The Promise of Life
2 Timothy 1:1-2
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,…


The specific form of the whole gospel is promise, which God gives in the Word and causes to be preached. The last period of the world is the reign of grace (Romans 5:21). Grace reigns in the Word, only as promise. Grace has nothing to do with law and requisition of law, therefore the word of that grace can be no other than a word of promise. Hence χάρις. and ἐπαγγελία form an indissoluble unity (Romans 4:16). For to this end Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant, that we might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15). The promise of life in Christ-form is the word of the New Covenant (chap. 2 Timothy 1:1). The difference between the gospel of the Old Covenant and that of the New rests alone on the transcendently greater glory of its promise (Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 11. whole). That these great and precious promises are given to us (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 7:1) establishes the position of a Christian man; if he calls himself a son and heir, he has no other title for this except that of promise alone, purely of grace (Galatians 4:28; Galatians 3:29; Romans 4:16). That, and how God for His own sake blots out our transgressions, and remembers our sin no more (Isaiah 43:25), is the substance of the word of promise in the New Testament, and which confirms that of the Old.

(J. Harless.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

WEB: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus,




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