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In 2 Timothy 1 we see that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the One who brought life and incorruption to light in order that we might know life and incorruption. It is through the gospel that Christ brought life and incorruption to light (v. 10). While we may know life and incorruption, the unbelievers know only death and corruption because they have not yet heard or received the gospel. If they hear and receive the gospel, it will bring eternal life and eternal incorruption to light so that they may know life and incorruption as we do. The more we preach the gospel, the more life and incorruption will be brought to light. On the one hand, Christ appeared with grace; that is, He came with grace. On the other hand, by His death and resurrection, Christ nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel in order to fulfill the promise of life for a believer to be an apostle.
In verses 9 and 10 Paul tells us that the grace of God, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages, now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. Grace is God’s provision in life given to us so that we may live out His purpose. This grace given to us in Christ was bestowed on us before the world began. God’s grace was given to us in eternity, but it was manifested and applied to us through our Lord’s first coming, in which He nullified death and brought life to us (Heb. 9:26). Because this grace was manifested through the appearing of Christ, Old Testament saints such as Abraham and David did not experience it. The grace destined to be given to us came with the appearing of the Lord Jesus. This grace is not merely a blessing; it is a person, the Triune God Himself given to us to be our enjoyment. This grace came when the Lord Jesus appeared, and now it is with us today.
Grace did not come until the Lord Jesus came. This is indicated by John 1:17, which says, “Grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” The grace which came through Jesus Christ is nothing less than the Triune God dispensed into us for our enjoyment. This grace carries out God’s purpose and enables us to reach His goal.
Grace works in two ways. It works negatively to nullify death, and it works positively to bring in life and incorruption. This work of grace is still taking place within us. Today in the church life grace is nullifying death and bringing life and incorruption to light through the gospel. Many people need to hear that the gospel of grace nullifies death and brings in life and incorruption.
In 2 Timothy 1:10 Paul tells us that Christ nullified death. This means that He made death of none effect through His devil-destroying death (Heb. 2:14) and death-swallowing resurrection (1 Cor. 15:52-54). Christ was manifested to nullify death and to bring in eternal, indestructible life. He not only defeated death — He nullified it. Through His resurrection, death has become of none effect; death has lost its power, even its taste. Christ could nullify death because He destroyed the devil, the one who has the might of death. Of course, by overcoming Satan and nullifying death, the Lord Jesus also defeated Hades and the grave. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection declares that He is victorious over death, Satan, Hades, and the grave (vv. 55-57). No longer are these a problem. Christ’s resurrection was not only God’s vindication and the Lord’s success but also His victory over death, Satan, Hades, and the grave. Christ through His resurrection has made this troublesome group of none effect. His resurrection demonstrated that He triumphed over Satan, death, Hades, and the grave (Heb. 2:14; Acts 2:31). Through His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) to impart God’s life to us (John 3:15) and regenerate us (1 Pet. 1:3). Thus, having nullified death through His death, He brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel in His resurrection.
The last part of verse 10 speaks of Christ Jesus who “brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.” In the gospel the revelation is brought to us that Christ has nullified death and has brought us eternal, indestructible life. Life in verse 10 refers to the eternal life of God, which is given to all believers in Christ (1 Tim. 1:16) and which is the main element of the divine grace given to us (Rom. 5:17, 21). This life has conquered death (Acts 2:24) and will swallow up death (2 Cor. 5:4). It was according to the promise of such a life that Paul was an apostle (2 Tim. 1:1). This life and the incorruption that is its consequence have been brought to light and made visible to men through the preaching of the gospel.
Life is the divine element, even God Himself, imparted into our spirit; incorruption is the consequence of life’s saturating of our body (Rom. 8:11). This life and incorruption are able to counter death and corruption.
Christ brought life and incorruption to light to fulfill the promise of life for a believer to be an apostle. Second Timothy 1:1 speaks of Paul as “an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus.” This verse indicates that Paul became an apostle not only through the will of God but also according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. The divine life, which God promised in the Old Testament and which Paul received and lived by, constituted him into an apostle; by receiving, enjoying, and living by the promised life, he, the foremost sinner, became an apostle, even the foremost apostle (12, 1 Tim. 1:15-16).
The expression the promise of life in 2 Timothy 1:1 does not mean that we have only the promise and not the life. It means that we have received the promised life. A similar term, the promise of the Spirit, is used in Galatians 3:14. This term does not mean that we have received only the promise and not the Spirit; it means that we have received the Spirit who has been promised. In the same principle, the words the promise of life denote the promised life. Paul was an apostle according to the life which God had promised, which Paul had received, and which dwelt within him. Paul became an apostle by this life.
This indicates that we can receive this promised life so that we may not only have this life and live by this life but also serve God to the uttermost as an apostle. In the Bible the highest office for servants of God is that of the apostle (1 Cor. 12:28). The Old Testament speaks of priests as servants of God, but the New Testament speaks of apostles. Because the new testament economy is higher than the old testament economy, to be an apostle is higher than to be a priest. An apostle is one who has received the promised life and lives by this life; receiving the divine life and living by the divine life constitutes one to be an apostle. The divine life can do so much for us that by enjoying Christ as the One who brought life to light, we may serve God as apostles.
In keeping with this, 2 Timothy 1:11 says, “For which I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.” The relative pronoun which refers to the gospel of divine grace and eternal life. This corresponds with the gospel in grace and life presented by the apostle John (John 1:4, 16-17). For such a gospel Paul was appointed an apostle, one who sets up and establishes the churches for God’s administration.
Divine life was promised in the Old Testament, and this great promise of life is repeated and developed in the New Testament. Divine life is promised specifically in Habakkuk 2:4, which says, “The righteous one will live by his faith.” Here, to live means to have life and live. This word unveils God’s eternal salvation given to sinners. Under God’s judgment all sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are destined to die (Rom. 6:23). The unique way for sinners to escape God’s judgment and obtain God’s eternal salvation is to believe in God’s embodiment, Christ, that they may become righteous and be justified in order to have life and live (John 3:16-18). God’s eternal salvation is to save our entire being — spirit, soul, and body — for eternity (1 Thes. 5:23). The way for us to receive such a salvation is to believe in Christ so that we may be justified by God and thus be qualified to have the eternal, divine life and live by that life (Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2, 10, 17; Eph. 2:8). This is the New Testament gospel in an Old Testament prophetic book.
The apostle Paul quotes this word in Habakkuk three times in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). In Romans 1:17 Paul says, “The righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, ‘But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.’” This verse reveals that the righteousness of God justifies us so that we may have God’s life (5:18) and live by it. In this way this life will sanctify and transform us thoroughly. Romans covers mainly our being justified (1:1—5:11; 9:1—11:36), our having life (5:12—8:39), and our living properly by this life (12:1—16:27). In Galatians 3:11 Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous one shall have life and live by faith”; in Hebrews 10:38 he also quotes the verse, “My righteous one shall live by faith.” These three verses, in which Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4, stress our having life and our living by faith.
Second Timothy was written at a time when the churches established through the apostle’s ministry in the Gentile world were in a trend of degradation and the apostle himself was confined in a remote prison. Many had turned away from him and forsaken him (1:15; 4:16), including even some of his co-workers (v. 10). It was a discouraging and disappointing scene, especially to his young fellow worker and spiritual child, Timothy. Because of this, in the opening of this encouraging, strengthening, and establishing Epistle, he confirmed to Timothy that he was an apostle of Christ not only through the will of God but also according to the promise of life, which is in Christ. This implies that though the churches may become degraded and many of the saints may backslide in unfaithfulness, the eternal life, the divine life, the uncreated life of God, promised by God in His holy writings and given to the apostle and all the believers, remains forever the same. With and upon this unchanging life the firm foundation of God was laid and stands unshaken through all the tide of degradation (2:19). By such a life those who seek the Lord out of a pure heart are able to stand the test of the church’s decline. This life, which the apostle in 1 Timothy charged Timothy and others to lay hold on (6:12, 19), must have been an encouragement and strengthening to the apostle in perilous times.
When Paul was writing this Epistle, he was fully aware that the churches were declining. However, because he was one who laid hold on the promise of eternal life, he was not discouraged or disappointed. He had something within him which never changed — the eternal, uncreated, incorruptible life of God. No matter how the environment may change, this eternal life remains the same. Thus, he himself was encouraged in the life of God and not disappointed by the situation, because he laid hold on the eternal life promised by God in His holy writings. The life promised by God in the Scriptures dwelt within Paul.
The eternal life according to which Paul became an apostle is incorruptible and unchanging, for this life is actually the processed Triune God Himself. Because this life dwelt in Paul, not even the whole Roman Empire was able to prevail over him in its dealings with him. Paul was strengthened by the processed Triune God as life. Whatever we do and whatever we are must be according to the eternal life and by this life.
