1 Timoteo 1:2

‘To Timothy, my true child in faith. Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.’

He is writing to Timothy as his ‘true’ that is, his genuine ‘child in faith’. The final phrase may indicate that ‘by faith’, having assessed him carefully and discussed the matter with the Lord, he senses a genuine oneness with him, and has adopted him ‘by faith’ for the purpose of his carrying on with Paul’s own ministry as one of his successors. Or we may read in the article, and see it as signifying ‘my child in the faith’, that is, the one who Paul, like a father, has nurtured and nourished, and now looks on as one of his successors on a roving brief (although never as an Apostle). Either way it brings out Paul’s affection for Timothy and his confidence in him. We can compare here, "I have sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 4:17), and "I have no one like him.... As a son with a father he has served with me in the Gospel" (Philippians 2:20; Philippians 2:22). Timothy was someone whom he knew that he could trust utterly, and whom he loved dearly.

He wishes for him ‘grace, mercy and peace’, three words which sum up the Gospel. Grace signifies God’s undeserved love and compassion reaching out and active towards men. In the end all that is of God is of grace. Mercy indicates that a way has been made back to Himself through forgiveness, and that He continues unceasingly to look compassionately on His people. Peace indicates the reconciliation that Timothy is enjoying through Christ and the resulting peace of heart that he can enjoy. The introduction of ‘mercy’ between ‘grace’ and ‘peace’ is an advance on the usual ‘grace and peace’ but is paralleled in 2 Timothy 1:2; 2 John 1:3. Here it reflects the ageing Paul’s recognition of the wonder of God’s mercy towards himself as the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). In his old age he cannot get over the amazing fact of God’s mercy towards him, and recognises that Timothy needs it too.

‘From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.’ As regularly in Paul ‘God’ and ‘the Lord’ are seen as of equal status. What God the Father does, Christ Jesus our Lord does. What God the Father is, Christ Jesus our Lord is (compare 1 Corinthians 8:6).