Paul’s Final Words

2 Timothy 4:22

Immanuel – 8/30/26

          We began 2 Timothy the first Sunday after I returned from sabbatical, on April 26. 17 sermons in a series entitled, “Keep the Faith.” But it was just over one year ago that we started “The Household of God,” a series in 1 Timothy – 22 sermons. 39 sermons in 1 & 2 Timothy.

          That’s a lot of time with the Apostle Paul. We’ve gotten to know him, and his young protégé Timothy: their relationship, their burdens, and their hopes. We’ve heard Paul warn Timothy and encourage him, prepare him for suffering, ministry, and death. We’ve lived in these letters for a year, and I feel that both Timothy and Paul have become like old friends.

But today we come to the last recorded words of Paul. For sometime soon after, under the authority of Nero, he was executed for his faith.

          How fitting then, that Paul’s final words are a benediction – a blessing. After everything Paul has written, after everything he has entrusted to Timothy, the last thing the Apostle does is bless him.

And with his final words, Paul gives Timothy – and the church universal – exactly what we need if we are to Keep the Faith. But, before we dive into our verse today, and to give it a little more punch, let’s briefly review where we have been in Paul’s final epistle.

Chapter 1. Fan into flame the gift God had entrusted to you. And God has given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed of the gospel, but guard it. It will not be easy, there will be opposition, so share in Christ’s sufferings.

Chapter 2: Be strengthened by grace. Entrust the gospel to faithful men so they can continue your work. Remember Jesus as you endure everything for the sake of the elect. If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful. Cut the gangrene from your heart and from the church.

Chapter 3: Difficult times are coming and there will be many counterfeits. Continue in what you have learned, for all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. Scripture is breathed out by God, and by it God will complete you and equip you.

Chapter 4: Preach the Word. Fulfill your ministry. Endure suffering. When others leave, keep going. I have fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith. And no matter how difficult things have been, the Lord has stood by me and strengthened me. Even still, come to me soon.

          All this weight and glory, humble humanity and heavenly hope, and Paul is leaving – the time of his departure is near. Timothy has to face false teachers, opposition, suffering, challenging people, the enormous responsibility of guarding the gospel…and Paul is leaving.

          Paul knows full well that his absence will be hard – on Timothy and on the church. There isn’t a single person sufficient for all these things! How is Timothy to bear all this weight? How is he to carry the torch after the great Apostle Paul? Facing such difficulties, how is he to keep the faith?

The same way Paul kept the faith. Remember his words from last week, “When everyone else left me, the Lord was with me.”

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

          When Timothy is alone, the Lord will be with him. When Timothy is weak, God’s grace will strengthen him. Everything Timothy needs to keep the faith is found in Christ.

          Main Point

          We keep the faith through the presence of Christ and the grace of God.

There are two clauses in verse 22. Let’s spend some time considering the first one.

The Lord be with your spirit.

          In my opinion, it would sound more natural, more normal, if Paul said, “The Lord be with you.” But he doesn’t. Instead, he says, The Lord be with your spirit. I want you to see that this is typical Pauline language.

          The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.

-Galatians 6:18

          The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.           -Philippians 4:23

          The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.           -Philemon 25

Why does Paul so frequently add that bit about spirit? To answer that question, I think we first need to understand the spirit. I don’t mean the Holy Spirit. I mean your spirit. You have a spirit. What does it mean to have a spirit?

          First, notice something obvious about Paul and Timothy. They are embodied creatures. They have bodies, and all the limitations that come with them. And hasn’t this been a central sorrow in Paul’s letter? Paul is in Rome, Timothy is in Ephesus.

4:9 – Do your best to come to me soon.

4:21 – Do your best to come before winter.

          Paul longs for Timothy’s presence, his beloved son in the faith.

          But a tremendous limitation to being embodied creatures is that we can only be in one place at one time. And very soon, Paul is leaving. His body will die. Timothy will no longer be able to hear Paul’s voice or feel his embrace. They will not be able to share a meal together. So it is with all our loved ones death has taken. They are gone.

          But the Lord is not bound by these limitations.

          Jesus Christ has a true human body! He is risen and glorified and bodily in heaven. But Jesus is also the eternal Son of God. According to his divine nature, the Son fills heaven and earth, and is everywhere present, working for the good of his people. Just as Christ stood with Paul, so he will stand with Timothy. For the Son of God is not confined to a single place. There is nowhere Timothy can go that the Lord is not present!

          Paul cannot be with Timothy in Ephesus. The Lord can.

          Paul cannot be present when Timothy feels alone and empty. The Lord can.

          Paul is leaving. The Lord is not.

          And this helps us appreciate the beauty of Paul’s blessing: The Lord be with your spirit.

          When Scripture speaks of our spirit, it speaks of the immaterial, inner person. There is a part of us that cannot be seen with eyes or touched by hands that science cannot measure: our heart, mind, soul, spirit.

          Bodies tire, get sick, grow old, and eventually die. But you are more than your body. There is an inner person: you think, love, desire, hope, fear, grieve, rejoice, believe, and commune with God. Peter speaks of the hidden person of the heart (1 Peter 3:4). This is the part of us we should think about when Paul says, The Lord be with your spirit.

          Paul wants Timothy to experience the presence of Jesus in the very depth of his being. The Lord, Jesus Christ is with him, personally, really truly with him! Whether Timothy feels it or not, he can be confident of it!

          Brothers and sisters, that is important because there will be times when you do not feel the presence of Christ. We all know what that’s like, when you feel alone, empty, desperate. But the truth transcends your feelings! Christ is with you! Paul wants Timothy to be strengthened by this truth!

And there are times when the people you depend on, leave. Pastors leave, friends move away, children grow up, parents die, death parts husbands and wives. People we couldn’t imagine life without, we are forced to learn life without.

          But when every earthly support is removed, Christ remains.

          The Lord be with your spirit.

          Hear Jesus’ last words in the Gospel of Matthew.

          “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”   -Matthew 28:20

          Jesus is with us, always! And why is the presence of Christ so significant? That is the beauty of these two clauses together, for the Christ who is with us never comes empty-handed. He comes with abounding grace!

          Grace be with you.

          Paul’s closing words. Fitting, for he knows just how desperately Timothy needs grace. Indeed, Timothy has needed it from the beginning of this letter. In the second verse of this letter Paul prays Timothy receive grace from God. Chapter 2 begins with:

          You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

                                                                                       -2 Timothy 2:1

          Timothy was never able to fulfill his ministry by his own strength. Paul’s message was never, “Dig deeper. Believe in yourself. Find the strength within you.” Those are the counterfeits. Rather, Paul told Timothy, Be strengthened by grace.

          Grace is God’s free and undeserved favor towards sinners. We do not earn it, we cannot buy it, there is nothing that will make us worthy of it. By grace God freely gives us Christ, forgiveness, reconciliation, eternal life, and every blessing of salvation.

          And grace is not just for the moment of salvation. It is also given to sustain us in salvation. Grace brings you to Christ and grace keeps you in Christ. Grace pardons the guilty, strengthens the weak, gives courage to the fearful, comforts the sufferer, and preserves the believer.

Isn’t Timothy in need of ongoing grace? Remember his charge: guard the gospel, entrust it to faithful men, endure suffering, correct false teachers, preach the word, fulfill your ministry, keep going though all others leave.

If Timothy tries to accomplish these things through the power of his personality, the dedication of his discipline, his courage, education, intelligence, or natural strength, he will fail. It will only be by God’s grace that Timothy will be able to fulfill his ministry.  

And how does Timothy – how does anyone – find nourishment and strength in God’s grace? Through faith.

Faith knows, “I cannot trust myself. That’s been tried. That has failed.” Faith comes to God poor and needy, with hands that are empty, trusting him to supply everything we lack.

And those who live by faith go to the places where God has promised to nourish and strengthen us: to the ordinary means of grace. We go to his Word, we go to prayer, we gather with the church, we participate in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. None of these things earn us grace, but through them all God continually directs our eyes away from ourselves and back to Jesus.

That’s Timothy’s desperate need: not self-sufficiency, but Christ-dependency. That’s our need too, to reject self-centeredness and walk in God centeredness.

See a hidden detail in verse 22, though your Bible may have a footnote. The Lord be with your spirit. That your is singular. But the you – in Grace be with you – is plural. It could be translated, Grace be with you all.

And suddenly, with the last words of Paul’s letter, the camera pulls back.

Though Paul has been speaking to Timothy this whole time – his beloved child in the faith – we now see that this letter is meant for more than Timothy. For Timothy belongs to the household of God, a part of the larger church, with brothers and sisters in need of the same grace he needs. Paul’s final blessing reaches beyond Timothy.

Grace be with the elders. Grace be with the new disciples. Grace be with those suffering. Grace be with the weak and the fearful. Grace be with the household of God. And 2,000 years later, grace be with us, here, at Immanuel.

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

          Brothers and sisters, is there ever a time we will outgrow our need for God’s grace? You needed it when you believed. You need it today. You’ll need it on your deathbed. And Scripture promises,          

          He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.                                                              -Philippians 1:6

          The grace that brought us to Christ will also carry us home. We come to Christ empty handed. He comes to us with everything we need.

          For 39 sermons we’ve listened to Paul teach us what it means to live in the household of God and keep the faith. Now Paul is leaving. In time, Timothy left too. One day I will leave, as will every generation of the faithful. And troubles have come, and more will come still.

          But Christ remains. And with him, every grace we need.

           How shall we keep the faith? The same way Paul did, and Timothy. Through the presence of Christ and the grace of God. Look to Jesus and trust Him. Embrace the ordinary means of grace He has given you.

          And so, brothers and sisters, after 39 sermons and one year with Paul and Timothy, I can think of no better words with which to leave these letters than Paul’s own:

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.