2 Timothy

I Have Kept the Faith

This is the last letter Paul ever wrote. He is in a Roman prison again, but this time there is no rented house and no stream of visitors. He is chained like a criminal. Most of his friends have left. He is cold, and he asks Timothy to bring the cloak he left at Troas, along with his books and parchments (4:13). He knows how this will end: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (4:6).

And yet this is not a gloomy letter. It is a handoff. An old soldier is passing his post to a younger one, and he wants Timothy to be strong, unashamed, rooted in Scripture, and faithful to the end. Paul’s final testimony is one of the great lines in the Bible: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (4:7).

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Authorship & Setting

After his release from his first Roman imprisonment, Paul was arrested again, probably during the persecution that followed the great fire of Rome in AD 64, when Nero blamed the Christians. This time he suffers “as an evil doer, even unto bonds” (2:9). When Onesiphorus came to Rome, he had to search diligently to find him (1:16–17). Paul had already appeared before the court once, and no one stood with him (4:16). He expected to die, and church tradition holds that he was beheaded outside Rome, as a Roman citizen, sometime between AD 64 and 67.

Timothy was probably still in Ephesus. Paul urges him to come quickly, “Do thy diligence to come before winter” (4:21), and to bring Mark with him. Many in Asia had turned away from Paul. Demas had abandoned him. Others had gone on assignments. “Only Luke is with me” (4:11).

As with 1 Timothy, many modern scholars question Pauline authorship. But the letter is so personal, so full of names, requests, and grief, that it reads like what it claims to be: the last words of a father in the faith to his son.

Key Figures

• Paul — Christ’s prisoner, facing execution, finishing his course with his faith intact.
• Timothy — his “dearly beloved son” (1:2), being urged to stir up his gift and endure hardship.
• Lois and Eunice — Timothy’s grandmother and mother, whose “unfeigned faith” he inherited (1:5).
• Onesiphorus — who “oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain” (1:16), and searched Rome to find Paul.
• Hymenaeus and Philetus — false teachers “Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already” (2:18).
• Demas — a former coworker who “hath forsaken me, having loved this present world”(4:10).
• Luke and Mark — Luke, the only one still with Paul, and Mark, once the deserter, now “profitable to me for the ministry” (4:11).
• Alexander the coppersmith — who “did me much evil” (4:14) and strongly opposed Paul’s message.

Greek Word Study

ἀναζωπυρέω · anazōpyreō

“To stir up,” literally to rekindle the embers of a fire. “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (1:6). Paul does not say Timothy lost his gift. Fires burn low. The coals were still there. They just needed fanning.

ὀρθοτομέω · orthotomeō

“Rightly dividing,” literally cutting straight (2:15). It was used for cutting a straight road or plowing a straight furrow. A workman who handles God’s word must cut it straight, not twist it to say what he wants, and not wander off into side roads of useless argument.

θεόπνευστος · theopneustos

“Given by inspiration of God,” literally God-breathed (3:16). This is the only time the word appears in the Bible. Scripture is not human words that God later approved. It was breathed out by God, the way He breathed life into Adam. That is why it can make a man of God complete.

ἀνάλυσις · analysis

“Departure” (4:6). It was used for loosing a ship from its moorings or for soldiers striking their tents to break camp. Paul did not see his coming death as an ending. He saw it as casting off, breaking camp, moving on to be with the Lord.

Eight-Movement Outline

MOVEMENT ONE

Stir Up the Gift (1:1–7)

Paul remembers Timothy night and day in his prayers and longs to see him, remembering his tears. He remembers the unfeigned faith that lived first in Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, and now in him. “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”(1:6–7).

MOVEMENT TWO

Not Ashamed (1:8–18)

“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner” (1:8). God saved us and called us, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, now revealed by Jesus Christ, “who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (1:10). Paul is not ashamed of his chains: “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (1:12). He tells Timothy, “Hold fast the form of sound words” (1:13). All in Asia had turned away, including Phygellus and Hermogenes. But Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul’s chain.

MOVEMENT THREE

Soldier, Athlete, Farmer (2:1–13)

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2:1). What Timothy has heard from Paul, “the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2:2). That is four generations of disciples in one verse. Paul gives three pictures. A soldier endures hardness and does not entangle himself with civilian affairs. An athlete must compete by the rules to win. “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits” (2:6). Paul is chained, “but the word of God is not bound” (2:9). Then a faithful saying: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2:12–13).

MOVEMENT FOUR

Rightly Dividing the Word (2:14–26)

Avoid arguing over words that profit nothing. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2:15). Empty babbling spreads like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus had already overthrown the faith of some by teaching that the resurrection had already happened. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2:19). In a great house there are vessels of gold and of clay; whoever purges himself will be a vessel of honor, fit for the master’s use. “Flee also youthful lusts” (2:22). And “the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves” (2:24–25).

MOVEMENT FIVE

Perilous Times (3:1–9)

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud” (3:1–2). Paul’s list runs through disobedience to parents, unthankfulness, lack of natural affection, and treachery, ending with men who are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (3:4–5). Some creep into houses and lead captive the vulnerable, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (3:7). They resist the truth the way Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, the names Jewish tradition gave to Pharaoh’s magicians. But they will not get far, because their folly will be obvious to all.

MOVEMENT SIX

All Scripture Is God-Breathed (3:10–17)

Timothy has seen Paul’s doctrine, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, and the persecutions he endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, Timothy’s own hometown. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived”(3:12–13). So continue in what you learned, knowing who taught you, and “that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures” (3:15). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (3:16–17).

MOVEMENT SEVEN

Preach the Word (4:1–5)

Paul gives his solemn charge before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (4:2). Why the urgency? “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables”(4:3–4). “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (4:5).

MOVEMENT EIGHT

I Have Finished My Course (4:6–22)

“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (4:6–8). Then Paul turns practical: come soon, bring Mark, bring the cloak and the books. Beware of Alexander. “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me”(4:16–17). “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom” (4:18). His last words: “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen” (4:22).

Christ Typology

Passing the Mantle. Moses laid his hands on Joshua, and Joshua “was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him”(Deuteronomy 34:9). Elijah’s mantle fell to Elisha as he was taken up (2 Kings 2:13). Paul laid his hands on Timothy and now passes him the work. All of these point to the greatest handoff of all: the risen Christ breathed on His disciples and said, “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you… Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:21–22). Every faithful handoff in the church carries on His.

The Seed of David, Raised. “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2:8). God had promised David, “I will set up thy seed after thee… and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever” (2 Samuel 7:12–13). A dead king cannot reign forever. A risen one can. Paul, facing his own death, tells Timothy to remember the One who already walked out of the grave.

Forsaken by All. When Jesus was arrested, “all the disciples forsook him, and fled”(Matthew 26:56). On the cross He prayed for those who crucified Him. When Paul stood alone before the court, “all men forsook me,”and he prayed, “I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” Paul walked the same road his Lord walked, and found the same thing: the Lord stood with him.

The Counterfeits of Egypt. Pharaoh’s magicians, Jannes and Jambres, could copy some of Moses’ signs for a while. But when the dust became lice, they could not, and they admitted, “This is the finger of God”(Exodus 8:19). Moses was a picture of Christ, the Prophet greater than Moses. False teachers can imitate the outward form of godliness for a while, but they cannot produce its power. Sooner or later, their folly is manifest.

The Righteous Judge. Paul calls Christ “the righteous judge” who will give the crown at that day (4:8). Abraham asked, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). Paul had been condemned by an unjust Roman court. He was content to wait for the verdict of the just One. Human courts get it wrong. Christ’s court never will.

Personal Application

Stir up the gift. If your fire has burned low, the answer is not to assume it has gone out. God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Fan the coals. Get back to the word, to prayer, to the people of God, and to the work He gave you.

Pass it on. Paul to Timothy, Timothy to faithful men, faithful men to others also. The gospel has come down to us through generations of ordinary believers who taught it to someone else. Who are you pouring into? A grandmother and a mother did it for Timothy, and he changed the church.

Cut it straight. It is possible to quote the Bible and still twist it. Study to show yourself approved. Read whole books, not just favorite verses. Let Scripture interpret Scripture, and let it say what it says, even when that is uncomfortable.

Beware of itching ears. Paul warned of a time when people would gather teachers who tell them what they want to hear. That temptation is not only for the audience. It is for preachers too, because popular messages fill seats and offering plates. Choose your teachers by whether they are faithful to God’s word, not by whether they make you feel good.

Finish your course. Paul did not say, “I won every battle.” He said, “I fought a good fight, I finished my course, I kept the faith.” People forsook him. Some he trusted betrayed him. He ended his life in a cold cell. But he finished. Whatever chapter you are closing, close it faithfully. The Lord stands with those who do, and the crown is laid up for all who love His appearing.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY · MARANATHA

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