“To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day” (2 Timothy 1:2-3).
These introductory verses contain three important elements that are worthy of our attention. Two of those elements are common to Paul the Apostle’s other New Testament letters while the final example is unique to the letters of 1 and 2 Timothy.
The first among these elements is grace. “Grace” involves God’s unmerited favor towards undeserving members of the human family. It also expresses His benevolence towards individual human beings without regard to the talents, capabilities, possessions, or social standing they possess.
The next element is mercy, a Pauline greeting that is exclusive to the Biblical letters of 1 and 2 Timothy. While justice may be defined as “getting what you deserve,” the qualities of compassion, good will, and kindness help reflect a merciful attitude towards others.
Finally, we have the concept of “peace,” a word that is generally defined by a sense of contentment and/or well being. It also reflects the absence of external hostilities or internal conflicts like anxiety or insecurity. While this may often seem elusive, we can find genuine peace in a relationship with God through faith in Christ…
“…since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Paul then went on to make a seemingly unusual declaration: “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did” (CSB). This is an interesting statement from the self-proclaimed “chief of sinners,” and a man who once made the following admission: “…you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13).
We can reconcile these messages with a look at an excerpt from another of Paul’s Biblical letters…
“…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Since Paul had become a new creation in Christ, he was subsequently free to serve God with a clear conscience. The same is true for those come to God through faith in Christ today. Like Paul. the mistakes, bad decisions, and shameful things of the past have passed away in Christ, thus freeing us to serve Him with a clear conscience. As 1 John 1:9 reminds us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”