he will suffer; in verse 8, he says "Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God." He's reminding Timothy that the Spirit has been given, and that He enables us to speak faithfully and to endure suffering graciously and with patience.
But Paul isn't only talking about power. The people we associate with power in this world are often people who are willing to crush others to get what they want. They're ruthless and self-centered; they've learned to manipulate and overwhelm others in the pursuit of their goals. Paul wants Timothy to remember that the power given by the Holy Spirit is full of love. It's a power driven by the love of Jesus, who laid down His life to rescue us from our sins.
The people who wrote the New Testament had access to four different words for love, but only two are of importance to us right now. The first is philia. In English, Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love), and philosophy (the love of wisdom) are derived from this word. This is love for those who are closest to us. The natural affection that we feel for our loved ones is philia. It is also the love we feel for those who have similar interests, those we enjoy being with, our friends. This is the spontaneous love that comes from our hearts. The second word, the one Paul uses here in 2 Timothy, is agape. This is the word used of the greatest commandment, or of Jesus' new commandment when He says "love one another." This word, in Classical Greek, meant "to prefer," especially in reference to the gods preferring one person over another. It's a "love that makes distinctions, choosing its objects freely.... It is active, not self-seeking love" (TDNT, p. 7). In Classical Greek, this word was very rare. But the translators of the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Old Testament, thought it was the best word available to express God's faithful love for His people.
To illustrate what His love is like, God tells the prophet Hosea: "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord" (Hosea 1:2). So Hosea obeys and marries Gomer, but awhile later we find that she has continued to be unfaithful and is no longer even living with her husband. The Lord speaks to Hosea again: "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods..." (Hosea 3:1). The Lord loves the Israelites, though they have been unfaithful to Him, though they have turned away to worship other gods. Through the prophet Isaiah, a contemporary of Hosea, God says to His unfaithful people: "‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you" (Isaiah 54:10).
Jesus is the supreme example of this love. Just before He went to the cross, He said to His disciples: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.... Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:9, 13). But He goes even further than this. Paul says in Romans 5: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8). We were powerless, helpless, ungodly, sinners; Paul goes on to say that we were God's enemies. And while we were in that condition, in the greatest act of love in history, Jesus laid down His life for us. Paul is reminding Timothy that the Spirit who empowers us enables us increasingly to model Jesus' self-giving love, even in the face of suffering.
The third quality is self-discipline. The word Paul uses here is difficult to translate. The NASB renders it as "discipline" but suggests, in the margin, "sound judgment" as an alternative. When translators offer alternatives like this, they're saying that they can't find just the right word in English. J.B. Phillips translates it as "a sound mind," and in The Message it simply reads, "sensible." Both ideas, of sound thinking and self-discipline, are suggested by the word. William Barclay gives these two descriptions: "the sanity of saintliness"; and "control of oneself in the face of panic or of passion" (The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, Revised Edition, pp. 144-45). The general idea seems to be sound judgment, or sound thinking, that affects the way we order our lives in this world.
During my early Christian life I was involved with the charismatic movement. We were intensely aware of the Holy Spirit, but most of the people I worshiped with were hostile to doctrine and theology. They associated these things with the "dead letter;" what really mattered was having an experience of the Holy Spirit. This attitude was so prevalent that when I first started reading theology I struggled with feelings of guilt; I had a nagging sense, in the back of my mind, that I was doing something wrong, that I was getting off track. I'm thankful that Paul includes this word in his list of qualities that are given by the Holy Spirit. A large part of Timothy's ministry was resisting the influence of false teachers who were undermining the gospel. Paul begins his first letter to Timothy with this exhortation: "I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3). Near the end of this chapter in 2 Timothy, Paul says, "Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us" (vv. 13-14).
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He enables us to hold firmly to the gospel, without getting sidetracked by false teaching. He brings into our lives, not only love and power, but also sound thinking. And that sound thinking affects the way we live; it isn't just in our heads. It leads us to order our lives in response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings into our lives "the sanity of saintliness," an understanding that leads us to become "imitators of God," as Paul says in Ephesians 5:2.
Timothy was a naturally timid person. This is clear in both of the letters Paul wrote to him. He was young, and likely to be intimidated by those who were older and more forceful. Being put into a situation where he had to resist false teachers would have been difficult for him. So Paul wants him to remember that "God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a Spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline." He'd been given all the resources he needed to fulfil his ministry.
But it wouldn't happen automatically. So Paul reminds him to be diligent, to "fan into flame the gift of God," this God who had given him "a Spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." How do we do that? How do we cultivate the Spirit's presence in a world that constantly undermines His influence? We deny ourselves–we say "no" to natural tendencies (not our personality, but the sloth that prevents us from stirring ourselves to obedience) – then we go on to walk under the Spirit's direction. Paul says in Galatians 5: "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." We walk in the Spirit by looking to Him, inviting Him into every area of our lives and seeking to live under His Lordship.
John Stott has a good description of how this works: "This will be seen in our whole way of life–in the leisure occupations we pursue, the books we read and the friendships we make. Above all in what older authors called ‘a diligent use of the means of grace', that is, in a disciplined practice of prayer and Scripture meditation, in fellowship with believers who provoke us to love and good works, in keeping the Lord's day as the Lord's day, and in attending public worship and the Lord's Supper. In all these ways we occupy ourselves in spiritual things. It is not enough to yield passively to the Spirit's control; we must also walk actively in the Spirit's way. Only so will the fruit of the Spirit appear" (Only One Way, p. 154). We cultivate these qualities Paul lists – power, love and self-discipline – by saying "no" to our own lethargy and timidity and by seeking to walk daily in active obedience to God's Word, trusting in His power to enable us to bear witness, in both our words and actions, to the suffering of His Son on behalf of this lost world.
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