God’s Word for You

2 Timothy 1:5 Faith

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, May 31, 2026

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that was living first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, lives in you.

What is the difference between a faith and a sincere faith? Faith consists of knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge is knowing the information that Scripture presents. Paul asks, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14).

It is good to know and necessary to know what the Scriptures teach about creation, Abraham and his descendants, the exodus, the united and divided kingdoms of Israel, the holy prophets, the four Gospels and the letters of the New Testament. But knowing that information is not enough. There also must be assent, the agreement in the mind that what is read—Abraham, the Judges, David, Jesus, and everything else in the Scriptures—is in fact true and correct. This is where our church, that is, our confessional Lutheran churches, differ from certain other groups, who do not accept all of Scripture as being true. But when this happens, the whole truth of the Word of God becomes questioned and doubted. Remember that James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). That verse is talking about the Law of Moses in its entirety, and therefore includes the Third Commandment, which requires us to take the Word of God to heart and to gladly hear and learn it. Jesus warns: “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:11-12).

What may surprise or confuse some is that in addition to assent or agreement, there must also be trust in this word of God, the trust that is faith, and by this we mean faith in Christ. Real faith in God must have the correct object of faith, which is Christ. This is faith and trust, and it is confidence. There are examples in the Scriptures of people who knew about Christ, but did not put their faith in him: “Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

So trust, which is true faith (Paul’s “sincere faith”), is described this way: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). And again: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12). And Paul says about Abraham: “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:19-21).

The key element of true, sincere faith is that it is faith in Christ. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31). Now, this is denied by some. Shortly after Luther’s time, the Council of Trent declared: “If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, let him be anathema” (that is, eternally damned). But the Holy Scripture says that the faith that justifies is simply faith in Christ (Romans 3:22, 10:4; Galatians 2:16). And Scripture also says that faith and “receiving Christ” are one and the same. “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). And again, Jesus says: “I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (John 17:8).

Timothy’s faith had been planted first by his mother and grandmother, who were both fine Christian believers. Like Paul and the Apostles and so many Christians of the first generation, these women had been Jews, but had heard the gospel and had put their faith in Christ as the one who fulfilled the Law of Moses and all of the promises about the coming Messiah in the Prophets (Matthew 5:17). Since Timothy’s unnamed father was a Greek and had forbidden it, the young man had not been circumcised as an infant as the law demanded, so this was done later by Paul so as not to offend the many Jews that they would be working with (Acts 16:1-3). This is really all we know about Timothy’s mother and grandmother. Bengel, the 18th century Lutheran commentator, thought that by this time they were both dead, but I think this goes beyond the grammar of the text.

“It is of the greatest importance for every married man to pay closer, more thorough, and continuous attention to the health of his child’s soul than to the body which he has begotten, and to regard his child as nothing else but an eternal treasure God has commanded him to protect, and so prevent the world, the flesh, and the devil from stealing the child away and bringing him to destruction. For at his death and on the day of judgment he will be asked about his child and will have to give a most solemn account. For what do you think is the cause of the horrible wailing and howling of those who will cry, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed’ (Luke 23:29)? There is not the slightest doubt that it is because they have failed to restore their children to God [through baptism and faith], from whom they received them to take care of them.”

Lois and Eunice did everything that they could, even though they were prevented from circumcising the boy. Today there are men and women, who, on account of the one they married, have been prevented from baptizing their children at a young age. But about this they can be forgiven, since obedience within the marriage is necessary and binds our hands in some cases. But we can still bring our children to Christ through teaching, songs, stories, and we can still teach them to say their prayers. This is how we begin their life of faith. If when they are grown they turn from this, we perhaps can still share the gospel with them that they already know, and we can still pray for them. But when we have them, we must do everything we can for the health of their soul. This is what Lois and Eunice did without any doubt. And just as God blessed their efforts, God will bless ours.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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