2 Timothy
Paul's last letter, from prison: be strong, guard what you were given, and keep teaching the word, because my race is almost run.
Who wrote it
The letter names Paul as its writer (1:1) and is full of personal details: his chain, his coming death, names of friends and opponents. For that reason even many scholars who doubt that Paul wrote 1 Timothy and Titus are more willing to accept this letter, or to think it contains real notes from Paul, or to see it as a loving portrait of his last days written soon after by a close follower. Others hold that all three Pastoral Epistles come from the same author and either all are Paul's or none are. The church has long received it as Paul's own last letter.
Who it was for
The letter does not state where Timothy is, but it mentions Ephesus (1:18; 4:12), greets Prisca and Aquila (4:19), who had lived in Ephesus (Acts 18:18-26), and speaks of the house of Onesiphorus. Paul asks Timothy to come to him before winter (4:9, 4:21) and to bring Mark.
When it happens
Paul says he is chained like a criminal (2:9) and that Onesiphorus found him in Rome (1:16-17). He expects to die soon: "the time of my departure has come" (4:6). If Paul wrote it, this is a second imprisonment after the one at the end of Acts, a view that rests on church tradition; those who do not accept Paul as author place the letter later and read it as a final testament.
How to read it
A personal letter with the form of a last testament: a look back at Paul's life, a charge to his successor, warnings about what will come, and a list of personal requests and greetings. It is more personal and warmer than 1 Timothy and Titus.
Map: Paul's last letter and his co-workers
Open mapPaul writes from Rome. The letter mentions Ephesus, Troas, Miletus, Corinth, and Thessalonica, where his co-workers were or had been.
Timeline
Open timelineIn order, not to scale.
Paul, near death, urges Timothy not to be ashamed or afraid but to endure hardship, to hold fast to the sound words and the Scriptures, to pass them to faithful people who will teach others, and to preach the word, because God is faithful and the Lord will bring his own safely to his kingdom.
- Not being ashamed of the gospel or of Paul's chains
- Guarding and passing on the faith
- Endurance like a soldier, athlete, and farmer
- The Scriptures: God-breathed and useful
- Opposition and false teaching in the last days
- Paul's farewell: the race run, the crown waiting
Who’s who
Paul
The apostle (in the traditional view), writing from prison and expecting to die, with a message for Timothy and requests for his friends.
Timothy
Paul's "beloved child," who has a gift received through Paul's laying on of hands (1:6), tears Paul remembers (1:4), and a task to continue.
Lois and Eunice
Timothy's grandmother and mother, in whom "sincere faith" lived first (1:5); Acts 16:1 says his mother was Jewish and a believer.
Onesiphorus
Who "often refreshed" Paul and was not ashamed of his chain, searching for him in Rome (1:16-18; 4:19).
Hymenaeus and Philetus
Whose teaching "will consume like gangrene"; they said the resurrection "is already past" (2:17-18). A Hymenaeus was also named in 1 Timothy 1:20.
Demas
Who left Paul, "having loved this present world" (4:10); earlier named as a co-worker in Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24.
Luke
"Only Luke is with me" (4:11).
Mark
Whom Timothy is to bring, "for he is useful to me for service" (4:11).
Christ Jesus
Risen from the dead, descended from David (2:8); who "abolished death" (1:10) and will judge the living and the dead (4:1).