Note 1 at 2 Tim. 1:3: What is Paul thanking God for? He's thanking the Lord that he always remembers Timothy in every prayer. In other words, the memory of Timothy was one of Paul's great delights. This speaks volumes of how much Timothy meant to the Apostle Paul.

Whenever Paul prayed (which was often), Timothy came to mind. In verse four, Paul greatly desired Timothy to come to him. He mentions this again twice, in the fourth chapter (vv. 9, 21). This shows Paul's great love for his "son in the faith" (1 Tim. 1:2).

We should all desire to be the kind of person who people delight in thinking about.

Note 2 at 2 Tim. 1:3: The legalistic Jews persecuted Paul because they said he had forsaken the faith of his forefathers. But Paul links his faith to that of his forefathers. Paul wanted to portray his beliefs as the true Jewish faith.

Paul's ancestors served God with pure hearts. They served under the law because the Messiah hadn't come yet. It is true that Paul wasn't serving under the law the way they were, but the coming of Jesus changed everything. Paul's ancestors, who were truly seeking God, would have approved of Paul's actions.

Note 3 at 2 Tim. 1:3: This is one of five times that Paul mentions the conscience in 1 and 2 Timothy (1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 3:9; 4:2; 2 Tim. 1:3). The first four times Paul spoke of the conscience, he was instructing others about the importance of their consciences. Here he speaks about his own conscience.

Paul makes the radical statement that he served God with a pure conscience from his forefathers. That's saying he had sought to follow his conscience his whole life. That is even more radical if you remember that Paul had been a persecutor of the Christians before his conversion. Yet he had a pure conscience while he was doing that. You can't ignore your conscience, but you also cannot let it be your sole guide (see note 1 at Acts 23:1, p. 709).