Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Timothy · About this commentary
Stir Up the Gift
2 Timothy 1:6-7
6 For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. · WEB
A gift already given can go cold, and the remedy named is not more gift but attention.
For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you. The verb pictures blowing a fire back into flame from embers — the fuel is there and the heat is not. Nothing is said about a lack; the whole instruction assumes possession.
The gift came through the laying on of my hands, and Paul mentions elsewhere that the eldership laid hands on him too 1 Timothy 4:14. The point here is not the mechanism but the fact of a definite past moment Timothy can be pointed back to.
Verse 7 explains what needs fanning. God didn't give us a spirit of fear — deilia G1167, timidity or cowardice, and the word occurs nowhere else in Scripture. It is a diagnosis offered gently: the problem is not doubt or laziness but nerve.
Against it stand three things. Power, love, and self-control — sōphronismos G4995, also found only here, meaning a sound and governed mind. The remedy for timidity is not bravado. It includes love and a steady head, which is a more realistic prescription than courage alone.
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