2 Timothy 1:6-7 “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (7) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
We have seen in scripture that the Holy Spirit can be imparted in one of two ways, either directly from heaven or through the laying on of hands. Paul’s disciple Timothy evidently received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, for in the above passage of scripture, the apostle Paul reminds Timothy that he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Paul’s hands. We know that the gift of God that Paul is referring to in this passage is the Holy Spirit, because he goes on to explain to Timothy what type of Spirit the gift of God is, for he says that Timothy did not receive a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Paul uses very similar language in the book of Romans to describe the Holy Spirit to us, when he says that we did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15). And so, in the above passage of scripture we see the apostle Paul advising Timothy exactly how to be filled with the Spirit, for he tells Timothy to stir up or rekindle the Spirit that was already in him. And we are expected to do the same thing.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments