Passage

2 Timothy 1.9

Book: 2 Timothy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

7. For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline. 8. Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God;

9. who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,

but hath now been manifested by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11. whereunto I was appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher. (2 Timothy 1:7-11, ASV)

WEB

7. For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. 8. Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,

9. who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,

but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News. 11. For this, I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. (2 Timothy 1:7-11, WEB)

KJV

7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

9. Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 11. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. (2 Timothy 1:7-11, KJV)

YLT

7. for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind; 8. therefore thou mayest not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but do thou suffer evil along with the good news according to the power of God,

9. who did save us, and did call with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, that was given to us in Christ Jesus, before the times of the ages,

and was made manifest now through the manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who indeed did abolish death, and did enlighten life and immortality through the good news, 11. to which I was placed a preacher and an apostle, and a teacher of nations, (2 Timothy 1:7-11, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, writing under his own name
Audience: Timothy, Paul's delegate at Ephesus
Location: written from imprisonment at Rome to Timothy at Ephesus
Time period: c. AD 64-67, traditionally Paul's last letter, written from a second Roman imprisonment shortly before his execution

Theological reading

A compressed statement of salvation by grace: God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus "before times eternal."

Three things are asserted in one sentence. The ground of salvation is God's purpose rather than human works, which is Paul's standing position (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Romans 3:28). The calling is described as "holy," meaning set apart for a purpose rather than merely rescued from a fate. And the grace is dated before time, which places the decision prior to any human action and is the text's contribution to discussions of election. The verse is used by Reformed readers as evidence of unconditional election and by others as describing the pre-temporal purpose of the plan rather than the pre-temporal selection of individuals. The wording settles that God's purpose and grace precede human works; it does not by itself settle the scope question._

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0166 - aionios, aionios, Strong's G0166
G4982 - sozo, sozo, Strong's G4982
G5485 - charis, charis, Strong's G5485
G5547 - christos, christos, Strong's G5547
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.