Key
SRB = Scofield References
JFB = Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary
AC = Adam Clarke Comentary
Book Introduction -
2 Timothy
Read
first chapter of 2 Timothy
WRITER: The Apostle Paul (2 Timothy
1:1)
DATE: The touching letter was written by Paul to his
"dearly beloved son" shortly before his martyrdom (2 Timothy
4:6-8), and contains the last words of the great apostle
which inspiration has preserved.
THEME: Second Timothy (in common with Second Peter,
Jude, and Second and Third John) has to do with the personal
walk and testimony of a true servant of Christ in a day of
apostasy and declension. The key-phrases are, "All they which
are in Asia be turned away from me" (2 Timothy
1:15); and, "A good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy
2:3). The Asian churches had not disbanded, nor ceased to
call themselves Christian, but they had turned away from the
doctrines of grace distinctively revealed through the Apostle
Paul (see Introduction, p. 1189). This was the proof that
already the apostasy had set in its first form, legalism.
The natural divisions are four:
- The Apostle's greeting, 1:1-18
The pathway of an approved servant in a day of
apostasy 2:1-26
Apostasy and the Word, 3:1-17
A faithful servant and his faithful Lord, 4:1-22
Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Intro
PLACE OF WRITING.
--Paul, in the interval between his first
and second imprisonment, after having written First Timothy
from Macedonia or Corinth [BIRKS] (if we are to adopt the
opinion that First Timothy was written after his first
imprisonment), returned to Ephesus, as he intended, by way of
Troas, where he left the books, &c. (mentioned in
2 Timothy
4:13 visit and returned, and then wrote to Titus. Next he
went by Miletus to Corinth (2 Timothy
4:20 he proceeded to Rome. From his prison there he wrote
the Second Epistle to Timothy, shortly before his martyrdom.
It is not certain where Timothy was at this time. Some of the
internal evidences favor the view of his having been then at
Ephesus; thus the salutation of Priscilla and Aquila, who
generally resided there (2 Timothy
4:19 household of Onesiphorus, who is stated in 2 Timothy
1:16-18 ministered to Paul at Ephesus, a
circumstance implying his residence there. Also, the Hymenæus
of 2 Timothy
2:17 Hymenæus at Ephesus (1 Timothy
1:20 coppersmith" (2 Timothy
4:14 Hymenæus (1 Timothy
1:20 forward by the Jews to clear themselves, not to
befriend Paul, at the riot in Ephesus (Acts
19:33,34 supposition, how to account for 2 Timothy
4:12,20 Ephesus, why did he need to be told that Paul
had sent Tychicus to Ephesus? or that Paul had left
Trophimus, himself an Ephesian (Acts
21:29 sick at Miletus, which was only thirty miles
from Ephesus? However, Ephesus or Pontus, so that 2 Timothy
4:13 either Ephesus or any other place in the northwest of
Asia Minor, being Timothy's place of sojourn at the time.
Probably, he had the general superintendence of the Pauline
churches in Asia Minor, in accordance with his mission
combining the office of evangelist, or itinerant
missionary, with that of presiding overseer.
Ephesus was probably his headquarters.
TIME OF WRITING.--(1) Paul's first imprisonment, described
in Acts
28:17-31 Second Timothy. In the former, he had liberty to
lodge in his own hired house, and to receive all comers,
guarded only by a single soldier; in the latter, he was so
closely confined that Onesiphorus with difficulty found him;
he was chained, his friends had forsaken him, and he had
narrowly escaped sentence of execution from the Roman emperor.
Medieval legends represent the Mamertine prison, or Tullianum,
as the scene of his incarceration with Peter. But this is
irreconcilable with the fact of Onesiphorus, Linus, Pudens,
&c., having access to him. He was probably under military
custody, as in his former imprisonment, though of a severer
kind (2 Timothy
1:16-18; 2:9;
4:6-8,16,17
Troas (2 Timothy
4:13 Acts
20:5-7 the interval between that visit and the first
imprisonment would be seven or eight years, a period most
unlikely for him to have allowed to pass without sending for
his cloak and parchments, when they might have been of service
to him in the interim. (3) Paul's leaving Trophimus sick at
Miletus (2 Timothy
4:20 mentioned in Acts
20:15 Paul in Jerusalem (Acts
21:29 abode at Corinth," imply that Paul had shortly
before been at Corinth, where he left Erastus. But before his
first imprisonment, Paul had not been at Corinth for several
years; and in the interval Timothy had been with him, so that
Timothy did not need at a later period to be told about that
visit (Acts
20:2,4 during which he wrote Second Timothy, is shown to
be his second imprisonment. Moreover, Hebrews
13:23,24 probably Paul) as in Italy, and at
liberty. So CLEMENT OF ROME [First Epistle to the
Corinthians, 1.5], the disciple of Paul, explicitly
states, "In the east and west, Paul as a preacher instructed
the whole world (that is, the Roman empire) in
righteousness, and having gone to the extremity of the
west, and having borne witness before the rulers (of
Rome), he so was removed from the world." This plainly implies
that he fulfilled his design (Romans
15:24-28 missionary journey into Spain. The canon
of the New Testament, compiled about A.D. 170 (called
MURATORI'S Canon), also mentions "the journey of Paul
from Rome to Spain." See ROUTH [Sacred Fragments, vol.
4, p. 1-12].
His martyrdom is universally said to have occurred in
Nero's reign [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 2.22;
JEROME, On Illustrious Men]. Five years thus seem to
have elapsed between the first imprisonment, A.D. 63 (Acts
28:17-31 A.D. 68, the last year of Nero's reign. He was
probably arrested by the magistrates in Nicopolis (Titus
3:12 on a double charge, first, of being one of the
Christians who had conspired, it was alleged by Nero's
partisans, to set fire to Rome, A.D. 64; secondly, of
introducing a novel and unlawful religion. His friends all
left him, except Luke: Demas from "love of this present
world": the others from various causes (2 Timothy
4:10,11 charge he seems to have been acquitted. His
liberation from his first imprisonment took place in A.D. 63,
the year before the great fire at Rome, which Nero made the
pretext for his persecution of the Christians. Every cruelty
was heaped on them; some were crucified; some were arrayed in
the skins of wild beasts and hunted to death by dogs; some
were wrapped in pitch-robes and set on fire by night to
illuminate the circus of the Vatican and gardens of Nero,
while that monster mixed among the spectators in the garb of a
charioteer. But now (A.D. 67 or 68) some years had elapsed
since the first excitement which followed the fire. Hence,
Paul, being a Roman citizen, was treated in his trial with a
greater respect for the forms of the law, and hence was
acquitted (2 Timothy
4:17 Christians to their supposed acts of incendiarism
before his last departure from Rome. Alexander the coppersmith
seems to have been a witness against him (2 Timothy
4:14 charge, he would probably have been burnt alive, as
the preceding martyrs were, for arson. His judge was
the city Præfect. CLEMENT OF ROME specifies that his trial was
(not before the emperor, but) "before the rulers." No advocate
ventured to plead his cause, no patron appeared for him, such
as under ordinary circumstances might have aided him; for
instance, one of the powerful Æmilian house, under which his
family possibly enjoyed clientship (2 Timothy
4:16,17 have taken his name Paul. The place of trial was,
probably, one of the great basilicas in the Forum, two of
which were called the Pauline Basilicas, from L. Æmilius
Paulus, who had built one and restored the other. He was
remanded for the second stage of his trial. He did not expect
this to come on until the following "winter" (2 Timothy
4:21 whereas it took place about midsummer; if in Nero's
reign, not later than June. In the interim Luke was his only
constant companion; but one friend from Asia, Onesiphorus, had
diligently sought him and visited him in prison, undeterred by
the danger. Linus, too, the future bishop of Rome, Pudens, the
son of a senator, and Claudia, his bride, perhaps the daughter
of a British king his visitors; and Tychicus, before he was
sent by Paul to Ephesus (2 Timothy
4:12
OBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.
--He was anxious to see his disciple
Timothy, before his death, and that Timothy should bring Mark
with him (2 Timothy
1:4; 4:9,11,21
should arrive in time, he felt it necessary, also, to give him
by letter a last warning as to the heresies, the germs of
which were then being scattered in the Churches. Hence he
writes a series of exhortations to faithfulness, and zeal for
sound doctrine, and patience amidst trials: a charge which
Timothy seems to have needed, if we are to judge from the
apostle's earnestness in urging him to boldness in Christ's
cause, as though Paul thought he saw in him some signs of
constitutional timidity (2 Timothy
2:2-8; 4:1-5;
1 Timothy
5:22,23
PAUL'S DEATH.
--DIOYSIUS, bishop of Corinth (quoted in
EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]) about A.D.
170, is the earliest authority for the tradition that Peter
suffered martyrdom at Rome "about the same time" as Paul,
after having labored for some time there. He calls Peter and
Paul "the founders of the Corinthian and Roman Churches." The
Roman presbyter, CAIUS (about A.D. 200), mentions the
tradition that Peter suffered martyrdom in the Vatican. But
(1) Peter's work was among the Jews (Galatians
2:9 Gentile Church (Romans
1:13 (1 Peter
1:1; 5:13
Mesopotamia. (3) The silence concerning Peter of Paul's
Epistles written in Rome, negatives the tradition of his
having founded, or labored long at Rome; though it is
possible he may have endured martyrdom there. His
martyrdom, certainly, was not, as JEROME says, "on the same
day" with that of Paul, else Paul would have mentioned Peter's
being at Rome in 2 Timothy
4:11 fear, was fleeing from Rome at early dawn by the
Appian Way, when he met our Lord, and falling at His feet,
asked, Lord, whither goest thou? to which the Lord replied, I
go again to be crucified. The disciple returned penitent and
ashamed, and was martyred. The Church of Domine quo
vadis, on the Appian Way, commemorates the supposed fact.
Paul, according to CAIUS (quoted in EUSEBIUS
[Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]), suffered martyrdom
on the Ostian Way. So also JEROME, who gives the date,
the fourteenth year of Nero. It was common to send prisoners,
whose death might attract too much notice at Rome, to some
distance from the city, under a military escort, for
execution; hence the soldier's sword, not the
executioner's axe, was the instrument of his
decapitation [OROSIUS, The Seven Books of History against
the Pagans, 7.7]. Paul appears, from Philippians
1:12-30 palace, and certainly must have exercised such an
influence as would excite sympathy in his behalf, to avoid
which the execution was ordered outside the city. Compare
TACITUS [Histories, 4.11]. The Basilica of St. Paul,
first built by Constantine, now stands outside Rome on the
road to Ostia: before the Reformation it was under the
protection of the kings of England, and the emblem of the
order of the Garter is still to be seen among its decorations.
The traditional spot of the martyrdom is the Tre
Fontane, not far from the Basilica [CONYBEARE and
HOWSON].
2 Timothy
1:1-18
ADDRESS:
-
THANKFUL EXPRESSION OF LOVE AND DESIRE TO
SEE HIM:
- REMEMBRANCE OF HIS FAITH AND THAT OF HIS MOTHER AND
GRANDMOTHER.
- EXHORTATION TO STIR UP THE GIFT OF GOD IN HIM,
AND NOT SHRINK FROM AFFLICTION,
- ENFORCED BY THE CONSIDERATION
OF THE FREENESS OF GOD'S GRACE IN OUR GOSPEL CALLING, AND BY
THE APOSTLE'S EXAMPLE.
- THE DEFECTION OF MANY:
- THE
STEADFASTNESS OF
ONESIPHORUS.
Adam Clarke Intro
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY.
Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle.
- Year of the Constantinopolitan era of the world, or that
used by the Byzantine historians, 5573.
- Year of the Alexandrian era of the world, 5567.
- Year of the Antiochian era of the world, 5557.
- Year of the Julian period, 4775.
- Year of the world, according to Archbishop Usher, 4069
- Year of the world, according to Eusebius, in his
Chronicon, 4293.
- Year of the minor Jewish era of the world, or that in
common use, 3825.
- Year of the Greater Rabbinical era of the world, 4424.
- Year from the Flood, according to Archbishop Usher, and
the English Bible, 2413.
- Year of the Cali yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge,
3167.
- Year of the era of Iphitus, or since the first
commencement of the Olympic games, 1005.
- Year of the era of Nabonassar, king of Babylon, 812.
- Year of the CCXIth Olympiad, 1.
- Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius
Pictor, 812.
- Year from the building of Rome, according to Frontinus,
816.
- Year from the building of Rome, according to the Fasti
Capitolini, 817.
- Year from the building of Rome, according to Varro,
which was that most generally used, 818.
- Year of the era of the Seleucidae, 377.
- Year of the Caesarean era of Antioch, 113.
- Year of the Julian era, 110.
- Year of the Spanish era, 103.
- Year from the birth of Jesus Christ according to
Archbishop Usher, 69
- Year of the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 65 or 66.
- Year of Gessius Florus, governor of the Jews, 1.
- Year of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 16.
- Year of L. C. Gallus, governor of Syria, 1.
- Year of Matthias, high priest of the Jews, 3.
- Year of the Dionysian period, or Easter Cycle, 66.
- Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, or Common
Golden Number, 9; or the first after the third embolismic.
- Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 6, or the
second embolismic.
- Year of the Solar Cycle, 18.
- Dominical Letter, it being the first after the
Bissextile, or Leap Year, F.
- Day of the Jewish Passover, according to the Roman
computation of time, the VIIth of the ides of April, or, in
our common mode of reckoning, the seventh of April, which
happened on this year on the day after the Jewish Sabbath.
- Easter Sunday, the day after the ides of April, or the
XVIIIth of the Calends of May, named by the Jews the 22d of
Nisan or Abib, and by Europeans in general, the 14th of
April.
- Epact, or age of the moon on the 22d of March, (the day
of the earliest Easter Sunday possible,) 28.
- Epact, according to the present mode of computation, or
the moon's age on New Year's day, or the Calends of January,
5.
- Monthly Epacts, or age of the moon on the Calends of
each month respectively, (beginning with January,) 5,7, 6,7,
8,9, 10, 11,12, 12,14, 14.
- Number of Direction, or the number of days from the
twenty-first of March to the Jewish Passover, 17.
- Year of the reign of Caius Tiberius Claudius Nero
Caesar, the fifth Roman emperor computing from Augustus
Caesar, 12.
- Roman Consuls, A. Licinius Nerva Silanus, and M.
Vestinius Atticus; the latter of whom was succeeded by
Anicius Cerealis, on July 1st.
Dr. Lardner and others suppose this epistle to have been
written in A. D. 56, i.e. nine years earlier than is stated
above. See the preface to the First Epistle to Timothy, where
this point is largely considered, and also the general
observations prefixed to the Acts of the Apostles.
SRB Notes
1:9 Who hath saved us,
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
saved (See Scofield
"Romans 1:16")
.
grace Grace (in
salvation). vs. Titus
2:11; Romans
3:24. (See Scofield "John 1:17")
.
1:10 But
is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel:
Saviour
(See Scofield "Romans 1:16")
.
1:12 For
the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am
not ashamed: 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.
suffer
The believer's resources in a day of general declension
and apostasy are:
(1) Faith 2 Timothy
1:5.
(2) the Spirit 2 Timothy
1:6,7.
(3) the word of God 2 Timothy
1:13; 3:1-17;
4:3,4.
(4) the grace of Christ 2 Timothy
2:1.
(5) separation from vessels unto dishonour 2 Timothy
2:4,20,21.
(6) the Lord's sure reward 2 Timothy
4:7,8.
(7) the Lord's faithfulness and power 2 Timothy
2:13,19.
The Second Epistle of Paul The Apostle To
Timothy
Writer.
Date.
This touching letter was written by Paul to his "dearly beloved son"
shortly before his martyrdom (2 Timothy 4:6-8), and contains the last words of the great
apostle which inspiration has preserved.
Theme.
Second Timothy (in common with Second Peter, Jude, and Second and
Third John) has to do with the personal walk and testimony of a true servant of
Christ in a day of apostasy and declension. The key-phrases are, "All they which
are in Asia be turned away from me" (2 Timothy 1:15); and, "A good soldier of
Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3).
The Asian churches had not disbanded, nor ceased to call themselves Christian,
but they had turned away from the doctrines of grace distinctively revealed
through the Apostle Paul (see Introduction, p. 1189). This was the proof that
already the apostasy had set in in its first form, legalism.
The natural divisions are four:
1279_1; 2 Timothy 1:12, For the which cause I also suffer these things
1279_a;
2 Timothy 1:1, according to the promise of life
1279_b;
2 Timothy 1:2, To Timothy, my dearly beloved son
1279_c;
2 Timothy 1:2b, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace
1279_d;
2 Timothy 1:3, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers
1279_e;
2 Timothy 1:3b, with pure conscience, that without ceasing
1279_f;
2 Timothy 1:4, Greatly desiring to see thee
1279_g;
2 Timothy 1:5, I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee
1279_h;
2 Timothy 1:5b, thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice
1279_i;
2 Timothy 1:6, that thou stir up the gift of God
1279_j;
2 Timothy 1:7, God hath not given us the spirit of fear
1279_k;
2 Timothy 1:7b, of power, and of love, and of a sound mind
1279_l;
2 Timothy 1:8, be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
1279_m;
2 Timothy 1:9, Who hath saved us, and called us
1279_n;
2 Timothy 1:9, according to his own purpose and grace
1279_o;
2 Timothy 1:9b, in Christ Jesus before the world began
ages (i.e., before time began.)
1279_p;
2 Timothy 1:10, by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ
1279_q;
2 Timothy 1:10b, hath brought life and immortality to light
Eternal life. (I.e., Everlasting.)
1279_r;
2 Timothy 1:10c, hath brought life and immortality to light
1279_s;
2 Timothy 1:10d, to light through the gospel
1279_t;
2 Timothy 1:12, nevertheless I am not ashamed
1279_u;
2 Timothy 1:12, for I know whom I have believed
1279_v;
2 Timothy 1:12b, for I know whom I have believed
1279_w;
2 Timothy 1:13, Hold fast the form of sound words
1279_x;
2 Timothy 1:13b, Hold fast the form of sound words
1279_y;
2 Timothy 1:14, committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost
1279_z;
2 Timothy 1:15, that all they which are in Asia
1279_aa;
2 Timothy 1:15, they which are in Asia be turned away
1280_a;
2 Timothy 1:16, for he oft refreshed me
1280_b;
2 Timothy 1:16, was not ashamed of my chain
1279_c;
2 Timothy 1:18, find mercy of the Lord in that day
1280_d;
2 Timothy 1:18b, many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus
Copyright Statement
These files are considered public domain and are a
derivative of an electronic edition that is available in the
Online Bible Software
Library.
Bibliography
Information
Scofield, C. I. "Scofield
Reference Notes on 1 Timothy 2". "Scofield Reference
Notes (1917 Edition)".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/srn/view.cgi?book=2ti&chapter=001>.
1917.
|
