2 Timothy 1:3

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, how unceasing is my remembrance of thee in my supplications, night and day

Commentators make a lot of this reference to his forefathers; but it would appear that the thing in the back of Paul's mind here is the fact of Christianity actually being no new, upstart faith, but the culmination of the legal faith (Judaism) so long recognized as vital, historical, legitimate, and absolutely unopposed to any legitimate government. In worshipping God through Christ, Paul was only doing the same thing which (in a sense) had been done by generations of his devout ancestors.

Nevertheless, it is not out of place to see in such a reference as this the just recognition of the influence of godly ancestry upon the lives of men.

In a pure conscience ... Paul had always been a conscientious worshiper of God, and later of God through Jesus Christ. He had even been, at first, a conscientious persecutor; but it is hard to believe that the reference in this context is anything else than a declaration of his innocence with reference to any action against the Empire.

My remembrance of thee ... In the doleful circumstances, Paul did not dwell morbidly upon his impending fate but took refuge in happy remembrances of past joys.

In my supplications night and day ... "The genitive which is used here denotes `time within which.' The accusative would have meant `all night and all day.'"[5] Thus some of Paul's prayers were uttered at night, some in the daytime, and this cannot mean that he spent all of his time praying.

Before leaving this verse, it should be noted again that "Paul always maintained that the gospel was the divinely ordained sequel to Judaism; not a new religion, but the fulfillment of the "promise made of God unto our fathers' (Acts 26:6)."[6] Carl Spain also agreed with this: "Paul was not guilty of propagating some illegal religion in the name of a strange deity, as he was so often accused."[7]

[5] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of Paul's Epistles to Timothy (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1937), p. 747.

[6] Newport J. D. White, Expositor's Greek Testament, Vol. IV (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 153.

[7] Carl Spain, Letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1970), p. 111.