For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
Paul writes from prison, probably in Rome, to Timothy, the younger man he trained and now leaves in charge of the church at Ephesus. He has just recalled Timothy's tears and his family's faith. "Spirit" here points to a disposition or temper, and the word for fear carries a sense of timidity, the kind that makes a leader hold back.
2 Timothy, chapter 1. A letter from Paul to Timothy, the younger church leader he trained, written while Paul was in prison.