2 Timothy: finishing the good fight

About the book

Paul is a prisoner again, this time in chains in Rome, where Onesiphorus "searched diligently until he found me" (2 Timothy 1:17). Those in the province of Asia have deserted him, and at his first defence no one stood with him (2 Timothy 4:16). Now he writes, "the time of my departure is at hand" (2 Timothy 4:6).

The church has traditionally read it as Paul's last letter, written in Rome shortly before his martyrdom under Nero, about AD 67. The traditional view of who wrote the Pastoral Letters, and the view of many scholars, are set out in the lesson on 1 Timothy. This letter is especially full of personal requests: come before winter, and bring "the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4:13). So even some scholars who think a disciple wrote the Pastorals hold that this letter keeps Paul's own last words. It belongs to the era the map under the Jesus tab calls the church (c. AD 30–90).

How it unfolds

Key passages

With his own end in view, Paul puts courage into the younger man: "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:7). Timothy is to guard the gospel and "entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well" (2 Timothy 2:2), and to be "an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

In terrible times he is to hold to the word:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

‘God-breathed’ is one Greek word, theopneustos (θεόπνευστος): Scripture is breathed out by God. So Paul's charge is plain: "Preach the word" (2 Timothy 4:2). On this inspiration see The inspiration and authority of Scripture, in the doctrine course, and on the Bible as a whole the first lesson of this course.

Then he looks back on his life:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

Matthew Henry writes, "The crown of believers is a crown of righteousness, purchased by the righteousness of Christ" Matthew Henry.

The book and Christ

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David" (2 Timothy 2:8). God had promised David a descendant whose kingdom he would establish (2 Samuel 7:12), and the promise stands fulfilled in the risen Jesus, "who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10).

The Scriptures Timothy had known from infancy, the Old Testament, "are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). As the risen Jesus explained himself from all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27), Paul reads the Old Testament as leading to Christ. Matthew Henry calls our Lord Jesus Christ "the main subject of both Testaments" Matthew Henry.

Reading it

2 Timothy takes about fifteen minutes. Read it at one sitting from 2 Timothy 1, slowly, as a last letter.

Do not skip the names in chapter 4: Demas, who loved this world and left; Luke, who stayed; and Mark, whom Paul once would not take with him (Acts 15:38) and now calls "useful to me in the ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). Then go on to Titus.

Practice