Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 1:2

"unto Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." — 1 Timothy 1:2 (ASV)

My own son in the faith.—Timothy was Saint Paul’s very own son. No fleshly relationship existed between the two, but a closer and far dearer connection. Saint Paul had taken him while still a very young man to be his companion and fellow labourer (Acts 16:3). He told the Philippian Church he had no one like-minded (with Timothy) who would care for their affairs. He wrote to the Corinthians how Timothy was his beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who would remind them of his ways in Christ.

Mercy.—Between the usual salutation “grace and peace,” in these Pastoral Epistles, he introduces “mercy.” The nearness of death, the weakness of old age, the dangers, ever increasing, which crowded round Paul, seem to have called forth from him deeper expressions of love and tender pity. Jesus Christ, his “hope,” burned before him, a guiding star, shining brighter and clearer; and the “mercy” of God, which the old man felt he had obtained, he longed to share with others.