Finish the race: Paul's last letter, 2 Timothy

Second Timothy is Paul's last letter, written from prison. He is in chains (1:8, 16; 2:9), expects to die (4:6), and has already faced a first defence (4:16). The prison is almost certainly in Rome: Onesiphorus had to search hard for him there (1:16-17), and the greetings include Linus, Pudens and Claudia (4:21). Paul asks Timothy to come before winter and to bring Mark, the cloak he left at Troas, and the books and parchments (4:9-13). Timothy is probably in Ephesus (1:18; 4:19), and he is told to guard the deposit of the gospel, endure suffering and keep preaching.

The authorship question is the one that attaches to all the Pastoral Epistles. The church held that Paul wrote them. Many modern scholars attribute them to a follower writing after his death, citing language, style, church structure and the way the false teaching is described. Those who hold to Paul's authorship place the letter at the end of a second imprisonment, after release from the Roman custody of Acts 28 and further travel (to Crete, Macedonia, Troas, Corinth and Miletus, as 4:13, 20 and Titus 1:5 suggest). Church tradition says Paul was executed in Rome under Nero, around AD 64-67. The class reads the letter as Paul's, and names the other view.

Timothy had grown up in a believing home: his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice had faith (1:5), and he had known the sacred writings from childhood (3:15). Paul had earlier sent him on difficult tasks (1 Corinthians 4:17; Philippians 2:19-22). Here he seems timid, and Paul urges him to rekindle his gift and not be ashamed.

Second Timothy is a letter of farewell. Ancient writers, and the Bible, have a form for the last words of a dying leader: Moses in Deuteronomy, Joshua, David, Jesus in the upper room, Paul at Miletus (Acts 20). They review the past, charge the successor and look to the future. This letter has all three: Paul looks back on his course (4:7), charges Timothy (4:1-5) and looks forward to the crown (4:8).

• The first rule of reading is to listen to the tone. Much of the letter is warm and personal, with tears, memories of Timothy's family, and requests for books and a coat.
• The second rule is to read the commands in light of the sufferings. Paul says 'share in suffering' (1:8; 2:3) and 'endure' (2:10, 12) throughout, and he presents his own imprisonment as an example. Teaching is not given in the abstract; it is to be done under pressure and at personal cost.

A third rule concerns the passage on Scripture (3:14-17). 'All Scripture' in Paul's day meant the Old Testament Scriptures, which Timothy had known from childhood (3:15), and it may also include those apostolic writings already recognised as Scripture (compare 2 Peter 3:15-16). Readers should avoid reading later debates about the canon back into the text, and avoid ignoring the claim the text actually makes.

1:1-14. Paul writes as an apostle by the will of God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. He thanks God whom he serves with a clear conscience, remembering Timothy's tears and longing to see him. He recalls the sincere faith that dwelt first in Lois and Eunice. He tells Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God that is in him through the laying on of Paul's hands, because God gave not a spirit of fear but of power, love and self-control. Timothy is not to be ashamed of the testimony about the Lord or of Paul his prisoner, but to share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved and called us not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, given in Christ Jesus before the ages began and now manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Timothy is to follow the pattern of sound words and guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit.

1:15-18. All who are in Asia have turned away from Paul, among them Phygelus and Hermogenes. But Onesiphorus often refreshed him and was not ashamed of his chains; he searched for Paul in Rome and found him.

2:1-13. Timothy is to be strengthened by grace and to entrust what he has heard to faithful men who will teach others also. That is four generations in a sentence: Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others. He is to share in suffering as a soldier of Christ Jesus, an athlete who competes by the rules and a hard-working farmer who should have the first share of the crops. Timothy is to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and descended from David, which is the heart of Paul's gospel. Paul is suffering as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. Then comes the faithful saying: if we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

2:14-26. A worker approved by God, unashamed, rightly handles the word of truth. The verb for 'rightly handling' (orthotomeo) literally means cutting straight. Hymenaeus and Philetus have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened, and are upsetting the faith of some. Yet God's firm foundation stands, sealed with two sayings, that the Lord knows those who are his and that everyone who names the Lord's name must turn from wrongdoing. In a large house there are vessels for honourable and dishonourable use. Timothy is to flee youthful passions, pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, avoid foolish quarrels, and correct opponents with gentleness, in the hope that God may grant them repentance.

3:1-9. In the last days there will be times of difficulty. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, disobedient, ungrateful, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Such people creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins. As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these oppose the truth. The names Jannes and Jambres are not in the Old Testament; they appear in later Jewish tradition as the magicians of Pharaoh (compare Exodus 7:11).

3:10-17. Timothy has followed Paul's teaching, conduct, aim, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions and sufferings at Antioch, Iconium and Lystra (Acts 13-14). All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Timothy is to continue in what he has learned, knowing from whom he learned it and that from childhood he has been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God (theopneustos) and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

4:1-8. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, Paul charges Timothy: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. A time will come when people will not endure sound teaching but gather teachers to suit their own desires. Paul is already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of his departure has come. He has fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. Now the crown of righteousness is laid up for him, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award on that day, and not only to him but to all who have loved his appearing.

4:9-22. Paul asks Timothy to come soon. Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted him. Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with him. Paul asks for Mark, who is useful to him. Alexander the coppersmith did him great harm. At his first defence no one came to stand by him, but the Lord stood by him and strengthened him, so that the message might be fully proclaimed and he was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue him from every evil deed and bring him safely into his heavenly kingdom. Greetings go to Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus, from Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers. The last words are: the Lord be with your spirit; grace be with you.

The first doctrine is the sufficiency and inspiration of Scripture. The Scriptures can make one wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and they equip the man of God for every good work. Protestant traditions have read this as the basis of the supreme authority of Scripture. Catholic and Orthodox traditions affirm the inspiration and authority of Scripture and also point to the line of teachers in 2:2 and the 'pillar' of 1 Timothy 3:15 as showing a place for apostolic tradition handed on in the church. The text itself says that Scripture is God-breathed and profitable; it does not discuss the canon or tradition as such. Both traditions agree that Timothy is to hold to what he received.

• The second doctrine is perseverance. The faithful saying in 2:11-13 joins the promise and the warning: those who endure will reign, those who deny will be denied. Traditions read the last lines differently, as God's faithfulness to those who are truly his though they falter, or as a warning to those who may abandon the faith.
• The third doctrine is grace before the ages (1:9), the doctrine of eternal purpose in Christ.
• The fourth is the final judgment and the hope of the crown.

Second Timothy presents the risen Christ with unusual compression. Timothy is to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David (2:8). The two clauses sum up the gospel: the Son of David of the Old Testament promise (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:3-4), and the Lord raised in power (Romans 1:3-4, where the same pair is found). Paul's own gospel is this.

Christ Jesus has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light (1:10), fulfilling what the Old Testament could only hope for. The word for 'appearing' marks both his first coming and the second, when he will judge the living and the dead (4:1) and give the crown of righteousness to all who have loved his appearing (4:8). He is the Lord who stands by his servant (4:17), as the Lord had stood by Paul in Acts 23:11, and the one who will rescue him into the heavenly kingdom (4:18). The rescue 'from the lion's mouth' echoes Psalm 22:21 and the story of Daniel (Daniel 6:20-22), though Paul does not quote either; they may be echoes only.

The faithful saying in 2:11-13 states the union of believers with Christ, dying, living and reigning with him, and his faithfulness: he cannot deny himself. The Old Testament speaks of the LORD in the same way (Deuteronomy 7:9).