What Does 2 Timothy 1:3 Mean?
I thank God, whom I serve from those born before me with a clean conscience, that without a break I hold you in memory in my prayers, night and day.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;THE KEY
The Greek word for “remembrance” can also mean “mention,” so another person is carried from memory into prayer.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with gratitude that stays active: service to God, a clear conscience, and another person’s name remain joined in prayer through night and day. Memory here is more than an inward replay; it becomes an ongoing mention before God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Remembering someone is only private sentiment: here, remembrance becomes active, carried into prayer.
THE ROOT
μνείαν
mneian
GROWS FROM
μνη-/μνα- (mnē-/mnā-)
Recall; memory or mention.
“I hold you in memory” in this verse is mneian. This noun does not leave memory inside the mind: in Romans 1:9, the same word is rendered “mention.” English “remembrance” can sound passive, but the Greek joins holding someone in mind with naming them in prayer.
ALSO GROWS
mimnēskomai: remember; call to mind
μιμνῄσκομαι
It shares the memory stem and shows remembrance as an active act of recalling.
mnēmoneuō: remember; mention
μνημονεύω
Its sense of mention makes the link between inward memory and spoken prayer explicit.
συνείδησις
syneidēsis
GROWS FROM
οἶδα
oida
Know or perceive; συνείδησις (syneidēsis) combines this knowing with σύν (syn), “with.”
The word for conscience carries the sense of “knowing with,” an inward awareness. “Pure conscience” presents service as something held in clear awareness, alongside the ongoing remembrance of another person.
ALSO GROWS
oida: know; perceive
οἶδα
This is the knowing at the center of the word for conscience.
sunoida: know with; be conscious of
σύνοιδα
It makes the “knowing with” structure audible in the idea of inward awareness.
προσευχαῖς
proseuchais
GROWS FROM
εὐχ-
euch-
Pray, wish, or vow; προσευχή (proseuchē) joins πρός (pros), “toward,” with εὐχή (euchē), “prayer” or “vow.”
“prayers” in this verse is proseuchais. The word presents prayer as directed toward God. The remembrance is not left as private recollection; it is turned into prayer.
ALSO GROWS
euchomai: pray; wish
εὔχομαι
It shares the root and links prayer with an expressed desire.
euchē: prayer; vow
εὐχή
It shows the root’s movement from wishing or vowing into prayer.
THE PATTERN
Prayer turns remembrance into an ongoing practice that holds others before God across the day.
We give thanks to God always for you all, making remembrance of you upon our prayers.Peter was therefore kept in prison, but prayer was stretched out by the assembly toward God for him.Evening, and morning, and at noon, I murmur and roar, and he hears and responds to my voice.THE THREAD
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my breath in the good news of his Son, that without a break I hold you in remembrance always in my prayers.Romans uses the same Greek noun μνεία (mneia, remembrance or mention) for naming others in prayer. That shared word makes the remembrance in 2 Timothy feel active: a person is kept present through prayer.
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