William Mounce and 2 Timothy 1:7 ("Cowardice")

Timothy's supposed timidity has been overemphasized. δειλία occurs only here in the NT. However, there is good reason to question its translation as “timidity,” and the translation here will affect one’s view of Timothy’s character. (1) The general picture of Timothy is not one of a shy, timid person who had to be constantly encouraged, who had ceased using his spiritual gifts and needed to be urged to relight the fire (v 6; see Introduction). (2) δειλία is better translated “cowardice” (Ellicott; Fee; cf. BAGD 173; cf. Trench, Synonyms, 58–59), and even if Timothy may have been timid, he certainly was not a coward. δειλία occurs nine times in the LXX: Ps 54:5 speaks of the “terrors of death”; speaking of his enemies, Judas prayed that God would “fill them with cowardice [δειλίαν]; melt the boldness of their strength; let them tremble in their destruction” (1 Macc 4:32); when the Syrian Heliodorus came to Jerusalem to plunder the treasury, God “caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him were astonished by the power of God, and became faint with terror [δειλίαν] at the vision” (2 Macc 3:24; Heliodorus was struck down to the point of death, but raised up through Onias’s sacrifice); when Eleazar refused to obey Antiochus and eat pork, he said it would be shameful to break the law for cowardice (δειλίᾳ; 4 Macc 6: 20); δειλία is joined with fear (Sir 4:17) and confusion (3 Macc 6:19); if the Israelites disobey God, he will punish them severely (Lev 26:27–35), and he will make the heart of those who remain so fearful (δειλίαν) “that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight” (Lev 26:36 [NIV]; cf. also Ps 89:40; Prov 19:15; and the cognate verb in Deut 1:21 and John 14:27). These passages show that δειλία means “cowardice” and not the weaker “timidity,” and it is highly doubtful that Paul is implying that Timothy was a coward. Also, if cowardice describes what Timothy was, “power,” “love,” and “self-control” would describe what Timothy was not, and this too seems unlikely. It is better to see Paul encouraging Timothy by calling him continually to act with power and love and self-control. Cowardice is merely a foil that serves to emphasize and define what Paul means by power (see Fee’s discussion of the οὐ/ ἀλλά, “not/ but,” construction in Paul in which “Paul’s concern is always expressed in the ἀλλά [‘but’] phrase or clause” [God's Empowering Presence, 788]).

Pastoral Epistles, Volume 46 (Word Biblical Commentary) (Kindle Locations 19547-19551). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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