1

¹ Greeting Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life ‘The life that is in Christ’—that’s what it’s all about. As He Himself said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). that is in Christ Jesus,

² to dear son Timothy: Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ Paul addresses Timothy’s spiritual crisis Paul encourages Timothy I give thanks to God, whom I serve with a clear conscience like my forefathers did, So why does Paul bring his ancestors into the picture? I suppose to set up a parallel with Timothy and his ancestors (verse 5). One’s heritage is important. as I constantly remember you in my prayers, night and day,

⁴ longing to see you (recalling your tears), From what follows I take it that Timothy was going through a spiritual crisis when Paul last saw him, hence the tears. Paul did what he could to help, but is anxious to know how Timothy is doing. that I may be filled with joy;

⁵ while I call to mind the unfeigned faith that is in you—it resided first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, in you also.

⁶ For this reason I am reminding you to rekindle Timothy had received a ‘charisma’ from God through Paul, but the verb ‘rekindle’ indicates clearly that the use of the gift is up to him, and he has been neglecting it. the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

⁷ Because God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of self-control.

⁸ Don’t be ashamed to suffer for Christ So don’t be ashamed to identify with our Lord or with me His prisoner, but join in suffering for the Gospel according to the power of God

⁹ —the One who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which It is hard to determine whether the pronoun refers only to ‘grace’ or to both ‘purpose and grace’. was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, Really; the Lamb’s blood was shed before this world was created (1 Peter 1:19-20).

¹⁰ but has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who by means of the Gospel destroyed the death That’s what the Text says, ‘the death’; I take it that the reference is to Satan’s kingdom. and brought life and immortality to light;

¹¹ to this Gospel I was appointed as a proclaimer, an apostle and a teacher of nations.

¹² That is why I am suffering these things, yet I am not ashamed because I know in whom I have believed and am certain that He is able to guard my deposit That’s right, ‘my deposit’; by dying to himself and living for Christ’s kingdom he is building up a ‘savings account’ in Heaven. until that Day. The Day when we face God’s bar and give an accounting (see verse 18).

¹³ Be loyal—the example of Onesiphorus Hold fast the standard of sound teaching that you heard from me, through the faith and love in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ Guard the good deposit by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

¹⁵ This you know, that all those in Asia have been turned away from me, ‘Turn away’ is in the passive voice; someone was working against Paul, with success. including Phygellus and Hermogenes.

¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorous, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain;

¹⁷ rather, when he arrived in Rome he searched diligently for me until he found me

¹⁸ (may the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord in that Day); you also know very well in how many ways he served me in Ephesus.

2

¹ Be strengthened So you, my son, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

² Also, the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men who will be competent to teach others also. The future of the Church depends on this.

³ You therefore are to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the affairs of civilian life; he wants to please the one who enlisted him.

⁵ Further, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules

⁶ —the hardworking farmer should be the first to receive of the fruits. I believe the verse could be just as well translated as, “the hardworking farmer must first receive of the fruits,” the point being that he has to have seed before he can plant.

⁷ Ponder what I am saying; may the Lord indeed give you understanding in it all.

⁸ Encouragement by example Keep thinking of Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, of David’s seed; this is my gospel, This brief statement evokes much of the essence of the Gospel. ‘David’s seed’ recalls that the Creator really became human, with David’s genes, and fulfills the prophecies about the Messiah. ‘Raised from the dead’ recalls everything connected with His death and resurrection. Thinking about Jesus is a good antidote to discouragement.

⁹ for which I am suffering to the point of being in chains like a criminal, but the Word of God is not chained.

¹⁰ This is why I endure it all: for the sake of the chosen ones, They are ‘chosen’ but Paul has to suffer so that they may obtain. that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹ This is a trustworthy word: If, indeed, we died together, We must really identify with Christ’s death, which involves commitment and a change of life, a change of worldview. we will also live together;

¹² if we endure, we will also reign together; if we deny, He will also deny us; Although most versions supply “with Him” in verses 11-12, it is only in this last clause that the pronoun actually occurs, but because it does the “with Him” is correctly understood. Notice the heavy emphasis on human responsibility—if we endure (but only if) we will reign; if we deny Him, He will certainly deny us.

¹³ if we are faithless, He remains faithful—He is incapable of denying Himself. There are at least two things that God can’t do: deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13) and lie (Titus 1:2—which would be a form of denying His nature).

¹⁴ Keep reiterating these things, exhorting them I suppose that the antecedent of this pronoun is to be found in 2:2. before the Lord not to argue about words to no useful purpose This would not include a serious discussion of an important doctrinal point. —it just ruins the hearers.

¹⁵ Approved and disapproved Make every effort to render yourself approved by God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, handling the Word of the Truth correctly.

¹⁶ But shun godless, empty chatter, because those who do it will become increasingly godless, Comparing this with what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-37, those who speak godlessly do so because their heart is godless; and the more they do it the worse they get, because they continually reinforce their godlessness.

¹⁷ and their word will spread like gangrene—among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

¹⁸ who have wandered away from the Truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they overturn the faith of some. Surely; if the resurrection has already happened and you’re still here, what hope have you?

¹⁹ Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands firm, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His” and “Let everyone who claims the name of the Lord keep away from unrighteousness.”

²⁰ Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some, to be sure, are for honor, but some are for dishonor.

²¹ So if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, The analogy here is not clear to me, but I take the point to be that the believer should avoid contamination from those who are dishonorable. sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

²² The true source of opposition Flee the lusts of youth; Don’t play with it, to see if you’re strong enough to resist—just run! but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

²³ Refuse foolish and ignorant arguments, knowing that they breed quarrels.

²⁴ Now a slave of the Lord should not quarrel but be gentle towards all, skillful at teaching, forbearing, I take the basic meaning of this term to be to handle opposition with maturity.

²⁵ correcting courteously those who oppose him, in hopes that God may grant them repentance leading to a real knowledge of Truth

²⁶ and that they may retrieve their senses out of the devil’s snare (having been taken captive by him to do his will). Verses 23-26 provide a perspective that is not generally understood. At least some (most?) [all?] of the time that people oppose Biblical values they do so because of satanic influence in their minds. Since Satan is the ‘father of lies’ (John 8:44), he is behind any and every lie. So whenever anyone embraces a lie (materialism, humanism, relativism, spiritism, animism, whatever) they invite Satan into their minds. Once there he goes about setting up strongholds. As Ephesians 2:2 says, he is actively at work in the ‘sons of disobedience’—when you embrace a lie you reject the Truth; but then you are taken captive by the lie and wind up doing Satan’s will. This process goes area by area, which explains why people can be good in one area and bad in another (the reference is not to physical skills). So when someone opposes God’s truth and His values, we need to understand and remember how the person got that way; actually, they are being used. To lash out at them will not help them. A gentle, courteous probing of their presuppositions just might. More to the point, we have access to spiritual authority whereby we can break Satan’s strongholds, but that gets us into the area of spiritual warfare (extremely important, but too extensive to expound here).

3

¹ Paul addresses Timothy’s future ministry What relativistic humanism produces Now understand this: In the last days there will be grievous times;

² because people will be self-lovers, money lovers, boasters, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

³ without family affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,

⁴ betrayers, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;

⁵ wearing a form of godliness while having denied its power! “Having denied” is in the perfect tense; they start out by not believing in true godliness and hence deny that it would have any power. But living in a culture that still has vestiges of a former godliness, they find it useful to pretend. You must avoid such people;

⁶ because they are the sort that press The description of such persons, given in verses 2-5, does not agree with ‘sneaking’ or ‘worming’—they enter openly, exuding confidence and competence. I follow the best line of transmission, in my opinion, albeit a minority reading. into households and ‘capture’ gullible women loaded down with sins, who are led along by various lusts,

⁷ always learning yet never being able to come to a real knowledge of truth. Who are these ‘little women’? Hardworking mothers and homemakers in families that are struggling to make ends meet have no leisure to indulge in a variety of lusts or to spend time listening to purveyors of high-sounding nonsense. Where do arrogant lovers of money, pleasure and self go? They go where the money and pleasure is, the high society. So the reference is probably to high society dames who have the money and leisure to indulge themselves, but enough conscience left to be bothered by it. But they don’t really want to give up their lifestyle.

⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth—men of depraved mind, disqualified as regards the faith—

⁹ but they will not advance any further because, as in the case of the former, their folly will become evident to all.

¹⁰ “Continue in the things you have learned” You, however, have carefully followed my doctrine, my lifestyle, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance;

¹¹ the persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured; yet the Lord delivered me out of them all.

¹² In fact, any one who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted;

¹³ while malignant men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁴ But you, continue in the things you have learned and to which you were committed, In the next verse Paul harks back to Timothy’s childhood and the influence of his mother and grandmother; just as we dedicate our children to God, Timothy was doubtless so dedicated. “To which you were committed” fits the context very nicely—I follow the best line of transmission, in my opinion, albeit a minority reading. knowing from whom you learned,

¹⁵ and that from infancy you have known the Sacred Scriptures which are able to make you wise into salvation through the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed Paul coins an expression to describe the intimate connection between God and His written revelation; it’s like His very breath. and is valuable for teaching, for reproving, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

¹⁷ so that the man of God may be fully competent, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

4

¹ Proclaim the Word! Now then, in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to judge both living and dead with a view to His appearing and His Kingdom, I give you this charge:

² Proclaim the Word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and exhort, with lots of patience and teaching. If Timothy obeys this charge, he will at least slow down the process described in verses 3-4. And if we also obey this charge we should produce at least some improvement in our own context.

³ Because the time will come when they will not tolerate the sound doctrine; rather, they will accumulate for themselves a great many teachers who will tickle their ears according to their lusts

⁴ —yes, they will turn their ears away from the Truth and be turned aside to fables. Notice the progression: first they choose to turn away from the Truth, but after that someone else takes over and leads them into ever greater stupidities.

⁵ But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. In view of his own impending death Paul urges Timothy to get, and stay, serious.

⁶ Timothy will no longer have Paul to help him For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. Evidently God told Paul he was about to die.

⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

⁸ Now the crown of the righteousness is reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day; and not only to me, but also to all those who have longed for His appearing. If we’re afraid of what might happen, we won’t ‘long’ for that appearing. The implication is that they also are fighting the good fight and keeping the faith.

⁹ Concluding remarks “Please come quickly” Do your best to come to me quickly;

¹⁰ for Demas, loving this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica—Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

¹¹ Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. Comparing this statement with Acts 15:37-39, it appears that Barnabas was right in investing in Mark, and Paul here recognizes his success.

¹² Tychicus I sent to Ephesus.

¹³ Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.

¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith did me a lot of harm; may the Lord repay him according to his deeds.

¹⁵ You also guard against him, because he strongly opposed our words.

¹⁶ People will disappoint you At my first defense no one came to help me, but all deserted me. May it not be held against them.

¹⁷ But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the nations might hear. Also, I was delivered out of a lion’s mouth; I suppose this is literal; someone tried to have him condemned to face a lion in the arena, but the plan was foiled.

¹⁸ and the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and save me into His heavenly Kingdom; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

¹⁹ Farewell Greet Prisca It is generally considered that ‘Prisca’ is an alternate spelling, or shortened form, for ‘Priscilla’. and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.

²⁰ Erastus stayed in Corinth, while I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. Evidently Paul wasn’t able to heal him.

²¹ Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.

²² The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. The Grace ‘Grace’ occurs with the definite article = ‘the grace’; so I capitalized it. be with you. ‘your spirit’ is singular, referring to Timothy, but the ‘you’ here is plural—I take it that Paul knew the letter would be read by others. Amen.