By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul emphasizes the importance of remembering Christ, especially as he nears death. This act of remembering transcends mere recollection; it is a call to engage deeply with God’s promises.
Paul, nearing the end of his life, wrote a second letter to his beloved son in Christ, Timothy. In 2 Timothy 2:8 Paul advised Timothy to remember Christ.
When someone is at or near the end of their life, we take their words even more seriously than before. In legal terms, deathbed words are allowed as an exception to the hearsay rule. A dying person’s words are taken to heart because it is supposed a dying person has no incentive to lie. The finality of their words are thought to be reliable, and thus, are allowed in court.
Paul as a Christian never had incentive to lie and was always truthful, but the finality of his words to Timothy were surely clung to even more strongly than ever, knowing there would be no more from Paul.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, (2 Timothy 2:8).
Why did Paul write, ‘remember’? It isn’t likely Timothy would forget Christ! Of course, with any scripture, there is the surface understanding and then there are the deeper layers of understanding we can gain by deeper study.
Dr. Abner Chou at The Master’s Seminary Chapel told the assembled students on November 8, 2023 The Secret To Endurance . His message focused on this 2 Timothy verse. Chou said of “remembering”,
In English we have the idea of remembering as just a mental recollection. You remember to pick up the milk or you don’t. It’s just a tick on the box. It is just something intellectual. It is just about mental facility. It is just a fact that needs to be recalled, that’s it. There is nothing more than that.
However in the Bible from Old Testament to New Testament memory is much different. Remembering is much more powerful and pivotal. You could think of it this way- when God in the flood as it says in Genesis verse 8:1 that ‘He remembered Noah’, we are not just talking about an intellectual recollection there as if God was in heaven and saying ‘oh I miss killing a guy… oh it’s Noah! I remember him now! I’m glad I forgot about him!’
That’s not what it’s talking about there in Genesis when God remembers Noah. No, Noah is at the Forefront of God’s intention. Noah is at the forefront of God’s promises and his action and His intervention so that he preserved Noah through that flood, kept His promises to him. It really affected the entire world on his behalf so that the Covenant would be established. That’s the nature of remembering.
The thief on the cross says to Jesus “Remember Me”. You know if Jesus was a smart aleck, (He is not thank the Lord), He could have just said ‘it’s going to be kind of hard to forget. I mean we are like one of three people here. It’s kind of easy to remember!’ But that’s not what the thief on the cross was asking for.
“Remember me” is not just intellectually recall my name or know that I exist. It puts me at the forefront of your mind and heart and do whatever it takes to to secure promises and salvation on my behalf. That’s the nature of memory.
Memory is is not just intellectual, it is driving, it is compelling. It is for this very reason that remembering throughout the Old Testament even into the New Testament it is a catalyst for sanctification. In the book of Deuteronomy no less than 15 times is the word remember utilized. It is a crucial motivation.
God calls Israel to ‘remember your time in the wilderness’, to ‘remember your time of slavery’, ‘remember the time you provoked Yahweh.’ Why? Because when you remember these things and you remember what God has done for us then that is what jerks you out of complacency. When you remember these things and it’s at the forefront of your mind it compels you to a perspective and worship and honor and gratitude. Memory is so vital in scripture.
If you remember something idealistically, that’s nostalgia. If you remember something angrily, that’s bitterness. If you remember something not at all, that’s apathy. We are prone to do that but when you remember the right way when it is at the forefront of your mind and heart and you meditate and you focus and you fixate on it until it moves you, then you have remembered biblically. And that is part of what it means to remember according to the scriptures. —END of Chou text.
I didn’t know there was so much to the word ‘remember’!
When Jonah was fainting in the belly of the Great Fish, Jonah said “I remembered Yahweh.” MacArthur says,
“To remember God is not merely to have mental recollection about Him, but to return tot he Lord with full attention and renewed affection that leads to action. (cf Genesis 8:1, 40:14, Deut 5:15).”
What does it mean when Genesis 8:1 says “God remembered Noah”? Does God forget? No, sir and ma’am!
Matthew Henry has a wise word on the kind of remembering that God does-
Noah himself, though one that had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, yet seemed to be forgotten in the ark, and perhaps began to think himself so; for we do not find that God had told him how long he should be confined and when he should be released. Very good men have sometimes been ready to conclude themselves forgotten of God, especially when their afflictions have been unusually grievous and long. Perhaps Noah, though a great believer, yet when he found the flood continuing so long after it might reasonably be presumed to have done its work, was tempted to fear lest he that shut him in would keep him in, and began to expostulate. How long wilt thou forget me? But at length God returned in mercy to him, and this is expressed by remembering him.
Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 27). Hendrickson.
Remember your God!
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