What Does 2 Timothy 1:6 Mean?
For this reason I remind you to fan back into flame the favor of God, which is in you through the placing of my hands upon you.
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
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.THE KEY
The gift is not manufactured by effort; it is a living fire within you, ready to be rekindled.
THE MEANING
The gift of God is already within you; stirring it does not create it but brings it back into expression. The laying on of hands joins that inward gift to the embodied action of another person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must manufacture your capacity from nothing.
THE ROOT
ἀναζωπυρεῖν
anazōpyrein
GROWS FROM
πῦρ
pyr
Fire.
“fan back into flame” in this verse is anazōpyrein. The Greek verb means to rekindle, and its word-family carries the image of fire being brought alight again. English “stir up” can hide the sense that the gift is already there, like a living ember that can be rekindled.
ALSO GROWS
pyroō: To set on fire or burn.
πυρόω
It makes explicit the fire-image carried within “stir up.”
pyrinos: Fiery; made of fire.
πύρινος
It keeps the image concrete: the gift is pictured as a living flame, not a capacity manufactured from nothing.
χάρισμα
charisma
GROWS FROM
χάρις
charis
Favor; freely given goodwill.
The word translated “gift” belongs to the family of χάρις, favor: the gift is favor taking form. Joined to “in thee,” this points to something freely given and already present, awaiting renewed expression.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: To grant freely as a favor.
χαρίζομαι
It shows the giving character of the gift: it comes as favor, not as something earned.
charis: Favor; goodwill freely shown.
χάρις
It reveals the root beneath the gift and connects what is within to what has been freely given.
THE PATTERN
What God gives within a person is awakened and made available in relation to others.
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.Do not let slip the gift of favor that is in you, which was given to you through prophesying, with the placing of hands by the council of elders.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.THE THREAD
Do not let slip the gift of favor that is in you, which was given to you through prophesying, with the placing of hands by the council of elders.Both verses use the same Greek word, χάρισμα (charisma), for the gift within. The paired phrases “neglect not” and “stir up” reveal that what can be left unattended can also be rekindled.
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