Volume IV
The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy.
With John Brown’s marginal references, notes and reflections · Vol. IV, p. 445
That this epistle was written while Paul was a prisoner is evident from ch. 1. 17. That it indicates a second imprisonment appears more than probable from the following considerations. In the first imprisonment he 'dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came to him,' Ac. 28. 30, 31; but when he wrote this epistle he was closely confined, ch. 2. 9, so that Onesiphorus had considerable difficulty in discovering him, ch. 1. 16, 18, and his situation was extremely dangerous, ch. 4. 6, 8, 16, 18. At his first confinement Timothy was with Paul, and is joined with him in writing to the Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon; but the present epistle shows that he was absent in Asia. During his first imprisonment Demas was with him, Phile. 24; now he had forsaken him and gone to Thessalonica, ch. 4. 10. During his first imprisonment Mark also was with him, Col. 4. 10, 11; Phile. 24; but at the date of this epistle Timothy is directed to bring Mark with him, ch. 4. 11. In the former epistle Paul looked confidently forward to his speedy liberation and departure from Rome, Phi. 2. 24; Phile. 22; but in this he is 'ready to be offered, and the time of his departure is at hand,—he has finished his course;' from which it is concluded that this epistle was written a short time before his martyrdom, which is generally referred to the 29th June, A.D. 66. And, as the apostle requests Timothy to come to him before winter, ch. 4. 21, the epistle was most probably written in the summer of A.D. 65. Like the former epistle its chief object is to instruct a young minister in the nature and importance of his office and duties in the church, and prepare him, if need be, for sustaining the persecution of the world. It is written with all the affection of a parent, and with all the solemnity of a man about to die. It contains references to Ex. 7. 11, 12; 8. 18; 9. 11; Mat. 26. 24; Ac. 14. 22; 2 Pe. 1. 20, 21. C.
The cause of Paul's second imprisonment at Rome appears to have been a charge made against him, as leader of the Christians, for being implicated in the burning of the city. This false and absurd charge was probably preferred when the apostle was in Nicopolis, a city of Epirus, Tit. 3. 12. He was there seized and sent to Rome, where he was no longer treated as one accused merely of breaking Jewish law, but as a common criminal, charged with a capital offence. He seems to have felt that his fate was certain: and one chief object in writing this epistle was to prepare Timothy for the trials and persecutions to which he knew the church would soon be exposed. Another object was to secure, if possible, a farewell visit from Timothy. He was now almost alone; all had left him except faithful Luke, ch. 4. 11. He was worn down by care, and sorrow, and bodily weakness; his end, his martyrdom, was drawing near; and yet 'in no epistle does the true, loving, undaunted, and trustful heart of the great apostle speak in more consolatory, yet more moving accents: in no portion of his writings is there a loftier tone of Christian courage than that which pervades these, so to speak, dying words; nowhere a holier rapture than that with which the reward and crown of faithful labour is contemplated as now exceeding nigh at hand.' P.