2 Timothy chapter 00

The Second Letter to Timothy

INTRODUCTION

ALTHOUGH the Second Epistle was the last of the Pastorals to be written, it will be convenient to follow our New Testa­ment order and deal with it next, since the same recipient is involved as in the First. Much of what has already been written as to the style, content and special vocabulary applies to this Letter, and we shall have no need to go over the ground again. The special features to be considered are the changed situation of the Apostle himself; the increased urgency of his appeals to his son in the faith to stand firm, coupled with the anxious desire to see him; and the more detailed list of names, that "panorama of judgement day", of those who had helped or hindered, adhered to or departed from the faith.

If we are right in our conjectural dating (see the "Suggested Table of the Last Years of Paul's Life", page 13), then this Second Letter is the Apostle's last, written from prison shortly before his execution. The entire atmosphere of the Letter is different from that of the First, in which he was able to make arrangements for travel as a free man. In 2 Timothy he is a prisoner (1:12,16; 2:9) and the location is Rome (1:17). He has already appeared before the emperor's tribunal (4:16,17), but although on that occasion he was "delivered out of the mouth of the lion", he is persuaded that he is approaching death (4:6-9).

A Dangerous Period

The idea that Paul was apprehended, perhaps at Nicopolis, and taken to Rome, or even arrested on his return to Rome, is by no means inconsistent with the itinerary suggested by his references to Miletus, Troas and Corinth in 2 Timothy 4:20 and Nicopolis in Titus 3:12. Why he made this journey is not clear, but that it should lead him into danger is entirely consistent with the changed official attitude to the Christians after the Great Fire and the consequent Neronian persecutions of AD 64.

There is the interesting possible alternative that Paul was arrested in Ephesus itself after some incident similar to that described in Acts 19, but this time with no kindly intervention of the local magistrates, or Asiarchs, for Asia was a Roman pro­consular province. At any rate, Paul had some avowed enemies in the city, who might well have denounced him to the imperial police on some pretext. In that case Timothy's tears were understandable (1:4) as the Apostle left the city under guard, possibly in the company of Luke (4:11), Demas, Crescens, Titus (4:10), Tychicus (4:12), Erastus and Trophimus (4:20), of whom one left him at Corinth, another fell sick at Miletus early in the journey, and others departed on various missions, or pretexts, leaving only Luke to accompany him all the way.

That Timothy was left in Ephesus in such circumstances is almost sufficient explanation for the content of the Second Letter. He needed comfort and the most urgent exhortation to courage and steadfastness, to stand firm in the faith and defend it against all error. For in Paul's mind the decisive moment had come when that which had been committed to his trust was to be entrusted in turn to the faithful men who would come after him. "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (1:8). There is also the strong appeal to Timothy to come to Rome as soon as possible in view of the Apostle's impending death: "...greatly desiring to see thee . . . Do thy diligence to come before winter" (1:4; 4:9,21).

A Personal Letter

We have, therefore, a warm-hearted, personal letter, the testimony of a father to his son in the faith, full of mingled trust, hope and concern, which is yet an important document of the times in the ecclesial world, with sound advice for us personally and as a community today.

In the detailed commentary that follows points which have had a fuller treatment in the notes on the First Epistle or in the Letter to Titus will be followed by a simple reference to the appropriate page number.