2 Timothy 4.22-Paul Communicates to Timothy and the Ephesian Community His Spirit Inspired Desire for Them
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 17, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 4:22-Paul Communicates to Timothy and the Ephesian Christian Community His Spirit Inspired Desire for Them
Lesson # 113
2 Timothy 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. (NASB95)
This verse is composed of the following: (1) articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος), “the Lord” (2) articular genitive neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “spirit” (3) genitive second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), “your” (4) articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun charis (χάρις), “grace” (5) preposition meta (μετά), “with” (6) genitive second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), “you.”
The noun kurios is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ since He was this word’s referent the last time it was used in Second Timothy 4:18.
The word contains the figure of metonymy where the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is put for His grace, which is manifested through Paul’s Spirit inspired letter to Timothy.
“Be” does not translate a word in the Greek text but is added by the translators since they interpret Paul as using the figure of ellipsis meaning that he deliberately omits the third person singular future middle indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί).
Though it is true that Paul is using the figure of ellipsis, he is not however deliberately omitting eimi, but rather he is omitting the third person singular aorist middle optative form of the verb ginomai, which means “to be united, to be joined.”
This is indicating that Paul’s Spirit inspired desire is that the Lord Jesus Christ, namely His doctrine or His Word or in other words, His Spirit inspired teaching would be united or joined with the human spirit of Timothy.
This would take place if Timothy obeyed Paul’s Spirit inspired instructions in this epistle.
The aorist tense of this verb is an ingressive aorist emphasizing the beginning of an action or entrance into a state.
Here it is used with reference to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ entering into the state of being united with the human spirit of Timothy.
The middle voice of the verb is a causative middle which indicates that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of His Spirit inspired teaching will cause itself to be joined to Timothy’s human spirit when he obeyed His voice, which is heard through the communication of this epistle.
The optative mood of the verb is a voluntative optative expressing Paul’s Spirit inspired desire that the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of His Spirit inspired teaching “would be united or joined” with the human spirit of Timothy when he obeyed the Spirit who spoke to him through this epistle from Paul.
The noun pneuma refers to believer’s human spirit and is the object of the preposition meta, which functions as a marker of a relation in which one thing is combined with another.
Here it denotes that Paul’s Spirit inspired desire is that the grace originating from the Lord Jesus Christ would be “combined with” the human spirit of Timothy.
This prepositional phrase indicates that Paul’s Spirit inspired desire is that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of His Spirit inspired teaching would be united with the human spirit of Timothy.
The noun charis, “grace” contains the figure of speech called metonymy meaning the effect is put for the cause or in other words, the thing effected for the instrument which effects it and here grace is put for the Word of God which effects grace.
Therefore, the Spirit of God speaking through the communication of the Word of God to the believer’s human spirit in this epistle regarding the will of the Father for Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community is the means by which grace is received by them as believers.
The articular construction of charis functions as a possessive pronoun and should be translated “His” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Be” does not translate a word in the Greek text but is added by the translators since they interpret Paul as using the figure of ellipsis meaning that he deliberately omits the third person singular aorist middle optative form of the verb ginomai (γίνομαι), which means “to cause oneself to be manifested.”
This is indicating that Paul’s Spirit inspired desire is that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, namely His doctrine or Spirit inspired teaching would cause itself to be manifested among Timothy and members of the Ephesian Christian community.
This would take place if they continue to obey the commands and prohibitions that Paul issued in this epistle.
The middle voice of the verb ginomai is a causative middle which indicates that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of His Spirit inspired teaching will cause itself to be manifested among Timothy and the Ephesian believers when they obey His voice, which is heard through the communication of this epistle.
The optative mood of the verb is a voluntative optative expressing Paul’s Spirit inspired desire that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of His Spirit inspired teaching “would cause itself to be manifested” among Timothy and the faithful members of the Ephesian Christian community when they obey the Spirit who speaks to them through the Word of God.
It was a Spirit inspired desire since Paul wrote this benediction like he did all of this epistle under the inspiration of the Spirit and it was a desire that he expressed in prayer to the Father.
The personal pronoun su is in the plural and means “all of you” referring to Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community.
The word is used in a distributive sense meaning that there are no exceptions in the Ephesian Christian community.
Paul desires that the grace of the Lord would cause itself to be manifested among each and every one of them.
This word functions as the object of the preposition meta, which functions as a position within an area determined by others objects and distributed among such objects.
This indicates that Paul’s Spirit inspired desire is that the grace of God in the form of Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in this epistle to Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community would cause itself to be manifested “among” all of them as a corporate unit when they obeyed this teaching.
Second Timothy 4:22 May the grace originating from the Lord become united with your spirit. May His grace cause itself to be manifested among each and every one of you. (My translation)
The apostle Paul closes this epistle by communicating two Spirit inspired desires.
The first is for Timothy and the second is for both Timothy and those who were remaining faithful in the Ephesian Christian community.
Both of these desires were a part of Paul’s intercessory prayer for Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community.
With regards to Timothy, Paul’s Spirit inspired desire was that the Lord Jesus Christ, namely His doctrine or His Word or in other words, His Spirit inspired teaching would be united or joined with the human spirit of Timothy.
This would take place if Timothy obeyed Paul’s Spirit inspired instructions in this epistle.
“May His grace cause itself to be manifested among each and every one of you” is not merely a farewell from Paul but also a Spirit inspired desire that Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community would respond to the Spirit’s teaching in this epistle regarding the will of the Father for each of them.
The apostle Paul under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit is appealing to Timothy and the Ephesian church to respond to his doctrinal teaching in this epistle, which originates from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit through Paul’s doctrinal teaching, which originates from the Lord Jesus Christ, is requesting that Timothy and the Ephesian church feed their new nature so that more of the character of Christ would be manifested in their lives.
So Paul is revealing his Spirit inspired desire which is in agreement with the will of the Father that the Word of God would be with them with the implication of becoming conformed to the image of Christ and having fellowship with the Trinity.
Lifton writes “Paul’s closing benediction is first directed to Timothy (your spirit, sing.) and then to his other readers (you, pl.), once again demonstrating that the epistle was designed to be read widely (cf. 1 Tim. 6:21; Titus 3:15). If 2 Timothy were penned during Paul’s second Roman imprisonment, these are the last words of the apostle to have survived.”
Wiersbe writes “The Bible does not record the final days of Paul. Tradition tells us that he was found guilty and sentenced to die. He was probably taken outside the city and beheaded. But Timothy and the other devoted believers carried on the work! As John Wesley used to say, ‘God buries His workmen, but His work goes on.’ You and I must be faithful so that (if the Lord does not return soon) future generations may hear the Gospel and have the opportunity to be saved.”
A. T. Robertson writes “Let us hope that Timothy and Mark reached Paul before winter, before the end came, with the cloak and with the books. Our hero, we may be sure, met the end nobly. He is already more than conqueror in Christ who is by his side and who will welcome him to heaven and give him his crown. Luke, Timothy, Mark will do all that mortal hands can do to cheer the heart of Paul with human comfort. He already had the comfort of Christ in full measure.”